TSU'LAIKA GAGGED AT the slimy texture of the lionberry seed porridge served for breakfast, her sister and brothers giggling at the princess torturing herself by chugging it down her throat, slapping her palm to her mouth so nothing would leak.

It was a grotesque thing to turn innocent tasty seeds into thick snot-like paste.

But it was no use reminding Ronal (for the hundredth time) how much she hated porridge, she had already gotten enough threats and hisses and "It's good for you"'s.

Deeply exhaling with a sulk at her bowl of food, kissing her teeth as her eyes sparkled at another forming excuse.

"How will I be able to properly teach my pupils signing when I'm...too busy throwing all of this up?" the golden haired girl curled herself into a bowl as she read the unimpressed expression of her godmother.

Reya snorted into laughter, covering her mouth as her godsister dramatically buried herself in her golden locks, hiding from the piercing stare of the tsahík taking a scoop out of some of Tsu'laika's breakfast.

"...You won't be teaching any pupil." Ronal licked her lips of the paste, "Not until that bowl is empty. Yom nefä"

BUOYANTLY HOPPING UP OUT OF SORROW after finally emptying the bowl after everyone else had gone out, with the help of zoning out and gaslighting, Tsu'laika skipped outside the marui, toying with the pearls woven into her habesha braids.

The nausea reduced to a minimum, and Tsu'laika has never been more excited to see anyone since forever. Nothing was going to stop her from seeing--

"Matu ewan'eve?" Ronal crossed her arms as she ambled down the pathway to the girl, "Take your brother with you, he needs to catch up on training"

"But ma!" she objected, pressing her hands on her face

"Tsu'laika" Ronal venomously whispered, cupping her Tsu's chin as she sulked.

Finally accepting defeat, Tsu kissed her three fingers, placing them on Ronal's swelling stomach as she relentlessly murmured a respectful goodbye, skipping down the pathway as she summoned her younger brother.

"SO, ARE YOU GONNA TEACH ME THE ULTIMATE DEATH KICK?" Izaä inaccurately imitated various fighting moves as he and his sister walked across the hot beach, continuing, "Or the liver shot? Or the triangle choke or or or!--"

" 'Evan!" she Tsu'laika interrupted, "You don't even know the proper fighting stance. And I want to keep my people safe from threats like you thank you very much" she lazily waved her hand at the little boy. Pursing her lips at his manipulative sulking, she sighed, rolling her eyes, mumbling, "Show me your stance"

Iza's face lit up to that childlike spark as he stumped on the cloudy sand, hesitantly lifting his arms to his protect his head. Expressing an inaudible question mark, Iza groaned at his sisters suppressed laughter at his terrible form.

He sulked as she continued on past him and onto the rock-pathway above the water, "Keep up, ZabZab! You're trailing" she continued walking backwards with a hop to her walk.

Her eyes shooting to a small hand waving in the distance with a faint call to her name. A smile curled up on her face at the sight of Tuktirey hopping next to Lo'ak.

"You need to stop calling me by my baby nickname!" Izaä protested during the girl's search for the older brother; unsuccessful.

"Once that big head of yours finally reaches my elbow, maybe we'll talk" she chuckled, ruffling his auburn black hair as he frowned.

She cracked out laughter as he stormed towards her, descending into the water in time as she called for her ilu.

"AGAIN" Tsu'laika asserted. Narrowing her eyes as she examined her little brother's practiced form. His swift movement lifting the cloud-like sand and blowing it away in the cool breeze that tickled the tree leaves dancing over them.

Walking up behind him, she ghosted her hands on his little ones, directing his far arms closer to himself.

"Keep your arms closer to your body so you protect your core" she told , "And remember, breathe before and after striking. Just like dad taught — not that you'd remember it" she whispered to herself

Iza nodded. Performing on queue of his sisters gesture. With a fierce look on his face, he threw a high kick into the air, hitting the ready-made target on a tree branch, before spinning as he jabbed on nothing with his prop-knife, ending with the more protective end stance.

"Sìltsan! Very good" Tsu'laika squealed as she ruffed up her little brothers hair as he whined and giggled, "I'm not such a bad teacher" she mumbled to herself as --

"-- I bet I can practice on Neteyam!" Tsu's heart stopped at the mentioning of his name, her face flustered at the little boy tugging the forest boy's muscular arm with that sparkle on his clueless amber eyes.

Tsu internally laughed at that common expression as his eyes managed to brighten even further at her gaze, her smiling eyes.

Neteyam respectfully nodded at the golden haired girl, her chuckling as she returned the gesture, forcing her hair over her face to hide her internal monologue spilling out, which involved her scolding herself for acting so giggly around this boy. Looking back up to him through her curls, she was set in a trance by his speckled face and gentle demeanor as --

"C'mon!" Iza snapped them out their gaze, "Tsu's been useless ever since she foolishly fell off that tree so --"

"She what?" Neteyam blurted out with a suppressed chuckle, Tsu shoving her brother out of his chatty mood

"What?! Nothing!" Tsu interrupted, awkwardly laughing as she slapped her hand over her brothers mouth, "That's enough!" she passive aggressively threatened as Neteyam tried to hide his chuckle.

"You can try a move on me, Iza, if that's what you want" Neteyam jerked his head, smirking at the boy's brightened grey eyes as they both prepared for an attack.

Tsu pursed her lips as she ambled from the scene to cool her feet in the water, shaking her head at the dramatic grunts and groans from behind her.

She turned back to them, jaw dropped as her brother jumped on Neteyam's back, covering her mouth at the both of them straining from each others grip.

She turned away from the stupidity of the scene, rolling her eyes once more at Neteyam's dramatic act of gasping for air at Iza's painful attempt at an evil laugh yelling, "Who dare challenge the mighty Iza, now huh?!"

The amber eyed boy was now flat on the beach sand, accepted 'defeat' over the boy celebrating around him. He squinted his eyes at the pale haired girl strutting to tower over him with the wind perfectly tickling past her like the goddess she was.

Stretching her hand out to him as the boy blew raspberries at her, she whispered, "Let me know when you're ready to begin lessons, yes?" 

"...I AM NETEYAM...TE SULI TSYEK'ITAN." Neteyam's eyes brightened at her nod in approval at his signing, "I am a free...diving student and," she hummed in agreement, a grin growing on her face as he continued, "a...warrior"

Tsu'laika squealed with pride at the accomplished chuckle of Neteyam, "Well done! A'least you don't suck at 'finger talking' oh mighty warrior" she teased, giggling at his scoff as she mocked his erratic coughs for air from the previous night.

She smirked at his restraint to what he would've said with a purse of his lips, and a deep nod. The princess peaking down from the branch they sat on to her little brother entertaining himself with his prop-knife.

"I...guess I have a good teacher then" he quickly drew out, the golden haired girl warmly grinning at him, her eyes falling just below his chin to the light red line across the crease of his neck, crawling forward to him as he continued, "Say...we go for a rematch?"

"Say...you wanna lose twice against me? Sure" she bragged. Her eyebrows furrowed, lifting his chin, straining her lips at the faint red stroke, "I'd be happy to get to -- nearly slice you, again!" she spat, slapping on his chin each time he would attempt to look down to her.

"For what it's worth, I was going easy on you to prevent another...you know" he explained, the girl mockingly making a moving mouth gesture with her injured hand as she rolled her eyes, her eyes skimming the surrounding vegetation for a particular plant, nowhere to be found, "Plus... I'm not entirely sure you know how to handle a knife"

He mockingly smirked at the slow dramatic head turn the princess made at him, her abrupt stop at examining him to scoff in his face, "Oh-- That knife weighed a ton!" she excused, stammering at his unconvinced scoff "Like you can use a -- spear, better than me?"

"Like you can shoot an arrow better than me?" he mumbled, refusing to meet her eyes. But what he didn't see was the little smile she tried not to show, and the little fluster she'd gotten at how well he handled her playful taunts.

Sighing out her frustration, she finally drew out, "Okay, forest boy," she dramatically flapped her hair behind her shoulder, leaning closer to him as she continued, "How about you teach me your...ways of doing things and I teach you mine? That way I don't feel bad for being a better fighter than the mighty warrior?"

"A'you allowed to hunt?" the boy queried, his lips pursing at the princess's sharp eyes piercing into him, an eye narrow during the tense silence. Pushing his chest back, she yelled--

"--Nga Kalweyaveng!"

"Wh-- I'm just making sure!-- I don't want you to get into trouble for something you shouldn't be doing"

"I just... I can't hunt unaccompanied...yet!" she stammered at his unconvinced hum, her eyes sparkling as she blurted out, "That's why I need you, see? It works out," she awkwardly chuckled, squeezing out, "So, do we have a deal?"

Mockingly crossing his arms as he hummed with his fake 'thinking face', the princess let out a groan, nudging on his chest as he broke into laughter.

At that, Tsu'laika aggressively signed at him, amused at his eyebrow furrow, muttering, "What does that mean?"

"I can teach you how to sign all the vilest curse words on Pandora...once I can hunt like you" she commanded, satisfied at the boy's respectful nod, her chin lowering at his bright eyes — he couldn't, he wouldn't turn away, and for some vexing reason, neither could she.

Neteyam furrowed his eyebrows at the abrupt stop of shuffling down below them, "It's gone quiet. Where's your brother?"

"Crap. Ronal is going to kill me" she mumbled, impressing the forest boy with her similar form of climbing down from trees just as he would, just as his people would. He was idle in awe, until, "Now get down from there before she takes out her batshit-crazy-pregnancy rage on you, too!"

"IZAÄ WHEN I FIND YOU, I AM SO SNAPPING THOSE UNTOUCHED WRISTS" Tsu yelled as the duo shuffled deeper into the flood of tree leaves in their path, occasionally wincing at the hot sand beneath them.

"She's just kidding! Iza!" Neteyam tried to save her threat with an awkward laugh as he lead the way, before whispering, "Do you think he wants to be found after hearing that, princess?" scoffing at her hand waving back to him as she hummed.

Then stood a leaf nearly twice her size that swallowed her, the princess gulping at the blue biceps hovering over from behind her to slowly move it out of her way. Her heart raced at their proximity -- she could feel his warmth, and not just because of the piping heat that day.

"After you" he told under his breath. And it was almost as if Tsu had forgotten how to walk, slowly turning back as she watched him return the leaf back to how it originally sat, her eyes couldn't help but batter down his back.

Beautiful.

The way his huge muscles would tense up and relax then flex, it was like staring at a masterpiece of work. The way the sun spilled so perfectly on his glistening dark stripes, it made his speckles look like a dream — she was hypnotised.

She could stare at his back all day --

"Aah!" a little voice from behind screamed

"Aah!" the warrior and princess huddled beside each other and into their defense positions.

"Oh." the boy scratched his head rather disappointed at the scene, "Well, you've clearly made yourselves at home in my new secret hideout. Not so secret anymore--"

"Izaä, If you ever run off like that again-- I swear to Eywa I will--"

"Are you hurt?" Neteyam interrupted before Tsu could lay out another more graphic threat at her brother, scanning Iza for any new scratches. It wasn't until the boy began rambling about his collection of rocks in his new hideout, that Neteyam found unironically interesting.

"-- Yeah, isn't this so cool, Tsu?" Iza and Neteyam turned back to the princess, her back turned towards them, stood so still like stone, "Tsu?" Iza summoned once more, but nothing.
The boys rushed to peek over at what froze her.

A...flower.

Sprouted through the crack of a shrivelled rock. But not the indigenous hibiscus flowers they see day to day, no. This flower was white like snow, with pulsating petals bleeding blue at its center.

It was perfectly in line with the peaking sun, the girl slowly lifting her index finger to follow the beam of sunlight up to the sky, seeing the crescent moon smiling at the flower. The boys watched in silence at Tsu's breathy scoff.

At that, a forgotten and blurry memory plagued her throwing her in a trance. The memory of her mother, Ayo'koä beautifully humming a ceremonial song while picking a flower identical to this one, except in her indoor enchanted garden that Tsu was barely allowed in, but always managed to be in.

Hiding behind a leaf twice her size, she gasped as her mother spotted her sneaky daughter. And her laugh, oh how she never realised how much she missed her mother's laugh till this very moment that it made her heart ache.

This memory finally gained focus after the fog as Ayo'koä quickly stroked her daughter's nose bridge, before gifting her the fragile snowy plant that still breathed with her.

Touching it felt cold as the fresh water from it trickled down to her elbows. Tsu squealed at the sensation, looking back up to her mother's gold rings all over her glorious curls as they giggled together.

"You can't stay here long, 'eve. Or you'll ruin your Tsakarem Ceremony" mother's soothing voice whispered.

Tsu furrowed her eyebrows, gasping at the hands behind her lifting her from where she stood, eager for answers as her mother kissed her goodbye, the two reaching their hands towards each other as little Tsu was carried further away from mama.

A sunken feeling hitting Tsu like a truck at her faded voice, mothers beautiful face disappearing from her. Once again. The one ache she could never get used to.

"Tsu...you're freaking me out" Iza's voice threw her into the present, the girl sharply inhaling and exhaling, her lips trembling as her ears drooped. Her eyes shut as she quickly lifted her hair off her shoulders to expose her tensing shoulders.

Tsu used all the power left in her to avoid bursting into tears in front of her new friend, or Eywa forbid, in front of her brother.

Neteyam waited behind Iza, who pressed on his sisters fingers as she gathered herself. As she finally turned to the forest boy, pursing her lips as she mouthed 'sorry'. His eyes widened as he gave a reassuring smile, impatiently waiting for any sort of context that would relieve him from his concerned confusion.

And he had no luck trying to get something out of her brother, who just shrugged at him before fleeing from the scene.

Neteyam scrunched his nose at the sight of the princess, finally mustering up the courage to say, "That's some flower you have there, I've never seen it anywhere else but here. It's...it's very beautiful" he lightly chuckled, ambling to Tsu as she quickly smiled at him.

"It belonged to my m--..." Tsu could already predict the vulnerability she would have to let out in mentioning her mother, her mind would only allow her to tell him, "Someone...very special to me" she could tell that he noticed her hesitation, the two standing inches from each other, wishing the larger gap between them didn't exist as --

"--Tsu Tsu Tsu!" a small high pitched voice behind them yelled, the two jumping to their defensive stances before--

"Oh, Tuk, what did dad say about running off alone?" Neteyam scolded, rubbing his hands through his braids as the energetic Tuk hopped to click her newly installed beads. Tsu chuckled at Neteyam's frustration while fixing Tuk's hair

"I need Tsu, we're gonna go swimming!" Tuk tugged on the princess's pearly jewelled hand, Tsu's eyes lighting up at the little girl, turning to Neteyam's defeated sigh as he connected the dots

"Hey! What about me?" Neteyam protested, Tsu bursting into laughter as she shrugged at the widened eyed boy.

"We'll meet up for training, later" Tsu reassured

"Sorry, girls only! Come on, Laika!" Tuk yanked the girl to her as they sprinted through the unforgiving leaves, Neteyam chucking at the princess's shrieks and yells to 'Wait' and --

"Slow down, Tuk!"

authors note

Sa'nu - Mother
Nga Kalweyaveng - You son of a bitch
Yom nefa - eat up
matu - Excuse me

here's something to munch on while you and i both wait for new chapters to be written

Back from the dead with a new  chapter !!
i missed writing so much haha

Tsu is so lalala and Neteyam is so okokok i love it

dedications

kissesontongue euphoreallia ST4RRYBL4DE solyyybenonyy ikigaii- candysznn strwberih111 b3sitos4u

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