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CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
SECRET SPOT
talia, spider and the sully kids were waiting for their lessons of the day, currently standing in the shallow waters of the ocean.
tuk was swimming and pretending to be an akula, attacking everyone's legs as they stood idly by. when it was her turn to 'attack' lo'ak, she physically bit him in the leg. he howled out in pain, making everyone double over in laughter. lo'ak then tried to chase tuk to get her back, but she was quicker. eventually she hid behind talia, who she knew lo'ak wouldn't lift a finger in her direction.
feeling successful, tuk stuck her tongue out at her brother. he did it right back, their sibling banter continuing to make everyone laugh.
"we're here!" the group turned their heads to see tsireya followed by aonung and rotxo.
lo'ak tried to play off his injury, but he secretly was in a little pain from the bite mark. though he wasn't going to tell anyone that.
"aw, need a kiss on the boo-boo?" spider snickered as he noticed the pained expression lo'ak wore.
"shut up bro." lo'ak rolled his eyes, trying to prove him wrong by stand up a little straighter.
aonung looked down at the littlest sully, unsure as to how the seemingly sweet girl could cause so much chaos. then tuk caught his gaze and hissed at him, making his jump back a little.
"right, anyway," aonung cleared his throat and looked away from tuk, "for today we are showing you the ilu."
aonung began making clicking noises, attracting several ilu's that swarmed around the groups legs. "if you want to stay here, you have to ride." he motioned towards the aquatic animal.
soon, the large group was split into several smaller ones; rotxo was teaching kiri and spider, aonung was teaching neteyam and lo'ak, then tsireya was teaching talia and tuk.
talia was on the ilu first after her and tuk grew comfortable in its presence. tsireya was instructing her along the way, "make the bond gently. feel her heartbeat and her breath."
talia reached for her braid, her fingers drifting down it's length and grabbing the queue. she attached it to the ilu, tsireya's words replaying in her mind as she took a deep breath. her pupils dilated as she connected with the animal, feeling every part of it through the bond.
"you may go, i suggest starting slow." the teal girl told talia as she took a step back, allowing room for her to dive.
in her mind, talia told the ilu to swim forward slowly. it did as asked, skimming above the surface at a snails pace. "alright, just a tad faster underwater yeah?" she told the ilu.
