Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 9 - Diving

🐚 🌊

Today was supposed to be the day Tsireya would take everyone back out for another lesson on how to properly dive, but because of the aftermath of the storm it meant a bit of cleaning up had to be done first.

The Reef People knew what to do, and to be perfectly candid there wasn't much to clean up considering their village was built to withstand all sorts of weathers.
Lo'ak and Neteyam were on sweeping duty, while the rest of them tried to hoist up a fallen pole that had almost fell directly onto the hut they were all gathered inside.

Once was poll was safely up and standing again, Ni'teya and Kiri went to find Tsireya, who was helping her dad with the fishing. He told them that "storms like that may be loud but they bring in a great catch", whilst tossing a large net into the shallow waters, collecting a huge number of fish easily.

Tsireya and the two others left him to it, making their way down to the beach and collecting Neteyam and Lo'ak on the way. The whole way down, Kiri was talking about how she'd been dying to get back into the water again and explore places she hadn't been, much like she would do back at the forest which brought a sense of nostalgia back to Ni'teya.

Kiri had already ran ahead and swam off into the reef when everyone else could even so much as touch the water. Lo'ak and Neteyam went first, seemingly racing eachother to see who was faster as any brotherly duo would do, leaving Tsireya and Ni'teya to ease themselves in in a calmer fashion.

From where Ni'teya was, it seemed as though the girl slightly in front of her wanted to say something, but wasn't getting anywhere in terms of actually saying it. That was, until all of a sudden she stopped her movements and turned hastily around, making Ni'teya jump slightly in shock of how quick she was.

"I'm really sorry about my brother!" she says, as if the words were running away from her. This isn't what Ni'teya was expecting but nonetheless, she could understand why Tsireya was so cautious before.

"Oh, no. It's okay, I know he's sorry, you shouldn't apologise for him!" Ni'teya responds, stepping closer and resting her hand on her friend's shoulder in comfort.

"He can be a real jerk sometimes!" Tsireya remarks, "I never thought he would go that far! To be honest, I thought he'd come to like you guys; He kept telling me and Roxto how he was happy you were his friend at dinner, I really thought he meant it!" she goes on, getting the words out as quickly as she could in a rush, worried that Ni'teya would think badly of her in the same way she did her brother.

Ni'teya didn't know how to answer her this time, she couldn't say that Aonung was her friend, because he wasn't. And she couldn't say that she also didn't believe that Aonung would do something like that to Lo'ak, seen as she didn't trust him fully. Thankfully for her though, a saviour sounded in the distance, taking on the voice of Neteyam who yelled, "Come on, slow-pokes!" as he waved over at them.

The two of them then followed after him, diving underwater and swimming to catch up.

Ni'teya wasn't a bad swimmer, still. She still had the same fast pace she had the first time she tried to swim, but the issue was her breathing. Every time she'd attempt to go deeper down into the coves, she'd need to go straight back up for air. This was the same story for Lo'ak and Neteyam, having to get back their breath at the surface more times than necessary. Kiri however was somehow able to control her breathing just fine, which astounded even Tsireya, who complimented her using the hand-language she had begun to teach the girls. Aonung was supposed to be teaching the two boys but clearly, he was getting distracted.

Knowing now what the issue was, Tsireya beckoned everyone over to a rock nearby, helping them out of the water and telling them all to sit in a circle together. Next, she called over to her brother and his friend who were already on their way anyway, making them join in. Roxto slotted himself in between Kiri and Neteyam, leaving only one space left for Aonung. He had to take the space next to Ni'teya and Lo'ak, both of whom didn't care too much but could tell he didn't like the close proximity.