Chapter 1: Home

Viyume leaned her blue cheek against the stock of her rifle. She was holding the device with two hands, her left on the grip and near the trigger, her right supporting the forend. They had told her she was lucky the design allowed for left-handed firing. She didn't care what was normal; she was doing this her own way.

With the stock steady against her shoulder, she was sitting in a crouched position. She didn't need this thing they called a "bipod". It would be useless on an ikran anyway.

She peeked through the scope with her left eye, her pupil adjusting its size to suit the light. Her eye, with its yellowish green iris, conveyed a sense of innocence as well as wonder.

Her breathing was slow and steady. In and out. In and out. She was ready.

Once she breathed out, she squeezed the trigger and caught the recoil with her entire body. The first target was hit. She turned slightly, found the second target quickly and repeated the action with the semi-automatic rifle. Then she moved on to the third target. She was so quick that she still did not need to draw in another breath by the time she squeezed the trigger on the fifth and final target.

When it was over, she could hear the various reactions of the people nearby. Some, such as her friend Näyal, cheered for her. Others were less impressed.

Ra'amo, a Na'vi boy slightly older than her had also been watching. He had his opinion ready as always.

"Could have been worse. You missed the last one. But even those lucky hits do not make up for being the daughter of Meager." he said haughtily, ignoring the fact that the first four shots had been perfect hits.

"Do NOT call him that!" Viyume fiercely spit back at him. With her ears standing upright and facing forward, she threw down the rifle. She then stood up, but before she could stomp towards him, Näyal caught her by her tail, stopping her.

"Go shoot your arrow somewhere else, Ra'amo. She does not like your jokes." Näyal then said, as she embraced Viyume from behind and brought their faces close together, side by side, as a show of solidarity.

"Ra'amo does not make jokes." one of Ra'amo's friends said in his defense. Clearly, the 'master' himself did not think a defense was even needed. It did not seem he even found them worthy of his time, as he turned his back on them and walked away, looking over his shoulder only once with a smug grin on his face. His three friends promptly followed him like the loyalists they were.

"Safety, Viyume, safety!" the human instructor, Isaac, told her in an agitated voice. "What if I had loaded more than five rounds into that mag, hmm? Who would we be finding with a bullet hole in them?"

"Sorry." Viyume replied in English. Her accent and difficulty with the language was quite noticeable. "I be more care full other time."

She swore she could feel Näyal cringing slightly at this. Maybe Ra'amo had a point. After all, she was the daughter of Peramu, who had been mockingly called Meager since his youth for a variety of reasons. He could more or less provide for his family, but he wasn't particularly good at anything, nor did he have really noteworthy positive personality traits.

"And you actually have a crush on Ra'amo?" Viyume asked Näyal in disbelief as the latter let go of her.

"Not so loud!" Näyal called out as she quickly looked around to see if someone had heard that. Only Isaac was still nearby, tending to the rifle, and they knew he couldn't understand Na'vi. "I already took a hit for you because we are friends. Please do not make my life even more difficult. Please?"

"I am sorry… I do not know what happened. I guess I was still feeling the power of those shots… like… inside me or something. And you know I do not like it when they call him that. I let myself go…" Viyume said in an attempt to explain herself.

"Hey, it is fine. No worries. But…if you keep telling people you feel something inside you when you fire a Sky People weapon…they might think you are weirdo. Just saying." Näyal replied in all honesty.

Viyume simply pouted and turned around to walk away. Näyal followed her, of course. They left the shooting range, located in one of the outlying dead-ended chambers of the cave system they were in. After walking a short distance, they reached the main Omaticaya encampment inside the large floating mountain.

When Näyal caught up, she attempted to continue their conversation: "We do not get to decide who we like. You of all people should know that."

She had moved her face right in Viyume's when she said that, so the latter gently pushed her away a bit in annoyance. Näyal didn't stop, though.

"What would you need to do to finally get the attention of the Olo'eyktan's son? Show him you can hit ten targets in one breath instead of five? We all know today's show was actually for Neteyam." She said teasingly, singing Neteyam's name.

"Stop it. Shut up, okay?" Viyume replied as she stubbornly walked on.

"Too bad he is away, to help in a real battle. I am sure he would have talked to you otherwise." Näyal said regretfully.

"He is very busy. He does not have time to talk to everyone." Viyume tried to justify, mostly for herself.

"The war party is returning!" someone nearby suddenly shouted. Viyume and Näyal could subsequently see several warriors and their ikran passing overhead. This meant Neteyam was coming home as well.

Some people started running, but Viyume did not join them and neither did her friend. Steadily making their way through the camp, they could eventually see their Olo'eyktan Jake Sully, as well as Neytiri, Kiri, Lo'ak, Tuktirey, Spider and of course Neteyam. They were having an argument of some kind.

Näyal gasped when she saw that Neteyam appeared to be wounded. "Is he hurt?" she even asked, but the answer was pretty obvious. He didn't appear to be hurt badly, though, which gave the both of them at least some relief.

Before Viyume realized what was happening, Neteyam walked away. He was closely followed by his mother Neytiri, who was gripping his upper arm as if she was afraid that he would run off.

"Here he comes." Näyal whispered in Viyume's ear, before she purposefully walked away to leave her standing there all by herself.

Viyume was tall and lean, like her father. She had not inherited the curvy build of her mother. Still, she had a build that definitely passed for being female. Whether it suited Neteyam's taste was a whole different matter, though.

Her braided hair reached down slightly farther than her shoulders. She had done nothing special with it today, and realized it must have looked extremely dull. It was too late to do anything about it now, though.

She wore some simple necklaces, a tightly woven and almost prudish top, and a simple loincloth. None had a particularly high quality. Suffice to say, it made her feel inadequate.

He was so close now that she simply froze and just stood there stiffly, rooted to the spot, her ears all the way down against her head. Her heart was beating so intensely she could feel it in the side of her neck. Neteyam walked towards her, but he was looking down slightly. His thoughts were somewhere else entirely, it seemed.

When Neteyam passed her, his mother shot Viyume a look which made her feel even smaller and insignificant. She felt as though Neytiri was making sure the area ahead of her son was clear. It looked like she was steering him away from some filth that had just been blown onto his path by the wind. Perhaps this had not been Neytiri's intention at all, but it was how Viyume perceived it.

And that was it. He had passed her and she was still standing there, almost with her knees shaking. She hadn't dared to greet him. She hadn't even dared to look across her shoulder back at him. She had caught a whiff of his scent though, and quietly savored it for as long as it lasted.

Late in the afternoon, Viyume was at her family's shelter inside the cave, helping her mother to cut up greeneries for today's dinner. She didn't like to do so, but it was expected of her, so she did. She had no siblings, so she couldn't worm her way out of the responsibility. Another meager aspect of her family she had to deal with. Naturally, she got distracted by her thoughts a few times, almost cutting herself in the process.

When her father entered, she immediately saw the defeated look on his face.

"How did the hunt go?" Unaya, her mother, asked him in a hopeful tone.

"We do not have good wood here. Two of my arrows snapped in my hands. The remaining three were fine, but they were not enough for the kill." Peramu answered somewhat despondently.

"So, you brought back nothing? Again?" Viyume asked bluntly.

Her insolence was enough to earn herself a single smack on her behind courtesy of her mother. It caught her off guard and almost made her lose her balance.

"Ow!" Viyume yelled as she gave her mother an indignant look, her tail swishing angrily behind her.

"Respect your father." Unaya simply said to her in a stern voice.

Of course, this was easier said than done. She did respect him, up until a certain level. But really, if this was the best he could do, with years and years of hunting experience, it was pretty pathetic.

"What were you hunting?" her mother then asked as if nothing had happened.

"Talioang." her father answered, clearly showing respect in his voice for his prey.

Alright, so he had gone for the bigger targets at least. It was something in Viyume's eyes. Still, it hadn't provided them with any meat.

"Dad? Let me go out with you next time." Viyume suggested. The look on her father's face actually brightened slightly when he heard this.

"To do what, my sweet? Your skills with a bow are not actually any better than those of your father." Her mother interjected, causing both Viyume's slight smile and Peramu's to disappear.

"I will use a new weapon. The Sky People's long range 'rifle'." Viyume answered proudly.

Both her mother and her father now looked at her as if she had done something horrific, like having just confessed to having killed someone.

"You will never use the weapon of the demons to kill Eywa's animals. Our decision is final." Unaya said unsmilingly as she stood up.

"But we live with these so-called demons. Our Olo'eyktan even uses these weapons. Neteyam uses them also…" Viyume tried to reason.

"Have you completely forgotten about the three laws of Eywa? You shall not set stone upon…" her father began, but he was soon interrupted.

"I did not forget them. I am just… confused why they are allowed to and I am not…" Viyume continued in defiance.

"Those who fully and completely embrace Eywa, shall be guaranteed to receive her blessing. Those who do not…have to pay for what they owe her." her mother lectured ominously.

Viyume wasn't sure if this was actually a common saying or if it was something her mother simply believed in. In any case, she felt like she could not win this discussion, especially with her father seemingly siding with her mother.

"No matter." Unaya suddenly said to Peramu in a much more casual tone. "Then we will have our meal without meat. The Sky People scientists say this can be beneficial."

Viyume couldn't believe the hypocrisy of that statement. "So, listening to the Sky People is fine as long as the three laws of Eywa are not broken? I cannot believe you!" she yelled, before getting up and storming out of their shelter, past her father who was still standing in the opening.

When he briefly touched her forearm, she shook off his hand and continued her way, silently, the tears welling up in her eyes. However, it wasn't really the hypocrisy which had made her upset; it was the fact that her own mother had belittled her and her father was doing nothing about it.

Viyume had gotten up early to tend to her ikran. She was currently standing near the rocky edge, where the ikran of the clan could easily fly into the hollow part of the floating mountain and land on the outskirts of the Omaticaya camp.

Down below the soothing green canopy of the jungle could be seen. Viyume had always felt more at home down there. Being in the skies every now and then was fun and everything. However, living up here permanently and to top it off, in a cave? She would welcome the day this low intensity war would be over, so they could live somewhere proper once again.

Her ikran looked appreciatively at her as she lovingly stroked his head and snout. She still found his color pattern of ocean blue, black, and almost violet-like dark blue to be breathtaking every time she saw him.

"Handsome Tskxe. Did you meet many girl ikran while you were out there? Sure, you did. How can they resist those big innocent eyes? Those beautiful colors of your wings. How can they?" Viyume said tenderly as she cuddled with him.

"I still think he starts looking all forlorn each time you call him by that name." Näyal suddenly said from some distance away.

"His head is solid as a rock. He should be proud of himself. I know I am." Viyume replied in Tskxe's defense.

"It certainly is as thick as a rock. But what about the floating boulder he smashed into while trying to kill you? I kind of feel sorry for it… It was just floating there, not doing anything wrong until you two came along and disturbed it." Näyal continued. She sounded like she couldn't make up her mind about whether she was admiring them, or ridiculing them.

Viyume sighed. Why did her friend have to bring up this topic again? It was such a lovely morning.

"So, I missed my throw of the mouth-binder…You missed yours as well your first time, remember? Eywa saw fit to help me immediately, though. To help us. We were destined to bond, Tskxe and I." She answered plainly.

"True, but I bonded the second time without any help. Just saying." Näyal bounced back.

However, Viyume knew Näyal wasn't 'just saying' anything. For some reason the latter was feeling like highlighting again why people like Ra'amo thought Viyume had cheated. As if a vicious ikran accidently hitting his head on a boulder was somehow Viyume's fault as it had made it easier for her to bond with the dazed creature.

She wanted Näyal to simply go away and leave them alone. Knowing better than to expect her to realize this on her own, Viyume took matters into her own hands. She briefly checked Tskxe to see if the saddle was still properly fastened. Then, she wordlessly jumped onto her ikran, connected their queues and took off. Viyume and Tskxe dove down from the floating mountain towards the green canopy where no one would bother them.

Viyume looked sideways and saw the rocky cliff disappearing out of view. Next, she could see the horizon, with the sun in the sky and other floating mountains in the distance. She heard and felt Tskxe breathing and occasionally flapping his wings. She synchronized her breathing with his. It was wonderful to be able to leave her life behind like this for a short while. She was sure she would continue to do so many times in the future. If only Neteyam was with her, then it would be a dream come true.

The next day, Viyume was again feeling very lucky. Earlier today, she had managed to show more restraint, control and a better regard for safety to Isaac, her human shooting instructor. She had wanted something for a while and figured this was the best opportunity to get it.

After some nudging, including staring quasi-sadly at him with her big eyes, and trying her best to speak the human tongue, he had allowed her to take with her the scoped semi-automatic sniper rifle she always trained with. Of course, he had not given her any ammunition for it, but that was fine for now. There was always next time.

She was currently hanging out with Näyal at a less traversed part on the periphery of the Omaticaya encampment. It was midday, and neither of them really wanted to do anything that required exertion.

Näyal was sitting on the woven leaf carpet, fiddling with her hair. She wasn't quite satisfied with how her mother had put in some of her braids this morning. Viyume was spared no details as Näyal muttered on about it.

Viyume herself was lying on her back on the same leaf carpet, with her arms spread out. She was amusing herself by keeping her legs straight up as she was balancing and holding her rifle up with her feet. At one point she even tried pulling the trigger with her toes.

"It is not healthy, you know." Näyal suddenly began. "If any more time passes, you are going to have a stronger connection to that thing than to Eywa."

"Says the one who fiddles with her hair all day long." Viyume countered easily.

"No, I mean it. Are you going to sleep with it as well? Like a child with her toy?" her friend continued, sounding somewhat concerned.

"Maybe." Viyume admitted. She didn't really mind saying this.

"Or will you sleep with it like a lonely young woman, in desperate need of a cold, firm, greasy, rough…" Näyal went on, until Viyume couldn't take it anymore.

"Gross!" she called out in disgust as she looked indignantly at her friend from her upside-down posture. "Why do you say such things?"

"Just joking." Näyal said smoothly. "But still, I thought that thing was a means to an end, not an end in itself. I thought you actually wanted to be sleeping with…"

She suddenly shut herself up as she could see a group of boys drawing nearer. She quickly gave her friend a heads-up.

"Psst, I see Neteyam. It looks like he is going to pass us." she whispered carefully.

Viyume froze and brought her head back down onto the leaf carpet to look. She didn't care if she was upside-down. She would recognize him under any conditions.

It indeed looked like they were going to pass by them some distance away, until Ra'amo yelled: "Hey look, there is the daughter of Meager! What is she doing? Does that idiot not even know you shoot such a weapon with your hands instead of your feet?"

Since he had seen her shoot before, he quite obviously knew better. Yet he was pretending towards the others not to know much about her, in order to make her into even more of a target. But that wasn't the worst of it. What was Neteyam even doing with Ra'amo? They didn't normally mingle. Maybe they had hunted together this morning?

As Viyume's thoughts took over her concentration, she only realized just how ridiculous she looked when her eyes met Neteyam's as the group had stopped in front of her. She was still lying with her back on the ground, feet up in the air, looking at him from an upside-down angle. She quickly tried to rectify this, but in her panic, she dropped her rifle right on her own head.

Naturally, most boys burst into laughter. Viyume sat up and didn't even dare to rub her head for fear of fueling their fun. She just sat there, mentally dazed, not able to believe that a relatively good day had been completely shattered in a matter of seconds, with Neteyam getting to witness all of it.

Näyal swiftly hugged her. Viyume simply let her head fall against her friend's chest.

"She can hit a talioang in the eye from her ikran with a single shot. She will put you all to shame. You will see." Näyal said, not as some lame excuse in her defense, but really sounding convinced that Viyume would be capable of this if given the chance to prove herself.

"Pathetic, just like I thought. All dreams; no substance. Come on, we are leaving." Ra'amo called out to his friends. "Meager, meager, meager!" they continued chanting.

As the group left, one person stayed behind. It could be debated whether he had actually been with the group in the first place, or if he had merely been at the same place and time by coincidence. In any case, Neteyam crouched to pick up Viyume's rifle.

"Is she…are you alright?" he asked carefully, first addressing Näyal before deciding it was more polite to actually ask Viyume herself, despite the fact that she had currently buried her face in Näyal's chest.

"Hey, Viyume. Neteyam is asking how you are doing. Are you not going to answer him?" Näyal gently whispered to her.

Viyume now looked up and stared right in Neteyam's concerned-looking face with her big teary eyes. She stopped sniffling immediately and her ears promptly flicked forward.

"I…am feeling better. Yeah, much better. I…I… have hit my head on worse things." she said as she felt her heartbeat increase greatly. Halfway, she wanted to say something else, something worthwhile, but she couldn't find the right words. She improvised a joke instead, though immediately afterward she berated herself in her mind for giving him the impression she was a clumsy fool who had these kinds of accidents all the time.

Nevertheless, Neteyam smiled slightly, before he replied: "You should not worry about those guys. They are all hot air; no substance. Here, you dropped this."

Viyume quickly let go of Näyal to accept the rifle Neteyam was now holding up for her. Though unintentional, her hand briefly brushed against his as she gently took it from his light grasp. "Thank you." she said softly in return.

"I recognize it. I practiced with this one a couple of times. It is a good weapon." Neteyam sincerely admitted to her.

"Hey, bro! What are you doing all the way back there? I have been looking for you all over the place!" Lo'ak suddenly intruded.

"Maybe… I will see you later?" Neteyam said as he stood up, obviously giving the signal that he was about to move on and go with his brother.

"Okay." Viyume said in awed disbelief.

"The shooting range." Näyal added, thinking quickly. "She likes to spend her time there. So do I."

Neteyam bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement at the both of them, before he turned around and walked off towards his brother. However, he didn't just walk away. He strode away with confidence and determination. There was some pride also, but it was subtle. Someday, he would be their Olo'eyktan.

"Am I dreaming?" Viyume then asked Näyal, still somewhat stunned after he had left.

"No! I think I am dreaming!" Näyal yelled to her very enthusiastically as she grabbed her own shoulders. "He is such a…you know, he is really a…the way he carries himself is just so…"

"He is mine." Viyume said intently, not caring if Näyal was going to be her competition from now on or not.

For the rest of the day, Viyume felt as if she was floating up there with the rocks in the cave, which were holding up some of their shelters. She had actually spoken to him; she had actually touched him. He had used her rifle to practice and he liked it. There was so much she had to process that she didn't mind for now he was spending time with his brother and with the rest of his family.

Unfortunately, fate soon decided that things would be changing drastically for the Omaticaya clan. Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuktirey, as well as their human companion Spider were briefly captured by the new Recom Avatars, who were led by Miles Quaritch and sent by the RDA. Although Jake, Neytiri and Neteyam managed to free all except Spider, the situation at the Omaticaya camp wasn't the same afterwards.

From that moment on, Neteyam stayed very close to his family, so Viyume did not get the chance to meet him at the shooting range. But the worst had not even come. It was not long before Jake Sully announced his intention to leave the Omaticaya clan to protect their people as he and his family were now being targeted by Quaritch.

When the day had finally come for the clan leadership to be transferred from Jake to Tarsem, Viyume and her parents joined the ceremony like the rest of the Omaticaya.

Finally, after Tarsem had symbolically 'killed' Jake by cutting his chest, the family slowly and drearily passed through the crowd. It wasn't at all certain they would ever be coming back.

Viyume was sobbing and leaning against her father Peramu, who had his arms around her. She was devastated at the thought of never seeing Neteyam again. However, she was also sad because Neteyam would likely never become Olo'eyktan himself. She was convinced he would have been the best. Another reason she had become emotional was because of her sympathy for the whole family as none of them really wanted to go. They were simply being faced with an impossible choice.

As she was sobbing on the shoulder of her father, she noticed he snorted several times as well. However, it was just as likely he was simply getting emotional from Viyume's crying alone.

Her mother, on the other hand, was standing triumphantly beside them. She seemed to be restraining herself from cheering.

"It is a shame Artsut and Ateyo are not here to witness this. This is a glorious day. It should have happened years ago, but that is fine. In the end nobody can escape what they owe Eywa." Unaya said in a low voice. It appeared she did not want to disturb the ceremony, but at the same time, it was pretty clear she fully intended for others nearby to be able to hear her words.

"Unaya." Peramu responded, the outrage clear in his voice. He turned his head to look at her for a while, but that was it. Nothing else happened.

"And you." Her mother then said to Viyume. "You are staying right here. No flying. No riding. For as long as I say so. You are a fool if you think I do not know what you are planning."

Note: this story is just an idea I had of expanding on some story aspects that were left vague in the Way of Water. I imagined the Sully children would be leaving behind their friends and acquaintances when they left the Omaticaya, but none of that was ever highlighted in the movie. As I am currently focusing on my other story the Tempest, I will have to see if I will continue this new story. It depends on whether there is interest in it. Thanks for reading in any case, and I hope it was entertaining.