Neteyam wakes up because of the sound of Rotor Blades and on instinct he grabs for his knife.
He thinks that the Skypeople have found them, that they are here for revenge. However once he becomes fully awake he realizes he knows that sound all too familiar.
Norm.
Neteyam gives Tuk a kiss on the forehead before moving to his mother and father who are asleep by Kiri's side.
"Mom..." Neteyam shakes his mother, and she slowly opens her eyes.
"What is it?" Neytiri asks, instantly being worried something happened to one of her kids.
"Norms here." Neteyam whispers, trying to not wake Tuk.
Neytiri nods, shaking her husband slightly to have him awake.
When Jake finally wakes up, he gives his wife a pout on the face. He wanted to sleep in, especially with going to bed so late, but then his ears pick up on the sound of the chopper and he remembers that Kiri is hurt.
Jake gets up in a hurry, kissing his wife and moving hair out of Kiri's face. Neteyam however grabs his fathers arm before he can leave the hut.
"Dad where's Lo'ak and Esmyrie?" The boy whispers, remembering when he fell asleep they were still talking amongst themselves.
"What?" Jake asks, quickly looking over to the untouched bed.
The kids haven't returned. Lo'ak and Esmyrie haven't returned. Jake pinches his nose in agitation, something he has never been able to stop doing, even though its a human habit.
Lo'ak is going to give him gray hair before Tuk reaches the age of ten at this rate.
"They went out lastnight." Jake says, hearing the chopper get closer, knowing he needs to be out there to not fear any of the Na'vi that are unfamiliar with this aircraft. "Can you look for them? We need a scan on Esmyrie." Jake says, not even waiting to hear his sons anwser, running out of the hut to help guide the chopper to land.
Neteyam stands there, turning to give his mom a look and Neytiri just shrugs her shoulders, not knowing where the kids could be.
"Ugh! Why does Lo'ak always have to run off." Neteyam whispers, throwing his arms up in defeat, following his fathers orders to find his brother and sister, the only problem being that he has no idea where to start looking
=-=
Lo'ak has been awake for the last hour, but he didn't dare think about moving, not when Esmyrie finally looked like she was sleeping peacefully.
He wanted to know what she dreamed about that made her so worried. He wants to know what she saw at the Spirit Tree. He wants to know all that is haunting her so he can help.
He knows though that when she is ready, she will tell him all that she saw, and so for now he won't bombard her, and instead will find peace in just her presence.
Maybe Lo'ak is misjudging, but she seems relaxed in his arms. And he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Maybe it's foolish for him to think this, but he could see her being his mate, his wife. He could see her being his. And its one of the best thoughts in the world.
When Esmyrie finally does stir awake, she squints her eyes and hides her face in his chest, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep.
"Morning." Lo'ak whispers, kissing her forehead, chuckling lightly when she hides her face in his chest more.
"Can we sleep forever? I feel like I barely slept." Esmyrie whispers.
"Mmm.. That sounds nice, my love but Norm is coming for Kiri. We can have him also check your arms." Lo'ak points out to the dried ointment on her arms that is doing a slow job at healing her wounds.
"But I want to stay here with you."
Lo'ak smiles, moving his arm to pull her closer, taking in her scent and feeling her arms wrapped around his middle. He feels so complete like this.
"How about this. Once Norm checks on Kiri and you, and once Kiri is awake, I take you to meet Payakan. He wants to meet you, you know." Lo'ak whispers.
Esmyrie smiles at the idea of some time away, just them together. She also knows how much Payakan means to Lo'ak, so it would be nice for her to finally meet him.
"Okay, deal." Esmyrie whispers, sitting up and crawling over the boy, "But first, a few minutes just us." She says, straddling his waist and leaning in to kiss him softly.
It's like the sea meeting the forest, waves hitting the shore, the tide coming in and out. Lips just meant for each other.
When Lo'ak tries to deepen the kiss, his hand moving to the curve of her back, they hear a clearing of a throat, and Esmyrie immediately pulls away.
There Neteyam is, his eyes closed tightly and his arms moving rapidly, his common tick of going into a rant.
"Go find Lo'ak. Go find Lo'ak. Yeah, dad. Fine, I'll find Lo'ak. Not like my brother is over here getting laid. Why don't you find Lo'ak? He is your son. Gosh, now I have to blind myself with saltwater." Neteyam grumbles out, his eyes still closed tightly so he doesn't see Esmyrie straddling his baby brother. "Eywa please protect me. I did not and never want to see that again."
"Neteyam." Lo'ak says, getting the boy to stop his outburst.
"Yeah?"
"Is there a reason you are here, or are you just trying to be a shithead?" Lo'ak asks.
Esmyrie laughs out, getting off of the boy and giving her hand to help him up from the ground. Lo'ak gladly takes it and gives her a kiss on the forehead when he stands up, before walking to his brother who still has his eyes closed.
"Dad wanted me to find you guys, Norm is here. I didn't think finding you meant finding you two swallowing each others tongues." Neteyam shudders at the thought, peeking his eyes open and flinching when he sees Lo'ak standing an inch away from his face. "AH! What the hell dude?"
"What? You're the one that interrupted us, had to scare you somehow." Lo'ak teases, making Neteyam nudge him.
"Norms here. That's means Kiri will be okay, right?" Esmyrie asks, her embarrassed expression for being caught quickly turning into worry.
"Kiri will be okay. She has a strong heart." Neteyam tries to reassure. "But we should get heading back. I heard dad say he wanted Norm to look at you too."
Esmyrie just nods her head, knowing Jake probably wanted a scientific answer for why she has been getting these visions.
The only problems with these visions is that she can barely look at Neteyam, anytime she does she can only see the hole above his heart and the bullet wound.
And Neteyam notices her lack of eye contact, making him think she is mad at him for not apologizing still. He frowns out but won't force her to talk, not after the night she had with the Spirit Tree.
As the two walk back to the Hut, they see that Jake is just beginning to unload the chopper and Neteyam runs up to help keep the Na'vi back while Norm, his father and Max unload.
As Lo'ak and Esmyrie pass they can hear the conversation between Jake and Norm.
"How is she?" Norm asks.
"Still unconscious. And I have to speak to you about something with Esmyrie."
Norm looks towards Esmyrie and Lo'ak who have stopped in there tracks, giving them a small wave to try and be reassuring but it doesn't seem to work, the duo having curious eyes because of their conversation.
When Norm and Max arrive, everyone is in the hut besides Neteyam who stands outside of it holding watch, knowing some may dislike the human who has come to help.
Norm sets Kiri up to do a brain scan, and orders the kids to get back so the parents and Kiri have some room.
"There's no bleeding, no fracture. No signs of hypoxia. Her brain looks good." Max says, looking at the tablet showing Kiri's perfectly healthy brain.
"But there is interictal activity in the frontal lobe." Norm states.
"She definetly had a seizure. We can rule out toxins." Max says, and as he finishes his sentence Ronal walks in.
She was told by Tonowari of an Avatar and human that have shown up to take care of Kiri, and with her being the Tsahik of the Metkayina Clan she has seen it as her duty to help Kiri.
"I see that I am not needed here." Ronal says witnessing the scientists at the scene.
"You are Tsahik." Neytiri urges.
"Remove these things." Ronal commands.
"Out! You have done nothing!" Neytiri yells to Norm and Max.
With the help of Jake, he rushes the scientists out to have Ronal hopefully be more of a help.
With Neytiri and the kids inside with Ronal and Kiri, Jake pulls Norm and Max aside to explain to them what happened to not only Kiri but Esmyrie too.
"She said she could feel Eywa, that she could hear her heartbeat." Jake says.
"That is classic frontal love epilepsy." Norm explains.
"Epilepsy?"
"Yep, you see visions and experiences religious ecstasy like the one she described."
"And... Esmyrie?" Jake asks.
"I can do a brain scan if you want on her." Norm suggests, wanting to see if Esmyrie has the same signs as Kiri, where her brain is completely okay.
"Okay, yeah..." Jake says, waving to Neteyam to get Esmyrie.
Neteyam does so, tapping on her shoulder, but she seems to be in a trance, spacing off, looking straight ahead.
"Esmyrie, Norm wants you." Neteyam taps again, but she remains still.
Lo'ak frowns, turning away from Kiri to see Esmyrie, and she looks completely out of it, as if she is daydreaming.
"Esmyrie, my love?" Lo'ak asks, shaking her a little but she doesn't seem to move.
She is back there. The ship, the fire. The screams. She can smell the blood that leaks from Neteyam and feel the rock beneath her feet. She can hear the cries from Neytiri.
Why does she keep coming back here? She isn't even asleep.
"Dad, something is wrong with Esmyrie." Neteyam says to his father who is with Norm and Max.
"What do you mean? Where is she?" Jake asks.
Neteyam points to where Esmyrie is, Lo'ak being beside her and shaking her slightly.
Norm and Max share a look, quickly standing up along with Jake to reach the girl.
"What happened?" Jake asks, seeing the Esmyrie is spaced out.
"I don't know. It's like she is daydreaming or something." Lo'ak says, worry clear in his voice.
Norm gets to work quickly, attacking different wires to Esmyrie's forehead to get a scan of her brain, ushering the kids to move, but Lo'ak won't leave her side and Neteyam is right behind her.
When the image of Esmyrie's brain comes in, he lets out a gasp, quickly showing it to Norm.
"Get the kids out of here." Norm says to Jake, his eyes trained on the image.
"What?" Jake asks.
"The kids. Leave." Norm says, such authority in his voice it was somewhat scary.
"What? No... no. What's wrong with her?" Lo'ak tries to get answers but Jake just urges his two sons out.
"Dad-" Neteyam even argues, wanting to know whats wrong with the girl.
"Neteyam, Lo'ak. Out. Please." Jake says, and the boys follow orders when they hear the plea in his voice.
Once the boys leave, Jake turns back to Norm, getting a little creeped out when he see's how still the girl is, staring off into space.
"What is it? What is it that the kids couldn't be here to hear?"
"Okay." Norm says, his voice sounding shattered, moving the image back to Max. "Her brain is showing sighs I would say are consistent with traumatic brain injury, but there's no sign of external trauma." Max explains.
"What?" Jake questions, taken aback.
"No bleeding, no fracture, not much swelling either." Max notes out.
"You said she connected just last night right? That she connected to this Spirit Tree?" Norm asks.
"Yeah.... yeah. She connected but didn't have a seizure like Kiri. She just... she was crying, passed out from exhaustion. She woke up saying 'They're coming' and later explained to me she saw some vision." Jake explains, moving his hand to hold Esmyrie's shoulder, trying to comfort her even if she is in a trance.
"That's all?" Max asks.
"I mean... she can connect with sea creatures easily... Tonowari says Illa'oke could do that too. That Illa'oke could feel animals pain, and thinks Esmyrie has that same connection that Illa'oke has." Jake can see the two scientists looking at each other. "What? Why?"
"Her brain is showing great signs of distress, anxiety, depression.... it even suggests that she hasn't gotten sleep in over 24 hours." Max explains.
"What? But... she was just asleep awhile ago. I was there, she was asleep and then just woke up."
"Jake...."
"What?"
"I think.... I don't think she has been sleeping this entire time. I think she has been in some sort of trance, like she is now." Norm tries to explain.
"Okay, why? Why is she in this trance and why does she have a connection to Eywa?" Jake asks, barely being able to hear Ronal work on Kiri in the background.
"I don't know. Eywa works in mysterious ways, we may never have the science to understand her fully." Norm tries to reason.
"Okay, then how do we stop her from having these visions? You say she has a brain injury, how do we make it heal?" Jake asks.
"I don't know." Max states.
"You don't know?"
"Look, Jake this is something we haven't seen before, and from what you are telling me, we may never understand it." Norm tries to explain but it does little to comfort Jake.
"So you just expect her to be in these trances and... and go insane because she gets no sleep?"
"No... I would suggest morphine." Max says.
"Morphine? To sleep?" Jake asks, his brain running a hundred miles a minute.
"Yes... it should stop these trances, allow her to sleep and hopefully stop whatever is making her have this injury."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we do some blood tests." Max explains.
Jake can't take this. Eywa caused Kiri to have a seizure and now has caused Esmyrie to have a brain injury. It was all too much for him to handle.
"Okay? How do we get her out of this trance?" Jake asks.
"We just have to wait it out, like how she woke up saying 'They're coming'." Max mumbles sadly.
Jake thinks for a moment. Trying to think if there is anything else Esmyrie has said that could hint at how her visions have happened or if they cause her pain.
"These trances.... are they happy?" Jake asks, trying to be hopeful.
"I'm afraid if they were happy, we wouldn't see signs of distress."
Jake sighs out, moving his head between his hands in stress. Two of his girls are sick, and he can't do anything to help either of them.
He is a failure of a father.
He is failing Nilar.
He is failing Esmyrie.
Jake can hear the breathing of Max through the mask, Ronal trying to heal Kiri, and Neytiri's soft whispers to his daughter.
With a start, both Kiri and Esmyrie awake, one from sleep and one from a trance, and it seems that they at the same time, start to cry.
Something is very wrong and very unusual about these girls.
Something that wasn't supposed to happen, happened when they connected to the Spirit Tree, and it's causing grief and pain, with more to come.
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honestly have no idea how I feel about this chapter. I kinda like it but I also kinda hate it so....
Poor Neteyam witnessing Esmyrie straddling his baby brother though
And Poor esmyrie is going through it. The visions and trances aren't just messing with her emotionally but physically too.