𝒊𝒙

009, sky people

          OVER THE course of the next few days, Xana and Aonung were always seen with each other, sometimes Rotxo would be creeping around somewhere, other times he was trying to win over Kiri who was far to stubborn for her own good. But recently, Xana felt like her body was in a knot. She knew something was coming, she could feel it.

          "Are you okay?" Aonung broke the girl out of her trance as he rubbed his thumb along their interlocked hands. Xana hummed in response. Aonung opened his mouth to speak, but slammed it back shut as he noticed a big crowd forming. Xana seemed to notice it aswell as she dragged Aonung towards it. They made their way through to the front, Xana immediately spotting her father and Neteyam who seemed to be trying to communicate with Ronal and Tonowari.

"My spirit sister and her baby have been murdered by the sky people!" Ronal shouted as Xana's eyes widened. The crowd grew louder.

"This war has come to us!" Tonowari shouted. "We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people. It was over the horizen, far away, now it has come to us!" Maori chants now erupted through the crowd. Xana could see her father attempting to get their attention, but the man was failing miserably. "You gotta understand how the sky people think, they don't care about the families!" Jake shouted, turning towards the crowd.

"We do not answer to the sky people!" A voice came from beside Xana and Aonung. "Listen to him!" Neteyam shouted but his voice didn't reach further than the front row. "The sky people are not going to stop, this is only the beginning you gotta tell your tulkun to leave! You gotta tell them to go far away!" Jake turned all of his attention towards Tonowari and Ronal, knowing they was the only ones who could control the crowd.

"Leave? You live among us, and you learn nothing?!" Ronal exclaimed, the woman clearly becoming angrier by the moment. "We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" Another Metkayina from the crowd shouted as Māori chants flowed through the croud. "No, no, no, no! If you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you! They will destroy everything you love!" Jake shouted his eyes scanning over everyone. They lingered on Xana and Aonung for a moment longer as his eyes travelled down the their interlocked hands. The duo was quick to seperate them as Xana awkwardly smiled at her father. He opted on ignoring it, he had more things to worry about.

"Listen to my father, he speaks the truth!" Neteyam exclaimed as Jake took the red tracker from the boys hand, the crowd quickly dying down as Jake helped it up for everyone to see. "You tell the tulkun that if they are hit by one of these then they are marked for death. You call for me, i'll silence it. Saving there lives that's all that matters, right? Saving your family?" Tonowari and Ronal shared a knowing look.

"Tell the tulkun." Tonowari ordered as everyone quickly scurried away. Xana's face scrunched up in confusion as she watched her twin brother run the opposite way to everyone elder. "What is he doing." Xana mumbled, leaving Aonung's side as her and Neteyam ran after Lo'ak.

         "Lo'ak! What are you doing?!" Xana shouted watching as her brother grabbed on of the ilu saddles. "No way your going anywhere, baby brother." Neteyam realised what he was doing as he placed the saddle on the ilu. Xana stopped beside her older brother.

           "I have to warn Payakan about the trackers." Lo'ak responded. "No, you've got to keep you skxawng ass here." Neteyam shot back. "He's outcast. There's no one to warn him but me."

          "Bro." Neteyam sighed, playfully putting his hand on Lo'ak's head. "Why do you always have to make things so hard?" Lo'ak slapped Neteyam's hand off of his head, scoffing. "No. You mean why can't I be the perfect son like you? The perfect little solider. Well i'm not you! Okay, i'm not you. He's my brother!"

          "Oh he's your brother? No i'm your brother! Neteyam shouted back as Lo'ak rolled his eyes, jumping into the water as he landed onto the ilu. "Skxawng!" Xana hissed, not sparing a second glance at Aonung and Tsireya, who had just jumped onto the deck as she hopped onto an ilu, speeding after Lo'ak.

          She passed Kiri and Tuk, not sparing her two sisters a second glance.

✧˖*°࿐

"Payakan! Brother!" Lo'ak shouted towards Payakan as the tulkun came closer to Lo'ak, whaling in pain. "What is wrong?" Lo'ak signed, worry engulfing the boys body. Payakan turned around, revealing the red tracker injected into him. "Shit! Stay calm, stay calm!" Lo'ak shouted, jumping onto Payakan as he tugged at the tracker. "Shit!" Lo'ak shouted again, noticing two ships in the distance.

Sky people.

          Xana finally caught up to her brother, jumping onto Payakan as she immediately noticed the problem. The group followed her actions as they rushed to Lo'ak's side, spotting the tracker. Neteyam looked over to Lo'ak as everyone began pulling at the tracker. "Call it in! Call dad! Go do it!"Neteyam took Lo'ak's place as Lo'ak stood on a higher point of Payakan, his eyes landing back into the ships. "Dad do you copy? It's eagle eye do you copy?" Lo'ak spoke, his voice full of concern. Lo'ak and Jake shared a short conversation before the he hurried back over to the group, helping them once again.

✧˖*°࿐

"It's getting closer!" Tsireya exclaimed. Xana let go of the tracker, having an idea. She hopped back onto the ilu that stayed around. She grabbed the rope from her belt, tying it to the ilu. "Nung!" She shouted as Aonung lifted his head up, making eye contact with the girl. "Tie this onto the tracker." She threw the other end of the rope towards Aonung, who caught it with ease. He quickly tied it to the tracker, nodding towards Xana.

"Pull!" Neteyam shouted to the group as Xana started trying to swim away. After a few moments, the tracker fell into the water along with the group. They all quickly arose again as Xana pulled the tracker towards her, grabbing it.

"Go that way, i'll throw them off!" Xana shouted, holding the red tracker in her hand. "Drive on!" Lo'ak shouted to Payakan, who immediately swam away. "Stay safe." Aonung shouted towards Xana, watching as she rode away.

          Neteyam followed after Xana, refusing to leave his little sister alone. Several vibrations were sent through the water from the sky people. Xana dropped the red tracker, her eyes widening slightly as they began shooting at the water. Neteyam grabbed the tracker, shoving it into a plant close by so it stopped moving — alerting the sky people that what they thought was a tulkun, was dead.

M speaks !

do you guys understand whati did