Awa'iti mysteriously finds a half dead Tsu'tey on her peoples doorstep, after saving his life she offers to travel with him back to his homeland. There they find out that the skywalkers are back and are planning to take control of Eywa, only Awa'iti...
There it was again, she calls to me in my sleep... A voice as soft as dew drops, but as mighty as the beating heart of a drum.
Who are you?
"Awa'iti, wake up."
What do you want from me?
"Awa'iti!!"
A slight burn feeling roused me from my sleep, "Huh?" I answered groggily.
"You were supposed to go fishing with the others today!" My sister yelled, while smacking my head with a stick.
"Oh! sorry, sorry, I am going now." I got up from my woven hammock and silently got dressed as she stared daggers at me. She was taller, being two years older and she let her long white hair grow down to her tail, which I always thought was ridiculous since we were underwater half the time, but whatever. There were five of us children in total, I was the youngest. You could even say I was the outcast, I did not quite get the care my other siblings got.
"I will be back!" I said, while walking out of our hole in the wall house. It was not a dirty hole like you are thinking, this was a Ko'hatu house dug from solid stone. They are clean and cozy and they keep the cool air away.
Most of the others had started their day by the time I woke, my tribes people all wear similar garments that are white in color, just like our hair. They are made from the fur of the bisona. One of the only animals we have the privilege of bonding with.
"I am so sick of the color white, it is all I see, the plants, the animals, even our clothes, it is so bland." I complained to no one in particular. The elders tell stories of the world above, they say it is a terrible place riddled with war and bloodshed. But I am sure there is more to it, I wish to know.
I grabbed a fishing net by the river and went deeper into the tides where few people dared, I sighed as I cast it out, immediately a tiny silvery white fish got caught, which made me groan.
"You are almost as much of a disappointment as I am." I told the little fish. "Fear not, I will set you free, you are too skinny for this hungry stomach."
The little fish swam away in fright, which caused glowing ripples to appear on the smooth surface of the water. That is when I heard her, my ears immediately shot up trying to pinpoint where her voice was coming from. That soft and melodic noise enticed me deeply. She was not saying anything specific, but rather humming in my ear. Perhaps a kind of language I did not speak but somehow, understood. As if she were whispering directly into my soul, it was like a magnet, she pushed, and I pulled. We were in a never ending cycle, neither one of us able to escape.
The river that goes across our lands has an opening and an exit. I have always been to scared to go through it, our people escaped the Great War and fled into the caves long ago, and no one has left since. Her voice was coming from the exit, I had always been to afraid to wander off that far. You see, most of our lands are lighted by the plants that grow here, but inside of those opening and exit tunnels, there are no plants. I have lived underground my whole life, yet I was a stranger to darkness, what a cruel joke.
I gulped, deciding to let my curiosity outweigh my fear. Slowly, I walked towards the dark exit, her voice was getting louder by the second. I used the walls around me as support on the slippery worn rock. No matter how far I went there was no end, but the water had to go somewhere right? At this point the voice sounded like it was directly in my ear, which was actually annoying, but I proceeded. One toe in front of the other, until finally my left foot rammed hard into a rock in front of me.
"Wiya!" I cursed.
Waves of pain cascades throughout my body, I hesitantly felt in front of me until my hands touched a cool stone wall. It was solid, but maybe it was placed after we came here all those years ago?
"Wishful thinking." I said, pushing with all my might at the wall. To my surprise it did end up moving slightly, revealing a light so bright it burned. "Oh my god, is the above ground on fire?" I yelped and jumped back, slipping on the wet stone and falling hard. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, and peaked at the beam once again. With curiosity in my eyes I placed my hand on the foreign energy and watched as my fingers sliced through the light and bent it out of shape. It must have been penghrrap the elders told us stories about a naturally occurring giant ball of fire that swam around in the sky.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I giggled at my silly imaginations, this was the way out. I pushed on the stone for what seemed like hours, until finally it gave and rolled out of the way. This causing me to slip on the ground and fall on my face, wet rocks may just be more dangerous than angry bisona, thankfully no one was around to point and laugh. When I opened my eyes, I could not see anything. The entire world was too bright, it burned... It was a painful and scary realization of just how little my village of Ko'hatu truly was, and how little I had ever gotten to see. I let my eyes slowly adjust to the light as my surroundings came into view.
"What..." I breathed in the open air. "What is this?" My heart raced as I took it all in. Everything around me was full of colors, I could not grasp what I was seeing. The water underneath me was a hue that I had never thought was possible. I had always figured water was black, but seeing it in natural lighting, it clearly was not. A wave of anxiety and fear came upon my as I processed what I had just done. I was the first in centuries to leave that cave, the air smelled so fresh and crisp, gigantic plants towered over me and flying furless animals roamed in the sky, "They are naked.." the strange creatures stared at me in a judging fashion before scurrying off.
I slowly got up and walked to the river bank which made me queasy, all these new smells, colors, and sounds... they were too much for me to handle. It was my first time seeing true color, I did not know how I felt about it. I stared intensely at the animals in the sky, to my dismay, that meant I was not paying attention down below. I tripped and fell once again, but this time it was not over a rock. Unless the rocks on the surface were soft and flesh like... no, definitely not a rock.
"Please do not be a monster." I turned my head back slowly to look at the creature. My eyes widened, it was a thing? It looked like me.. but different, it had black hair braided down to its back and wore some sort of cloth. It was covered in a strange liquid that seemed to be leaking out of every hole on its body. I poked it with my finger, it twitched and made a croaking sound, shifting softly in its slumber.
