"Yes, father?"
Ay'yeiva reached where her father was standing waist deep in the water with Jake, who was being taught how to ride a skimwing.
Tonowari turned to his eldest, "You are going to help teach Jake Sully how to ride and control a skimwing. He has tried already but has lost control of it when swimming; I believe you can be of assistance"
Jake grimaced slightly, not sure how he felt about a teenager helping him learn how to ride an animal as highly thought of as a skimwing. With Ay'yeiva and Neteyam being close in age, it felt as if he was being taught something by his own child.
Ay'yeiva called for her skimwing, resting her arm over the saddle as she connected her cue to it. She wasted no time in guiding Jake's attention to how she held the handle of her skimwing, "Why do you have that in your hand?"
She motioned her head to the rope that was wrapped around both his hand and the handle of the skimwing, raising her eyebrows.
"It's to help me not let go, I—"
"To not let you you must learn to hold yourself on. There is no warrior in this entire village who has ever gotten to use assistances like these and you will certainly not be an exception to that" Ay'yeiva had gotten off of her skimwing and started to take the rope off of his hands, tossing it to one of the other men who was helping, "If you are going to live like Metkayina, you must learn like Metkayina."
Jake wanted to have his rope back, but no part of him was going to let a girl less than half his age embarrass him in front of Tonowari.
Jake regripped his hand on the handle, looking over to how Ay'yeiva had been holding onto hers when she had remounted her skimwing.
"Whenever you are ready"
Jake took a deep breath before he told the skimwing to start swimming forward. Ay'yeiva watched as he got the skimwing to balance on its tail above the water, eventually attempting to dive under the water.
Upon entering the water Jake had been thrown off the animal, his cue detaching from it as it swam away.
Ay'yeiva laughed, openly letting the older man know that she was amused. As Jake swam back to where she was she yelled out to him, "Not too bad for a newcomer, but I will say I've seen better by a 12 year old!"
She laughed again as she spoke, this time it being loud enough to catch the attention of a certain boy. Neteyam followed the heavenly noise, watching from afar as his father swam back to the girl, the skimwing he had fallen off of finding its way back to Ay'yeiva.
Jake reconnected his cue to the skimwing with the help of Tonowari, thanking him with a nod.
Tonowari had stepped back, giving his daughter the place to step in and help once again.
"When you dive into the water you must allow yourself to let the skimwing take you through the surface. You had made the skimwing come along with you through the water, when in reality it is the other way around."
Ay'yeiva regripped her hand on the handle of her skimwing, "Allow me to demonstrate"
She told her skimwing to go forward before telling it to turn around to be facing back towards Jake and the other men. She called out to let Jake know she was going to be diving in the water.
Jake watched closely as she made the final jump before diving in the water, letting her skimwing take control of the dive.
She regained the control after they dove, turning around under the water and surfacing beside Jake, "You must share the control with the skimwing as much as you share the water with them"
Jake nodded slowly, starting to understand her words a bit more, "I've got this".
He started ahead, remembering everything he had been told by the girl before diving through the water, allowing the skimwing to take control of the dive.
He lasted longer than he did on the previous run, regaining control of the skimwing after stabilizing, turning around to swim back to where Tonowari, Ay'yeiva, and the other men were waiting.
Tonowari began clapping as Jake returned, "You have done it my friend. You have learned to share the control with you skimwing"
Jake smiled at them, proud of himself for learning one of the ways of the Metkayina.
—🌊