ILLICIT AFFAIRS || NETEYAM (AVATAR)
"i want peace, but they will
never let us have it."
[summary inside]
post! the way of water au
neteyam sully x f!oc...
WHEN NETEYAM FIRST lays eyes on her, she is dying—or perhaps she is already dead.
He does not know. He cannot tell.
He will try to save her all the same.
She is faced down and unmoving. Her chest is utterly still when he turns her onto her back. There is blood on the white sand, which is truly no longer white at all where she has lost so much of herself to it. The inside of her leg is wounded, and he cannot tend to it.
Sand clings to her like a second skin. It covers her face like a mask, and Neteyam knows that attempting to wipe it away will be a fruitless task, so he does not waste his time with it. Sand scratches Neteyam's lips when he places his mouth to hers and breathes. Her torso rises and falls. His hands then push away the adornments atop her chest and settle there before pressing down in a steady succession.
When she remains unresponsive, he prays. Neteyam may not know many things—hell, he does not even know her— but he knows that this is no way to die. Alone and nearly forgotten. He has tasted death, and, quite frankly, it tastes a lot like salt water and failure, and he would never wish for anyone to meet their's prematurely.
He prays, even though he is not the best at it. He tries to pray like his sister would. She would know the right things to say—to ask for— but she is not here and this girl only has him, which is infinitely better than having no one at all.
Neteyam knows that he could very well be wasting his efforts on a soul that has already returned to Eywa, but he tries and tries and tries.
And she breathes.
It is a labored, desperate working of her lungs followed by a bout of dry coughing, but she breathes.
Then she leans over and wretches right onto his lap. There is now a mixture of bile and salt water seeping into his loincloth. Neteyam winces, and sand grinds between his teeth as he thanks Eywa for answering his prayers anyway.
She has fallen back, and he sees slivers of pale yellow peeking through the layer of minuscule rocks that cover her face, but when he blinks, they have disappeared.
She is losing consciousness.
Neteyam does not find this promising. He taps her cheek firmly and sends sand flying in several different directions. She groans and tries to inch away from him, but she is too weak to make any true progress.
He sees her eyes once more.
"Stay awake," he demands of her. He presses into the communications device at his neck and speaks to his father, who is always listening when his children are not directly beneath his watchful eye. He implores his father to alert the tribe's Tsahik to his coming arrival. His father's agreement spurs him on, and he hoists the girl's thin body up and into his arms.
It is then that he realizes that she is too thin. He also realizes that she is unlike the others who make up his found tribe. She is more like him.
Neteyam runs faster, and she cries out. "Sorry. I'm sorry," he tells her, but he will not slow down. There is simply too much ground to cover, and he is too far from the village to call for an ilu.
When he finally arrives at his family's shared marui, his breaths are shallow. The mauri is occupied by his mother, father, and the clan's Tsahìk. His siblings have made themselves scarce, and he is glad for it. His mother's eyes mimic his father's in their worry.
The Tsahìk, Ronal, is standing patiently, a stone tray of materials in her hands.
Without any greeting, Neteyam moves quickly through the woven home and places the girl on a nearby mat.
Ronal descends as soon as he does, urging him away. He moves to stand beside his parents and watches as the woman begins to work over the girl in a more precise manner than he ever could have managed.
The girl's eyes are heavy, but they are not nearly as heavy as her gaze, which is reserved solely for him in this moment. For a second, he wonders how he looks from her perspective. Does he look as afraid as he feels? Has he grown smaller beside his parents? Can she see the sand atop his shoulder length braids? Can she register his presence at all?
Her moans of pain bring him back to the reality of the situation, and he speaks without preamble. "She was not breathing when I found her. I do not know how long she was unconscious before that. The wound on her leg isn't actively bleeding, but it is there."
Without sparing him a glance, Ronal thanks him.
The girl's eyes shut, and Neteyam feels a stab of panic. His father must sense it because he feels a four-fingered hand clasp the top of his shoulder. "Go wash off," his father tells him in a soft voice. Neteyam remembers his soiled loincloth and the patches of sand on his body. "There's nothing more that you can do, son."
Neteyam nods wordlessly. This is true, but for some reason he cannot bring himself to move.
Just one moment, he thinks.
Just one—
"Mom? Dad?" A voice asks. Neteyam and his parents turn to the entrance of their mauri. His two younger sisters, Kiri and Tuktirey, are standing there wide eyed and worried. Kiri is nearly as tall as his mother now, and Tuk is quickly catching up. He has a fleeting feeling of gratefulness that neither one of his sisters is the person beneath Ronal's hands.
"Everything is fine," their father assures.
His mother takes Neteyam's hand in hers and pulls him toward his sisters. "Take your brother to the waters. I will come and find you all soon."
His mother, Neytiri, is one of the best warriors he knows, and although she is kind, she is also fierce. Even now when she is made up of gentle tones and soft eyes, there is no question that her words are not a request.
Kiri understands quickly, though Tuk is attempting to peek beyond their mother's shoulder at the scene taking place. The former takes both of her siblings hands and pulls them from mauri.
Somewhere far away, he hears his sisters asking for the details of his day, but his adrenaline is plummeting into nothingness and he has lost the strength to reply.
"Who is that girl?" They ask. "Who is she?"
Neteyam does not know.
He decides then that if it is within his power, he will change this.
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