The next morning, Beatrice woke slowly, lifting her head off of Neteyams stomach and looking around sleepily. It always made her smile when she saw the siblings piled on top of each other, Lo'ak laid across Neteyams legs with Kiris head on his back, Tuk laying with her legs across Neteyams chest. Beatrice slowly exited the pile, thankful she didnt get trapped down. She stretched, rubbing her eyes and looking around the marui for Neytiri and Jake, shrugging to herself when she didnt see them. The girl started to tidy up the pod, making sure to stay quiet.
After a little time, Jake and Neytiri walked in, carrying breakfast for the family. Beatrice greeted them happily, the two older Na'vi grinning at the girl. Once she had finished tidying up, she had started on Neteyams birthday present; a new necklace made from the string of one of their favorite trees, leaving spaces for seashells she planned to collect while they were out today. She quickly packed away her progress, watching as Jake started working on waking up the kids. It took some time, and lots of coaxing, but Jake was successful in waking each of his kids, all of them finding a spot around where Neytiri was finishing up breakfast.
Neteyam immediately searched for Beatrice, making himself comfortable next to her and intertwining their tails. It always gave Beatrice butterflies when Neteyam would wrap his tail around hers, the action alone making her feel like he could never get enough of her. The family begun chatting loudly, Neytiri passing out breakfast to everyone, glad everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
After an hour or so of eating and cleaning up, Tsireya cleared her throat gently as she stood at the entrance of the marui.
"Good morning everyone! We are just here to collect everyone for the first lesson." She said sweetly, all of the kids looking towards the parents for the go ahead. Once everyone was out of the marui, Beatrice watched as Tsireya, Aonung, and Roxto jumped straight into the water, shrugging herself before she jumped in. The water felt perfectly warm, immediately causing a smile to grow on the girls face as she swam after Tsireya, looking behind her to see Neteyam and Lo'ak jumping in, the girls not too far behind. Beatrice smiled as fish started to circle her, raising her hand to pet them gently. The girl looked around for Kiri, giving her an excited smile at how beautiful the reef was, Kiri returning one to her. Out of the corner of Beatrices eye she saw the three Metkayina start swimming deeper, causing Beatrice to follow excitedly. She watched as Tsireya turned and looked up at all of them, smiling wide. Beatrice watched Tsireyas hands move, recognizing sign language but not understanding unfortunately. The girls eyes turned and looked back up at Lo'ak, Neteyam, and Tuk, watching as they tried to swim down to where Beatrice was close to the Metkayina. Beatrices head swiveled around looking for Kiri, her eyebrows scrunching in confusion as she realized the younger girl disappeared.
Beatrices head snapped up as she saw the Sullys suddenly rush back up to the surface, looking over at the Metkayina and shrugging softly. She followed after the people she considered family, breaking the surface and turning to look for Kiri once again. The girl didnt even notice the Metkayina breaking the surface to join them, them being so silent in the water it was impressive.
"Are you alright?" Tsireya asked softly, meeting Lo'aks eyes before looking at the others concerned.
"Youre too fast! Wait for us!" Tuk whined, causing Beatrice to click her tongue sadly before swimming over to Tuk, brushing some braids out of her face. "Youre no better! Youre faster than us too Bea!"
Beatrice gave the small girl a wide grin, wiggling her eyebrows. "You just have to let yourself become the sea, sweet girl." Tuk giggled at Bea, causing the older girl to send a small splash to the younger one as Tsireya let them know to just breathe.
Beatrice turned as Aonung broke the surface quite loudly compared to his sister and friend, his eyes meeting hers before turning to Lo'ak and Neteyam.
"You are not good divers. Maybe good at swinging through trees, but.." Aonung started, Tsireya cutting him off as she smacked him on the head causing Beatrice to snort softly as she held back her laughter. She ducked her head down to hide from eyes, feeling Aonung staring at her and Neteyam grinning at her. She sent a splash to Neteyam, sticking her tongue out at him before beginning to turn and look for Kiri once again.
"Come on, bro. We dont speak this.. finger talk, guys. We do not know what you are saying." Neteyam spoke, Lo'ak nodding feverishly beside him. Beatrice slapped Neteyam on the shoulder gently, huffing at him.
"Its called sign language, skawng." Beatrice quipped to him, Neteyam tsking at her before nudging her gently.
"I will teach you." Tsireya responded kindly, giving Beatrice a smile as she stood up for one of their languages.
"Where is Kiri?" Roxto asked loudly, causing Beatrices eyes to snap to Roxto as everyone elses heads started spinning, searching for the young girl. She raised an eyebrow, mostly to herself, slightly shocked that the Metkayina boy who was best friends with someone who clearly hated the Sullys was concerned about one of them.
Once they found Kiri, Beatrice calling correctly when saying she was just playing with the fish, they all swam to a sea bank where they could stand in the water comfortably. Beatrice stood between Neteyam and Lo'ak, nudging her hip against Neteyam as they giggled to each other before Tuk ran up to her eldest brother, him immediately picking her up and placing her on his hip, causing a wide smile to grow on Beatrices face as she watched them. Her attention was pulled away as Aonung started making loud clicks and calls, his arms spread wide as the beautiful sea creatures Beatrice admired when they first arrived started to swim around all of them.
"These are ilu. If you want to live here, you have to ride." Aonung spoke firmly, meeting Beatrices eyes towards the end. She sighed and looked down at one of the ilu, petting its head gently as it nudged her thigh. The girl didnt like how Aonung kept staring at her, also feeling Neteyam tense up next to her as he finally noticed it too.
"Here, why dont we split into groups? Roxto, you teach Tuk and Kiri. Aonung, you teach the eldest, Neteyam and Beatrice. And Lo'ak, you can come with me." Tsireya spoke gently, smiling at Lo'ak shyly before splitting from the group, Lo'ak walking after her like a puppy. Beatrice giggled as she watched the younger brother go, looking up at Neteyam with a wide grin.
"Walks him like a dog." She spoke to Neteyam quietly, her thoughts going back to when she was still human and new to the family, Lo'ak using that term to compare Neteyam. Neteyam laughed loudly, shaking his head at the girl before letting Tuk go with Kiri.
The two walked over to where Aonung was standing, feeding a small fish to an ilu. He looked up at them as they got closer, eyeing Neteyam up and down before turning to Beatrice. The girl sighed and attempted to give Aonung a friendly smile, his eyes darting down back to the ilu. Neteyam stepped in front of Beatrice slightly, crossing his arms as he waited for Aonung to begin, his tail wrapping around Beatrices thigh slyly.
"This is Tena. She is one of our training ilu. She should do well with you two." Aonung spoke, Beatrice looking down at the ilu and smiling to herself as she admired the creature.
"Do ilu not bond with one rider?" She asked softly, looking up at Aonung. Her voice caused him to look back up at her, shaking his head at her question.
"No, skimwings do though. The beast that your father is learning to ride today." He answered, looking over at Neteyam. Neteyam only nodded in response, never looking away from Aonung with a sour expression on his face. "Who will be trying first?"
Beatrice stepped forward from behind Neteyam, his tail dropping from her thigh. Neteyam looked at Beatrice, her shrugging back at him before petting the ilu as she got closer to her. She gently climbed onto the saddle, her hand finding the handle immediately before grabbing her queue, Aonung grabbing the ilus and holding it up for her. She ignored Aonungs eyes as she made tsuhaylu, a shiver rolling down her back as her eyes closed, immediately closing in on the ilus deep breaths. Her hand let go of her queue, leaning down and rubbing Tenus neck gently before adjusting her feet, looking up at Aonung.
"My feet go here, yes?" She asked, simply wanting to make sure she didnt fly off. Their heads turned as they heard Lo'ak take off, watching until they saw his head bob through the surface, his ilu meters away from him chirping loudly. Beatrice frowned as the Metkayina boys laughed at him, snapping her head and glaring at Aonung with fire in her eyes. He slowly stopped laughing, clearing his throat before looking back down at her feet, nodding his head.
"Yes, but your knees need to be down or you will hurt your hips." Aonung finally critiqued, his hand moving to her knee and gently moving it down. Her other knee followed after it, seeing Neteyam noticeably pissed off in the corner of her eye. She glanced at him, shaking her head subtly, causing him to roll his eyes and continue to be pissed off. She scrunched her eyebrows together, looking at him sadly before looking back down at the saddle, taking a deep breath.
Beatrice silently urged the ilu forward, the two moving slow at first as Beatrice gained the confidence to go faster. As they sped up, Beatrice took a deep breath in, urging her ilu to dive, the two speeding under the water. The girl couldnt help but smile to herself as the moved through the current, feeling accomplished with herself. She urged the ilu up, the two breaking through the surface and flying through the air for a moment as Beatrice let out her first call in excitement, the Sullys calling back to her matching her enthusiasm. Once they landed back in the water, Beatrice and Tenu made their way over to Neteyam, a goofy grin across Beatrices face as she climbed off of Tenu happily, jumping up and down in front of Neteyam.
"Nete! I did it! I cant believe i did it!" She hollered excitedly, Neteyam unable to stop the smile growing on his face as he watched her.
"I knew you would, my love. How am i supposed to top that?" He asked teasingly, causing an excited giggle to leave Beatrices lips.
"You wont!" She teased back, nudging her hip as she rushed away from him, running over to Kiri and Tuk to chat with them. Neteyam watched her walk away with a smile on his face, turning back to the ilu before noticing Aonung watching Beatrice carefully, a smirk on his lips. The smile immediately dropped from Neteyams face, climbing onto the ilu angrily and beginning his turn.
"Tomorrow, we will work on breathing!" Tsireya hollered out, still working with Lo'ak. The Sullys all chimed their okays as they continued working, Beatrice running around excitedly to chat with Lo'ak and Tsireya next.
As to be expected, Neteyam did do excellent with his turn on the ilu, but unfortunately couldnt top Beatrices skill, despite them both having the same level of experience on an ilu. The rest of the day, Neteyam kept a close eye on Aonung, quietly seething as he witnessed Aonung continuously trying to somehow touch Beatrice.
This may or may not be a stressful time with the Metkayina.