After the trees, the seas | Neteyam

Chapter 4

We landed on the sand. As our Ikrans came to a stop, we got off. My feet were now in the sand, it felt wierd. I stayed next to my Ikran as I saw the whole clan getting closer, circling us. That was intimidating. I noticed that they were slightly different, their skin was lighter and their arms bigger. Their tails were flat. "On me" said Jake as he approached the Metkayina. I was so intimidated by the looks they were giving us. I walked up to the group, staying close to Neteyam. "Easy, just be nice" Jake said as two guys approached us with judging looks. Lo'ak and Neteyam gave them the "I see you" sign, but I just couldn't do it with the look they were giving me. They walked behind us, observing us from head to toes.

"What is that?" one of them said to the other "is that supposed to be a tail?" Everyone started to laugh. Every muscles of my body tensed up, I already hated it here. Further, there was a young Metkayina girl who submerged out of the water so gracefully before joining us. Me and Neteyam noticed that Lo'ak was looking at her with literal hearts in his eyes. We smiled to each other as we both knew what that look was. The two boys continued to be annoying. "It's too small, how are they suppose to swim with that?". "Enough! Roxto, Aonung" the Metkayina girl said slapping the hand of the tallest. At least one of them looked nice. "Hi" said Lo'ak to her as she smiled shyly, almost blushing. I smiled seeing Lo'ak like that.

Then we saw some sort of creature. It was a sea creature but it had wings and it was able to fly. One of the man came out of the water and walked towards us. He was the olo'eyktan. "I see you Tonowari" said Jake and Neytiri. We all did the sign. "I see you Jake Sully" he said. A woman then emerged from the crowd walking to us, she was the Tsahík. She seemed suspicious. "I see you Ronal" repeated Jake. We all did the sign again for her. "Why do you come to us Jake Sully?" Tonowari asked. "We seek Uturu" he answered. "Uturu?!" she asked firmly. "A sanctuary for my family" Jake said. "We are reef people, you are forest people, your skills are worth nothing here" he said while his mate was moving around us looking at us from up close. "We'll learn your ways, isn't that right?" he said as he turned to Neytiri, hoping she would help him. "Yes" she added. Ronal then grabbed Neytiri's tail, and Tuk's arm. "Their arms are thin" she said as she walked to Kiri, taking her tail "their tails are weak, you'll be slow in the water". "These children aren't even true Na'vi" she said as she took Kiri's hand and held it in the air for everyone to see. "Yes we are!" Kiri replied, getting of from her grip. She moved on to Lo'ak. Is this woman trying to do a whole show? She's so getting on my nerve. She took Lo'ak's hand and said " They have demon blood!". How dare she! She looked at me and Neteyam and noticed that we had "normal hands" so we got spared, thankfully. "Look" said Jake as he showed her his hand. "I was born from the sky people and now I am Na'vi! You can adapt, we will adapt! Okay?" he said trying to convince them.

"My husband was Toruk Makto" said Neytiri as Jake looked at her weirdly, not agreeing with her telling that. "He lead the clans to victory against the sky people" she continued. "This is what you call victory? Hiding amongst strangers" Ronal responded harshly. "It seems Eywa has turned her back on you, chosen one" she said. Neytiri hissed at her. Ronal hissed back. I gave a glance at Neteyam, worried this isn't going to end well. He looked at me, giving me a small smile, trying his best to reassure me. "I apologize for my mate, she's-" Jake started. "Do not apologize for me" ordered Neytiri angry. "We've come a long way and she is exhausted-" he continued despite her warnings. "Jake!" she said before she stood back, having no other options. "Toruk Makto is a great war leader, all Na'vi people know his story, but we, Metkayina are not at war. We can't let you bring war here" Tonowari said to his clan. "I don't want war, okay?" said Jake "I just want my family safe". "Uturu has been asked" said Neytiri. I looked down, at the thought that it was over, we weren't wanted here. Neteyam put a hand on my shoulder. "Do we have to leave?" said Tuk, worried. Her dad tried to comfort her.

The leader finally spoke. "Turuk Makto and his family will stay with us. Treat them as your brothers and sisters. But they do not know the sea, so they'll be like babies taking their first breath." I was relieved we could stay here. "Teach them our ways so that they not suffer the shame of being useless" Tonowari added. Jake was relived too. "Okay, what do we say?" he asked us. We all thanked them except for Kiri who rolled her eyes. "My son Aonung and my daughter Tsireya will show your kids what to do" Tonowari said. "But father.."his son tried to protest. "It's decided" he cut. "Come, I'll show you the village" said Tsireya as she waved her arm for us to follow her. At least some of them were being nice.

We walked through the village on some sort of net. Tuk was looking everywhere, she seemed amazed by her surroundings. I was happy to see her like that. We then arrived to a hut. "This is for you, your new home" she said as we looked around. That was...small for all of us..and so different from what we had in the forest. "Thank you" I replied to her with a soft smile. She smiled back and left us. "Yeah, this will work. This is great! This is nice, right?" said Jake with enthusiast. We clearly weren't all convinced. Neytiri dropped her stuff on the ground and sighed loudly. And that was only the beginning...