The village was getting ready for bed. It had been a while since nightfall, and still there was no sign of Kiri, Neteyam or Te'rani. Neytiri hadn't gone out to look for her children because she knew Te'rani would be with them. But she was getting impatient. She turned to see Tuk asleep on her own mat, and Lo'ak laying in his.
He forced his eyes closed, and tried to fall asleep while his mother waited for his siblings. Neytiri saw him doing so, and looked at Spider. She gathered that he was asleep because of his slow breathing.
She stared at Tuk's sleeping figure till a firmiliar scent hit her senses.
Neytiri stood up from a swing-bed that she had sat on and saw the person she had been waiting for.
Te'rani. With Kiri and Neteyam in front of her.
Neytiri let out a small sigh, walking closer to them. She made eye contact with Te'rani, who was already staring at her since they came into sight.
Neteyam glanced at his mother and continued into the marui, leading his sister. Neytiri watched them go in without saying a word.
She felt Te'rani take ahold of her arm gently. Neytiri looked back at her, and smiled a little. She placed a hand over the one Te'rani held her with.
"Come with me, Tiri" she spoke in a soft voice.
Neytiri looked down at her lips. They were slightly parted, and tilted up in an almost unnoticeable smile. She knew she couldn't say no even if she wanted to.
Te'rani softly rubbed her thumb against Neytiri's arm, making her avert her gaze before looking back at Te'rani.
Neytiri turned back to her marui for a second, seeing Neteyam begin to draw the curtains. He stopped to return his mother's gaze. She looked to him as if to ask if he and his siblings would be okay without her. Neteyam looked at Te'rani, and then his mother. He smiled reassuringly at her.
Neytiri felt her heart warm as she watched the marui be covered. She felt Te'rani let go of her hand, causing her to turn back.
She held Neytiri's hand, both of them intertwining their fingers. Te'rani couldn't seem to take her eyes off her.
Neytiri knew what she wanted. But they both had to wait. Te'rani smiled when she made contact with Neytiri's green tinted eyes.
She turned and began leading Neytiri away. The two held onto eachother's hands, walking towards a destination Neytiri's didn't know.
They approached a platform where saddles for ilu were kept.
"Ma'tani, where are we going?"
Te'rani turned to her and broke into a smile.
"This will be our last night in Awa'atlu" she started.
"I want to take you somewhere, but I thought maybe we could get there in a different way..."
Neytiri tilted her head in confusion and Te'rani smirked.
And then, off a wild guess, Neytiri realized what she meant.
The waves were high, and the bright sky shone just enough for anything above the water to be seen.
A shadow cast on the purple sea. An ikran.
Te'rani let out an excited yelp as Neytiri made her ikran turn to the left. The waves were loud, but they were louder.
Neytiri laughed as she felt Te'rani's grip around her waist tighten. Her ikran screeched, letting every and any creature awake know that it had arrived. The ikran flew closer to the water, it's wing cutting through it. Te'rani felt the cold water spray at her and she hid her face by tucking it in the crook of Neytiri's neck.
She could feel Te'rani's smile against her shoulder. Te'rani saw the destination she had hoped to see. Three brother's rocks. "There." She said, motioning at the islands behind them with her face.
"Why are we going here?"
"you'll see" Te'rani smirked, placing a kiss on the base of Neytiri's neck. She grinned even wider when she saw Neytiri's ears tilt up. Her ikran circled the three brother rocks.
Te'rani had both her hands wrapped around Neytiri's waist, and her chin rested on her shoulder. Neytiri felt her thumb slowly moving up and down, caressing the skin right below her breasts. Every lesson she'd learnt on calming your breath and zoning out while holding your breath was thrown out the window now because all she could do was feel her heart thump in her chest and her breathing become uneven. The cold wind wasn't helping her breats soften either.
Her thoughts came to a halt and so did her steady breathing when she realized what was happening.
What made it worse was that Neytiri knew Te'rani was staring right at her, smirking. But she didn't dare make eye contact.
"Land there" Te'rani spoke into her ear. The ikran screeched and began ascending down slowly. Neytiri could feel her hot breath fanning the side of her face.
This was more intimate than they'd ever been. Neytiri knew that when they landed and got off her ikran, she would be in trouble. She silently prayed that Te'rani's hand would go just a little higher to touch her hardened breasts, but it never did. Her thumb just continued slowly caressing the skin beneath.
Oh yeah, Te'rani knew exactly what she was doing.
The ikran landed on the sandy beach, and Te'rani let go of Neytiri, much to her annoyance.
Neytiri got off first. She looked back at Te'rani and saw her staring at her like she was some sort of prey. Her tail was showing Te'rani that she was enjoyibg this. It curled and batted around as she approached.
Te'rani didn't take her eyes off her. When she was close enough, she finally looked into her eyes and wordlessly watched as Neytiri switched between looking at her eyes and her lips.
Te'rani took ahold of Neytiri's hand, making her tail curl behind her. Anticipation was the only word to describe the look in her eyes. But Te'rani seemed to want to wait.
She lead Neytiri into the bushes and trees of the island.
Neytiri would've whined out loud if it weren't for the last bits of self control left in her. She knew Te'rani had something to show her. So she did what she could do and walked fast by her side, wanting to feel her hands on her body again.
Te'rani let go of her hand to move giant leaves out of their way.
Neytiri wanted to be held by her in some way or the other. The loss of contact was making her impatient.
"Tani-" she stopped herself. Her mouth fell agape at the sight infront of her.
And there it was. Past the fallen trees and giant leaves, there was the tree of voices. Neytiri saw that it was smaller than the one back home, but it was the very essence of her home. The tree of voices, where prayers were heard. She never thought this tree would survive in these kinds of places.
"I want to be one with you, tiri" Te'rani said. "We will be mated before Eywa"
Neytiri couldn't believe Te'rani had gone through the struggle of finding this tree and being willing to be mated in her tradition, not her own.
"Tanhi...when did you find this?" She asked, walking closer to the tree.
"I always knew this place....but now I know why it's here " she softened her voice.
Neytiri turned to face Te'rani, a shy look in her eyes. She loved this woman so much. They wordlessly stared at eachother for a while. Neytiri saw truth in her eyes. Affirmation. Her words were stuck at her throat, so she just watched.
Te'rani brought her kuru before her carefully. Neytiri began to copy her action.
She couldn't believe this was happening. Te'rani would be hers. She and would be Te'rani's. How fast the time flown by.
She brought her kuru closer, and Te'rani finally inched her's in the right direction.
Their queues danced around, looking for a bond, which they found in eachother. One by one each part of them was connected.
_____
You have been robbed.
also lemme just introduce you to Te'rani's character art inspiration like 24 chapters into the story
while with the metkayina she often wears her front hair back and leaves the remaining shoulder length hair out
she cuts her hair shorter when she joins the Omatikaya people
but honestly yall imagine her however you want, this is just my vision of her