Ma Neteyam

18

The world around her was dark.

And not the way it usually is, where despite the beautiful bright scenery around her, everything had no light or color to it. Where everything felt dull and gray.

No. Now there was absolutely no light around her. Darkness shrouded everything. Wherever she looked, it will be like staring directly at black nothingness.

She heard her name, a voice that was barely a whisper, and she whirled to look behind her. Then she saw it, it was something of an island. The only reason why she guessed that was because there was shallow water surrounding it, the same water she was standing in now.

It was freezing, chilling. The coldest water she's ever felt but she didn't care, didn't pay any mind to it. She was too hypnotized by the sight in front of her.

It was a tree, a grand beautiful tree with large strong branches that stretched up high and across like arms. Millions of droplet like leaves dazzled and glinted beneath them. It looked so familiar, and when it hit her, she realized it was like a slightly smaller version of the spirit tree.

What mesmerized her even more though was the fact that the tree was flashing. The little droplet like lights were blinking at a slow pace, dimming ever so slightly before brightening up again.

Vareya took one slow careful step towards it, and the pace of the flickering increased. Another step, and the same thing happened.

By the time she reached it, her head was beginning to throb and eyes burn from how rapidly the lights were shining.

Vareya...

It whispered her name again and it seemed that it was urging her to get closer. Urging her to touch it, to fix it somehow.

When she finally lifted her hand to feel it, only inches away, the tree went dark. The recently lovely lights began to slowly dim before stopping completely. Vareya took a step back from surprise and fear. Was this her fault?

Had she caused this tree to lose its life? It's light?

No. Perhaps this is a test of some sorts. All she has to do now is save it, bring it back to life, make it shine beautifully again. Something inside her begged her to at least try, ached to see the tree alive and well and glistening.

Yet just as Vareya was about to place her hand on the thick, dark trunk of the tree, she heard her name again. It wasn't a whisper this time though, it was a screech right beside her ear. And apparently it was loud enough to wake her up, because suddenly she was back in her hut.

Vareya was sitting upright on her hammock, breathing heavily as she tried to comprehend what she had just dreamed. That's never happened to her before, she's never experienced something like that.

Was it truly a sign from Eywa? Or perhaps a memory? The future? A warning?

But something else caught her attention, something she hadn't realized before. A figure was sitting on the edge of the entrance of her home. That strong blue stripped back was easy to recognize though. Silently, she stood up to find there was no trace of the pain she felt earlier.

Ignoring it, she walked up right behind Neteyam and went to speak but he beat her to it...

" The moon is bright tonight." he didn't look back at her, only continued staring into the night.

" What are you doing?"

" You could see it even better in the forest. All you had to do was climb up the tallest tree you find and it'll feel like you could touch it."