Ma Neteyam

7

She lifted her arms in exasperation, " Well? What is this punch thing you speak about?"

He shook his head and did everything he could not to smile at her expression, " Come here, I'll show you."

Vareya stared at him a second longer before obliging with a roll of her eyes and stepping towards him. Neteyam reached his hand out carefully to see how'd she react. Vareya wasn't sure wether to feel proud at his hesitation or ridicule him for treating her as some wild Akula.

She did her best to hold back her shiver of disgust as Neteyam gently took a hand into his, maneuvering her long fingers into the position they needed to be. As he was working, she couldn't help but stare at his own hands.

The different ways his markings spread all around him reminded her of what she imagined vines in the forest to be, or waves hitting the shore. What mostly caught her attention was his fingers.

Four. Just like her. Like Na'vi.

She continued to stare at the late discovery she had just made. There were plenty of times that she evaluated him, for threatening purposes of course, and found nothing. Didn't pay any mind once she had assumed the whole family except the mother was a half breed.

Half demon blood, half Na'vi.

Neteyam caught her staring and spoke quietly, " My youngest sister and I were the only ones to have Na'vi hands. Lo'ak and Kiri have five fingers, they're special, like my father. That's probably why I get respected more, I don't have physical proof that I'm half demon blood."

Vareya could've sworn she heard him say those words solemnly and began thinking why he'd want to have demon hands. Then she slapped her curiosity away, his feelings or thoughts don't interest her in any way.

" I never asked."  she huffed.

" You were staring."

" Don't flatter yourself, I was making note of where you've touched me so I can burn that flesh off later." she scowled.

Neteyam shook his head and took a step back, " Very well then, I'm finished so please don't harm yourself on my account."

Vareya stared at her now clenched fist, rolled into a tight ball. " Now what?"

" Strike forward.  Like this..." he punched the air, showing her the movement so she can replicate.

Vareya did so with too much force and lost her balance slightly, luckily regaining it quickly before running into him.

She cleared her throat in embarrassment as she regained her position. Neteyam again had to force the corner of his lip to stay down.

" That was good, you just need positioning for balance. Separate your legs a bit so you can stabilize and push through for extra strength." once again he went through the movement so she can follow.

Vareya nodded firmly before looking down, becoming concentrated at her positioning. She was attempting to place her feet exactly how he had shown her to get maximum power.

When she settled on a good position, it still didn't feel perfect and she repositioned her feet again. After watching her several attempts, Neteyam took steps closer to help her struggling.

" It doesn't have to be perfect-"

Neteyam couldn't finish his sentence as her hand swung forward, straight to his face. He heard the crackle as it connected to his nose, then the flash of pain as the force of her hit made him fall back.

He collapsed with a grunt and then a groan as he wiped the trickle of blood that began to fall from the hit.

" Like that?" Vareya said, unbothered by the fact she had just struck him hard.