Blood and Water | Neteyam

Cave of Tears ∼ 12

The next four days were dedicated to getting the group to learn how to breathe and how to hold their breath underwater. Tcelia had vaguely wanted to make a joke about already knowing how to breathe, but she didn't know if that would have been impolite, so she just kept her mouth shut.

Today, like the previous four days, was no different. They sat in a circle on a large rock out in the water, listening to Tsireya, who was once again, going over the different breathing techniques.

Tcelia had struggled a lot with it the first couple of days, but she felt like she had cracked the code yesterday and could now hold her breath for a little over three minutes. Still not even remotely close to how long the Metkayina could hold theirs, but it was a start. And she also felt slightly smug - she could hold her breath longer than Neteyam and Lo'ak.

The only thing different today was that Rotxo had taken Kiri and Tuk and was teaching them somewhere else. Tcelia had a slight suspicion that Rotxo had taken more than just a liking to Kiri with the way he kept glancing at her. So Tcelia had suggested breaking up the group to 'help focus on their breathing individually.' She thought herself pretty smart.

"Try again," Tsireya said, sweeping out her arms and shutting her eyes.

Tcelia closed her eyes, inhaling as she did. She let out the breath, completely emptying her lungs and then inhaled again. She repeated this three times, slowing down her heart and calming her mind. She listened to the waves breaking further out and to the others breathing, who were doing the same technique as her. She smiled to herself. It was not often she felt at such peace.

Not being able to resist, she opened her eyes and glanced over at Neteyam. To her horror he was already looking at her, a soft smile playing on his lips.

Their eyes connected for a fraction of a second before they both looked away, heat rushing into Tcelia's cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut. That had not just happened. Why had Neteyam been looking at her? Was she doing something wrong? Was she breathing too loud?

She shook her head, trying to clear it, and focused on her breathing (now trying to make as little noise as possible). Then she scolded herself for trying to minimize the noise she was making. If Neteyam had a problem with the sound of her breathing, then he would just have to deal. She inhaled again, this time trying to make as much noise as possible.

Lo'ak who was sitting on her other side, nudged her shoulder with his own. She pried her eyes open and was met by Lo'ak who was putting a finger to his lips, obviously mocking her for being so loud. She grimaced, overexaggerating a smile that told him she found him hilarious then smacked him in the stomach and he let out a grunt as the air left his lungs.

"Lo'ak, you are doing it wrong," Tsireya sighed opening her eyes and Lo'ak shot Tcelia a venomous look.

"Here, let me show you," Tsireya placed a hand on Lo'ak's abdomen and the other on his chest and Lo'ak once again shot Tcelia a look, widening his eyes in apprehension. Tcelia grinned with her teeth and gave him two thumbs ups.

"Breathe in," Tsireya told Lo'ak who did his best to follow her instructions. She looked up at him, "Breathe from down here," She applied pressure to his stomach. "Breathe out slowly." As Tsireya spoke, Neteyam turned his eyes on Tcelia.

"Lo'ak, your heartbeat is fast."

Lo'ak looked flush, "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Try to focus."

"Okay."

Both Neteyam and Tcelia had a hard time trying to contain their laughter. As Tsireya removed her hands from Lo'ak, closing her eyes and telling them to try again, a snickering Tcelia placed a hand on Neteyam's chest, who caught onto what she was doing and mouthed 'sorry' to her, silently laughing. Lo'ak's eyes narrowed as he shot them both looks that could've killed. This just made Tcelia and Neteyam bend over to prevent themselves from letting out their laughter.