𝙏𝙄𝙇' 𝙒𝙀 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏. 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙭. 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧

The next morning, Tsireya abruptly woke me up, dragging me to the shores vigorously like an excited child running up to a ice cream truck. Calling out to the ilus swimming by the pods as i rubbed my sleepy eyes.

I was confused by the sudden morning adventure, it reminded me of Lo'ak always running off to his mischiefs the minute he wakes up. But in her case, i guess she was excited to see how i would bond with the animals here & see the life of Awa'atlu through her eyes.

The long neck with 4 eyed creatures collectively made an adorable sound as it responded to her call. Their biological role resembled Terran dolphins & they had rudder-like tails, Tsireya mentioned that they are the direhorses of the ocean.

"Today you will bond with an ilu & swim with me down to the corals! my mother insists that she is in need of more shells for home uses" she said.

Somehow that terrified me, down as in like down in the ocean? what if i can't breath for more than 30 seconds? This might be worse than the forest.

"Come!" she said, bringing my hand closer to pet an ilu.

The cute creature swam passed me as my finger tips grazed its back, its skin felt smooth & rubbery. Tsireya guided me up onto the ilu's back, petting its head for it to be calm enough for me to make the bond. I have to admit, im sort of traumatised from bonding with my ikran. I mean look where it got me.

Then my ears lifted, hearing Aonung's vexing voice from a distance, laughing & splashing away with his boys by the rocks. I rolled my eyes & tried to focus on my ilu, but his voice got closer. I took a deep breath anyways & reached for my queue, bringing it to the ilu.

The tsaheylu was made, my eyes closed to feel it's heartbeat & hushed mind. It was magnificent-

"Hey demon blood!" Aonung howled out.

My ilu dove straight into the water after feeling a sudden jump of fright from my thought upon hearing his voice. With me gripping its queue as tightly as i could, the water pressure was too much for me to handle & i let go, throwing me back up to the surface.

I gasped for air as soon as my face felt the dry air, "Fuck- that skxawng is so annoying!" i growled. Trying my best to keep myself afloat with my tail & stiff feet.

Tsireya swam towards me along with the other ilus, pulling me back to the sand & pushing my wet hair away from my face. She picked up a rock resting by her feet, flinging it at her brother with furrowed brows,

"Im sorry for his behaviour Vi, would you like to try again?" she asked.

"C-can we get away from them?" i asked, coughing out the salty water.

"Of course! lets swim down to get the shells instead!" she said as she pulled me up.

Tsireya interlocked hands with me, guiding me back into the water again & slowly lowering me down. How do i tell her that im not a natural born swimmer? i don't have thick tails for swift movement or reptile eyelids to protect my eyes like them.

She then lets go of my wrist & my eyes widened, i tried to swim after her but she was too fast. She dove in deeper but i couldn't keep up, resorting into me swimming up to the surface for air.

I submerged my head again to look for Tsireya & i found her waiting by the orangey pink corals, hand gesturing for me to swim back down & meet her by the citrus reefs just ahead. But the more times i dove back down, the more times i had to swim back up after less than a minute.

After an hour of the constant frustration, i slapped the water on my final way up for fresh air. Tsireya took notice & swam up to meet my exasperate expression,