Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 09: Glowing Fish

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Tsireya had come shortly after the argument between Marali and Neteyam and told the family that she and a couple of other people decided to dive for shells. She asked if the family would like to join them so that they could maybe find sea shells they wanted or a shell to add to their song cord.

Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk agreed as they thought it would be a new thing to experience. "Of course, we just have to go find Neteyam and Marali," Kiri said with an amused expression on her face. Tsireya looked at all of the siblings curiously but decided against asking.

"Okay! I'll wait for all of you by the beach." Tsireya said cheerfully. The family waved goodbye to the Metkayina girl and then looked at each other. "I'll go find Neteyam. If you find Marali?" Kiri suggests.

Lo'ak smirked and nodded his head.

"What about me? I wanna help!" Tuk whined, looking back and forth between her siblings. Lo'ak and Kiri looked at her, then at each other before dashing out of the Mauri pod. The little girl looked at them in disbelief before turning back to her parents. Jake and Neytiri watched entertained by their children's behavior. They turned their attention to their youngest child and smiled at what they saw. Tuk stood before them with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.

"It's not fair! They always leave me behind!" Tuk cried out, complaining to her parents. The two adults looked at her with a sad look. They felt bad for their youngest child, as she didn't have any other friends besides her siblings and Marali. "Come, Tuk. Your mom and I will take you to Tsireya, okay?" Her father soothed.

~~~~

Lo'ak walked alongside the beach on the opposite side of the island, looking for Marali. He was growing frustrated at the girl for being so difficult to find. The boy was getting ready to give up when he heard a frustrated groan.

As he walked further down the path, he saw Marali aggressively throwing rocks at the water, trying to skip them. The girl was failing pathetically, as the rock would only skip two times before plopping into the water. Lo'ak slowly snuck up behind the girl, preparing to scare her.

"If you do what I think you're about to do, I'll punch you so hard your ancestors will feel it," Marali said, not even looking back to see who it was. The boy walked up to Marali and stood beside her. "How did you know I was trying to scare you?" Lo'ak asked bewildered.

He knew he wasn't the best at keeping quiet, but he was on the sand, and it didn't make a noise when you walked across it. Lo'ak looked at the girl who hadn't even so much as glanced at the boy beside her.

"Lo'ak, I could hear you from a mile away." The girl deadpanned slightly lifting her lips into a smile. Lo'ak rolled his eyes disappointed that he failed to scare the girl, but then softly smiled as well. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking at his best friend.

"I'm okay, just frustrated." She said, finally looking at Lo'ak, "I'm annoyed at Neteyam and your father, of course."

"Why are you annoyed at my dad?" He asked, confused.

"Your dad insinuated that your brother and I are sleeping with each other," she said, a scowl on her face. The boy next to her tried to hold his laughter back. He did, but after a few minutes of holding back the demons trying to escape, he had failed.

Marali's scowl deepened when she heard Lo'ak laughing uncontrollably. "It's not funny," she gritted out. This only made him laugh harder. Tears were now present in his eyes, and he was holding his stomach in pain. "I- "I can't believe that my dad asked if you and N-Neteyam were sleeping together," He said, now holding his stomach in pain.