Okay, I need to talk about the Toruk Makto reunion scene in Avatar, because I used to completely misread it.
When I was younger, I thought Neytiri was kind of shallow here. She chased Jake off, rejected him, we didn't even see her worry about him after that! When he could've been dead! And then he shows up with a fancy ride and a title, and suddenly she's willing to take him back. Cool. Very romantic. (I was being a hater.)
But I'm older now, and I get it. She isn't standing there impressed — she's standing there shellshocked. Because she's the one who taught him what Toruk Makto means: five riders in the entire recorded history of her people, her own ancestor among them, the beast that hunts the very Ikran they ride and bond with. She isn't looking at a guy with a fancy new ride. She's doing the math on how many times he should have died attempting this.
And there's only one thought going through her head: "Did this idiot seriously just risk his life to tame Toruk, just to get back with me?"
Think of it this way. Imagine your ex — the one you broke up with, the one who hurt you — dives to the bottom of the ocean to bring you back a pearl, because he knows you love them and he wants you back. Except the ocean floor is guarded by the thing most likely to eat him, and he can't even swim, and he didn't text you first. He just vanished, and then resurfaced holding it.
The sheer magnitude of it floors you.
That's the face she's making. It isn't "You got me a gift." It's "You went there — for me?"
Because the thing that wrecks you isn't the prize. It's the lengths. It's realizing that someone weighed their own life against losing you, and chose you.
She didn't fall for the title. She fell apart over the math.
When the sky people had came back, they had not only brought with them new machinery but also new fear. They brought fear to clans who once stood tall and fought back. Anyone who had lived through the first war against the sky people had also lived through seeing many deaths and losses. Many had lost their loved ones, they had lost their children, their spouses, and their parents. Now they are back, the Na’vi can only wonder who they would lose now.
However, they are reminded that they won the first war with Toruk Makto and they can win another one again.
Jake had let Toruk go once the humans had left the first time and he had believed that they would never come back. With the biggest threat to his life and wife gone, he allowed them both to have such a large family. He loved each child Eywa gave him and he knew that he would go to extreme lengths to keep each child alive and happy the moment he first laid eyes on them. There had been times where his children had been in danger with the other inhabitants of Pandora, but he had always been there to save them. Always.
So now that he knew that his children are under a gun, he felt his heart drop. He caught Neytiri’s eyes and saw the same fear in her that he felt. He had nearly lost both his sons just a day ago when he took them both out with the war party. He remembers telling them that they were spotters, and they must always, always keep themselves in distance to the fight.
He would not allow himself to imagine the ‘what if’s if he had not been able to get to them in time and save them both. As his wife told him that he was being too hard on them, he had turned and looked at all his kids gathered in their family tent with Neteyam as he got patched up. Jake watched as Lo’ak sat beside his older brother, telling Neteyam that he is a ‘mighty warrior’, to cheer his brother up after being scolded by his father. Jake watched as Kiri and Mo’at both bickered on which healing paste to use. Jake watched as Tuk and Y/n squabbled again in the corner of the tent only to stop when Neteyam would let out an ‘ow.’ He watched them and he could not ever allow himself to let them slip away and die.
He is a father, and a father protects.
So how is it that he let his kids be held at gunpoint, a gun that once threatened to kill him?
Neteyam claimed to know a shortcut and led his parents over to the old shack.
---
Y/n had just gotten back from hunting, and she began to skip over to her family tent. She knew that her father was not in the best mood yesterday because of Lo’ak’s recklessness and this morning he did not seem to be all that happy either. She knew it was only because he cared, it was only because he loved her and her siblings that made him be so hard on them. Though even she would admit, sometimes he does become a bit much when scolding. This is what lead her to convince the hunting party to hunt teylu instead. It’s a common fact that the olo’eyktan loves teylu and though they are not a big challenge to hunt, it still can be a difficulty to find enough to feed the entire clan.
Y/n looked inside her family tent but found no one. She knew her parents and Neteyam were going patrolling later today, but she had thought that they would have been back by now. Looking around and asking others, she did not get much information on their whereabouts. She had considered putting on her throat microphone but decided to wait a bit more in case they do come back, and she had been worrying over nothing.
Y/n could never sit alone and do nothing. She isn’t one who knows how to enjoy her own company, she needs others around her. So sitting here alone to wait made her agitated even more. She sighed and got up to visit her grandmother’s tent. Y/n adored her grandmother or rather she adored annoying her grandmother. Either way, Mo’at could never say she disliked Y/n, she loved all her grandchildren equally. However, that does not mean she will not hesitate to give them a scolding if they push her buttons. Like one grandchild does.
“Hey Grandma!” Y/n called out.
No answer.
“grandMAAAAA”
Still no answer. So, then she took a deep breath.
“GRAN-”
“Who let a bloody screeching Ikran in?” Mo’at entered her tent to see Y/n standing there in the middle. “What is it? What do you want?” She had been carrying multiple pots with healing pastes in, each for a different type of injury. After putting the pots down, she sat down on a mat and patted the spot opposite her to tell Y/n to sit as well.
“Mom and dad and everyone else have gone out so I decided to spend time with my favorite grandma.”
“As if you have 10 other grandmas lined up outside so that you can pick me as your favorite.” Mo’at muttered. “So, they all went and left you here with me. Why?”
“Dunno.” Y/n had sat down, and her grandmother had given her a cup with water to drink from before getting a cup for herself. They both sat in a comfortable silence while they drank from their own cups.
“Tsk, look at your hair child, why don’t you braid it? You look just like your father when he first came here.”
“I’m not patient enough for that grandma, mom had tried to sit me down before, but it takes so long.” Y/n complained before finishing off her drink. Mo’at shook her head before she too finished the swallowed the last drop of water in her cup.
“Y/N?”
Mo’at and Y/n’s ears pricked up at the call. They recognised the voice that belonged to Neytiri and could hear the urgency and worry in her voice. Both grandmother and granddaughter shared a worried look before standing up to get out of the tent and meet the worried mother.
“Mom, I’m here.” Y/n walked up to her mother. Once she locked eyes with her she could see that Neytiri was trying her best to not look frightened but the worry lines between her brow made it even clearer. “What’s wrong?”
“Where were you?”
Y/n sees her dad gently push her siblings out of their family tent, pointing off into the distance and they all walked away.
“Was with Grandma, why?”
Neytiri sighed and closed her eyes in relief. She gave her daughter a kiss on her forehead before turning around to look at Jake who had called her into the tent. She left to go join him after patting Y/n’s shoulder.
Y/n watched in confusion as both her parents disappeared into the tent. Her mother had never even told her what happened. Looking to her right, she saw her brothers standing and quietly talking to each other. If her mother couldn’t answer her, then she wonders if it had been those two who got in trouble again.
“Neteyam, Lo’ak, what happened?” Y/n asked.
The two brothers shared a look before Lo’ak looked down at his feet.
“You tell her.” Lo’ak nudged Neteyam.
“Well, Lo’ak and the others went down to the old shack-”
“What!” Y/n’s outburst caused some of the other clan members to look their way. The three gave them an awkward smile before Neteyam tugged his sister closer to whisper.
“Keep your voice down.” He hissed.
“My bad, then what?”
Y/n saw Lo’ak’s ears flatten, probably because he knew what happened next.
“Then they saw human na’vi.”
“What?!” Again, others around the three gave them looks.
“Just let me finish and be quiet. They then were spotted by the human Na’vi.”
Y/n’s eyes grew and so did her mouth, just before she was to let out another ‘What!’, Neteyam had out his hand over her mouth.
“Quiet, remember,” He reminded her and only continued once she had nodded her head and pretended to zip her mouth shut. “They were then being held under their guns and used as bait to get Dad-”
“WHAT-”
“Y/n! Keep your voice-”
“No way. Lo’ak, you daredevil!” Y/n smirked at her younger brother, proud of how he managed to be under that situation and come back out alive. Lo’ak began fighting back a smile as his sister praised him.
“He had Tuk with him.” Neteyam added.
Y/n’s smile dropped, and she smacked the back of Lo’ak’s head. “Idiot.”
“Ow-”
“And the human na’vi took spider.”
Another smack.
“OW-”
She then pulled both of her brothers into a hug, though Lo’ak had been reckless once again, putting not only his life in danger but also his other sibling’s life in danger too, she was glad that they came back home alive.
---
Kiri and Tuk had been listening in to their parents as they argued back and forth. The fabric of the tent was thick but there were gaps which allowed their voices, which were already raised, to trallevel to their ears easily.
Kiri had one ear pressed against the outside wall of the tent as she listened and in the corner of her eye, she saw the twins and Lo’ak walking towards her.
“Hurry.” She waved and urged them to get to her quicker. The three jogged towards her and joined in on eavesdropping.
“If the people harbour us, they will die. Do you understand? Look I’ve got nothing. I got no plan. But I can protect this family, that I can do.”
Y/n heard her father’s words and wondered what exactly he meant it. He said he will protect his family, from what she guesses, the humans. How would he protect them? She doesn’t know. Another war perhaps? However, he plans to protect them she knows it will not be easy. Especially if he had to work so hard to convince her mother.
---
An hour later, the kids of Toruk Makto had sat themselves down in a circle. Their parents had just told them that they would be getting ready to leave the forest as soon as possible. That was a lot to take in. To experience near death, to know your family could have died and then be taken out of your home to go who-knows-where. When Y/n woke up she had never thought that while she had been out hunting, her family were fighting for their lives.
All her life, Y/n had been told that she is the future of the clan along with her brother. She has spent so much time and effort in training to be the best future for her clan. All those cuts and bruises, all those restless nights worrying about whether she will be good enough would be for nothing? Everything she had ever done here in the forest, would mean nothing?
What about her friends? Everyone in the clan? She cares about them all and she has to leave them?
“I suppose it would be exciting to live somewhere else?” Neteyam spoke up. “We might go up to the mountains, the reef or the deserts-”
“I want to stay here.” Kiri interrupted him.
“We don’t really have a say in that.” Y/n reminded her. Though they may have passed their Iknimaya and have their own Ikrans, their parents have still treated them as children with a bit more freedom, still children, nonetheless. Even if they had treated them as adults, moving out from the forest was still something they had no say in since their dad was pretty set on doing it.
“We might come back, if the humans ever leave.” Neteyam tried to bring some sort of hope to the table.
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Y/n stood up to go sleep. Nothing was going to happen with them just sitting there so why not lay down and sleep.
Neteyam rolled his eyes. He was trying hard to cheer everyone up, why couldn’t Y/n see that.
“It’s okay bro, let's just sleep.” Lo’ak stood up too, going into the tent to go sleep.
Neteyam watched as Kiri got up and took Tuk with her and they too went to sleep. He wondered if any of them would get any sleep that night.
---
The next day, Y/n walked up to where her friends had gathered in a circle. They were waiting for her since today was meant to be one of her days off from training and she had told them days before that she would spend this day with them. Her steps felt heavy as got closer and closer to them. She really didn’t want to tell them that she would be moving away and will most likely never see them ever again.
“Y/n is here!” Zinat, the closest friend Y/n had called out. “Hey what’s wrong?”
“Um, well, me and my family are leaving the forest.”
“What? Y/n what do you mean?” All of her friends looked confused. How can one simply leave the forest and go where exactly?
“It’s because I broke your bow that one time right?” Akim asked. He was a kid who was a few years older than the twins but still hung out with them from time to time.
“It was you?! I literally blamed Lo’ak because I thought he did it.”
“Oh so... you didn’t know-”
“Shut up Akim, Y/n what do you mean you are leaving the forest? How can you just leave?” Zinat asked, pushing Akim away even though he was a foot taller than her.
“My father fears that the sky people are after my family and are willing to fight others to get to us. So he is going to take us away from here until the humans give up.” Y/n sighed. She really did not want to leave her home and her friends. She had been trying hard to keep her tears in but when she saw the sad looks her friends were giving her, the tears could not be held back any longer.
“Oh Y/n... come here.” Zinat was the first to pull her into a hug before Akim and the others joined in. They all shared one last group hug and tears before Y/n was called by her mother to finish packing before they leave the next day. Taking a deep breath, Y/n let go of her friends and gave them a small smile before turning around to head back into her family tent.
Neytiri saw the dried tears around her daughters eyes. She didn’t want this anymore than Y/n did but she believed Jake had a point to moving out. She placed a comforting hand on the back of her daughters back and lead her back in the tent. When she looked back at her friends, she meet with their eyes, their eyes that were also filled with tears. The forest was all her children ever knew. The forest and its people. She almost feels as if she had failed as a mother to take it away from them.
---
Y/n watched while struggling to keep her tears in as her father’s title as olo’ekytan was taken away. She prayed to Ewya the other day to give her father another option, another idea other than leaving but her prayers had not been answered. Neteyam placed his hand on the back of her shoulder to move her along with her family as they walked through the parted crowd of the clan and towards their Ikrans to fly away. While walking through the crowd, Y/n had caught Zinat’s eyes and saw how here ears laid flat against her head, tears falling rolling down her cheeks as Akim held her close. He gave Y/n a nod as she walked past him.
When the family had gotten on their Ikran’s the children would constantly look behind them to see the trees of the forest grow smaller and smaller in size till all they would see in all four directions was the sea. Y/n could smell the salt as they flew over the water, when looking down she would occasionally see a brightly coloured fish swimming near the surface before it swims down deeper into the sea.
Though the environment around her was calming, the atmosphere between her family was anything but calm. Words were not said apart from Tuk’s ‘Are we there yet?’ but worry and stress could be seen on everyone’s faces. Y/n then caught Neteyam’s eye, she gave him a small smile before he nodded at Lo’ak and Kiri.
Lo’ak had his eyebrows crossed ever since they left, thinking how this all was his fault. They only had to move because he wanted to go see the old shack. They only had to leave because he believes he got himself and his siblings caught. What he did not realised was that his father would have made the decision to leave as soon as he had found out about the human na’vi whether it had been him who discovered them first or Lo’ak.
Kiri had let out a few sighs since they left the forest. Even though she loved flying on her Ikran, she would much rather not be flying over the sea and rather be flying over the familiar trees of her home.
The twins nodded at each other before the flew on either side of Kiri and Lo’ak.
“Betcha’ can’t do this!” Y/n dared before riding her Ikran while standing.
Kiri raised an eyebrow before smirking and standing up on her Ikran as well. Neteyam got up too and so did lo’ak, though he was a little shaky on his feet.
“Don’t look down.” Y/n advised.
“Can you do this?” Kiri asked while sitting back down and making her Ikran turn upside down and upright again.
Y/n shrugged her shoulders and did the same move smoother followed by Neteyam. Lo’ak managed to do it as well without falling off as he nearly did the last time he tried.
“What about thi-” Lo’ak began while getting ready to stand up again.
“Sit back down.” Jake’s voice seemed to have came out of nowhere as it caught the four off guard. He really couldn’t have his kids falling off their Ikrans right now and thankfully his kids listened to him. He heard Lo’ak’s ‘I’m sat’ which calmed his nerves for a while before Y/n ‘accidentally’ flew her Ikran a little too close to Kiri’s. Kiri looked at her in surprise since she knew her sister wasn’t that bad of a flyer. Y/n shrugged and smiled and Kiri caught on to what she was trying to do and then she too ‘accidentally’ flew her Ikran a little too close to Y/n’s.
“Girls, stop.” Jake told them off once he heard hushed giggled behind him. He did not mind them cheering each other up to lighten the mood but he just needed them to sit calmly till they all reach the reef and not fall off of their Ikrans.
In the distance, civilisation could be seen, the sun shone down on the water making it look as if the water were made out of glass. The na’vi that lived there looked up at the sky as the Sully’s flew their Ikrans over. Some would shout and others would dive into the water. Y/n looked down at them and noticed that the Na’vi that lived here looked a bit different. She watched as they all swam back to their mainland and gathered around for form a crowd.
They Sully’s landed their Ikrans on an open space of sand. When jumping down from her Ikran, Y/n noticed how soft and warm the sand felt under her feet. It was different to the touch of grass and rocks which she was used to. Looking up from the sand, she joined her family walking slowly towards the other Na’vi. Her father and Neteyam both walked with their arms spread to show that they had no weapons on them and mean to cause no harm.
Y/n never really had this many eyes on her at once before, much less eyes that belong to those that she has never met before. By now the crowd around them had become rather dense. She saw her brothers greet two boys that made their way through the crowds. They ignored her brother’s greetings and simply stared at them as if they were alien.
“Look at their tail.” The smaller one pointed at Neteyams tail. They both laughed to themselves. Their skin had a much lighter shade of blue compared to Y/n’s family. Their arms and tails were thicker and bigger in size too with smaller ears. If only it had been them coming to the forest, then it would have been them who were ‘alien’.
Y/n immediately decided then and there that she did not like them both at all. Her face fell into a scowl and she held back a hiss. Moving her eyes to the taller boy, she met his eyes and that stupid smirk of his. He looked her up and down, she did the same, both settling on looking at each other in disgust before a young girl came and told them both off for their words. Y/n decided that she liked that girl. At least she knew how to behave with people that she has just met. After all, doesn’t the first impression last the longest?
Y/n had been so distracted by glaring at the tall boy that she had not even realised when a women came around inspecting each one of her family members. She only turned her head to look at the women when she came around to her and grabbed her right hand. The hand that had an extra finger.
“These children aren’t even real Na’vi!” She help up Y/n’s hand for entire clan to see. By the looks of the woman, Y/n guessed that she was a healer or probably the Tsahik from her bold actions. Her clothes certainly were extravagant, she also had black designs on her face and body like some of the other adults here, perhaps she was their Tsahik.
“Yes we are.” Kiri spoke up.
Ignoring Kiri, the Tsahik continued speaking. “They have demon blood in them!”
Y/n rolled her eyes and tugged her hand out of the Tsahik’s grasp. Well obviously she had ‘demon blood’ in her, her father used to be a human but it is not like Y/n herself was going to turn into a bloodthirsty human and go on a killing spree. Jake stepped forward and showed the Tsahik his hand, making it obvious to point out that he also had an extra finger.
“See here, I was born with the sky people and now I’m Na’vi. You can adapt. We can all adapt.” Jake was not only talking to the Tsahik but also the rest of the clan. Y/n watched as some members of the clan whispered amongst themselves. They looked back and forth from different members of her family and Y/n couldn’t understand them. So what if her family looked different. At the end of the day they were all Na’vi just like her family.
“My husband was Toruk Makto.” Neytiri told the Tsahik and the Olo’eyktan, though it was mostly aimed at the Tsahik. “He led the clans to victory against the sky people.”
“This you call victory? Hiding amongst strangers?” The Tsahik argued back.
The tall boy from earlier snorted. Y/n went to glare at him again but he had already begun to move towards the Tsahik and Olo’eyktan before she could even turn her head. After further negotiation, or rather pleading, the Metkayina clan finally let the Sully family stay.
“My son Ao’nung and daughter Tsireya will teach your kids the way of water.” The Olo’eyktan announced. Y/n watched as he pointed his hand towards the tall boy and the nicer young girl. So then the fish boy was the Olo’eyktan’s son? Great, that probably means that Y/n would have to befriend the bastard, it made her grind her teeth just thinking about it. She’d rather drown than befriend the boy that openly disrespected her family.
Ao’nung, the tall boy, looked back at the Sully kids, one in particular with annoyance as his father announced that he would be the one to babysit them. They were forest people and forest people belong in the forest, not in the water. Their thin arms and legs would have no strength when in the water. Whatsmore, they seem to be acting much mightier than one would expect when it was them begging for a place to stay. Like that girl, he had exchanged no words with her yet the moment he laid eyes on her she was already picturing throwing a spear through his head. Which is too bad, she has a pretty face but a nasty personality. There would be no way that she and her family would be able to keep up with him.
If only he could send them back where they came from.
Hypothetically if Spider ever managed to get an avatar and maybe it even eventually becomes his actual permanent body, do you think it’d change his relationship with the Sully family? Or is he forever doomed to be seen as a stray cat they care about kind of (when it’s not inconvenient) from time to time?
Thoughts on Spider.
After Way of the Water? No.
(Also, anon, why would you come to this blog for validation of family feels and hurt comfort? May I suggest you go to any other blog on this site, you'll be much happier.)
Because it'll come out that he brought the enemy to their camp as well as saved the corporal's life. Now, the former can be excused in that he was coerced and tortured. However, there is the messy emotional business that Neteyan died solely because of Quaritch's blind obsession with Jake Sully that Spider went out of his way to aid by showing him things they would not have considered such as flying banshees.
(Note, Spider was in a bad position, and more is a boy who just wants to be loved by somebody. This was his father who was finally noticing him, praising him, and of course while conflicted he wanted to aid him and have him be proud of him. He's also young and didn't realize that no, he's not clever enough to trick Quaritch and pretend to go along with his schemes then betray him at the last minute. That plan didn't work out.
What I'm getting at is I don't blame Spider by Neyteri certainly will.)
With Quaritch alive still and out for blood, when it gets out that Spider's the one who saved him (and it will get out), it'll seem to the Sully's that he picked sides and he didn't pick the Sully's. While I'm sure we'll have a whole thing about the kids forgiving him (Kiri especially is very fond of Spider in movie 2) and Jake telling Neyteri it's cool because "Sully's stick together" there's still not going to be great feeling after this.
I imagine, after a lot of hardship, Spider would be... tolerated at best and if possible, persuaded to go to Earth when they kick the humans out for the second time.
If they give him a consolation Avatar it'll be just that, a consolation Avatar, and I imagine he'll never remove the stigma of "other" from himself or "that time he cooperated with the enemy" (when, again, he had little choice in the matter).
Before the events of the second film, though, if an Avatar crash landed on him (or the lab had somehow managed to retain the materials to make them), I imagine Neyteri would find it weird and uncomfortable. Spider is human, in her eyes Jake had to prove himself a member of the people and effectively give up his humanity. Her children are her children, born of the Nav'i. Even Kiri is very clearly Nav'i and was born of immaculate conception (or let's not think about it). Spider has no reason to be in an Avatar, he's not fighting the humans who aren't there, and would just be doing it to... pretend he's Nav'i even more than the human scientists are. I imagine she wouldn't be thrilled, especially given it's the son of her enemy.
(I'm not saying this is rational of her, Spider is a child who literally knew nothing of any of these people, but it seems to be how Neyteri generally views him, and I don't see her loving the idea of adopting the son of her warlord enemy.
Given that, from what we see, she didn't love the idea of adopting the son of her warlord enemy in canon and kind of just let the socially awkward scientists not raise him.)
There is now a full fic available, if you’re interested, link to the masterlist is here
Last part to being his twin :/ Read all the other parts here
You see Neteyam following Lo’ak, this unsettling feeling that had placed itself on the bottom of your chest makes you follow him too. You walk in on them both talking.
“Why do you always have to make things so hard?” Neteyam asks Lo’ak. Though you can tell he didn’t mean it in a way that would hurt, the look on Lo’ak’s face tells you that he took it the wrong way. He looks back at Neteyam, ears slightly turned down as he replies, “No, you mean why can’t I be the perfect son like you.”
“Oh Lo’ak..” You mutter. He continues.
“Or a perfect little solider. Well I’m not you, okay? I’m not you.”
You watch neteyam gather himself before he replies. He is trying hard to not say anything that would make this worse. You don’t exactly know whether or not you should interrupt them or not.
“He’s my brother. I’m going.” Brother? Who is he talking about?
“Oh, he is your brother?” Neteyam makes Lo’ak look at him. “No I’m your brother.”
“Lo’ak, listen-” You walked up to them but Lo’ak turned around and got onto his ilu.
“No, I’m going.”
You look at Neteyam and see Aonung and Tsireya coming towards you guys. You think you the only one who hears you brother sigh before he goes to get his own ilu. “Come on, he’s going to see Payakan.”
So thats who Lo’ak was going on about. All of you, including that one kid Rotxo who always tags along, went after lo’ak. The cold water helped cool yourself down from everything that is going on. You could see Lo’ak in front of you in the distance. You turn your head to see Kiri with Tuk behind her. This is fine, just let him warn Payakan about the tulkun hunting and get back to the village.
Well, that plan goes downhill once you see Payakan’s fin with one of the human devices which help them hunt.
“Come on, help!” Lo’ak calls out to you all. All of you quickly go to them him, trying to pull the device out but it is difficult even with all of you pulling. You look up and in the distance you see a boat.
Your eyes widen as you realise who the boat belongs to. That unsettling feeling that was sitting on your chest began to grow as soon as you saw. “The boat! The boat is coming!” You tell the others. Neteyam looks at you then at the boat behind you which was making its way to you.
“Quick, tell dad. Tell dad now.” He tells you. You nod and turn back around to look at the approaching boat. Your hand goes to your neck to turn your throat microphone on.
“Dad, can you hear me?”
“Odd socks, that you?”
“Why the- nvm okay so me and everyone else are with Payakan. He has been marked and we can see a boat in the distance.”
You look back at everyone and see that they managed to get the device out of payakan’s fin. “Quick, we need to leave.” You tell them.
“I’ll take this somewhere far so they don’t follow us.” Neteyam tells you, holding the red device in his hands. You nod at him, telling him that you will go with him. He shakes his head and tells you to stay with the others and make sure they get back safe. You hesitate but agree with him anyway.
Now all of you are swimming away on your ilus but you’re being followed by humans in some sort of machine which allows them to move quickly in the water. You’re heart beat picks up but you try to remain calm. Just get everyone out of here.
Too bad you all got split up. Now you’re with Aonung and Rotxo. The machine is quick, too quick. It nearly grabbed you a few times. You decide to lead it away from the others since it was after you rather than the two boys. So you make a sharp turn right and as you expected, the machine follows. You sign to the boys to keep going and not follow after you. You tell your ilu to go towards the seaweed that is near you, you might be able to lose it in there since the plant grows to be so tall.
You plan on getting it tied up with the plant so badly that it can’t move anymore, then the human will have no choice but to leave the machine and when it is out in the water with no machinery, you have the upper hand. So you swim left and right, diving down to only appear behind it and swim back over it. It’s a risky plan considering how it nearly got you once. However, before you managed to get it tangled in the seaweed, you lost your ilu. Now you won’t be swimming as fast but at least the machine can not move. For now at least.
You swim towards it, taking out your knife, which you always had on you, and attempting to break the glass. It’s no use, you only manage to get a small crack in before it breaks free from the plant’s hold. You decide on swimming away before it can get you. Though a part of you felt as if swimming away was useless since it could catch up to you easily. As you swim away you can hear it breaking free and you know that you are going to get caught. You can’t even swim as fast because you need to breath since you have been holding your breath for far too long. Your chest feels tight, you need air.
You can hear it coming towards you as you struggle to breathe, what you don’t hear is an ilu coming up behind you. You feel someone quickly grab you and you get onto their ilu, sitting behind the person while having their hair in your face.
It was your brother, Neteyam.
His ilu swims away from the machine and you feel yourself get lightheaded. You need air. Neteyam gets off of his ilu, and helps you swim into a plant which has a pocket of air. You cling onto the walls of the the plant, gasping for air.
“Thanks.” You manage to get out in between breaths. You can feel your head start to pound as you lean it against the wall of the plant. He puts his hand on your head.
“Breathe.” He tells you, you nod at him. You watch as he turns his head around, seeing a pair of light beams moving around. “Quick, they will find us soon. We need to go.”
“Lets go then.” You both take a deep breath before going back under water and swimming away from the lights. You’re ilu bumps into you and you both get onto your ilu’s back.
Eventually, you manage to find anoung and rotxo with kiri. ‘Where are the others?’ you sign to them.
‘They got taken by the sky people.’ Aonung signed back. Your heart dropped.
‘Stay here, we will go and get them.’ Neteyam signs. Once you see the three leave, you tell your ilu to go towards the boat, you see Payakan ahead of you. You stop and watch him. It seems as if he was up to something.
You both watched as he jumped out of the water and onto the boat. Neteyam signalled for you to move, this was your chance at getting onto the ship while the humans are distracted.
Thanks to Payakan, you both make it onto the ship, you see Tsireya, Tuk and Lo’ak with their hands tied to the railing. You cut Tsireya and Tuk free while Neteyam helps Lo’ak.
“Who’s the mighty warrior? Come on say it.”
“Bro..”
Tuk clings onto you and you have Tsireya behind you, you expected Neteyam and Lo’ak to start running off the boat with you but Lo’ak starts to run further into the boat.
“Lo’ak!” You grab his hand.
“They have spider, we have to go get him.”
Neteyam puts his hand on your shoulder, you look at him. “I’ll go with him, we’ll get spider and come back to you guys.”
“No, it’s dangerous. Either of you could not make it back out!” You argue back.
“We will be fine sister. Look, you can come with us or take Tsireya and Tuk back safely.” Lo’ak tells you. You look back at the two girls behind you then back at your brothers.
