Through The Valley • Ao'nung

Chapter 64

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̶̶̶̶  «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ 　Through the Eye of Eywa 　 ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶  

[edited]

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The leaves rustled in the calming breeze of the wind, birds on the branches singing their songs while they looked down at the disputing small children.

"Neteyam, our pathfinder, make way! Make way!"

Animals nestled between the greens the girl vigorously swatted through the air, scattered away in haste.

The little girl's voice echoed through the forest as she held her stick high in the air, waving off the leaves reaching down in her brother's path.

The boy sighed, holding his head high while he rolled his eyes at the mocking tone of his sister's echoing voice.

With the leaves imagined as people in their way, the girl straightened her back, holding her chin in the air while she placed both hands behind her back like a guard clearing the way for her king.

"Please do tell us," the girl bowed and stretched her hands out to the road splitting up in multiple different ways for the boy to choose the right one out, "the way."

Seconds of silence rested and At'anau got bored of the act, wandering around her brother inspecting the floor while she let him do the work of searching the path home she was familiar with.

"I feel like it's a trick question."

"I feel like you got us lost."

"Not."

The girl sighed down from the drawings she dug in the dirt under her feet before dropping the material down in the soil and looking up at the still lit up sky.

"Time is running out, brother," she dropped her hands to her sides, "eclipse will be upon us soon."

Neteyam frowned, swallowing the sigh of frustration while he looked down the visual end of every split up way through the forest. The boy knew the girl was aware of the correct way home. It was simply the pride he wanted to obtain by successfully carrying a big responsibility that kept him from following his sister's commands.

"You're distracting me."

The silence that followed made him frown as he only expected a petty remark, yet instead it was almost as if the girl didn't hear. With a twirl the boy turned around looking for the sister on the grounds and for a split second his eyes scanned the area frantically before they went up in the trees.

His tense shoulders slumped as he watched the girl climb the thick bark like a newborn two-left-footed monkey.

"What are you doing?"

Only small grunts of the struggling girl were heard while she made it higher up the large branches. With her tail the girl swung her body to the upper side and with her small but muscled arms pulled herself up on the base.

Keeping her balance, the boy watched her climb the end of the branch, and by the way the tip of her tongue poked from between the corner of her mouth, the boy was intrigued by what she had in her vision.

With a swift snatch of her hands between the green rustling leaves, the girl huffed and had to wrap her other hand around the object obviously too big for her.

"Get over here!" Neteyam broke out of his trance, missing the mumbling of the girl of his incompetence and lack of use by just standing there.

"Drop it and I will literally—"

"I literally don't care." The boy interrupted her, holding out his hands when he caught sight of the brightly coloured monk fruit his sister held between her thin fingers. "Go."

At'anau tried aiming for the boy's hands the best she could and let it slip from her grip when she couldn't hold it anymore and watched it decrease in size by the fall until it landed in the boy's firm arms.

At'anau watched the boy's figure hunch over and she remained in silence before the boy straightened back up and held the fruit as big as his head above it, cheering loudly, followed by the sister's laughs.

They still had enough light of the day to devour the sweet refreshment by themselves and knew they both had no intention on bringing it home to share until the rustling of a third-party intruder caught their ears and the cheering stopped.

Stern, tall and out of breath, the father stood between the rustling leaves of the pathless forest.

So it was indeed a trick question.

At'anau grimaced at the sight, knowing the two of them were not supposed to be out where they were and the state of the father did not promise anything beneficial in return.

"Dad!"

Jake's eyes lowered down from the girl in the trees to the boy running up to him with the large object.

"We were so lost!" caught on one of his legs, Neteyam looked up at the father who frowned at his mischievous children. "We—" the little boy faked the lack of steadiness in his breath and At'anau could only watch the sight as the father's own strict demeanour faded and changed into consolation.

"Alright, alright, what do you got there?"

Neteyam showed the father the big harvested fruit with so much excitement At'anau would think the brother should not be consuming any more sugars from the monk.

"That's a big one," he breathed out at the sight.

"She found it!" the older brother pointed behind his back as the sound of the girl's heavy feet thumping back on the hard ground made Jake's eyes trail to the girl watching them in the distance.

The girl wasn't her young age anymore, the fruit would fit perfectly in her hands now, her looks didn't hold the playful mischief while teasing her brother and her skin carried so many scars, but her eyes were those that froze the father. Her eyes were dull, empty, one could say almost abandoned of its soul.

As if the little girl she used to be had left and nestled herself inside the tree of souls with the twin.

Maybe that's what had happened, maybe there was indeed a part of her that had left when her brother did. Maybe only half of her heart remained on land while the other chased her soulmate over the bridge.

Their shared birth stole parts of each other in one's death. A quiet kind of theft, an eternal bruise the Great Mother could not soothe, no matter how brightly the sea glowed beneath them.

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