𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 | neteyam

019 | HOMECOMING

A horn was sounded, Ay'yeiva hearing Tsireya's voice call out, "The Tulkun have returned!" She excitedly stood up from her spot outside the Sully mauri pod beside Tuk, grabbing her hand, "I can introduce you to my spirit sister!"

Ay'yeiva, per Tuk's request, had been teaching the girl how to connect a handle to a blade to create a knife. It was an odd request, but she would give Tuk whatever she wanted. The younger girl's parents liked seeing her make new friends, and they were particularly happy that the chief's daughter had become such a good one.

Tuk followed Ay'yeiva, yelling out for her siblings to join everyone in the water with the Tulkun. Ay'yeiva waited on her skimwing by the pod while Tuk ran to Kiri calling out her name. Moments later, she saw the two girls exit the pod in astonishment. Tuk joined Ay'yeiva on her skimwing and Kiri called for an Ilu.

In their endless cycle of migration, the tulkun had come home.

When the three of them swam out more into the water, Kiri fell behind Ay'yeiva and Tuk, wanting to take it all in on her own. "I will introduce you to my spirit sister!" Ay'yeiva scanned the tulkun around her before her eyes landed on the yellow tinted horns of Ay'i, her spirit sister, "Look! There she is!" She pointed for Tuk as they swam over, hopping off of Lan beside Ay'i.

Ay'yeiva signed to Ay'i, "This is Tuk, a new friend of mine."

All Tuk heard from the tulkun was a deep whistle, not understanding anything being said between the two spirit sisters. She signed to Ay'yeiva, "What is she saying?"

"She says that it is nice to meet you, Tuk."

The Sully girl smiled and began swimming closer to Ay'i before Ay'i herself began swimming around Ay'yeiva and Tuk.

"Hold your hand out and hold onto her, Tuk"

Either of them grabbed onto Ay'i's fins and let her swim them around, seeing their friends and family as Ay'i took them around the massive group of tulkun and Na'vi.

It was a time for stories. Of their season apart. Of deaths and births. Of old friends and new loves.

As they passed by Ronal and Ro'a, the mothers couldn't help but be happy seeing their daughters. They had been on the topic of their children anyway, so Ro'a said, "Ay'i has found a boy recently. How about Ay'yeiva?"

Ronal watched her eldest swim off with Ay'i and Tuk for a moment longer before responding, "Hearing about Ay'i I think I know differently now, but if you were to have asked me first I would have said no." The conversation was changed, but the topic would remain on Ronal's mind the rest of the day.

...

"Ay'yeiva, is there something you are not telling us?" Ronal voiced her suspicions as soon as the family had returned to their marui pod later that day. Hearing such a sentence made everyone else in the family turn to face Ay'yeiva. She, having no idea what her mother was talking about, gave Ronal a confused look, "Uh, not that I know of. Why? Did someone say something about me?"

The biggest thing on Ay'yeiva's mind right now was the inevitable moment her world had danger written all over it. But, she had let her father know that something was coming; she had nothing important to hide.

Ronal, now realizing what the actual situation could be, dropped the question and changed the subject after apologizing to Ay'yeiva for making her concerned. Ronal knows her daughter. She was just like her when she was younger, and she didn't like the thought of certain things. She wanted to live her life. She wanted to be independent.

There was an extremely good chance that Ronal knew exactly what was going on, but she wasn't going to say anything.