𝙏𝙄𝙇' 𝙒𝙀 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏. 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮. 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙧

I looked down at my feet, darkened & bruised from the dirt but I felt no aching sensation. I grew numb to face the warriors, for my son & for my family. My hands on the other hand, both behind my back, fidgeting & Neteyam took notice.

He brought himself closer. Now looking at him under this harsh lamp light, he looked much older than 19, braids were longer & new coloured beads were added, his jaw was more squared & defined. Things I never noticed before even though I was looking at him everyday.

"Its going to be okay my love" he whispered.

I smiled at him, hands free from the grip, I let out a light sigh behind Tonowari before stepping forward again.

"The Ta'unui (Reef clan), Tyrangi (Ikran people of the Eastern sea) & Omatikaya (Forest clan) clans will arrive first in the morning, we need to make space in the roots for them to set camp here" I announced.

Mr Sully & Neytiri's eyes widened, their home was coming to them after almost a year. It brought an emotional wave onto the field when the warriors came to know about the additional warriors joining them.

"Followed by the Olangi (Direhorse clan) , Tipani (The fiercest clan) by tomorrow night" I said.

"..Tipani.. there's no way they agreed.." murmurs & gasps circulated around the field as soon as they heard a particular clan's name.

"I knew that it took hard convincing to bring out the Tipani clan to the surface, but we did it flawlessly & they are on the way as we speak" I said with a valiant smile.

Mr Sully knew I had potential, but I knew he wouldn't have expected half of Pandora to come alongside us by the time we hosted this second meeting. The man & my dad of course could've never been prouder to see a girl like me hold such might when facing these warriors.

The warriors soon had lionhearted spirit shining bright on their faces. Help was coming & sooner than they think. The long awaited aspiration to fight coarsened their blood. Them & the people cheered on for their Ole'yktan, metntors & the Goddess of War, all except-

Tsireya.

I took notice of her body language. Stiff & wary of the void in the roots behind her, as though somebody was already there, watching & hearing everything-

"Is it just me, or is she not thrilled like she always was" Neteyam noticed too.

"Something is not right, but just follow my lead" I whispered to him.

After the second meeting, the warriors dispersed back to their families. But Tsireya lingered around as her parents were busy with checking on the weapons in a separate pod with the Sully family. Off guard that 2 other people were watching her every move from a bush.

"She's holding a device" Neteyam said after detecting a feed from his headset.

"Where did she get that..?" I tilted my head & mumbled in confusion.

"That looks brand new, updated & has a weird symbol on it, but I can't make out what it says" he observed.

"Nete.. I- don't think she's on our side" I said, gripping his hand after realising what the logo meant.

"Rogue warriors" he sat down in dread, hands running through his braids in frustration.

"We need to lead her into our trap, circle around & I'll get to her, you take the device. Make no sound" I told him.

*ೃ༄

Tsireya was about to enter the roots, a specific part where you would disappear into the shadows when you set foot. We had to be quick with what we had, a single rope & a dagger.