Moonchild | Neteyam

30

CHAPTER 30

       "Since when have you been getting into fights?" Erìhe asked as she set down a bowl of water by Neteyam's feet on the sand.

The two were by the same tree where she'd helped him with his injuries the last time he'd gotten in a fight.

"Since arriving here apparently," Neteyam told her. His eyes were glued on her as she kneeled next to him, busying herself with creating the same paste as last time. Previously it had helped tremendously with speeding up the healing process.

Erìhe knew that even if she patched Neteyam up the best that she could, his injuries would still be visible and he'd get into trouble with Jake. She just hoped that if he did not look as bad, maybe his scolding would not be as horrible either.

Neteyam had gotten into a fight with Ao'nung and the two friends. There was no clear winner - as in the end they had all collapsed and given up - but considering that it was one versus three, Neteyam did not look too bad.

He had a light bruise on his right cheekbone, a split lip and a bloody nose. Not too bad.

He was yet to tell Erìhe about who he'd gotten in a fight with and what for - but he knew she could suspect that it had something to do with Ao'nung. There was no one else here who pushed Neteyam's buttons just like him.

"You know, Lo'ak was right - your dad will murder you," Erìhe told him. She had gotten the supplies she needed from the same place as last time - the place now familiar to her. She held up the cloth to the corner of his mouth, wiping off the blood from his lip.

Neteyam sighed, "Yeah, I know," he said while slightly flinching back, "But it was worth it."

"Was it Ao'nung?" Erìhe asked. For a moment her eyes flickered to his and they made eye contact. She was the first to break it as she leaned back down to get some of the paste.

"Who else would it be?" Neteyam laughed.

"It's not funny," Erìhe scolded him, "You could have gotten seriously hurt."

Neteyam's eyes were practically in the shapes of hearts as he watched her concentrate on putting the healing paste on his knuckles.

She noticed his silence but still did not look back up at him. Instead she spoke, "So why did you get in a fight with him? Some stupid reason, right? You should go apologize as soon as-"

"No," Neteyam said. "It wasn't a stupid reason."

"What was the reason?"

"He was being mean."

"You should be the bigger person," Erìhe chuckled, "Or tell an adult."

"He wasn't being mean to me," Neteyam told her. He was wearing a tiny frown - and as Erìhe looked up at him she had to fight off the urge to smooth out the frown for him.

"Then to who?"

Neteyam was silent for a moment. Within that silence Erìhe did not look away. Instead her eyes fixated on his lips - the cut on his lips, to be exact. It was no longer bleeding, but she noticed that the skin was torn exactly where it had been last time. She sighed as she thought about the scar that was now bound to show up there.

The fact that it would be a scar did not matter - just that he'd gotten hurt.

"You," Neteyam finally said. "He was talking shit."

Erìhe's eyes widened, "What - I thought he'd forgiven me?"

He did not want her to worry or feel guilty, so he placed a hand on her arm, "He has - he was just trying to act cool in front of his friends. Don't worry about it."