AN: I've published another Avatar fanfic named Effervescent and it's extremely different from this one so you should go check it out. If you haven't already, that is. Now enjoy the chapter! (Not saying it's a filler chapter but it's a filler chapter)
"Do you know what day it is?" Awa whispered in Tsu'tey's ear as they ate their breakfast together with the clan. She had decided not to braid her hair today and instead opted to let her hair fall in it's naturally curly state, flowing down her back like a dark waterfall. It was a special day afterall, and she felt like dolling herself up for the occasion. "Hmm?" She hummed and leaned back to her seat, grabbing one of the colorful fruits from one of the bowls before them.
The eating hall that they were in was grand and spacious, it had to be in order to house all of the clan members at the same time, plus any guests they may have. Right now they had one or two guests from the sea clan, Metkayina, that is lead by the honorable warrior Tonowari. They ride big sea animals known as ilu, she had never seen one before but she hoped that she one day would be able to. From the stories of the magnificent beasts she could only imagine how it must feel to ride one of them.
Lur'ja and Triya were the names of the visitors, a newly mated pair that wanted to explore the rest of Pandora. So far they had visited 3 of the known Na'vi clans including the Omaticaya. Awa hadn't had the chance to talk to them and she wouldn't be able to talk to them before they left, unfortunately they only spent a day or two with each clan before they moved on, and today were their last day, and if Awa's plans went the way she wanted to then she would sadly miss them.
"No, what?" He asked and popped a episoth seed in his mouth, savoring the taste of it. The already sweet seed tasted even sweeter because of the trouble he went through to get it. The Espoth trees were tall and the flowers on the trees exploded when they were ripe, he had been keeping a close eye on one of them and just yesterday he could collect the seeds he was now eating. A nice collection of them laid on the wooden plate in front of him and Awa to snack on as they felt like it. He feigned ignorance but the teasing look in his eyes betrayed his otherwise flawless facade.
Awa decided to play along his little game of charade with a small roll of her eyes and a flick of her finger on his ear. "Do you really not remember?"
He shook his head in response to her question and ducked his head when he felt a big grin grow on his lips. Tsu'tey glanced up at her from his ducked down position with mirth dancing in his eyes when he realised that she was playing along, the small ball of worry that had grown in his stomach disappeared. "Can't say I do" The Na'vi shot back and rubbed his chin in thought, he wondered how long he could do this before she forced him to confess. "You could always tell me what day it is"
"It's a special day" Awa offered with a faux glare in her eyes and then stole the episoth seed he held in his hand. It was his favorite snack and he could gobble down a bowl of them down faster than she could say 'hi'. Tsu'tey always remembered to share some of them by placing a few of them in a different bowl and placing it right in front of her, and while it wasn't her favorite snack she still enjoyed them and the action warmed her heart each time.
"Hmm, is it the anniversary of meeting Khan?" He asked after taking a handful of yovo fruits in a bowl on his right, Awa's favorite fruit. He plucked off the green top and bottom of it and offered half of them to Awa, who gingerly took the offered fruits and placed them on the plate in front of her that was full of other fruits and vegetables she had helped herself to. "No, that was a while ago. Is it the anniversary of becoming one of the people?" Tsu'tey tried again before eating one of the fruits in his palm and wiping off the juice from it on a small cloth on the ground.
Awa sputtered and threw one of the wet cloths at his grinning face after making sure no one was looking at them. "Tsu" She whined while dragging out the 'u'. "Stop teasing me and just admit that you've been looking forward to it as much, if not more, than me"
"Agh" He groaned, throwing his head back and then rolled it back forwards. "I was having so much fun" Her mate complained to her after finishing his small tantrum that was quite frankly ridiculous.
"Too bad" Awa shot back with a teasing tone in her voice to show him that she wasn't actually annoyed with him. She stroked her tail against his back and then let it fall flat against the floor, hoping that Jake wasn't going to step on it when going past them.
Speaking of Jake, the mated pair had deliberately chosen to seat themselves as far away from Neytiri and Jake as possible for a lot of reasons. One being that neither of them were fond of the dreamwalker, and that they always sat some distance away from the other Na'vi to have some privacy with each other before facing the day.
"It's our anniversary" He lowered his tone as he whispered the words into her ear, making a loving smile grow on her face and her heart race. Tsu'tey pressed a small peck on the skin below her ear before returning to his seat. There were far too many people watching them for his liking, the little bit of PDA they had shown had made him uncomfortable and he longed for when they were alone again. "Happy now?"
"Depends on what you've planned for us" She replied with a smirk on her face. She plucked a banana fruit slice and gingerly ate ate, all while staring at her mate who she could visibly see was thinking very hard. "I've planned our date for a long time and I hope that you've at least put some thought to whatever you're cooking up now"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I planned our anniversary a long time ago, do you really doubt me so?" Tsu'tey asked her after a hot minute of him planning their activities for the day. "And... I know you're not going to let me choose what we're going to do. It would be foolish of me to assume otherwise"
Awa nodded in agreement, even if he had planned beforehand she was going to change some of it. Their anniversary was something that she had been looking forwards to and had a vision of how she wanted it to be. She was the one who usually planned all of their celebrations and often helped Mo'at with the clan celebrations and traditions. She was in other words the part time, inofficial, party planner of the Omaticaya clan.
"True, but this time I'm leaving it all up to you so you better have something good planned" Awa warned but there was no real threat behind her words. The woman dabbed her piece of cloth on her lips to dry off any juices from her breakfast, her eyes were drilling into his.
"We can go to the tree of atan?" He said uncertainly and what was supposed to be a confident declaration turned into a question.
"The tree of atan? We haven't been there since before I completed my iknimaya" Awa's eyes were wide with nostalgia as she thought back to their celebration of her finishing the ancient rite of passage into adulthood. It was also there that her and Tsu'tey officially became what the humans would call 'engaged'. "I love it" She burst out in a loud voice that made her shrink into herself after the many stares and head turns it got her.
Tsu'tey's chest puffed out and he beamed with pride. "I knew you would."
Awa gently landed Lilo on one of the big rocks surrounding the tree of light and waited patiently until Tsu'tey felt like joining her. Yllä had been in a very testy mood lately, not even letting Lilo close to him and had been very reluctant to let Tsu'tey mount him until tsaheylu was made. Awa's theory was that the ikran could sense the same thing she could, that something big was coming for them.
"Are you coming down today or do you want to do a rain check?" She chuckled and dismounted her ikran. Awa stroked a affectionate hand down Lilo's head and smiled at the soft shrieks and growls that the animal let out in response to the soft petting.
"I'm coming down today, you know he's in a bad mood" Tsu'tey shot back in defense of him and his ikran who were still circling above them in small circles. The ikran screeched its agreement to the statement, the sound harsh and accurately showing the mood it was in.
"Just holler at me when you do come down. I'll start on my own" Awa teasingly yelled up to him and then laughed at the sour frown he sent down to her. She hopped down from the rock and stumbled slightly but quickly righted herself. She had never been much of a climber, something that even Atxa couldn't make her interested in.
She ignored the protest he made and walked over to the big tree they had decided to spend their anniversary around. The tree of light was called so because of the white, bright glow it gave during the night and a story involving the very first Toruk Makto. It was under the Tree of light that he seeked counsel from Awa about how to save the tree of souls from being destroyed by the volcano. He had sat down along with the three boys and together they had sang their questions to Eywa.
The Na'vi woman bowed her head deep in respect and then sat down at the base of the tall tree. The bark was covered in white and green moss, and green vines snaked up the trunk of it. The crown of it was a bright white with some low hanging leaves that was a bright pink but lit a pale green during the night. She gently grabbed a hold of one of them and stroked her hand down it, feeling all the bumps and ridges of it as if she was touching history.
She placed down the basket of food they had gotten from the cooks in the clan. It was a variety of meats, vegetables and sweet fruits. She had made sure they packed some banana fruit, some episoth seeds for her mate, grilled teylu that smelled delicious and some lion berry seeds. Tsu'tey had the dapophet leaves and some bladder polyps that were somewhat like a pickle, something that she hated with passion and therefore refused to touch the repulsive plant and had forced Tsu'tey to carry them if he wanted some.
Her head snapped up when she heard light footsteps approaching her, and a smile tugged at her lips when she saw the irritated scowl on Tsu'tey's face. The usual sway in his steps were even more noticeable when he was angry or displeased with something and he would either swagger towards someone or away from them. "So Yllä finally let you down, huh?"
"I gave him some meat" Came his explanation and he plopped down in front of her with a sigh. "I've never seen a mating season this bad. Not even when he didn't have a mate" Tsu'tey continued with a slight tiredness showing in his voice that he refused to show on his face. Even when they were alone he tried to keep the facade up, but sometimes he let it down and confided in her.
"Eat some seeds and you'll be right as rain" Awa adviced and pushed the leaf containing some of the seeds towards him with a reassuring smile on her face. She nodded her head and gestured towards the food when he looked up at her. "Eat it."
His expression turned into clear confusion at her words. "Awa, what does right as rain mean. Is this another one of your human expressions?" He hid his contempt for the word human well but she could see through the veil. She often used human expressions that she had been taught during her childhood but always forgets that sometimes the direct translation of them didn't work or that none of the Na'vi understood what she meant with them.
"It means that everything will be fine" She explained while eating her banana fruit, trying to make sure none of the juices escaped and ran down her face. Awa used to be a very neat eater but as soon as she had to get used to Pandoran foods she had to relearn it all again, and now she was almost back at that neat eating she used to be but some foods just couldn't be eaten neatly.
"But why rain?" Her mate asked, still confused by the strange expression. "I don't understand your human sayings, they're ridiculous." Tsu'tey popped a seed in his mouth and grinded it down with his teeth as he looked at her expectantly.
"I don't actually know" Awa realised, she had never thought about why they said it, only that they do say it. "I think it's got some kind of a historical meaning to it but I've never thought of it" She wiped off her mouth with one of the edible leaves they had brought with them.
"If you don't know what something means then why would you say it? Your human kind is strange" Tsu'tey gave up on trying to understand the saying and instead scooted closer to Awa with his hand full of eposoth seeds that he had yet to eat.
Tsu'tey wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. When she was close enough for him he dropped the arm on her shoulders and instead used it to hold her unoccupied hand, and then entwined their fingers. He offered her a seed from his palm but she shook her head with a loving grin pulling at her lips, and instead pushed the hand closer to him.
"What have you planned for us to do after we eat?" Awa asked sheepishly when she realised how ungrateful it made her sound. "Not that I don't enjoy this, I just want to know. This is perfect, I love it!" She hurried out when she saw that look in his eyes begin to form.
"I don't have anything planned. I was thinking we could explore the area and maybe take another flight before going back home." Tsu'tey responded to her question and then popped a dozen or more of the seeds in his mouth. He was addicted to that stuff. The male Na'vi tried to hide the smile on his face but only managed to make it even more obvious. "What do you want to do?"
She thought for a few seconds before turning on him, and after making sure he had properly chewed and swallowed his seeds, she pushed him so that he laid flat on his back. Awa hummed and stroked a loving hand down his toned chest, tracing one of his more noticeable scars on his pec that he got during his training as a child. Tsu'tey tried to push himself back up but Awa snickered and pushed him back down. "Just relax, Tsu'tey" She told him and reached down to pick up his tswin with careful movements. "This is what I want to do" She continued and without further ado she connected his tswin to her own, connecting them to each other. Tsu'tey groaned and then wrapped a strong arm around her waist.