I wake up feeling sore but happy this morning. I get up and fix my hair before leaving the hut. Today i'm going to have some me time and try to work out how to use my mothers bow.
I walk along the shore and find a quiet spot, I head into the nearby trees so no one can see me.
'Where do I even start?' I think to myself. I hold an arrow by the bow string but it just falls to the floor. Then I try pulling the string and pushing the the arrow with the string and it fell again.
After an hour of trying to work out the bow I throw it in frustration "Ughhh!"
"Y/n? are you okay?" a voice says behind me. I turn to see Neytiri standing there.
"Oh yes sorry i'm fine" I say pulling a fake smile.
She walks to the bow and picks it up "This is a beautiful bow y/n, is it yours?"
"No, it was my birth mothers, she was killed by sky people when I was a baby and we found it on that island yesterday" I say shyly.
"Well it is very beautiful, what are you doing out here alone?" she asks me.
"I'm trying to figure out how to use it. I have no idea what i'm doing. My mother was this great warrior and I can't even use a bow" I sigh.
"I can teach you if you like?" she says.
My ears pick up and I widen my eyes "Really?"
"Of course, it would be an honour to teach you" she smiles.
"Thank you!" I squeal and hug her. She laughs and hugs me back.
"Let's get started then" she says.
Neytiri spends the next few hours showing me how to hold the bow correctly and position the arrow to shoot it.
She then takes me to the battle training ground on the other side of the island and we head to the area with fake soldiers, she tells me to practise on the dummies. I hold the bow up and aim it at the dummies. I let go and the arrow goes straight into it's chest.
She laughs "Well done y/n you're a natural!"
I smile and aim again and shoot arrow after arrow and hit every time. After a few hours we decide that's enough for today and head back to the main part of the village. We get near the Sully's hut and Neytiri says bye, I hug her and thank her for today and she smiles. I continue on and see Neteyam on the beach looking round, he spots me and runs up to me grabbing my legs and lifting me up making me laugh. He puts me down and puts his hands on my shoulders.
"Where have you been i've been looking for you all day!" he smiles.
"Your mother was teaching me how to use my mothers bow" I smile back.
He shows a smile I have never seen before.
I hear a noise come from the distance in the sea and look to see the Tulkun have returned again.
I gasp and dive in and call my ilu.
"Everyone our brother and sisters are home again!" I announce. The horns blow and everyone starts jumping in the water. I tell Neteyam to jump on my ilu and we ride to the pack.
I swim carefully between the tulkun in search of my spirit sister and see her near the back. I swim to her and glide off the ilu.
'Hello sister!' I sign to her.
'Hello sister I have missed you' she replies.
'I have missed you too! This is Neteyam, I told you about him last time' I sign.
'He is very handsome my sister, nice to meet you Neteyam' she signs. I repeat this to Neteyam and he does the I see you sign to her.
'I have found myself a mate too sister. He is over there next to your fathers spirit brother" she replies. I look to see a tulkun near my father and nod in approval.
'He seems nice sister, congratulations' I sign.
''Thank you y/n' she signs.
I tell her all about my birth mother and what happened at the other island and she tells me she is proud of me for doing what I thought was right.
After a while they head off to find a place to sleep for the night.
Neteyam meets back up with me at the beach and we sit in our spot watching the sunset beautifully.
We decide to go for an evening walk before we head home and walk along the beach, I walk in the shallow part of the water so its up to my ankles. We get near the rock pools and I smirk to myself thinking about the moment we shared here. I look to Neteyam who is smiling back. He stops and I stop to see what he is doing. He stands in front of me and cups my cheeks and kisses me passionately then pulls away.
We hear whispering coming from round the corner and we slowly creep round to see what it is. We turn to see Kiri and Rotxo sitting on the beach talking. Weird I thought. Me and Neteyam look at each other puzzled and then we look back at Kiri and Rotxo to see them kissing!
We turn and look at eachother wide eyed now. I start to giggle and Neteyam goes pink.
"Come on lets go before they see us" I laugh and pull him away. We start or walk back to the huts and discuss hat we had just seen.
"I didn't know they were a thing!" I say shocked.
"Me neither" Neteyam says through gritted teeth.
"I never even got a hint that they even liked eachother" I added.
"We all thought that her and spider would be a thing" Neteyam explains to me.
"No way, ill ask her tomorrow about it!" I say laughing.
We get to my hut and he pulls me to the side and kisses me goodnight.
I head inside and tell Tsireya about what we saw and she gasps.
"We need to have a girls day so she will spill the secret!" she says.
I laugh and agree before rolling over to sleep.