After the trees, the seas | Neteyam

Chapter 20

We were sitting side by side on the beach, looking at the horizon. I assumed that Neteyam and I needed to have a private talk after everything that happened. "Does it still hurt?" he asked, his sight settling on my patched up wound, his ears pointing down. "A little, but don't worry about it, I'm fine" I said with a reassuring smile. He turned back to the sea with a sad expression "It should've been me.." he said in a low voice. "Hey don't say that Neteyam, it should've been none of us". His eyes caught mine, they were filled with tears and my heart ached. "I couldn't protect you..like I should have.." he said. I moved to sit in front of him and took his hand in mine, our eyes still locked. "Neteyam you protected me, you protected me by carrying me back to the village, you protected me by handling the whole situation perfectly and getting me healed in time, you saved me Neteyam" I said as he looked down. "I should've done more.." he replied in a whisper.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you couldn't do anything more" I said as he kept looking down. I frowned when he still had this guilty expression on his face. "Don't you dare blame yourself for that Neteyam, sky people, they fired, they pulled that damn trigger, they're the only responsible for what happened to me" I retaliated. He looked at me before I gave him a sweet smile. I then crawled into his arms and burried my face in his neck. He wrapped his arms around me. "I love you Neteyam" I said before he replied "I love you Hayla". We cuddled like that for a while, admiring the beautiful sunset as eclipse started. That night, we shared the same hammock because we needed each other close after being apart for so long. "Sleep well Tìyawn" his voice echoed in my ears as I fell asleep in the arms of my love. 

****few months later****

I woke up to the sound of waves as the bright sun was piercing trough my eyelids. I turned around as the soft grass softly brushed my skin. I opened my eyes to a view that I will never get tired of. As his eyes were closed, I admired every of his beautiful traits. One of his braids was gently falling over his face, he seemed so peaceful. I reached out and gently stroked his cheek before two tired but beautiful yellow eyes settled on me. I smiled to him and he smiled back. "Hey, we should head up to the village" I said softly. He nodded but didn't move. I got up and stood above him, helding him my hand for him to stand up. "Come on sleepy head" I teased. He took my hand but didn't use it to stand, but to bring me down, close to him. "Neteyam!" I let out in surprise as he laughed. I laid my hands on the ground, on both side of his head, face to face with him. "Skxawng" I laughed and kissed him. He held me in his arms and made me roll on the side so he was now positioned on top of me. Our lips didn't leave each other as the kiss became wider. His hand softly running through my body. 

After a moment I pulled him away gently "Now we really got to go" I smiled. "Alright" he said as he got up and held me his hand with his beautiful smile . I took it and he helped me up. We walked to the beach and hoped on our ikrans. I pated my ikran's neck and gave Neteyam a playful smile "Let's race to the village!" I challenged him as I took off the ground. "Oh love that idea!" he screamed as he took off laughing. We flew away from the island full speed, heading to the village. 

Neteyam and I found this little island a while ago, while being on an ikran ride. It was a small but wonderful island, it had a little waterfall surrounded by grass, it reminded us of the forest and so it became our place. It was a place where we could be alone, just the two of us, far from everyone else. We sometimes spent the night there, laying on the grass and looking at the stars, like we used to do before, in the forest. We admire the brightening sky, in each other's arms until we fall asleep. I was living for those moments. I looked behind, Neteyam was slowly catching up, smiling as he commanded his ikran to go faster. I stuck my tongue out at him playfully and looked back to the front as I also commanded my ikran to speed up. 

After flying above the blue waters, we reached the village. I hurried and landed my ikran on the sand, a few seconds before Neteyam. I hoped off "I win" I teased him with a wide smile. He hoped off and smiled "You got lucky, I'll win next time". "Oh I can't wait to see that" I laughed as I pated my ikran's head. 

We walked into the village, and met Jake and Neytiri, we greeted them. "Don't forget about the training tomorrow" Jake reminded us before both of us nodded "We'll be there" I said, smiling. Neteyam and I had already completed the warrior training in the Omaticaya Clan, but here with the Metkayina, it was slightly different and we had some more training to do to be consider as warriors. We were now part of the Metkayina Clan and we were now fully accepted by the them. We weren't seen as demon anymore since we fought the sky people and proved our strength and loyalty. We'll eventually be able to ride a skimwing and be a skilled enough fisher but for now there's still a lot to learn. 

We then headed to the beach, were we assumed our group would be. They were, in fact, sitting in circle by the beach. We joined them "Hey guys" I saluted them. They smiled when they saw us. "You two are finally back from "love island"" Lo'ak teased with an amused smile. "Shut up Lo'ak" I rolled my eyes as a smile formed on my lips. "What are you guys up to?" Neteyam asked. "We were actually about to go on ilu ride" Kiri replied with a bright smile. "We could go outside the reef" Aonung proposed. "Oh I'm in!" Lo'ak said without hesitation. As we gained experienced, we were allowed to go out the reef, as long as we didn't go too far were akulas were. Outside the reef was fun, as there were waves, and jumping them with our ilu was incredibly fun. "I'm in!" Neteyam and I said synchronously. "Alright let's go!" Tsireya said as she led the way towards the sea. I looked at Kiri to make sure she was okay with it, and she answered my interrogation with a smile before following Tsireya. I smiled to her and went to the water. 

We all called our ilus and crossed the reef. As we were going further, the waves got bigger and bigger, we all jumped the waves with our ilu, letting out happy scream from time to time as we flew in the air. The smile on my face couldn't leave. After a while of jumping and having fun, we rode back to the village, it was almost eclipse and so we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The beautiful tone of orange was reflecting on the water, it was breathtaking. Neteyam rode by my side and gave me a beautiful smile. I smiled back to him brightly. It was perfect, everything was perfect. 

I looked down at my stomach and looked at the small scar that was now crossing my skin. This scar that reminded me to never take anything for granted, as things can quickly take a darker turn. It reminded me that I almost lost life the day we fought with the sky people.

On that day, Eywa gifted me with a second chance, another chance to live and to experience life. She decided that I had more to discover, more to experience here. Eywa, know that I am grateful for that gift and I will cherish every second of it. 

I got out of my head, look up and enjoyed a beautiful sunset, surrounded by the people I loved the most. 

THE END