The wrong star

Sister of the ocean

Spider is strong, stronger than we usually give him credit for, he was honest and only went to look for my cousins to say goodbye.

All the time I could see his eyes water, he hugged Kiri a little too long, but he never let the tears fall.

"We'll see you soon," Kiri tells him and he smiles faintly.

"Say goodbye to the blue asshole for me," he tells me and I shot him an annoyed glance.

"Sorry, say goodbye to... Miles," he says scratching the back of his head. "Bye kid," he waves to Nakoa in my arms.

"Spider, we'll be there in a few days okay? Just try to get better," I tell him.

"Bye, Anatuat" he says with a small smile on his face.

Norm takes shim to the helicopter and soon they're gone.

Kiri cries a little but Neteyam hugs her.

"Hey... why don't we have dinner? If you all help me we'll eat in a few minutes," I propose to my cousins.

Lo'ak doesn't seem trilled by the idea but, he doesn't complain either. I feel like we will all feel better if we stay together.

"Is the baby going to cook too?" Tuk asks coming to my side and taking my hand.

"How's a baby going to cook?" Lo'ak asks her rolling his eyes.

"Anatuat said we were all going to help," she complains.

"But not the baby, you dumb dumb," Lo'ak says.

"Hey! don't be mean. We'll all have a nice, peaceful dinner okay?" I say and it's not an option.

Tuk lets go of my hand to go hug Neteyam and he carries her up making her giggle.

"Let's gooou," I say resting my arms on Kiri and Lo'ak respectively, Lo'ak tries to push me away but he gives in and walks with me.

After a few discussions we are able to cook and prepare everything and we share a meal on their tent.

"When do you think they'll be back?" Lo'ak asks me.

"Maybe... tomorrow? or in two days? Even if they split I don't think they can take less time," I say.

"Mom is fast, if they split she's probably almost done," Neteyam says, all my cousins smile with love.

"Yeah, probably," Lo'ak agrees.

"Is dad going to fly Toruk again?" Tuk asks.

"That would be cool," Neteyam says.

"I don't think that dad had the time to go back and claim Toruk," Kiri says drawing in the sand with her finger.

"Maybe he will ride him later, I just hope the clans follow him," I say.

We all contemplate the idea until Nakoa starts whimpering and brings us back to reality.

"Guys I need to feed Nakoa but, you'll be okay, right? let's just call it a night and go to sleep," I tell them.

"But it's not that late," Tuk complains.

"Tuk, please. If you want to stay up later then stay in the tent okay?" She makes puppy eyes but I don't back down.

"Fine, but tomorrow we're going fishing," she says.

"We'll talk about it, okay?" I ask, my eyes go to Neteyam as he's the one in charge. He nods faintly to me and I say goodbye to all of them to go back to my tent.

My tent is all dark, silent, cold. Nakoa starts crying and I have to hurry. I lit up a small fire as Miles usually does while I shush Nakoa tenderly.

Then I go to sit and place him so he feeds, the only noises are the ocean, the fire cracking and Nakoa's breathing. This space feels too empty for me. I miss my family.