broken peace; neteyam sully

𝘰𝘯𝘦

The phrase Eywa be with you, said by all Na'vi immature and wise, circled Ok'xana's mind as she restlessly watched the sea before her.

Was it untrue? Eywa was at the very core of her people's world, each of them born from her womb and cared for even after their deaths. They were meant to be permanently under her motherly arms and yet she could feel her life slipping right through her fingertips, disaster-ridden sand.

Her situation was minuscule in light of every trauma carried on her father's back. Still, she was hot with shame at the thought of it.

Eywa...her protector.

She set her jaw, focusing on the waves. They rose onto the shore with a pleasant song she would never tire from.

The rise and crash would never change. See, while people were turbulent obstacles, there was always the ocean.

It was a constant in her life. The soft shoulders she would often fall into, sighing as it caught her ardently. Sweet asylum from all that tired her.

Holding her breath, she watched the water stumble over itself, aspiring for the sky before collapsing onto the shore and retreating.

Disrupting her chaotic peace, there was a horn blown strongly in the distance.

Newcomers.

Air rushed into her lungs with a gasp as her eyes scanned the sky frantically. Amid the serene blue, there were soaring figures.

Her eyes widened as she pushed herself to her feet, starting towards the area they seemed to near as they flew. She recklessly jumped over rocks and ducked under the large mangrove roots that her village hung on.

For once, she was completely distracted. It was not betrayal or weakness that danced in her mind but the promise of unfamiliarity.

Ok'xana enjoyed the rush of wind in her hair as each step she took vibrated hope through her bones.

There began a throng of excited Na'vi and she wiggled between their jittery bodies. She made her way into the middle, eyes immediately falling over the foreigners.

A family, surely. Mounting first off of her ikran must have been the mother, who helped her young child onto the sand. Then, the rest spilled onto the ground.

They were strange, she noted, as they spoke with their slim hands' signs of peace. Her brows rose as she studied them.

They had a much deeper, cooler blue for their skin tones, patterned by straighter stripes, quite unlike the water-resembling patterns her body bore. Their physique also was thinner, with smaller waists and longer legs, which carried them cautiously forward.

She was certain they came from the forests, built to climb and prance.

Behind her, she recognized the pestering voice of her brother, Rotxo, and his antagonist of a friend, Ao'nung.

Phenomenal, she thought as she blinked slowly with a frustrated sigh.

Rotxo made a belching sound, grabbing her tail to annoy her.

"Brother, I will slam your face into the sand in front of everyone," she warned as he passed her carefully, hands raised.

She repressed the smile that threatened her features. She could not be cold with the notion of the village's new excitement, and he was her twin after all, though an utter skxawng.

As the boys walked forward, stalking like children trying to intimidate, her eyes reached the teenage children of the family. A girl, who apprehensively covered her body with her shawl, and two boys.