Awa sighed and fell down on the ground, panting softly in unison with her mate. She tilted her head back before she grabbed Tsu'tey's arm and pulled him down on her, enjoying the warmth he provided as he wrapped himself protectively around her. The slow exhales brought a soft grey mist around them that later disappeared almost immedietaly after it formed. The trees swayed softly in the gentle, warm wind and the sound of rushing water filled their ears. The sun beamed down on them and animal sounds echoed in the green forest.
She leaned up and kissed him on the forehead, smoothing a hand down his hair before leaning back down again. Awa chuckled breathlessly and placed one of her hands on his shoulder and the other one she brushed into his sweaty hair.
"Are you happy?" Awa asked him, still chuckling softly as the thrill from before lingered in her tired body.
He grunted softly and pushed his face harder into her chest. "Yes." Tsu'tey answered, his words muffled but she could hear the tired tone to it. "I am a strong hunter, I honor my clan, I have a loving mate and soon enough I'll have children of my own to raise."
"But are you happy?" She asked again, her voice a bit harsher but still soft. "All of those things are great but are you truly happy?"
Tsu'tey lifted his face from her chest and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Yes, Awa, I'm happy. With you I will always be happy, and together we will raise strong warriors and live good until we are reunited with Eywa." He stroked a hand down her smiling face before he leaned his forehead on hers. "Are you not happy?"
Awa scoffed. "Of course I am. I worked my ass off to be here, to be with you and the Na'vi. I love it here, I love you." Her eyes softened and her eyes closed. "I'm beyond happy."
"Then why do you ask." He asked her.
The woman sighed and caressed his shoulder. "You've seemed stressed lately and we've barely been able to talk with all that's been going on with Jake and the iknimaya." Awa responded sadly, almost whining as her ears flattened against her hair. "I just wanted to see how you were feeling."
"You do not need to worry about me. I am a strong hunter." His chest puffed with pride of his rank and a cocky smile grew on his face. " Soon JakeSully will not be a problem, he will not survive uniltaron."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Tsu. He's surprised us both so far. Maybe he's more like me than I first thought." She thoughtfully replied before flipping them over.
Awa relished the surprised gasp he let out as he was flipped over on his back and she quickly straddled him. "We are both two people that just love betraying our own race." She pressed a passionate kiss to his lips and pulled back a centimeter before she spoke again. "Defying all odds." Another kiss. " Earning our place in the enemy clan" A longer and deeper kiss. "And falling for a Na'vi."
She leaned up a bit, watching as he unconsciously reached after her. Awa laughed before pushing him back down on the ground with a firm hand to his chest, his waistguard hanging somewhere in the tree next to them and their covering discarded around them. "Do you remember when we first met?"
"Yes. You were extremly stupid." He told her, his eyes not meeting hers. " I hurt you that day. I would have killed you if Ngeha didn't stop me." Tsu'tey confessed with a slight, almost unnoticeable shake in his voice.
"And I've told you I forgive you a thousand times over. That's the past and I don't blame you for acting that way, I was still very much human and did a lot of things that you aren't supposed to do. Though you did behave like someone who had a stick up their a-" She started but he interrupted her by flipping them over again.
"Like a what?" He challenged her, arching a brow bone. "Be careful, mate."
Awa chuckled loudly and wrapped her legs around his hips. "You have to admit that you were sulking whenever you saw me. If you weren't this big bad hunter you would have pouted and thrown a temper tantrum."
"I would, but then it all changed."
"And then it all changed." Awa repeated and leaned up to wrap her arms around his neck, one of his hands fell to her flat stomach. "And then it all changed."
The mated pair stood in a sea of Na'vi. They were waiting for the newest member of their clan, Jake Sully, the marine. The tension was thick and tense chatter could be heard amongst them. Some were excited as most were when someone passed their iknimaya and uniltaron, but this was special, unlike her own initiation where they had been excited. Back when she became one of the people it was a happy occurrence, now it was not the same.
Many of the Na'vi stood up when Jake stepped up from the spiralling stairs. He had passed the final test. His body was painted with white swirls around his chest, straight lines on his stomach, circles around his arms and a mask on his face. He wore no armbands, no necklace and no waistguard. His posture was like that of a hunter- confident and strong.
Awa smiled briefly and curled her arms around Tsu'tey's who stood frigid and unmoving beside her. The final initiation of Jake into the Omatikaya clan was held in the same hollow they did most of the celebrations and traditions; the one with the Toruk skull watching over them.
Neytiri stepped out from behind them and together the pair walked towards where the Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan stood. Awa let go off Tsu'tey and stood a respective distance away from him as she let the new member pass by her. He looked at her with a self-satisfied smirk and a victorious glint in his golden eyes.
She nodded and briefly laid a hand on her chest. 'Good job', her eyes said, but a storm of conflict was raging in her mind and chest. Jake was trouble, and as far as she knew none of the other Na'vi knew about his betrayal... yet.
Once Jake and Neytiri had come to a stop in front of the clan leader, the Olo'eyktan began the procedure.
"You are now a son of the Omatikaya." He told Jake in a strong, reverberating voice, and stretched out a hand towards the dreamwalker. "You are part of the people." The leader said before looking around at his people.
The Na'vi leader placed his hands on Jake's painted shoulders and then Neytiri placed hers on his chest. Jake sighed and looked at the Na'vi woman, who smiled up at him, her eyes filled with pride. Awa bit her lip as Mo'at placed her hands on Jake's shoulder with a big smile. The scene was so familiar, but she held none of the support from the humans that she did.
Grace was close to tears in the back, knowing that Jake had done something she never could, and made no move towards touching the new hunter. Tsu'tey placed his hands, albeit reluctantly, on Jake's shoulders from the back, and as soon as he had done it Alva placed her hands on Jake's left shoulder.
Before long all of the Na'vi that were there had formed a big circle around Jake, all holding onto the shoulders of the person in front of them. Through each other they all touched Jake, and acknowledged that he was now one of them.
A tear fell from Awa's eye. It was a beautiful scene to be in, but she struggled with keeping the bitterness that had been formed because of the humans at bay. Maybe that was something that she would carry with her forever, but she found now that she was okay with that. As long as she had Tsu'tey and The People, the struggle didn't seem as daunting, and the pain not as vivid.
"I'm proud of you." She whispered to him with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, a small smile played at her lips, though only half-genuine. Tsu'tey looked over at her but didn't comment, he knew her feelings better than she did sometimes.
Awa stood by the tree he was resting beneath. Zotxe was a Na'vi she would never forget, despite all the pain he caused her, he was still a good soul and didn't deserve to die. After the initiation Awa had fled the scene, not even stopping to say something to her worried mate. No, what she needed to do was talk to one of her best friends, dead or alive.
She placed a pink flower on the plot of grass, knowing that under that plot his body laid, void of his soul and energy. Zotxe was with Eywa but the place remained a place of comfort for her. The flower joined the already overflowing pile of flowers, all with different shapes and colors.
"Oel ngati kameie ma Zotxe." Awa said and touched her forehead. "I hope that you still find the arms of Eywa as comforting as when you first joined her, and that all is well."
She sat still for a minute as if waiting for an answer from her friend, but none came, and so she continued. "Do you remember Jake? The marine that came to us a couple of months ago? Yeah him." Awa nodded and brushed the grass beside her. "He's passed both his Iknimaya and uniltaron now. He's officially a part of the Omaticaya. Would you believe it? I know I didn't."
Awa sighed and brushed her legs. She looked up at the sky that was turning pink and purple, already the day was turning into night. "I don't know how I feel about all of this, to be honest. On one side I'm happy for him. That he can experience it all like I did, and maybe even find peace here. But. But on the other side I don't want him here, call me selfish but I feel like he's taking my place. I was the wonder-human who earned a spot here, I was the one who did all the work without the support from the RDA, but when it's Jake who does it everyone is supportive and loves it."
The Na'vi woman threw away a twig that was pushing up into her leg. "I just feel like he took a cheap ride on my pain and is now reaping the benefits on it. Is that crazy? Am I being unfair to him?" She grunted and let out a puff of air. "That's not even thinking about him spying on us with that bastard Quaritch. Jake started off bad and now I can't let go of that. Isn't that great?!" She cried out loudly to the sky above her. "Why do I have to suffer so much? Why me?! I thought I would get a break after Tsu'tey but no, you just have to throw something else at me, don't you?!" Awa screamed at no one in particular.
The silence around her was deafening and no matter how much she wished it, Zotxe would never talk to her again. Ngeha would tell her to get over it, Atxa wouldn't say anything and Tsu'tey hated Jake. None of them were people she could vent about this too. Neytiri was the least likely choice out of any of them- she was far too emotionally involved with the human to even realise any of his faults at this point.
"It's just hard to constantly have to have these feelings pushing me down. Do I support Jake or do I push him down? Which part of me should I listen to? I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore." Tears flowed down her pale cheeks, staining them. "Before I had clear goals but now I just feel like I'm walking through a hurricane of things, like there's nothing under me but confusion and fear. Before life was simple, but now with the growing conflict with the RDA and Jake I just feel constantly lost and torn. Do you get what I mean?" Awa asked, again to no one, before looking at the flowers again.
She chuckled. "Of course you don't. You refused to learn English." Awa shook her head and dried her tears. "Thank you for this. I've been crying way too much these past months and I can't wait for it to be over. It reminds me of when I first got here and all I did was cry and cry and cry. Pathetic really." She dried the rest of her tears and smiled. Her chest felt so much lighter and her smile easier. "Thank you for listening, old friend. Hayalovay, Zatxo."
Awa stood up and cast one more look at his grave before walking away towards where Khan stood waiting for her. She felt stronger now and more ready to face the world.
AN: I have no idea honestly why it's been so long since I updated. Tbh this chapter was hard to write but it's no excuse. Also, I can't believe we're already almost at the end. There's only about 11 present time chapters left, but plenty of past chapters. So about 22 chapters of planned chapters remain, should I do all the "past-time" chapters in this book or continue this style in the next?