Fortress - Avatar: The Way of Water

~~~~~

"I want to go home," Tuk whimpered again. Eytu scooped her up and held her close.

"Try to stay positive," Neteyam urged.

"They were already making fun of us. Demon hands." Lo'ak held up his own hand, four fingers and a thumb, and wiggled said fingers.

"Hey, I know." Eytu held up their own hand, mirroring their brother's. "But we can do this, we can show them. So let's do it. We've never backed down from challenges before. We're the Sullys, we can do this," they reiterated, for themselves as much as for their siblings.

That was what they said aloud, but inside, in their thoughts, they actually agreed with Lo'ak - for once.

This sucks. This really sucks. 

Great Mother give me strength...

---------------------------------

"You should go join your siblings in their swimming lessons," Dad urged. 

"I'm fine watching for now."

Eytu didn't like this. Not one bit. This was too low to the ground for their taste, for their liking - they preferred being up in the trees, in the mountains, high up above the ground, looking down on everything from above. In that way they felt more in control, but here, on solid ground, it was unnerving. Hard to tell if enemies were lurking below. 

"Eytu!" Tuk was waving from out in the water.  "Eytu look!" She paddled over, an ilu following. "Look, she's mine!" The ilu chittered, matching her enthusiasm.

"Very nice, Tuk."

"Are you sure you don't want to swim with us?"

"I am, for now."

"Okay, but it's really fun!" She took off once more, her ilu bobbing after her. 

A few minutes later, Kiri broke the surface, the biggest smile on her face.

"You okay Kiri?"

"I'm wonderful!" Elation radiated off of her. Eytu wished they could pick up  some of it for themself. "All this - it's wonderful!"

A while later, Neteyam left  the water, coming to join Eytu sitting on the sand.

"How's training going?"

"Alright, the breathing part is tricky."

"You'll need lots of practice."

"Yes."

"You okay?" Neteyam asked.

"Just homesick."

"We all are."

"I know, I know. And I know what you're going to say: at least you all are trying."

"I wasn't going to say that. Work at your own pace." The siblings sat in comfortable, companionable silence for a few moments. Neteyam spoke again.  "You know, it's been a while since I've sparred-" He withdrew his knife from his belt.

Eytu grinned. "Let's go-"

Soon the two were crouched low, daggers in one hand, other hand out and defensive, circling each other like predator and prey. Eytu snarled and bared their teeth, Neteyam mirroring the gesture right back at them. They shoved each other playfully before really getting started. 

Their actions had drawn in the attention of their siblings and the chief's children and friends, but they didn't mind. An audience made it all the more exciting. 

Eytu swiped with their knife, Neteyam cleanly evading and slicing, Eytu blocking the blow. 

And that was when they saw her.

It was a blink and you'd miss it kind of moment, but she was there, or she had been, they were certain of it. 

The next thing they knew they received a hard blow to the gut, which knocked the wind out of them and knocked them to the ground, sprawled out on their back, Neteyam leaping over, standing over their body, his knife at their neck. "Got you! I win!"

"I thought I saw something..."

"Excuses excuses-" Neteyam sheathed his knife and offered his sibling a hand up. Eytu took his hand but used it to drag him down onto the sand beside them, making them both laugh. 

Between laughs, they looked back over their shoulder, but whatever or whoever they had sworn they had seen, even if only for a moment, was gone, leaving no trace of ever having been there in the first place. 

(My other Avatar story has been taking up my time (and my brain) but here we check in with Eytu and family :)

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))