Our campfire with Neteyam was tonight and I was so anxious. I decided I would simply put more jewelry with another shell top I am not always wearing. I was in my hut trying to get ready but everytime I was putting on a jewelry I felt like I was doing too much. I kept telling myself this was a very bad idea. I put on my shell top, it was pretty I guess, I don't know actually.
I don't even know why I was getting ready like this, it's not even a date. I am definitely doing too much but whatever. I put on a simple necklace made with an Ilu's tooth before suddenly hearing someone knocking on the wall of the hut. I turn around and see Neteyam. He smiles, and I smile back.
"I hope I am not coming too early.
- No, I just finished getting ready." I answer him.
He simply nods. I could tell he was the same, but different. I don't know how to describe it. He analyzes me from up and down and I can't tell if he likes what he sees or not. Maybe he thinks I did too much. Fuck I knew it. He grins and speaks up.
"This is the proof that when I called you beautiful, I meant it." He whispers.
I chuckle before looking down at my outfit. Well it was not as different as usual, but still quite different.
"Really? I thought I did too much.
- No, it's perfect. You're perfect." He says with a reassuring smile.
I simply nod and bite my inner cheek, I step out of my hut and I finally notice he was hiding something behind his back. I frown and get on the tip of my toes to try to see what was behind him but he steps back.
"What are you hiding? I ask confused.
- I brought you something." He says as he looks down at me.
I squint my eyes and tilt my head to the side. I was curious. He finally shows me what he was hiding and I suddenly see an orange flower, it was beautiful he looks at my hair and speaks up.
"May I?" He asks.
I love how he always asks for my permission before touching me. I smile at him and answer him in a whisper as I look up at him.
"You may."
He chuckles before approaching me. I feel his fingers touching my braids before he tries to stuck the beautiful orange flower between my braids.
"You know, you don't need to ask to touch me." I say with a giggle.
He raises his eyebrows and grins before answering me in a whisper as he inks his gaze in mine.
"Really? Well then you can touch me whenever, however and wherever you want without asking me too." He says.
I laugh before he finally succeeds to put the flower in my braids. I smile before resting my hand on my hips and tilting my head to the side.
"How do I look?" I ask now that I have the flower in my hair.
Neteyam laughs. He admires me for a few moments. And it felt like he never saw a woman before, I could read it in his eyes. He looked at me like I was the only female in the world and I felt kind of special.
"You look as beautiful as before." He says with a grin.
I thank him before we finally decide to leave to the beach where Neteyam has already prepared a spot. It was now dark and there wasn't a lot of light. Only the moon, the stars, the firefly and the leafs were illuminating the island. Neteyam turns to me and speaks up.
"I was wondering, how do you sign 'Ilu'?" He asks.
I turn to him and meet his gaze, he actually looked interested into our sign language we use under water. I smile and show him with my hands, he repeats it.
"And what about 'hello'?" He says.
I show it to him. It made me happy to see that he actually wanted to learn it, he was motivated and determined to learn this new language.
"We use it to communicate with every marine creatures.
- Ilus can understand it?" He asks.
I nod positively, he smiles. I look forward, it was quiet, but not awkward. We were just enjoying each other's company. After a few minutes walking, we arrive at the spot and it was quite far away from the village, I guess we won't be interrupted or bothered.
"It's here." He says.
The rocks were already disposed on the sand, creating a circle and there was already tree branches, we just had to make the fire. We start sitting down and Neteyam is searching for a silex he finally find. He starts trying to make the fire.
"I hope you are not as stupid as Lo'ak. I say jokingly.
- I hope not too." He says with a smile.
I was still surprised he didn't know how to say Ilu or hello in our sign language, I thought Tsireya had taught him, but she didn't apparently.
"Tsireya didn't teach you sign language? I ask.
- No, I didn't want her to teach me." He says, staying focus on the silex and the rock.
I raise my eyebrows. I am shocked, maybe he doesn't like Reya? Or maybe he wasn't interested in learning the language. However, I want to know why he didn't want her to teach him.
"Why?" I ask.
He stops trying to make the fire and turns to me. He plunges his yellow eyes in mine. Failing to make fire between these branches, he just lit this spark in me. Why's his gaze so effortlessly beautiful and disarming. I hate it.
"Because I wanted you to teach me." He says, insisting on the 'you'.
My heart skips a few beats. Well, I think nobody ever gave me so much attention for a long time, and it feels good to be honest. I simply whisper a 'oh' and look down not knowing what to answer. Well, I was flattered, it's for sure but I just don't know what to answer to these. I mean I know what I could answer, but that would be flirting with him.
And maybe that's not what he wants, and that's not what I want either. Everything is so confusing right now. He rubs the rock against the silex and I can see fire appearing. He smiles, proud of himself. At least he didn't take a hundred attempts like his brother.
"Well maybe you're not as stupid as your brother." I say teasing him.
He giggles before looking at my tattoos on my arms. I could tell he was interested in it, probably wondering what they meant.
"Does your tattoos have meanings?" He asks.
I smile and nod positively, well they don't really have like a spiritual or a life meaning but they do have a meaning.
"Yes. It's like a reward when you accomplish something for the village.
- You accomplished four things for the village then? He says quite surprised because I was the only one in my friend group to have tattoos, and one of the youngest to have the most tattoos.
- Seven actually." I correct him.
He widens his eyes in shock. He probably thought that four things were big for my age, but seven? It's a huge thing. He analyzes my body trying to find all of them, and I decide to simply tell him where they are.
"I got four on my arms, one on my back, another one on my neck and I got a new one three months ago on my inner thigh." I say.
He slides his hand on my hair to put them away so he can see the tattoos on my back. I grin and let him observe them.
"I like the one on your neck." He whispers.
I giggle as he steps back, my hair falls back on my back. He looks down at my thigh, probably wanting to see that one. I am proud of that tattoo, I think it's my favourite one.
"Can I see the one on your thigh?" He asks hesitantly.
I could tell he was embarrassed to ask me, but I wasn't. They're my tattoos, a part of me. I won them, I deserve them and I like to show them proudly. I chuckle and spread my thighs a little bit, enough for him to see it. I point at the tattoo.
"It's beautiful." He says with a smile.
He was suddenly shy, he didn't dare looking at me, at it. But it's not such a big deal, it's a thigh, skin.
"My turn to ask you something." I say as I put my legs as they were before.
He looks at me with a smile before nodding, making me understand I could ask whatever I wanted to know. And this question was actually running through my mind for a very long time, and I guess it is the perfect moment to ask him.
"Why did your family asked for exile here?"
His smiles starts to fade away, and I guess it wasn't easy for him to talk about it. He had to leave everything behind him, his friends, the forest, his fate. He was supposed to be the next leader of his tribe since his father is Toruk Macto.
And he left all of this behind him, without turning back one last time. All of this for a reason I still ignore.
"You probably know about the war against the sky people that happened almost eighteen years ago?" He asks.
Of course I knew about it. Our tribe refused to take part of it, not wanting to bring the war here, but one person went anyway, he never came back. He was not exactly a part of the tribe. But let's not talk about this. I simply nod my head, making him understand that yes I do know about it.
"We ran away from it. We didn't win this war, we just escaped it. And they came back a few weeks ago with avatars, like my father before Eywa gave him his alien body for ever. They attacked my siblings and they were looking for my dad to take revenge on a former soldier. We had to leave to save our tribe after that." He says.
I widen my eyes in surprise. Well, this makes sense. Tonowari and Ronal probably knew about this, but I didn't. I felt sorry for Neteyam. For his whole family actually. I understand his pain, he must feel so lost. I wish I could have the words to comfort him, but I don't. I feel powerless.
And I feel like not a single word could comfort him. The only thing that could fix his pain was to go back to his home. Imagine having to escape from your own home, your safe place because of a war. Because of sky people wanting our sources.
I don't have the words to comfort Neteyam, but as his friend, I have to say something to make him feel less sad. I look down and see his hand laying on the sand, I don't want to make him uncomfortable by touching him, but he said I could touch him wherever, however and whenever I want. So I lay my hand on his, making him look up at me. I plunge my eyes in his.
"I am sorry." I whisper.
He blinks a few times as I see his ears cutely lift up. I love his ears, I love how they put words on his emotions for him. He shyly smiles at me, in a reassuring way.
"It's fine. It was the better thing to do." He says.
I think there was an even better thing to do. They should have fight them. Fight for they tribe, for their forest, for Pandora.
"Let's talk about something else." He suddenly says, and we do.
author's note
hellooo
what do you think about this new chapter?
i don't really like it and idk why 😭😭😭
but whatever
don't forget to leave a vote if you liked it<3
xo