𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓, neteyam sully

III

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧

the next few days were spent helping the sully's perfect their ilu riding. kiri had managed to achieve it all by herself, which didn't surprise ionia in the slightest.

ao'nung hadn't changed at all, still making snide comments about the forest na'vi, even in front of their faces, which ionia scolded him for.

she had grown closer to neteyam. teaching him the 'finger talk' and also helping him with the ilu's. they'd discovered that they had a lot more in common than they'd thought.

tuk had started attending ionia's classes every two days, which meant she had also become friends with feyiri. which was extremely chaotic.

tuk had asked to go visit her new best friend feyiri, jake had of course said yes, as he was glad his youngest was making friends her age.

but neytiri wouldn't let tuk wander off on her own, so neteyam was in charge of walking tuk down the shore and to feyiri.

well, neteyam volunteered himself as soon as tuk mentioned the name ionia. he had jumped up at the name and said he would happily take tuk.

lo'ak laughed at neteyam's eagerness, and neytiri raised her eyebrow at the sudden interest in taking his sister to a play date.

as they walked onto the sandy shore, neteyam could spot the smaller girl and ionia's pale white skin. feyiri seemed to be chasing ionia around, who was playing along with feyiri's imagination.

he found it adorable how she was so good with children. the fact she taught children, and from the looks of it, raised feyiri.

which was true; feyiri's parents had died not long after she was born and ionia had heard her mother and father talking about the loss of two clan members and their daughter who was now an orphan. ionia immediately set out to find the girl, and ever since the age of two, ionia had been taking care of her.

"feyiri!" tuk yelled, letting go of neteyam's hand and running to feyiri.

feyiri screamed back in excitement, abandoning her and ionia's game. the two young girls gushed over seeing each other and getting time to spend together. 

neteyam walked over to ionia, who had sat herself down in the sand, watching the two girls with a smile.

"hey you," she said to neteyam.

"hey you," he repeated.

the two elder kids zoned out for a moment, thinking about the other.

neteyam smiled slightly. it wasn't her even flirting with him. and he believed that she didn't even find him attractive in the slightest. but he still was extremely interested in her. he couldn't help it though. or, that's what he told himself. that his thoughts and slight feelings would go away soon.

ionia smiled slightly. she didn't know how she felt. the sully's had only been here for a few days. but, she felt weirdly connected to neteyam, that she had a bigger purpose in neteyam's life than just being his tutor and teacher of the water. she felt like he understood her, without even having a deep conversation about their personal struggles; she just knew.