Chapter Text
When I was a boy I used to have dreams of this friend that I had.
I never knew his name, only fragments of it.
I was so young.
I remember we would always talk in the starlight about everything and everyone. I complained about my mother to him and he complained about hers. We would talk about our favorite types of animals and tools we would use for hunting.
It was like two pieces. We only existed our own little bubbles against the world. I liked it. I felt happy talking to him.
I wonder how he is doing now?
My sister doesn't remember any of it, because she was so young. Or atleast younger than me. So she never talked about it. But I think about it every once in a while. It comes to my mind like a spark and I recall our memories like they happened yesterday. His laugh was quiet but maybe the most enchanting thing I ever heard. I don't know if he liked mine.
I hope he did.
When I tried to mention it to my mother she always refused to acknowledge it.
"Ao'nung don't be silly." She always said that to me.
"You never went to meet any boy, you were at home like always, asleep."
That's what she always said. And after a time when the memories started to fade… I believed her. Because it did sound crazy after a while.
Why would there be a boy in the back of our marui?
It sounded absurd.
So absurd that that one small part of me, the part I kept hidden all these years, wished that it was true. That I wasn't dreaming. Because it felt so real. It felt raw and real being next to him as we pointed at the stars every night. He told me stories about each of them and every story felt even more exciting than the next. I always asked every night what story did he have for me next and he would always tell me another one.
I only remember his shadow in the moonlight. It was always moonlight for some odd reason. Never the daylight. I blink my eyes as the stinging pain of the fruit I cut was getting to me. Tsireya scolded my way of doing it but I digressed and did it anyway.
I remember his eyes. They always shined in the dark. Like it had its own night vision. I sigh and cut the last slice into the bowl as I wipe my hands of the goo that spread out of its center. I give back to my sister as she finishes the cooking. I had to go meet my father. Apparently some important business that wasn't related to Tsireya yet.
I wake up to the sound of hard rustling outside our home. It was mama and papa outside the door. I was so loopy and half out of it that I didn't even get up but I saw after them six more figures in the moonlight. I heard my mama yelling. After that, I fell asleep again. I don't know if it was an argument or a fight but the other half sounded scared. Or rather afraid.
Weird dream.
I felt a sudden push to my hip and back. It woke me up from my slumber. It happened again and again. Something kept pushing me.
"Ao! Ao!"
It was my sister. Now I can't bother to wake up. But she kept pushing me. Making me more annoyed. I turned my scrunched head against her, seeing her glint in the early sunlight. I waved my hand to ask, "What?"
"Visitors! We have visitors!" She screamed in my ear. I folded it in response and pushed her away from me. My hair was all messy too.
"'Reya we don't have visitors. Not in this part of the islands anyway." I mumble as I rub my eyes of the evidence that I slept deep last night. But she was stubborn and shook her head. I furrowed my face.
"They are! They are! Papa told me!"
Now I open my ears wide as well as my eyes.
If dad had told her then it must be true. At least a half of it. And why was I now kind of excited about it?
"Really?" I asked back with a hint of enthusiasm. She nods her head again aggressively and I wave my tail slowly in response.
She starts to giggle and I start to smile.
Visitors!
Visitors after so long! I needed new friends anyway!
There is so much we could do! I mean I hope at least some of them are my age. Maybe even close, like Rotxo. I jump up and my hair is still all messy, taking Tsireya's hand as I need to have confirmation from our mother. If she says yes then it must be really really true!
Ao'nung imagined numerous ways to have fun with his new friend or friends. Their island, part of the reef people was the furrowest away of them all. So if any outsiders would visit them, it must have been important enough to come to the loneliest one. Ao'nung was shining with joy. As being very young and having trouble finding children his own age, only having two people around like his 9 year old sister Tsireya and his 9 year old friend Rotxo. That was pretty much it. As the island's population of children was very narrowed, children naturally made friends with the kids close to them. And that part of the village was closest to Rotxo. So having even one new friend that was outside of their clan was more than thrilling to say the least to Ao'nung.
I pull my sister's wrist behind me as we strut through our marui. I felt my breath catch up to me but I didn't care at the moment. It was morning so we figured our mama was cooking breakfast for us. We entered the area and I was right! She stirred the pot as she hummed Roa's song.
I stop behind her back and start to think how to ask her. I try to push Tsireya instead if she could maybe be more kind to her. She relents and thinks it should be me.
We sign and fight with our palms but stop as we hear her clearing her throat.
"What are my gremlins talking about behind my back mm?" She asks. We stop our silly fight and I push Tsireya one last time as I decide to ask.
"Mama?'
"Mm."
"Do we have visitors?'
Ronal turns around. That wasn't supposed to be known amongst the children. Especially the children. Her children. She turns shocked as her two little ones look so joyful asking the question. How did they manage to know? And it hurts her to lie so she decides to tell the truth instead. Ronal crouches down to see her children's eyes. She has a stone cold face but still warm. Ao'nung first starts to drop his smile as Ronal pushes the silence for a short second between them. And Tsireya comes second as she switches her look from her brother to her mother. Ronal tries to be as kind but as stern as she could about it.
"Whatever you do, do not go see them, alright? They are hiding here. We are not to speak to them or to visit them. They are not any normal visitors, understand?"
Both of them nod slowly but understanding. And yet she sees her first born unsatisfied with the answer. Pouting like he always does whenever something doesn't go as he wished. Ronal tells Tsireya to go find their father, asking Ao'nung to stay with her. She runs off to the next marui where he was working on weaving.
"Come sit, I will braid your hair." She says to Ao'nung. And as always Ao'nung whines through it.
"I want to keep it like this!"
"My boy you cannot see like this!"
"I can if I use my hands!" He argues. Ronal shakes her head. As always he sits in front of her as she starts the work.
"It hurts!"
"You will be more grateful when you start those mud fights with Rotxo again."
"....Only because he always starts first." He mumbles back. Ronal hisses in a small scolding as she taps her sons back.
"Even if he provokes you, you should not join. Olo'eyktans–"
"Don't pursue fights, we end them, I know mama." Ao'nung finishes.
That was another pet peeve of Ronal's. He always ends her sentences even if they have a great lesson in them. She sighs as she finishes with the last row.
"Ao'nung..." Ronal speaks.
"Yes mama?" She turns him to look at him. Looking at his eyes.
"Do not try to go see the visitors. Don't do anything reckless." She says with a serious look on her face. "You are not even supposed to know of this."
Ao'nung slowly nods his head and his ears low, "Yes mama."
The two lift their heads as the other identical pair comes back. Tsireya riding on Tonowari's shoulders as he lets her down. He laughs with her until seeing her wife's relenting glare. He kisses her daughter's forehead as well as Ao'nung's telling them to go play. The two run out as Ronal stands up.
"You told her?" As she picks up the stew again. Tonowari gulps.
"I'm sorry my yawne it slipped out– she just asked me questions like she always does and–" He sighs and comes behind her wife. Apologising with a hug. His tail hugging hers. Kissing her head.
"I am sorry my love." He waited a bit and felt as his wife untensed to his touch. She always did and she grunted in response. He mentioned helping with the rest of the cooking and she happily accepted.
I peeked from the corner of the doorway, seeing my mama blush when my dad sweetly talked to her again. I put my tongue out but my sister pushed me from the side. I looked at her.
"See? I told you they'd make up!" She signed. I rolled out my eyes and pulled her hand again as we exited the scenery.
I didn't want to believe her! What sense is there if we cannot visit our visitors? They came all the way here, and they are hiding? That is stupid!
"If they're hiding they must look really scary and not like a normal na'vi do." Rotxo whispers to his friend. They were coloring this nicely sculpted akula in Rotxo's marui. Ao'nung giggled as Rotxo mentioned it but was soon stopped as his grandmother Retx'zi yelled from the other room.
"Ke'he! Do not gossip." She says and picks up her unfinished woven basket. The boys pout and become quiet as they color each side in their own taste.
"Don't use red there, it should be blue." Ao'nung argues.
"Red looks cooler! It makes it look badass." Rotxo disagrees.
"No, it makes it look more powerful! Like Toruk Makto!"
Ao'nung pouts his lip even more and pushes his own paint away, going to the other room. Mad when things weren't going out his way.
He sits behind Rotxo's grandma and starts drawing lines in the direction of the woven patterns of the floor from the marui.
"Nga mune wäte?" (You two argue?)
"He never listens to me…" Retx'zi turns around, facing the childish boy. Lip turned so up it would be easy to be bitten off by an angry skingwing. She puts her hand on his back. He hugs his knees tighter.
"Maybe when you aren't always listening to him. Hm?"
He wipes his nose as well as oncoming tears off. Ao'nung hated arguing with his friend but he did it anyway out of his temporary attitude that he gets from his mother. Sooner or later (very much sooner) he loses the need to be angry at him but always feels bad at apologizing, so he cries. Retx'zi rubs his back as Ao'nung nods acknowledging the truth. They both look up as they hear closer footsteps, Rotxo standing in the entryway.
He looked sad too. Both of them hated being angry at each other or hated the thought of fighting. His grandmother taps the child's shoulder and signs Rotxo's entry. Ao'nung turns to him and stands up hugging him. They apologize to each other and continue their painting process while adding more cool details they both agreed on. It continued like that until Ronal came to pick Ao'nung. She taps the floor and the wind flutes sing in the sea wind.
"Mama!" He runs to her as she announces her existence.
Retx'zi comes to her and greets her as well.
"Irayo for always looking after him. Hope he doesn't cause too much trouble." Ronal says as Ao'nung starts to pull her mother's skirt. She scolds her son, signing to wait patiently as she talks to Retx'zi.
Ao'nung rolls his eyes but saw Rotxo signalling to come to him once again. He giggles, sees his mother still being busy and goes to paint with his friend until his mother was done talking.
They gossiped more about how the visitors would have looked. With their sharp teeth like an akula, small ears, bulky legs and arms, tail huge and wide, end like of a saw. Limbs long as the roots of their hometree the village was built on. It was kind of exciting to think about what was so secretive about them. Ao'nung giggled with Rotxo until his mother called him. He said goodbye to his friend and ran behind his mother, playing with her skirt again and scolding him for it.
I walked back with my mama and I played with her beaded skirt, but she said she didn't like it. It made me frown. She whispers the same words to me again as I look around the village. I see a warrior in the distance with my father, giving something to him?
"Mama?"
"Mm."
"Papa is over there, can I go say hi?"
She looks in the distance where I pointed and nods a yes.
"But be back by dinner!" She yells to me as I was already long gone but I signed back until I was out of her vision.
She didn't seem to know how suspiciously father strolled around the village, but I had to find out! I can tell her later.
I followed his footsteps in the sand. Odd. The path was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. I followed him under the pathways that he walked on. I watched his shadow move to the right and I circled a bit so he wouldn't see me in the open yet. Watching from underwater as he finally stops. So this must be it! I come for air and look around the structure. But it seemed the same?
Was this our home? But it seemed like a hidden part of it. I see as he walks in the marui, already being late and many lights being taken out. As I silently listened to his whispers which I couldn't take in because of the rippling water against my skin. But another voice, deep as my fathers answered back. I gasped at the realization that these must be the visitors! How huge!
"Here, these should make you manage for another week." Tonowari says.
"Thank you, you don't know how much we are grateful to you, I see you Tonowari." The visitor thanked him.
"I see you, Jake Sully. Rest well, a soldier will bring ointment for your children tomorrow."
Tonowari enters the marui. It was connected to their family marui, but it was woven as a hidden path from the clan's eyes. It was mostly a safe house for sudden intrusions.
The word of sky people has reached the Metkayina as well.
He leaves the marui and goes back home for dinner.
I see my fathers footsteps leaving the marui. I wanted to see them! As I try to sneak I hear my family's calls for me. It was dinner already? How did I lose track of time already? I sigh to myself in disappointment. The adventure has to wait for later I suppose.
That evening Ao'nung returns to his home. He took a detour just in case his father would suspect him of spying on him. So he comes from the direction as if he spent time in the ilu dent. Trying to act as normally as he could as he enters in to take a cup from her mother's arm and taste the food. Taking scoups of it as well as feeding Tsireya from time to time. She didn't like stew because of the texture so he would usually play it as a game for her to eat all of it.
The lights flicker and soon it would become night.
Ao'nung had it all planned up. He waited as his parents did last time to check on them to see if they've fallen asleep and that is when Ao'nung would go. He would calm his heartbeat as he learned the trick a few years ago. He could sneak out as it made it seem he was asleep. He calmed his mind again as the last check was done. He repeated Eywa's words and made sure not to fall asleep himself.
After counting down to twenty as silence arose their marui, Ao'nung got up. He scanned silently as his parent's room was next to theirs. He looked at his sister who's limbs were all over the place. He took the woven baskets to make his figure the same and sneaked through the back, where their canoes were. Entering the water he did the same route. Going underwater this time, hidden from the warriors who did night shifts this time of night. It was going very well until now in Ao'nung's mind.
I swim under the heavy steps of the soldiers who guard the paths. No one is really allowed to move at night. Not now since new orders came in from my mama. Because of the visitors. Which again made me not understand why. I do a few extra turns just in case. I wave my tail more slowly this time, or otherwise they would hear me. Finally, I arrived at the mysterious marui!
Ao'nung's heart beated against his chest. He was excited to see who these people were, but scared as the consequences of his imagination started to take place.
"Huge claws, tail ends like saws, long rooted limbs… short bodies.."
Ao'nung had to admit the image was jarring. Like the tales of the old men who came from the sky told to them as babies. But Ao'nung didn't want to be afraid. He wanted to have proof.
He swam to the back side of their marui, hearing all of them fall asleep. He goes to the corner of the entryway. It had a lift as their canoe was next to the lifting surface. He lifts himself up as quietly as possible. Making gentle steps into his way to sneak from the lower floor to inside of their marui. He glanced only a second when hearing some of them shift. His heart pounded a thousand by now. His ears were back and he hunched himself as small as he could so only his head peeked since that was the sum of bravery he had left. He lifted his head more as none moved.
Moved enough to see five figures sleeping on the mats. He focused his eyes.
Wait.
But they didn't look scary at all?
They just looked skinny, with tails of babies? Which was odd to me but not as scary as when we talked with Rotxo. They were darker than us, but nothing showing why they had to be hidden?
"You shouldn't be here."
I jumped hearing a sudden voice in the silence, I began to prepare myself in case it was one of the soldiers. But it wasn't, I looked and a figure sat in the shadows. They sounded like me.... they must have seen me come in!
"Why didn't you say anything until now?!" I complained. I stood up annoyed. There went my moment of surprise!
I looked as the figure moved again, coming closer to the edge of the blue light. I looked but soon enough folded my ears. The shadow had the same life-like look of a na'vi, but their hand looked odd, it moved odd, it made weird sounds...
My heart was beating again. I took a few steps back and the figure only moved more slowly, the hand… came into the light but it wasn't of a na'vi's… it was shiny.. the dots that tried to copy our tanhí but it didn't seem… real, it seemed unsettling. I didn't like it.
"I– I should then go–" I said with my shaky voice and the figure stopped before showing himself fully to me. His eyes looked at me which I could make out of the dark space. He probably noticed me seeing his hand but before he could say anything else I jumped to the water.