𝙈𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙏𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 - 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

001.

❝ ᝯׁhׁׅ֮ɑׁׅ֮℘tׁׅꫀׁׅܻꭈׁׅ ᨵׁׅꪀׁׅꫀׁׅܻ  ❞

_  .  𝕏  '  +  ❀  +  '  𝕏  .  _

It was early in the morning, the day before everything changed.
The sun peaked over the trees, and a cool mist hung in the air as Leilani stood inside her family Marui being reprimanded by her father, Tonowari. 

Last night her younger brother, Aonung, and his friends were supposed to secure an injured skimwing within a cove hoping it would calm down enough for a healer to see to it in the morning; however, the boys did not tie up the animal well enough. It had broken free in the middle of the night and in a pain-induced panic knocked about 2 days' worth of clams off a dock and into the sea. The villagers that were woken by the commotion helped clean up, but still, a basket and a half of food were lost to the tide.

So now her father was yelling at Aonung while she stood next to him, staring at the shadows the sun cast, noticing how they flicker at the same rate as her heartbeat. She convinced herself it just looked to be that way because she stared at it too long. 

Being brought back to the present by the voice of her father telling Aonung he can leave, the girl moves to follow him out but was stopped by her father. 

"No, Leilani, you stay," he said, and she moved to stand in front of him, hands clasped in front of her body. "Where were you when this happened?" he questioned; 

"I was helping mother. We were restocking her supplies," she said, glancing at the other women for a quick second. 

"But you were there when I tasked Aonung with tying up the skimwing. You didn't think to check he did it, right?" He said, looking down at her.

 "No? Because it was his job, not mine. I didn't realize Aonung needed to be micromanaged." the girl sassed, realizing she was going to get herself in more trouble. 

"But that's the job of the oldest and an Olo'eyktan. You're supposed to double-check work and make sure it gets done correctly." she sigh in exasperation as her father said this.

"How will you fix this? How can you make it up to the people?" He asked, walking away from Leilani. 

"Why me? Aonung is the one that-" her sentence being cut off by the harsh glare her father sent her. Taking a breath she said, "I can collect replacements for the calm that was lost."; annoyed by the fact that's what she would be doing for the next couple of days. 

"Good" Tonowari replied looking at her, "Go you are dismissed," he said cocking his head toward the opening in the Marui. She ventured down to the beach holding a basket in her hands, along the way she ran into her baby sister, Tsireya, who offered to help her.

Tsireya was the youngest and the sweetest sibling. She was the favorite and got in little trouble. She was always there to help the older girl, and she appreciated it greatly. Tsireya felt like her real sister in every way, but they weren't related they didn't look similar at all.

Leilani was the oldest but only by a few months. She had been put under a lot of pressure because she would be her father's heir. The girl found herself extremely busy with not a lot of time for things that didn't benefit the village; causing her to grow anyway from the little friends she had. What extra time she could find usually being spent with Tsireya.

 She was adopted at a young age. Ronal and Tonowari took her in after she was found alone in the forest near the beach. She had no clue who her real parents were or where they could be, all she knew was one of them was an avatar, not true Na'vi, the extra finger on hand told her so. She calls Tsireya her found sister because the bond they had was like true sisters. 

Her bond with her adoptive mother was anything but genuine. The block in their relationship was the extra little finger Leilani had; a gift from the devil is what her mother called it. It was impure, unnatural. Ronal held that between her and the girl for as long as Leilani could remember. Creating an iffy relationship between them and straining the bond between her and her father. Tonowari had more sympathy for the girl and treated her no different than his real children, but when she was in trouble he was harder on her knowing that other people would be because of her differences. 

Leilani was the same shade of blue green that the people of the Metkayina clan were. However, the girl's eyes were a dark teal instead of the light color most people had. She also had odd markings across her body; having swirls like most Metkayinan people had, but there were also stripes within the mix. Ronal said it was another sign of impurity. She used to get picked on when she was younger, but now she was just used to the whispers and stares though it isn't as bad as before, most people were used to her weird looks, and younger kids were too afraid of her brother to say anything.

Aonung was the middle child and the true heir of Tonowari, but he was immature and stirred up too much trouble that the couple decided it would be best to have Leilani inherit the title, but he was still put under just as much pressure as the girl. Their parents watched their every move, though he needed the surveillance. The boy regularly got into trouble, and Leilani was there to lessen the blow from their parents. He often picked on others with his group of friends, though he would never let them talk to his sister that way. He was protective of his sisters, checking on the every once and a while. Even though he's a jerk, he is still a good brother. 

Aonung and Tsireya were Leilani's found family, Ronal and Tonowari may have adopted her, but she knew they were never going to be there for her like her siblings were. By eclipse, Tsireya and Leilani were able to collect a full basket of clams. She told her sister that they could finish tomorrow morning,

the day that everything changed.

‾  .  𝕏  ,  +  ❀  +  ,  𝕏  .  ‾

ɑׁׅ֮υׁׅtׁׅhׁׅ֮ᨵׁׅꭈׁׅ'꯱ׁׅ֒ ꪀׁׅᨵׁׅtׁׅꫀׁׅܻ

Hi!! this is my first story so please feel free to leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism in the comments! 

This chapter was just introducing the main character and her family dynamic; the next chapter will start when the Sullys arrive at the Metkayinan village. I'm going to try and follow the storyline of the movie but I only saw it once so I might mix things up, please let me know if I do. 

Also, I'm getting most of my information from google, like the meaning of the name Leilani, so it may be wrong, in no way do I want to offend anyone so please please let me know so I can educate myself.

thank you for reading! much love!!

~lily