after having gotten into a fight with the metkayina chief's sons aonung and rotxo, leading to quite the scolding from his dad, neteyam needed a break

he was used to his father making him responsible for not looking after his younger siblings, especially lo'ak, the 'troublemaker' of the sully family, as if his father hadn't been a total rebel as a teenager himself

but how was this his fault?

obviously, punching the eldest son of the chief in the nose was not the most strategic move to make as a newcomer trying to get integrated into the tribe

yet, he didn't regret it as much as he'd told his father he did; aonung had picked on kiri, his younger adoptive sister, so naturally, her older brother's had to step in

with a busted eyebrow, sticky from the dried blood, and a bruised lip he stalked down the beach to the small square of palm trees; the only thing that came remotely close to the solace of the forest back home

his braids were still damp from when he'd rolled around in the waves, trying to aim a punch at fishlips, the water here stayed awfully long in his dark braids

the warm sand under his feet crunched as he walked along the shore, one or the other wave washing around his ankles occasionally, water splashing up his legs

before he'd reached the shadows of the patch of trees, his ears perked up and twitched slightly as he heard a noise from the water to his right

turning his head in the direction of the sound his eyes landed on you

if it were anybody else emerging out of the waves, he'd have left as quickly as he could to avoid possible conversation in a moment in which he wanted to be alone, but it wasn't

he was fine with you

"hi," he mumbled quietly as he noticed your gaze, god, your gorgeous eyes, letting himself fall down on the soft and warm sand to give his mind a break