Chapter Text
Neteyam landed gracefully next to his ikran, just like his father had done mere seconds before him. The sand felt strange under his feet, a bit unstable. He was tired from the long trip, but he was more awake now on the ground than two hours ago. Several Metkayina were already surrounding them, and already he felt nervous, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He stood next to Loak, with Kiri next to his brother. Tuk was next to their mother. He gave a painful squeeze to his chest, right where he was shot, the pain kept him grounded in the present moment. Behind him he heard a whine coming from his ikran, but he stayed where he was, following his father’s orders.
Two boys approached the two brothers, and even though Lo'ak and Neteyam put their hands to their forehead and whispered ‘Oel Ngati Kameie’, the gesture was not reciprocated. The taller one continued to stare at them and the other Metkayina boy laughed “Is that a tail? Their skin is so dark” which was a bit rude, but Neteyam let it slide and focused on what his father was saying to the Olo’eyktan who had arrived quickly after hearing the horn sound. Everything seemed to be going well, Lo'ak looked to the side to see a Metkayina girl arriving on a sea creature then dove to resurface a bit closer. She approached them with a small smil. Lo'ak made a small “Hey” to which she responded with a giggle and a wave of hand. The Metkayina boy from earlier hissed at the interaction and the girl gently swatted his shoulder with the same hand she waved. Everything seemed to go swimmingly well between the Olo’eyktan and his father until the Tsahík arrived.
Ronal was a woman who arbored a severe expression on her face. Out of respect for her, his father did the ‘I see you’ gesture and all behind him did the same. She inspected every one of them beginning by Tuk saying that her arms were fin. She then grabbed Neytiri’s tail without warning, Neteyam’s mother barely suppressed a hiss.
“Their tails are weak”, she said loud enough for the gathering to hear.
As her inspection continued, she turned her attention to Kiri and Lo'ak, she sneered immediately when her piercing gaze fell on their hands.
“These children are not even real Na’vis! she declared.
“Of course, we are!” answered Kiri.
The Tsahík rounded Kiri and grabbed Lo'ak’s hand to hold it up for everyone to see.
"They have demon’s blood,” she continued.
This drew the attention of the crowd and gasps and whispers erupted. This didn’t feel right to Neteyam. His family was asking for uturu, they should feel safe and protected, but it seemed to him that his family was treated as common goods on a bargaining market. He looked around, worried and quickly his eyes met those of the taller boy who came earlier. His gaze shifted on his hands, and he seemed to relax a bit. Neteyam looked down, frowning wondering what had caught the attention of the other, only to realise he had been counting his fingers. That irritated the forest Na’vi even more. He was as Na’vi as his siblings, no matter the number of fingers on his hands or the extra patch of hairs above his eyes.
He came back to the reality when he heard his mother hissed at the Tsahík. That was definitely not good, and to worsen the situation Jake tried to apologise for his mate which enraged Neytiri even more. The Tsahík realised that she had one more to inspect. Him. She frowned as she approached, probably wondering why a male Na’vi was wearing a top laced on his chest, even though his was not feminine, male rarely covered their chest, too proud of showing off their powerful musculature.
The frown on Ronal’s face deepened when she understood that the piece of cloth looked like a baby swing that young mothers often wear to carry their infant to have their hands free. But, if it was indeed a baby swing, where was the baby or the boy’s mate? He looked so young, almost the same age as her own son who was among the crowd. However, the boy in front of her had already passed his iknimaya since he was also wearing his cummerbund on his waist.
When Neteyam had landed on the sand, he saw that no other male was wearing anything on their chest but straps of leather to hold their weapons. An uneasy feeling cursed through him as he felt a bit frumpy. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a tug too harsh for his own liking on his queue. A quiet hiss escaped his lips and immediately a growl answered from behind him.
‘Oh no’, he thought as he turned to his father who grimaced as well. The Tsahík had let go of his kuru as soon as she heard the menacing sound behind her. Everyone looked at the ikrans still on the beach. But one in particular had a small creature on its head.
The creature was small but when it taped its hands once on the head of the beast, the ikran lowered its head to the ground. The creature jumped on the sand, landing on wobbly hinge legs, both its arms spread to unfold a pair of stingbat-like wings, right under its armpits. Its wings flopped a bit and the creature arrived at the forest Na’vi’s feet where it quickly climbed. The creature laid its small body in the baby swing and took Neteyam’s queue in its hands while glaring at the Tsahík unblinkingly.
Aonung had never seen a creature like this, yet he knew deep inside that he had to be cautious. That was not a pet like the little crab that his sister liked to raise when she was five. That was a predator evaluating its chances. He tensed even more since the creature’s eyes had not waver once from his mother. The Tsahík turned slowly her head to Jake as she addressed him.
“You have a Navi’ka with you,” her voice was small and trembling.
Jake didn’t have the time to answer that the Tsahík added, shrieking.
“How dare you? They are Eywa’s wrath! They are sacred! How coul-"
“Eywa has chosen my son to hatch the Navi’ka’s egg,” interrupted Neytiri. “Neteyam and the Navi’ka have bonded as father and daughter,” she continued her explanation. “She has already scream for him,” she stated proud.
“Mother,” hissed the young forest Na’vi at her, as if embarrassed.
“Is this true?” Ronal asked, directly addressing him now.
Neteyam nervously glanced at his father who nodded his approbation. The forest Na’vi sighed and took the Navi’ka out of the baby swing and placed her back on the sand. Neteyam cooed softly at her when she whined in protest. He then proceeded to undress the piece of cloth and the baby swing which let appeared a fresh scar on his chest. If the gasps of horror were any indication, there was a matching one on his back as well, which mean that this Na’vi’s body had been pierced through.
However, the Tsahík didn’t have the time to examine the wound, since the Navi’ka had already climbed back to the boy’s chest to cover the scar with her wings, clearly uneasy that it was exposed. Even if she appeared to be a baby, she was sporting a set of impressive claws at the end of her hands on her wings. She was careful though, mindful of the delicate looking skin there. She was now looking like a prolemuris holding on for dear life to the forest Na’vi who put his hands to support the little creature now that he doesn’t have any clothing.
“Pähem,” Ronal murmured, mesmerised.
She turned to Tonowari to discuss, only their eyes moved. It didn’t take long though; the decision was made when the Navi’ka was revealed.
“The Pähem and his family will stay here,” stated Ronal.
“They don’t know these waters; they will be like babies taking their first dive. Treat them as our brothers and sisters,” announced Tonowari.
After that statement, the reef Na’vis went back to their previous business.
“My son, Ao’nung, and my daughter, Tsireya, will teach your children our ways,” Tonowari spoke with authority.
Upon hearing his name, Aonung woke up from his dreamy like state. Since arriving he had been intensely staring at the oldest Sully’s boy.
“Father, why do I-” Ao’nung’s voice came to vocalize his protests, but it was quickly interrupted by his father holding his hand up.
“It is decided,” he said sternly, before turning around to join his mate that was retreating to the woven pathway already.
Ao’nung sighed. He had no problem teaching. Actually, he was a great teacher, the kids loved him. No, what he was annoyed with was the fact that he had to teach demon’s blood like his mother had said. He felt relief wash over him when he saw that the oldest brother did not feature any sky people attributes. The other brother and the strange looking girl on the other hand…
Tsireya, graceful as always approached the family to show them their new home. The family quickly took their belongings from their ikrans before following the Olo’eytan’s daughter to their appointed marui as it is called here in Awa’atlu.
"Mum, I will take the ikrans inland,” the oldest boy said, before mounting his own creature and yiping to set the banshee into motion after receiving a nod from his mother. All of them followed.
"Ao’nung, you coming?" asked Tsireya.
“No, I will wait for the Pähem to come back to show him the way to his family marui,” explained the reef boy while bending down to retrieve the piece of clothing previously discarded.
“Give it me! I will give it back to Neteyam” said the youngest Sully brother.
His ears were pinned back, and he seemed to be in great difficulty since he decided to take everything he had on his ikran to make only one trip. He tried to balance all his belongings on one arm to free one to take the garment, but miserably failed.
“No, I will do it. You already have too much to carry anyway,” answered politely Ao’nung.
The younger brother clearly didn’t expect that answer.
“Give it to me,” he growled, showing his small fangs.
Ao’nung was about to bare his own fangs when Neytiri came behind her youngest son.
“Lo’ak! Don’t be rude!” she hissed at him. “Thank you, Ao’nung,” she added while turning herself to the chief’s son.
Ao’nung only nodded politely. That forest woman was fierce, she had hissed at his mother, the Tsahík, in a foreign land, surrounded by reef people. He didn’t want to be on her bad side. Ao’nung waited for almost half an hour and helped Neytiri to carry the rest of her belongings to the marui appointed to the Sully family. He could see that she didn’t like it but strangely took no offense, because he tried to imagine what it would be like to move from the Reef to a completely different land. At least, she had the grace not to voice her dislike, not while Tsireya or her brother was in hearing range.
Ao’nung went back to the beach where the ikrans landed earlier today. Right before she left, the Tsahik had casted a ‘Do not mess it up’ glance at her son. Ao’nung had understood and right now he was doing everything he could to not disappoint his mother. After a while, the Pähem was back. Just as earlier he landed gracefully on the sand. The forest boy sent back his ikran to whatever place he had found for them to stay. His steps were silent as he approached Ao’nung. The reef boy was quick to “repair” his previous rudeness when he and his friend Rotxo had ignored the formal greeting.
“Oel Ngati Kameie, Pähem”, he said while he gestured his hand from his forehead to the other boy. He continued. “I will show you th-”
“No!” The forest boy interrupted him harshly.
“No?” repeated Ao’nung, flabbergasted.
He then took notice of the fin tail swishing angrily behind the other Na’vi. His eyes landed on his face and yep that was irritation painted all over the place, even though his golden eyes looked bright, exhaustion was clearly there.
“I-I don’t understand, I-” stuttered a bit Ao’nung, at loss of words.
He clearly had no idea what he could’ve done to anger the other boy. The only one he should absolutely not make an enemy of. The Pähem sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You will not call me that! I’m not Pähem, I’m not Eywa’s favourite, I am Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk’itan. That’s all! Understood?” he yelled-whispered exasperated right in Ao’nung’s face, one of his finger jabbing at Ao’nung’s chest.
At the end of his tirade, the Navi’ka on his shoulder now wide awake, hissed at Ao’nung. As if the creature took personal offense in what just happened. Not waiting for an answer from the reef Na’vi that seemed mortified, Neteyam began to walk to the woven pathway between the marui. After a few steps, he stopped, realizing that he had no idea where to go. He sighed again and Hik’ki on his shoulder cooed reassuringly. He was about to turn around to ask the way to the boy he had just lashed onto to find him approaching.
“This way” he said with a blank face and a neutral voice.
Neteyam felt bad, all his frustration, his anger, his pain had bubbled up and exploded. He just yelled at a stranger who was probably polite because it was asked of him. He should apologize and- Neteyam’s thinking was interrupted by the Olo'eyktan’s son.
“Here, this is your family marui,” the boy said on the same tone.
Neteyam was taken aback by the structure, so different from home. When he came back to reality, he turned to thank his guide only to find him gone already. ‘Great. Just. Great’ he thought.