A true seer | Neteyam

17. Return of the Tulkun (part 1)

Outside Neteyam's mauri stood Tonowari, his hair —and everyone else's— getting wet by the few raindrops that had begun to fall.  His voice stood out, even with all the noise from the turbulent water that splashed and swayed the canoes outside the mauris.

Tonowari was gazing at the horizon while he talked to Jake in a somber voice, almost regretful. "...They are looking for you, Jake Sully, down south. They have a human boy that talks Na'vi." He had to be talking of the Sky People.

Because of our position behind the mauri, peeking over the wall, it didn't let us see Jake's face, but we both formed an image in our imagination. He was, most likely, frowning slightly with his lips tightly shut. I heard a grunt and then silence for a few seconds.

Neteyam and I got to peek more, noticing Neytiri in between the outside and inside of the mauri. The clouds' tears poured harder on all of us.

"Did they kill someone?"

"No, not yet." The coldness in his voice was the same as that of the atmosphere, equally tense and distant.

I frowned at Tonowari's words. We all knew there was a war coming, but nothing had ever happened on the islands. It was always the forest that suffered losses, like how my uncle Tsu'tey had been a victim of the Sky People. Even if I had never experienced war I had also never expected it to take place near the Metkayina islands. It was definitely something to be scared of to the bones. Behind me, Neteyam hugged my waist loosely with both of his hands, like an effortless and natural way of reassurance.

"They threatened, but the villagers didn't tell them where you are by my orders," he continued. Each time he opened his mouth only bad things came out of it and the mood turned upside down. Just when I thought the news couldn't possibly become much worse, the next thing he said paralyzed my body. "The Sky People ended up burning everything in the Ta'unui village."

My mouth gaped and my eyebrows furrowed. I found myself trying to exit the hiding spot when Neteyam's grip on my torso tightened while he put a hand over my mouth. I wiggled around, hoping it'd free me in time to question Tonowari. I had to know if Atswon knew, if his grandmother was fine and if by any chance he was there when it happened. I felt useless, unable to escape Neteyam's arms whilst my brain still accustomed to the tidings. My breathing only slowed down when I heard a pair of feet walking away.

"It's okay, don't worry," he whispered, still covering my mouth so I didn't start yelling.

I could still hear Jake and Neytiri's voices not far away, so I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. I didn't want to cause a scene. Neteyam let go of me, turning my body cold and stiff.

"I need to tell him, I need to see Atswon. Only Eywa knows if something happened to him or his grandma." I hid my face in my hands and scrubbed it with them.

I opened my eyes to find him still in front of me, his arm stretched in my direction. "Didn't think I'd leave you alone, did you?" He said.

We shared small smiles and started speed walking everywhere around the village. Atswon was definitely not in his mauri, making the Common Room our first guess. We got there in a hurry, but he wasn't there. Lo'ak and Kiri, both of whom were eating fish for breakfast, turned confused at Neteyam and me.

"Kaltxì, so, I don't know what's going on but," Kiri said and then turned to me, "I just wanted to say thank you for being there these past few days. I'm feeling better now." She continued, looking at me with her sweet eyes.

"No problem, but I- We really need to go. Have you seen Atswon, by the way?"

Kiri limited herself to shake her head and shrug. Lo'ak, who had been quiet all along, seemingly exchanging glances with Neteyam and having an eye conversation, looked at me. "Haven't seen him since yesterday. Told me he was gonna go to some island," he said.