Author's Note: Hello loves! I'm sorry for the long wait, it is, of course, two in the morning, so I of course, need to post while half asleep. Our baby gets a couple of baths in this chapter, which I didn't plan but it makes me laugh that it worked out that way. I am really here for the soft Tsu'tey loving. And I know that you were all hoping for Mo'at to be in this chapter but alas, she is not. At least, as far as you can see. :D Thank you all so much for your kind words and support, it really helps me out! I hope that you continue to enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Tsyeyk wakes up to Father sniffing loudly, digging his nose into the fabric of the blanket that Tsu'tey gave him. He groans, feeling days of inadequate sleep finally catching up to him. He babbles, wanting Father to come closer and despite the warmth of the blanket, Tsyeyk still loves the pressure of Father laying on his chest. It makes him feel safe and secure.
Father listens, huffing at Tsyeyk's request, as if able to understand before lowering his massive head on Tsyeyk's chest. He nuzzles against Father's muzzle before drifting back to sleep, arms wrapped around as much of Father as he can.
Tsyeyk didn't consider that Father would realize that the blanket and loincloth could just appear out of nowhere. When he woke up again, Father brought him out to hunt, carefully following behind him. Once they caught some food, Jake efficiently killing the small forest rodent with his hands, they ate and explored. Father kept pausing to sniff at the bands at his hips, absorbing the strange scent and still Tsyeyk thought nothing of it. Father was always doing weird things, so whenever he would stop to sniff at Jake's hips, he would bury his face into the back of Father's head to breathe in his scent.
Father would huff, amused and wait until Tsyeyk was distracted by any of the beautiful things that there was around him to try it again. While Tsyeyk isn't paying attention to his Father, he would be talking to himself, bright eyed and filled with joy at everything he was seeing. Inhaling the strange scent being marked on Tsyeyk before his own scent covers it up. He tries hard to commit it to memory so that he'll be able to find it anywhere. Because whoever this was, they were around his son.
If Tsyeyk hadn't been too tired from the day, stomach aching a bit from their meal - although nothing too bad just a bit of cramping, thankfully - he would have noticed how Father placed himself between Tsyeyk and the entrance, deliberately so, resting one paw on his stomach soothingly and as much of his head on Tsyeyk's chest as he could. He rumbled deep in his chest to help sooth Tsyeyk to sleep.
Tsyeyk just wrapped up in the blanket, coaxing Father to rest more on him before falling into a deep sleep with the vibrations from Father to guide him.
As they were roaming around earlier that day, having fun, Father took him somewhere new. It took a long time, and they had to travel up to high mountains, but Father carried him on his back the whole way. It took them hours of Father carefully scaling up the side of a series of mountains that drift further and further up into the sky. Father never stopped or tired even as Tsyeyk's limbs burned from how hard he was holding onto Father.
Tsyeyk and Father just stares out over the wide expanse of the world below when he does finally come to a stop. Tsyeyk drops from Father's back when he lowers to his stomach and gasps loudly, eyes wide trying to take in everything with his eyes alone. The cold air prickling at his skin, making him shiver, while crisp in his lungs. But it's beautiful. Once more, Mother makes everything so beautiful around him. Everything so perfect in its own way.
Father nudges him after a few minutes of him just staring in wonder down at the mist and clouds gathering below them. Looking at all of the floating mountains around them, and even more off in the distance. Tsyeyk whines, pointing, wanting to see all that Mother created, but Father nudges him again.
Tsyeyk glances over at him to see Father paw at the dirt. More specifically, at a large root sticking up out of the ground. The root is different than the ones that Tsyeyk has seen in the forest. This root is larger, thicker, with more roots intertwined with it. And there was something... glowing inside of it. Tsyeyk lowers onto his hunches, running his fingers over the large root, thicker than his torso, and feels... Mother. Feels her in that root the same way that he would from that beautiful purple tree that Mother acts through in the forest.
And if she was there, in the sky floating in the mountains, then she was everywhere. Probably in these roots, spread everywhere. Like nodes of her essence everywhere around them. Tsyeyk loves it. Mother was so beautiful. So enchanting. One lifetime is never going to be enough. There is still so much more of her that he needs to see.
He woke up to blackness, as the blanket was pulled over his head and the sun was already setting over the horizon, Father's head resting in the curve of his right side, massive paw pinning his legs. The day must have taken more out of him than he thought. Then again, he also was spending less time sleeping since he started exploring during the day while Father slept. So that one is on him.
Tsyeyk whines when he struggles to move but can't. He gently, tiredly, pushes on Father's face to get him to lift his head. He groans but does, lifting his paw as well so that Tsyeyk can turn around to his other side and adjust the blanket over his face to block out the small slices of light filtering into the cave, even this far in, and hiding in Father's shadow.
Father purrs, pressing his face next to Tsyeyk's head as he readjusts himself, the rumble from Father once more lulling him back to sleep, breathing in the scent of Tsu'tey in his nose.
Tsyeyk groans as Father nudges him out of his sleep sometime later. He pulls away the blanket to darkness, night has fallen. Tsyeyk yawns, rubbing his eyes tiredly, sitting up slowly. He wraps the blanket around his shoulders and looks out the mouth of the cave, blinking blearily. He hasn't slept that long in a while. Now he's all disoriented, but in a good way. He feels refreshed; he just has to get him mind back in working order.
Father nudges his face, licking his cheek with his scratchy tongue, making Tsyeyk whine, turning away. Taking that as permission, Father pushes him down onto his chest and stomach, lowering partly on top of him, pinning him down and began licking away at his matted hair in an attempt to clean him. Tsyeyk whines more, trying desperately to pull himself out from under Father but he's not able to remove Father's sheer weight, especially with how he's pinned. He claws at the mossy ground, trying to find some perchance to hold onto so that he might be able to pull himself out from under Father but that doesn't appear to be happening.
Groaning his protest, Tsyeyk pulls Tsu'tey's blanket to his face and just lays there, taking it. He whines in protest whenever Father's tongue catches a knot, but Father doesn't stop until he's satisfied.
Once Father has groomed Tsyeyk to his satisfaction, rubbing the skin on his back raw, much to his chagrin, they get up and start their day. Tsyeyk is sad that he slept through the day and missed his chance to see Tsu'tey, but he'll try again when the sun comes up, seeing as he's completely refreshed.
Tsyeyk's stomach growls a few times over the course of the night, and he risks looking for some berries to eat. When he finds some, he holds them up to Father to look at, groaning when Father curls his lips at it, signifying that it's poisonous. He buries the berries so that no small forest beast can easily get to it before looking for something else to satiate his hunger. The fruit that Tsu'tey got for him was good, but he climbed up into a tree to get it and Tsyeyk doesn't know how to do that yet.
Father isn't really one for climbing trees, due to his size and body shape, but he can dig his nails in and hold himself up a good ten to fifteen feet off the ground to get the jump on his prey. But Tsyeyk doesn't have claws to dig in. Although, Tsu'tey knew how to do it, so hopefully, he'll teach Tsyeyk too.
Tsyeyk managed to dig up a few roots that were edible and while he chewed on those as they wandered, his stomach growled for more. Father catches their meal and leads them to water. Tsyeyk eats a few bites before his stomach starts to churn and he has to stop. He gives the rest to Father and drinks plenty of water, praying that this wasn't the prelude to another stomachache. He tries to ignore the rumbling as he and Father play in the water for a bit longer before Father is ready for bed and leads him back to the cave.
Tsyeyk wraps Tsu'tey's blanket around himself and curls up into a little ball, groaning at the pain in his stomach. Father wraps around him, whimpering softly, sensing Tsyeyk's distress.
Tsyeyk folds himself as small as possible, lower lip trembling at the pain. He tries to keep his breath calm and even. It'll stave off the vomiting for a bit if he keeps calm. At least, he thinks so.
Father lays behind him, pressing close to offer comfort and warmth, whining softly. His heavy tail thumping anxiously behind him. Tsyeyk tries hard to get some sleep, knowing that the pain will eventually pass. It always does. He's not sure how long he dozes for, but at some point, Father stops shifting behind him, and he can't sleep because of the cramping in his stomach and Tsu'tey's blanket is losing his scent. He just... he can't sleep like this. He needs to get out of here. He can't sleep. He can't have Tsu'tey's scent. He can't have anything!
Quietly, slowly, to stop himself from vomiting all over Father with how dizzy he is, he sits up. He detangles himself from Father, hearing him snore softly, eyes screwed closed tightly. He leaves Tsu'tey's blanket behind and carefully sneaking out of the cave to the fresh morning light. He shivers, making his way down the cliff to the dewy grass below before heading for the field, hoping that Tsu'tey would be there. Not just to make him feel better, but because Tsyeyk missed him.
Tsyeyk finds a nice spot of grass to lie on out in the field by their cave, tentatively curling into a ball, his stomach still churning. Despite the chill in the air, his skin feels warm. Too warm. He hasn't been out this soon after sun rise in a long time. He hopes that Tsu'tey will come for him soon.
Tsyeyk feels something unsettling wash over him, making his churning stomach drop and Tsyeyk pushes up onto his hip, vomiting on the dirt next to him. His throat and nose burn as he dry heaves for a few moments before gasping for air and mournfully moving away a few feet to curl up into a ball, feeling better now that the meat was expelled from his body. He wraps his arms around himself and curls up into a ball, feeling well enough to try and get some sleep until Tsu'tey - hopefully - comes for him.
He's not sure how long he was dozing before a scent - familiar and warm - fills his nose only moments before a gentle set of hands land on him. One on his hip and the other on his shoulder.
"Oh, Tsyeyk..." His voice is tense, worried.
Tsyeyk twists slightly, rubbing at his eyes, yawning. He holds out his arms towards the other, smiling around his yawn. "Tu'tey!" There is a moment of pause before arms wrap around him. They pull him close, and he nuzzles into the warmth, breathing in Tsu'tey's scent. His forehead fits perfectly in the curve of Tsu'tey's neck not minding the press of the beads of his choker on his skin. His own nose pressing into a pulse point.
Placing one hand under his arm and onto his shoulder blade while the other rests on the other side of Tsu'tey's neck, he sucks in a slow, deep breath before purring loudly, happily. Just having Tsu'tey here is already making him feel better.
Tsu'tey presses his face into Tsyeyk's shoulder, one arm propped up along both of his shoulder blades while his other hand rests on his ribs. The hand there tenses for a moment, his slow, deep breathing stilled, before lightly running along the bones in an almost... comforting manner, although Tsyeyk's not sure why. He's at peace with Tsu'tey there with him.
The hand on his ribs moves down to his stomach, gently caressing the skin there and Tsyeyk purrs louder, digging his face more into Tsu'tey's neck, nodding slightly. Yes. Yes, his stomach still hurts a bit. Yes, Tsu'tey knows how to make him feel better.
Tsu'tey pulls back a bit, still holding Tsyeyk close but straightening his spine to relieve some of the pressure there. Tsyeyk slides more into the crook of Tsu'tey's arm, feeling the muscles along his back shift with his weight, while the hand on Tsu'tey's neck and moving to the shoulder closest to him, golden eyes fascinated by the freckles there, some a dark black, others a dull gray.
Tsu'tey stares down at him with sad eyes, still gently rubbing his stomach, saying something softly that Tsyeyk doesn't understand. Tsyeyk just keeps poking the freckles, trying to remember what Tsu'tey looked like that night that he came to Tsyeyk while he was resting in Mother's light. Trying to remember how brightly he glowed, but he was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice. At least, not enough to remember and that makes him sad.
With his pointer finger, he gently pokes at the freckles, blinking bleary eyes to be able to see them, counting in his gibberish. His smile spreads, imagining the freckles, light and dark like constellations on his skin. It's so... it's so...
"Pretty," he says, cresting eyes peering up at the young man holding him so gently. "Tu'tey, it's pretty."
Tsu'tey stares at him with tired eyes like he hasn't slept in days, studying Tsyeyk's face, smiling softly, but there is still a sadness in his eyes. Tsyeyk, frowning slightly, reaches up and gently touches his face with his fingertips. Tsu'tey says something softly, something that sounds sad, almost pained. The hand on Tsyeyk's stomach rubs softly, before moving up to his ribs, that pained look intensifies.
Not sure why he's upset, Tsyeyk just smiles again, touching the freckles on Tsu'tey's cheeks, giving them feather light touches. "Tu'tey, it's pretty."
Finally, as he always does, Tsu'tey softly says, "Beautiful."
Tsyeyk smiles, joyfully, finally forgetting all about the pain in his stomach. He leans up, pressing his forehead against Tsu'tey's, wanting to somehow imbue Tsu'tey with his happiness. He doesn't know what has upset Tsu'tey but he just wants to make him feel better. Tsyeyk then pulls from Tsu'tey's arms, laying down onto something soft with something harder, lumpier inside. He looks up to see the same sack that Tsu'tey had the other day. He adjusts it a bit, pushing the curved stick that Tsu'tey also always has with him off to the side a bit more to give them space.
He gets himself somewhere comfortable before grabbing Tsu'tey's arm and pulling him down onto Tsyeyk, partly on his shoulder, mostly on his chest. Tsyeyk likes the weight, it makes him feel comfortable, safe. He puts one hand on the side of Tsu'tey's face, pushing him down even with his minor resistance, and running his nails up and down the expanse of his back, feeling the skin pimple up. He shivers a bit at that before his body relaxes against Tsyeyk.
Tsyeyk gently rubs his back, purring softly, trying to sooth whatever it is that has upset Tsu'tey. One set of five fingers running up and down Tsu'tey's back while the other set of five fingers lightly plays with the braids on the side of his head and pressing lightly against his ear, fascinated by the feel of it. Tsu'tey's body tenses, shivering and he takes a few deep breaths, before it starts to relax again, more and more and more until the long lashes that Tsyeyk can lightly feel brush against the skin of his pectoral flutter to a close.
Tsu'tey asks something softly, pressing a gentle hand to Tsyeyk's stomach. Tsyeyk purrs more, holding Tsu'tey closer, feeling better having Tsu'tey so close to him. He hopes that he can make him feel better too. Tsu'tey takes a few deep breaths, nuzzling into Tsyeyk's neck, drinking him in and relaxing more before the hand on his stomach moves down to his hip and falls still.
Tsyeyk listens to Tsu'tey's breath evening out through his purring. After a few minutes, Tsyeyk closes his eyes, relishing in the warmth and safety that this feeling gives him, being here in Tsu'tey's arms. Mother let him come close to Tsyeyk. Mother lets him make Tsyeyk feel safe. Tsu'tey fascinates Tsyeyk, and he always wants to be around him. He wants to introduce him to Father so that all the pretty things in his life are all together. But he also wants this moment. He wants to relax in this gentle embrace, just for a moment, and then they can explore and Tsyeyk can see more of what his mother and Tsu'tey have to show him.
Tsyeyk's ears twitch at a strange sound. Something his brain tells him isn't normal. Isn't... animalistic. His mind tells him that he's been listening to this sound for a while, and it seems to be growing in intensity. Tsyeyk blinks blearily up at the sky, seeing that the sun is higher up, probably almost at its highest point. He glances around himself, feeling additional weight pressing against him, and those small predators that Father warned him away from are gathered around, ten this time. All pressed close and sleeping soundly.
He hears the sound again and he looks around carefully but doesn't see anything. He's not sure how long they've been sleeping, but he knows that he and Tsu'tey need to get out of here while the predators are still asleep. They are being so peaceful, Tsyeyk doesn't want to wake them. He runs his hand up and down Tsu'tey's back, pulling his hand away from the side of his ear, having accidentally covered it up. He turns his chin into Tsu'tey's forehead giving it a very light nudge.
"Tu'tey..." he whispers. "Tu'tey..."
He sits up slowly, gently pushing the beasts aside with his foot, caging Tsu'tey with his legs to move him away from them so that when he wakes, he won't scare them into waking up too.
Some of the beasts shift slightly, but thankfully don't awaken. Tsyeyk lifts his hands to Tsu'tey shoulders and gives them a squeeze, and finally Tsu'tey shifts a bit, eyelashes fluttering before he moves the hand still on Tsyeyk's hip and the other that he buried beneath Tsyeyk's back to push himself up slowly, drowsily. He mumbles something, rubbing at his eyes before Tsyeyk grabs Tsu'tey's face, forcing him to look at him while still holding himself over him.
He blinks into focus on Tsyeyk's face, his own expression softening until he sees the other boy hiss softly, as he's seen Father do a hundred times, trying to keep him quiet when predators are too near. Tsu'tey blinks at the little hiss before noticing Tsyeyk's eyes glancing around. He looks and immediately starts to recoil but Tsyeyk grabs hold of his shoulders, pulling him close to him, staring into his eyes.
He hisses softly, eyes wide. He drags his hands down Tsu'tey's arms to grab his own hands, waiting for the anxious young man to nod slowly, finally seeing the creatures aren't encircling them, but in fact, are sleeping peacefully. Tsyeyk brings his knees between them and slowly stands up, pulling Tsu'tey up with him carefully. They then even more carefully extracted themselves from the beasts - nantang, Tsu'tey whispers, shaking his head. Tsyeyk leans down, gently picking up the adolescent beast that is laying on the stick that Tsu'tey carries around. It grumbles, groaning as Tsyeyk pulls it to his chest, purring softly to lull it back to sleep.
He cradles it like a baby, rocking it a bit as it yawns and stretches out all six of its legs before it falls still once more. Tsu'tey watches the act with a flick of the tail, eyes gleaming with interest. Tsyeyk lowers it back to the ground before holding out his hand for Tsu'tey to take, after sliding the strap of his bag over his shoulder. He glances at Tsyeyk's hand before taking it with the one not holding his curved stick.
Together, they stealthily move through the sleeping nantang and head toward the forest. Once they are far enough away, Tsyeyk starts humming to himself, not letting go of Tsu'tey's hand. Another of those strange calls, but slightly different this time. Tsu'tey looks up into the trees and nods his head before looking back at Tsyeyk innocently. Tsyeyk glances up at the trees, not seeing anything, and makes a loud, "Ah!" to see if anything will respond.
Silence.
Tsu'tey is smiling sweetly as Tsyeyk wilts like a trampled flower, dragging his feet as they walk. They travel for a bit, making it to a stream where Tsyeyk perks right back up again. He finally lets go of Tsu'tey's hand to watch as little baby beasts, smaller than the nail on his finger, swim down the stream, eyes wide.
He kneels down, drumming his fingers on his kneecaps, excitedly, watching them get pulled along. He bounces on the balls of his feet for a moment, tail whooshing behind him, nearly whacking Tsu'tey's leg. He side steps before lowering next Tsyeyk, smiling down at the beasts, telling Tsyeyk their name, which he quickly repeats, growing progressively more excited, bouncing a bit more. "Oh Tu'tey!" He exclaims, flashing a bright smile at the young man next to him. "Oh Tu'tey! It pretty!" He laughs, joyously, grabbing onto Tsu'tey's hand and gripping it tightly. "Pretty! Pretty!"
Tsu'tey smiles fondly, running his other hand up and down Tsyeyk's back, murmuring softly, "Beautiful."
After a few minutes of watching the tadpoles swim downstream, Tsu'tey, staring at Tsyeyk's back, at the nobs of his spine, worry gripping hard at his chest before he wraps his arm around the other boy, pulling him a little closer. Tsyeyk doesn't fight it. He just leans into Tsu'tey's side, babbling something excitedly as he wraps his arms around one of Tsu'tey's knees, resting his cheek on top, staring into the water with wide eyes.
"Tsyeyk?" Tsu'tey says after a few minutes.
Tsyeyk's ears swivel back toward Tsu'tey, but his wide eyes don't leave the water as one of his hands reaches in to touch it.
Tsu'tey smiles, faintly. "Tsyeyk," he says again, patiently.
Tsyeyk twists around, blinking, his eyebrows raised. "Tu'tey?" He says, mouth hanging open a bit, giving him an adorably innocent look.
Tsu'tey smiles more, caressing Tsyeyk's cheek, which makes the other boy smile brightly. "Oel Ngati Kameie, Tsyeyk," he says fondly, waving his free hand from his forehead to the other boy,
Tsyeyk's face lights up with joy as he bounces excitedly. "Tu'tey! Tu'tey! Oel Ngati Kameie, Tu'tey!"
Tsu'tey laughs, flashing bright white teeth that makes Tsyeyk laugh too, gleefully. He waves his hands from his forehead rapidly, at least a dozen times in his excitement, which makes Tsu'tey laugh more. Once he settles, he reaches out and lightly runs one hand through Tsyeyk's hair while the other picks out a leaf.
"Tsyeyk," Tsu'tey says, pulling Tsyeyk's eyes from the leaf to Tsu'tey's golden eyes. He says something else that Tsyeyk doesn't know, but he makes motions of cleaning, specifically Tsyeyk's hair. To which he tilts his head curiously.
Tsu'tey smiles lightly, pulling his hand from Tsyeyk's hair, picking up the stick he carefully placed next to him and holds out his hand for Tsyeyk to take. He does, slotting his five fingers perfectly with Tsu'tey's four, making Tsyeyk gasp in surprise, bringing their hands up for him to look at while they walk, Tsu'tey smiling fondly at him while leading the way to their pond. He keeps gasping a twisting their joined hands around, running the fingers of his other hand against their own, fascinated.
There's a lot of, "Tu'tey! Tu'tey! Hands! Look! Tu'tey!" To which Tsu'tey would nod and then nuzzle the side of Tsyeyk's head.
When they get there, Tsu'tey reluctantly pulls his hand from Tsyeyk's before placing the stick on one of the nearby rocks, then pulling the bag off his shoulder and digging around in it, removing some small pouches, lining them up near the water before stepping in himself and holding out a hand for Tsyeyk, throat bobbing. Tsyeyk, joyfully, follows after, giggling, thinking that they were going to play. He wilts a bit when Tsu'tey lowers to a sit in a shallow area, on a rock that keeps him mostly out of the water, it only brushing his hips when the ripples from across the pond comes back to them.
"Tu'tey..." Tsyeyk whines, ears drooping with his full body pout. Tsu'tey smiles, waving him over. Tsyeyk whines more but obeys, dragging his feet. Tsu'tey laughs, gesturing for him to lower in front of him. Tsyeyk does, and the water goes up to his chest. Tsu'tey carefully starts removing all the random things that have gathered in his dark locks, working hard not to pull too roughly when removing things.
Once he was satisfied that he got most of the random things out. He then turns Tsyeyk to look at him and says, "Syeha," he says, taking a deep breath, then looking at him meaningfully. "Syeha."
"Syeha," Tsyeyk echoes, taking a deep breath and plugging his nose as Tsu'tey lowers him backward to wet down his hair. Once his hair is wet, Tsu'tey waves for him to come closer so that he can wash his hair, but Tsyeyk misunderstands and moves to sit on Tsu'tey's lap, wrapping his arms around Tsu'tey in a hug, purring happily, mass of wet hair falling over Tsu'tey's shoulder, drenching his back.
"Tsyeyk," Tsu'tey groans softly, wrapping his arms around Tsyeyk's waist and dropping his head to his shoulder. Tsyeyk purrs, happily, nuzzling his cheek.
Tsu'tey breathes in his scent for just a moment before pulling away enough to reach back and grab one of the pouches, scooping out some sweet-smelling goop before twirling his finger so that Tsyeyk turns away and starts to carefully lather it into his hair, trying to get as much of it in that mass of knots as possible as carefully as he can with his fingers.
Once he gets as much in there as he dares, he turns Tsyeyk to the side and lowers him backwards into the water and gently washes it from his hair, while Tsyeyk is laying across his thighs, cheeks puffed out, waiting for his head to be dunked under. Tsu'tey laughs, carefully supporting Tsyeyk's neck with one hand while running his fingers through his hair with the other until the knots start to untangle a bit. He gets as much out as possible before pulling Tsyeyk back up, lather more of that nice smelling goop into his hair before he goes back down, laying across Tsu'tey's lap while his hair is washed out.
After the third time of Tsyeyk not being submerged, he stops taking deep breaths and just stares up at the sky through the break in the trees, singing to himself, grinning every time Tsu'tey smiles at whatever he's singing. More goop, some oils, lots of washing and eventually one last foamy goop goes into his hair, and he's lowered back into the water. While Tsu'tey's hand carefully cards through his hair, Tsyeyk is gently tracing Tsu'tey's bone structure. His nose, his cheekbones, his jawline, collarbones, shoulders, arms, fingers, anything that he can find. When that is done, he goes back to gently tracing his features, his nose again, eyes, lips - which earned him a gentle kiss to the fingertips, easily making Tsyeyk giggle, splashing the water with the kick of his legs - and his chin, before Tsu'tey helps him back up.
Tsyeyk feels like a weight has been lifted from his head despite the water streaming from his mid-back length black hair. Tsu'tey presses a soft kiss to his shoulder before offering him some more oil to lather onto his arms, legs, and chest. It takes Tsyeyk a second to put into place what Father taught him, while Tsu'tey rubbed the oil into his back, cleaning up his skin. One last dunk into the water and he was done.
Tsu'tey puts everything away while Tsyeyk plays with the fish, eventually tiring himself out enough to sit down on the rock Tsu'tey was lounging on. They sat in front of each other, Tsyeyk's knees rest on Tsu'tey's as they went through more words. Tsyeyk grinning happily at every correct pronunciation. He reached down to pick up a small, but pretty blue and white flower, bringing it close to smell it. He watched Tsu'tey and learned the new words, while twirling the flower at his chest, occasionally bringing it up to his nose to smell it.
Tsu'tey asked a few times if Tsyeyk was hungry, even offered to go get some fruit for him, but Tsyeyk's stomach churned at the thought, so he shook his head and whined when Tsu'tey looked like he was going to just go anyway, reaching out to hold his hand in place. His stomach didn't feel well, but he was able to forget about it with Tsu'tey with him. He didn't want their already limited time to be wasted on something that he wasn't interested in.
Tsu'tey eventually had Tsyeyk turn away from him again and while reaching into the bag once more, he pulled out a comb made of bones and gently started running it through Tsyeyk's hair, working out any remaining stubborn knots. Tsyeyk likes the feeling of Tsu'tey's hand running through his hair, gently and smoothly, even when working through knots. Tsu'tey apologizing softly at any pull to his hair, no matter how gentle it was. He purrs softly, eyes closed, and head tilted back while Tsu'tey laughs softly, placing a toe on Tsyeyk's tail to keep it from whacking his thighs.
"Beautiful Tsyeyk," Tsu'tey says softly. He leans forward ever so slightly, pressing his nose into Tsyeyk's hair to breathe him in before leaning down to his shoulder and pressing a feather soft kiss there.
Tsyeyk turns around and wraps his arms around Tsu'tey's shoulders, who reciprocates around his waist, resting his cheek on one of his arms, smiling happily. This was another great day. Tsyeyk decided; Tsu'tey was Mother's gift to him. He prays that the rest of their lives will be like this. That they will live in complete peace and utter happiness, here where they are safe.