Chapter Text
War can stain the most beautiful things.
Not only does it burn your home, take away your loved ones, or drain your health, it casts its shadow over every happiness you have, even when you aren't always able to see it. It was naive of you to think that your relationship with Neteyam would be any different, that it would be unaffected by the weight of the war.
Both of you being young and ambitious, you were enlisted by his father to be aerial scouts, a job that was relatively safe but still helpful. You and Neteyam were proud of each other for doing something useful, and you were grateful to have each other in the field.
As time wore on, things got riskier. You would both come back with more cuts and bruises than before, but the time you spent tending to each other's wounds definitely made up for it. In fact, sitting together and applying healing balm to your injuries as you exchanged jokes and stories helped you both forget the dangers waiting beyond the entrance of the village.
The strain had started out subtly. When the two of you were 15, during one of the raids, Lo'ak had convinced Neteyam to join the ground troops in plundering the Sky People's train full of weapons, and in the process, the older Sully boy was injured and had to be rescued by his father, who proceeded to reprimand him as soon as they landed safely in the village. You watched him walk to a healing tent with injuries to both his torso and his pride and ran over to walk with him.
"It's not your fault," you told him as you came up to his side. "Lo'ak was being a skxawng, you should not have gotten in trouble for him." Neteyam sighed in irritation. "Not now, please," he said curtly. He was holding his injured side with his hand, and it seemed to pain him to climb over the higher parts of the cave floor. You lept up to the ledge in front of him, turned around, and offered your hand to help him up. "I am fine," he said and ignored your hand, opting to pull himself up instead and grunting in pain.
You rolled your eyes at him. Normally, he was very rational and composed, but if there was one thing that put him in a bad mood, it was being reprimanded by his father. You knew that the pressure of being the oldest son to Olo'eyktan weighed on him constantly, and the war didn't make anything easier for him. Still, you didn't appreciate his attitude towards you when you did nothing wrong, especially because you weren't quite used to it from him.
Time wore on, and so did the war. Once, when you were about a year older, you had been grazed by a bullet on your side. It was nothing serious, a flesh wound that you could take care of yourself, so you decided not to say anything, but when you all returned, Neteyam noticed. He always noticed.
"What is this?" he asked, moving your arm out of the way to get a better look at the graze that was slowly oozing blood. "Nothing serious," you responded quietly, looking around to make sure he didn't attract any attention to you. Neteyam looked at you with a hard stare. "You were shot," he stated matter-of-factly. "You need to go to my grandmother or Kiri."
You shook your head in protest. "There are others who need their attention more than I do," you explained. "I can take care of this myself." He held his stern gaze, but you knew his rational brain would agree with you that there were more serious injuries for the healers to care for. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he took you by the arm and muttered, "Come on."
You protested weakly before realizing that he was taking you back to his personal tent. Once inside, you sat down as he pulled out some salve and cloth he had stashed away. In the time since the Sky People had returned, you had both become proficient at mending wounds. Without saying anything, he lifted your arm and rested it on his shoulder so that he could begin cleaning your wound unencumbered by it.
Under your hand, you could feel the tension in his shoulder muscles. You studied his face as he worked in silence. At the first touch he made to your graze, you tensed and hissed in pain. "Sorry," he muttered, carefully working to clean it with a damp cloth. "It's fine," you responded in a strained voice. Silence settled over you again as he attended to you.
Usually, he would try to ease your discomfort by talking or trying to crack a joke, but this time he worked in silence. It made you a little uneasy, so you tried to lighten the mood. "If you think this is bad, you should have seen the other guy," you told him with a small smile.
No response.
He continued working in the salve with focused attention. Though you knew he was being as gentle as possible, you couldn't help but grimace in pain and tighten your grip on his shoulder. He stopped working for a moment to give you some reprieve, glancing at your face to make sure you were alright before continuing his job.
"It is not that serious," you whispered, desperate to break the silence that was now making you feel nervous. To that, there was a small response in the form of a scoff, but Neteyam's face remained stone cold as he reached for a cloth to bandage you with.
Watching him, you could see the effects of the war on his face. Across his cheeks and forehead were faint scars from the action he had seen. Even his expressions had changed to a much more serious look. It used to be almost effortless to make him smile, but recently, it was something you didn't see very often. Even in your current circumstance, he would've at least said something back, but his silence indicated to you that he had something pressing on his mind.
You tried again. "You know, next time maybe I will just go to Kiri," you said teasingly. "She and I have much better conversation than y-”
"You could have been killed," Neteyam snapped finally, cutting you off.
"What?" You replied in confusion. It wasn't that you didn't know you could have been killed; that was obvious. It was his tone of voice that caught you off-guard. He had never snapped at you like that before.
"You could have been killed," he repeated in an angry voice. He pointed at the graze on your side and then moved his finger a few inches over to the center of your stomach. "A few degrees over and you would be dead." You sighed, regaining your composure after being caught off-guard by his tone. "I am aware," you told him calmly, "but, as you can see, I am not dead." He wasn't amused.
"I am being serious," he said gravely. "You are lucky to be alive." You were starting to get annoyed. "So are you," you shot back. "So are all of us every day we return home because every day we go out and fight is a risk, a big risk." He stared at you with hard eyes but said nothing. You took a breath to try and calm yourself. You didn't want to fight with him.
With your hand still resting on his shoulder, you gave him a gentle squeeze and rubbed your thumb along the side of his neck. "I take my chances, and so do you," you told him. "But that is what we do to keep the People safe." His gaze finally softened, and he sighed and shook his head. After a beat, he whispered, "This was too close."
You couldn't help but give a small smile at him. He was being protective, and you couldn't fault him for being stressed about the war. You felt fortunate that neither Neteyam nor yourself had been injured too badly in the war, but you couldn't deny that this was a close one.
It wasn't the last close one either.
As you both got older, you were given more responsibilities with the war. In being closer to the action, you both saw more blood stain your lives. You still continued to patch each other up when necessary, but after what was said when he helped you with your bullet graze, neither of you could really bring yourselves to smile much after those missions.
Over the course of time since you had been involved in the war, your relationship with Neteyam had undergone a serious shift. Before, you were both bright-eyed and happy, enjoying your days running around together with your friends and his siblings. It was easy to be around him, to be open with each other.
You used to listen to him talk about his father, once a sojourner from the stars and now the leader of the Omatikaya. You knew how the responsibility of being the oldest son to Olo'eyktan rested heavily on his shoulders. He used to listen to you complain every time you got in trouble for being out too late. The first day after he had bonded with his ikran, he had taken you flying above the forest.
After years of being at war, the gaiety in your relationship had eroded. Conversations about the stars turned to war strategies. The physical touch that used to be so casual and thoughtless went from playful pushes and hugs to careful and deliberate tending of wounds. Your words evolved from friendly challenges and jokes to variations of the words "Be safe."
The care you had for each other never wavered; on the contrary, in fact, it strengthened. However, you were both becoming hardened versions of your previous selves, and it made it difficult on your friendship. With every mission, your former carefree self fractured off.
Of course, the biggest shift occurred when your mother died.
She was in a hunting party when you were 17, just on the verge of becoming a fully realized member of the clan. She was an excellent hunter, possessing more patience than you ever could. She and the others in the party had gone just to the edge of what was considered the safe zone. Since the clan's migration into the mountains, it was difficult for the Sky People to attack them directly, but Jake had set a perimeter for their safety.
That day, there had been a troop of Sky People in large mecha-suits placing heavy explosives around the area to level the ground to start building a new station for their soldiers. Many members of the party decided to engage with the Sky People, but they didn't realize that they would be quickly outnumbered by the human soldiers and their machines.
You weren't there in the hunting party that day. You were sitting just inside the entrance of the village campsite when the two survivors of the party returned covered in blood. You recognized Kana and T'seyet as they slid off their pa'li. You knew that your mother had been with them.
Your blood ran cold. The two Na'vi were rushed to the healing tent, but not before they confirmed that the rest of the hunting party had been killed.
You felt like your spirit had been pulled from your body. It took a few moments for you to do anything. Lo'ak and your friend Ehlaya were standing not far from you and were by your side in a moment, but you didn't register their presence until Lo'ak touched your arm. You turned towards him in a daze, your eyes wide and uncomprehending. "My friend," Ehlaya said softly in a horrified tone, "I am so sorry."
You looked at her distraught face and that suspended moment of silence came crashing down as a wail rose out from your mouth. Your vision blurred, and your knees gave out. Lo'ak managed to catch you before you toppled to the ground, but grief poured over your body like ice water. You couldn't hear your friends' words. You couldn't hear your own anguished cries nor the cries of the families of the other slain Na'vi.
You couldn't see that Neteyam had arrived and was crouching before you. You couldn't feel him as he held you tightly to his chest. You just felt grief. Overwhelming grief.
After that day, you were different. Your tone was harsher and your temper shorter. Neteyam, blessed with an abundance of patience and empathy, never left your side through the worst of it. Even when you felt cross with him, he never held it against you, even when it would have been fair for him to do so.
Not long afterward, Neteyam completed the Uniltaron trial and was inducted as a fully mature and realized member of the Omatikaya. His bravery and skill in combat had proven his worth as a warrior of the People. The ceremony honoring his coming-of-age had been one of the first times you had genuinely smiled since the loss of your mother. You watched with pride as he was blessed by the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik.
Now that he was of age, whispers began spreading about Neteyam choosing a mate. His skill as a warrior, his status as the son of Toruk Makto, and his devastating good looks made him desirable to many of the young Na'vi women in the clan. At first, you were amused, especially when his siblings brought it up to tease him. After a while, though, the topic lost its humor as people continued to speculate over whom he would choose.
Deep down, you had always had a faint hope that he and you would be together when you were grown. You never let yourself think about it too much when you were younger, but now that you were older, you realized that the pool of eligible women in the village vying for his attention was a lot larger than it had originally seemed.
To make matters worse, you now thought about it every time you saw him speak with a woman. There were many capable hunters, formidable warriors, and talented healers all around him, and the whole subject left a bitter taste in your mouth.
You began flying in missions again a month after your mother's death. The action and adrenaline gave you a much-needed distraction from the clan gossip. After one mission, when Neteyam came back with a gash on his shoulder, you watched as one of the young healers offered to dress it. You felt a stab of jealousy when he graciously accepted her offer and followed her into one of the tents.
You knew you were being ridiculous, but it still stung when you thought about how it was usually you he went to for such things. You also knew it was ridiculous to think that you were the only woman he would look at. It didn't make you feel any better, though.
With Neteyam being a fully-fledged member of the clan, you started seeing him less. He had become more involved with the war and acted as his father's right hand. You felt him pull away from you bit by bit every day, and you didn't know how to stop it. When you wanted to talk, he was always busy. He was never with his family except late at night before they all went to bed. You spent some time with him briefly during meals or on the occasional hunting party, but his mind seemed preoccupied with other things.
Despite the bleak circumstances, you grew excited for the day you would be able to complete your own Uniltaron trial. You knew it was dangerous, but you felt prepared. A few weeks before your trial, Jake called you and other Omatikaya together, including Neteyam. There were many warriors gathered together sitting around their leader, and you joined next to your friend.
"Listen," the Olo'eyktan began, "we've been getting our asses handed to us out there trying to take out that base." The base in question was the one constructed where your mother had been killed. Your clan had made numerous attacks on it since it was so close to the border, but every time, the Sky People were prepared, as if they knew you were coming. It had led to a lot of bloodshed.
"Now, our enemies know when we're coming," he continued. "I'm thinking they have constant movement sensors or thermal imaging that lets them know we're coming. So, here's the plan."
The plan was simple enough but extremely risky. To avoid being caught on the movement sensors, you and Neteyam would take your ikran only partway to the base where Jake estimated you would still be outside the range of the motion detectors. Then, armed with electromagnetic devices you had stolen in a previous raid, the two of you would covertly place them in a perimeter around the base. Once activated, the field would jam the motion-detecting radar as well as interfere with any thermal imaging.
In addition to setting up the jamming devices, you would also rig explosives near every entrance so that when the Sky People came out to fight, the first wave would be taken out. Once everything was set in place, Neteyam would signal his father with their throat comms, and the rest of the party would fly out and attack.
"Why only two of us?" Neteyam asked when his father had finished his initial explanation. "Why not more of us to set up everything?" Jake nodded his approval at the question. "We can't risk getting picked up by those detectors. I figure if there's only two of you, if they see anything, they'll just assume you're animals. However, it is of utmost importance that you remain as subtle as possible, and do not engage with the Sky People until backup has arrived."
You nodded your understanding at him. You could see why he chose the two of you. Even though your clan knew how to hide amongst the trees, you had proven exceptionally stealthy, even by Omatikaya standards. There was no one in the clan who could find you if you didn't want to be found. Neteyam was the same way, so it made sense that Jake chose you for this role in the mission.
After being dismissed, you stood by the entrance of the war tent waiting for Neteyam to emerge. He often stayed behind to speak with his father after such meetings. Even now, you could hear their voices, and you would have never thought to eavesdrop on them until you heard your name.
With your ears perked up, you couldn't help but lean toward the tent to understand what was being said inside.
"I do not believe she is fit for this mission," you heard Neteyam say. "She has not yet completed Uniltaron, this mission should be for warriors." Your stomach dropped at his words. How could he say such a thing? He wasn't wrong about you not being a fully mature member of the clan, but you had gone on countless missions before, and this was hardly any different.
"Listen, son," Jake countered, "I know you're worried for her, but I'm confident in her ability to help execute this plan. Besides, she has her Uniltaron trial coming up very soon. She is very capable of doing this." Even though you were hurt by Neteyam's words, the vote of confidence from the Olo'eyktan warmed your chest.
Neteyam didn't give up so easily. "Why not just send me and Lo'ak instead, if warrior status doesn't matter?" To that, you were personally offended. Not only were you much stealthier than Lo'ak, but you could actually follow orders when they were given.
"Nice try," Jake said, "but I need someone out there who I know isn't gonna screw around and start fighting before it's time." Vindication.
"She doesn't have the necessary battle experience," Neteyam argued further. "She will be-"
"Enough. My mind is made up. Don't push this anymore." Jake's voice had a hard edge to it that made talking back next to impossible.
"Yes, sir," Neteyam replied obediently, though you could still hear the frustration he was trying to suppress. After a moment of silence, Jake said, "You're dismissed."
You stepped away from the tent before Neteyam could walk out on you listening. Besides, you didn't want to talk to him anymore. You were too hurt and angry at him for trying to get you off the mission to speak to him. You knew if he saw you, you wouldn't be able to pretend like nothing was wrong, and he would eventually figure out that you spied on him and his father.
His words echoed in your head. I do not believe she is fit for this mission. How many times had you flown together into the face of peril? Neither of you could keep track of the number of times you had spent listening in battle meetings, sitting in medical tents after a fight, or exchanging quick words before flying off to let the other know you wished them luck. You thought he saw you as an equal.
Your anger hadn't subsided the next day as you prepared for the mission that night. Avoiding Neteyam took special skill when you were both preparing for a special mission together.
The day passed slowly, but finally, you and the rest of the war party were preparing to leave. Unfortunately, you weren't able to avoid Neteyam anymore, and he came up to you as you were strapping your bow to your ikran, Kazi. Still upset, you gave him a wordless glance before continuing to secure your saddle.
"Nervous?" he asked, noticing your lack of eye contact.
"No," you answered flatly. "I have flown many missions before. This isn't any different." He watched you quietly for a moment. "This is different," he said. "You have never had to be so close to the fighting." You scoffed. "I am capable of handling myself, and thank you for having so much confidence in me," you answered, your words dripping with sarcasm. You knew you would be bad at hiding your anger.
Neteyam noticed your sharp tone and pointed words because he always noticed when something was up with you. "I am confident in you," he defended, confusion crossing his face. "Why would I doubt you?" You clenched your jaw briefly before replying shortly, "You tell me."
"What does that mean?"
You stared up at his face in irritation. He held your gaze, and you could see he was trying to figure out what was upsetting you, so you looked away in hopes that he would drop it. "Nothing," you mumbled, checking the straps on your saddle again for no reason other than to avoid looking at him.
Neteyam grabbed your shoulder firmly and turned you to face him. He looked at you closely, and you could see that a thought had occurred to him. "Did you-" he didn't need to finish the question, you knew what he was asking, and the fact that you knew what he was asking clearly made you guilty. Did you spy on me? You looked away, embarrassed but still upset.
Reading the answer to his unfinished question on your face, he stepped back and took a deep breath in exasperation, running a hand down his face as he fought to stay composed. After a tense pause, he looked down at you, appearing just as frustrated as you felt. "I don't even know where to start with you," he said finally.
Even though you felt bad about eavesdropping on his conversation with his father (and even worse at being caught), you weren't about to apologize when you still felt the sting of his words from the previous night. "It doesn't matter," you told him mutely, "and it doesn't change the fact that I am coming on this mission."
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, a sure sign that he was checking his temper. You hated seeing him like this. It used to be that you could count on one hand the number of times Neteyam came even remotely close to being annoyed with you. Now, it felt like every other time you spoke together, you had some sort of verbal spar.
"I did not mean to insult you," he said in a low voice. "And I am confident in your abilities. I just-" he paused, searching for the right thing to say. "I don't want to see you hurt."
You felt a bit of guilt creep over you, replacing some of your irritation. You couldn't blame him for being concerned. You were worried for him every day he left the entrance of the cave. You knew deep down that all these negative feelings you were both experiencing in your friendship lately were rooted in how much you both cared for each other. When you thought about it like that, it was hard to stay mad at him.
He placed a hand on your shoulder, his touch a comforting feeling you had missed. You looked up at him, this time without any hostility on your face, and he looked at you softly. It was nice, this moment of peace between you two. Then, in a quiet voice, he said, "Please stay back. I can do it alone."
Two sentences and that brief peace was shattered, and your animosity immediately returned. You huffed in exasperation and knocked his hand off of your shoulder. Before either of you could say anything else, Jake's voice called out to the war party, "Let's get mounted, we move out in two minutes."
Shooting one last angry look at Neteyam, you swung up to mount Kazi and attached your queue to hers. She hissed and beat her wings a few times in response to feeling your own agitation, making Neteyam take a few steps back. You patted Kazi a few times to soothe her, not looking down at the warrior. He stood there for a moment in hesitation. This was usually the time when you would tell each other to be careful. You had never flown a mission without wishing each other's safety beforehand.
Finally, he came up to your side and placed his hand on your thigh. You tensed slightly under his touch but didn't try and shake it off. He looked up at you from the ground, and you could see the mix of emotions on his face. "Be safe," he said quietly, and you could really feel how earnestly he meant it.
You should swallow your pride, just let go of your bitterness and say it back. You wanted to, but you were also too stubborn to forget that he wanted you off of this mission. So, instead of reciprocating the wish, you just mumbled, "I will."
You didn't look at him, knowing that seeing the expression on his face would just make you feel worse than you already did. You felt his hand slide off of your leg, and you watched him out of your peripheral vision as he mounted his own ikran beside his father.
In the cover of the night, you and the other warriors flew in silence. You couldn't help but think of the way you left Neteyam. You kicked yourself mentally for not saying it back. You decided when you landed at the halfway point, you would try and make things right with him.
It didn't take long before Jake started flying down toward the canopy of trees. You all followed suit and descended as well. You gave Kazi a few pats when she landed, and through your bond, you implored her to stay with the rest of the ikran. It wasn't so much that you thought the words for her to understand, but it was more like you just wished for her to stay, and she could understand.
You dismounted and zeroed in on Neteyam's lean form illuminated by the glow of the plants around you. Taking a deep breath to reassure yourself, you came up to him as he stepped off of his own ikran. "Neteyam," you said quietly, "I did not mean-"
"All right, you two," Jake interrupted, approaching you and his son. "You know your orders. Stay low, and stay out of trouble. Keep radio contact to a minimum."
"Yes, sir," you both said in unison.
Jake nodded in dismissal. You returned to Kazi and grabbed the sack full of jammers, strapping it securely to your person. You checked that your knives, one on your thigh and the other across your stomach, were securely in place. You held your bow and grabbed as many arrows as you could hold. Giving your ikran one last comforting pat, you turned back to Neteyam.
He was speaking to Jake in a low voice, and your stomach tightened in fear of him revealing that you listened in on their conversation from the previous night. However, you realized this wasn't the case when Jake grabbed his son by the back of his head affectionately and pulled him close so that their foreheads touched. You could remember a time when Jake would have had to stoop to do so, but now the two warriors stood at eye level with each other.
Pulling away, your leader gave a swift nod, and you and Neteyam made your way toward the base on foot. He set a brisk pace that you had to match in order to keep up. The silence between you two was thick and charged with negative feelings. You felt the guilt gnawing at your heart from what you had said, or rather, hadn't said before.
Remembering your resolution to apologize, you figured if you didn't say something now, it would be too late to say anything at all. Once you were well out of view from the rest of the party, you slowed down. "Neteyam," you called out softly. He stopped moving and looked back at you in concern. He was clearly in mission mode and thought something was wrong.
You held up a hand to assuage his concerns. "About earlier," you began uncomfortably. You hated apologizing, and you weren't very good at it. "I should not have listened in on you and your father last night. It was wrong." Neteyam said nothing, and his face stared at you passively. Taking a breath, you steeled yourself before saying, "I'm sorry."
Your apology hung in the air for a moment, and in that time, you had the dreadful thought that he would just turn around and keep moving through the forest.
Finally, he gave a large sigh that let out some of the tension in his broad shoulders. He was a better person than you in that he would always opt for peace over furthering an argument, and he knew how difficult it was for you to apologize to anyone.
"What is this between us?" He muttered questioningly, gesturing loosely between himself and you. "Why is there this anger and bitterness?" He sounded drained and insecure, two attributes that vastly contradicted who he was most of the time. You looked at the ground, ashamed of how you let your relationship deteriorate like this.
"I don't want to fight anymore," he said quietly, walking over to you. You looked up at him and realized just how close he was to you. You could count the individual glowing spots on his face.
"I don't want to fight anymore either," you responded in a whisper. "I'm sorry."
His amber eyes softened as they looked down on you. Dropping his bow, he lifted his arms at the elbow with his palms up, and, following suit, you placed your own forearms on top of his. The two of you stood there holding each other's arms in the dark for a second. It was the closest you had been in a long time.
"I'm sorry, too," he said after a moment. "I should not have said those things to my father." He traced his thumbs over your skin, causing your face to warm. "I'm just worried you will do something stupid like get hurt." This earned him a small smile from you, and it released much of the tension between you.
"When have I ever done something stupid?" You pretended to be offended. He smiled back at you softly. "Too many times to count," he murmured. You wanted to make a smart retort, but as you looked up at him, the way he was gazing back at you made your breathing falter. It was like he was trying to memorize your features, counting the tiny scars and glowing marks that were scattered across your face.
In the blink of an eye, he came back into focus, and you both remembered that you had a greater task at hand. Reluctantly, he pulled away from you and stooped to pick up his bow. Immediately, you missed his touch, but you nevertheless picked up your bow and set off with him through the trees.
You moved quickly through the forest, feeling a lot lighter without the weight of your remorse in your chest. As you got closer, you started moving slower to be more discreet. Creeping to the edge of the clearing, you both peered at the base illuminated by the artificial lights in the darkness. Your heart was pounding as you realized that this was the place where your mother died, and you needed to take a calming breath. Seeming to read your thoughts, Neteyam placed a comforting hand on your lower back.
Shaking yourself out of your thoughts, you set down your bow and arrows and reached into your pack to hand him two of the four jammers. Your orders had been that he would set up one on the north and west sides, and you would set up on the east and south sides.
He gave you a quick nod and moved to start setting them up, but you grabbed his arm and turned him to face you. "Be safe," you whisper as quietly as you could. He gave you a quick smile and replied, "I will."
Okay, you had that one coming.
"Don't do anything stupid," he whispered, causing you to roll your eyes playfully as he disappeared without another sound.
You moved slowly to ensure you didn't raise any alarm. Once you had set up your jammers, you returned to where you had set down your weapon. Neteyam was already waiting for you there. You sidled up to him, and when he noticed your return, he pressed his throat comm and whispered, "The perimeter is set, ready to move to phase two."
Phase two involved activating the jammers and setting up the explosives while the rest of the war party would fly in on their ikran now that the Sky People wouldn't be able to detect their presence.
After Neteyam paused briefly to listen to his father, he whispered, "Yes sir. Over and out." Activating the jammers meant that in addition to disrupting the sensors for the Sky People, it would also interfere with the communication with Jake and the others. Now, the plan was at its most vulnerable. If something went wrong here, there was no way for the two of you to alert the war party.
Neteyam pulled out the explosives from his own pack. He handed them wordlessly to you, and you both silently split up to set up the explosives at each entrance.
The base was relatively small, more of a depot really. It had a large operating unit that was connected by a long hall to the hangar. The hangar had two large bay doors that you knew contained several mecha-suits and other heavy machinery meant for war. In the operating unit, there were two doors on every side except for where the hall tunnel connected. The hangar had one regular door beside the bays and one on the opposite side. Spread across the clearing were several large metal crates that you suspected housed an assortment of weapons.
At each entrance, you placed one explosive and two on each bay door. They stuck to the doors, and you twisted the dial until you heard a click, indicating that they were set. When a human opened the door, the movement would trigger the explosion.
With everything set, all that was left to do was wait. You returned to where you set down your bow and arrows. Neteyam was there waiting, too. You were both crouched on a tree, your arms brushing with how close you were to each other.
Before long, the war party emerged over the trees on their ikran. You felt your heart pound as they approached, knowing that the peace of the night was about to be destroyed by their attack.
As they closed in, Jake and a few others threw grenades into the center of the clearing. They didn't do much damage, but that wasn't the point. Setting off the alarms and turning on the emergency lights was the point. And that's exactly what it did.
Shortly after the grenades went off, there were several large explosions at the doors of the base. The Sky People standing behind the doors had been obliterated. Smoke surrounded the base as the alarms kept blaring. As you had expected, more of the humans poured out of the blasted entrances, and the chaos of battle began.
Amidst the noise, you and Neteyam called out for your ikran. You saw Kazi circle in the air before descending to where you were hiding, but before she could land, one of the humans began firing at her. Screeching in pain, she pulled up and twisted away to avoid the gunshots.
Anger flared in your chest. You pulled back an arrow and let it fly. It made its home in the stomach of your target, but another human nearby had noticed his comrade being shot and looked at where you were crouching on the edge of the clearing. He turned his gun to you and started shooting. You and Neteyam ducked behind the trees just in time to avoid being injured.
You moved quickly behind the trees, the gunfire following after you. You paused behind a tree for safety, nocked another arrow onto your bow, and turned out to shoot the soldier, but when you did, he had already fallen with one of Neteyam's arrows sticking from his ribs.
More Sky People flooded out from the base. You saw Kazi land not far from where you were standing. Still holding an arrow on your bowstring, you ran out from the trees over to where she was waiting.
Several humans stood between you, but their attention was spread all over the place. You shot at one who was aiming at Kazi, and taking your knife from your stomach, you slashed it through the neck of the one closest to you. As you nearly reached your ikran, you saw a small object sail through the air and land between you. You barely had enough time to slow down before the grenade exploded, knocking you backward with its force. Screeching, Kazi flew up frantically away from the explosion.
Ears ringing, you pushed yourself up from the ground as quickly as you could and grabbed your bow. The human who threw the explosive was standing off to the side right between one of the metal crates and the building of the base. You saw as he raised his gun towards your ikran. Anger burned in you. Your mother died here in this clearing, and you would be damned if your ikran was killed here, too.
You pulled back your arrow. He was standing with his side to you, making him a tough target. You opted to shoot his gun instead, knocking it out of his hands before he could start shooting. He stood surprised for a moment as you ran towards him, pulling your second knife from your thigh. The soldier also pulled a knife from its sheath and crouched as you approached swiftly.
Once in arms reach, he sprang forward and swiped at your legs with his knife. You lept right, narrowly avoiding a gash on your thigh, and slashed your knife down at him. You managed to catch his arm, but it wasn't very deep. He reeled back in pain, scowling deeply at you. You scowled back and hissed at him.
He launched himself forward again at you. You tried dodging again, but this time he seemed to anticipate it. Swapping his knife to his other hand, he sliced at your waist, catching the side of your stomach and cutting deep enough that the blood immediately started dripping down your side. He came back at you with his knife, but you managed to parry with your own, and with your other hand, you ripped off the soldier's air mask.
Immediately, he was gasping for breath, and you were able to plunge your knife into his chest. As he dropped to the ground, you fell back against the metal crate behind you. You held your hand over your bleeding wound, wincing at the pain. It was a pretty bad cut, bad enough that you knew you should move away from the fight to bandage it to stop the bleeding.
You stepped away from the crate still clutching your side. Kazi wasn't too far from where you were standing, and the coast was clear for you to hustle over to her.
What you hadn't realized at the time was that not all of the doors had exploded in the first few moments of the battle. You didn't notice that you were standing next to one of those unopened doors. You couldn't hear the footsteps running towards the unopened door from inside. You barely registered what happened as you were thrown back off of your feet when the door exploded before your head slammed against the metal crate, and you passed out.
You weren't sure how long you were out when you came to again. The sounds of voices echoed above you, but it was hard to determine what was being said. You concentrated on bringing the noises into focus. You could discern a woman's voice calling your name above you.
"Mother?" You said weakly. You opened your bleary eyes and saw several faces hovering over yours. "No, child," one of the faces told you. You blinked several times, trying to pull them into focus. You finally made out Mo'at as the source of the voice speaking to you. The other faces above you belonged to Kiri and Neteyam, both full of concern.
You groaned in pain. Your head throbbed, and your side burned. "Do not move," Mo'at instructed sternly. Kiri pushed her brother's shoulder. "You should leave," she told him gently. Neteyam shook off her hand and shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere," he said resolutely.
You reached a hand up toward him. He took it immediately, and you were dimly aware of a warm substance on his hand that you learned later was your own blood.
"Wha- what happened?" you asked weakly. Instead of getting an answer, Kiri held up a smoking leaf and blew toward your face. Breathing in the sweet scent of the smoke, you felt the world become distorted, and you drifted out of consciousness again.
The second time you woke up wasn't so confusing. You blinked your eyes open and found that you were in one of the healing tents. Light was pouring in from the entrance, illuminating the inside of the tent.
You started to move, but a sharp pain in your abdomen caused you to gasp and lie still. From beside you, a figure you hadn't noticed sat up quickly.
"You are awake," Neteyam said groggily. He seemed to have fallen asleep against the side of the tent and was roused by your movement. "So are you," you responded, your voice sounding hoarse. "Have you been sleeping here?"
He shook his head a little. "I didn't mean to fall asleep," he admitted. You hummed. What remained of his war paint was smeared across his face, he still had some blood dried on his arms, and he was trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. It was sort of comical.
"You look terrible," you told him. "You look worse," he retorted. That made you smile. "How do you feel?" Your hand went to your head. It was still aching, but not as bad as before. Your cut on your abdomen radiated with pain even though you weren't moving. "I've been better," you admitted with a grimace. "What happened?"
Neteyam moved over to you and crossed his legs as he sat. "I'm not sure," he muttered. "One moment, I see you fighting a human, the next, you were nowhere to be seen." He wasn't looking at you as he spoke, his eyes fixed on a spot far away. "When my ikran found me," he continued, "I looked for you and found you bleeding and unconscious." His jaw tensed at the memory. "Your ikran was standing over you, protecting you. She barely let me get to you."
You smiled softly, your love for Kazi warming your chest. "Is she okay?" You asked. He nodded. "She took some bullets to her wings, but she'll be okay," he answered. You were relieved.
"When I got to you," he continued, "you were bleeding very badly. For a moment, I thought-" his voice faltered, and he closed his eyes to regain his composure. Your chest tightened. You reached your hand out and grabbed his arm comfortingly. He placed his own hand on top of yours and sighed.
"I picked you up and took you back here," he said finally. "My grandmother and Kiri worked for a long time to patch you up." You had a flashback of Mo'at's face hovering over your own with Kiri helping next to her.
You lay in silence for a moment. Neteyam was still staring off into the distance, thinking about the events of the night before. You could feel his thumb rubbing gently across the top of your hand. Finally, he let out a sigh and looked at you. "I told you not to do anything stupid," he whispered, his voice tight with emotion.
You swallowed thickly. It was hard to see him emotional when he was also so composed and rational. "I know," you told him quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you." He managed to give you a sad smile and ran his hand over your forehead.
"I should get my grandmother," he said at last, moving to stand up, but you held onto his arm. He looked at you questioningly. You gave him a wry smile. "You seem tired," you said with exaggerated concern. "I think you should lie down for a while. These blankets are quite comfortable."
He stared down at you with a slow smile spreading across his face. "Is that so?" He questioned. You nodded your head solemnly, trying to suppress your own smile. "Well," he said, shifting his position to lie down beside you. "In that case, maybe I can rest my eyes for a moment."
You chuckled at him and then immediately regretted doing so as your wound sent pain throughout your torso. "Don't make me laugh," you groaned. He settled in next to you gently. "I will do my best," he mumbled, pulling you close. It wasn't long before his breathing slowed, and you knew he had fallen asleep.