Mysteries Live in the Mountains

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The night was long. There were moments that allowed myself to close my eyes. It is a trick I taught myself. Half resting so I could still hear and feel everything around me, but never fully falling asleep. I continued to do this until dawn when I heard someone leave a tent of their own. I opened my eyes and stood up quickly out of natural reaction. I did not make much noise trying to conceal my presence. I watched silently as two males and a female left the tent across from us.

"Mother, Father I do not trust these people. What if they are lying? What if they are danger?"

I felt my ears fall slightly as I heard the familiar voice. Neteyam. I believed that he might just had become a little less weary after I told him what happened to my home, but I was wrong.

"Son you do not make sense."

His mother spoke in a hushed voice. His father stood in silence with his arms across his chest seeming like he was thinking.

"Mother you do not know them. You do not know their people. What if she is lying?"

My chest felt heavy as I listened. Did the boy really find me and my sister so repulsive that he believes we would do something wrong to them.

"Neteyam that is enough."

"But father..."

"Enough I said. They are children. Santanhí is younger then you. Her sister is younger then Tuk. They have been through a lot. You will treat them the same way you would your own sisters."

"Yes sir..."

There was now silence between the three. It was difficult to make out their faces. The lack of light only allowed me to clearly see their figures. Neteyam head hung down in shame. His father stormed off in anger somewhere in another direction. His mother softly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"My son I know you are worried for your family, but you must trust your father's judgment. Before you were born our people suffered a terrible tragedy from the sky people, and these children have experienced something very similar. They are no danger to us."

He nodded silently and then his mother left to chase after her mate. I felt bad for eaves dropping. The more I sat there the worse I felt for listening to a private conversation, but as I watched the boy sit himself down in front of his tent I heard a cry from inside my own.

"Santanhí?!..."

Shit Läi never wakes up this early. I quickly entered the tent to see my sister with tear filled eyes curled up in a ball on the floor next to the hammock she was once sleeping in.

"Shhh it's okay sister... I was only right outside the tent..."

She quickly ran into my arms and I picked her up holding her close to my body. I collapsed to the floor and cradled her in my lap running my fingers through her hair.

"I thought something took you..."

She mumbled quietly between sobs. My heart ached knowing how badly I must've scared her.

"I am okay Läi. I told you we are safe here. There is nothing to be afraid of."

After a little while Läi was able to calm down. Slowly I slipped her out of my lap and raked my fingers through her hair beginning to try and untangle it.

"Santanhí..."

She seemed hesitant to speak. It was unlike Läi who was naturally very loud and enthusiastic.

"What is wrong?"

I could see from her contorted facial expression that she was thinking rather hard about something.

"Do you think I can wear my hair down... Like Momma?"

I gave her a little nod. I knew we weren't home. It would not be disrespectful to their people. While I would still choose to stick to the tradition I was used to, I would not tell Läi no.

I couldn't help but feel warmth as she brightened us when I told her yes. She always hated having her hair up. So much so that if she begged enough, Mom would occasionally allow her to take down her hair.

I tidying up her hair a little before letting her go to see if her friend was awake. I pulled the two hair wraps closer to the front so they could be seen easier. Hair wraps were another tradition of our people. We were each assigned a color at birth at the communion of Eywa. I do not understand how, but Eywa chooses one for each female born. Males on the other hand do not wear a hair wrap until they are being courted, which they then have a matching one with the girl they are courting or mated to.

Läi had two wraps with dark and light blues pattered down the two chunks of hair. Normally you would only have a single one, but since I had two, my sister begged for a second one herself.

My assigned color was green. One of my wraps possessed three different greens with little pops of a bright yellow and brown. My other one was not traditional. A purple and yellow one that was hidden a little further back buried in my hair. Purple happened to be my favorite color, and so I taught myself how to do my own hair wraps and I would put a purple and yellow wrap in my hair where it was more hidden. My mother did not particularly like this, but I still chose to do it.

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"Come on Santanhí! I wanna go see Tuk!"

I sighed as I finished fixing her hair. I groaned as I layed down sprawling across the cold floor. I was pretty exhausted from the lack of sleep I was able to get last night.

"Let me rest my eyes for just five more minutes..."

I mumbled with my eyes closed. I heard my sister whine about how I promised her I would bring her to see Tuk first thing in the morning. Her whining did not last long. It was silenced by the commotion of others outside our tent.

"Neteyam Come onnnn! I wanna see if Läi is awake!"

I heard a male groan and try to argue with the girl.

"Tuk they are probably still asleep."

Yes we are still asleep. Please do not come in. I do not want to face that boy after hearing the conversation with his parents. I kept my eyes closed hoping my sister would not say anything, but I knew better.

"No we're not asleep!!"

She quickly opened the tent letting in an unexpected amount of light.

"Oh my Eywa! Läi it's bright! Close the tent!"

I stayed on the ground covering my eyes. I heard giggles as the two girls cheered seeing one another.

"Can I pretty please go with Tuk??"

I opened my eyes and finally sat up. My exhaustion was really catching up to me.

"To where exactly?"

I squinted as my eyes met the light. My hair was dispersed all over the place I could feel it hanging over parts of my face and my shoulders.

"Just to her tent..."

I sighed and nodded a little laying back down on the floor. I heard a chuckle that did not sound like it came from the two little girls that had just ran off to do who knows what.

"What's so funny?"

I did not open my eyes. I did my very best to not look at the boy. I was ashamed. He was so resentful to us. Repulsed by our presence. So much that he told our parents that we could be dangerous to them.

"Grumpy much?"

I sighed and stood up myself quickly and messily putting my hair up. A couple pieces still hung in my face, but I did not care too much. I just wanted to see what Läi and Tuk were doing. Make sure that the two of them were under some sort of supervision. I did my best to not acknowledge the taller male that stood next to me at the entrance of the tent. I squinted as I tried to make out what was going on in the tent with my tired eyes.

It did not take long for my tiredness to fade almost immediately.

"Why in the Eywa is there a damn human next to my sister?..."

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