Teyluk and his sibling wake up grumpy the next day, they had the scolding of their life when their parents heard about what happened. About them falling into trouble the first week they arrived at their new ‘home’ and told them if Dhati didn't try to put a good word for them, they might've been kicked out. Later that evening, Nero wanted to go to the beach and play with the serpents. When the young Poteks arrive, they see Dhati and Ori feeding theirs and Niko sitting on the sand with her dragon watching from afar, with a faint smile. When Teyluk, Akit, Nevan, and Nero get closer, they can see Niko's arm wrapped up with bandages from the cut the scout caused the day before, they also notice her bracelet got cleaned up from all the blood. They reach her, Akit and Nevan go to the water to swim for a while and Teyluk stands beside Niko.
“Is this seat taken?” he asks cautiously.
Instead of replying, she scoots over, crossing her arms. He goes ahead to sit down next to her. Minutes pass and the only sound heard is the splashing of water where the others are.
“I'm sorry,” Niko says, keeping her head forward. Teyluk is confused.
“Why are you sorry?” He asks, confused.
“I'm sorry I lashed out on you and your siblings,” she continues. “It wasn't my place, nor was it your fault that you didn't know this part of the island is dangerous,” she finally looks at him but turns her head back quickly.
“It's okay,” he says. “We're sorry we wandered off and caused trouble.”
“But can I ask a question?” he asks.
“Go ahead,” she replies.
“Why were there earthers there? They were armed too.”
“They are scouts, they are search parties that go outside their village borders to secure their surroundings,” she continues. “The direction you were heading was straight to their village.”
“Seriously?” he asks shocked. “We would've been dead meat.” She frows her eyebrows, as he sits there silently for a couple of minutes more before he asks again.
“Can I ask another question?” he asks nervously.
“You have a lot of questions,” she replies teasingly. He then quiets down until she adds, “ask.”
“What did you mean by we don't know what it's like to lose a sibling?” he asks cautiously, and at the same moment, Niko straightens her back and frowns.
“That's personal,” she replies firmly. She is about to stand up when he holds her arm to stop her. She hisses as he grabs her injured arm by mistake.
“Shit, I'm sorry,” he says repeatedly as he looks at the ground. She sits down again but after a moment of silence, she chuckles at his reaction.
He smiles seeing her laugh for the first time, even if she is laughing at him. He smiles a bit at the thought of her smiling at all, since she only does when she is with Dhati, Ori, or his little brother Nero. Teyluk shakes his smile off; he isn't supposed to like her. They hear chatter, only to look up to the others coming back to shore and sitting beside them. But Nevan and Akit grow silent as they make eye contact with Niko. After a moment, Niko speaks.
“I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that,” she says, looking towards them, as their smiles grow.
“We're sorry too,” Akit says on their behalf.
They sit there on the sand, chatting and laughing. Niko occasionally listens and smiles, cherishing moments like this.
Tomorrow is a special day, for Niko at least. It is her brother's birthday. He would have turned twenty today, the Avits knows about that day. They know that Niko will go to visit their old island to speak to them, like she has been doing all these years. On birthdays, her parents' wedding anniversary, and on their death’s anniversary.
Whenever she visits them, she speaks to the trees and the flowers that grew where her home was, as if they were going to reply. She tells them about her life and whatever is going on now. As she gets ready to fly, she hears a knock. She turns around to see Dhati standing there.
“Ready?” Dhati asks, nodding her head at Niko as she wears black like she usually does when she flies.
“Yeah,” Niko replies, sighing as she sits down on the bed.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Dhati asks as she walks toward Niko, knowing she is feeling down that day.
She was close to her brother; she idolized him growing up. At only twelve years old, he was a good fighter. Since her father was a soldier, a brave one, used to train him early. Niko shakes her head lightly, a habit she does when she dozes off.
“How are you feeling?” Dhati asks, concerned, as she puts her arm around Niko.
“I just ...” She sighs. “miss them, every day.” her eyes teared up, the only person who has ever seen her cry is Dhati.
“He would've turned twenty today,” Niko says as she sniffs.
“Mom would've probably told him to find a girlfriend already,” Niko giggles.
“And he would've said no,” Dhati adds, giggling.
Niko giggles through her tears, but then it is time for her to get going. She says her goodbyes to Dhati and on her way she goes. When she arrives at her old island, she gets down from Ash's back. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and then goes ahead to walk to her family's old house. The only sound she hears is her steps on the sandy grass as she walks. Once she arrives, she kneels to put the flowers she had beside the dead flowers she brought last time, then sits down. She stares at what used to be her home in silence, she cannot think of what to say.
“Hey, guys,” She says as if speaking to her family.
“It's me,” She continues as her eyes tear up. “I miss you guys, like so much.”
“It's your birthday, Kiro. You're twenty now,” she smiles gently.
“Mom is probably going to look for a ghost girlfriend,” She giggles softly. At the same time, Ash's head shoots up as he hears a branch snap. But looks like Niko does not hear it.
“There is this new family that is staying with us, they remind me of you guys,” She speaks.
“They have a little boy, who reminds me of Rora. He fell in love with the ocean as soon as he laid eyes on it,” She giggles.
She rubs her bracelet, as she talks. Her mom made it for her and her siblings. It is made of beautiful stones; it has a blue stone representing her dad. A red stone representing her mom and purple stones representing her and her siblings. She never takes it off, she never will. That's a promise she made to herself.
“There is one more thing I wanted to talk about,” she says as she takes a deep breath.
As she is about to talk, another branch snaps, but this time she hears it. She looks at Ash to see if he noticed as well and yes, he did. She stands up carefully and slowly, as she puts her hand on the knife around her waist, to see someone moving. She walks slowly towards them trying to see who this person is. When they see her coming toward them, they book it. She runs after them, but suddenly they disappear in thin air. She looks around her and sees nothing. She does not know if it was one of Dregawa's people, or earther. She stood there, confused but it was time to go home, so she shakes it off and goes back to Ash.
On the way home, she thinks maybe she just imagined it. She was talking to her dead family. Maybe she just imagined seeing one of them, which was something that happened after her family passed. But she cannot shake the feeling. That someone was watching her. Specifically, her. When she arrives home, she sits on the beach, as she usually does when she needs to think about something. Maybe because it is her brother’s birthday, she imagined seeing him. She decides to stop thinking about today. She stands up, to go back to her house. She sees Nevan sitting alone on the sand, it looks like he is wiping tears. She decides to go talk to him.
“May I join you?” She says standing behind him, as he looks at her confused.
“I can leave you alone if you want,” she says turning around to leave.
“It's okay,” Nevan says stopping her from leaving. She turns around to sit down beside him. They stay silent for a couple of minutes, till Nevan starts taking deep breaths.
“Are you okay? Is everything okay?” she asks.
“I noticed you've been kind of down the past couple of days,” she adds as she looks at him.
“I am fine,” he replies, trying to convince himself more than her.
“If you say so, I'm not going to push it,” she says as she is getting up to leave.
“Wait, please,” He adds, “Can I tell you something? But promise you won't tell anyone, especially my siblings,” he says as he frowns gently.
“Funny how you think I talk to them at all,” she says sitting back down, smiling gently as he chuckles.
“This place just doesn't feel like home,” he says looking down.
“What do you mean?” She asks.
“I miss the forest; I miss galloping and hunting,” he says as his voice lowers.
“I get it,” she says smiling at the ocean.
“You know,” she says as he looks at her, “You can do all this stuff here.” he looks at her confused.
“Seeing a forest can be done if we go to another island. Galloping, can be done with your weird horses over there,” she says gesturing at him.
“Says the one with the giant lizard,” he says chuckling, she does as well.
“Hey, Dragon. Don’t mix it up.” She replies pointing her finger firmly at him and adds. “Hunting, can be done here or in the forest,” she adds, “So home is wherever you go, who you're with, not a place.”
“Thank you for this,” he tells her, smiling gently.
“You would've figured it out on your own, or Dhati would have told you,” She smirks saying the last part, as his eyes light up.
“What? Dhati? Did she say anything?” he says panicking, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Nope, but you just did” she adds giggling at him.
“You're annoying,” he says as he turns to leave.
“And yet you know I’m right,” she shouts as he walks far away.
She continues to sit alone at the beach, apparently, she and these people have a lot in common. Missing their home, feeling like an outcast. But she will not let them feel the way she felt growing up.
When Nevan arrives home, he finds all his family asleep except for Akit. She is sitting watching the star full sky, alone with her thoughts. She is surprised that Nevan is out so late.
“Why are you up till now?” she whispers not to wake the rest.
“Could ask you the same thing,” he says, crossing his arms.
“Thinking,” She says lowering her head, as he sits beside her.
“What's wrong?” he asks, looking at her, worried.
“I just ....” she adds “Miss home, like a lot” she sniffed as he hugs her.
“It's okay, I miss home too,” he says, remembering the conversation he just had with Niko.
“We are together. Us, Teyluk, Nero, mom, and dad,” he adds smiling to himself.
“We are together and safe, that's all that matters,” he says looking down at her as she smiles through her tears.
He adds, “Home is wherever you go, who you're with, not a place.”
“Since when you've become so wise,” she asks giggling as she wipes her tears.
“Always,” Nevan answers puffing his chest.
“Come on, let's go to bed. We have another training with Niko tomorrow,” He says as both stand up and go to bed. They have an exhausting day tomorrow, it's time for arm-to-arm combat training.
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