Blood and Water | Neteyam

Broken Glass ∼ 44

After that, she had belonged to the people. For every step she had taken, she had been approached by a new Na'vi, some of whom she had never even spoken to before. The younger ones had expressed their relief for her having woken up, some even bringing her pretty seashells that they had found to cheer her up. The warriors who had approached her had praised her for her bravery and her endurance, clapping her on the back as they smugly remarked that 'it was a good thing that they had gotten to the demon ship in time'. Many of the older Na'vi had held her hands in theirs, expressing their relief for her improving condition and praising the Tsahik for having cured her. Lo'ak had stayed by her side through it all, making sure that she wouldn't become too overwhelmed by everyone, but the others had disappeared to go dancing.

Tcelia was sure that by the time that Lo'ak and her had been rescued by Tuk and dragged over to their small group again who were dancing by the bonfire, she had spoken to the entire village. That was, everyone except for the one she longed to talk to the most.

She had only seen Neteyam in small flashes throughout the evening. When she had first arrived at the beach as the sun had begun to set, Lo'ak and Tuk by her side, she had seen him chatting with Jake and Neytiri by the edge of the celebration. They had walked over to them, but Neteyam had excused himself and slipped into the crowd of Na'vi before they had reached them without as much as a glance at Tcelia. As Jake and Neytiri had greeted Tcelia and the others, Tcelia had tried to convince herself that Neteyam hadn't seen her and that was why he had left.

Then, not long after, when they had gone to look for their friends, they had found him with Kiri and Spider, chatting by one of the smaller bonfires. He had finally looked at her then, softly smiling at her. She had smiled back, but as she had dropped Tuk's hand to make her way over to his side, a Metkayina guy, perhaps a little older than them, had appeared and drawn him away. When Tcelia had looked at Spider and Kiri, confusion written across her face, they had explained that Neteyam had promised to help the Metkayina guy with something important. Tcelia had watched as Neteyam walked away, his gaze lingering on her for a moment before disappearing into the crowd once again.

After that, she had only seen flashes of Neteyam from a distance. He hadn't joined their group later on which Tcelia thought was strange. He usually always hung out with them, and she had felt a nagging emptiness that had followed her around even as she tried to ignore it and enjoy her night. She had succeeded for smaller periods of time in forgetting him, but they never lasted long, and she found herself always looking for him in the crowd, every time another Na'vi had approached her she had hoped it was him, and as their group had danced, she constantly hoped that he would join them.

She was starting to grow annoyed. How could he just ignore her the entire day? Not to toot her own horn or anything but she had just sacrificed herself for him and been on the verge of dying. Was he not concerned for her wellbeing? Was it too much to expect some acknowledgement or a conversation after everything they had been through? He had said that he was mad about her taking the bullet for him, but that wouldn't stop him from talking to her, would it? If so, that would be incredibly low, something she would never have expected from Neteyam of all people.

She hadn't seen him in a while now, and she glanced around, trying to locate him. She had dropped Tuk and Rotxo's hands and Rotxo scrunched his nose, asking what was wrong as Tuk barely spared a glance up at Tcelia before grabbing Kiri's hand.

"Have you seen Neteyam?" Tcelia yelled over the suddenly annoyingly loud singing. Her head was pounding, and she had a hard time focusing on her search.

Rotxo glanced around for a second before pointing in the direction of the forest, "There!"

Tcelia furrowed her eyes, looking in the direction that Rotxo was pointing in. When she saw him leaning up against a tree by the edge of the forest, looking down at the sand, her heart skipped a beat. She cursed her traitorous heart; even when she was annoyed at him, she still couldn't control her feelings for him.