Dancing with the Bullets |Ao'nung x Neteyam|

Chapter 11 (Updated)

Night falls, days later, and all Neteyam can do is long for Ao'nung without a chance of spending time with him. He ought to join Ao'nung's hunting party; he doesn't see any other way to spend time with the Metcayina.

Neteyam finds himself spending time with Reyna again and again. She smiles, jokes with him, sometimes flirts, sometimes a little more – all of which Neteyam, in the moment enjoys, but cannot help regretting afterwards.

He stands there beside Reyna, surrounded by the soft glow of bioluminescent plants; the village is hidden from view – Neteyam adores how easy it is to hide away. He can run for miles on end without stepping on the same path twice and yet he never strays far enough from the village to not find his way back.

Somehow, perhaps because Eywa wills it so, Neteyam never stumbles upon another soul looking to hide away.

They stand there, in silence now, laughter fading to a calm humming of the nature that surrounds them. Neteyam is leaning against a large, proud tree, his back to the smooth bark, and she's there, leaning against him, sharing his breath, smaller than he is, yet not weaker. Never weaker, he thinks. She's always seemed much larger than him.

Reyna's eyes twinkle with the light of a thousand stars above them, stars she loves talking about as she rests her cheek atop his shoulder, teal fusing with a deep midnight blue. "Nights are magical, don't you think?"

Neteyam nods in agreement. "They are."

Reyna's voice is soft and sweet when she giggles, amused by her own ideas and warmed by his skin on her own, chest to chest. She hugs him loosely around the waist, and he makes sure not to press her arms into the tree he leans against. "Do you remember the stories? The ones we can create without the stars interfering?"

Neteyam takes a moment before responding. "I do, why?"

Reyna's eyes sparkle, one pale blue, one just a breath a different shade. "I wish to write a story so, and even to see planets we have never seen before."

Neteyam hums, the moonlight casting a gentle glow on his features. His lips press to the top of her head not quite in a kiss. Her thumb rubs patterns onto the skin of his back absently.

"Do you think the other worlds are different from ours?" She asks eventually when all he answers is silence.

Neteyam turns his face toward the night sky. "They are, are they not? All stars must be different."

Reyna's eyes follow Neteyam's, and a soft smile graces her lips. She lifts her head from his shoulder. "Your father came from a different star a long time ago. Have you ever seen it?"

Neteyam lays his hands on her shoulders lightly. "Only pictures."

"Drawings?" She asks.

"Photographs," he replies in English.

She pauses, eyes searching his face. "The words are different enough. It makes sense that the worlds also are, then."

Neteyam offers a smile, flicking her nose gently with one hand. "I do not know how different other stars may be from ours. Perhaps the people there are even taller than us, as we are taller than sky people."

"I remember when they came," Reyna whispers as his hand settles on her cheek. "I was so scared for my spirit sister after what they had done to Tsahik's."

"Sky people can be horrible," he agrees.

She hugs him tighter around the waist. "I hope they never decide to return."

Neteyam thinks of recombinant soldiers, and people returning after they'd already died – he isn't sure she knows of such and does not mention it. Ao'nung knows. Perhaps that is all that matters. If the time ever comes, as chief, he'll know what to anticipate.