We are leaving now," Kiri hissed, grabbing her brother by the back of the neck. His eyes widened. He nodded solemnly, letting her drag him from the room. He shoved her hand off at the doorway, glancing over his shoulder. "Come on," Kiri whispered, pulling on the sleeve of his t-shirt. "Stop that," Lo'ak muttered, glaring at her. "Why do you always do that?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Do what?" Kiri sighed in exasperation. "Do the exact opposite of what we tell you, even if it's for your own good." Lo'ak's eyes blazed with anger. "You weren't supposed to know Ao'nung and Neteyam are- hell, I wasn't even supposed to know. Ao'nung doesn't want anyone to know. Like, at all. He was very, very clear on that." Lo'ak's jaw clenched. "Oh, please. Who would I tell? Like, really. Who cares enough? We just moved here. No one knows who we even are." Kiri opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. "Why am I the last one to know? I'm willing to bet every single thing I own that Tsireya and Rotxo know. I mean, they're clearly not trying to hide it." "They are trying to hide it, Lo'ak, you just barged in a locked room after I told you not to!" Lo'ak rolled his eyes, shoving her out of the way with both hands and heading into the living room. Kiri ran after him and grabbed his shoulder, hard. "Don't you dare tell Mom," she hissed. "Don't touch me," he said, voice low and eyes angry. "Lo'ak," she called after him, dread filling her veins. "Oh, shut up, Kiri, of course I won't. Who do you think I am?" He shook his head in disbelief, rounding a corner and disappearing.
Kiri stood in the hallway for a few minutes, thinking. She knew it was unfair to Lo'ak - all of it, the secret keeping, the reprimanding, the distrust. Lo'ak would never tell anyone anything about his siblings, at least not on purpose. She wanted to go and apologize, but knew he probably didn't want to hear it yet. Should she go help Neteyam sneak Ao'nung out? She didn't want to disturb them, but she also knew Neytiri would be curious about why she hadn't seen her son yet that day. Her stomach churned at the thought. She sighed to herself and headed back towards Neteyam's room. She hesitated outside the door, fist poised to knock. She pressed her ear to the door, listening. She drew back instantly, hearing what sounded like someone crying. She knew she should respect their privacy and go away, like she had been lecturing Lo'ak about for the past hour. Nonetheless, she put her ear against the wood and held her breath to hear better.
"...don't understand, I don't think. And I'm happy that you don't." One of them was rambling. Their voices were too muffled for Kiri to figure out who it was. "It's different. I'm not like you. I'm not- I'm scared about what people will say, in a way that I don't think you can understand." This voice was shaky and strained. The speaker had been crying for a while now. "What do you mean?" another voice asked. "You are just so- I don't even know, Neteyam." Realization dawned on her. Ao'nung was the one that was crying. "You aren't ashamed, are you?" "No." "See? You didn't even hesitate. You aren't scared about what people will think if they know."
Kiri pulled her head back. That was enough. This knowledge didn't belong to her, not now, not ever. Guilt washed over her as she hurriedly climbed the stairs to her room. So far, she'd yelled at one brother, helped humiliate the other, and overheard what could possibly be Ao'nung's most private conversation ever. She rubbed her hands with both eyes, groaning softly. She sat down on the floor in the upstairs hallway, not bothering to finish the rest of the walk to her room. She picked at the carpet and chewed her lip nervously. "What are you doing?" a voice asked. She looked over her shoulder. Lo'ak stood in his doorway, arms folded. "I don't know." he nodded, a confused expression on his face. "Mama and Tuk went to the store. I told them to get some of those chocolate covered almonds you like." Kiri smiled softly. "Because you ate the ones we had?" "Because I ate the ones we had, yeah." He grinned. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," she whispered, getting to her feet. "It's okay. You were right. That shouldn't have been how I found out." Kiri nodded. Lo'ak paused. "I texted Neteyam saying mom was out of the house." Kiri blinked. "You know, so Ao'nung can leave?" "Oh. Yeah, makes sense." Lo'ak snorted.
Kiri was in her room, laying on her bed, when someone knocked on her door. "Come in," she shouted, not looking up from her phone. Neteyam, followed by Lo'ak and Ao'nung entered. She blinked at them. The three of them lingered awkwardly in the doorway. Ao'nung was tugging on the ends of his hair, eyes wide and nervous. Lo'ak was trying not to do that awkward downward smile he did when anxious. Neteyam looked like he had something to say, but didn't know where to start. "...Yes?" she prompted, putting her phone down and sitting up. "Your room is... cute," Ao'nung mumbled, eyes darting up at her and back down to the floor. She glanced at Lo'ak briefly. He shrugged. "Thank you, Ao-" "You kissed my best friend," Ao'nung said suddenly, grinning at the floor. Kiri was speechless. Lo'ak's jaw dropped. Neteyam pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to face Ao'nung. "Now why would you-" "Yeah, I did. You slept with my brother." She heard a strangled sound escape from Neteyam's mouth. "He didn't- we- didn't-" "AND I," Lo'ak shouted, silencing everyone. "I asked Tsireya out on a date! Yes, Kiri, I will need help planning that. And yes, Neteyam, I will need a ride." He smiled an over-exaggerated grin, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "Now, let's start over." He grabbed a rock from Kiri's dresser. "The person with the talking rock may speak. If you do not have the rock, you cannot speak." Ao'nung's face was beet red. He nodded, left eye twitching slightly. "Ao'nung, you may begin." He snatched the rock from Lo'ak's hand, side-eyeing him as he did so. "Kiri," he said, trying very hard to look her in the eye. "Thank you for helping get me inside the house last night." Neteyam nodded in agreement. "I understand you have known about... us... since before we did, somehow." she snorted. "Somehow? Really? You guys didn't-" "HEY," Lo'ak warned. "Talking rock." "You can shove that damn rock up your-" "Kiri, please," Neteyam whispered, giving her a stern look. "Okay, okay," she said, holding her hands up in surrender. "You can't tell anyone outside of this room. And my siblings. And, I guess our mothers, but just don't- anyways," he took a breath. "I am scared of people knowing because I am terrified of people on the teams I lead respecting me less. Not because I deserve it, but because I know the kind of people some of them are. I don't want my dad to know. I just don't know how he'd take it. And, I-" he paused, wincing. Everything before this point seemed rehearsed. But, this voice break and expression of pain was clearly not intentional. "There is someone that I hurt along the way, that I want to tell myself. She deserves to be told by me, after what I put her through. If I tell people, it will only be after I tell her." Ao'nung pursed his lips and nodded. "Okay. Good job, Ao'nung! Give the rock to Neteyam," Lo'ak said, smiling politely and gesturing to his big brother. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that, right?" Neteyam hissed, glaring at him. "Oh, I can't answer that, I don't have the rock." Ao'nung stared at him incredulously before shaking his head slowly in dismay and running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Okay. I would like to say that the whole rock bit was because they kept talking over each other earlier," Neteyam explained, gesturing between Lo'ak and Ao'nung with his thumb. "Rookie mistake," Kiri sympathized. Neteyam grinned. He opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by the sound of the garage door opening. Kiri watched the color drain out of Ao'nung's face. "Someone's home," Lo'ak whispered. Kiri scrambled to her feet. She shut her bedroom door and locked it, turning to look at her brothers with panicked eyes.
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kiri's room (her bed frame is still in storage from moving)
