Beautiful Eyes (Aonunete)

The Hunt

Weeks had passed since the Sullys had arrived in Awa'atlu. It had been quite a difficult process to adapt to this new unknown place for them. Adjusting to the burning and stifling heat, the bright sun, the sticky sand stuck to the body all day, to the water that irritated the eyes and to learn the way of water. Neytiri is the one who had the most difficulty adapting, she refused to learn the way of the water. 

She still hunted in the mangroves, picked fruit from the trees and kept flying in her ikran and not once had she tried to learn to hold her breath underwater or tried to learn how to swim in the correct way underwater.

Little by little the children had been adapting to this new lifestyle and the one who enjoyed it the most was little Tuk, always excited to learn something new every day of the Metkayina's life. She loved riding her Ilu, she loved swimming underwater and looking at the ecosystem of the reef and playing with the many species of fish that existed in the sea. 

She was always accompanied by Kiri, who also adored the sea and the life it had, fascinated by marine life, and Tsireya, who loved the presence of both Omatikaya girls and of course, she enjoyed Lo'ak's presence the most.

Jake was pleased that his children seemed a little happier in Awa'atlu and he found it amazing they got along with the children of the Olo'eyktan. Every day they left behind the sadness of having left the forest, clearly not Neytiri, who still resented having left her home, her mother and her people. 

The kids weren't so homesick anymore and Jake could swear they were having fun in their new home, learning new things and he even noticed that his sons were more muscular than before. And he was very proud that his children had already finished their training with the Olo'eyktan's children, they were now almost as good as Tsireya and Ao'nung, but Neteyam still had some problems.

Jake was worried about Neteyam, he wasn't like the others who spent all day with the Metkayina siblings, playing games and doing chores assigned to them by Tonowari and Ronal. He spent a lot of time alone and he never saw him talking to anyone other than his siblings. Jake knew that he was the spitting image of Neytiri and he knew that he was also having a hard time adjusting to the acuatic life. 

Jake knew that Neteyam had left all his friends behind, his grandmother, who was the closest to her and the position of future Olo'eyktan, of all, he was the one who had lost the most. Jake knew Neteyam had no friends there, and it was concerning.

Neteyam was sitting on the bridge just outside his Marui, feet dunked in the water and staring out into the horizon, lost in thought. Jake approached him, he really wanted to see him as happy as the others and he wanted him to leave the homesick behind. He sat next to his son, smiling friendly. 

Neteyam side eyed him and immediately, he knew that his father was going to give him a talk on how to fit in or ask him to do something to socialize with others.

He didn't know if he wanted to, the last few days after the ilu training, Ao'nung and him had been speding a lot of time together, even playing together when they finished their chores. They would ride their ilus, playing to catch each other. Neteyam was very happy as he really thought they were becoming friends. 

Ao'nung finally stopped bullying him, but he still teased him, calling him cute pet names that confused him a lot but didn't really bother Neteyam, he actually liked having Ao'nung's attention. He found out he enjoyed Ao'nung's company, even after their fight when he first arrived to Awa'atlu, he learned they could actually get along.

However, the previous weeks, he had barely seen Ao'nung a couple of times and had not been able to talk to him because he was always busy or at least that's what he wanted to think, he hoped Ao'nung wasn't ignoring him or evading him.