Author's Note: Another one!
After calming the tremble in his hands, Neteyam pulls back from Tsu'tey to hug Neytiri next. She smells strongly of whatever sweet-smelling perfume and oil that she put in his hair and it's wonderful. She threads her fingers into his new braids, and it sends a thrilled shiver through him before he pulls back and turns, finally to Jake. Jake sank into the hug almost as much as Neteyam did and once again, Neteyam can't seem to place why he was drawn so implicitly to this male. Just something about him... Neteyam can't fight the nagging in the back of his head. He doesn't know what it is about Jake that the Great Mother uses to draw them together, but there is something comforting about it.
Jake wraps around him, arms encircling his back and locking him in place as his own arms wrap around the older male's neck, resting his cheek against the male's shoulder. They take a moment to just feel connected to one another before Neteyam pulls back, meeting only minor resistance from Jake before acquiescing to his silent request. Neteyam doesn't pull completely from Jake, though, staring into the older male's eyes, hands on his shoulders while Jake's hands wrap around his ribs.
"You remember what I told Neytiri?" Neteyam asks softly, staring into those incredibly sad golden eyes.
A moment of confusion as he shakes his head. "I remember everything you said, but about what, specifically?"
"The Great Mother offers me insight on people I touch since having met you. It's not nearly as crisp or as clear as it comes through for you," he says softly, smiling when sudden trepidation crosses Jake's face and his hands grip Neteyam's ribs harder but not enough to hurt.
"Okay... and what does she show you?"
Sympathy colors his expression and his words as he softly says, "You are in an incredible amount of pain, Jake. Have been for a long time. You carry it with you and have for so long that it's become part of you."
Jake's expression shutters a bit, but he swallows, steeling his expression before nodding. "Yes," he admits softly.
"I don't know what it is that hurts you so," Neteyam admits, but could probably guess without having to look over at Jake's male mate and the too tiny song cord hanging around his neck. "But I think the Great Mother brought you here in order for you to heal. For the pain you feel to lessen. So that this thing that haunts you, that weighs you down, starts to scab over until it is bearable once more. I think she brought you here to bring you peace."
Vulnerable agony flitters across his face and then Neteyam is pulled back to him, Jake's face buried into his shoulder. Neteyam hugs him close, catching himself pressing a nuzzling cheek into the dreadlocks. Hopefully Jake didn't notice. They just took a moment to hold each other once more. Neteyam mentally trying to pull all of the grief and pain from the other male into himself, but that wasn't really something the Great Mother gave him the power over. Even though he wished he could, if only to ease the other male's suffering. A part of him wanted to stay in the comfortable embrace but this time when Neteyam carefully pulls back, Jake fully lets him go.
"Thank you," Jake says, his eyes shimmering and his voice barely above a whisper.
Neteyam smiles, reaching forward and just like he had done with Neytiri earlier, placing his hand over the steady pounding of Jake's heart, pitched just slightly too fast. Jake placed his hand over Neteyam's and the younger male admired how much larger and calloused it was from his own. And the extra finger was just another part of it, thankfully not freaking Neteyam out in the slightest to feel it wrap around his hand.
"Strong heart," Jake says softly, staring into Neteyam's eyes.
Neteyam smiles softly, murmuring, "Strong heart." Jake squeezes his hand, hard enough that it almost hurt, but the appreciative look in Jake's eyes makes Neteyam forgive him immediately. He gently pets Jake's shoulder with his free hand and they finally separated completely.
"Thank you again," Neteyam says, looking between the three forest Na'vi once more. "I'm so very thankful for you all doing this for me."
"You are very welcome, ma'yawntu," Tsu'tey rasps softly.
Neteyam shares a smile with his mama, who reaches out to gently run her fingers through his hair, admiring it with wide, fascinated eyes. "Aww, Netyeam, you are so beautiful. I love it so much! Are you going to go and show your dad?"
Neteyam flushes, nodding. "And Ao'nung." A moment of hesitation, then softly, he asks, "Do you think he'll think I look weird?"
His mama shakes her head. "No, sweet boy. I bet he's going to love it. Why don't you go see?"
Neteyam nods, eagerly climbing to his feet, turning grateful eyes toward the three forest Na'vi, knowing that he's a broken record, so he hopes that his appreciation is expressed through his eyes. It seems to be as each of them offer their own smiles at him, Jake's through rapidly blinking eyes.
"I will see you all tomorrow, okay? Thank you so much again."
"Go on, sweetheart," his mama says softly. With a shooing motion, she sends him off. Neteyam smiles at the four of them one more time, anxiously touching his long braids one more time before he can't take the excitement anymore and he races out of the hut in search of his betrothed.
Neteyam finds Ao'nung out by the largest of the docks, Ha'lir is at his side, giggling behind her hand at whatever he and Rotxo, who's floating on his back in the water a few feet in front of them, are arguing about. Rotxo rolls his eyes and splashes water at Ao'nung and Ha'lir, making the girl giggle more, shying away more into Ao'nung than not, while Ao'nung grins at his best friend, hardly even looking at Ha'lir and slightly moving away respectfully.
The waters were peaceful this afternoon, swaying in and out across the beach almost lazily. The sky is spotless, not a cloud in sight, and a bright, beautiful blue. Some ilu are playing over by their pen right of the dock, closer to the Mangrove tree, splashing and chittering at one another as some of the kids and handlers try to wrangle them up for feeding time. The older ones are poised and ready, mouths wide open, while they younger ones are too excited, swimming around the gathered crowd, playing. Everything is peaceful and calm aside from their playful splashing.
Neteyam smiles, despite the thundering in his chest, moving down the dock for Ao'nung, Rotxo and Ha'lir, his eyes focused on his betrothed. Rotxo glances at him as he approaches, catching sight of him over the dock once he's close enough to be seen. At first, Rotxo doesn't seem to notice anything different, he's just grinning and opening his mouth to say something, when he takes in Neteyam's appearance and his expression morphs from playful to awed.
"Oh, wow, Neteyam!"
Ao'nung tilts his head, confused as Neteyam softly asks, "What are you guys laughing about?"
"We were just - " Ha'lir starts, turning to look at Neteyam before she stops, blinking big, beautiful blue eyes in wonder at him as the big smile on her face falters slightly.
Ao'nung pushes the pile of seaweed that he had been weaving into an unknown pattern off of his lap and onto the dock, moving up onto his feet and walking over to him, his own eyes blown wide. His hands hover over Neteyam; his arms, his neck, face and hair, but doesn't touch him, as if unable to figure out if he was able to touch Neteyam or not. Neteyam's smile seems to encourage him enough that he finally just... grabs a handful of braids, running his fingers over them.
"Wow..." he breathes, eyes wide. Neteyam can see Rotxo pull himself out of the water next to Ha'lir in his peripheral, but he ignores them for a moment.
"Do I look silly?" He asks, tail twirling anxiously.
"No," Ao'nung says, eyes wide in awe. "No, you're beautiful."
Relief settles heavily on his shoulders as he lets out a shaky laugh, smiling up at the slightly taller teen. "Thank you for saying that."
Ao'nung gently runs his fingers over Neteyam's hair, mesmerized as Rotxo walks over, giving him a complimentary once over.
"It looks good, Neteyam. Did mom do that?" He asks, reaching out to lightly twirl at one of the long braids, marveling in how uniform it is to the rest. No doubt noticing how much better it is than what Neteyam is usually sporting.
His question, though, makes Neteyam feel bad, remembering how he disrespected his mom. But she had been so understanding, so kind, that she was able to look past it. He was going to have to find a way to make it up to her. He's not sure how, yet, but he will.
"No," Neteyam admits. "I asked Jake, Tsu'tey and Neytiri to do it for me. It looks nice, right?"
"It looks really good!" Rotxo says, grinning at his brother while Ao'nung frowns. Neteyam's eyes flicker over to him, worried that somehow, he found something wrong, but then Ao'nung smiles at him, leaning forward to press his forehead to Neteyam's.
"Don't look worried," he murmurs, ignoring how Rotxo rolls his eyes as Neteyam stares up at his betrothed, enraptured by him. "I always thought you were beautiful; this is just another piece to add to your beauty."
Neteyam flushes deeply, reaching up to wrap his arms around his betrothed's neck, pressing his nose against Ao'nung's, nuzzling it slightly as his betrothed wraps his arms around his back. Rotxo doesn't mind, just moving behind Neteyam to look at all the interesting things that was woven into his hair. Neteyam hasn't spent the time really looking through all of them, but he will when he gets home. He hadn't anticipated that they would weave something into his braids, but they did and it just... adds something, he thinks. It certainly makes him feel... better. Like more effort was put in.
Not from him, of course. But still.
"That was nice of them," Rotxo says, running his fingers over the bottoms of his braids down by his waist. "It looks really good, Neteyam."
Neteyam looks over his shoulder, glowing with pride and embarrassment, smiling over at his brother before leaning forward to rest his cheek on his betrothed's shoulder, catching sight of Ha'lir stepping closer to them, her beautiful eyes skimming his hair before she smiles at him.
"You look so good, Neteyam," she says sweetly. "Did you just get it done?"
Neteyam nods, offering her a thin smile in return. He hates how tense she makes him despite only ever being nice to him. He shouldn't be so sensitive to her, he knows this, but he can't help himself. She's so nice to him and he's so ugly in return. He tries not to be, really, but for some reason he's just not able to be... well, not ugly to her.
"Thank you, Ha'lir," he says softly.
Neteyam was glowing when he got home with Rotxo a few hours later to show off his hair to Rowee and their dad. Both of which both liked it too. Neteyam sat by his mom during dinner that night, smiling at Rowee, sitting pressed to Rotxo's side, chatting animatedly about his day. Neteyam keeps glancing over at his mom, wondering if he should apologize to her again for being so thoughtless for not even considering her feelings.
Despite the cool air blowing into their marui from the harmonious din of the waves brushing against the sand, it was warm pressed next to his mom. The Metkayina are better built to handle the cool air at night - at least a lot better than he is. They are able to go to deeper depths, able to handle the pressure and the cold a lot better than him. He remembers dad talking to him about how Neteyam probably came from a rainforest specifically, where it's ungodly hot all the time. Thankfully there is a lot of moisture in the air in both environments or that would just be another problem he doesn't want to deal with.
Still, it was nice to be so close to her and her warmth while she leans into him. "I love you," she says, smiling at him. "And you look beautiful."
Neteyam flushes, reaching up to touch the adornment in his hair behind his left ear that Tsu'tey wove in. The one shaped like a wooden leaf. He runs his fingers over the smooth surface. While he's doing it, running his fingers over the leaf, a familiar feeling wash over him. He doesn't usually wear adornments - especially weaved into his hair like this - but this action feels so familiar to him. Like he's spent a lot of time doing this very action but he's not sure why he feels that way. Unless he used to wear them when he was very young, before coming to the Metkayina.
Strange.
It was strange not having to run his fingers through the bottom half of his hair the following morning to try not to develop more knots than his hair usually gets during the night. But he didn't have to anymore with these braids.
As he was helping his mom put everything away while his dad was struggling to get Rowee to bed and Rotxo was putting out the fire, his mom stops, glancing down at the floor of the marui, tilting her head. Neteyam looks around, noticing that he had seen her staring at this spot before. It was a few weeks ago, if he recalls. Around the time the Sully's showed up.
"Is something wrong?" Neteyam asks, tilting his head.
"No," his mom says, smiling at him. "I think it's alright. Come, it's late and you have a long day tomorrow."
Neteyam nods, not wanting to argue and helps her finish cleaning up before calling it a night and, while taking pity on his dad's struggle, helped cuddle Rowee to sleep. He went with Ronal to pray really early that morning, then went to her hut to help her organize and clean out her stockpiles. He listens and answers all her questions about herbs and procedures, keeping up with his lessons. It has been relatively peaceful recently, so he hasn't been able to sit in on procedures with it, but she still grills him on what to do and when in order to keep him on track as much as possible. He's still not allowed to partake in any procedures alone yet.
Once she's willing to let him go to assist Jake and Tsu'tey with their lessons as it's about time that they would usually finish up their chores, before he leaves, she tells him that she likes his hair, which makes him glow with pride despite her cool expression.
Neteyam blushes, tipping his head respectfully. "Thank you, Tsahik."
She tips her head in dismissal, and he heads out. He makes it to the docks before Jake and Tsu'tey, turning his gaze out to the waters, seeing the shimmering images of the Sully siblings, his betrothed, brother and friend further off in the reef. He watches them swim around, narrowing his eyes at Ao'nung, when he notices his stupid friends are with him, but they are off to the side while Ao'nung is with Kiri, so at least he's actually doing something while Tsireya is with Tuk and Rotxo was with Lo'ak. Neteyam felt bad for intervening, but he had told Rotxo more than once that he would appreciate that if their stupid friends came around during lessons, that he would separate Lo'ak and those boys.
Rotxo acquiesced easily enough, but it still made Neteyam feel bad for getting involved. If Ao'nung wasn't going to do anything, guess Neteyam was going to have to.
Neteyam shakes his head, turning his gaze out toward the water, taking a moment to just... be alone. He hasn't been by himself for a long period of time for years. He knows that Jake and Tsu'tey would be coming soon, but it's nice to just take a few minutes to himself. He closes his eyes, tilting his head back and pointing his chin towards the beautiful blue sky. He listens to the waves, the singing of the birds, the ilu playing nearby. He feels the warmth of the sun across his skin, the gentle breeze pulling at some of his braids while the rest fall down his back.
Peaceful. Beautiful. Perfect.
His ears fold back at the sound of footsteps approaching down the dock.
"We can't ever seem to beat you here," Jake says, as a way of greeting.
"I am a very early riser," Neteyam laughs, eyes still closed as he soaks in the warmth of the sun just a moment longer. As the steps draw closer, he finally lowers his chin and turns to greet them, opening his eyes while saying, "I was thinking about going for a swim today. We could practice breath control and - "
He stops, eyes wide. Between Tsu'tey and a smirking Jake, stands Neytiri.
"Mind me imposing on you?" She asks, smiling as his rigid tail twirls happily.
Neteyam crosses the space between them instantly, hugging her closely. She wraps her arms around him tight, nuzzling the side of his head. Realizing what he'd done, he pulls back, flushing deeply. "I'm sorry," he says. "I'm just so happy to see you! I was so hoping that you would join us. I promise, you aren't going to regret it. I'm going to be such a good teacher for you." He squeezes his hands excitedly at his stomach so that he doesn't reach out to hug her again, so thankful that she was willing to put her faith in him.
Neytiri laughs, it's throaty and warm, and her shoulders loosen, as if some of her own worry is draining out of her. Jake reaches over, running his hand up and down the length of her spine before all three of them wave their hands from their foreheads in greeting. Neteyam flushes again, returning the greeting.
"Sorry."
Neytiri shakes her head. "You are such a sweet boy, Neteyam."
Neteyam flushes deeper, reaching up to tug at one of his framing braids in embarrassment. "You don't have to say that," he mumbles, cheeks burning. Then he smiles at her, holding out his hand for her to take. She does and he leads her back down the dock to the water. He releases her hand to clap, eyes skimming the water until Shixo appears, nearly spearing Neteyam's face with his long jaw but instead rests it on his shoulder, crackling like a laugh. Neteyam laughs back, running a hand up and down his friend's jaw before lowering his face back to the water.
"Shixo," Neteyam says softly, lowering to his knees so that his friend could press close to his chest and stomach. "I need to ask you for help in training again." Shixo's eyes glitter in annoyance, peaking Neytiri standing behind Neteyam. He snarls, splashing irritated. "Either you let her ride you or we find another skimwing," Neteyam reminds him gently, unable to fight the affectionate smile crossing his lips.
Shixo splashes Neteyam in annoyance before dipping his mouth under the water, angrily blowing bubbles.
"Ma'Jake and Tsu'tey were telling me about how temperamental your skimwing is," Neytiri says, smiling.
Neteyam grins at her from over his shoulder, petting his friend comfortingly. "He doesn't like anyone other than me, so I'm his only rider, whereas most other skimwing would pick two or three riders that they can stand. He doesn't want me riding anyone else, so he'll agree for training purposes, but after you've got the basics down and don't need me to help as much, we'll find a skimwing that will accept you too."
Jake and Tsu'tey practiced their breathing exercises while Neteyam shows Neytiri around Shixo, explaining the same things that he had with Tsu'tey and Jake. Showing her where to put her feet and how to squeeze her thighs when moving. He shows her the different positions for swimming, diving and flying, meanwhile Shixo is still blowing angry bubbles. He protests but allows Neytiri to form tsahaylu and Neteyam timidly asks if she would like for him to ride with her, which she happily agrees to. And just like with Tsu'tey and Jake, when they inevitably fell off Shixo in either a dive, or catching the water weird and it pulls them loose, Shixo splashes Neytiri in annoyance.
Better than him trying to take a bite out of her.
She's a good sport about it, apologizing to Shixo, who just splashes Neteyam for insisting that they go again. It took some time, but Neteyam kept pushing, knowing that Neytiri was working past her apprehensions and was becoming more determined to get this right. Neteyam was more than happy to spend all the time needed to focus on it. And by midday, Neteyam finally set her off on her own with Shixo, moving up the beach to stand next to Jake and Tsu'tey as they watch their partner execute a perfect dive into the water.
Neteyam might have been cheering louder than he's sure that he should be, but the smile of pride on Neytiri's face when she immerged from the water was worth his embarrassment. It didn't hurt that Tsu'tey and Jake were cheering with him. Shixo stomached one more attempt from her before Neteyam had to find another skimwing for Neytiri.
He showed her how to call for one. It was as rough on her throat as it was on his own but after a few attempts, another skimwing came to investigate the sound, eyeing Shixo wearily but Neteyam keeps him in place, reminding him through tsahaylu to be nice. He dunked down to punish Neteyam for even insinuating he wasn't already being nice enough as it was.
Neteyam sputters, glaring at Shixo which makes his friend cackle, splashing in amusement. But after a few minutes of riding with her new skimwing, Jake and Tsu'tey join them in the water, and they all go swimming together. Neteyam pays close attention to Neytiri but keeps his eye on both Jake and Tsu'tey to make sure that nothing happens to them. They are steadily getting better at holding their breath for longer and longer, but Neytiri isn't able to keep up just yet, understandably. But Neteyam feels warm with joy when her children spot her under the water and cheer for her with bright golden eyes that seems to finally, fully, unravel this knot of anxiety that she's been carrying with her all day.
Tsireya has the Sully kids join them on their ilu. Lo'ak still appears to be having problems, so Tsireya stays close, but Kiri, with Tuk hanging onto her back, seems to be having no problem at all. And both girls happily glide between their parents. Neteyam notices Ao'nung's friends heading off, but Rotxo swims by, tugging on his tail as he goes, making Neteyam glare at his brother.
"I kept them in line," Rotxo signs to him. "Lighten up."
"Are they still picking on him?" Neteyam asks.
Rotxo sends him a knowing look. "They're idiots. Have been since we were kids. I talked to Lo'ak. He says they are just annoying. He doesn't care about them being there. Tsireya wacked the shit out of Tatsu when he said that Lo'ak's hands were freaky."
Neteyam scowls, glaring in the direction of the vanishing boys before looking back over at his brother, a coil of anxiety building in his chest at that. Freak. That's what they used to call him.
Rotxo's ilu won't let him get too close to Shixo, it's big eyes wide in fear as Shixo flashes a caricature of a smile through razor sharp teeth, but he saddles as close as he can and reaches out to tap his knee with a look of understanding. "We've got them. Don't worry too much, okay?"
Neteyam looks away, tracking Lo'ak and Tsireya with his eyes, catching Lo'ak almost fall from his ilu again. Tsireya gestures that he's getting better, and her smile is so sweet, but Neteyam can see the frustration appearing on the other boy's face as he struggles to get back into the right riding position. Neteyam feels so bad for him. He used to have the same problems. The skin of an ilu is a lot smoother under water than a skimwing's is.
They aren't working with harnesses yet, which is for the best as it's important to be able to ride without one in the case that one might have to, but Neteyam knew that he struggled with it a lot too. It looks like, unlike Neteyam, Lo'ak's only problem is his hands. He can't seem to hold to the kuru tight enough and he keeps losing the balance of his upper half while his legs were still pressed firmly into the ilu's sides. Probably from riding their ikran, so it doesn't surprise Neteyam that Lo'ak had the one up on him in that regard.
Neteyam didn't have the thigh strength when he was younger and learned to ride an ilu so it was tough on him too, but his dad made him something to help.
Did Neteyam still have it?
Neytiri and Kiri, with Tuk still on her back, both dive down into the water, swimming around one another until Neytiri runs out of air again and has to go back up for more. Jake stays close, keeping an eye on his female mate, while Tsu'tey is with Lo'ak, watching with keen golden eyes, but once again, even the kuru on a skimwing is rougher than that of an ilu so Lo'ak is just going to have to keep working to build up his grip strength.
Ao'nung swims up to Neteyam and Rotxo, smiling at him and waving a hand in greeting. Neteyam smiles back at him, earlier annoyance forgotten as he waves back.
"You look beautiful," he signs to Neteyam and the forest boy lets out a little huff that dispels bubbles into the water around his face. He shakes his head and leans over to flick his betrothed on the forehead before zipping forward and away. Ao'nung and Rotxo are quick to give chase.
While the two are naturally better swimmers than Neteyam and can outpace him a hundred out of a hundred times on their own, Shixo alone is faster than any ilu, but considering how light Neteyam is compared to a any other reef Na'vi his age, makes Shixo even faster. His slim frame helps too, less drag in the water. But he moves in complex twists and turns to make it easier since ilu are more flexible and can spin on a dime whereas skimwing need time to turn. But Shixo handles it well, practically chortling in joy in the water, feeding off Neteyam's excitement.
His competitive nature is a lot worse than Neteyam's and Neteyam can be pretty bad.
After over an hour of swimming, it's past midday and Neteyam calls his students to join him in a swim towards his home. He motions for Lo'ak to look at him before they go their separate ways and motions for him to come with before the five of them head for the surface. Tsireya nods in agreement when Neteyam promises to send him right back in a few minutes.
"What's up, bro?" Lo'ak asks after they surface. "Something wrong?"
"Not at all," Neteyam says, glancing over his shoulder at the younger teen. "I was just thinking that I might have something that you can try. Something that might help you."
Lo'ak blinks, eyes widening slightly. "Really? I mean, you don't have to give me anything..."
Neteyam smiles. "Then I won't. I'll let you borrow it." He winks and Lo'ak smiles back.
"What were you thinking?" Neytiri asks, saddling up next to her son, running a hand down his arm. He spares her a smile before looking back at Neteyam.
"It's your grip that's the problem, right?" Neteyam asks, heading for the beach outside his marui. Lo'ak nods. "Well, my dad made this hand grip for me when I was young to help me with holding the ilu's kuru because I didn't have the callouses built up to help me. And, well, I had little stick thighs so I had absolutely no support and was falling off constantly."
Jake barks a laugh at that, which seemed to surprise Lo'ak, who stares at his dad with wide eyes before looking at Neteyam wearily. "You think I don't have good thigh support either?"
Neteyam shakes his head. "No, you do, which is why you're already doing so much better than I did. But this is just going to help you - hopefully. I just need to find it. I think I know where it is, but I'll need a moment to look, okay?"
They pull up onto the beach, climbing off the four skimwings and the ilu, the latter of which rushes away, scared to be too close to the skimwing nest while the skimwing rush to get away from Shixo. Neteyam rolls his eyes as Shixo spits hatefully after them before disappearing under the water.
"Stay for a second while I go grab it, then we can get back to work." Neteyam leaves the son and his three parents behind by the water, hearing them softly murmuring to one another as he makes his way into the home, rushing immediately to his chest on the side of marui where the chests of his and his brothers are located, going immediately to his own. He by-passes the firepit without even bothering to look at the other side of the room.
He hears a shuffling behind him and a soft grunt, recognizing his mom's voice. There is the sound of the fire crackling behind him and the smell of his mom's delicious bone broth filling the air. She must have been slow cooking it all day. Neteyam loves it but it's Rotxo's favorite meal.
"Sorry, mama," he says, digging around at the bottom, pulling out some things that were in his way and piling them off to the side. "I need to grab something for Lo'ak. It was that strap that dad made for me when I was learning to ride the ilu, you remember? I think it really helped me, so I hope that it would help him too. I know I didn't get rid of it, but it's been a while since I've actually looked for it..."
Another little thump and Neteyam's ears twist backward at the sound of an exhale.
"Have you seen it?" He asks, half glancing over his shoulder before he catches sight of it twisted up in a bunch of material that he had gathered over the years and haven't found a use for just yet or forgot about. "Oh! Found it!"
He untagles the strap and pulls it from the mess. Then he gathers everything up and tosses it back into his chest, promising himself to go back over it tonight and clean it out since it has obviously been too long since he's done that. He wraps it around his hand and stands, turning to look around the marui.
"Okay, mama, I'm going..." he falters, looking around confused. He thought his mama was here a second ago. He had heard her voice. The sound of her breath. "Mama?"
Another huff and Neteyam steps forward, peaking around the firepit and the giant cauldron set up for the broth to see his mom crumbled on the floor and for a moment he doesn't understand what he's looking at. His mom is... folded oddly on the ground. She looks like she could be just sitting there, bend over awkwardly, but her right leg is twisted inward with her knee close to her chest and stomach, more uncomfortable than broken, and her other leg is just... missing. Like the floor of the marui just... swallowed it.
Another sound and his mom raises her face towards him, eyes wide and bloodshot and her face is ghastly pale, sweating profusely.
She's laying further toward the corner of the marui on the other side, opposite diagonal from Neteyam and it takes a minute for Neteyam to remember that his mother had been staring down at that spot weeks ago - just before the Sully's arrived. That same spot again that she was looking at last night. She had been looking at it strangely and now Neteyam realized why.
"Mama...?" Neteyam whispers, moving around and over to her, his head pounding in his chest. She looks pale and worn, her arms bunched up around herself as if she tried to pull herself up and failed enough times to wear herself out. Her body is shaking and Neteyam's panic surges through him as her bleary eyes turn to him, lips trembling as she mouths, "help" to him.
Blood. He can smell it. So strong. How... how had he not noticed...? She was bleeding. Her foot fell through the marui... and she's bleeding. He has to help her, but if she's bleeding and he moves her wrong, he could do more damage. He can't... he needs...
Neteyam turns and races to the entrance of his home, panic set his heart pounding in his ears as he struggles on what to do, where to go. He didn't know where his dad was. But would he and Rotxo, Ao'nung and Tsireya be strong enough to not only move his mom, but move her in a way that she doesn't hurt herself more? What if she's all cut up on her leg and she's been bleeding out? What if she's almost dead? Does he have time to find Ronal? Did she say something about going to hunt for... clams? Sea urchins? Was that today?
Lo'ak laughs and Neteyam's panicked eyes hone in on him, standing a few feet away from Jake and Tsu'tey with Neytiri. He points at something across the water, glancing up at her with a grin. She nods, wrapping her arms around him, following his gaze.
Neteyam's eyes zip back to Jake and Tsu'tey. They could do it. They could be strong enough and... and... Neytiri was Tsakarem, like him. But she was older, more experienced. She would know what to do. How to help. They could... his mom needed... they were...
"Help me!" Neteyam rasps, breaking into a sprint towards the two males, his feet kicking up the white sand as he did. They turn at the sound of his voice, both confused. "Help!" He rushes over, panic firing through him. How many hours has it been since he left the marui? Has his mom already bled to death in the time it's taken him to find them? Is he already too late?
"What?" Jake asks, frowning in confusion, eyes scanning his face. "Baby, what's wrong?"
Neteyam grabs onto one of each of their arms, pulling them with him back towards the marui. "Help," he rasps, voice hoarse as his throat closes up. "Help, please!" His eyes dart between them, hands shaking arms pounding, trying to find some way to explain to them what he needs while panicking. Tsu'tey turns to him, caressing his face while tilting his head.
"What is wrong, ma'yawntu? Talk to me."
Why are they stalling? It has been so long! She could be... she could be...
No, he can't think about that. He needs them to come, he needs them to help him. He needs them to... he needs them to.. "Papa, please, help me."