BLUE /// JAKE & NEYTIRI

{8} ~kiri~

𝖇𝖑𝖚𝖊

imani decided to spend some time with ronal. they had been at the metkayina village for a long time now, yet she had barely spent any time with her best friend's wife. she had known ronal for years, they were friends but not as close as imani and tonowari. more like acquaintances.

they got along well, they had similar hobbies and such, but they had opposing views. this made them clash.

"ronal." imani spoke lightly, walking into their hut and pausing at the entrance. "i see you."

"imani, i see you." ronal looked up from the outfit she was making. "is there something i can help you with?" ronal asked kindly.

"i actually came here to ask you that." imani smiled sheepishly. rocking back and forth on her feet, she was getting flashbacks to her early teenage years, coming up to ronal and her friends to ask if they wanted to hunt with her.

ronal was a little older than imani, so was tonowari. but she always let imani tag along without an issue. whilst imani was 33, ronal was 38, tonowari being 36.

"oh," ronal looked startled. "well, i'm making outfits, if you would like to join me?"

"i was never that great at it if i remember." imani chuckled softly at the memories. ronal nodded, a small smile on her face. "but sure."

"good, sit." ronal pat the space next to her, moving a basket of materials between them. "use whatever you please."

imani nodded, sitting beside her and peeking into the basket. grabbing some materials, she began to make a top made of seaweed. green, blue and purple materials were strung together to create a small top to wear, woven in with little star fish and sea shells holding it together as well as thin pieces of sea weed to weave them together.

as they worked they caught up on their lives apart, how the omaticaya rebuilt themselves, memories of raising their kids. they realised how truly similar they were and how their small arguments were stupid and futile.

during their time together, ronal began to wonder why she pushed away imani's attempts at creating a friendship when they were younger.

the sounds of panic outside the hut cut their conversation short. imani and ronal both stood to rush to the entrance of their hut. imani's eyes landed on her family, who else would be causing a ruckus?

but upon closer inspection, imani saw they were carrying someone out of the water. with a gasp, she sprinted off towards them, leaving ronal to watch her with worry.

"kiri!" she cried, racing into their hut. "what happened?" she asked, dropping to her knees besides the unconscious child.

"she had a bad connection to the spirit tree." neteyam explained, adjusting kiri's head. jake rushed outside to make a call as the family crowded in their home.

as they waited for jake to come back, neteyam, lo'ak, tuk, tsireya and neytiri sat around them, watching anxiously for kiri to wake up. feeling a hand grab her own, imani looked to tsireya who tucked her knees to her chest. imani squeezed her hand back and looked back down at her child.

hours later, the familiar sound of a chopper came from outside. neteyam and lo'ak ran off to help their father as tsireya and tuk remained with imani and neytiri.

minutes later, norm and max came into the hut, carrying loads of sky people equipment. they greeted imani quickly, the woman simply backing away to allow them to do what they needed, taking tsireya with her.

"there's no bleed." norm said, checking her daughter with his odd devices. "no fracture."

"no signs of hypoxia. everything looks good." max said, showing jake the screen of her readings.

on cue, ronal entered the hut, holding a basket full of supplies. ready to help. she paused seeing the avatar and human, as well as their strange equipment.

"i see that i am not needed here." she said, looking at imani.

as she turned to leave, neytiri grabbed her elbow. "you are tsahik!" she hissed.

"please," imani begged, looking up at her from the ground, tears in her eyes. "help her."

ronal looked at her friend solemnly before nodding. "remove these things."

"out!" neytiri shouted, rounding on jake's friends in anger. "you have done nothing!" jake jumped, quickly ushering his friends to pack their shit and leave, knowing that neytiri would likely strangle them with their own equipment. she didn't play when it came to na'vi traditions, especially the way of tsahik.

as ronal began to work on helping kiri, tsireya came forwards to help her mother.

outside the hut, the boys sat waiting for their sister to wake, jake standing close by. inside the hut, ronal performed the metkayina ritual, tsireya helping her. neytiri and imani sat together, leaning on one another as they prayed to eywa to help kiri wake up.

neytiri's tail bat against the ground in anticipation as imani's wrapped around herself, her hands reaching up to play with the ends of her hair.

after what felt like hours, kiri's eyes opened. ronal sat up as tuk rushed towards her, weeping her sisters name. "kiri!"

"kiri, oh my daughter." neytiri cried, reaching out for her as imani simply sat by her side, grasping kiri's hand in her own, a river of tears streaming down her face.

once kiri realised what had happened her face contorted, a loud cry leaving her lips as she gripped imani's hand tightly in her own.

"oh kiri." neytiri cried, brushing the hair from her face affectionately. kiri reached out to her, sobbing loudly as neytiri hugged her, tucking her head into her shoulder.

"thank you, ronal." imani sniffled, looking up from her daughter, her yellow eyes surrounded by a rim of red, sparkling with un-shed tears.

ronal simply nodded, packing her things. "it is my duty."