"I do not care who you are. You've travelled a long way to come here, Neyam--,"
"Neteyam."
I hissed at his interruption, lifting myself on the tips of my toes to snarl close to his face. "Don't let it be for nothing."
I dove underwater beside Rotxo and Aonung, Tsireya to his left, waiting for the Omaticaya people to follow. I turned to look over my shoulder and gritted my teeth in annoyance at their not so graceful jump into the water.
I watched as they explored the water species, slowly flapping their hands beside them as if in a trance.
I hope something big enough came and decided it was hungry for blue jungle Na'vi. I turned from them and continued to swim, allowing Rotxo and Aonung to be my guide. Today I was going to have to play teacher for the foreign na'vi, except I did not know why my brothers friend decided to tag along.
For all I knew, he hated them as much as we did, and he wasn't burdened with the responsibility of teaching them. With calculating eyes, I turned to the older boy who only flashed me a smile until he began to speed up his swimming.
We swam through corals and school of fishes, beckoning the Toruk Makto's children to just hurry up their attempts at following us. Usually the ocean was the place I'd go to to escape all responsibility and worries, and to just relax. However now it had become the exact opposite of that.
I turned to see the four na'vi no longer behind us, but instead their heads broke the surface of the water in which I assumed was to catch their breath.
I caught sight of Neteyam dipping his head underwater, looking at my siblings and I, his distinct braids floating around his face, almost making a crown.
"Hurry up." I signed to him in annoyance but he only look at me in confusion. I felt my lip twitch into a snarl before I roughly beckoned him and his brother and sisters with my hand, not turning away until I saw them all take a big gulp of breath and submerge themselves in the sea, their thin, dark blue tails whipping in every direction.
My lips pursed together as once again, they allowed their heads to bobble over the water. "What's wrong with them?" My brother signed to Rotxo, who had a devilish smirk on his face. "They can't stay underwater."
I let myself smile at the obvious jab, before Tsireya harshly put her hand in our face. "Stop. They are learning."
Aonung dramatically rolled his eyes at my sister, before we all swam to the surface. The family were gasping for air as my sister spoke to them. "Are you all alright?" She asked, her voice soft and the epitome of sweet.
"You're too fast, wait for us!" The little one exclaimed, and at that I smiled. Though sharing similarities with her brothers, I had to admit she was adorable with her barely grown in braids and large eyes. "Just breathe." I softly said to her, before my brothers smug face broke the surface.
"You are not good divers. Maybe good at swinging through trees but--," A slap landed on the side of his head, and I had to hold in my laugh.
"We don't speak this... finger talk. We don't know what you're saying." Neteyam said, Tuk and Lo'ak nodding their heads in agreement as their bodies moved slightly with the blue, clear waves.
"Fao and I will teach you." Tsireya stated, and I felt my face drop in pure anger. Apparently I was the only mad one, as I caught sight of Neteyam's face subtly brighten. That did not go unnoticed by Tsireya.
I honestly didn't want to teach them. From the surface they seemed so perfect and tight knitted with their family— until they were underwater. In all honesty, even though she'd known the Sully's for a short amount of time, they reminded her of everything wrong with her and her leadership 'skills.'
"Hell no I'm not! I have responsibilities in this clan, which do not include teaching adult sized babies!" I exclaimed, glaring at the two oldest Sully brothers, making sure to exclude the little one from my gaze. Lo'ak looked as though he could care less for my anger, focusing more on my sister which angered me further.
However, for the eldest, he unflinchingly held my stare with softer eyes for a couple of seconds, before he looked down into the dark abyss of water below, colour filling his cheeks. I wanted to drown him for the way he could not control his eyes.
I was snapped out of my anger when I heard a little voice perk up. "Where's Kiri?" Asked Tuk, before a chorus of voices repeated the same question to one another. I bristled at this. If my parents found out I had lost one of the Toruk Makto's children, they'd have my head. How had I even failed at babysitting?
We all did a quick 360 in the water, taking note of our surroundings. However, only tall, green and beautiful mountains and clear sparkly bodies of water could be found, no sight of the pretty daughter of Jake Sully and Neytiri.
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I stood in fairly shallow water that only reached up to the very beginning of my hips. Aonung was calling to our ilu with high pitched clicking sounds from the back of his throat. The little blue Na'vi, Tuk, was glued to Neteyam as he held her perched on his hip, with both Lo'ak and Kiri beside him.
"These are ilu." My brother stated, outstretching his hands and gesturing to the large water animals that continued a slow swim in the water. "If you want to live here, you have to ride."
I was now in shoulder deep water as I held tightly onto a male ilu. I was forced to help Neteyam by Tsireya, and despite my anger, her going to help Lo'ak did not go unnoticed by Aonung or I.
I supposed I could be civil, if not nice, if that's what it took for Neteyam to learn quickly and efficiently. The faster he no longer needed training, the faster I could leave and have some alone time.
"Make the Tsaheylu." I grunted out, not looking at the boy above me, grabbing the part of the ilu that he would bond with. I held it up to him and growled when I didn't notice any movement from his part.
My head snapped up to him, as I met his eyes that were a mix of green and yellow. "Am I that ugly that you can't even look at me?" He laughed, and I gave him a pointed look before flashing my teeth at him.
"Yes, now make the bond. Gently." I ground out and he quickly connected his long braid and made the bond. I ran a soft hand over the ilu's body, causing both of them to shudder before I looked back up to Neteyam.
"Hold here." I gestured to the handle on the ilu, before his dark blue hands completely covered the surface of it. "Feel the ilu, it's breathing and its heartbeat. You are Tsaheylu, you are both one." I whispered to him, feeling the presence of Aonung and dogs behind me.
In seconds he was off, and on top of the ilu he stayed for a lot longer than I expected, despite the speed and pressure of it. We all watched from below the surface as he held on tightly, before his legs lost grip on the ilu and he was flung off.
I was ripped from the water as a loud laugh tore from my throat, the boys and Tsireya behind me following as Neteyam broke from the water and looked towards us, his ilu following suit, before it swam off.
Neteyam swam towards us, and I sobered up once he had reached me. "Not too bad for my first time, eh?" He asked with a smirk on his face and I shook my head, trying to erase the image of him being thrown off of his ilu so I did not laugh.
"I've seen three year olds ride better than you, Nayatem." I said, purposefully saying his name wrong to rile him up, and flashing him a toothy grin that was supposed to come off as intimidating.
I heard the boy groan and yell out 'bro,' before an arm circled itself around my shoulders. "Not hurt, are you jungle boy?" I heard Rotxo laugh, his friends following suit.
Neteyam pursed his lips at the jab, his eyes zoned onto Rotxo. Before he could fire back with his own remarks, I pushed the heavy arm off of my shoulders, and smirked at my brothers friend.
"Leave him Rotxo, or shall I have to remind you about what happened last time." I threatened, as Aonung and his friends cheered.
"You wouldn't."
I gave the light blue boy a look that said, 'don't test me', before I turned back to Neteyam.
"If you want to learn our finger talk, come with me." Was all I said, before I left the water and took off.
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Hi guys! We've got a bit more Fao and Neteyam interaction <3 Next chapter will be her teaching him sign language, which means more dialogue between the two.
Let me know if there are any mistakes you found,
or
If you'd like to see anything added into the story!
Don't forget to share and vote, and I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next chapter. ✩