Blood and Water | Neteyam

The Lull Between Beats ∼ 15

"So, how did it go?" Jake asked the second the kids had entered the pod. Jake and Neytiri were sitting on the floor, talking, whilst Neytiri was cutting up fruit.

When they had taken a break earlier, from being completely wiped out every few minutes and gone to lunch, they had met Jake who was on his way to meet the olo'eyktan. The kids had excitedly told him where they had been that morning and Jake was eager to hear it. He had had to run before they could finish though - he didn't want to leave Tonowari waiting too long - but promised he wanted to hear more at the end of the day.

"Tcelia did it on her tenth try!" Neteyam said proudly, pushing her shoulder gently. That was also something she loved about Neteyam; no matter how competitive he got, he was still happy to see others succeed.

Jake smiled broadly, raising his hand for a high five - a human interaction he had taught the kids long ago, "Come on! That's what I call adapting!" Jake said as Tcelia laughed, slapping his hand with her own.

Tcelia loved the idea of a high five - just the fact that it was named after something where having five fingers was the norm, was so surreal to her.

Neteyam and Lo'ak dropped down by their father's side, chatting excitedly about their day. On their mother's side sat Kiri and Tuk who were talking to Neytiri. They sat like that for a while, catching up with each other - they had all been so busy the last week and it was nice to have a breather.

When Tuk began yawning and was put to bed, the older kids got the option of going to sleep as well or leaving the pod. Kiri had already fallen asleep, lying in the corner on her sleeping mat.

Neteyam, Lo'ak and Tcelia glanced at each other, nodded in a silent agreement then left the pod behind.

They walked through the village, teasing each other about their wipeouts that day. They ended up just outside of the village, sitting on the sand, looking up at the night sky.

Tcelia smiled to herself. She had no idea when it had started or why it had happened, but for as long as she could remember, Neteyam and Lo'ak had placed themselves on either side of her. Lo'ak, to her right and Neteyam, to her left. It wasn't even something they had to communicate to each other, they did it subconsciously.

Lo'ak was tracing lines in the sand as they spoke, the gentle sound of waves breaking, filling the occasional comfortable silence. She had buried her feet in the cool sand - it was a nice contrast to the warmth that the air provided. Occasionally, the waves would reach where they sat, lapping over their feet as well.

"Ao'nung apologized to me today," Tcelia admitted after they had sat for a while. Neteyam looked at her in surprise.

Lo'ak's eyebrows furrowed, "What for? What happened yesterday?"

Tcelia quickly told him what had happened the day before, in broad terms – she didn't want to go into too much detail, scared that she might be pulled back into the memory of her lungs burning and the panic that had consumed her.

When she had finished, Lo'ak jumped to his feet in anger, "That little-" he hissed, "When I get a hold of him, I'll-" Tcelia grabbed his arm and pulled him down again.

"You will not do a thing, Lo'ak," she interrupted, "I am telling you, he apologized," she looked back and forth between Lo'ak and Neteyam, "I think he really means it."

Both Lo'ak and Neteyam looked at her skeptically. She didn't really blame them for it - if someone had told her that Ao'nung had apologized to them, she would have been suspicious too.

She sighed, "I am not saying that we will become best friends with him or anything," she explained, "But maybe he won't be such a dick anymore."

Neteyam snorted, "I cannot picture him as anything but a dick."

Lo'ak faked a gasp, "Ooh, careful big bro, dad might be just around the corner," he mocked, and rightfully so - it wasn't often you heard Neteyam say something that could displease his dad.

Neteyam rolled his eyes and reached behind Tcelia, shoving Lo'ak's shoulder, "Shut it, skxawng."

Tcelia chuckled, shaking her head slightly, her hair bouncing from side to side. She really had to re-braid it soon. Asking Neytiri was out of the question now. Even though Tcelia knew Neytiri would agree in a heartbeat, she couldn't bring herself to ask. She knew how much Neytiri had to worry about now and it just wouldn't feel right to make her do it when there were so many more important things she could be doing. Tcelia would have to do it herself then.

She felt Neteyam tense up beside her. She looked at him and found him staring at her hand. Or rather, at her hand that was holding Lo'ak's. She hadn't even realized they had been holding hands ever since she had pulled him down - he was absentmindedly stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, looking over the ocean. She fought the urge to snatch her hand away from Lo'ak's. Then she questioned herself; why didn't she want Neteyam to see her and Lo'ak holding hands? She gently extracted her hand from Lo'ak's, playing it off by placing both of her hands on the back of each brothers' neck.

"I am going to bed," she yawned and pushed herself up, forcing the brothers' heads down, yelps of complaints echoing from them, "You can join if you want."

They looked at each other quickly then scrambled after her, taking up their usual formation on either side of her.

"I sort of miss sleeping on your side of the pod," Tcelia admitted as they walked, "Sleeping on your parents' side just feels a little... weird."

Lo'ak and Neteyam laughed, agreeing that it was a little strange not to have her on their side - Neteyam, Lo'ak, Tcelia and Kiri had always slept on the same side of the pod back in the forest.

Neteyam saw his shot at teasing Lo'ak and smiled cheekily, "I much prefer sleeping next to you anyway, Tcelia. Lo'ak drools in his sleep."

Now it was Neteyam's turn to get shoved, "I do not." Lo'ak complained, "Come on, bro."