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11

It was like a game of cat and mouse; push and pull. Neytiri would get close enough to grab Aponi before she would slip under a branch and it was a chase all over again. Jake hung back to watch the two women with a soft gaze, ears twitching at the sound of their laughter. 

The three of them came upon the Tree of Voices, and Aponi slowed to a walk. She looked back at the two with a soft gaze, surprising them both with the intensity within her eyes. "Come," She spoke, so soft it could've been mistaken as the wind through the trees.

The two of them followed after her, Jake pressed against her side with Neytiri on her other side, their tails curling around each other affectionately. Neither of them spoke, just staring at Aponi, admiring the beauty that she was. 

"I brought you both here for a reason." Her voice rang out at long last, palms caressing the leaves of the tree as they walked by. Neytiri met Jake's questioning gaze over Aponi's head, simply shrugging. "I needed to say it now, before I scared myself into not saying anything at all." 

She pushed away from the two, facing the both of them with that same gentle expression. Her eyes betrayed her, though. They were swimming with anxiety, but neither went to comfort her. She wouldn't have wanted them to, anyways. 

"I came from Earth, as you both know," She placed a palm against one of the trees, leaning back into it as her eyes became misty with nostalgia. "I am from a tribe from Earth. Much like the Omatikaya, just smaller. Much, much smaller." Neytiri stared at Aponi with interest, never hearing her speak this much about her past. 

"...We have different practices, though. Much different." She looked back at the two with her lips pursed, rubbing a piece of her hair between her fingers. "I'm sure Jake has heard the term, but I will explain it in a much easier way." She reached her hands out for the both of them, beckoning them closer. Jake followed more hesitantly than Neytiri did, not knowing where he exactly stood with the two. He felt like he was intruding.

"There are legends in our tribe, of great leaders with their partners." Aponi started, taking each of their hands in her own. "A war chief with two wives, or a great healer with her two husbands. They all loved each other very much. This is very common in my tribe." She explained, and looked up at Jake who had a look of understanding on his face. 

"Why do you tell us this?" Neytiri asked, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at Jake, and then back at Aponi with a confused expression. Aponi swallows her fears, and lets out a breath. 

Suddenly, the hand grasping Neytiri's lifts it to press the limb against her chest, right above her heart. "Do you feel that?" She whispers, the moment so intimate and sweet that if she could, she'd cry. Neytiri simply nods, feeling how Aponi's heartbeat was fast and fluttery. 

"That is how I feel when I look at you." She said at long last, and Neytiri's eyes shot up to look at Aponi with a very surprised expression. She turned to Jake, Neytiri's hand still pressed against her chest, and smiled at him. "But it is also how I feel when I look at him, too." She speaks again, and Neytiri's body presses against Aponi's back.

"I have hid this from you both for quite a while. I did not know how to... say it. But I know how to now," Aponi says, and now Jake is pressed against her back, too, his arm wrapping around Neytiri. "I have found myself falling in love with you both." 

It was silent. Aponi felt her anxieties coming back, but Neytiri and Jake hadn't moved, so that must mean something. 

"I know it isn't... normal. But it is how I was born, and I cannot help that. I cannot help the way I have fallen for you both, and I will not apologize for it." Aponi says, and she steps away from them both, turning to face them. "I will not apologize for the way I love you two. You are the reasons my heart beats, why I fight. I will never apologize for that." Her words are a distraction from the way she wanted to start crying, so fucking scared that she's ruined everything.

She doesn't let them speak, still rambling. "I don't want either of you to feel pressured, but I had to say something before tomorrow, knowing that I could lose the both of you to other people because I know there's so much better out there but I-" Her voice breaks and she stops herself, biting her lip so that it didn't tremble. She averts her eyes to their feet, wishing the ground would swallow her up.

This wasn't a good idea. She shouldn't have said anything at all, anything would've been better than this. Why was she a fucking idiot? She wiped at her face, huffing out a breath and turning on her feet. "Just forget it, I shouldn't have said anything-" 

"Don't." Jake's voice was sharp, and the hand on her arm was so warm she nearly melted at the touch. She didn't turn to look at either of them, still feeling the tears cascading down her cheeks. "Don't run away from us." He finished, his words softer. He tugged her and she turned around, looking at them with watery eyes and a frown. Neytiri's own hands went to her face, wiping the tears with gentle fingers.

"Little butterfly..." Neytiri whispered, the human word so pretty on her tongue that Aponi couldn't help looking up at her face. Jake was behind her now, his body pressed against her back and she couldn't help leaning back into it. "You aren't the only one who feels that way, hm?" She spoke again, and then suddenly her lips were on Aponi's. 

She closed her eyes and leaned in, hands going to Neytiri's face and neck and pulling her impossibly closer. Neytiri's tongue poked at her bottom lip and she let out a little whine as she opened her mouth, letting the other do whatever she wanted. She jumped slightly as she felt Jake's hands against her hips, breaking the kiss to look back at him with slightly lidded eyes. 

He wiped the spit from her lips before turning to Neytiri, kissing her just as passionately as the two women had done. Aponi couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach at seeing the two, her hands gliding down Neytiri's waist as her tail curled against Jake's thigh. They broke away and suddenly Jake's hands were turning her around, his mouth against hers before she could let out a gasp at the quickness of it all. The gasp diminished into a moan as she felt Jake force his tongue into her mouth, pressing their fronts together in an attempt to get closer. 

Once they pulled away, all of them panting slightly, Aponi leaned her head back against Neytiri's shoulder. She smiled up at Jake and closed her eyes, catching her breath before speaking again. "I know we can't make it... official, yet. Until tomorrow. But I needed to say something." Her words were soft, and she let Jake's hands press against her waist and it made her mind go blank. 

"I'm glad you did." Jake's deep voice rang out in the silence of it all, and Aponi heard Neytiri hum in agreement, never one for words. 

Soon enough Aponi began to get restless, and then Neytiri suggested they go back to Home Tree. The two Avatars agreed and then they were gone, but the feeling of Neytiri's lips on her own and Jake's tongue in her mouth stayed with her. 

That night, she dreamt of a life mated with Jake and Neytiri.