꧁𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎꧂

○five○

"It was great to see you but I must go now. My mate and children are waiting for me. I will bring them to meet you soon." She gave Nayliä one last hug and only waved at her two mates before walking off. Jake could feel himself relax at the fact she had a mate of her own.

"So, she seems nice." He broke the awkward silence.

"I'm sorry, she has never been good with strangers but once she warms up to you there will be no one more loyal than she."

Neytiri hummed in response and Nayliä took that as her que to continue talking.

"We grew up together. Me, Ronal and Rey'na were very close before I left. When my parents died, they would spend nights with me until I was okay enough to be on my own. We became close sisters but I was so blinded by my grief that when the opportunity to leave came, I never wanted to come back to that empty home. You two only solidified my decision to stay away, I am happy I did."

Before they could respond, Ronal made her way to the trio.

"The women are going diving for shells and other resources, would you like to join us?" Although she looked as if she was offering to both Nayliä and Neytiri, her voice made it obvious she really wanted Nayliä to come.

"I'll go check on the Ikrans, you go on ahead."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't mind going with you." Neytiri nodded then grabbed Jake's hand to lead him away.

♡

Kiri was sitting on the seafloor and using her hands to guide the golden fishes that surrounded her. She had never felt more at peace with herself than she did here. A jelly-like creature was attached to her back and allowed her to stay under the water even longer.

She noticed her mom picking up shells and she waved her over.

Nayliä swam and sat next to her daughter who began to show her how the fish listened to her. Nayliä was in complete awe but wasn't surprised because she had already known Kiri had a special connection to nature.

Kiri grabbed her mom's hand and guided it with her own so they both could dance with the fishes. They both had large grins on their faces as they bonded.

Ronal peeked over a wall of coral and watched the two closely. She had never seen something like that before and curiosity filled her. She felt even more confused when the freckles on both Nayliä and Kiri seemed to glow and pulse in waves from where they were connected. Neither of them seemed to notice.

♡

Liia was looking at the shells she had found and wanted to make a necklace for both her mothers and sisters. She just didn't know where to start.

"Teyam? Can you help me please?"

Neteyam stopped sharpening his arrows and walked over to her.

"What's up sis?"

"I want to make these necklaces for mama, mother, Tuk and Kiri. But I don't know where to start."

Neteyam glanced at all her materials and started to get to work while giving his sister advice as they worked.

♡

The next day, Kiri was laying in the shallow water while watching the little creatures in the sand. She thought she heard someone talking to them and stood up.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Ao'nung stared her down and got closer, "Are you some kind of freak?"

Kiri frowned and her ears and tail drooped at the question. Just when she started to feel like she belonged here, they ruined it.