Gladiator

Chapter 2

Zrina's POV:

     We've been flying for days and I'm getting sick of it. And I can tell that everyone else is too. Lo'ak is very tired but Jake says that we should keep going because we are close. I don't even know where we are going. Jake didn't tell us and all I see is ocean. Nothing else. Just water. No land at all. It's kind of scary once you think about it.

     After a few more hours the clouds start to clear up and we can see a beautiful village! It has clear green-blue water and the homes are so pretty. I actually won't mind living in a tropical vacation area. I smile and look to Lo'ak. He notices and looks at me.
     "This is amazing," I tell him.
     "It is," he replies. I smile and swoop down to the sand with the rest of the family. Lo'ak and I walk up to the crowd together.
     "Be nice," Jake tells us. I nod my head in conformation as we walk closer to the crowd. Two boys around our age push through the crowd and come up from behind us.
     "What is that? Is that supposed to be a tail?" The smaller one asks. Both the boys laugh. The other one starts talking.
     "It's too small. How are they supposed to swim?" A very pretty girl walks up to them and smacks both of them.
     "Rotxo, Aonung. Do not," she says. She turns to look at Lo'ak and smiles.
     "Hey," Lo'ak says. She giggles and walks off. I start laughing and lay my head on Lo'ak's shoulder.
     "Hey," I imitate Lo'ak. He smacks the back of my head as I continue to laugh. I see two large skimwings fly over our heads as a man, most likely Olo'eyktan, walks closer to us. We all do the 'I see you' symbol to him. He does it back. I don't really listen in to the conversation until the Tsahik starts walking around us and touching us.
     "Their arms are thin. They will be slow in the water." She looks at me and comes closer.
     "You are not even from the same clan as them," she grabs my hands, "they are not even true Na'vi!" Everyone gasps as I retract my hands from hers. Jake tells them that he was a human before he changed and he adapted to their customs quickly. The Olo'eyktan and Tsahik allow us to stay as long as there is no war. But after we thank the leaders, the Tsahik walks back up to me and examines me.
     "I thought your kind was extinct?" She asked herself. She looks toward her mate and nods her head. He looks back at her and does the same.
     "Surprisingly, that is the second time I've heard that." I side-eye Neytiri. Out of the corner of my eye I can see her and Jake's eyes widen in shock. The Tsahik and Olo'eyktan continue to chat with each other before we leave. The girl that Lo'ak was talking to led us to our Mauri.
     "This is for you. Your new home." The girl, whose name I found out was Tsireya, left as Jake started talking again.
     "Yeah, this'll work. This'll do." Neytiri doesn't speak. She just drops a carpet onto the floor and sighs.

Today, we had lessons with the Olo'eyktan's kids. We make it to the dock and see the kids.
"We will go swimming today. We will go first, then you follow," Tsireya said. Aonung, and Rotxo, jumped in with Tsireya. I looked at Lo'ak and then ran off to the edge of the dock. I jumped off and did and flip into a dive. I landed gracefully in the water and started to swim with the teal Na'vi. I swam closer to Ao'nung and as he saw me he smiled. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward colorful coral. I looked around and swam along the line of the coral. I saw some fish and I swam to them. I kneeled onto a rock and stuck my arm out. I noticed that the little gold fish followed the direction of my arm. I moved my arm in different directions. I smiled, trying not to laugh since I was under water. I decided to swim around some more and noticed everyone riding this mysterious creature. But what I didn't know was that Ronal, the Tsahik, was watching me control the magical fish. I went up to the surface and swam toward Tsireya.
     "Tsireya, what are we doing?" I asked her. She smiled and looked toward me.
     "We are teaching everyone how to ride ilu. I will help you." She calls over an ilu and I turn my head to see another ilu by my side. I get on and listen to Tsireya's instructions. I grab onto the bar on the creature's neck.
     "Go," I whisper. The ilu takes off, with me on it. I was going very fast, so I was freaking out slightly. But I calm down and was able to control the animal. I make it back to Tsireya and she is cheering for me.
     "Yes Zrina! Good job. You are learning fast, unlike Lo'ak, Neteyam, and Kiri." She points to them and I see the three continue to fall off the ilus. I giggle softly and hear someone whistle. I turn to see Ao'nung and his friend looking over to me. Ao'nung winks at me so I roll my eyes. I turn back to Tsireya and she laughs along with me at my gesture to her brother.
     "I think we should do some breathing exercises," she says.

     We start the breathing exercises and they got really boring.
"Breathe in. And breathe out," Tsireya said, "imagine flickering a flame. You must slow down your heartbeat." Tsireya put her hands on Lo'ak's chest and stomach. I could tell that Lo'ak was gonna do something stupid.
"Breathe in. Breathe from down here. Breathe out slowly. Lo'ak, your heartbeat is fast," Tsireya tells us.
"Well no shit," I whispered. Ao'nung, Neteyam, and Rotxo heard me and snickered. Thankfully, Tsireya did not hear me so she does not know that Lo'ak likes her. Even though it is so obvious that even a blind man could see it. Lo'ak seemed to hear me too because he blushed even more.
"Sorry," he told Tsireya. He glared at me, and if looks could kill, I'd be six feet under.
"Try to focus. Breathe in. And breathe out. Let your mind go clear."

     We went back to swimming in the water. Neteyam, Lo'ak, and I were circling a patch of seaweed. I noticed that Neteyam has been staring at me a lot lately. The more I look at him, the more I notice that he's pretty good looking. I looked back at him. He notices I'm looking at him so I smile. He looks away and goes to the surface. We all go to the surface and Tsireya compliments us.
"You are learning to breathe!" She says. I smile at her kind gesture. We go back to land and hang out in the sand. I see Tsireya with her friends so I go over there. I stand next to Tsireya and introduce myself.
"Hi! I'm Zrina. You must be Tsireya's friends," I introduced myself. The girls waved when Tsireya started to speak.
"Hi Z, this is Azula, Ozai, and Lio." She pointed to the three girls. They smiled and made me feel welcome. This was the first time someone has made me feel normal since we got here. Everyone else just gives me blank stares.
     "Hi Zrina! You already know but I'm Ozai. It's really nice to meet you!" She exclaimed. The other girls greeted me as well.
     "I'm glad I get to talk to someone without them looking at me sideways," I laugh.
     "Girl, never fell like we're judging you. You're in our group now," Azula added. I smiled at the thought of being in a friend group. It's always been me and Lo'ak. No one else. Never has. Now, I have a whole friend group I can depend on and trust.
     "So, how do you like our home so far?" Lio asked.
     "I think it looks really pretty. Plus, the guys here aren't that bad looking either." I smirk. The girls giggle slightly.
     "Hun, you're gonna like it here," Azula says. I nod my head as we continue to talk to each other. It gets closer to eclipse as I head back to the Mauri. I walk in and see the Sully's have started dinner. I didn't really mind anyway. I never ate a lot. I always gave my food to Lo'ak because he is always hungry. I sat down next to Lo'ak and zoned out. I was focusing on one spot, to calm my nerves. Usually, I get nerves when I'm doing stuff I don't want to do. And the thing I didn't want to do was move here. I always felt different, because I was homeless and had an extra finger. But now I feel even worse. I heard someone snapping and clapping in front of my face. I shook my head out of my trance and focused on the family. I turn to Lo'ak with a confused expression.
     "Is everything alright?" I asked. He leans in closer to me.
     "You are zoning out again, are you alright?" He replied, emphasizing me.
     "Yes, I am fine. Just thinking," I answered the boy. He rolls his eyes.
     "Whatever you say." He goes back to eating like the rest of the family. Jake notices that I am not eating and looks concerned.
     "Zrina, do you want to eat anything?" He asked me. I shook my head.
     "I'm alright, thank you though." I went back into my trance pretty quickly after our conversation. Jake seemed to notice that and turned to Lo'ak. Lo'ak shrugged his shoulder and went back to eating. Jake just dropped it, hoping to ask her later.