Through The Valley • Ao'nung

Chapter XXIII

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At'anau noticed it wasn't her absence particularly that had piqued the boy, but the concept of a man less they could rely on. Within her clan they all counted on each other, they all had each other's back and she lived by that principle. 

Realising the boy who showed an uncaring behaviour had the same moral made her ponder on where he separated both his characters. 

She hadn't seen much of him, but the little times they met, her prejudices had gotten too far up her head for her to consider ever being in an accord with the kid. 

Ao'nung would often catch the girl watching the sky, but she'd never mention what she was looking for. When the two noticed they were on to the last couple of fish to tie up the girl spoke again "Am I needed tomorrow?" 

For a second she expected a sneer and a reminder she won't ever be needed in any way or form in Awa'atlu, but instead she saw the boy thinking. 

"Without knowledge of deep water harvest," he began tying up the last fish he had. Missing how At'anau had already strung hers up and waited for his answer. "you'll be useless." The boy dumped the buckets of water out and stacked them on each other before he collected all the knives on the table. The girl copying him and putting the gear back in its place when he saw him jump in action.

At'anau was intrigued hearing about a skill she had yet to master, thus have another chance to show her potential. "No one will teach me?" she questioned, looking at the way he hastily cleaned the knives, not wanting to explicitly ask him to teach her, but she assumed he could read between the lines. 

"You're being enough of a burden already."

At'anau had nothing to say to that, maybe he wasn't as passionate about sharing his culture as she'd thought, She was soon reminded how he voiced his perception of her as a shadow, a follower and just how she prejudiced him, he had the same instinct to bias her as a block and chain on one's foot. 

It didn't mean she wasn't affected by his words, whatsoever. Her ears unconsciously down-turned as her cleaning of the materials they used slowing down as she could see her afflicted reflection on the metal in her hands. 

The boy had started to leave and the girl didn't object, knowing her own way around by now, but missed how the boy watched her behind her back restore the last couple of knives safely in silence. 

"we leave at dawn."

Ao'nung knew he had spoken loud enough by the twitch of her ear, which was the only response he got before turning around and making his way back home. 

The breeze was fresh, the cold evening dawning on her which ritually set off reminiscences of her home. Every night she questioned the well beings of her loved ones far away and if they would miss them just as much. 

At the forest she felt seen, comfortable and entrusted, with that she suspected her possibility to calling a place that made her feel so unwanted  'home'.

In the fully packed Marui pod the family had started falling asleep, a dim lit of the fire outside tinting the tent an soothing warm colour. It had been a while since the woman fell asleep with the youngest in her arms, but the empty spot next to her kept her awake. Neytiri called out to her husband who sat by the fire, responsible for the light aroma of grilled food in the air.