Moonchild | Neteyam

13

CHAPTER 13

After sliding onto the saddle of his ikran, Neteyam had turned his head to look over at Eríhe.

She had been patiently waiting for him to be ready, and now that he was, she grinned before looking skyward and taking off from the ground. He followed close behind, looking down at the land below as they flew higher.

The night was beautiful. The sky was a deep purple color and the stars shone brightly down on them. As they looked down, they could see the trees speeding past under them. They could see small clearings and little streams. It was beautiful.

Neteyam looked up at Erìhe and smiled. She glanced over her shoulder and pointed at a larger tree. He understood that she wanted to land there so he called out, "I'll race you!" before swooping low - toward one of the larger branches of the tree.

"That dick," Erìhe rolled her eyes before willing her ikran to fall into a dive. Back in the forest, they had both been great flyers and warriors - however there was something that set them apart.

Neteyam was careful and calculating whereas Erìhe was reckless and almost careless, only hoping for the best before acting stupidly.

Thankfully she was nothing compared to Lo'ak, though.

Erihe shot straight down while Neteyam flew lower at a slope - allowing her to easily reach the tree first. The tree was not the largest tree they had ever seen, but the branches were sturdy enough to land on.

Erìhe willed her ikran to spread out her wings just before they would have crashed into the branch. The animal slowed down before carefully placing its feet on the wood. Erìhe laughed as she hopped down from her ikran and looked up to see Neteyam land on the other side of her ikran.

She waited patiently as he disconnected his queue, got off his ikran and carefully made his way past her banshee. "You're crazy!" He exclaimed the minute he stood beside her.

Erìhe adjusted her riders mask so that it did not sit so low over her eyes, "I won."

"You cheated."

"You're just a wuss," Erìhe laughed, using the word that Lo'ak often called them when he wished to be taunting.

Neteyam rolled his eyes and sat down on the branch, pulling his riders mask off his head.

Eríhe watched as he did that and she noticed how his ears were angled downward as his gaze was trained on his hands that rested on his knees. Perhaps they had been like that the whole time.

With a sigh, she sat down beside him, letting her feet dangle off the branch.

They were both high up and all they could see were the trees around them. It wasn't a luscious forest like back at home - but it still gave a similar feeling.

Eríhe awkwardly twiddled her thumbs as she let the silence swallow them. She was not used to sitting quietly with Neteyam - of all people. Either he or she always started a fight when things got quiet.

Finally after a few minutes, she could not take it anymore. It was just far too awkward for her. Eríhe looked over at Neteyam, "What is it?" She frowned.

When Neteyam looked back at her, he was surprised to see her eyes furrowed in concern. They never showed any emotion toward the other - unless said emotion was anger or dislike.

"Nothing," he shook his head and turned his head again to look over the view.

Eríhe scoffed, "Sure." She allowed the uncomfortable silence to take over again. She knew that it would be enough to make him speak.