"tayala is not dead."
a collective gasp was heard from the kids, they were shocked at the statement. neteyam spoke first. "what? how..?" "she is in a comatose state, she lost a lot of blood from the wound. but luckily it missed her heart and any other vital organs, so she is simply sleeping. all we can do is wait for her to wake." everyone in the hut was stunned silent for a second before the children began to get up to leave. they decided to spend the rest of the day with each other, instead of dwelling on the situation at hand.
——
𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻
i finally came to, and everything in my body hurt. my eyes felt like they were sealed shut, and my chest felt heavy. my vision was blurry when i managed to crack my eyelids open. i blinked a couple of times and saw the bright sky above me. i slowly sat up and felt the sand below me. when i took in the scenery around me, i recognised it as the ancestors cove. struggling onto my feet, i made my way to the water. i had no idea how long i'd been out for but my skin felt as dry as the sand i was on.
i saw the spirit tree down below, the leaf-like tendrils swaying in the small currents. my body moved towards the tree, my mind still not entirely there. i felt like i was meant to connect to the tree, like eywa was calling me. i know it sounded ridiculous and i was sceptical but swam over there anyway. i grabbed the braid from down my back and connected the pink tendrils to one of the tree's. my eyes closed immediately and everything went white. my whole body felt like it had been electrocuted.
little flashes of colour flitted through my vision as i whipped every which way to see what was going on. a voice that i thought was my conscience rang out, giving me a slight headache. "wake up." it was almost whispering, pushing me to follow its words. i was still confused, i had no idea where i was and the last thing i remembered was waking up in the ancestors cove and swimming to the spirit tree. now i was in a sea of white with tiny flits of colour everywhere and a bodiless voice telling me to wake up.
i felt so overwhelmed. "they still need you. wake up." i didn't know for sure who 'they' was but i had an idea. jake and his kids. tsireya, ao'nung. they thought i died. the realisation hit me like a ton of bricks. now i needed to wake up, i just didn't know how. i closed my eyes and prayed to eywa to let me go back. i needed to go back. an intense and ringing pain crashed through my head and everything started to feel weak again. i thought i was dying but then the pain went away and i was fine again.
i tried to open my eyes but once again they felt sealed shut. i took calm, deep breaths to try and wake my body up a bit. my ears were still ringing so i couldn't hear much around me, if anyone was talking. i gave opening my eyes another try and this time it worked, they peeled open and brightness seeped in. i let the blue times fade before trying to see where i was. when i did look around, i recognised the woven roof of ronal and tonowari's hut.
i started to flex my fingers and toes, trying to shake the feeling of death off me. i managed to push myself up onto my elbows then and immediately someone noticed. it's was ronal in the hut, no one else, and she whipped her head around when she saw me sit up. "oh thank eywa, i thought i'd never see the day." she smiled with such relief i almost wasn't sure it was ronal, she was that happy. "how long was i out?" i croaked out. "two days."
my eyes went wide and i blanched at what i heard. "two days? is jake still here?" i thought for sure he'd leave after i'd 'died'. "he got back yesterday after the war. he informed us that the sky people have been defeated, but he does not know you are alive." i moved to sit up properly then. "can i see him?" "i need to make sure you are ok first." i really wanted to find jake but ronal was like a mother to me, you couldn't say no to her.
i relented and she pulled her tsahìk tools over to her and started checking me over. it felt like forever but she finally sat back and nodded. "you are free to go. i am so glad you are back, tayala." she let me go with one last hug. i hugged her back and warily stood up on my feet. i felt like i hadn't walked for a millennium. but before i could walk out the door, tonowari walked in. his jaw dropped when he saw me and i just stood there with an awkward smile on my face.
he warily walked closer and patted me on the arm as if to check if i was real. his face was even more shocked when he felt my skin underneath his palm. "you're alive?" it sounded like a whisper, and i smiled with tears forming in my eyes. "i'm alive." we both hugged, like a father and daughter. we stood together like that for what felt like hours, even ronal joined the hug. we separated then and stood together, u til there was small squeaks outside, like someone walking along the pathways.
i pulled back into the cover of the marui, unsure who was here, but got a pleasant surprise when i caught the darker toned blue skin that i recognised as my mate. jake. his demeanour was like a sad flower, depressed and droopy. he hadn't seen me yet, i was mainly hidden behind ronal and tonowari. i listened in on their conversation. "...we'll move off tomorrow." my heart dropped. they were really leaving?
from my position behind the chief and tsahìk, i saw them look at each other with a knowing smile and they both stepped aside, revealing me. jake's eyes widened when he saw me standing there. i don't think he knew what to say, he probably thought i wasn't real and he was just hallucinating. i walked forward, deciding to take matters into my own hands. it was like jake was paralysed, only his eyes moved. when i was close enough, i picked up his hand and placed it on my chest so he could feel my heartbeat. "ayla.."
"hi jake."
