Dream || Neteyam

Two

Leaving to talk to father was a bad idea.

As the sky begins to darken, fires begin to light in the homes of my people. Together, my mother, father, and I are also lit by a fire in our home.

We stand together, both of them upset.

"You should not have left!" He yells, and his arm flies in front of him, passionatly gesturing.

"I know." I say. My eyes stay on his. I know what I did was wrong, so I cannot look away. Looking away would cause him to wonder if I regret it. And though, it was the wrong decision, I do not regret leaving.

"You are the eldest! You know best."

"She does not!" Mother yells to him, pausing her beadwork. I let out a sigh. "Leaving before you were dismissed, in a time like that shows. She shows she does not know best."

She is crouched over the pile of beads on the floor from her newest project. "You are right Ronal." My father whispers in a defeated tone.

"I know I messed up. I am very sorry. I will teach them what you want me to teach them." I look up to my father and plead with him.

I cannot have them losing their trust in me. Being in trouble does not sound good either.

He looks to my mother. She has a scowl on her face, but they communicate from their eyes. I can tell my father does not want to punish me much.

They know they cannot punish me because my mother acted the same.

"Eclipse is almost here, you will go back out for the rest of the night and help." He finalizes. I nod my head at the two of them, and leave.

My heart pounds in my chest. Talking to my parents always seems to make me breathless. I am not the type to ever get breathless.

I am always scared that I will never do or say what I should say to them.

Letting them down is not an option, but with my actions the past day, I have clearly screwed up.

Walking along the path, I look for the Sully kids, or my sister but have no luck. Where would they even be?

"Nia!" Someone calls from behind me. Its a voice I do not recognize.

Turning around to see the person, I want to turn back around. Looks like my searching was found.

"Hello, Neteyam." I greet in the kindest voice I can muster. It sounds weird coming from me.

He stops in front of me and smiles. "How was your talk with your dad?"

I raise my eyebrows at this. Its shocking that he asks. "Where is my sister?" I ask, ignoring him.

"Diving with my siblings." After silence for another minute while we walk, a hand grazes across my arm. "How was the talk with your dad?" He asks once again.

"None of your business." I pull away from him, sharply and hop from the rope path to the sand. He follows me again.

"Well, you can talk to me, I understand."

I glance at him. "What do you mean you understand?"

"You are the oldest. I am oldest. We have the most pressure."

"I see." He continues to follow me into the water. "What are you doing?"

I turn around and stop when the water reaches my stomach. "Nia I am following you."

In the darkness, his skin glows. The way their skin lights up is different from us. It is quite beautiful.

"You should not follow." I look away, past him.

"Why?" He lets out a small laugh.

There is no reason that comes to mind. I just do not like him.

He has every right to follow me. I am finding his siblings, and he can do anything he wants.

"You cannot breath." Is the vague answer that comes to mind.

"I can manage. Tsireya obeyed your parents and taught us a few things."

"In a day." I scoff. "How about this, Neteyam, I do not like you. I do not like the way you look at me. I do not like the way you are following me." And then I dive into the water, leaving him.

Where everyone is is a complete mystery, but Im guessing they are where my mother and Tsireya like to dive.

During the night, they like to go to a sea grove. It is so beautiful.

Sometimes I go down alone without them to clear my head, and find new things to use. There are a lot of shells, or things we can use for beads.

When I arrive, I see many people swim, and explore the amazing water. Pausing, I admire everyone. Watching people find the joy in the water that I find makes me happy.

They are like children. Learning the way of the water, learning the amazing things that we have. The beauty, and connecting with Eywa in a different way than the forest.

Tsireya is really giving them a grand tour today.

And then it is all disrupted by Neteyam, stopping beside me. Rolling my eyes, I look to him. His grin is still on his face and I shrug, asking what.

He points up, I forgot he cannot speak our language.

"I thought I made it clear when I left you." I say, as soon as I break water.

"Nia, can you teach me your finger talk?" I laugh. Our finger talk. "I wouldnt ask you, because I know you pretend to hate me, but Tsireya was too distracted with Lo'ak when she tried."

Of course she was.

"Youre right, I do not hate you. I dislike you very much." I let the smile stay on my face. He is ridiculous. "I can teach you. But leave me alone."

"Thank you Ni'awtu." Nodding, he pushes the water at me. I shriek. Incompetent boy.

I shove it back at him. "I knew you werent miserable." He whispers.

My face falls, and I just stare. "What?" My voice is sharp.

He has no right to assume anything about me.

"You act like you are superior." His face is still in a small smile.

I am just in awe. "You have no idea. You only met me today, Jungle Boy."

"And you only met me today. How can you tell if you do not like me?" He teases.

I pause and look down into the water. "If anything, you're the one that thinks you're superior. Barging into my home almost demanding shelter. You have no right."

"I had nothing to do with that."

"You have nothing to do with me or me being miserable." I retort, diving back underwater, finally escaping the boy for the rest of the night.

//

I do not want to move them fast so I'm just going to make it slower after this

I hope you all like it so far!

ik she seems like a bitch rn but there's trauma and she gets a lot better