●Nîryni had no trouble catching up to the group of rowdy boys. She rose from the surface, flipping her hair away from her eyes.

Lo'ak winced knowing he wasn't supposed to be out here and that she would most definitely be pissed.

"Ryn, what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that." She looked over the oceanic boys carefully. "We're not supposed to go out this far."

Ao'nung grinned at her, "Come on forest girl. Live a little." He taunted her before taking off with his friends following after him.

"It'll be fine Ryn, trust me." Lo'ak added knowing she was close to agreeing.

Nîryni sighed heavily then nodded her head. She'd only go to keep an eye on her stupid ass boyfriend. In her mind she wondered when she had become his babysitter instead of his girlfriend.

♡

The group was now underwater watching Lo'ak attempt to hunt a fish. He was so focused that he barely paid attention to his surroundings.

Nîryni wasn't any better. She watched him closely, not noticing the small group of boys slowly sneaking away.

Lo'ak finally made a successful kill and grinned while turning around only to find just Nîryni there.

She was smiling in approval but his look of confusion made her drop it and look behind her. To their dismay, Ao'nung and his friends had left them at the mercy of the sea.

They both kicked to the surface looking around for the oceanic boys but they were nowhere to be seen. Their ilus were the only things waiting for them.

Nîryni shook her head and climbed onto her ilu with a scowl, "Of course they left. I knew this was a bad idea."

Lo'ak hopped onto his own mount, "We'll be okay. Let's just go ho-'' A sudden burst of water shot them both into the air and off the panicked creatures.

The teens flailed around wildly until they hit the water below them.

Nîryni blinked rapidly as she looked around for what attacked them. She fought against the fear burning through her but there was no doubt that she was afraid.

Lo'ak tugged her hand just as the akula made a break for them. The two teens kicked their legs as fast as possible until they reached the shelter of large coral. But the predator was relentless and bit through large chunks of their shelter.

Lo'ak pushed Nîryni through the confusing layers of coral. His only thoughts were keeping her safe before anything else.

Nîryni finally found a spot where it seemed the akula couldn't break through and pulled Lo'ak in close. They stuck closely together as they watched the animal swim away yet it stayed in the area. It felt like it was waiting for them to come up for air.

It wasn't long until Nîryni started to convulse first. She already had more trouble being underwater and in their current situation she couldn't calm herself down enough to focus on her breathing. She was terrified she would drown before being eaten. Her eyes looked for Lo'ak in hopes he could help her nerves as usual but for the first time he was completely clueless. She saw the way his body shook as he fought the need to breathe in and to her surprise he was worse off than her.

"Air?" She signed quickly wondering if they should take the risk. Lo'ak shook his head even though his shaking had gotten worse. At this rate they would drown.

It was now or never.

Their hands were still tightly locked together and at the same time they kicked off the clutter of plants and into the open waters.

Just as Nîryni thought, the akula came racing back with a open mouth yet right before the aquatic animal reached them, another gigantic predator knocked into it, scaring the fuck out of the teens who watched in shock.

It killed the akula with ease but Nîryni couldn't focus on their savior. She felt Lo'ak's grip on her hand loosen and was able to catch his eyes rolling to the back of his head. A fear and panic like none other ran through her body and she forgot about the fact she also needed air.

Her heart pumped another dose of adrenaline through her veins and she wrapped an arm around her unresponsive boyfriend. She used all her strength to swim for both of them but the surface seemed so far away.

Thankfully, she didn't have to swim for long because the same tulkun that saved them appeared underneath their feet.

♡

As soon as Nîryni broke the surface she scrambled to her boyfriend's side. She coughed up some water and gasped for the air she desperately needed. They both sat upon the back of the tulkun as it swam around in slow circles.

"Lo'ak!" Nîryni hovered over her boyfriend's face with pinned back ears. He wasn't unconscious for long so she hoped there wouldn't be too much water in his system.

She leaned down to listen to his heartbeat and to his breathing. And to her relief, both were strong.

The fresh liquid collected in her hair dripped down onto his face and when she shook him a few times, his eyes shot open. "Shit. What happened? Are you alright?" He gripped both her arms and looked around.

"I'm okay. The tulkun saved us-" It was then that the seemingly nameless creature used its many blow holes, startling them both.

Nîryni smiled in wonder and started to climb towards the tulkun's eye. She was curious to see their savior up close and wanted to thank him.

Lo'ak sloppily chased after her but chose to dive under the surface until he sat on top of a large fin.

"You saved our lives. Thank you." The tulkun let out multiple wails and clicks and Lo'ak looked down at the rusted harpoon lodged into the very fin he sat on.

"They hurt you, didn't they?" He looked up at Nîryni and waved her over. "We need to pull this out."

She quickly crouched on the fin and observed the weapon with a tilted head, "It's been there for so long. Poor baby." It hurt her to think about how much pain he was in all this time. It looked like the wound tried healing around the harpoon yet couldn't complete the process.

"On three we'll lift it, okay? One, two, three." They both grabbed it and started to pull it out carefully. It didn't take much for it to come out and they dropped it back into the ocean.

To their amazement, the large whale-like animal chirped happily and swam in a circle in front of them. He stopped closely next to them with dilated pupils.

Nîryni beamed in excitement from being so close and feeling the currents push her body back slightly. Lo'ak mirrored her giddy expression perfectly. Both were eager to learn more about their newest friend.

♡

The sun had officially set and the tired couple were plunged in the comforting light of the moon. They laid flat against their tulkun friend's back gazing at the stars silently coming off their high.

Lo'ak turned on his side to face Nîryni with furrowed eyebrows, "Why do you always follow after me?"

He was genuinely curious why she always put up with his shenanigans. Even when they were younger she was glued to his side throughout all his dangerous adventures.

"Why do you always have to break the rules?" It was something they never really took the time to discuss.

He sighed and looked back to the stars, "Approval? Recognition? I don't really know."

She didn't expect him to answer seriously and moved closer while listening to his low voice.

"Neteyam is the oldest, the golden child. Kiri is the mystery child from Grace and Tuk being the youngest is self explanatory. Then there's me. I want to be looked at the same way Neteyam is but everything I do only gets me in trouble." He wasn't naive enough to not take the blame for what happened today. But he didn't know that Ao'nung and his friends would leave them. Then again, if they didn't come out here they never would've met their friend.

Nîryni carefully intertwined their hands and allowed her eyes to look up at him, "When I look at you, I don't see anyone else but you. You don't have to put yourself in danger just to prove yourself."

The corners of his lips turned upwards and he raised her hand to them, kissing her knuckles softly. "I see you too."

Flashes of light coming from torches caught their attention and they knew it was time to go.

Nîryni splashed into the water and rested her hand onto the tulkun's fin, "You should go." She signed quickly while speaking.

Lo'ak joined her, "We will see you later."

They received a low wail in return then the animal began to dive deeper into the ocean and they watched him until they couldn't see him anymore.

♡

All Nîryni felt was relief when seeing the village finally in her line of sight. Even knowing they would be scolded she was just happy to finally be back.

There was a small crowd waiting for them to arrive and as soon as they were close to the ground, Lo'ak hopped off the tsurak first and offered his hand to Nîryni. She took it with a grim smile knowing they would be grounded for life. Lo'ak on the other hand was glaring harshly at the oceanic boy that had left them.

Jake approached them first, taking Lo'ak's attention off of Ao'nung. The man looked over the young couple with worried eyes. "They're okay, just a few scratches."

Neytiri stomped over but Nîryni looked past her. Her ears twitched from the sounds of yelling coming closer. Everything around her faded into a blur. Even the feeling of Lo'ak wrapping his arm around her side, simply went away.

She didn't know why something in her told her to focus so intensely on the voices but she listened. And listened. And listened.

Then she heard it.

A hiss so strong and deep that it rumbled in her own chest like a drum.

Ever so slowly she began to pull away from her boyfriend until she could hear just who was yelling. Finally the crowd broke and the air in her lungs left her.

There was Sìkve. Bandaged up yet arguing with what she assumed to be a healer trying to convince him to rest.

"You don't understand the hell I've been through! I need to see that she's okay. Now. I can get checked out later."

Nîryni felt her throat start to close up while her eyes watered. There was no longer any confusion on why she was drawn into that particular voice. Her heart painfully ached with excitement? Anxiety? She couldn't tell but her body moved on its own. She pushed past Neytiri, causing the conversation she was ignoring to stop, and lept towards her father.

"Dad?"

"Nîryni..." Sìkve whipped around to face her just as she jumped into his arms. She nestled into his chest fighting back the tears prickling the corner of her eyes. His arms felt like a safe haven made just for her. All the bad and evil couldn't reach her when she was in them. There was no greater feeling than finally knowing that he was okay.

Sìkve was no better at containing his emotions. All the pain and suffering he went through, all the blood he had shed, and the agonizing trip here had vanished the moment his daughter was in his arms.

He held the back of her head and closed his eyes, thanking Eywa and his late wife for guiding him back to his child. When his eyes opened back up he could see Tonowari making sure everyone gave them privacy so he nodded at the man thankfully.

Nîryni then squeezed him a little too tightly making him grunt from the pain. She let him go and went to pull away but he kept her close.

She could feel and see how badly he had been injured. "Dad...what happened to you?"

"I kept my promise."●

◇A/N◇

{So i didn't write them having fun with Payakan just bc im lazy as fuck lmfao sorry yall}