If someone else saw my face, they could have easily thought I was having a panic attack. I was only breathless and worried. My eyes were wide open and unfocused and moving everywhere. I was biting harshly on the corners of my bottom lip, my tongue moving from side to side inside my mouth.
It had only been two hours after Kiri fainted. Her body was laying on the floor of her family mauri, her head resting on Neytiri's legs as she caressed her face and hair. Neytiri mumbled many things I couldn't hear from my place inside Atswon's mauri. There was nothing I could do to help Kiri. My healing knowledge only went as far as treating physical wounds. But she wasn't wounded; there was not a single scar on her blue, striped body. I felt useless.
Neytiri was feeling useless as well, I could tell. I knew, apart from what Jake had told me days before, that she was meant to be the next Tsahik after her mother. She filled in the role of tsakarem for years. She was getting prepared to master the arts of Eywa's will and healing. But family had to come first and leaving the forest also meant leaving behind her title. Now came the miserable irony of being unable to be either thing: a Tsahìk and a capable mother.
Jake was waiting by the sand path in front of the village. From what he had told us in a rushed voice in between his many movements around his mauri, he had called Norm using one of the Sky People 'computers' he owned. Norm. I had not seen the man in a decade, just like I hadn't with everyone still in the forest, and that fact made my stomach turn. It had been much more time than it felt like.
Tsireya came into the Sully mauri with damp cloths on her hand. She sat next to Kiri and put one on her forehead, another on her chest, and the last one on her stomach. Tuk was sobbing in a far corner of the marui with Lo'ak sitting next to her, arms crossed. Neteyam was in front of me, a bowl with fruit juice in his hand, and his body tense. He must have been feeling awful.
"She's going to wake up," I said, trying to make my voice as comforting as possible. He seemed to have heard me through his loud thoughts and his ears perked up.
"I- We don't know." He gave me a look with a meaning I immediately understood. He thought of Maitrey.
"She is going to wake up," I repeated. "Ronal will help once she returns with what she needs."
He stared at me like I was his only salvation from losing himself in a river of guilt. Neteyam's expressions were filled with agonizing fear. He had pleading eyes that only moved to blink; an almost imperceptible frown that made no creases, but made his face the opposite of relaxed; and a pair of thin lips that were squinted in a way that made his cupid's bow more evident. He looked like he wanted to cry.
I gave a step forward to him, and then another. I made two steps more until our bodies were inches away. My eyes didn't leave his until I grabbed one of his hands and put it in between mine. I closed my eyes and sighed.
"You need me. I am here for you. Let me help," I said, recalling some of the words he said to me the week before.
He put his other hand behind my head and used it to join our foreheads together. His skin felt warm in contact with mine. His shaky breaths mixed with my calm ones. Neteyam moved his head up and down, gently. Nothing else mattered but our bodies flowing with the same warmth, breaths, and heartbeat.
Neteyam moved the hand that was on my head onto my back and pulled the lower half of our bodies close together. If it felt beautiful, I bet the view from outside was equally nice.
Sudden loud noises of air interrupted us. Norm had arrived. Neteyam and I stepped back and flashed comforting smiles to each other that only said 'Everything is going to be fine'. We both went outside my mauri and walked closer to the metal ikran, painted in blue, white, and teal stripes.
An Avatar I knew well from my childhood came out of the ship. Norm greeted Jake with a side hug and a handshake. The rest of the Metkayina stood back, far away from the ship. The scene brought me memories of an encounter almost exactly the same: the ship, Norm, the afraid stares, and the gasps. I looked at the crowd and spotted Na'tyr in there. It had been a week since we last spoke and seeing her from afar only made my stomach turn.
Another person, a human with his breathing mask who I did not remember, came out of the metal ikran. After him followed many black boxes and a tube with a clear bag with water hanging from it. Jake guided them to Kiri's position and allowed them to do their thing. Norm waved at every member of the Sully family on the way to the mauri, getting surprised by my presence. 'He probably didn't recognize me, it was only the shock of seeing a forest Na'vi,' I thought.
Norm used a type of glass with colorful images to analyze Kiri's well-being. "There is no bleeding, no fractures, no evidence of hypoxia... Her brain looks fine," he said. The human kept clicking buttons on a screen and checking the water bag.
Kiri was still unconscious, and it drove me mad.
Not long after, Ronal came through the entrance of the mauri, her hand around a basket. Her gaze went from looking at Neytiri to me and then to the Dreamwalker and man, still with their machines at hand, over Kiri's body.
"I can see I am not needed here," she said. Ronal's voice was sharp and cutting-edge. She turned around and took a step towards the entrance when Neytiri held her back, grabbing her arm.
"You are Tsahìk."
"Remove those things," Ronal demanded, looking with disdain at the human inventions.
"Out!" Neytiri shouted right after, "You have done nothing!"
All the men left and only Tuk, Tsireya, Neytiri, Ronal, and I remained inside the pod. Neteyam was near, most likely sitting outside on the other side of the tent and listening to as many things as possible. He was just worried, like Jake.
After many years of seeing Ronal work, it was a surprise that she was showing such gentleness with them. The outsiders. She lit up sprigs of mangrove flora and let the scent be inhaled by our noses. There were many things I wanted to do to help, but I could not. She could guide me on what to do, of course, but that was a task for Tsireya as part of her Tsahìk training. I could only watch.
The cleansing ritual began. Tuk stayed silent when Ronal started to chant and pressed a round point wooden needle into Kiri's stomach. More prayers came. She bent over Kiri and used her hands to make a tunnel. Ronal took in the harmful energies off Kiri's body while she released them into the air.
I sat on the floor of the mauri, looking at the process being repeated hour after hour. My mind kept clouded as a hand sneaked from outside to the inside through the gap between the wall and the floor.
Neteyam intertwined our fingers and squeezed my hand softly. It was our way to show we were there, in need or without.
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Author's note:
Hello, my dear readers! This is a quick, short chapter but I wanted to at least upload something that could celebrate the 20k reads, 700 votes, and #2 on the 'navi' tag. It is amazing. I want to thank those who have been voting and commenting! It is because of you that we have such high rankings.
There is one person in specific who I want to thank for being my biggest supporter, friend and ego-booster. She was the one that suggested I modified the first chapter, and two days later here we are! 300 votes and a couple thousand views more. Ro, if you are reading this, I hope we stick to the plan of you being my beta reader! I always publish around midnight and you sleep at 9pm, so we have to figure some things out.
Anyways, I want to ask, what do you prefer, long or short chapters?
Happy Friday, cheers.
Sincerely, Dina.
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A true seer | Neteyam
Fanfiction"We once used to be friends, Neteyam and I. We were more than that. If only my family had stayed in the forest, it could have remained that way. It must have been Eywa's will that we reunited ten years later, in my home in the Metkayina clan, and th...
