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Koänä sat on a dock with her feet in the water, watching as Trítön, Ao'nung, and Rotxo tried to teach some of the younger boys how to properly hunt. It brought a smile to her face seeing how good all of them were with little kids.
" I'm going to sit," Neteyam spoke up from behind her. She looked over at her shoulder and smiled. " And you are going to tell me what happened last night when you disappeared for hours."
Koänä's cheeks flared up at the mention of the night before. Neteyam noticed his older sister becoming flustered and didn't say anything as he sat down. Both of them looked at each other. Neteyam was the first to start laughing and soon enough Koänä joined him.
" What do you want to know?" She asked him.
Neteyam looked at the water, " Did you...you know...mate?"
Koänä slapped the back of his head with a shocked look on her face. Neteyam's head whipped over to her, a couple of his braids hitting her in the face.
" What was that for?!"
" If I ever was to mate with someone, you will not be the first person to know!" She laughed at his face once she said that.
" Everyone was wondering!" He defended himself and raised his arms in mock surrender. Koänä rolled her eyes playfully.
" I have known that boy for what? Two? Three weeks?" She began to say. Neteyam looked at her and saw his older sister staring at something in the distance. Her eyes were practically in the shape of hearts. He followed where she was looking and saw said boy with his younger brother and Rotxo. They were surrounded by a bunch of kids, the little Metkayinan boys were now jumping on the three, trying to dunk them under water.
" It does not matter how long you've known him, Koä. It's obvious Eywa has blessed you with that boy. Why are you not jumping with joy at the fact?" He told her, finally looking back to her as she still watched Trítön.
" I am scared." Koänä admitted.
Neteyam felt confused at the sudden confessment. Scared about what? It was Koänä, she was not one to be scared of a boy. He urged her to continue on with his eyes.
" I am scared that if I commit myself to Trítön that I will have to watch you all fade away." She said, Neteyam went to point at the most obvious fact. She stopped him before he could. " We don't know if we will ever return back to the forest, 'Teyam. Let's say we do, I will have to be here with him. I will have to sit back and live without my family beside me. It would not have been that way if we never left."
" You cannot control what has happened, sister. If you love him, or feel that you can love him, do not let that go." Neteyam told her. " Now tell me more."
" I finally got to see the Tree of Spirits. It was gorgeous." She commented. Neteyam was happy she got to experience the sacred place without no interruptions. " After I had connected to the tree, we got out of the water and I sort of tripped when I was getting onto a rock. He helped me stand properly, I was honestly very embarrassed in that moment, but we both confessed that we saw each other. And I meant it. I really, really meant it. I do see him, Neteyam. More than I would like to admit."
" Are you sure you don't love him?" He teased, nudging her with her elbow. Koänä laughed, hitting him in the gut.
" What I feel for him is weird. I saw my future with him. Eywa blessed us with children. A lot of them."
" That's a relief because Lo'ak is not very good at making moves."
Both of them bursted out into laughter. It was a very true statement. Lo'ak did not know how to express to Tsireya that he liked her, at least once a day he'd be asking one of the two siblings what to do. Both of them continued to give him the same advice. Do not cower away and be confident in what you feel. Lo'ak hated that response. He thought if he continued to ask the same thing every day that at least one of the days he would get a different answer.
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Koänä and Neteyam walked into the hut, seeing Jake and Neytiri both looking quite stressed. The older sister looked at her brother, nudging her head to the entrance of the hut. He nodded and walked out.
" What has happened?" Koänä asked her parents. Both of them glanced at each other before Jake sighed.
" Sit, Koänä." Neytiri mumbled.
The mother moved over to let Koänä sit next to her. The daughter sat down beside her and looked at Jake. She looked puzzled at what was going on.
" Tonowari came to us yesterday," Her father began. He had his elbows resting on his knees. It was serious. " Avatars attacked one of the other villages. They killed an ilu, burned their home down."
" You cannot be serious." Koänä mumbled, rubbing her hands over her face.
The news brought serious stress to her situation. Right when she had begun to think she and her family belonged in this place, something happened. She immediately thought of Trítön. Koänä did not want anything to happen to him, but she genuinely did not know what to do from here on. She did think of one thing though.
" We have to leave."
Jake and Neytiri looked at their daughter with shocked faces but for different reasons. Neytiri was shocked because she saw how much her daughter loved it here, how much she had grown close to a specific boy. Jake, on the other hand, was shocked that she was telling him what to do now. That was new.
" Leave?" He asked her, astonished.
" I will not sit here, knowing that people are hunting us. They have ruined another village, they killed a creature of the sea." Koänä's voice cracked once she had talked about the ilu. How could they kill a creation of Eywa? " They will not stop until they find us. I do not want to sit back and wait for these people to get close enough that we have to go on the run again."
" Koänä, these people-"
Koänä looked at her mother, a sudden rage burning in her eyes. " These people have given us uturu! They gave us a sanctuary to find refuge in! There are families here, mother! The Tsahík is pregnant for Eywa's sake! We cannot let this home be ruined."
Jake and Neytiri looked down at the ground in thought. They knew she was right. None of them wanted to see this place be ruined. It would be their own fault if it was.
A warrior from the clan ran up to their hut, looking inside. " Toruk Makto, there's been an issue. They need you in Ole'eyktan's hut."
All three of them glanced at each other before getting up and rushing to Tonowari's pod. Koänä saw Neteyam and Lo'ak sitting inside with Ao'nung, Trítön, and Tsireya. The oldest son looked at Koänä with a small frown on his face. She looked at him with a
" what the fuck happened " look. He only looked down.
" Payakan saved my life, sir, you don't know him." Lo'ak said. Koänä's eyes shot to her younger brother. What was he doing talking back to the Chief like that?
" No Lo'ak." Tsireya pleaded.
" Sit." Tonowari said softly. Lo'ak kneeled down and the Chief looked around to the other people standing. " Sit down!"
With that, the other teenagers got down. Koänä felt like she should be kneeling as well so she kneeled down behind both of her parents, watching what was happening.
" Hear my words, boy. In the days of the first songs tulkun fought amongst themselves, for territory, for revenge." Koänä listened to his words, trying to process what the hell Lo'ak has done to be getting told this story.
Payakan. She thought and sighed internally. Of course...Lo'ak must've bonded with Payakan earlier today. That was where her brother and Neteyam must have sneaked off earlier after she talked to the oldest brother.
Koänä looked up, breaking her train of thought once her mother warned Lo'ak of who he was speaking to.
" I know...I.."
" Lo'ak, stop. Please." Koänä pleaded her brother. He glanced at her and saw the warning look in her eyes. He went to say something but her father stepped in.
" That's enough."
Lo'ak waited a moment before saying, " I know what I know."
Koänä face palmed as Ronal hissed. Jake moved forward, lowly repeating the same line. He grabbed Lo'ak by the arm and yanked him out. She saw Neteyam get up and walk away with his mother scolding him but Koänä stood in front of the pod, looking at the family. Ronal eyed her, slightly happy that at least one of the children had not caused a lot of trouble. Tonowari glanced at her before signaling her to come in.
" Were you not there?" He asked her. Koänä shook her head. She saw Tsireya and Ao'nung slide out of the pod, leaving their oldest sibling with their parents and the girl.
" No. My parents have informed me of what has happened." With that he eyed her. Ronal and Trítön hesitantly walked out of the hut.
" And what do you feel about that?" Tonowari gestured for her to sit down and she did.
" I am sorry that the people have to go through that. No one deserves to pay that sort of price."
Tonowari inhaled before he began to inform Koänä on the situation with more detail. Before they knew it they had sat there sharing traditions of the clan's they came from. It was very random that they were able to bond over the smallest things. Tonowari told Koänä all about the history of the Metkayinan clan. The girl listened very carefully. She felt like she was going to need this information later in life.
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i HATE this chapter. thought you guys should know 😍🙏