The Tides have changed | Neteyam Fanfiction

part 24

Raeya connected herself to the creature.
And she was taken right into its memories.

She saw flashing lights and a big metal floating vessel. Around her were other Tulkun and other Na'vi.

And that's when she realized, that Payakan was showing her the war through his eyes. The war that had taken away her mother.

She saw as the sky people shot metal bullets at the Na'vi and used all sorts of technology to kill the Tulkun.

The scene was absolutely horrible. All she could really see were snipets of the memories that Payakan had of that day. But they were enough to really get her to realize.

That day, that everyone thought a young Tulkun had gone rogue and killed all these Na'vi and other Tulkun, was not at all what it seemed.

Payakan didn't kill anyone, he was trying to fight back at the sky people. He was trying to save his friends and family.

And just when she thought she had understood the situation, she saw her mother.

Her mother was swimming with Payakan to attack the sky people, they were fighting together.

It confused Raeya, as she had always thought that her mother didn't want war. That she was no killer. But what she saw was completely different.

She watched as her mother fought along with her brothers and sisters and how she battled a human guided machine,.... and how it crushed her body, killing her in an instant.

Through Payakans eyes she watched as the lifeless body of her mother floated in the water. And how everyone around her was dead as well. Everyone besides Payakan.

Raeya quickly disconnected herself from him, and swam right to the entrance of Payakans mouth.

Payakan opened it and she swam out and went straight towards the surface.

Raeya gasped for air and tears started flowing down her face. Everything that she had believed, was a lie.

Her mothers death, Payakan, everything about it, it was all a lie.

Lo'ak surfaced right after her and watched as Raeya swam to the Tulkun. She placed her hand onto the creature's skin and cried, "you didn't kill her, you were trying to save her,"

Raeya couldn't control her tears from falling and she broke down completely. Lo'ak swam to her and placed a comforting hand and her shoulder.

She looked at the boy and said, "Lo'ak.. I'm so sorry, I didn't know," she tried to get her words out evenly, but her crying was making it difficult.

"It's okay, how could you have known. And it doesn't matter," he tried to reassure her.

Raeya calmed down and took a deep breath. She looked at Payakan and sighed. "Thank you, for showing me,"

She didn't even need to sign it, Payakan could understand her.

"Lo'ak, you need to protect him, no matter what. The hunt for Payakan won't end until his dead." She could now understand why Lo'ak was so protective over him. They really were friends.

The boy just nodded and lifted up his pinky finger to Raeya. "But you have to protect him now too, now that you know. Pinky promise?"

Lo'ak had failed to realize that Raeya didn't have a fifth finger. She raised her eyebrows and looked at his hand.

It took a second for Lo'ak to realize what was happening, but when he did, he smiled awkwardly and blushed. He quickly put down his hand and said, "let's just forget what I just said,"

Raeya laughed at his face and instead of a pinky promise, she just offered her entire hand. Lo'ak accepted it and they shook hands.

Agreeing to protect Payakan.

-----
Payakan took them around for a joy ride. To lighten the mood. Raeya had never done anything like this before and hanging out with Lo'ak like this made her happy.

She usually got along better with his brother, obviously, but she had always wanted to be better friends with Lo'ak.

They sat on Payakans back and slowly drifted along the water. "So how are things between you and Tsireya?" She flashed a cheeky smile at him.

Lo'ak blushed and looked away from her, "There is nothing going on between us, really," the last part of his sentence was said in a sad tone.

The girl sighed and let out a chuckle. "You do know that she won't ever shut up about you, right?" Her words came as a bit of a shock to Lo'ak.

He looked at her with wide eyes, and Raeya laughed at him.

"Oh wow, you are pretty smitten with her, aren't you?"

"I'm not the only one smitten here, my brother won't ever shut up about you either,"

Raeya laughed again quietly and placed her hand over her heart. Whenever she did that, she swore she felt closer to Neteyam.

They said their goodbyes to Payakan and swam back to the village.

They also agreed to keep their little meet up a secret. Because they didn't want Lo'ak to get into any more trouble.

-the current moment-

"You didn't think to tell me that you know something like this?" Neteyam was angry at Raeya, he couldn't understand why she didn't tell him.

The girl sighed and looked down at the floor with sad eyes. She like she was being scolded. Tsireya and Aonung looked at each other in shock.

If Raeya believes that Payakan didn't kill her mother, then it must be true. But that was not even the most important thing that they had to do know.

"Guys, I get that you have trouble in paradise, but Lo'ak is still going after Payakan. We need to find them." Aonung called his Ilu and they followed his lead.

Raeya didn't follow them tho. She ran back to her Marui.

It wasn't because she didn't want to go after Lo'ak, but rather because she needed to get something first.

She ran in her room and went straight to her weapons. Her first instinct was to grabb the bow that Neteyam had given her. But she thought about their fight just a minute ago and hesitated.

Instead, she took her spear, the one that she had practiced with the most. But this time it wasn't for practice anymore, it for protection.

She ran to her Ilu and jumped on, the others had long gone and she had to find them on her own. But that wasn't a problem for her, as she knew exactly where Lo'ak went.

The cave of the three brothers.