lomtu → neteyam sully [2]

volaw

→ 009; 011; the line, out of sight

"irayo, irayo, irayo!"

"you... you still wish to remain here, with the omatikaya?"

"yes," kyati answered the olo'eykte quickly and easily. a certain, set-in-stone sort of answer; one that came from the very depths of the chest.

she could practically feel the contempt of ngarì, pouring out from her and poisoning the air. kyati was anxious of her answer—for she was the most unreliable and unpredictable part of their plan. ngarì te ka'ato talu'ite always wanted her clan's happiness and wellbeing above all, but there was a line somewhere, that would not be crossed. kyati could only hope that giving up her successor's predetermined mate did not taunt her from the other side of that line. here was her reasoning: if the olo'eykte truly cared for the sopyu people's happiness above all else, would she not grant a heartsick girl this? would cutting out one sliver of a mauti ruin the entire thing? no, it would not.

rutxe, kyati pleaded in her mind.

ngarì pursed her lips, then strode away to the edge of her tent so kyati could not see the expression upon her face.

"love ruins. love destroys. love corrupts." her voice was lower than usual, and heavy with disappointment. kyati remained in a quintessential glower. why was she being told this, when she knew for a fact that whilst love had the capability to rip worlds apart, it could also piece them back together? it was like rebirth. it was like breathing in and finding that you had never known the air.

"so," she chafed, "why do we fall in love?" surely eywa is not so cruel as to have something so beautiful be so terrible.

ngarì assessed kyati with a cool, cunning gaze. she did not open her lips again; not for a while. she only observed the younger na'vi for an indefinite amount of time. she watched as kyati twitched and shuffled and squirmed with the impatience of youth.

she knew, of course, that this girl had gone against her word—the olo'eykte's word—for the second time. ngarì thought she had punished kyati accordingly, enough, by forbidding her connection with tsyeyk'itan. but it seemed the girl's insistence on that omatikaya boy had not wavered, and only grown stronger in nature.

"one day," she said carefully, "you may regret your choice." kyati opened her mouth, ready to proclaim something. the olo'eykte of the sopyu clan held up a weathered blue-grey hand and continued on. "you are very young still, pe'ire'ite. you have years upon years ahead of you; and you are not yet old enough to make such rash decisions based on love."

"but i was old enough to have my mate chosen for me at tsìng—"

"do not interrupt me, child," ngarì chided. kyati seemed to deflate at the elder's imposing tone. "eywa requires us to ensure the next olo'eyktan and tsahik of our clan. it is unavoidable. nevertheless; you are far too young to give into the violent nature of love."

violent? kyati thought. love was supposed to be anything but violent.

"i will run away. i refuse to come back to the caves on anyone's terms but my own."

"then you are a foolish girl," her voice came again. it was rough and weary. still the disappointment lingered in her tone. "you have known that haka'i is to be your mate since you could think. and yet, you spend but one vospxì with another boy from another clan and wish to disregard the will of eywa. you cause complications in the mother eywa's plans for your selfish heart."

half-defeated, kyati said, "yes, ma olo'eykte." and that heart that ngarì had spoken of? it dropped to kyati's stomach and brought with it a wave of nausea. still, she was a stubborn girl, so she persisted. she would not get an answer she disliked; "i know i am selfish, but i—" she halted as the olo'eykte held a hand up.

"allow me to finish, girl." there was an anxious pause, before she lowered her decorated hand and continued. "you are immensely selfish, but that is to be expected from someone like you. you are young, foolish, in love. and yet... i cannot find it anywhere within myself to condemn you for any of it." there it was; the seedling of hope flourishing inside kyati and lifting her heart back up to its place in her chest. she bit her lip to hold the smile at bay. "do you know that, a mere two days ago, the tsahik of the omatikaya spoke to me of allowing you to stay here?

"do not answer that—i know you do. i imagine that was a plan of yours and the omatikaya boy, somehow." kyati blinked stupidly. of course she knew, the girl thought, whilst internally smacking a hand against her forehead. of course she knew that kyati and neteyam would not just be complacent and stay away from one another; not when kyati had been throwing a months-long tantrum. "now," ngarì said, turning back around, "i will speak to pe'ire, and then to the olo'eyktan. perhaps it will not go well—if it does not, then do not place the blame on me. i'm not the one who fell in love. and keep quiet about it, girl, or else i shall consider revoking my generosity."

acquiescent for once, kyati nodded with a barely-concealed smile on her lips and hurried from the tent.

translations

olo'eykte = female clan leader

ngarì te ka'ato talu'ite = ngarì of the ka'ato, daughter of talu

mauti = fruit

rutxe = please

tsyeyk'itan = son of jake/tsyeyk

pe'ire'ite = daughter of pe'ire

tsìng = four

vospxì = month

ma = my

tsahik = matriarch, high priestess, interpreter

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author's note

funny story— i'd actually written half this scene a couple months ago and then forgot about it—and so i kinda rewrote this lil argument/debate before finding the original one and then i tried to blend them together. welp.