CHAPTER III:

( riding lessons )

"THESE ARE ILU," Aonung began. Another day had passed since the Sully family had arrived in the Awa'atlu village and their introduction to the Metkyina transportation system was next on their list of things to learn. "If you want to live here, you must ride."

Su'leio stood beside Tsireya, both of them with their attention away from Aonung and on the circling ilu. "Maybe we should go in groups to divide and conquer?" Leio absentmindedly suggested. The group had mumbled agreements at this. She finally looked away from the ilu at the group with her. Neteyam's younger brother had been watching Tsireya with a glint of admiration in his eye, she bit back a smile at this. "Okay, you two can come with me," she pointed at Neteyam who was holding his youngest sister. "And you two can be a pair," she said to Tsireya and the younger Sully brother.

      "And what about us?" Aonung questioned with his hands on his hips speaking about himself and his friends behind him.

      Already moving closer to Neteyam, Su'leio shrugged, "go diving? I just wanted to take your spot as an instructor because you are the opposite of helpful." Aonung rolled his eyes as his friends laughed at her remark but she couldn't seem to be bothered to give them any more attention. "Come on, they won't be able to judge anything if we move farther away," she said to Neteyam.

Sparing a glance at her best friend, Su'leio could easily see how much Tsireya had appreciated the group up with the bashful body language she had begun once the other brother had gotten near her.

"ILU ARE OUR WAY FOR GETTING AROUND THE REEF," Su'leio began as Neteyam mounted the ilu. "In a way, they are our versions of your ikran." She had soon learned the name of one more Sully child, the youngest, as Neteyam called her to be Tuk. She had been standing beside Su'leio, eyes wide with the excitement of seeing her eldest brother ride an unknown creature.

      "Feel what you think is right for this first time and when you come back I can help you correct it," she stated.

      Neteyam nodded silently, uncertainty written all over his face not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the girl. He closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling the salty air of the sea, feeling the heartbeat of the ilu, and then he was off. The boy dove into the water going farther than Su'leio would admit she thought he would, but as soon as she saw the ilu leap out of the water, she knew the boy was done.

      It was such a freeing moment to come out of the water while riding an ilu and then diving back in, but for Neteyam, the only freedom he felt was when his hand released from the handle and he had been dismounted off from the animal, thrown into the water.

Tuk had loudly begun to laugh at her brother, Su'leio subtly joining in with a hand covering her mouth to somewhat silence the sound once they saw the boy resurface.

"You went farther than I thought you would!" Leio shouted her confession so he could hear.

"Should I take that as a compliment?" he shouted back while keeping his head out of the water while making his way back to the girls.

Su'leio shrugged, a grin teasing at her lips, "I would." She went on to begin making clicking sounds from the back of the throat searching for the ilu as Neteyam continued to swim back.

Once he returned, Leio had gotten Tuk to pet the ilu while waiting for her brother and she couldn't help the smile that painted itself on her cheeks when he stood for a moment with his hands on his hips catching his breath.

"Again?" the girl asked. He nodded.

      At a distance from the trio, Tsireya had stood back away from the Sully brother she had taken a liking to to watch his first experience with riding an ilu. He held on tightly but as soon as the animal picked up speed he had been forced to let go and let his body turn in odd directions.

      "Was that Lo'ak?" Tuk asked her brother with a giggle.

"Probably," he laughed.

"Neteyam," Su'leio caught his attention, her need to be a leader faltering at the sight of Tsireya sharing a smile with her.

The yellow-eyed boy mounted the ilu once more, the bond being more natural even if it was his second time. Su'leio watched him, his movements, how he was trying to make it feel as natural as possible. She shook her head, the back of her hand flicking at the small of his back to make him lean in further.

A crease in between his eyes formed. "What was that for?"

"I'm helping you," she stated as if it were obvious. The girl turned her head to see Tuk with her attention elsewhere, face in the water surely watching an animal burrow within the sand. "Now, come on," she asserted, hand hitting him in the same spot again.

Neteyam faced forward, the corners of his mouth twitching up. Leio analyzed his stance trying to find errors. She placed her right hand on the back of his head beginning to lower it to get closer to the ilu, her left hand going to the handle where his remained. "Keep your thumb from going under, for now, it will hurt less if you let go quickly."

      The boy turned his head to face her, their faces being inches away from touching as he could notice the small flecks of blue in her mauve irises. She moved away, all contact ceasing once she saw the way he had been looking at her.

      Tuk splashed beside her, breathing heavily for air before putting her head back in the water. Their moment had been short-lived as Su'leio had gone back into her instructor mindset.

      "Go."