Chapter Text
Everyone would think Neteyam Te Suli Tsyeyk’itan was the perfect son.
He was one of the greatest warriors, his skills with the bow nothing other than excellent. Nothing less was expected with him being the son of Neytiri Te Tskaha Mo’at’ite, whose bow seemed to be an extension of her body whenever she held it in her hands.
People of the Omatikaya praised not only his skills, but also him for the person he was. His kindness alone was enough for betrothals being offered, and to care about his siblings was the same as breathing air. He could not live otherwise, even if he tried.
Everyone thought Neteyam was the perfect son, but nothing was ever truly perfect, was it?
If someone were to strip away his strength, his personality and his family from him, he would be nothing but just a drained child.
Everything in his life was simply tiring. Him needing to be better in every aspect as a warrior when doing his duties with him being the future Olo’eyktan, and having to worry about his younger siblings every second of each day.
He was exhausted from it all and he was barely an adult, only being eighteen years old. The pressure upon his shoulders was not far from crushing him, and he knew a break was needed.
His first of many visits to the Hallelujah Mountains had happened at a very late hour. Everyone else had already been deep in their sleep, him being the only one who could not do so. Too many times did it occur to him where he was tired from a terribly long day, too tired to be able to fall asleep.
On a day where it had occurred once again, an idea came to him. The exhaustion had almost taken over his body when he planned for a quick flight with his ikran, Ftalì. There was no denying of it being calming as the two felt the breeze gently brush against their bodies.
Though, it was unfortunate for the flight to be cut short. Ftalì was tired as well, seeing that she and her rider had shared their day.
Neteyam had barely managed to breathe out a laugh from the fatigue when he thought her thoughts and felt her feelings with their queues connected. Glad it’s not just me.
And so they had landed on one of the many Hallelujah Mountains that floated in the sky.
It had always been a wish of Neteyam’s to visit the place, and not for the reason to tame an ikran. The day he had bonded with his ikran, he found a new desire of his. Those tiny forests atop the floating rocks, and the caves that resided within the big stones that were to be entered from underneath, he desired to explore it all.
That desire was finally ready to be fulfilled when Ftalì landed at the edge of the small forest on a mountain. She had went to rest while Neteyam began a rather short wandering journey. He smiled doing so, realising it was exactly like the huge jungle beneath the sky that he knew almost as well as the back of his hand, except this one was a tinier version.
The mountain’s cave, on the other hand, was unlike anything he had seen before. Before his ikran could even land after entering it from under, Neteyam was already amazed. It was such a secluded space, a perfect place for his mind to calm when he needed it to. It was a nice change from the forest, but, of course, no cave could compare to it.
He had known from the exact second when he entered the cave that it would not be his last time seeing it. Therefore, he made a decision to visit it regularly, to be able to be alone with his thoughts with no disturbance of any kind. At least once every week did he leave with his ikran.
He mostly left either right after dinner or before everyone went to sleep. However, he never actually disclosed to his parents where he was headed to. “I will be back,” was what he always told them, not much more being said.
With him leaving every once in a while, Tuktirey started to miss the two of them playing together like they had usually always done. He was already busy with training to be Olo’eyktan, and he had even less time for her whenever he would leave.
She did not want him to go anywhere, whereas Lo’ak wished to go with him. He wanted to be included in whatever Neteyam did or wherever he went to. It was only natural, seeing that he looked up to his brother.
As for his other sister, Kiri, she was not worried at all. It simply was not her business as to where he went every week. While Kiri had no worries, Jake and Neytiri had lots.
They knew he was a fine warrior who was able to protect himself from the many dangers Pandora had, yet they could not help but worry about his safety. There were still lots of things that were able to happen to him.
They also took into consideration of there being a possibility where he was meeting up with someone he might have taken a liking to. He had become an adult not long before the weekly trips began, so it would not come as a surprise to them if he was falling for another young man or woman.
Rather quickly did they realise it was not the case, for whenever he left, he left with nobody else by him except his ikran.
They did take notice of him coming back before morning unharmed each time, thus they chose to trust him. Lo’ak, on the contrary, did not.
He was too curious about the whereabouts of his older brother and made a decision to follow him one night. He told his parents about it, both of them against it, of course. Somehow, someway, he managed to convince them, so he went after his brother.
As he watched Lo’ak’s ikran, Syak, landing next to Ftalì, Neteyam could only roll his eyes in annoyance.
Of course he had to follow me.
”This is where you go every week? Damn, bro… I thought you were at least getting laid–”
”Lo’ak.”
”Sorry… So you just sit here in silence, or what?”
”Yes.”
”Damn, that’s boring.”
”…”
”There are always women you could bring here–”
”Fuck off, Lo’ak.”
”Okay. Sorry.”
Neteyam’s mood was ruined.
The only place where he could have peace and quiet was found by one of the few reasons he could not have the same peace and quiet back home.
Neteyam then thought of a new plan, which was to just go to a different mountain and find a cave there the next time he needed to have some alone time.
There he was, flying high in the sky with Ftalì, searching for another perfect, preferably silent place. A rather small mountain that floated a bit lower than the rest of the mountains caught his attention. He headed towards it, entering the cave from underneath.
After landing, he got off Ftalì, caressing her head. Her body possessed many colors. The thick green stripes on her wings had thin yellow ones around them, the colors blue and red on each side of the green–yellow pattern. Neteyam was forever going to be grateful to Eywa for making an ikran as beautiful as her choose him as his rider.
It appeared that he got a bit carried away while admiring his ikran, hearing the flaps of wings of another arriving.
Annoyed that his brother had found him again, Neteyam let out a deep sigh.
”Lo’ak, I beg of you to leave me in peace.”
”I am not Lo’ak.”
At the unfamiliar voice, Neteyam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before swiftly turning around to see the person behind him.
Standing before him was definitely not Lo’ak, but a young woman. A woman not of the Omatikaya Clan, he noted.
Her skin was as teal as the Metkayina’s he had encountered a few years back, but as dark as his own. Perhaps even a tad bit darker, it was hard to tell. Her skin being a different color than his was not the first thing he had noticed, though.
What was enough to make him speechless, were her eyes. Those bright, red eyes staring into his golden, yellow ones. Hers were filled with pools of blood, it looked. As scary as her irises were, they were equally as mesmerising.
Neteyam had never before seen such a Na’vi. He knew she had to be of a different clan, but it was one he did not know of.
”What clan are you of?” He asked, hesitation lacing the tone of his voice. If he were to be honest, he was only ever so slightly intimidated by the scarlet eyes that stared at him.
”Ni’awve.”
It was only then when a memory of his mother telling him about the clan came to him. They were the first clan on Pandora, and the only one where the Na’vi had eyes as red as the woman who stood in front of him. He almost face palmed from his own stupidity.
“You?”
”Omatikaya.”
A hum was heard from her. He would have assumed that she felt satisfied with his answer if it was not for the following words leaving her lips.
”The spiritual freaks.”
At this, Neteyam raised a brow, tilting his head. As soon as he felt offended, maybe even threatened, the feeling of him being intimidated by her vanished. Who was she to call him a freak?
”I am just joking.”
Oh.
Next, he heard a laugh coming from her. He took a guess that his dumbfounded, blank stare was the cause. Unaware, he began to quietly laugh with her.
”I apologise,” She laughed once more. “I should not be making jokes when I barely know you.”
He chuckled, thinking it was silly. They barely knew each other, and there they were, laughing together. The two knew absolutely nothing about one another, in fact. The woman he was speaking with was not one he knew a thing about. She was of a whole another clan, even.
It was as if the sudden realisation hit Neteyam hard in the face, causing him to abruptly stop laughing.
It was now the woman’s turn to raise a brow.
“Are you alright?”
”…Why are you here?”
The unexpected question made the content expression on her face falter.
“Excuse me?”
”Why did you follow me?”
Neteyam was well aware that he had gone from laughing with her, to attacking her with questions in the blink of an eye.
He watched her eyebrows furrow, her face growing more serious by the second. Her guard that she had let down for only a few minutes was put up again, just like Neteyam had done.
”There is no why. I just did.”
He took note of her voice being more stern than earlier when she spoke. The answer he got did not satisfy him, though.
”Right,” He gave a humorless, tight lipped smile, it being obvious that his next words to come were meant to be sarcastic. “So, you are in the Hallelujah Mountains at this hour simply for the fun of it, of course.”
“Aren’t you?”
Her words made him pause.
It wasn’t the simple question that had him losing himself in his mind. It was something else.
There was just something about her that Neteyam could not figure out. Something that made him drown in his thoughts.
It was not her skin which was of a color he had not seen on a Na’vi before, or the color of blood within her irises. Her appearance had nothing to do with it.
It was rather the aura around her. It was the fact that she had trusted him enough to not feel the need to be careful with him, and the fact that his sudden change of mood affected hers in a matter of seconds.
He was not sure what to think of it all, or how to feel about her being odd enough to occupy his mind. Or how to feel about the woman herself.
He decided that she was a puzzle he had not wished to solve.
“I am leaving.”
Mere seconds after his words had left his lips, he flew away into the dark sky with his ikran. He did not look back as he did so.
He was sure that if he had stayed even just a second more, he would have suffocated due to the many thoughts racing in that head of his.
He had come to the mountains to take some minutes for himself and attempt to slow the thoughts down, yet it was as though the opposite happened. They were doubled, instead, running through his mind at a faster pace than earlier.
Amidst all the things that had kept his mind busy was a known truth which brought some peace to his inner self. In reality, he was not going to see her again.
As much as it calmed him to know it, he began to feel something deep within his heart. It was an unknown feeling, one that was not particularly to his liking.
Though she was not in his presence any longer, he sensed something in the blowing wind that surrounded him as he flew back home. Perhaps it was simply his imagination, but it did not take long for him to know it was to do with a certain, unsolved puzzle.
Neteyam felt in his guts that it would linger in the depths of his mind and in the air around him until he solved it, and his gut was never wrong.