Me and the Devil | lo'ak sully

chapter 1: the three S's

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Stealth. Swiftness. Silence. The three S's that made you a good hunter. To Na'veya, it came natural. She was born to the Tipani clan, the fiercest hunters known to the Na'vi. In the depths of the jungle— high up in the trees, that's where they were located. Hidden, like they didn't exist.

Na'veya had a burden stuck to her name. She was Aungia, a devilish assassin. The people feared her— hated her. Aungia meant sign, it was a sign that you'd die when you saw her.

She didn't kill because she liked it. She killed because it was her legacy, her mother told her stories about how she'd serve justice one day.

She didn't know it would end up like this.

The people despised her, viewing her as a traitor, killing her own kind. She didn't kill for no reason. She didn't take death lightly, it wasn't meaningless. She would only kill Sky People, traitors and Dreamwalkers— Sky People pretending to be Na'vi.

All Na'vi knew who she was and they feared her deeply. She was nothing but a bloodthirsty shadow, roaming around in the depths of the night— waiting for a prey to catch.

She had even made a name for herself amongst the Sky People, people specifically being told to keep an eye out for her as it would usually end in death.

They didn't understand her motive. How could they? She never spoke of it out loud. In fact, she never even spoke at all.

A Tipani rarely speaks, and only does so with careful consideration. Thus, their words often carry enormous weight.

It was their "style", Na'veya thought. Silence being the thing you think of when you spoke the word Tipani.

Na'veya had been trained to be a fierce warrior ever since the day she could walk. Her mother taught her everything she knows. She was incredibly grateful for that. She didn't know where her mother was right now. They tore her away from the girl when she was just a youngling. She was needed somewhere else and since then, she'd never seen her again.

She was used to being alone. The nantang kept her company at night. She would sleep in trees, where the people couldn't find her.

She vividly remembered one night, however. A night that had been on her mind ever since it happened.

A sigh escaped her lips as she repositioned herself, pulling her arrow back. Her arrows were the mark of death, a black feather and a small pink flower attached to it at the end. Everybody knew that it was Aungia's doing when they saw it sticking out of a body.

The boy walked around, mumbling to himself as he kicked a few twigs on the floor. As he let out a yelp— his hands quickly meeting with his foot, Na'veya knew he kicked something that wasn't as lightweight as a twig. It was probably some kind of rock.

She pulled the arrow back even further. It was the perfect shot. Only to slow him down, she thought. She wasn't killing him, she didn't know who he was and that meant he didn't do any harm.

But when his eyes shot up to meet hers, she swiftly ducked away. Her eyes grew wide. How did he know where she was? She slowly looked around the corner as he was still looking at her. What is he doing?

Wait, he isn't running away. Why wasn't he running away? He'd clearly seen her face and her black arrow, why was he still standing there?

Truth was, he was mesmerized. Even though he couldn't really see her features through the big green leaves, he knew she was beautiful. A beauty he'd never seen before.

When he turned around to his name being called, Na'veya ran off. She jumped from tree to tree to make sure she wasn't being followed when she could finally rest again.

His face still roamed around in her mind. He looked like a strong spirit. She could tell, she's good with reading her prey. He'd been on her mind constantly these past months. And let me tell you, this scenario happened about a year and a half ago— she's been thinking about him for a long time. She couldn't help it, handsome boys tend to do that to you.

He'd caught her attention like no living being had ever done. He fascinated her. His mannerisms intrigued her.

Na'veya kept wondering if she'd see him again. Maybe he would look for her, she thought. Maybe he'd come back to the place he found her. So she decided to do the same thing, only to get disappointed when he didn't show up. She tried again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that until it was clear that he was never going to show his face again.

Maybe he figured out who she was. Maybe he didn't look at her the way Na'veya thought he did. Either way, it was a mistake and it could never happen again. She didn't like to get distracted, especially not by a boy.

So she went on with her life, trying not to think about that pretty boy.

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She pulled her arrow back, closing one eye to focus. That's it. She let go, making the arrow soar across the sky and hit the yerik right where Na'veya wanted. She ran up to it, ripping the arrow out of its skin as she spoke the words she remembered so clearly.

'Oel ngati kameie, ma tsmukan, ulte ngaru seiyi irayo. Ngari hu Eywa salew tirea, tokx 'ì'awn slu Na'viyä hapxì.' (I see you, brother, and I thank you. Your spirit will run with Eywa, while your body will remain and become part of the People.) She spoke gently. These are the words she recited so often, it was more times than she could count.

These were the only words she spoke out loud.

She took the yerik with her, using one of the knives she made to cut it into little pieces before she lit the fire and placed the meat on it.

It was a bit chilly tonight, Na'veya's arms finding their way across her body, wrapping them around herself.

The moon looked bright tonight.

Little did she know that a certain boy was staring at the moon at the same time as her, wondering what she was doing.