𖣘 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙮𝙖𝙡𝙖 𝘼𝙥𝙞 𖣘 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢 𝙎𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𖣘

7.

  Nā pilikia was approaching closer and closer, and Lei was dreading it. It was now the morning of the first Nā pilikia this year, she had no choice but to face Hantu and Percikan today— as she was in charge of body and face paint. All Na'vi her age that qualified for the challenges had to all be displaying the same colors and patterns.

Lei was sat inside her hut, waiting for Na'vi to begin arriving for the paint. The 4 siblings were with their parents, they were going to spectate the event with the rest of the tribe.

Of course Hantu had arrived first. Lei stood, dipping her head. Hantu did not return the polite manner, instead immediately sitting down.

Lei was lightly dipping her fingers into the red liquid, then smearing it into patterns she was familiar of. She repeated the process with orange and black paint.

"Are we ever going to speak again?" Lei calmly questioned, continuing to paint his body. The awkward atmosphere disturbed Lei's peace of mind.

"I don't know." Hantu met eyes with Lei. He and Lei had never gone this long without speaking, they could usually get along with playful banter and jokes. But this past fight had altered the way they see one another, it meant something to both of them.

"I see it." Hantu spoke after a few seconds of dead quiet.

"See what?" Lei huffed annoyingly.

"You and Neteyam." He continued to display his deadpan expression.

"We're friends." She raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"Lei—"

"Can you shut up Hantu? You keep moving." She smacked him along the side of his head. Lei was obviously picking up new vocabulary from the foreigners.

"Mmh." He groaned, rolling his eyes slightly. A small grin creeped into his face.

"Stop smiling." She snickered. She then instructed him to turn around so she could complete the pattern that continued onto his back.

She gently traced the darker flame like inscriptions on his back, the entirety of the Ash People adopted these markings.

As soon as Lei finished Hantu coarsely traveled out of her hut, casting her a goofy scowl.

"Hmph." She rolled her eyes. More and more Navi gathered outside of her hut to be prepared for Nā Pilikia.

——————————————————————

Lei had finished her duty, she now had the privilege of watching Nā pilikia. She was sat beside Matahari and her parents, Eta'yla and Palhar. Lahar was competing in his first Nā pilikia, Lei picked up the nervousness radiating off of him.

Lahar was up against Uhu, they were the same age. They were both selected to compete in spear throwing, Lahar was decent— sometimes.

"There he is." Eta'yla tapped Lei's thigh, pointing at her son. Eta'yla smiled brightly, gently grabbing Palhar's hand. Palhar let out an obnoxious cheer for his son.

Lei grinned stupidly, she knew Lahar was going to screw up badly. Matahari was expecting a lot out of him having taught him spear throwing for months.

Lahar prepared himself to throw his spear, doing a goofy ritual type warm up before.

"Did you teach him that?" Lei whispered with an amused look on her face.

"He's going to do good, watch." Matahari slapped Lei's arm.

Lahar threw the spear, completely missing the target. He grinned, looking back up at his two sisters.

"Oh." Lei laughed quietly, Eta'yla grabbed Lei's braided queue.