𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 | neteyam

𝟎𝟎𝟔 | 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐇

          EIXTRI TOOK HER OWN SEAT IN THE POD FILLED WITH OTHER ELDERS, ALL OF THEM WORKING ON DIFFERENT DECORATIONS AND CLOTHES FOR THE CEREMONY. Ay'yeiva's face lifted when she saw so many people still focusing on the ceremony, a complete one-eighty to what she thought was happening.

          She took a seat across from Eixtri who asked for the sack of beads. She emptied them onto the cloth in between them and told Ay'yeiva to spread them out while she laid out the mesh string they were going to use to attach them to her ceremonial outfit.

          "What is the most important bead you've gotten?" Eixtri asked. Ay'yeiva thought about all the ones she had received since her birth, searching through what they had dumped from the bag and realizing it wasn't there.

          Eixtri noticed her searching and not picking anything up, "Are you okay?"

          She nodded slightly, standing up, "I will be back, I know where it is. Thank you, grandmother!"

•—•

          TONOWARI NEARED WHERE AY'YEIVA WAS SITTING WITH HER FEET DANGLING IN THE WATER, TAKING A SEAT NEXT TO HER. The darkness of the night let all of the plants and animals glow, luminating the water. She turned her head up slightly, staying quiet.

          He cleared his throat, not really knowing how to begin, "Ay'yeiva, I am sorry."

          She stayed quiet.

          Neither of them spoke for a while. Ronal could see them from the pod and wished she could walk out there and tell her mate to just spit out what he wanted to say. He was just causing Ay'yeiva more pain by not saying anything.

          Her head now fully turned to face him, seeing how he stared down into the water, eyes following the wildlife. "If you wanted to apologize, you would've done it by now." She stood up, the only noise coming from her feet against the water before she walked away.

•—•

          AY'YEIVA RAN FROM THE POD BACK TO HER OWN, PASSING BY HER SISTER AND THE BOYS SHE WAS TEACHING HOW TO BREATHE. She took no mind in their concerned faces when she passed, the task at hand too important.

          Tsireya's eyes followed her sister for a few moments to confirm her suspicions. Ay'yeiva only ever went to the forest behind the beach for a few reasons. It's where she went to get away from people when she was stressed out, and it's also where she kept most of her belongings.

          When Ay'yeiva was a kid and Aonung was first born, she hated having another little kid in their family. She hated how her sleep would get interrupted by his cries and that all of the things she found fun would now become his new hobbies, not having anything to call her own.

          Seeing this, Tonowari surprised Ay'yeiva one day with her own little pod situated in the forest behind the village. It was strung over a small pond connected to intertwining trees she planned on making more pods on that would be just for her.

          Tsireya had gone out there a few times without Ay'yeiva letting her. It was a known fact that it was Ay'yeiva's personal place and no one should go there unless she said they could. This led her to scolding Tsireya when she found her out there one day. The younger girl hasn't been back there since.

          Ay'yeiva ran through the forest on the sandy path until it came to a stop, her way of deferring anyone from going farther. She jumped over fallen logs and climbed up the tree that connected to her pod, entering and immediately searching for the bead she held so close to her heart.

          She opened the storage box her mother had made for her and shifted through her belongings, finally laying eyes on what she was looking for. Ay'yeiva could only stare at it when she first saw it, nothing else playing through her mind then when she first got it.

          This 'bead' was special to her. It wasn't given to her by her parents. It wasn't given to her by an elder. It wasn't given to her by anyone. It wasn't something many people had in the first place.

          She took a deep breath as she held the row of Akula teeth in her hands, clearing her mind of that day's memories and wiping her eyes before shutting the box, leaving for the pod Eixtri was patiently waiting in.