"Have you seen Te'rani?" Kiri asked.
Kuna't shook her head. "Sorry, I haven't seen her for a while. I thought she would be with your family"
"Oh, we've been looking for her actually" Kiri glanced at Neteyam, who stood behind her.
"She had just returned from the Tsahik's marui a while ago..." Kuna't informed, adjusting her grip on the basket she held against her hip.
"Oh...well, thank you" Kiri turned after Kuna't nodded. "Of course"
The two were hoping to find Te'rani to talk to her about everything. Neteyam began to walk away, but Kiri stopped.
She saw an ilu below her in the water. Ayu'te. She'd seen the ilu a lot, and she remembered her mother telling her the name of the ilu.
"That's her ilu" Kiri pointed out, caysing Neteyam to turn.
She tried to get Ayu'te's attention.
The ilu turned at the sound and whistled back, reaching its neck out of the water to get a better look of Kiri, who turned to her brother.
"I think I know where she is"
In the exact moment she connected to the spirit tree, Te'rani was taken away from the loud thunder and cold ocean. She felt at peace as her mind shifted.
As if being with Eywa was all she needed to feel it. Because it was.
Her eyes closed, or rather, opened, to what looked like a memory.
She saw herself, as a child, sitting with her mother by the beach, helping her add a bead to her songcord.
The way it felt to remember her past was melancholic, in a way.
Te'rani was seated next to her mother in the soft sand, feeling nothing but warmth. She stared at the ocean ahead of her, and saw not a single person there.
She turned to see her mother, the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. Her hair was left open. It was long, and light brown. Te'rani remembered thinking of it as a magical trait, something only her mother had.
Her mother saw a shell between her and Te'rani. She gasped slightly and lifted it up.
"Look Te'rani!" She smiled, showing the shell to her. It was purple and golden in color. Te'rani remembered that shell still. A broken shard of it was tied to her songcord.
Why? Because this memory was one Te'rani visited often.
She forced a smile for her mother, while her eyes began to sting.
Her mother put the shell down. "What happened Tani?"
A tears slipped through her eye at that. But she couldn't cry. She shouldn't. She almost never got to see and remember her mother so closely.
Te'rani looked down at the tear that managed to slip away. When she looked down, all she saw was the ocean. She was on the ocean. On it, but not in it.
She looked back up and saw her mother offering her a hand.
Te'rani felt her throat close, another tear falling. Her mother's face. She missed her mother's face. Suddenly she wanted to ask herself how could she have survived all this long without her kind smile, her warm embrace, and her loving voice.
"Za'u" she called. 'Come'.
Te'rani saw the sky behind her mother turn orange, the sun or the giant moons not even visible anymore as she stood up.
She was slightly taller than her mother, as she remembered. And there she was, standing on water.
"My Te'rani" Her mother started.
"Ma Kalin tute" my sweet girl.
Te'rani felt the wind fan her face, her tears having disappeared. She smiled and noticed the view behind her mother. The ocean they stood on had no end. It just expanded as far as the eye could see.
"what do you have to be afraid of?" she spoke.
Te'rani felt those words echo in her mind and heart. She heard the sound of a Tulkun squeak. It was loud, as if coming from right behind her.
She turned immediately, her breath being stolen from her as she laid her eyes on the sky.
It was a Tulkun and its calf. They used their fins almost like wings. The parent tulkun let out a wail, loud and melancholic. She was singing. Te'rani's mouth opened in shock.
This was Roa and her calf.
"You are my daughter. Eywa's child" a voice different from her mother said.
Te'rani watched Roa and her calf next to eachother. Tears began to form again.
"There's nothing to fear if you have me by your side"
Eywa
Te'rani began crying, but her tears never really escaped her eyes. Her heart thumped against her chest.
The great mother was so near. All this time she'd been feeling conflicted. Was she really meant to be with Neytiri or not? If it caused this much trouble for the people she loved, what was the reason? Every second she spent away from Neytiri felt like torture, but did that mean she should leave the only home she knew to be with her?
Her vision blurred, and she saw darkness. She recognized the dark green color above her.
Some small creatures sat on top of the dark green, since their shadows showed in her view. Blue hands reached up and turned as she passed under the giant leaf.
Te'rani was overwhelmed with emotion. She didn't know what this place was, but she still cried, being a witness to Eywa's beauty and might.
She heard the distant sound of an ikran's roar. Or at least, what she assumed it was. And the sight she witnessed was beyond her imagination.
Iknimaya. Neytiri had once told her about it. A place full of floating mountains and ikran nests. Te'rani saw from her peripheral that blue hands held onto the Ikran's saddle.
Eywa was showing her someone else's point of view perhaps.
Te'rani watched the sight disappear. Her body felt cold again, and her eyes stung. They burned on her face. She couldn't see her surroundings, so she turned to sound.
The storm must have ended, because she couldn't hear distant thunder anymore.
Te'rani suddenly became aware of lack of air in her lungs. She used all her force to push herself up towards the surface. When she couldn't see much, but from what she could tell, the sun was shining again. It wasn't as dark is it was when she arrived.
Te'rani spread out her hands more, trying harder to reach the surface.
What she had seen down there was a miracle. Something she didn't think could really happen to her.
It was like Eywa spoke to her. Eywa showed her the forest. And it was bewitching. Beautiful. Enchanting.
Te'rani knew now what she had to do. Every doubt in her head disappeared in seconds.
She broke through the surface, gasping for air. She turned to see the eclipse, the dark blue sky was quickly replacing the yellow one.
"Hey!" Someone shouted.
Te'rani turned towards the sound.
Kiri and Neteyam. She could tell it was him because of his hair.
They were waving at her, trying to get her attention. Te'rani's eyes still stung, but she could make out their bluer figures approaching her.
"Kiri" Te'rani smiled, swimming to her. She couldn't stop smiling. Hot tears spilled from her eyes, but she couldn't care less.
Te'rani's face was washed by a wave of water as Kiri neared.
"Kiri, I heard her" Te'rani placed a hand on top of Ayu'te to keep still.
"I heard her voice" she repeated in a pant, a grin on her face.
"Who?"
"Eywa"
"I felt scared before"
Te'rani got off Ayu'te's back, Kiri following her.
"I saw my mother"
Neteyam followed them onto a rock above the water that lead to other floating stones.
"But I heard Eywa's voice"
Te'rani turned to Kiri. She smiled, taking a hold of her hands as she breathed in deeply.
"She told me...that I had nothing to fear"
"I saw the forest. I saw iknimaya" Te'rani said, using a hand to place the strands of hair out of her face while squatting to sit down.
"It wasn't the past. It might be the future" She said.
"It has to be" Kiri added, sitting down next to her.
"It was so clear- I" Te'rani paused, looking at the floating rocks beside her.
"I could feel it"
The sun had just set before their eyes, and the purple sky took its place.
"You've been blessed with a gift" Kiri said truly.
Te'rani looked back at her, smiling shortly. A small silence followed. They heard the sound of waves crashing below. And the sounds of the night forest far into an island nearby.
Neteyam stared at the water below in thought.
Te'rani noticed that he hadn't said anything. She didn't blame him, since she understood what she was saying was overwhelming. It was for her too.
"What did Eywa sound like?" He finally asked, looking up at Te'rani.
She immediately looked at Kiri, who stared off into the sky silently. She didn't have to look to feel Te'rani's gaze on her.
The irony. Te'rani thought.
"Mighty" Kiri said, smiling at the distant moons. Te'rani smirked as well, before deciding to focus her gaze back on the ocean.
She stared at the deep purple sea and at its center, the spirit tree. She admired the way it looked from above the water. Te'rani had never felt Eywa's presence so close.
'Like a word about to be spoken' Te'rani recalled.
The wind blew past her wet hair, making her body feel cool. Te'rani realized that she had to go now, and tell this to Ronal and Neytiri. She had to be by Neytiri's side. She had to see her, hold her.
____
I felt happy that I finished another chp but then I remembered that the only way I got this done was by lowkey ignoring my actual work.
this week hasn't been busy thankfully so next few chapters have a high chance of being published quicker.
hope yall liked this, I hate keeping Te'rani and Neytiri apart in chapters but thats about to get a lot better soon, trust me