lomtu → neteyam sully [2]

kinä

→ 007; the heart will betray

it was as if, up to this moment, she had never known what it was to breathe. but she knew now.

night-time was a dream. it was as if neteyam only lived for the hours after eclipse, when most na'vi were asleep and he could easily sneak out and continue to fall in love. every day he wondered what he and kyati would get up to, and every night he longed to burn the sensation of being with her into his vitra.

the most difficult part was pretending he wasn't concerned during the day, around the na'vi of both clans. neteyam felt when she entered a space and ached for her when she left. it took everything in him to resist blatantly staring at her as long as he could, or walk up to her and take her face in his hands. hunting had become a nuisance—instead of enjoying his favourite pastime, neteyam became distracted with thoughts of her and irritable if the other hunters talked to him too much.

lo'ak had snagged his wrist one time, just as the two of them were leaving for a hunt. at least, neteyam thought, his younger brother had had the common courtesy to whisper as he scolded: "whatever is going on with you, tsmukan, you need to get your shit together. it is ridiculous."

"what?" he'd had replied dumbly. lo'ak gave him an incredulous look before he spoke again, as if neteyam really were daft.

"you are not yourself these days, maybe because of—you know, but try to act like a normal na'vi. don't tell us off if we converse with you. don't get distracted by the world in your head." neteyam had blinked at his younger brother, too shocked to say anything. "act like who you are—the future olo'eyktan."

that had been an alarming wake-up call.

his brother (who usually figured things out after tuk, even) had noticed his stupor; this romance-induced haze that had consumed and bewitched neteyam body and soul. he'd thought, simply: shit.

⏜⏝⏜⏝

"i'm sorry," was the first thing neteyam said to kyati that night. perhaps he should have prefaced this with an explanation of his stupidity, but somehow he felt that he needed to first get those words out.

"what?" he could see she was slightly perplexed.

"i—my brother, he—it was a mistake—i mean, i didn't intend to—"

"whoa, wait," kyati said through an exasperated laugh. she placed her hands on neteyam's shoulders, and stared into his eyes. "nìk'ong. what mistake?"

he took a deep breath, calming himself and centering his muddled thoughts.

"today my brother—lo'ak—he said that he could tell i've been distracted. that i've changed. i—get angry at my friends on hunts. and i zone out because—well." then he seemed to realise how stupid his words sounded. sure, in their situation of secrecy it was important that they made an effort not to give away their nightly whereabouts or where their thoughts lay—but somehow voicing his worries out loud made neteyam feel childlike. like he was viewing an insect close-up and therefore expecting it to actually be the size of a bigger animal.

"oh." neteyam's cheeks burned at her reaction. "okay. well, it could be worse."

"you're not mad?"

she smiled, and neteyam felt as if the sun had risen. she said, "no. i'm not mad. it is not ideal, but i feel it could be worse."

"i'll do better, but what if everyone else has noticed? lo'ak is not exactly the most observant, and he was the one to tell me this." neteyam thought of "kavuk si." to betray. he supposed that was what his heart had done to him—it had given itself away, shown itself to the world and to the very clans that knew he wasn't supposed to love who he did.

before him, kyati lowered her warm palms from his shoulders and dropped her gaze. she seemed to be deep in thought.

"if everyone else has noticed," she said. "what would you want us to do? tell them the truth, or let them separate us again?"

the first was a bold proposition, certainly. but neteyam was drunk on his feelings; drunk on the way kyati looked at him and the way her lips felt; drunk on adrenaline. he smiled and brought his lips down to hers.

translations

vitra = soul

tsmukan = brother

olo'eyktan = male clan leader

nìk'ong = slowly

kavuk si = (to) betray

.

.

.

author's note

anyone spy the allusion to a very famous (classic) novel? >:)