The Child the Sea Returned
(ronal and tonowari)
Story: ronal lost her child in war, and she fall into depression — but later, eywa gave you to her (part 1)
Part 2 — part3 — part4 — part5 — part6- part7
___________________________________________
The sea was quiet that morning, its surface shimmering softly under the pale light of the rising sun. The waves moved slowly against the reef, whispering against the coral like a breath. Ronal walked beside the water with heavy steps, her eyes dull with exhaustion. Her body had recovered from the birth, but her spirit had not. The child she carried for months had come into the world without breath… without warmth. She still remembered the cold weight of the tiny body in her hands. Since that day, silence had settled over her like a thick fog.
Tonowari stayed close beside her. He had watched her slowly retreat into herself over the past weeks—speaking less, sleeping more, often staring at the horizon as if waiting for something that would never return. It frightened him. Ronal had always been strong, fierce like the tide itself, but now she seemed fragile in a way he had never seen.
“Come,” Tonowari said gently that morning, gesturing toward the water. “Just a swim. Or a walk along the reef. Staying inside all day will not ease your mind.”
Ronal did not answer immediately. Her eyes stayed on the sea, distant, unfocused. For a moment he thought she might refuse again like she had many times before.
But finally she exhaled slowly.
“…Very well.”
It was the first time she had agreed to anything in days.
They stepped into the water together, the cool sea rising slowly around their legs, then their waists. The waves rocked gently around them as they moved farther out, the reef stretching quietly beneath the surface. Neither of them spoke. The silence between them was not angry… just heavy.
Then Ronal suddenly stopped.
Tonowari noticed the change immediately. “What is it?”
Ronal’s sharp eyes had caught something unusual drifting near the shallow coral. At first it looked like nothing more than a bundle of cloth tangled in seaweed.
But then it moved.
Her heart jumped.
She waded forward quickly, pushing aside the floating sea plants, her breath catching when she saw the tiny shape inside.
An infant.
A small human baby, wrapped poorly in damp cloth, skin pale from the cold water. The child was weakly crying, the sound thin and tired from exhaustion.
For a moment Ronal simply stared.
Someone had left the infant here.
Alone.
Her arms moved before her thoughts did. She lifted the baby carefully from the water, holding the fragile body close against her chest. The infant’s cries quieted almost instantly from the warmth of her skin.
Tonowari approached slowly, his brows tightening as he looked down at the tiny human.
“…A sky-people child,” he muttered.
Ronal said nothing. She just stared down at the baby in her arms.
The weight felt hauntingly familiar.
Too familiar.
Her throat tightened as memories rushed through her mind—her own newborn child, silent and unmoving, cold in her hands. The pain she had tried to bury surged back like a storm.
The infant shifted slightly and made a soft sound, tiny fingers curling weakly against her arm.
Warm.
Alive.
Tonowari watched her expression carefully. He could see the storm of emotions in her eyes.
“Ronal…” he said quietly. “We do not know how this child came here.”
Her voice was low when she finally spoke.
“Someone left it to die.”
The words were sharp, filled with quiet anger.
Tonowari frowned deeply. “Perhaps… or perhaps they believed someone would find it.”
Ronal looked down at the small human face again. The baby’s eyes were barely open, tired from crying. It was so small… helpless… vulnerable.
Just like her own child had been.
Tonowari sighed slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“This is not simple,” he admitted. “It is a human child.”
Ronal held the infant closer instinctively, as if shielding it from the very idea of being taken away.
“What do you suggest?” she asked coldly.
Tonowari hesitated before answering.
“…We should call the Toruk Makto.”
The next day, Jake Sully arrived with a small group from the forest clans. He stepped onto the shore and approached Ronal and Tonowari, his eyes quickly falling on the tiny bundle in Ronal’s arms.
His brows rose in surprise.
“Well… that’s something you don’t see every day.”
He crouched slightly to get a closer look at the infant. The baby blinked up at him weakly, tiny fists moving clumsily.
“A human baby…” Jake muttered.
Tonowari crossed his arms. “We found the child drifting near the reef.”
Jake frowned. “Drifting?”
“Someone abandoned it,” Ronal said quietly.
Jake’s expression darkened.
For a moment he was silent, thinking.
Then he finally spoke carefully.
“I can take the baby back to the human settlement,” he explained. “They’ll probably send it back to Earth eventually… or place it in an orphanage.”
The word lingered heavily in the air.
Ronal’s arms tightened slightly around the infant.
“An… orphanage?” she repeated slowly.
Jake nodded, though he seemed uneasy saying it.
“Yeah. A place where children without parents are raised. It’s… normal in human society.”
Ronal looked down at the baby again.
The infant had fallen asleep against her chest, breathing softly, trusting the warmth that held it.
Her voice became almost a whisper.
“…Alone again.”
Tonowari noticed the change immediately.
He knew that tone.
Jake scratched the back of his head awkwardly, sensing the tension.
“I mean… unless you guys had another idea.”
Ronal lifted her gaze slowly.
Her eyes were no longer empty.
They were burning with something fierce.
“No child,” she said quietly, “deserves to be cast aside twice.”
Tonowari looked at her carefully.
“Ronal…”
She held the baby closer.
The infant stirred slightly, pressing its tiny face against her.
And for the first time since losing her own child…
Ronal felt warmth in her chest again.
________________________________________
I just made an acc for avatar, if it's not too much can u guys follow me there 😭🫶🏻
@tseriya13
