Here With Me | Neteyam 💙

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 2

Hazel did the only thing that made sense in the moment: she ran.

Again.

Lo'ak had time to take a full step before she whirled and bolted across the connecting platform.

The narrow planks and vine railings blurred beneath her feet as she zigzagged away from him, ignoring his startled call behind her.

"Ayavi! Wait—!"

Somewhere behind her, she heard another voice shout—familiar now.

"Ayavi!" Esnat. Still in pursuit. And gaining.

Of course she is. Feather girl must run track in her spare time.

Hazel pumped her arms harder. The wind bit at her face, cold and sharp. Her long legs—too long, too fast—barely felt the ground.

She passed a startled Na'vi child, nearly knocked over a hanging basket of fish, and darted around a line of crates.

Lo'ak and Esnat were close behind now.

She glanced back.

"Stop!" Lo'ak shouted.

Hazel whipped her head forward.

Too late.

The platform ended in open air.

The cliff dropped into nothing. A sheer vertical plunge, dizzying and endless, swallowed by the mist and faint glow of the jungle far below. One more step and she would've been a goner.

Her whole body locked—but her momentum didn't. Hazel teetered, arms flailing, weight tipping forward.

Then—pain.

Something yanked her sharply backward by the scalp. Her braid.

She hit the wood hard on her backside, air whooshing out of her lungs as she crumpled in a heap. "Ow—!"

A shadow loomed over her.

Tall. Still. Unamused.

He released her queue and folded his arms across his chest.

"You almost fell off the cliff," he said flatly. "You're welcome."

Hazel blinked up at him.

His face was angular and stern, carved like it had never known the concept of a smile. His hair was tied back in a warrior's braid, every movement precise. His eyes, gold-flecked and narrowed, scanned her like she was both a puzzle and a problem.

"Neteyam," Lo'ak panted, finally skidding to a halt. "She's not—she's not herself."

Esnat arrived seconds later, breathless, clutching her side. "She doesn't remember anything. I tried to stop her—she thinks she drowned or something!"

Without warning, Hazel smacked herself in the face.

Hard.

Everyone flinched.

"Wake. Up." Smack. "Wake up." Smack. "WAKE. UP."

Lo'ak and Esnat exchanged a look. Neteyam just stared like she'd grown a second head.

Hazel blinked, wobbling a little on the platform.

"Okay," she muttered, rubbing her cheek. "That didn't work."

She twisted to look behind her and—yep. Tail.

Neteyam stared.

He should have left the moment Lo'ak waved him down. Should've let Esnat deal with Ayavi—if she was even still Ayavi. Because this—whatever this was—was not the girl he'd grown up tolerating out of obligation.