Sullys Stick Together

Chapter 1

I sat on a branch of hometree with my feet dangling off the edge. Tears streamed down my face after my brothers' last teasing. Neteyam never meant to make me cry, he was too protective for that. Lo'ak was different. He always took things too far. But if I was ever in real danger, he was there to stand in between the threat and me. I heard steps next to me just as a figure came beside me and sat down. I quickly wiped away the tears and looked the other way trying to hide the fact that I was upset. 

"What's the matter, baby girl?" Dad asked softly. I took a deep breath calming my voice, "Nothing's the matter. I'm alright," Part of me knew that I wouldn't be able to hide it from him, but it was worth a try. I never wanted my family to see me as weak. "Hey, come on now. You know that's not gonna work." He put his hand on my shoulder gently turning me to face him. I took another deep breath in defeat, "Lo'ak is a jerk." He nodded now looking at the branch we sat on. "He was picking on you again wasn't he?" I nodded wiping away a stray tear. "What did he say?" 

"He called me a wimp. He says that I am a crybaby and that whenever he does something I always tell on him. And that I'm not brave, but I am!" He pulled me a bit closer now, holding me tight against him. "Oh, Nelyia. Don't listen to your brother. You are none of those things. You know Lo'ak. He doesn't really mean those things anyway."

I pulled away from him standing on the branch, "No, he hates me! He always picks on me and makes me sad." I heard rustling behind me, causing me to spin around to see who was there. Lo'ak stood at the entrance to the hall of hometree. "Neliya, I don't hate you. You're my baby sister. It's my job to pick on you." He stepped outside walking closer to dad and me. Dad stood up and got behind me placing his hands on my shoulders. "You take it too far, Lo'ak. You always make me cry! Neteyam picks on me too but he doesn't make me sad." I backed up a bit, standing closer to dad for comfort. He looked to Lo'ak with a knowing look and put his arm around my collarbone loosely. 

"Oh... Sis, I'm sorry. I didn't know," he stepped closer. "I won't go so far next time alright?" He looked at me with pleading eyes. I nodded slowly and stepped away from dad, "Promise?"

"I promise." He held out his hand, tucking in all of his fingers, except for his pinky. Dad said that on earth it's called a pinky promise, a promise that can't be broken. I hold out my pinky to him and he interlocks it with his own with a smile. With that, dad walked away, patting us both on the shoulder as he walked by. Lo'ak and I went inside the tree and went to our home to find our siblings. We ran inside our home where Neteyum, Kiri, and Tuk were all getting ready to go out. 

"Neliya!" Tuk called out once she saw me. "What are you all up to?" I asked walking over and ruffling up Tuk's hair earning a giggle from her. "I was just going to go fishing. I made a new bow so I want to test it out," Neteyam said as he grabbed his bow and arrows standing up. "I'll be back later. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Kiri just rolled her eyes. While she wasn't the type to actually do something stupid, she hated being told not to do it anyway. 

"Relax bro. We're just gonna go explore like always," Lo'ak said from behind me. Whenever he said that he was going to explore, it almost always meant he was going to get into trouble. 

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A.N.

Hey everyone! I'm still trying to hammer out some details for this, so don't be too hard on me yet! If you can't already tell, Nelyia is going to be a daddy's girl, and yes that is my daddy issues talking. 🤪 Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!