seven

"Thank you deeply stelle'", said the old woman.

Stelle' had helped her carry her things to her hut as she was now old and weaker. "It is no problem, Ramii. Anytime you need help please do not hesitate to call for me."

The woman placed a shaky hand on stelle's face. "You are so kind and strong hearted. You will truly make a good leader. I'm just sad I won't be able to see it."

"Do not say that, Ramii. You are still healthy and have more time than you think. I will come by and check on you regularly ok?"

"I appreciate that, dear but I understand you have many responsibilities and a busy schedule. If you can make time for me that is great but do not tire yourself out. You are still young and must enjoy it while you can. Please my stelle'. For me."

Ramii had known stelle' since she was born, having been a very good friends with Ronal's mother. She always made food for her when she was little and was often around the house when she could make the time.

A little girl came from inside the woman's hut holding a flower crown. She ran to stelle' and reached up to try and place it on her head being far too small to do so.

Stelle' bent down so the girl could reach. " thank you."

Ramii only smiled at the sight. "That is my grand daughter. Always gifting people her crafts. Reminds me of you."

"She is beautiful.", stelle's said. "I must get going but I will come by tommorow."

"Ok, dear."

Stelle' left. Training had started again which meant her schedule was even busier now as she had to fit training the sully's in between meeting with her family and doing her acts of service daily.

It wasn't a problem though. she had learned to hustle and gotten better at multitasking, a good skill that would come to good use.

The sully's, tsireya, and announg were already at the beach. It seemed that Stelle' was always the one they waited on. It wasn't her fault she was always rushing everywhere.

"Hello everyone.", she greeted as she made their way to them.

"Great! Now that everyone is here we can start! We will be doing more breathing exercises today." Tsireya had planned everything herself, stelle' being too busy and Announg uninterested. Stelle' admired her taking the initiative to plan everything out to help the sully's. "We will be throwing a rock to the bottom of the reef and you must go and get it in one try, holding your breath." It seemed simple enough. Maybe not as much for the sully's though. "Tuk and kirri, you are with announg, Neteyam you are with stelle' and Lo'ak you are with me."

Stelle gave her a look. Of course she was still convinetly pairing Neteyam and her together and then pairing herself with Lo'ak.

She looked for a good rock that would sink to the ground faster and met with Neteyam by the water. "Hello partner."

He smiled. "Hello partner."

Stelle' called for her Ilu and they rode them a bit deeper out into the reef where the ocean floor would be further from the surface.

"This spot seems fine.", said stelle', stopping and getting of her Ilu.

Neteyam got off of his. "Don't go too hard on me alright?"

Stelle' chuckled. "Where's the fun in that?"

"You love to watch me suffer.", he joked, getting ready.

She tossed the rock into the ocean and lowered her head underwater to watch it sink. Neteyam followed after it, using his arms to push himself deeper and deeper with his eye on the prize. There was no way he would fail this. Not in front of her.

To his relief he still had enough air by the time he managed to get ahold of the rock and began to ascend. The trip up was easier, the water naturally pulling him upwards to float.

"I got it!", he cheered waving the rock in the air once he'd resurfaced.

"You did it!" Stelle' was genuinely happy to see him succeed. Wrapping her hands around his as he held the rock. She'd done it without thinking, quickly retracting them afterwards. "Good job."

-

" I like your bracelets.", stelle pointed at the blue beaded jewelry Neteyam sported around his wrists.

"I made them myself.", he said proudly.

They sat at a table eating lunch together. They had finished training earlier seeing as Neteyam had succeeded first try.

"They match your vibe."

He turned his head to look at her, lips formed into a smile. "My vibe?"

"Yeah, you're energy or whatever.", she tried to explain.

"And what exactly is my vibe?", he asked, genuinely curious as to what sort of impression he had on her.

"Hmm." She thought of how to word it. "You remind me of the color blue. Not because you are blue.", she clarified. Neteyam chuckled at that.

"but because you are calm and responsible. You have many layers to you. You are complex and interesting." , she continued.

Neteyam's smile had not fallen since she started speaking. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Stelle' took more bites of the fish.

"Well you remind me of the color white.", he said.

"And why is that?", she inquired.

"Because you are clean and pure and perfect."

It was stelle's turn to smile. She looked down at her plate, cutting the fish to try and distract herself from what he'd said in hopes of getting rid of the very noticeable blush that had painted her cheeks. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." He thought she looked rather beautiful when she looked away and her face grew a soft shade of pink around her cheeks. He liked having that effect on her.

It was quiet until the rest arrived to the table with their lunch.

"And what were you two talking about?", tsireya asked.

Stelle' was unsure of what to say. "Uh."

"Colors.", said Neteyam.

Tsireya was confused but decided against questioning it, engaging in conversation with Lo'ak.

"I like your flower crown, Stelle'!" , tuk complimented. "Where did you get it?"

"A little girl made it for me. Isn't it pretty?"

"Where have you been stelle' we miss you.", kirri made known. "Tuk's grown her collection. Tell her tuk."

Tuk smiled excitedly. She hadn't even touched her food as she began to converse. "Yeah! I went out to the reef with kirri yesterday and we found some cool shells by some flowers. I can show you later."

Stelle' didn't know she would have such a big influence on the little girl. It made her feel good that somebody liked the same things as her and admired what she did and the things she owned. "That would be great!"

"Collection?", Neteyam inquired in confusion.

"Stelle' showed us her collection of cool things she finds in the ocean and now tuk started one too.", kirri elaborated.

"Oh.", Neteyam nodded before facing stelle' again. "How come you've never shown me your collection?"

"Not everything is about you, netty.", said kirri, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

"I'll show you anytime." Stelle' whispered to him.

"Id love to see it." He smirked.

-

Stelle' rushed to her parent's hut after lunch, sad she wasn't able to linger by the beach with the group as they played games. She seemed to be doing a lot of rushing lately.

Tonowari awaited inside the hut. "Stelle'. Good of you to make it."

"Sorry, father. I was finishing up lunch."

"I have someone I would like you to meet." It was then and only then that stelle' realized there were other people she had never seen before in the hut.

Two adults. A woman and man. And what looked to be like their son. And all of the sudden everything made sense. She knew the purpose for the boy's presence and did not like it one bit.

DRAMMAAAAA. JUST WAIT TILL NETEYAM FINDS OUT TONOWARI IS SETTING HIS DAUGHTER UP WITH SOMEONE WHO ISNT HIM 😬🫣