Sorry this one took a little while...I really dreaded writing this one...you'll see why.
There's some nice Jake and Mosyk bonding! That's good...
Just...I can't explain it well enough, read it. :) and think happy thoughts.
--Phanny
Mosyk had never felt more alone.
Admittedly, he brought it on himself -- he was the one refusing to speak to Endyna (though he was sure she wanted nothing to do with him anyway), it was him who wasn't talking to his parents or family, and he was the one who forced himself not to intrude on Y'enit.
Thinking about the old woman made Mosyk's stomach churn. Y'enit was still in Ha'ni's hollow, looking sicker and sicker each day. She tried to hide it from, he knew that, but her body was weakening every time he saw her, and it made his heart break to look on as she deteriorated. So he decided that he just shouldn't look at all.
The only thing worse than his loneliness was when he thought about Tanhi. He'd noticed something, a flaw in his desire to be with her, that he couldn't ignore, and that wasn't getting better either.
Mosyk had convinced himself that Tanhi was the one for him, his future mate, and he asked his father how he would actually tell. Jake had a hard time explaining it, but he told his son that it was just something he would be able to feel, something he didn't feel when he was with anyone else -- a good feeling, too. The only problem with that was that when Mosyk was with Tanhi, he felt…
…Nothing.
There was nothing special happening, there was no spark, he felt normal when he was with her -- maybe even a little bored.
This wasn't part of the plan! This was unacceptable! He sat on his hammock, leaning back and forth to make it swing slightly, thinking about these things until Jake noticed his sad, distressed face and sat down as well.
"Stop telling me that nothing's wrong," Jake said as soon as Mosyk opened his mouth after he sat down, "something's bothering you. Out with it."
"Sempu…" Mosyk moaned, but Jake stared him down. Looking into his eyes, Mosyk saw worry. He was making his parents worried with all of his worrying. "Ugh…fine. Well, Tanhi is nice. She is very…she's very nice and pretty and…I should like her more because of this because, I mean, she's nice and pretty what more could I ask for? But lately, well…you know how you said I would feel if she was the one? Well, I'm not feeling anything when I'm with her, and that's not right because that's not part of the plan!"
"You have a plan?" Jake asked curiously, "Mosyk, you can't plan for these things. That's not how it works. If you don't feel it, then maybe Tanhi just isn't the right girl."
"Then who is?! I was totally focused on Tanhi because I thought she was the one she has to be the one I can't handle it if she isn't I haven't even tried talking to any other girls because I was so sure she would be it now if I don't choose you have to choose for me and what if there isn't a 'one' and the girl you choose hates me and we live in horrible, horrible unhappiness and that makes it bad for the clan 'cause no one wants to be so unhappy--"
"Mosyk, Mosyk slow down!" Jake grabbed his son by the shoulders and gave him a small shake to get him to calm down and focus. "And try to breathe once in awhile. How long have you been thinking about this?"
"Awhile…" Mosyk said, sounding ashamed, "sorry I kept it a secret…it's just you and mother are so busy and important…"
"We're also your parents," Jake said, "and if you want help we'll give it to you, if you ask for it. You don't have to chose a girl right away. If you haven't by the time your sixteen, though, your mother and I will have to choose for you. We changed that tradition a little bit, but it still holds that if you don't have a mate we'll have to find you one."
"Mother didn't mate with her betrothed…" Mosyk mumbled, and his father flicked his ear.
"You sure do like bringing that up all the time, don't you?" Mosyk bit his lip to hide the toothy grin forming, the same as his father's. "No she didn't. that's why we managed to change the tradition a little bit by giving you until you're sixteen."
"Why didn't you just get rid of it?"
"A tradition is a tradition," Jake told him, "I just barely got away with changing it, and that was with Neytiri on my side."
Mosyk murmured something that Jake didn't catch, and then spoke up.
"So what if there isn't a girl out there who wants me?" Mosyk asked, "what if I get stuck with some…some nantang in a Na'vi disguise?"
"I think you'd be able to tell by the smell," Jake shrugged.
"Sempu…"
"Right, not the point," Jake laughed, "anyway, there's someone out there for everyone, you just have to be on the look out. Maybe she'll find you."
"Maybe…" Mosyk said, not enthusiastic at all.
There were way too many 'maybe's lately.
Maybe the third time's the charm, Mosyk thought.
It was his third trip out hunting, and he was determined to make this one count -- as in, he would work hard to bring something back for food. He was getting tired of those disappointed looks on his clan mates' faces.
"I think there's something this way," Mosyk said to Tanhi. Of course he was with Tanhi -- even if she wasn't 'the one,' he had to be sure, right? And he didn't want to hunt without some sort of company, and going to Endyna was absolutely out of the question.
"Right," Tanhi nodded, "I was talking to Hufwe yesterday and she did say that this was a decent spot to hunt, did you know that Tsteu was looking at her last night at dinner…?"
"Uhm, let's just hunt, all right?" Mosyk said, holding back a big 'shut up!' in his throat. Did she ever stop talking? Maybe that's why he wasn't getting that feeling his father told him about -- she was too distracting!
"All right," Tanhi said, mildly offended that he didn't seem to care about her thoughts.
Suddenly they both heard a slight rustling in the brush in front of them. Two yerik were grazing quietly, unaware of the two hunters in such close proximity to them.
'I'll bring something back this time…' Mosyk thought, drawing his arrow back and aiming.
Tanhi stepped on a twig by accident, but Mosyk didn't care. As soon as the yerik took off running, he did too.
It was hard to aim a bow and arrow and run at high speeds at the same time -- something Mosyk hadn't known until he had picked up too much speed to stop. He was able to keep pace with his prey, but preparing to shoot was incredibly difficult, and he wasn't sure it was possible after many tries.
He drew another arrow, following alongside the two galloping yerik, aimed, and shot. This time, he heard his target get hit as one of the yerik fell to the ground, the poison affecting it immediately. Mosyk preformed one of his jump-up-and-land-to-stop's to turn around and run towards his newly felled prey. The other yerik had, sadly, managed to escape, but Mosyk was too ecstatic about making a kill that he didn't care. He caught a young, healthy male yerik to feed his clan -- he succeeded in something at last!
"Mosyk?" Tanhi's call was distant, and Mosyk hadn't realized how far he'd probably run in his pursuit. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" Mosyk pulled his arrow from the yerik's flesh as he spoke, and he heard Tanhi's light steps come toward him before she broke through the trees. "I caught it!"
"How did you catch it?" Tanhi said in awe.
"I don't know…I mean, I know how to run really fast but I didn't know I'd hit it when I shot! Lucky, huh?"
"Yeah, lucky," Tanhi said, her expression was unreadable and vague, "let's get it back to Hometree."
Mosyk and Tanhi's catch wasn't the biggest or fattest, but it was a good size; better than what was expected of the two by far. Mosyk desperately wanted to see the look on Endyna's face when she saw it, but he couldn't find her, or his parents for that matter. Where were they?
When Mosyk found Jake and Neytiri a few moments later, they praised his catch and embraced him, but Mosyk couldn't help but see sadness behind their proud smiles. Why were they sad?
"Mosyk," Neytiri crouched down to meet her son's eyes, and Mosyk saw more clearly the grave expression in hers. "We must tell you something. Come."
Mosyk's parents led him into their hollow, and Mosyk now shook with the anticipation of bad news. Was he in trouble?
"Mosyk, you understand that Y'enit was very sick, yes?" Neytiri said levelly.
"She…she's not that sick, she said so! Wait, what do you mean 'was'?" Mosyk trembled. He really wanted to believe that they were telling him that she 'was' sick because she was better, but…
"Y'enit was very old, and yes, she was very sick. She hid it from you well, but she was growing weaker every day, Mosyk."
"Sa'nu, what are you telling me? What's going on?" Mosyk's voice shook.
"Mosyk," Neytiri embraced her son tentatively, "Mosyk, Y'enit is with Eywa now."
*sniffsniff*...*vanish* D:
