War Set to Peace

Chapter 12

A/N

When I speak with bold letters that means I'm signing.

I woke up to the sound of horns blowing and many of the people rushing by to get into the water.

"What is going on?" I asked while rubbing my eyes.

I then someone yell from outside of the hut. "Everyone, our brothers and sisters have returned." Tsireya shouted. I quickly got up and ran to the opening of the hut to look out and saw a ton of tulkun swimming our way and jumping out of the water. I couldn't help but smile.

Lo'ak jumped into the water and got onto the back of Tsireya's Ilu. Kiri and Tuk jumped in shortly after and swam away on an Ilu together. I looked around to see if I could spot Ao'nung but I didn't see him anywhere, this made my smile drop. Neteyam noticed and grabbed my hand. "Come on sister, let's go look!" he shouted while dragging me into the water. I started laughing when we resurfaced, he always made me feel better.

"Ney!" I laughed while splashing him. He called an Ilu and told me to get on behind him. We swam around watching all of the happy people bond with their brothers and sister. We noticed Lo'ak staring at Tsireya who was playing with her Tulkun, and laughed. We swam for a little bit longer until I spotted Ao'nung. "Ney let me off here, I need to speak with Ao'nung."

"Alright be careful." He responded while stopping the Ilu.

I swam towards Ao'nung and noticed that he was signing to his Tulkun. When I got closer the Tulkun looked at me and Ao'nung followed. He gave me a smile and waved for me to join him. I swam down close to the Tulkun right beside Ao'nung.

"Hello" I signed.

"Hello Tsalwi, I've heard a bit about you." The Tulkun waled.

I turned and looked at Ao'nung who was trying to hide his face from blushing. I smirked at his response and turned back to face the Tulkun. "Thats lovely to know."

"Would you like to go for a ride." Ao'nung all of the sudden asked. I nodded my head with a smile in response. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me to the tulkun's fin.

I hung onto the top of the fin while Ao'nung hung onto the bottom. The Tulkun gently began swimming threw the water and I was smiling ear to ear. I noticed Ao'nung staring at me with a smile, and I turned to him and smiled back. Our trip was soon cut short when Tsireya came swimming by with Lo'ak. "Ao'nung may I borrow Tsalwi and give you Lo'ak in return?" She asked.

"I suppose, but for what reason?" He responded.

"We must get ready for the festival." She smiled back at me.

"What festival?" I asked.

"The festival of the tulkun!" She cheerfully said.

"Oh alright, I will speak with you later then Ao'nung." I looked back to Ao'nung.

"I will see you then." He responded.

"And thank you very much for the fun ride." I signed while looking back at the tulkun. "It was lovely to meet you."

"I hope I will see you in the future Tsalwi, but for now, goodbye." He wailed.

I smiled at the tulkun. "Goodbye." I hopped off the fin of the tulkun and made my way over to sit behind Tsireya and we swam back.

~Time skip~

We finally made it back to Tsireya's hut so we could pick up a few things, so we could began getting ready. Once we got all of the supplies, we made our way back to my family's hut to start. The only people allowed in the hut were Kiri, Tuk, Tireya, and me of course. The parents and boys were getting ready in a separate hut.

Tsireya began by unbraiding the parts of my hair that were braided and added a few seashells in. "Do you want me to leave your head piece in?" She asked. I had completely forgotten about my headpiece.

"No. Take it out."

"But it shows that you-"

"He has chosen someone else, im not of importance to him anymore."

"Oh, im sorry, I'll take it out and replace it with something better."

"Thank you." I said while hugging her. She then took out a wooden box and opened it up to reveal the most gorgeous seashell head piece. "Oh my... it's beautiful. Is it for you?" I asked.

"No, it's for you." She smiled and took the piece off my head and replaced it with the one in her hand.

(How I picture the piece)

She then handed me a few pieces of clothing and took my siblings out of the hut so I could change. The outfit was beyond beautiful, it had small shells dangling on my shoulders with a bigger shell above my chest. The lion cloth was a navy blue with tiny shells sewn in.

(Outfit I imagined)

"I'm finished!" I shouted and the others walked in.

"You look like a princess!" Tuk shouted while running up to me and hugging my leg.

"Sister, you look beautiful." Kiri said while joining in on the hug.

"You truly are beautiful Tsalwi." Tsireya said.

"You all will be gorgeous when you are done getting ready too!" I announced. We all smiled at each other, and everyone started finishing getting ready.