His Hands. || 𝘼𝙤'𝙣𝙪𝙣𝙜

eight

Italics = thoughts or flashbacks
Bold = Metkayina sign language

"Ow!" Neteyam yelped again as Neytiri continued to braid his hair.

I went first and I definitely knew his pain, we all did. Mother's grip was strong and she always made our braids tight.

"Stop whining." Neytiri said sternly as she continued braiding his hair, while Neteyam continued to have a scowl of discomfort on his face.

Despite the literal torture I went through just to have my hair redone, my hair looked great! The beads looked super pretty and I really loved the contrast of my beads compared to Neteyam's.

I was humming softly as I continued working on the bracelet from earlier beside Kiri. My shoulder had healed by now, and so did Neteyam's wounds.

"So," Kiri says, "When are you going to make me my top?"

"Soon. Be patient, baby sister."

"I'm literally fifteen."

"So? You'll still always be my little baby."

We both burst out laughing and out of the corner of my eye I saw Neytiri smiling at our little interaction.

"Do you like it?" Kiri asks as she shows me a bracelet in her hand. It had yellow, green, and brown beads.

"It's so pretty!" I compliment, "The colors remind me of the hallelujah mountains."

"Here," She says while sliding the bracelet onto my wrist, "I made it for you."

I smiled as I looked down at the bracelet them back up to her, "Aw thank you kitty!"

We giggled and Kiri began to work on another bracelet as I continued to finish up my current one. It was supposed to be a matching one for me and Lo'ak, since he was whining about how I had a matching bracelet with Neteyam and not him.

As I finished the bracelet I was working on, Neteyam's hair was finished and he winced as Neytiri applied yanglabark oil onto his scalp.

"Hair is looking good brother, those beads look real nice! Who picked them?" I teased as I began to work on a second bracelet for me to match with Lo'ak.

"I will quite literally rip these beads off right now."

"If you do I'll cry."

He grumbled in response and went to lay down on his mat, probably because his back hurt from sitting down and his scalp was sore from Neytiri's grip.

About a half an hour goes by and Tsireya comes in to let us know dinner is almost ready. We all quickly got up and collected ourselves to look presentable.

This time the walk to the dining area wasn't as silent and gloomy as the other day. Me and Neteyam held each of Tuk's hands and we would swing her up occasionally as we walked.

As we made it down there, the talking of the villagers only quieted down instead of fully going silent like before.

Mom and dad walked away like yesterday as we made our way towards Tsireya again.

"Hey guys!" Tsireya cheered as she saw us, "How was today's lesson?"

"It was fun!" Tuk cheered as she didn't hesitate to sit beside Rotxo. "Rotxo is my best friend now!"

Lo'ak gasped dramatically and placed a hand on his heart. "Really Tuk? How could you!" He says sarcastically as he takes a seat across Tsireya.

I giggled at the interaction and sat with Neteyam beside Rotxo and Tuk.