Another Chance |Ao'nung x Neteyam|

Chapter 32: Foggy Memories

She sits in agonised silence on a smooth rock, watching the friendly warrior work on removing the bullet from her leg. It is just one more scar added to the many littering her body; it proves her strength and her selfless sacrifices.

His eyes glide over her chest for a moment before a fierce blush heats his cheeks. Coughing, Teneytano averts his gaze – but they're perfectly at eye-level and he's been a little too fond of her for a while. It's not his fault they're right there, staring at him.

"You can look," Kitsme hums, sighing in relief when he manages to pull the bullet out, hand covered in her blood.

Teneytano hides his choking with an exaggerated cough. "Huh?"

"I saw you look," she smiles, but it is a little strained through her pain.

"Look— look at what?" Teneytano whispers weakly, not daring to look upon her face as he tears off a chunk of his loincloth to wrap around the wound, tying it tightly to stop the bleeding.

Kitsme is tempted to mess with him, but she doesn't really have to put in much effort, because Teneytano, unintentionally, has cornered himself. "My chest."

"Ah—" he stutters weakly, leaning back, ears flat and tail curling around his leg as he stands slowly. "No, I...I mean—"

Kitsme's heart flutters at his shy spluttering; memories flood her of a similar person she lost so long ago to the cruelty of mankind. She smiles absentmindedly, her pain tolerance outstanding. "I hope Ronal made it back safely. We should go find her."

Teneytano clears his throat, nodding along to her words. "We should. The hideout shouldn't be far."

"I do think they've gone back to the village already. I heard a horn," she murmurs, standing carefully. "We should go there and see if they've arrived."

Teneytano moves to help her, hands brushing her lower back; he blinks, dazed by the feeling of her soft skin.

"I know you were very close to the prince back in the forest," Kitsme smirks, not missing Teneytano's reactions to being close to her.

His eyes widen for a moment before he smiles sheepishly, showing off a set of dimples she had not noticed until that point. He knows what she means. "You could say. But he's mated now.""

"He is."

For the first time, she notices the shade of his skin – it's deep blue, like Neteyam's, yet somehow still dissimilar, but his markings are shaped different and bioluminescent freckles fewer, glowing fainter not just from the rising sun, but from his own heritance.

"Are you not Omaticaya?" She asks with a tilt of her head as they began walking. She limps beside Teneytano, grasping his arm for support.

He seems caught off guard, golden eyes snapping to her pale blue ones. "Oh, you noticed."

"Of course," she teases lightly with a hint of a laugh in her voice. "Who are your parents, Tano?"

Teneytano bites his lip at the nickname before clearing his throat again. "My father is from the Hulanta clan of the Wetlands. Sky people made him flee his home and he met my mother fighting alongside Toruk Makto. Uh, then they had me. Pretty much immediately."

Kitsme has heard stories. "Your father. He is still alive?"

Teneytano grins, all teeth and pride. He puffs out his chest, nodding. "Of course. He's a mighty warrior."

A smile tugs on Kitsme's lips. "He sounds lovely."

Teneytano beams, words flooding out of his mouths with no restrain. "Yeah! My old man is hard to kill, he's like a cockroach, that's a sky people bug by the way, and even if you step on it, it won't die. But my mother is definitely way more beautiful than him, I don't know how he pulled her."