when we got back the sky was darker, closer to eclipse. neither me nor jake had seen the kids but we assumed they were with tsireya and ao'nung. we made our way back to the marui so we could wait for them. just then neteyam comes rushing in with a limp kiri in his arms. lo'ak, tsireya, tuk and rotxo are hot on his heels. "dad, ayla, help. it's kiri, she had a seizure underwater at the sprint tree." we both sprang to our feet and i took kiri from the boy's arms and laid her down on her mat in the marui.
jake said he had some sky people friends that could help and went to call them for help. as much as i trusted him with his daughters' safety, i didn't trust any sky person. so i went to ronal. "tonowari, ronal." i greeted them. "kiri needs your help, tsahìk. it is urgent." both me and ronal walked back to my hut after she had gathered her tools. tsireya followed us, tasked with holding her mother's healing tray.
however, when we arrived back at the marui, there was already another na'vi and a human there. they looked like jake, but with different clothes, human clothes. they had little squares with pictures on them, showing something that looked like kiri's brain. ronal walked in, holding her tray, and stared down the other creatures. she looked at me while the others all conversed about their theories. i gave her a shrug, i didn't know the demons or want them anywhere near here.
"i see that i am not needed here." she muttered towards me and turned to leave. i stopped her with my hand on her arm. "you are tsahìk. they can leave." she looked down at kiri's limp body. "remove these things." i turned back to jake and his friends with a hardened gaze. "they leave now. they have done nothing." the demons scrambled to get out, trying to gather their gear in the process. eventually they left, jake as well. i sat on the side while ronal got to work. tuk had come into the hut at some point and she now sat behind kiri's head, helping ronal. "tuktirey." ronal handed her a small jar of something while she worked on healing kiri. she started muttering words under her breath and poking her with a tiny needle.
after what felt like many hours watching ronal work, kiri started to stir and her eyes blinked open. she immediately started crying and i rushed to her side. ronal sat back, obviously drained from her work but bore a small smile at the sight of me and kiri. i muttered calming words to the girl as she started to calm herself. jake had come in to see how his daughter was doing and sat next to me with a hand on my thigh and smiling down at kiri.
——
it was a few days later, and kiri was settling back in after waking up from her seizure. she wasn't as spritely as usual, more down and sullen but i was sure she'd come around soon enough. it was a bright morning and we were just tidying up the marui, putting away rugs that didn't need to be out, when the conch horn was blown and tsireya came past on an ilu yelling out to everyone. "the tulkun have returned. everybody, our brothers and sisters have returned!" we all came out of the marui, save for kiri who was still inside, and i had a giant grin on my face. tuk ran back inside to get kiri, and the rest of the kids ran off to see the tulkun.
i pulled jake with me, towards the sea. "come meet my sprit sister." he grinned at my enthusiasm and gave in. we both dove into the ocean and i whistled for a tsurak. jake wrapped his arms around my waist and i navigated us through the waters filled with the tulkun and metkayina. we dipped under the surface to search the waters and it was a beautiful sight. neteyam was on an ilu, exploring, lo'ak was with tsireya, and kiri and tuk were riding on rotxo's spirit brother's fin. i went back to looking for my own tulkun sister.
i saw kame poke her head out of the water and call out. "look, there is my spirit sister." i tapped jake's thigh and pointed to where kame was. we made our way over there and slipped off the tsurak. "her name is kame, it means to see, spiritually." i spoke to jake before we dove under to greet her. "sister, i see you." i signed to her. she whistled back. "i see you, sister. i am happy."
we talked, and i introduced jake to her. "this is jake. my mate." she shrilled in excitement and began flapping her tail to accentuate her point. "finally. you have settled down. i am happy for you, sister." i laughed at her antics, she certainly had advocated for me to find a mate sooner, rather than later. but she wasn't too pushy, and i knew she only wanted the best for me. and although i would stay with her for hours upon end, the pod had to move out to feed and we needed to breathe again.
so we parted, and i took jake back up to the surface again. we made it to the beach and met the kids back at the marui. tuk was so excited about what she had experienced, she kept talking and talking and talking. even through dinner and until it was time to sleep. but we finally managed to settle down and the kids fell sleep quietly. for me and jake, this was the first time we slept side by side as mates, and i was giddy with happiness. he pulled me into his embrace and we lay together in comfortable silence until both of us closed our eyes for the night.
——
the next morning we woke, i was in jake's arms still and the kids were only just coming back to reality. tsireya would come to get them for training soon so i roused them up and got them ready. it was looking to be a rainy day, so they would probably be doing some smaller things, like weaving and making things. me and jake stayed in the marui, just eating fruit in silence. it started to rain soon after, the droplets splashing down around the hut and making the sea choppy. i picked up a weaving project i'd been working on, it was a plate-like trinket, sort of like a basket. i lit a fire in the middle of the hut and we sat together next to it, just warming up.
just then, while we were laughing together at something jake was saying, tonowari walked past. he looked dull, a mix of sadness and pain. he hovered near the doorway to my hut before moving on. jake and i immediately got up to see him. "what's wrong?" tonowari sighed. "sky people. they are looking for you jake sully. south. they have a human boy who speaks na'vi." he looks away, out to sea. "did they kill anybody?" it almost comes out as a whisper when jake speaks. "not yet. they threaten. but the villagers will not tell them where you are, by my order." he leaves, walking off down the path. we walk back inside.
we sit in silence for a bit, i continue weaving and jake stares blankly at the fire. "why do they hunt you?" i break out silence. "revenge. i killed them in a war when i was toruk makto, and now they seek to destroy me." "and who is the human boy?" jake looks down with a sigh before looking at me and replying. "his name is spider. i adopted him when he was just a kid, left on pandora. i killed his dad in the war, and now he's come back as a na'vi, taken spider and is hunting me." i listened to his story, smiling when he said he adopted the kid.
"if we know where this demon is, we should hunt him, kill him." i put my weaving down and focus on jake. he knows these demons, and he knows how they think. "we can't, we have to be smart." my head automatically cocks at his words. "if we hunt him, he's gonna know where i am and he's gonna come here with everything he's got." i mull over his words for a minute. "so what is our plan then?"
