Moonchild | Neteyam

9

CHAPTER 9

       The entire evening had flown past without Neteyam being present. Tuk had come back a short while later, a sad look on her face. She was disappointing that her brother would not join them again.

When the rest of the family and Erìhe arrived back in their pod, Neteyam was already asleep. Perhaps he had really been tired after all.

It was just odd considering that the next morning he was entirely back to normal - bothering Erìhe whenever he could and teasing Lo'ak when he saw him looking over at Tsireya. It was like he slept off his sour mood.

Erìhe had woken up when Tuk had decided it would be fun to dance on her mattress. Having lived with Aok and Nupxa for her entire life, this was something that did not even phase her.

Today they would all go swimming for the first time, and Erìhe was beyond excited. She could not wait.

"You guys are so slow!" Lo'ak yelled as he ran past Erìhe and Neteyam. They were all headed down the path already, looking for a place to dive into the water from. Tsireya, Ao'nung and Rotxo had just jumped into the water up ahead, and Lo'ak was very eager to join them.

Erìhe and Neteyam shared looks before both breaking off in a sprint - without either of them saying it aloud, they both recognized that this was a race. Erìhe ran past Tuk and Kiri as she tried to get ahead of Neteyam.

It was hard - Neteyam was rather fast.

Lo'ak and Neteyam were the first to reach the end of the path, but they both hesitated as they thought about jumping into the water. Erìhe grinned as she caught up.

She grinned at them as she leapt from the path, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as she fell through the surface.

When Erìhe opened her eyes under the water, they grew wide. Under the surface was a whole new world. The colors were different - the life, the animals, the lights - everything was entirely different.

When she heard a splash, she turned slightly to look at Lo'ak and Neteyam who had followed her closely behind. Neteyam did not look happy that she had beat him at getting into the water first, but he was also unable to speak so it did not matter.

The fish swam around them unafraid, they swam past them and over them as the group merely watched in awe. Then Erìhe caught Tsireya and the two boys looking at them.

Erìhe squinted as she saw Tsireya signing something at them. Unable to understand, she glanced at Lo'ak to see if he knew any better what was going on. Lo'ak did not meet her eyes. Instead he shrugged in a questioning manner.

Tsireya smiled before beckoning them to follow. The three Metkayina were much faster than them - they swam gracefully through the clear waters whereas the Omaticaya had trouble keeping up. They couldn't even catch up.

The Omaticaya had to go up for air quite often, and after the third time, the Metkayina finally followed them to the surface.

Erìhe stuck her head into the water to see them gracefully making their way toward them. "Are you alright?" Tsireya asked as her and Rotxo broke the surface. Erìhe looked at her disbelievingly, she would not be surprised if her mouth was hanging open - Tsireya and Rotxo were not even out of breath.

"You're too fast! Wait for us!" Tuk complained as she wiped the water out of her eyes.

"Just breathe," Tsireya told them.

Then Ao'nung joined them, "You are not good divers," he said, "You're maybe good at swinging through trees but-" Erìhe snorted when Tsireya hit his head, and he turned to look at her accusingly.