without question, neteyam sully

chapter one

"We are reef people," Tonowari started, his wife breaking away from him as she circled the foreigners. "You are forest people. Your skills will mean nothing here." He argued. Such adaption would take some time to occur, especially for people who are used to a whole other environment.

"We will learn your ways, alright." Jake assures, sharing a look with his mate who seemed reluctant, but she mutters her agreement.

Metkayina's Tsahik roamed around the children, evaluating their usefulness based on their features alone. Being the bold woman that she was, Ronal yanked on the mother's tail before moving to grasp the youngest child's arm. Mekanei could tell the woman was on the verge of deeming them unworthy.

"Their arms are thin," Ronal noted, the frail arm of the youngest in her grasp. The lack of fin in site made her let go of the girl, the young child scampering behind her father in fear. The woman takes this time to pick on the eldest girl, pulling her tail just as she did the mother's, with the young girl retaliating back. "Their tails are weak. You will be slow in the water."

Though as the eldest daughter was batting her away, the Tsahik seemed to take notice in a very unique feature. She roughly grasped the young na'vi's arm, displaying her hand for the crowd to see. Five fingers. "These children.. are not even true Na'vi!"

The crowd roared in response, different emotions swirling up a storm around the foreign family. Mekanei felt her body be shifted behind Ao'nung's. The boy must've felt like he was protecting her, as Roxto and him banded together in making sure she wasn't near 'danger'.

The eldest daughter argued against the Tsahik's words, claiming to be true na'vi despite the abnormalities. These words fell dead to Ronal's ears as she had found her next target in the youngest son. She rose the young na'vi's hand, another palm accompanied by five fingers.

"They have demon blood!" The Metkayina woman proclaimed, watching the surrounding na'vi rally in fear. Demon blood was a disgrace, something that was highly uncommon but met with negativity when heard of.

"Look," The Sully man directed the attention away from his hurt children. He raises a hand, five fingered, waving it in the direction of the Tsahik. "Look! Look, I was born to the Sky People and now I am Na'vi, right, you can adapt. We will adapt. Okay?" He explains, pleading in a way that sends the two leaders into another stare off.

"Woah, they're just like mother said they were. Five fingered and all.." A voice gossiped near Mekanei's ear. The girl turned around to be met with her two older brothers, Atan'eko and Kiyeri, who seemed just as interested in the new family as she was.

"The perks of having such a knowledgeable mother like we do," Kiyeri commented in response to the eldest. "By now we know just about everything, aye."

"Do you think they'll be able to adapt?" Mekanei wondered, "Their bodies are too foreign for our style of living."

"I guess we'll find out,"

The sibling trio observed the fight for dominance between the two na'vi women, strong heads butting against each other. A decision nearing as the forest woman was forced to back down, with the Tsahik going to approach her husband once more.

After what felt like minutes of them communicating with their eyes and body language, it seemed they had reached a decision on whether to welcome the foreign family or not.

"Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us, treat them as your brothers and sisters." Tonowari declared to the clan. "But they do not know our sea, so they will be like babies takin their first breath. Teach them our ways so they do not suffer the shame of being useless."

That sold it. The forest people will now become one with the sea.

Ao'nung kept a firm grip on the girl's arm, trailing behind the Sully family in discomfort. On instinct Mekanei clutched onto Roxto's arm, the trio mimicking the coral of the reefs. It was Tsireya and Ao'nung's job to get the Sully family settled after they had been deemed worthy enough to stay with the clan. But wherever the male went, two Metkayina's seemed to follow in his steed.

"Isn't this exciting, Ao'nung? We've never seen forest na'vi like this before." Mekanei spoke in a hushed whisper, not wanting the family ahead of them to overhear. The boy in front of her scoffed. His features contorting into one of disdain.

"More like disgusting," Ao'nung murmured as he glanced over his shoulder. He knew of Mekanei's interest in new things, her curiosity being one of the reasons he admired her so much. But to be interested in people so different from them is something that bothered him deeply. "They have demon blood, Mek. We must be cautious."

Mekanei only hummed in response, peering over the taller boy's shoulder to observe the family ahead. Despite having moved far from their home there seemed to be an air of excitement buzzing around the lot, followed by an instinctive yearning to want to be back to their homelands of the forest. The girl watched as the youngest child bounced around with joy, reminding her much like herself at that age. How she wishes to be free again like that, no ounce of responsibilities threatening to ruin her fun. As Mekanei's line of site drifted away from the young na'vi, they were soon locked onto curious yellow ones.

Again, he was staring. Interest and awe present from the surface. Neteyam couldn't understand why he was so drawn to the Metkayina girl. Maybe it was the way she grew flustered at his stare, causing her to hide behind her friends or it could've been the way her curls framed her face, speckled with sand from a recent adventure.

Though his admiring was disrupted by a nudge to the ribs.

"Bro, you're staring!" Lo'ak whispered, glancing between Neteyam and the girl that had caught his older brother's eye.

The eldest scratched at the front of his scalp, a sheepish smile plastered on his lips. "I know."

And the Omatikaya boy couldn't wait to stare more.

AUTHORS NOTE:

focused more on plot for this chapter, so i'm hoping to build more on mekanei in the next !

have a few subplot ideas for mekanei & the sully fam in mind, hopefully we'll get to explore those soon <3