broken peace; neteyam sully

𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳

They all sat in the shallow seawall tide pools, friends talking amongst themselves. Tsireya, Mir'et, Narkis, Ezu'za and our dear Ok'xana.

"He's so cute, no?" Reya said as she twirled her head to view Xana who tilted her skull back against the edge of the pool.

Her eyes were on the sky, unfocused as the past circled her mind. Cruel memories that seemed to constantly snarl for her attention.

Tsireya shoved water in her hands and splashed her, causing her to look up hurriedly.

"Wait what?" she asked, puzzling to figure out if they had been speaking to her.

Narkis waved her hands in the air, "Lo'ak," she said teasingly, "Tsireya's lover."

Reya straightens, "Not my lover," she smiled to herself, looking down at her palms.

"Not yet—" Mir'et began before getting a mouthful of water.

Tsireya, red-cheeked, looked now to Xana, choosing to focus the attention away from herself. "Obviously Ok'xana has caught someone's eye,"

Xana furrowed her brows looking her friend dead in the eye.

The other girls began to question, "Who? Who?"

They eyed her like baby birds begging for food, three mouths shaped in small circles of curiosity.

Tsireya hummed, "The older Sully brother."

Groaning, Xana let a heavy hand travel down her face. She rubbed her eyes, "No..."

Mir'et began to whistle, "At last she has found a boy!"

"I have not," Ok'xana stated, crossing her arms.

Narkis narrowed her eyes, "You are not over Alexx'os?"

"No—" she began before halting. The girls ogled at her pitifully.

Alexx'os.

Thoughts of him seemed endless. Before she slept. In her dreams. When she woke up. When she was strolling.

He was a plague.

She wanted to hug and strangle him at the same time. She wanted him to apologize to her yet she felt partly guilty.

"I mean, yes, I am done with him. He is a coward." she corrected, feeling her ears turn down with the lie.

"Indeed," Reya said carefully, watching her with a frown, "Which is why Neteyam is perfect!"

Ezu'za giggled, "Even his name is nice,"

Xana threw knives with her gaze at her, then turned to Reya. "That does not add up. Anyways, enough of this..."

Her sentence trailed off once she saw Ao'nung stalking toward them, her brother and their other friend following.

She bit the inside of her cheek. Once more she let her head drop against the edge, sinking herself deeper into the water as she uttered, "Fantastic."

The girls turned their heads at the commotion of boys. Mir'et combed her fingers through her hair, grinning at them as they approached.

"Hi!" she said, Narkis repeating shortly after.

"Hey," Chelle, Xana's least favourite of Rotxo's friends, said nonchalantly.

The girls giggled as they talked to him as she watched the stars above. They blinked at her, almost as though they were laughing along with the Na'vi. Small loquacious balls of fire.

She felt her lips quirk at the notion.

Then, they were obscured by a figure above her.

Ao'nung.