Skxawng • Neteyam

1

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With her bowstring taut and her heartbeat slowing down, she watched as the Hexapede grazed on the plants beneath its sturdy hooves. The being's powerful legs took one step, and she adjusted her angle slightly. She was moments away from taking her shot before a twig broke behind her.

"Yeriyah!" A deep voice yelled, causing her to jump. She spun and had the arrow pointing at the idiot who'd scared her in seconds. Neteyam stood there with a punchable grin on his face. She scoffed and lowered the bow. Yeiryah struggled not to fire it between his eyes.

"You should know better than to sneak up on me with a bow in my hand, skxawng." Yeriyah shook her head, earning a chuckle from the Sully boy.

"You would have missed anyway." He points to the Hexapede, and she turns to find it gone. She rolled her eyes and put her arrow away into the quiver strapped to her back. Yeriyah enjoyed hunting and mostly enjoyed being in the forest and with nature. She was usually always alone and was most of the time. The only times she wasn't was when Neteyam got bored and decided to pull on her tail.

Growing up, they had a competitive relationship. Being born in the same cycle, they'd always tried to be better than the other. If that meant a bit of sabotage here and there, neither of them shied away. Yeriyah was just as much of a warrior as the son of the Olo'eyktan. She proved that after she'd gotten her Ikran. She and Neteyam, maybe even in many categories, but no one flew better than her.

She always believed her ikran, Zaeyli, was another part of her soul. In her free time, she was always in the sky. The clan recognizes her as one of the best ikran warriors they've seen for her age. She had always been proud of it and maybe a bit smug that she had that over the Sully boy.

"I wouldn't have missed. It's not my fault you are incapable of speaking normally." Yeriyah hissed at the boy.

It was safe to say that their competitive nature hadn't gone away, but their friendship had evolved. Slightly. They could now hold a civilized conversation without trying to one-up the other. It also doesn't help that she's grown fond of Tuk and Kiri and, most of the time, finds herself eating dinner with them. It was inevitable that they would get over their feud someday.

"I did that on purpose, and you know it, idiot."

Today just wasn't that day.

Neteyam chuckled, and she just shook her head as she walked past him. She was ignoring him. He followed behind her before catching up. He hadn't meant to find her here, but scaring away her kill was comical and something he usually did when he had the chance. Typically she was into bantering with him, today not so much."Why are you so weirdly quiet?"

"I'm not quiet. I'm just not in the mood to humour you. Go be annoying somewhere else." She turned to glance at him over her shoulder. His yellow eyes pierced hers, and she felt unbelievably naked under his gaze. It's probably why she always hated looking into his eyes. He had a weird way of making her feel exposed without saying anything. She hated that part of him.

"No thanks." He answers.

"Neteyam." She warned and turned to him. She'd come out to hunt alone because that was what she wanted. She did not need him here. Not after the day she just had. Tsu'tey was beloved and known as a great warrior in the clan. To Yeriyah, he was nothing but a cold heart and her father. "Go home."