Sullys Stick Together

Chapter 5

The chief's daughter was leading us to our new hut. Dad followed behind her, then Tuk, me Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri, and finally mom. Tuk was hopping along, thrilled by how bouncy the walkway was. She stopped to look at one of the strange water creatures, smiling brightly at it. As I walked past her I turned back to look at her, "Tuk, come on." She giggled and ran in front of me again, bouncing the rest of the way. Once we got to our hut, Tsireya, the chief's daughter, left and let us settle in.

"Family meeting," Dad called out once everything we brought was unpacked. Everyone huddled around together, murmuring for a few moments before going silent to listen. "Alright, I need you, all on your BEST behavior. Understand? Make friends, learn fast, and carry your weight. Most importantly," his voice grew more serious, more stern, "Stay out of trouble." From the corner of my eye, I could see Neteyam and Lo'ak nodding. Kiri, Tuk, and I all stayed still. I wasn't even sure if Tuk was really listening if I was behind honest. "I want to go home," I finally said breaking our silence. Mom hissed my name as if she knew I was about to say it. "Nelyia," Dad let out a sigh and grabbed my hand gently. "This is our home now," he said softly. I just shook my head. We were forest Na'vi. We didn't belong here.

Nonetheless, dad instructed us to go with the chief's children, to learn the way of the Metkayina. The others were all outside already, getting into the water. I followed behind Neteyam and Lo'ak, leaving Kiri to stay with Tuk as usual. She never seemed to mind. Tsireya and her brothers lead us underwater with ease, while the rest of us struggled to keep up. It wasn't too long before I tapped Neteyum on the arm and pointed up toward the surface, letting him know that I was running out of air. He nodded and followed me up, as well as Lo'ak and Tuk. Once we got to the surface, all of us were gasping for air. Ao'nung and Rotxo were the next ones to surface before their sister. "What's the matter with you?" Rotxo asked in a snarky tone looking over at us.

"You're going too fast! Wait for us," Tuk whined as she wiped her eyes softly. I looked around us, not seeing Kiri anywhere, "Where is Kiri?" Neteyam and Lo'ak looked around trying to see our sister, to no avail. Just then, Tsireya surfaced next to Tuk, "Your sister is a natural," she said happily. "Kiri?" Neteyam asked looking at her, "Where is she?" Tsireya said nothing, but pointed underwater, to where Kiri was happily playing with the sea life. I couldn't help but be a bit jealous of my sister. It felt like I was never going to adapt to this new life, and all I could think about was going back home, to the forest, getting my Ikran, and becoming a warrior like Dad.

Nonetheless, life went on, and I had to at least try to make my family proud. So I dove back underwater and tried to do my best. We spent what felt like eons with the chief's kids, learning their ways, learning their sign language to communicate underwater. Eventually, it got late, and everyone went home. I found myself just outside our new hut, with my feet in the water and my eyes closed. I heard a heavy beating sound every so often. Like a heartbeat. It was low, but loud all at once. Like thunder from deep inside my soul.

I heard a creaking from beside me, causing me to snap my eyes open and jerk my head to the side to see what it was. I let out a hard sigh when I realized it was dad coming to sit next to me. I put my hand over my face covering it slightly. I heard him inhale sharply before he spoke, "What's the matter baby?" I turned my head back down, toward the water below us and at the fish who swam around my feet. "Are you missing the forest?" He added to his initial question. I nodded slowly before letting out a sharp breath. I nodded slowly, hearing him mumble a soft 'yeah' beside me. "But that's not it."

"Okay, well... What is it then?" He placed his hand on my shoulder gently. I turned to look at him now, "We don't belong here. We are forest people... But here..." I sighed looking back at the water. "I feel her dad. I hear her heartbeat. It's just there, like a word about to be spoken. But it never comes." I looked back at him for only a moment, before I turn my head back to the fish around my feet. "I know you think I'm crazy."

"You're not crazy baby girl. Who's heartbeat?"

"Eywa," I looked over at him once again. "Well, what does Eywa's heartbeat sound like?" I searched his face for a moment, trying to see if he was just searching for something. When I found nothing of the sort, I answered, "Mighty." He nodded and looked down at the water and the fish around us. "Okay. I'm sure there is a reason she has chosen you to hear her. I know this has been hard on you, but I need you to understand that all of this, is to protect you. Your mother and I are only doing this because we are trying to keep you all safe." I nodded before resting my head on his shoulder. "I know. I just miss home. I miss my friends."

"I know you do. I do too," He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. "How did today go though? Did you learn anything?" I knew he was just trying to get me to see the good in the situation. "I don't know. I learned that Kiri is a natural at this whole underwater thing. And that Ao'nung and Rotxo are mean." He rubbed my arm gently, "They just don't know you all yet. Give them time. They'll come around. Come on, it's getting late. You need your rest." He stood up, and I followed suit. We walked inside the hut, seeing that my siblings had already gone to sleep. "Dad?" I asked quietly before laying down beside Neteyam. He turned to look back at me, "Yeah, Nelyia?" He asked softly.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" I was embarrassed to ask such a question, but I felt like I wouldn't get much sleep on my own. He smiled softly and nodded, "Come on." I walked over and laid down next to him and silently cuddled close to him before closing my eyes and quickly falling asleep.

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A.N.

I saw a comment earlier today about how I had been misspelling Neteyam's name. I forget who commented on it, but thank you! I used google to help me with the spelling but after looking a bit further, I found that it was wrong. Hopefully, there won't be many more misspellings, but I promise nothing. Once again, thank you all for the love that has been shown to this!! It means so much to me to see people enjoying what I write after so long of not enjoying my own writing. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy it!!