"You didn't think you'd get out of the whole orca shenanigans without punishment, did you?" Namor says with his arms crossed, staring at Niecalli in amusement.

"I was hoping…" She pouts.

"That's not going to happen." Namor out a soft laugh. "Come."

Niecalli swims behind Namor, letting the current take them. They stop at a deep portion of Talokan containing plenty of seaweed-like plants with multiple knobs of leaves spanning its entirety. And under a few of the leaves are glowing bunches of yellow fruit. The whole plant, itself, is incredibly huge where one does not see the end of it. All around the area are other Talokanils with baskets, some cutting out portions of the leaves while some are picking fruit.

Namor signals someone over, it was an old woman. With a bow of his head, he cups his hands in front of him and gestures it forward, the signature Liik'ik Talokan. Niecalli copies him.

"This is Toci Lalpan." Namor introduces. "She's in charge of the city's agriculture. She may look young, but she's the oldest one here. Apart from me of course. She grew all these plants you're seeing right now. We wouldn't get to where we are without her."

Namor puts a hand on Niecalli's back and slightly pushes her forward. "This is my sister. She will be with you for a while."

"Oh you flatter me K'uk'ulkan." She dismisses it with a smile. "Hello Nayeli."

"She's in charge of your punishment." Namor explains, looking down at Niecalli. "You will be tasked to grow the plants, harvest them, pick some fruits, and all kinds of agricultural responsibilities."

Niecalli gives a nod.

"Don't worry Nayeli. It's not hard." Niecalli looks up at Toci's welcoming face.

"My grandson will show you what we do." She says as she pushes a boy around Niecalli's age forward. "You guys are the same age so I hope you two get along."

Now that is not a welcoming face. He stares at Niecalli with a frown, lifting his chin. She tries to overlook his rude behaviour and greets him with her cupped hands.

"Go on then. Show her around." Toci insists.

The boy leads Niecalli away from the two seniors and swims deeper into the forest of plants, letting her familiarize with the environment. Niecalli tries to make conversation but she's ignored. In the end, both of them go around the place in complete silence. The only time he talks is to reprimand Niecalli, yelling 'don't touch that' every time she looks around in wonder and 'you're not allowed there' whenever she wanders in curiosity. Her temper is getting worse and worse the longer they spend together.

Niecalli takes a deep breath and tries to clear the air. "I don't think I ever introduced myself by the way. I'm Nieca-"

"I don't care."

She seethes, speechless.

"My grandma is in charge of this entire place." He says with a smug face. "So you better behave yourself."

Niecalli puffs her face and replies, "Well my brother is king."

"My grandma grew all these kelp that keep the entire city alive! All. By. Herself!"

"WELL MY BROTHER CAN FLY!"

"Ehhh so what? I heard there are animals called birds that can fly too."

Oh how badly she wants to strangle this boy.

On their way back from that dreadful visit, Namor notices Niecalli's quiet behaviour, "Why so quiet? Did you not like the forest?"

"No I did." Niecalli trails off, stewing in her thoughts.

"Why don't we visit our sun? You've always liked going there. I always see your eyes light up when you see it."

Niecalli follows Namor's lead as they swim to the heart of the city, right where the sun is. They find a ledge to perch on and they just sit there appreciating each other's presence.

"Have I ever told you how I brought the sun down here?"

"What do you mean? Hasn't that always been there?" Her demeanor changes.

"I mean…in a way?" Namor continues. "Although it hasn't always been there. I had to make it and bring it to the ocean, to give light to the people. You can't really have a sun underwater you know."

"What?!"

"Yeah." Namor chuckles and boasts."I brought the sun to the people with my own prowess"

Niecalli stands up and faces Namor. She takes his face in between her hands and presses his face. His cheeks are squished and his lips puckers to make a funny face as she gets close to his face.

"I COULD HAVE WON THE ARGUMENT?!"

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"Waf argumenf?"

Notes:

I figured I'll put random questions that popped up in my head while writing, to create conversation! (or maybe get some insight)

Question of the chapter:
What do Talokanils eat? Do they cook?

And also, the movie was incredibly dark when I watched it in the theatres but I remember them showing a seaweed forest thingy-s during Shuri's tour and I had to fill the rest of the graphics in my head. With that being said, did anyone realize where I got the look of the kelp forest?