Together for Forever ♡ Neteyam x Fem oc

1. New Beginnings

Authors Note: Nani'ite is pronounced Naa-Nee - Ite but we will call her Nani most times to keep things simple! <3

It was a sunny morning. The sun glistened off of the water, making the ocean look like glitter. The sound of harmonious waves gently washed up onto the shore and the aroma of salt water filled the air. Here, the people lived off the reefs, worshiped the water and treated the ocean as their home. This was Awa'atlu.

Nani'ite was busy with her average morning chores, out gathering fish for her village to eat. She was the eldest daughter of her clan's leader, Tonowari and her mother Ronal. It was her family's duty to serve the Metkayina people, which she didn't mind most of the time.

Nani loved her family and her people, but she had a wondering spirit. Which made sense, her ancestors were voyagers, travelers of the sea. She couldn't help but wonder what was beyond the reef, she often dreamt about leaving behind her duties to live a carefree life. Being the eldest child meant it was her responsibility to look after her brother and sister. Always keeping them in line and reminding them of their family's role, having to be the perfect role model and perfect daughter. It was tiring, but Nani understood her duties and stuck to them just as the leaders before her have. That was the Metkayina way.

Suddenly her attention was caught by the sound of warning whistles going off. Nani paused what she was doing and took a look upon the sky. Shadows overhead blocking off sun rays made her squint up, a small group of Na'vi people riding on Ikrans. Strange, she thought, mountain Ikrans hardly ever made their way out to her oceans. Quickly she called for her Ilu and swam her way over to see what all the commotion was about.

She rode by her sister, Tsireya, and told her to follow along. They both swam over to the communal area of their village and made their way through the crowd. By the time they arrived her brother and best friend were already face to face with the newcomers. They poked fun at the way they looked, they were bluer than the people Nani was used to seeing.

"How are they supposed to swim?" The boys laughed amongst each other.

"Stop, do not." Tsireya quickly shut down the boys teasing. Nani stood by her sister, curiously inspecting the group.

"Hey" one of the strange boys smiled at Tsireya, she smiled and blushed down in response. Nani side eyed her sister and crossed her arms.

To Nani, her little sister was naive. Tsireya was too forgiving, too kind and too trusting. Nani loved and hated that the most about her sister, her kindness was her biggest weakness. Reya was the perfect daughter, and she could do no wrong. Nani'ite was in secret competition with her sister at all times to satisfy her parents, but, no matter what she did; Nani would never be the perfect daughter.

Their attention was brought to her parents, her father riding in on his tsurak and her mother following along through the crowd.

"I see you." the strangers greeted her parents with respect.

The forest people asked for Uturu, seeking asylum for their family. The father pleaded as Ronal made her way around, inspecting the family that stood in front of them. She picked at their arms, twirling and pulling at their tails.

"These children are not even true Na'vi!" Ronal lifted one of their hands, showing five fingers to the crowd around them. "They have demon blood!" She went on.

The family pleaded more and more, and Nani could see it all over her father's face. He was about to cave.

"Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us," he announced, "treat them as our brothers and sisters."

Nani'ite blocked out the rest, her ears ringing with annoyance and her arms crossed. She side eyed the boys in front of her, the one who kept glancing at her sister and the bigger one who she noticed kept side eyeing her.

"My daughters, Nani'ite, Tsireya and my son Ao'nung will show your children what to do." Tonowari said to their family.

"What? Father, why?" Nani and her brother both interjected immediately.

"This is decided." Her father said down to them sternly.

"Come!" Tsireya immediately perked up, "I will show you our village."

Her sister eagerly led the way around the village, showing them every spot they would need to know. Nani followed behind alone slowly at the end of the group, arms crossed and a straight face. She eyed the boy walking in front of her with a pep in his step, his tail curiously flicked as he walked. His ears perking up and back every so often as he spotted new things. It was so different than what Nani was used to seeing on the island.

"This is your new home" Tsireya smiled at the family and welcomed them into their Marui pod.

"This is great, it's nice right?" Jake Sully smiled to his children, to which only the youngest child and eldest son smiled in response.

It was the next morning, and the Sully kids first objective of the day was to swim with the clan leader's kids. Neteyam was the first one ready and waited outside their pod with his little sister, Tuk.

"Why do they always take so long, Neteyam?" His younger sister groaned, "I want to swim already!"

"Patience, little one." he smiled and patted her on the shoulders.

They stood a little longer outside, waiting on Lo'ak and Kiri. Neteyam was 18, eldest of his 4 siblings and he truly enjoyed being the big brother. It might've been exhausting to always keep his brother out of trouble and protect his sisters, but he liked being depended on.

Not long after, the two last siblings made their way out and they all walked together to the spot Tsireya told them to be at yesterday. Sure enough, she was there with her sister and brother waiting on the group to arrive.

"Hi guys!" Tsireya smiled and waved as they were still at a distance.

"Could you be a little less annoying?" Ao'nung whispered over to her.

Nani chuckled to herself and crossed her arms, inspecting the group as they made their way over to them. They even walked different, she thought.

"Hi!" The smallest one said first.

"Hi Tuk," Tsireya smiled, "are you guys ready?"

"Neteyam and I were waiting all morning on these two!" Tuk pushed at Lo'ak, causing Tsireya and him to lock eyes and giggle with each other.

Nani rolled her eyes at the obvious attraction they had between each other and looked off. Making unexpected eye contact with the Sully's eldest son.

"Uh hi," he said to her quietly, he quickly signed the sacred I see you gesture to Nani, showing his respect to her. To which, she did not respond, instead she focused on his hand. He didn't have 5 fingers like his siblings, yet he was still not a true Na'vi, she thought.

"I am Neteyam," he spoke softly, putting his hands behind his back, "I didn't get to introduce myself yesterday."

"Nani'ite , next in line to lead the Metkayina clan." she responded with her chin up.

"So, you're the eldest, I am too" Neteyam gave a soft smile, trying to crack through her hard exterior.

Nani turned to the rest of the group and spoke firmly, "Today we're going to be diving, that way you can get familiar with the ocean around us. It will be hard for you to swim, with your arms being so thin and all." She glanced a look at Neteyam, and spoke slow, one word at a time "Try to keep up."

The group of reef kids dove in first, patiently waiting for the other kids to follow.