The weather reflected the atmosphere of Awa'atlu. Tension rolled off the clouds in waves as a frightful mist settled over the entire village.
A tulkun had been killed. Roa.
Not just her, but her young calf as well. Slaughtered by the sky people and left to rot just off the reef. Ronal had been inconsolable. Her anger was a terror that Neteyam had not witnessed before. She screamed from Tonowari's arms, tears dripping down her face. Over and over they fell, sadness offering no respite from a grieving sister. Aonung looked on from Neteyam's side just as shaken as the Omaticaya. More.
Neteyam saw the look on his mother's face when they returned from the reef, followed by a solemn Tonowari and he just knew. She had lost her beloved Seze during the war too. The two had even been bonded while it happened. Neteyam could not comprehend the horror of feeling someone die through the bond of tsaheylu. It was unthinkable. His father had once told him that she would often cry the first year after, refusing to bond another ikran until the sky people returned.
As grief and anger clouded the village, it was undercut with something far more potent. Fear. The Metkayina people gathered around their chief as a commotion grew. The rain had only gotten worse.
"My spirit sister and her baby have been murdered by the sky people." Ronal spat violently. She stood alongside her mate, vicious tears coating her cheeks as she spoke. Visible shock rippled throughout the surrounding Na'vi. Some hissed while others held their hands out in grief for the Tsahìk's fallen companion.
Jake was circling the crowd, desperately trying to keep people calm
Tonowari let out a violent growl. "This war has come to us. We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people but it was over the horizon, far away." He slammed his spear into the ground. "Now, it is here."
The chief curled his tongue in a menacing gesture as he let out a war cry. His people joined, slamming their fists into their chests and growling with fierce expressions. Even Rotxo, who Neteyam had only ever seen be calm and gentle let out a violent hiss, baring his fangs next to Aonung. The heir followed in suit of his father, tongue curled as he snarled a menacing expression on his face. Neteyam turned around, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Tsireya looked moments away from crying as she watched what was unfolding.
Jake stepped forward desperately with his arms out. His father's face was twisted in frustration as he tried to force some sense of understanding onto these people. "You gotta- you gotta understand how the sky people think!" he called out, trying to reason with the growing crowd. "They don't care about the great balance!"
Na'vi shouted from behind him, interpreting his attempts.
Neteyam moved between his father and the crowd, holding his hands out in exasperation. They needed to understand what they were dealing with. So many lives were at stake.
"Listen to him! Listen," he begged.
"The sky people are not going to stop," Jake continued quickly. "This is only the beginning. You gotta tell your tulkun to leave! You gotta tell 'em to go far away."
Ronal looked as though she had been slapped in the face. "Leave?"
The Tsahìk took a threatening step towards Jake, teeth bared. "You live among us. And you learn NOTHING."
Fervent agreement echoed around her.
"We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" a random warrior cried, beating his chest ferociously and sticking his tongue out.
The Metkayina's yell awoke something in the gathered Na'vi because more shouts for revenge began to ring out as anger coalesced. More and more tribe members were joining, shaking their spears in the air with vicious noises.
Neteyam looked toward Aonung for help but the chief's son was crouched near the ground, spear in hand with his teeth bared. His teal muscles were flexed near the point of breaking as he pounded his chest fiercely looking between his mother and Rotxo. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly.
"No, no!" His father's voice was raising as he spun around helplessly. "If you attack. If you fight. They will destroy you. They will destroy everything you love. Hear my words!"
At his declaration, Ronal's hand fell to her pregnant belly, taking a step back. Beneath all of her fury Neteyam could see something more. Fear.
But the crowd did not see that. They sought revenge. Neteyam was frantically trying to calm people alongside his father, begging for them to listen.
"Be calm. Be calm!" he shouted, pushing the angry Na'vi away from his father. It did nothing.
"Listen to my father," he yelled hopelessly, trying to be heard over the growing noise. "He speaks the truth!"
In a moment of desperation, Jake grabbed the tagging tracker from the ground. He jumped onto the platform alongside the chief and held the blinking orange harpoon into the air. Sounds of fear rang out and everybody fell quiet.
Ronal grabbed her mate's arm and pulled him away from the unknown object. Many Na'vi scampered back at the presence of the threatening device. Even Aonung lowered his gaze, closing his mouth as he looked up.
His father took a deep, steadying breath and opened his mouth. "You tell the tulkun-'' he said, words inflicted with deep gravity and bitter sincerity, "-that if they are hit by one of these… they're marked with death."
Silence fell over the crowd. Even Lo'ak hung his head.
Tonowari turned to his mate, holding her arm sadly.
"Saving their lives," Jake continued. "That's all that matters, right? Saving your family."
Many Na'vi sunk their heads in defeat, no more war cries came out of their mouths. Only bitter understanding. The Olo'eyktan searched Ronal's eyes as her shoulders slumped. She blinked slowly, offering her assent.
Tonowari stepped forward with his head hung and held his hand out. "Tell the tulkun."
Many Metkayina gasped in shock. But Ronal silenced them. "Go, go," she urged, waving her hand to the people. "Go!"
Everyone dispersed immediately. Some taking directly to the water shouting for their ilu's while others hurried to warn the families not present. Lo'ak pushed through the crowd disappearing from Neteyam's view. Fuck, he knew his brother was about to do something really stupid.
He was getting ready to go after him when Aonung shouldered by him, pushing Neteyam aside as he grabbed a spear.
"Aonung!" he called after him, stepping out into the wet air.
He got no answer.
So he grabbed the boy's hand as he was walking away, forcing him to turn around. "Aonung, I think Lo'ak is going to Payakan, we must stop-"
The chief's son ripped his arm out of Neteyam's grasp and shoved him away. Hard.
Neteyam looked up at him in shock.
"Don't touch me," Aonung hissed, eyes narrowed and full of fury.
The rage on his face caught him so off guard that he stumbled back a step. He looked up at the boy in confusion. "Wha-"
"You did this." Aonung's voice was dripping with venom. Neteyam was startled and his chest stung where Aonung had pushed him. Aonung advanced, pointing his finger at Neteyam, digging it deep into his chest with each word. "You brought this upon us. You and your family of freaks."
The words cut deep into him. Neteyam, felt his breathing stop for a moment. "Aonung-" he started trying to step forward again, to explain, to help. But he was shoved once more, this time landing in the sand.
"No." Aonung cut him off. "Your family is a plague. You are a plague, Neteyam." The teal boy's voice was practically saturated in contempt and the look of disgust on his face made Neteyam want to curl up into a ball. The next words delivered like a physical blow. "I should have never even touched you. You are a half-breed. Just like your freak of a brother."
Neteyam felt his whole body reject the words and he wrapped an arm around his own stomach, trying to steady himself. "You don't mean that," he choked, searching Aonung's face desperately for some sign that he was cared for. That what they shared on the beach actually meant something.
He found nothing. I should have never even touched you. To hear that tore him apart in a way he did not know was even possible.
"Fine," he spat out, trying to protect the last shattered remains of his heart. "Fuck you then. I'm going after Lo'ak."
It didn't matter. Nothing stopped the raw wound that he felt within him. In a last moment of hurt, he took the armband from his bicep and ripped it off. "Take it," he said, shoving it to Aonung's chest. "It clearly meant more to me than it did to you."
He stormed past, leaving the chief's son standing on the walkway. Had he turned back he would have seen a flicker regret fill Aonung's eyes. But he didn't, he just kept walking. Neteyam had to get away.
Freak. Half-breed. Aonung's words echoed violently in his head as tears forced their way out of his stinging eyes. You are a plague, Neteyam. That hurt.
His chest felt like it was cracking and he savagely wrapped his arms around himself in a poor attempt to soothe it away. He already missed the weight of the pearl band across his skin but he pushed it all aside, he had to find Lo'ak.