𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙. 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

𝙯𝙚𝙧𝙤. 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨

"Calm my beautiful Iri." She hushed, referring to her Ilu who was visibly stressed. "What seems to trouble you Iri? You are only like this when you've done something you weren't supposed to or when something is coming our way."

She hovered her hands over the Ilu's body. "Calm Iri, calm." She whispered and raised Iri's head to her's. "I am here."

She traced different patterns on her Ilu's body, humming the melody her mother would sing to her when she was younger.

She closed her eyes and took in her surroundings. Ny'reiya had found her inner peace with herself, and so did Iri.

Ny'reiya lifted herself from the rock she was sitting on and dove into the water, where Iri circled her. She smiled and got on her Ilu, riding through the reef.

As the eldest daughter of the Metkayina clan chief, her duties to prepare herself to be the next great leader had taken over most of her time. They were duties keeping her busy, without them, her life seemed boring, no purpose.

She extended her hand to feel the flow of the water, as well as the creatures she passed. Ny'reiya signaled her Ilu to go back up to the surface.

She continued humming her mothers song as Iri swam slowly back to the village. Her eyes were on the crystal clear water, that is until she saw unfamiliar shadows hovering over the water.

Ny'reiya quickly looked up and saw foreign Ikran in the sky. Her breath hitched as she signaled her Ilu to come to a stop. Iri quickly became stressed again.

"Is this what you were stressing about Iri?" She whispered. Calls were heard from a distance and a horn was blown. Newcomers had arrived in the village.

The Ikran circled the sky before eventually landing on the sand. Their riders getting off shortly after.

"We must go see who have come to the village." She said. Iri quickly dove and swam towards to the village.

Ny'reiya gently pushed passed her people and stood at the very front. She watched as a family came off their Ikran. The first to step off one of the Ikran was an older man, who helped his family step on the sand. The youngest of them clung to who she had assumed was her mother's leg, she was visibly exhausted.

The other girl that stepped off an Ikran looked annoyed and tired. She kept her arms crossed, adjusting her shawl in the process.

Ny'reiya's eyes widened a bit as she started to notice the foreigners build. They had a deeper blue skin tone, with leaner bodies, thinner tails than her and her people, and a different style of braids. Their clothing was also different compared to hers. Ny'reiya's clothing consisted of resources from the sea, while theirs seemed to be more influenced by the resources of the forest.

It was an assumption that they were from the forest, after all she had never been there.

Ny'reiya's mother and father had arrived to greet the foreigners. Her mother trailed behind her father and gave the strange people an intense look. She clearly didn't trust them without knowing their intentions. It was something that made Ny'reiya roll her eyes at. Ronal was always so quick to judge and become hostile. Tonowari was the opposite and was always open to discuss and reason.

Her father Tonowari, began speaking with the leader of the strangers. Ny'reiya tried getting a little close behind her father to hear their conversation when she spotted her younger sister emerging from the sea, along with her brother and his best friend.

Always late. Ny'reiya thought. Tsireya had made her way towards the front of the people, occasionally glancing towards a specific direction. As Ny'reiya walked towards her sister, she had figured out who Tsireya was looking at.

One of the two teen boys who Ny'reiya hadn't noticed. One of them had kept glancing back at her little sister. Mutual interest was present in between the two of them. "Don't even think about it." Ny'reiya grabbed her sisters arm. "What?" Tsireya pulled away.

"I know what you are thinking, so stop it and throw it away." Ny'reiya poked at Tsireya's forehead. She shook her head and scoffed. "You do not know them, nor do you know their intentions. They are foreigners." Ny'reiya added.

"You are beginning to sound like mother." Tsireya pointed out. Ny'reiya huffed and crossed her arms, standing next to her sister. "Everything will be fine, besides, there is more than one brother." Tsireya giggled.

"If I could pull your ear as hard as I could without getting in trouble with father, I would take the opportunity." Ny'reiya gave her sister a cold look to which Tsireya covered her mouth to keep her from laughing even more.

Ny'reiya looked over towards her sisters admirer, looking at the boy next to him who was already looking towards her direction. Once he had seen that Ny'reiya was looking at him, he snapped back out of it and looked at a different direction.

"Skxawng." Ny'reiya mumbled and focused back to her father who was asking the foreigners their reason for coming.

"We seek Uturu, refuge." The father spoke.

"Uturu?!" Ronal questioned.

"I just want to keep my family safe, please." He said as he pat his youngest daughters back.

Ronal stepped forward as soon as she heard his words. "We are reef people." Tonowari spoke. "You are forest people, your skills will mean nothing here."

Jake Sully looked towards his family and back to Tonowari, having a desperate look in his eyes. "We will learn your ways, right?" He looked back at his wife, hoping she would reassure him.

His wife nodded and quickly looked down, placing her hand on her other daughters shoulder.

Ronal scoffed and circled the family of foreigners. She grabbed his wife's tail and inspected each member of the family. "Their arms are thin, their tails are weak." She grabbed the older sister's tail to which she quickly yanked back and exclaimed softly. "You will be slow in the water." Ronal grabbed the girls hand. "These children..." She said holding the girls hand up. "Are not even true Na'vi!"

"Yes we are!" The girl retorted and pulled away from Ronal's grip.

Gasps were heard among the crowd. Ny'reiya began to feel bad, given that Ronal could be a little harsh sometimes.

Her mother walked towards the boy that was admiring her sister and held his hand up. "They have demon blood!"

"Four fingers." Ny'reiya pointed out to her sister. "Are you sure you still want to be envolved with forest boy?"

"You aren't even giving them a chance, you really are mother's twin." Tsireya whispered. "Oh please, don't pull that!" Ny'reiya scoffed. "I am simply pointing out what is true, it doesn't mean I am like mother."

Tsireya shook her head. "Once you see there is no danger, I do not want to see a look of shame on your face. Although I would be glad to see it."

"Shut up." Ny'reiya rolled her eyes. "Look, Jake Sully's wife and mother are about to fight."

"She can not fight while pregnant and she knows that." Tsireya sighed. "The brother is looking your way again Reí."

"I don't want to hear about it, skxawng." Ny'reiya scoffed. She looked towards the boy who was admiring her.

They held eye contact for ten seconds before Tonowari began to speak. "Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us, treat them as brothers and sisters. They do not know the sea so they will be like babies taking their first breath, teach them our ways so they do not suffer the shame of being useless."

Jake Sully and his family said thank you's and nodded their head. "My son Ao'nung and daughters Ny'reiya and Tsireya will show your children our ways."

Aonung whipped his head towards Tonowari and so did Ny'reiya. "Father, why do I have to-"

"It is decided." Tonowari cut Ny'reiya off. "Teach them or you will bring shame onto our village."

28/12/22 - Please ignore the cover for this book, I have yet to make one so this will do for the time being.