A true seer | Neteyam

8. The talk

Atswon and I were probably unmoving for about an hour until I calmed down. My eyes, previously closed, shot open, realizing four things: I had missed my working shift as a healer, and I'd have to give a reasonable explanation for that; that Neteyam was here, like, actually here; as well, that apart from my real mate was my supposed mate, with a ceremony that we needed to start planning, and that would most certainly take place a month from now: thirdly, my first official fishing as a hunter would take place later that day, and I had to be good at it; lastly, and most importantly, that I had no idea how to approach the first to aspects, how was I going to talk to Neteyam? Did he at least know who I was? Was I supposed to treat him like a friend, a partner or neither of those?

"Ugh," I mumbled, burying my face in Atswon's neck, "What am I going to do?"

"You will get up, go to the nursing room, apologize that you didn't do your shift, get back here and we'll go together to the hunt. When we get back with some gigantic fish you caught, because you will, and by the time dinner comes, you will sit with the Sullys and talk."

"Thanks, but I didn't mean about that. I meant about us. You know my story, and now there is a slight chance that things might result differently than what we have planned, but then there lies the problem. There is nothing we can do about it, we have to stick to our plan!" I was on the verge of another mental breakdown.

"I will not lie, it would make me sad if you were to choose me over your mate when you know you will never be as happy."

"We can't know that, I can't know that, at least until I get to talk to him."

Atswon nodded and pushed me up. He gave me a short hug and pointed towards the infirmary. As I got there, I was surprised to see that there were no injured people, only Nueiy. She said that there had been no one coming in, and that there had been no problem for my absence. First thing that went right that day.

I wandered off for a while, knowing that Atswon had expected me to return to our meeting point at least half an hour later. During that time, walking close to the edges of the village, I saw Tonowari and my teacher from afar, both instructing Jake Sully on how to ride a tsurak, or something similar. Unfortunately, not even the Toruk Makto could tame a beast like that with no previous training. I grinned.

I kept on walking on the sand, sinking my feet in it. A seashell was half stuck until I pulled it up. It was funny. A small seashell, lying there on the beach. A treasure to be found, within its smooth, curved reach. Its colors were so bright, a mix of green and yellow. A reminder of the waves that danced with all their might. But as I gazed upon it, I was struck with a surprise, for its beauty reminded me of a certain boy's eyes. Like the shell, his eyes gleamed, a treasure to be admired, a beauty that remained untouched. So precious, both the shell and the boy.

As I stood on the sandy shore, my hands carried the shell until I put it safely in a pouch hanging from my hip, next to my knife. The time when I returned to Atswon came when I saw the Sully kids, along with Tsireya, her brother and his friends. I felt the need to avoid them, for the time being.

Within the next hour, half a dozen of hunters were out of the reef, staying somewhat close to the seawall terraces. I gripped my spear, waiting for the perfect  kill. A school of fish was swimming desperately to our direction, trying to get out of the way of a hoard of akulas, three of them, to be precise. The akulas were not the usual animal to hunt for food, but given the lack of fish and other species that feared the Sky People hunting tulkuns far south, it was the best shot at an entire week's eating source.

I took charge of it in the best way possible, killing him with my spear before other hunters could. He didn't die immediately, but with the help of my knife and a prayer to Eywa, our brother died without pain.