MΛ'ƬIЯI | ΛVΛƬΛЯ

capture and rescue

She turned around the corner and stopped, letting Lo'ak and Spider run before her while she looked behind for anyone following them.

And thank Eywa, no one was.

Te'rani turned back and saw both the boys just standing there, looking at the pool.

"Go! Go" She whisper-shouted while moving her hand to urge them.

"We're clear" She said.

Spider went first. Te'rani's ears shifted behind her. Footsteps.

She turned and saw dark blue skin covered in green uniform approaching their corner.

"Shit" she whispered. Lo'ak had just dived.

She was already in a momentum of pushing her body forward when she heard someone shout "Na'vi!"

Maybe a distant gunshot of two fired, but the sound of her heart beat covered it up.

The cold water shocked her body after not being in it for so long. That and along with the fear she felt were not the most preferable.

Te'rani fell quite a few feet into the ocean, thankfully she could see the boys on the surface, waiting for her.

She prayed a hundred prayers while trying to swim up to them. Prayers to Eywa that the avatars would leave them and Neytiri's family.

Mid swim, she heard clicking. A sound that should have never scared her did now. She jolted in the water out of shock but Regained composure quickly when she saw that it was Ayu'te.

The boys looked down from the surface and saw Te'rani coming up on her ilu.

"Get on" she said as soon as she surfaced.

She waited for Lo'ak to get behind her.

Te'rani looked back and hoped Spider would manage, and he did holding onto the saddle. He nodded to her, and she turned back, speeding off.

She thought that finally they would be able to go home. That they were going to be okay. That she would bring Neytiri's children back to her safely. She just wanted to see Neytiri again.

And see Neytiri, she did.

Te'rani squinted her eyes. Well, she didn't have to, but she did, because she couldn't believe she was seeing her here.

"Mom!" Lo'ak waved.

"Tiri..." Te'rani whispered to herself.

Neytiri ran off her tsurak and onto the rocks, where Te'rani neared.

"Lo'ak!" She gave her hand do help pull Te'rani up and off Ayu'te.

Te'rani didn't let go of her arm, her heart beating in her ears. When did Neytiri get here? She had completely forgotten.

Neytiri looked behind her son, finding Spider, but not the rest of her children.

"Where are your sisters?" She asked him, venom in her voice.

Te'rani looked above her, praying to Eywa that they did in fact go to the village. She noticed the eclipse forming. Nightfall was just a fight away.

They had destroyed the demon ship. There was no way it would hold captives or any survivors. The thing was sinking for Eywa's sake!

"Tuk and Tsireya left...." Lo'ak said.

Te'rani looked back at the two of them.

"Neteyam-" Neytiri stopped talking abruptly.

What about Neteyam? Te'rani thought, stepping closer.

Neytiri stared at the ground, eyes wide. Something flashed in them. Anger and for a second, fear.
She was hearing something, because her ears perked up.

"I got your oldests. Come to the ship, unarmed"
"Do you really wanna loose a kid today?" Quaritch.

Demon.

Te'rani looked at Neytiri in confusion before she remembered that she wore a communication device next to her ear.

Neytiri looked up at the soon to be sinking ship with a fire in her eyes.

Lo'ak looked scared as well. Did he understand what was happening?

"Don't lay a finger on them" Neytiri said, anger in her still voice.

She looked at Te'rani.

"They have Kiri and Neteyam" She said.

Te'rani's brows furrowed. What?
She was angry. These sky people really did not know when to stop, did they?

Kiri and Neteyam were there now, in those demon's hands. But not on her watch.

Te'rani didn't have to say anything, all she had to do was reach for her knives. Neytiri knew exactly what that meant.

Lo'ak was staring at the ground until now, when he lifted his head, shaking it and looking up at his mother.

"I want to go with you"

"No" Both Te'rani and Neytiri said at the same time.

"Take spider back to the village. We'll bring Kiri and Neteyam. Tuk and Tsireya are waiting for you there" Te'rani really tried conveying from her gaze how serious she was about this.

She sounded like she knew exactly what had to be done. But in her voice was a concern that Lo'ak never learnt to recognize. Instead, he saw it as belittlement. But he was not small. He was not weak. He could fight- no, he would fight for his family.

Te'rani didn't see in his eyes that she had convinced him. But she didn't have time to convince him. She didn't have time to explain.

"Go" Neytiri told for the last time.

Te'rani turned and found Neytiri's tsurak still there, waiting for them.

"We have to leave, now" She said to Neytiri. Everything around them was getting darker. The fire burning near them on the rocks lightened their skin.

Neytiri grabbed her own kuru and walked to her tsurak, bow and arrows in hand.

"I have to go back, Kiri and Neteyam are down there with them. We have to help" lo'ak said, watching his mother ride away with Te'rani.

_________________________________________

Nightfall.

The dark came sooner than expected.

Te'rani thought of her parents. Regular fishermen turned into warriors. She never thought she'd be following their footsteps.

But she thats what it was to be at war with the sky people. Families broken, homes burnt....this is the life Neytiri had to go through with her family.

Te'rani's heart sank. Neytiri didn't deserve this. Her kids were just children. Tuk was only seven. Neteyam only fifteen.

Te'rani knew it was time to give back the pain they brought to her family, old and new.

She knew one thing for sure. She would protect them with her life.

"Go" Neytiri whispered. Te'rani climbed up the tilted ship, followed by Neytiri.

"We go quietly" Te'rani told her. Neytiri nodded.

Te'rani chose to take her left, and Neytiri in turn took the right.

Te'rani gripped both her knives firmly.