chapter 2: swallowing the fishies

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'Neteyam, you have to close your mouth!' Ngalu yelled at the boy from afar. They had started their lessons earlier that morning. They were teaching the Omatikaya kids how to mount an Ilu. To Ngalus surprise, the younger one named Tuk caught on pretty quickly. She was now teaching Neteyam, who needed a little more time. Aonung was busy watching everyone and was practically doing nothing, which annoyed Ngalu extremely. Tsireya was busy with the younger boy which Ngalu learned to be called Lo'ak. They seemed quite close from her view.

Neteyam was struggling to stay on his Ilu, the current hit him too hard everytime he tried to swim away. When the Ilu threw him off, he grunted and threw his head back in annoyance. Ngalu came swimming towards him, slightly giggling at his actions. 'If you keep your mouth open you will swallow the fish.' She laughed.

'No, not the fishies!' Tuk yelled from a few feet away from the pair.

'Don't worry Tuk, she was just joking.' He looked at Ngalu and shook his head with a smile on his face. He seemed to have smiled an awful lot these past hours.

She smiled and came closer to Neteyam. 'I was not.' She said, whispering in his ear. His ear twitched as soon as Ngalus warm breath hit his right ear. She could feel those two familiar eyes again. She turned around quickly to meet eyes with the other brother, Lo'ak. He rolled her eyes at her and focussed back on Tsireya, listening to her soothing voice. 'What is his problem?' She muttered under her breath. But not too soft for nobody to hear.

'He's always like that. Don't worry.' He wasn't. Lo'ak was really acting up. He used to be so humorous and acted like a little troublemaker. It seemed like he had left those qualities in their home in the forest that day they left.

Neteyam didn't want to tell her that, though. It was their second day and he didn't want to make her feel like it was her fault. Neteyam shot a look at his bother and continued to try mounting his Ilu again.

Ngalu shrugged it off. 'Remember to keep your mouth shut this time.' She giggled.

'I'll try.' He grinned. What he didn't do, was listen to Ngalu. When he dove back in, his mouth was wide open and Ngalu was pretty sure she saw him swallow a small peice of kelp. She shook her head while laughing at his actions. He dove back up, coughing.

Ngalu only laughed harder at this. 'What did I tell you?' She playfully raised an eyebrow while he rolled his eyes.

'Alright Alu, you were right.' That was the first time he called her that. He didn't know how she would react. He heard Tuk say it and he liked the sound of it. She smiled, it was a sign he was comfortable with her and she felt pleased with herself.

He coughed one last time, making the small piece of kelp shoot out of his throat. Tuk saw and nearly chocked on her own saliva while laughing. Ngalu almost fell down while laughing at him as well.

Tsireya spotted the two of them laughing and smiled. 'They look kind of good together, do they not?' She looked at Lo'ak, who looked pissed.

'Can we continue, please.' He looked straight forward, not caring about Ngalu or Neteyam. Truth be told, he couldn't care less about anything these Metkayina did. He was so angry that he had to leave his home, leave his friends. Neteyam agreed fully with him but now he seemed very happy to be here. He felt betrayed by his own family. At least Kiri agreed with him and sticked by his side. Which he understood completely, Spider being taken by the Sky People and the Sully's not doing anything about it. They'd both thought that they would at least attempt to try and get him back. They lived on like nothing happened. It angered Lo'ak, and Neteyam picking those fish people's side only made it worse. He had way too much fun for Lo'ak's liking.

He decided to look for Kiri, her being the only one to understand him. But to his surprise, he couldn't find her anywhere. 'Where's Kiri?' He yelled at everyone.

'Who?' Aonung asked unbothered.

'Kiri?' Ngalu asked to herself, realising the girl was gone. Shit. 'Kiri!' She yelled and dove straight down underwater. The others followed her and all of them looked behind rocks, coral and kelp. They couldn't find her.

Tuk stayed up with Tsireya, making sure they didn't lose her as well.

Once they were underwater for quite a long time, according to Lo'ak and Neteyam, the boys dove up for some air.

Ngalu looked confused while Aonung signed to her. What are they doing?

No idea. Ngalu signed back at him with a puzzled expression.

They suck at diving. Aonung laughed at himself while Ngalu hit him in the head.

Ngalu signed back. Shut up, they're learning. The two boys dove back down again. Ngalu signed at them to follow her. Come this way, she could be here.

The boys looked as confused as ever. They raised their shoulders with their arms up, indicating that they had no idea what she meant.

She just pointed at the way they should go and they luckily understood. Once they made their way past Ngalu and Aonung, Lo'ak pointed upward to Neteyam who did the same to show Ngalu. Both of them swam up and took a big gasp of air.

This time, the Ngalu and Aonung decided to follow them up to see what was wrong. 'You are very bad divers, maybe good at swinging through trees,' Ngalu cut him off and smacked his head.

'You guys are too fast.' Lo'ak told them annoyed.

'Come on bro, we don't speak this finger talk. We don't know what you're saying.' Neteyam tried to imitate them communicating underwater.

Ngalu sighed, realizing they probably don't use that in the forest. She was kind of disappointed in herself for not figuring that out sooner. 'I will teach you, but now we have to hurry. We don't know what happened. The sea kan be dangerous for people who have never been in it.' She told them. 'On the count of three. One, two-' They all took a deep breath and dove back down.

After a few minutes of searching, Ngalu finally found Kiri. She was already riding her Ilu! Ngalu laughed to herself underwater to the fact that she learned it by herself and the two boys needed all the help they could get. She was impressed and quite proud to say the least.

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