Moonchild | Neteyam

22

CHAPTER 22

       Erìhe and Neteyam had returned to the pod late last night - and to their surprise, neither Neytiri or Jake had said anything. Last time that they'd been out they almost could not hear the end of it.

And Jake still reminded Neteyam of it almost every day.

In the morning Norm and Max had arrived with their human technology. They hooked Kiri up into an IV and ran all sorts of tests, trying to find the problem.

After waking up, Erìhe had pretty much refused to go back into the pod - but she was also not even sure if she'd be allowed in. Anyways, she chose to not go until she'd heard news of Kiri.

It was around midday when Erìhe had heard that the Tsahik had gone over to help - and it was even later when she finally heard that Kiri was awake again.

She had not spared a second after hearing the news before running right back to the pod. "Kiri," Erìhe sighed a breath of relief as she saw the girl sitting peacefully by the fire. She really was okay. "Thank Eywa you're alright." Erìhe crouched down next to Kiri and wrapped her arms around her in an embrace.

Kiri nodded against her shoulder and Erìhe could tell that something was making her sad. Perhaps she had seen something saddening or unsettling while connected to the spirit tree. Erìhe knew that Kiri would not speak of it, so she did not ask.

Instead she leaned back and rubbed Kiri's shoulder while offering her a warm smile.

Neteyam sat with Lo'ak and Tuk in a far off corner of the pod. Tuk had been showing him her broken sturmbeest toy which he had broken - she was trying to make him guilty so that he would agree to making necklaces with her. So far it was working.

Neteyam held the broken off head of the wooden figurine, looking down at it sadly. He did feel bad about throwing it and breaking it - and he felt even worse now that he knew how much time Erìhe had put into making it. She was still working on the direhorse that she had promised Tuk she would make. Neteyam saw her carving it almost every evening after dark.

The now familiar horn sounded and everyone was immediately alerted. Tuk ran straight out of the pod with Jake by her heels as they both went to see what was going on.

Erìhe glanced at Lo'ak before following the two outside.

"What was that?" Tuk asked her father.

As Erìhe stepped out of the pod, she could see the Metkayina jumping into the water. There was a certain buzz in the atmosphere which made Erìhe believe that whatever was happing was a good thing.

Then Tsireya swam into their view, "The tulkun have returned!" She announced, "Everybody! Our brothers and sisters have returned!"

Lo'ak grinned widely before running down the path, jumping into the water as he neared the place where Tsireya was. The last thing Erìhe saw of them was him holding onto Tsireya as the two left to greet the tulkun.

With a bright smile, Erìhe ran back into the pod to fetch Neteyam, "Come!" She said as she stood before him.

Neteyam set down the wooden figurine and looked up at her - he quickly found himself unable to meet her eyes. Since yesterday he had realized that he got flustered every time he locked eyes with her - and he hated it. "What happened?" he asked, not making a move to stand up.

Erìhe rolled her eyes and leaned down to tug at his hand, "You'll want to see this," she assured him with a grin, "Hurry up!" She ushered when he took his sweet time getting to his feet. Her hand around his arm had distracted him and it had caused him to be frustratingly slow.