Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 6 - Missing

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(POV: Ni'teya)

I couldn't find my shell anywhere. As soon as I noticed it had fallen off of my headpiece, I immediately went searching for it. I decided retracting my steps was wise, taking my still nameless ilu out towards the Spirit Tree, diving all the way to the ocean floor every so often. It would've been fairly easy to spot, even from a great distance, as it's extreme shine could reach you from anywhere.

Still, nothing. I had gone back and forth from the Spirit Tree twice now and the sun was lowering above me. I thought about asking for help, but I made up my mind that neither Kiri nor Tsireya would want to come back to the place Kiri was almost met with a tragic end so soon. Tuk would definitely come, but I doubted her ability to focus completely and dive such depths with only me to look out for her. If she, too had gotten hurt I'd for sure be put to blame for taking her out alone in the first place.

I didn't want to ask Aonung, either. He'd been acting too off for my liking and through thinking back to when he could only find one shell, I concluded that if he couldn't find them on land then he definitely wouldn't be able to find them under the water. Lo'ak was off limits too, I simply didn't know how he would react to such a request, and plus, I couldn't find him to begin with. He'd wandered off somewhere again, probably annoyed that I'd dismissed him so suddenly.

It had gotten so dark that I couldn't see all the way down to the ocean floor anymore,  so there was no point in continuing my search further. The shell was gone, my prized possession lost. I knew it was a trivial thing however I grew attached to it, as a baby would to a dummy, perhaps.

I headed back to the shore, taking my headpiece off and clipping it onto my side-satchel which was now covered in smily, glittery seaweed.

When I looked around, I came to realize that I was at the same beach where I'd found the shell prior, however this time the beach wasn't empty. Two light blue dots, which in fact were not dots but Roxto and Aonung, were sat a few feet away from where I was resurfacing. They were doing their usual, laugh, hit, disagree, repeat routine which bored me to death, making me try my best to scurry away without being recognized.

Having tried that, a comment made by one of the two made my movements stop and my ears heighten, trying to pick up on anything else they might say. "He probably doesn't even know that we've left him yet, what a _____" the last part was too quiet for me to hear, making me rather curious as to who they were talking about. Left who? Where?

I don't interfere with them, I'd much rather ignore their antics and go back to what I was doing beforehand while also checking on Kiri to see how she was doing. Besides, maybe Lo'ak had returned by now.

When I arrived back at the huts, everyone seemed to be running around and grabbing things; Spears, bows, more spears, everything! I wondered if there had been an attack, maybe one from the Sky-People.

Kiri spotted me and saw my confused expression, knowing what my question would be as soon as she made contact.
"We can't find Lo'ak, Teya. Do you have any idea where he'd go?" she pleaded, holding my forearms to keep me still and with her.

I thought, head spinning with ideas about where the boy would go if he was angry. But.. was he even angry? He didn't seem it when he spoke to me before, though he hadn't been speaking to me all week. "I don't know, um. Maybe- No." I narrated my flow of thoughts. Kiri had let go of me by now, scrambling in front of me to find something. I realized what she was looking for and stepped in, "Woah, hold on Kiri. You surely don't think you're going back out there, do you? Not after today!" I asked.

"I have to! My brother is missing." She claims, running past me and out of my sight.

Alright. Think, Ni'teya, think.