CHAPTER VI:

( breathe through the distance )

      THE ONCE-POURING RAIN HAD CEASED TO EXIST ONCE THE TEENS HAD RETURNED TO THE VILLAGE. Su'leio had probably earned more splotches of mud on her with every slip and fall she endured but it hadn't mattered to her spirits had been raised with the excitement she felt in the rainforest.

      Neteyam and Leio walked side by side, haste in their steps but no falter in the exhilaration they felt from splashing in the rain with each other. She had been smiling, a bright one that reached up to her cheeks and created creases in the corners of her eyes that had been the shape of crescent moons. It was a pleasant sight for Neteyam to see, as rare as it could be, but he was sure to keep his eyes trained on it until it faded.

      "Su'leio!" A voice called from deeper in the village past a few Mauri pods.

      Her smile had faltered at this, not completely gone, but enough so it didn't reach her eyes anymore. As they continued to walk, the sight of a man standing with his arms crossed had come into Neteyam's sight. He was tall, surely taller than his father, face stern as if it had never known any other ways of expression, and his eyes seemed to be daggers pointed straight at the duo.

      "That is my father," she answered the question that had taken place on his face. "Stay here and I'll be back." He nodded immediately at her words and came to a stop in his steps while she continued.

      "Where are you going?" he questioned, the girl not even finished walking up to him.

      "We were on our way to where Tsireya and I have been helping Toruk Makto's children with learning how to breathe," Leio responded.

      Mai'to stared at his daughter noticing how much filth she had on herself—cheeks, hands, arms, legs, feet, neck, stomach, and without a doubt her backside as well. Then his eyes drifted to Neteyam. It was an observation anyone could make that the two were sides of the same shell with their matching mud splatters littering their bodies.

"Be on your way before you are late, but know I don't want you to be around them any more than you have to."

She nodded attentively, feeling Neteyam's eyes seeping through her spine and being aware her father had been glaring at the boy without even turning around.

Rushing to turn as soon as he had dismissed her, Leio grasped Neteyam's wrist and dragged him to be on their way quickly before her father's cold stare she inherited could ever even pierce the boy.

      THE DUO HAD ONLY BEEN SLIGHTLY TARDY TO THE GATHERING THEY HAD BEEN REQUIRED TO ATTEND—everyone getting situated in a way that they could have snuck by if it weren't for Tsireya.

"Leio, where were you?" her friend asked, eyes drifting to the mud at her elbows.

"I was walking a trail and lost track of time," Leio answered simply.

Lo'ak eyed his brother who sat to the left of Leio searching for an answer to his own whereabouts. "I found her," he shrugged.

"And the mud?" Rotxo jokingly gave his input into the conversation.

"It was raining," the two answered as though it had been rehearsed, a sigh leaving Leio's mouth as she knew Tsireya was sure to bring it back up when they get back to the village. "Can we please start?" Su'leio begged.

"Okay," Tsireya giggled. "Everyone relax, unclench your jaw, ease your shoulders. Breathe in," she calmed her voice, the teens following her instructions. "And breathe out." The free divers exhaled deep breaths lasting longer than the newcomers. "Imagine flickering a flame, you must slow your heartbeat." She moved her hands to Lo'ak's abdomen, "breathe in," she instructed, "and breathe out."

He did as he was told yet his attention had been far from learning to breathe and more focused on the girl in front of him.

"Your heartbeat is very fast, try to focus," Tsireya stated.

"Sorry," Lo'ak mumbled.

Rotxo and Su'leio had made eye contact first, their facial expressions matching one another fully knowing that the teens beside the girl had clearly been smitten with each other. Kiri had understood what they had been looking at each other for when Neteyam and Leio were the ones to share a knowing look with each other which earned an eye roll from her.

      "Should we put it into practice?" Rotxo suggested. "Ride our ilu through the reef and see how long you can go?"

      "Definitely," Leio answered. She thought about what her father had said, I don't want you to be around them any more than you have to, her father would have wanted her to go home. She didn't need to go swimming around the reef with them. In truth, she didn't even need to help them at all. But she wanted to. She wanted to be around them, learn more about them, be close with them, and be friends with them.

      Besides, what Mai'to didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

NOTE. #fillerchapter