I See You (N. Sully)

Chapter 16

"I had a younger brother."

Neteyam's head tilted with keen interest. "Not Kauri?"

"No, he's older." Smiling down at her hands, she was suddenly grateful for the saddle, and how it had bindings she could untie and fiddle with. "Kekoa was young, really young. He was only five."

Neteyam knew where this was going, and he didn't like it. Knowing that she had even more baggage beneath such a soft and peaceful exterior. "What happened?" His voice was barely perceptible above the sound of the wind harassing the fabric on their saddles.

"He died – the same night as my mother."

He could see the way it hurt her to talk about it. How she'd struggled to even say the words.

"She wasn't well. It happened so quickly." Her hands were shaking now, even as she tried to calm them by pressing them against Masir's back. Even he could feel her stress, his flying becoming a little more bumpy than usual. "Her behaviour was erratic, and in the forest, I'd turned my back for one second."

Neteyam didn't need to ask what came next. Her mother had killed him. Such an act was forbidden among the Na'vi, even between tribes. Her mother should have been seen by the Tsahik the moment she fell ill. They'd left it too long.

"I knew she was coming for me next, so I got the knife and I killed her." She looked up at him then, with a painful smile on her face. "I should've stopped her earlier. I know it's not my fault, I'm not saying that..." she sucked in a breath, "but I could have stopped it."

'You were nine."

Ahurewa appreciated the effort, but she'd been mulling over those events for years. The funeral had been one of the worst days of her life, she hadn't been to one since. She couldn't bear it. "Yeah, I know." She whispered. There was no use in explaining it to him , he was only trying to help. If only he knew how many times she had been told that by her grandmother.

They hadn't spoken of that conversation for the rest of the journey, and the mood lightened with Kiri and Lo'ak's persistent bickering which only amplified the more they stopped to take a break.

"It's just over these rocks." Jake had yelled, pulling back to speak to us as a group as we neared.

Making it into the clearing, and seeing the reef finally come into view was both a relief and a stressful experience. In the distance, she could see the strangers moving beneath the water, swimming with strange creatures, their lighter skin blending with the water as the sun blared down on them. In truth, it was breathtaking – like nothing she had ever seen before. The trees were shorter, and flatter at the top, but bearing strange colourful fruits. Their houses were made from unfamiliar materials, connected by a long net pathway that meandered throughout the tree line. From where she had spent most of her life, all she had seen were the mountains, and the dark blue ocean that was too deep to navigate. This was different. She had never seen Na'vi with tails like theirs, skin as bright as theirs, and markings painted on their skin, that she had never seen before.

She could only glance at Neteyam for reassurance as they landed, suddenly being swarmed by newly appearing people.

"Be calm. Okay," Jake murmured back to them, holding his hands out, open, as a sign of peace. "Don't do anything stupid."

All they could do was nod. Mouth's tightly shut in front of the new tribe. Ahurewa was interested to know how they would blend in as one of the people if they lived so differently. Blocking out Jake's attempt at diplomacy, Ahurewa was focussed on the way some of them circled them all, sizing them up as if expecting them to break out into a fight at any moment. Studying the way their tails moved as they walked, she concluded that the forest people's talks were far superior, more elegant and practical for swatting away small flying creatures. Their's seemed heavy, and burdensome, and it barely moved as they walked. The taller one of the two boys reached out to touch her tail, after studying her from afar, he must have determined her not a threat, vulnerable and defenceless. It was an insult for him to do such a thing, especially without her permission. She backed away from him, her tail slipping out of his grasp just before he could grab it.