Mune Olo'eyktan [NeteyamxAonung]

Part 16

After crash landing, and remaining unconscious for an unknown amount of time, Neteyam's senses return, hearing the sound of a child calling out.

Feeling a bit dazed, he sits up, holding onto his head. When he notices his Ikran, whose wing is now broken, and the creature is dying slowly with its neck impaled by a spear, he suddenly remembers what just happened to them.

Neteyam- Wari. Ronal?

He stands to his feet, but stumbles back over because of his aching head. With a groan, he stands again, and slowly follows the sound of Wari's cries.

Wari- Mama!

The boy's calls get closer, then he finds him behind a large fallen branch that they probably knocked down during their landing.

As quickly as he can, he rushes over to the boy with relief, but his relief is short-lived. With a gasp, he suddenly sees why the kid was calling out to his mother.

Wari- Tey! Mama's stuck!

He picks the boy up, hugging him close and directing his sight away from his mother's trapped but no longer living body. If he had woken sooner, perhaps she would've had a chance, but then again, the branch is far too large and heavy for him to move. He isn't sure how he would've even done it, but it doesn't matter, because it's too late.

He backs away from the scene and starts walking to nowhere, since he has no clue where he is.

Wari- Wait. My mama.

Wari reaches over his shoulder, wanting to go back.

Neteyam- I can't get her out, Wari.

Wari- Why?

Neteyam- I can't lift that branch.

Wari- But-

Neteyam- I'm sorry.

The kid looks at him with the same distraught face he's wearing as they stop not too far from the crash. Neteyam leans against a tree, letting his legs give out as he slides down to the ground.

In silence, Wari sits in his lap, staring at him with cold eyes.

The Metkayina Clan just unknowingly lost its Tsahík, but this child just knowingly lost his mother, and Neteyam feels certain the kid is internally blaming him for it.

Those problems aside, he doesn't know the way back to the village.

Tuplot- Over here!

The voice of strangers nearing puts him on alert. Where they are, they're hidden, and as long as they remain quiet, they shouldn't be found.

Koku- There's the Ikran. It's still breathing, but it won't make it.

Raf'Ke- Send it to Eywa.

Koku- On it.

Tuplot- This one's dead.

Raf'Ke- Why do you insist on targeting them?

Tuplot- Toruk always finds friends in outsiders, the last thing I'm letting him do is bring more of them here to wipe us out and taint the lands.

Raf'Ke- There was someone else with this woman.

Tuplot- They won't get far with us on their trail.

Raf'Ke- Just leave it be, Tuplot. If you cannot identify them as someone important, then they aren't.

Tuplot- How are we supposed to send a message if we let our targets live?

Raf'Ke- There's our message, right there. Is the blood of this innocent woman not enough?

Tuplot- Who said she was innocent?

Grim- Tuplot! The chief has ordered your squad back to base.

Tuplot- Well, whoever walked away from this crash just got lucky . . .

The voices of his enemies fade rapidly, and so does his vision as he suddenly loses consciousness.