𝙏𝙄𝙇' 𝙒𝙀 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏. 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚. 𝙞 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪

My eyes shot open, stars of blinking lights flashed my eyes & i was running running out of air. Aonung dragged me out of the water, shaking me & lightly tapping my cheek to wake me up.

As soon as my vision was coming back to me, blurred image of the starry night sky & Aonung's teal silhouette was towering over me. He chanted the great mother's name & rubbed my palms together to create friction for heat. But i could barely keep my eyes open for long,

"Violet please open your eyes, say something to me" he quavered, cupping my cheek as i felt a tear drop land on my nose.

"A-aonung?" i wearily answered.

"Yes, yes im here! open your eyes! im here!" he brought himself closer.

"Whats going on..? are we o-out of the water?" i asked as i breathed in the dry air.

"You were in there for too long, it was unnatural! whats worse is that you were still in a trance when i removed your queue.. what happened?! what did you see?" he asked still in distress.

"I-i.. i um.."

Should i even tell him? but what am i suppose to say? that i didn't see Neteyam & caught the both of us mating back at the ship? that instead, he became the father of my child? what about Xenía?
its not something you can just say to a person.

"Violet?" he tapped me once more.

I winced at the pain on my chest, bringing my hand up to soothe the area as i rested my head back onto Aonung's arms.

He took notice that i was far too weak to talk or keep my eyes open for another minute. So he carried me in his arms & onto his ilu, slowly riding back to the village as his free hand gently stroked my hair. The cool air flowed over the sea, making me fall asleep to the sounds of waves crashing.

We soon reached the roots, Aonung carefully lifted me up to the ground & checked to see if i was still conscious.

"Im taking you home alright sleepyhead?" he asked.

"mm- okay" i mumbled.

He carried me bridal style, walking me back to the bouncy walkway. Upon hearing his footsteps, Tsireya suddenly ran out of my pod-

"Aonung! what did i tell you?! you're so stubborn brother! where did you both go? what happened to her now?-" she bombarded him with questions & soon murmurs from the other pods came to light.

"Shh! not now! lets take her inside before anyone else notices!" he whispered.

The 2 siblings carried me in & placed me down onto the blanket Tsireya loaned me when i was staying at the secluded hut.

"Now explain" she demanded her brother as she sat beside me.

To be honest, i was wide awake & i wanted to scream my heart out after what i experienced with the Spirit Tree. But i was also curious to know what were his intentions & how they both communicated behind closed doors,

"Brother, why are your eyes watery? what happened?" Tsireya asked in a gentle tone.

"I-i really thought i fucked up badly by accidentally killing her Reya.. all i wanted was to apologise to her" he said.

"what do you mean 'accidentally'.. killing her?" her tone switched as she got up.

He explained to her about our trip to the Spirit Tree, that it was purely an innocent gift for me to see my mate if that was possible. How he was confused over what i saw that made me sink lower & lower into the trance.