lomtu → neteyam sully [2]

pukap

→ 006; airing out

neteyam found that his memory had not done kissing her justice.

her lips.

neteyam wanted to drown in her forever. he wanted to drown in this moment—let it suffocate him and pull him under until this moment was eternal. it wasn't, and it would never be; but neteyam could prolong it.

relentlessly, but gently, he caressed her lips; nipped at them carefully; sucked at them. his hands moved to kyati's jaw and threaded through her hair. neteyam had to suppress a delighted shiver from rippling down his spine as she placed her own hands at his waist.

he needed air far more than he wanted it. he didn't want it at all, in fact, but he pulled away from the kiss anyway. the two of them gasped. then, kyati was the first one to laugh. neteyam understood; there was simply too much fpom and she couldn't believe the two of them were here now. he joined in, and their outburst of joy carried in the night-wind to eywa's ears.

⏜⏝⏜⏝

"do you want to bond with an ikran?" neteyam asked suddenly. kyati looked at him quizzically.

"i'm not allowed to," she said through swollen lips. his eyes seemed to wink under the light of the stars.

he grinned boyishly and teased; "so we are playing by their rules again?" this elicited the reaction he'd hoped for. kyati shook her head and rolled her eyes, but wore a smile all the while. "well?"

"ok, fine." her chest fluttered at the sight of neteyam's lit-up expression. he took her hand eagerly and led her across branches connecting to the branches of another tree, and another, and so on. she had some idea of where he was taking her: ayram alusìng. the floating mountains where their ikran found home.

at one point, neteyam had them stop so he could pick up a long, rope-like object. if it hadn't been inanimate, and neteyam had not coiled it tightly so he could fasten it to his hip alongside her knife, kyati might have thought it to be some sort of animal. one end bulged with a weight which looked uncannily like its head. when she looked perplexed, neteyam only said, "yìmkxa. to tie the ikran's jaw," before setting off again at an enthusiastic speed.

surely enough, the boy brought her to the base of the mountains. they overlooked a great valley. vines connected the mountains to the mainland; they used these to clamber up with burning limbs. up here, the air was sharper.

he shoved the yìmkxa into her hand then rested his his palm on her shoulder. he said, "tie its jaw shut with this and make tsaheylu quickly. don't delay the first flight—go straight away and i will follow with sämou."

"do i choose any?"

"no," neteyam responded almost immediately. "it will choose you first."

"oh, let me guess, by trying to kill me or something?" kyati laughed lightheartedly. but neteyam's hand seemed to stiffen around her own. the laugh falling from her lips suddenly, kyati turned her head back to said boy in panic. "neteyam?" but the sheepish expression pasted onto his face had confirmed more than any word could have.

"you're ready. you will do great!" and then his hold on her arm released. kyati found herself being nudged into the clearing, filled with the resting ikran. she was going to skin him alive—that was the last thought that ran through her mind before she flinched at the high screech of an ikran. it was a battle cry, of sorts, and received the intended effect. she was piss-scared. terrified.

by some miracle of eywa, kyati managed to leap forwards towards the animal who'd emitted the noise and targeted it. it was beautiful, but she had little opportunity to assess and admire its patterned, deep-blue hyde. she was caught in a remarkable state of instinct; dodging, leaping, hissing. without thinking too long about anything. only the intention of making tsaheylu with this ikran was clear. kyati's blue-grey tail swished from side to side and rippled with waves of expansion and contraction. it looked like a dance between the two pandoran organisms. until the ikran struck. kyati vaulted over its neck at the last minute and leaned forward; using her body weight to tip its head. the two wrestled for a little while until kyati managed to loop the yìmkxa around its powerful jaws, clamping it shut.

"the bond!" kyati heard neteyam prompt from somewhere to her left, but she didn't need it. the motion was instinctive. a bonding of the tswin's fine nerves and a soothing pat later, the ikran was no longer wriggling and trying to lash out. kyati loosened the rope-like contraption.

"shhh," she crooned. "let's fly, beautiful thing."

they leapt into, and flew free with the wind, which found its way quickly to kyati. it whipped her braided hair around her neck and slashed at her skin like vozam small knives but felt incredible all the same. kyati willed her ikran—her own ikran!—to flip and twirl and dance. moments later, they weren't alone. kyati craned her head and spied neteyam on his ikran, sämou, showing off and performing. he even made a great loop around her at one point. kyati removed her hands from her ikran and spread them like wings. she gave a great whoop of joy that neteyam mimicked shortly after; their voices staying only for a moment before drowning like the rest of the world in the rushing wind. it was as if, up to this moment, she had never known what it was to breathe. but she knew now.

translations

fpom = happiness, wellbeing, peace

ikran = mountain banshee

ayram alusìng = floating mountains

yìmkxa = banshee catcher, mouth-binder

tsaheylu = bond

tswin = queue, braid

vozam = 1000 na'vi, 512 human