ᴀʟʟɪᴀɴᴄᴇ | ᴀᴏɴᴜɴɢ

╰•★★ chapter 9 ★★•╯

Tuk

Vida's POV

My scaly tail glides though the water of the rock pool. The current of the water softly pushes my hair back and my queue flicks back and forth.

Over the past few days, I have been regaining the lost muscle in my tail, just by swimming laps around the small pond.

My gills open up and enable me to breathe underwater as I study all the tiny little pebbles at the bottom.

I begin to zone out and my mind wanders to Aonung.

Where is he? He hasn't been here at all today, did something happen? Is he okay?

Or did he get bored of me...

No, Aonung wouldn't do that.

A small squeal captures my attention and I lift my head just high enough above the water to see where it came from.

A little girl came running out of the leaves, in her hand she held a little figurine of an Ikran. Her skin was a darker shade than Aonung's, and her eyes are a deep amber. She's cute.

All of a sudden she trips over and scraps her knee on the ground. Small beads of red blood start to drip down her leg, I notice her bottom lip start to tremble and her eyes tear up.

An urge to comfort her bubbles in my chest and my voice speaks without meaning to.

"Don't cry." I quickly seal my mouth shut, too afraid to compel her.

But her head snaps over in my direction and her eyes lock onto me, sharp, alert.

Like a warrior. She's a tough little one.

"Who are you!" She wipes her tears away.

"Vida." I answer.

There are extremely rare cases where a being is able to withstand the compulsion of a Water Woman, and it looks like this little warrior is part of that rare exception.

"Um...hello, Vida. I'm Tuktirey! But you can call me Tuk." She takes a cautious step towards me and her eyes light up when she sees my tail. "You're a mermaid!" She screams.

A mermaid? What's a mermaid?

"My Dad, Toruk Makto, told me many stories about the mermaids back on his planet! He said that they were definitely real and that he wasn't lying about them at all!" She beams. "I knew they were real! He also told me about unicorns, they are like Pale! Do you like Pale?"

"Uh yes?" I ask, slightly confused. I have no idea what a Pale is.

"I love them too! Well, I love them when they don't throw you off." She rolls her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Tuk?" I ask, I place my hands on the side of the rock pool.

She sits on the edge, like she doesn't even care about my presence or the danger she could be putting herself in, I wasn't going to hurt her but you never know who would.

"I asked my siblings, Lo'ak, Neteyam and Kiri if they wanted to play with me but they ignored me so I decided that I didn't need anyone and that I could have my own adventures!" Her ears flick around happily and I give her a sad smile.

"You should be careful, it's dangerous out here." I warn.

"I know! But it's okay now because I'm with you." Her fangs pop out from behind her teeth. "Let's be friends!"

She holds her hand out to me, I look at it confused but then she grabs my hand and shakes it with her own.

I laugh at the silly gesture.

She pulls her hand away and giggles when a small line of slime connects from our hands.

"Sorry..." I pull my hand away awkwardly.

"No! It's ok, it's nice to have a real friend for once! Most of the kids at my old clan were mean to me. But my mum said they were just jealous because I was a pretty princess."

"You are pretty, Tuk. I know why they would be jealous. But that doesn't make it okay for them to be bully's. What are their names? And where do they live?" I blink innocently.

"Oh! Your so nice! I think your really pretty too. Me and my family used to be in the Omatitcaya clan in the forest, but we had to leave because bad guys were trying to find us." She looks at her fidgeting hands.

A horn blows in the distance, signalling dinner time.

Tuk sighs. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Vida."

"Tuk! Don't tell anyone you talked to me please. It could get me in deep trouble." I plead.

She smiles at me. "Okay! Bye, Vida!" She scurries off into the brush and I'm left alone once again.

Alone.