.·:*¨ ✘ die for you ✘ ¨*:·.

ikran

you slightly bounce among the rope bridge as the forest boy follows you. you had to wait a bit for him to catch up since he went back a bit to grab some stuff he had to bring to the marui pod.

the walk to his family's marui pod was mostly silent. you were not one to start a conversation, and you weren't going to start now. meaning you thought the walk was going to be silent until you heard a voice.

"i'm neteyam, by the way," he says. his introduction was not wanted, but you appreciated it in a way. you knew you probably wouldn't have to interact with the sully family much, except maybe jake sully.

you thought a bit before you introduce yourself, "(y/n)."

"so, you're the future olo'eykte?"

"i am."

"have you gone through your iknimaya yet?" he asks. you stop walking for a bit, though you weren't the most interested in conversation with him before, now you are. questions starting to bubble in your mind as you continue your steps.

"i have started. i have tamed my tsurak but i have yet to do my trials, i don't have my tattoos yet. have you?" you ask him. you knew the omatikaya probably had different trials and he didn't know what you were talking about. but it was nice to have someone around your age that you could talk about iknimaya with, since ao'nung wouldn't start his for a bit.

"i've completed mine, i tamed my ikran on my first try. that's why i said i can deal with the ikran," he says. you look at him.

"okay."

there was a small silence between the two of you before he broke it.

"you know, i probably won't know my way around the village for a while. you should probably help with that," neteyam says.

you don't stop, but your head turns to look at him. your eyes lay cold on his figure, looking him up and down.

'mother was right, he's skinny. same with his tail. it is like a stick,' you thought unprovokedly.

"that is the job of my younger siblings, i am only helping now because you decided not to go with your family," you say.

"but you're still helping," he says with a shrug, walking by your side.

you ignore his words, and instead motion toward the marui pod in front of you, "here. your home, your family."

"thanks. hey, wait for me?" he asks, peeking out the marui pod.

you say nothing again. you look off into the horizon and allow neteyam to disappear from your sight. and you wait for him. you thought about leaving to deal with the ikran on your own, but in a way you felt like neteyam was right. even though you didn't want him to be.

"you waited, nice," neteyam says. his voice cracks into your mind and you look over to him, he looked like he was going to say more before you said something.

"let's go," you turn away and start walking back to where you started. in a way, you felt like you wasted your time.

"neteyam! where are you going?" you see jake sully at the entrance of the marui pod.

"he's helping me," you say, not wanting to clarify.

jake sully is nodding his head, a singular pat on top of neteyam's head, "good, good son."

the walk back to the beach was silent. you didn't say anything to neteyam and you guessed he didn't know how to start a conversation this time around.

at the beach, you see that your tsurak had somehow kept all the ikran at bay, all of them still in the same area. the ikran made loud squawking noises at children who were playing around them, it seemed like they were disturbing the ikran.

"children, away from those creatures. you shouldn't be playing around here," you sternly say, yet a bit gentle. you motion them towards you, as you crouch down to be around their height.

"do not play with things you don't know about, okay?" you say, hoping they would understand. you then shoo them away. the children run away, and you walk over to your tsurak, getting ready to ride.

neteyam walks up to you, confusion on his face, "what are you doing?"

"i'm bringing your ikrans to the jungle," you point to a ledge that was a bit away from the village, "there are trees and they aren't too far."

"how am i supposed to join you?"

"originally you were not, i didn't think of a plan with someone else," you say, properly saddling your tsurak, "get on."

his eyes go wide as you say that, then he shakes off the thought. he sits beside you, not knowing where to put his hands.

"um, is there anywhere i can hold on to?" he asks. you turn your head slightly over your shoulder and scoot a bit more up, allowing more space to be accessible on the saddle.

"hold on to the side, if needed you can hold on to me," you state, not giving it much thought.

without checking to see if neteyam was ready, you lifted out of the water and hovered quickly over the water to where you wanted to go. you hear the flaps from the ikran's wings as they flew behind you, accompanied by noises of surprise from the boy behind you. you wondered if the ride had rendered the boy speechless.

landing in the waters before the jungle, you effortlessly glide through the water with your tsurak comfortably staying in the shallow. you always how calm and collected your tsurak was, as the others were very temperamental, you were lucky. untying the leads from your tsurak, you see neteyam remained seated on your mount.

"how was it?" you ask, trying to start a conversation for once.

"doesn't feel as free as riding an ikran," he says, "but still fun."

"tsurak's are for warriors, maybe one day you'll be able to ride one on your own."

"maybe. i hope you'll be able to see me tame one then," he says with a smile, looking at you.

"maybe," you say, raising your head a bit to look down at him. an unknowing smile grew on your face, but a small smile.

as you start to walk up the slope that lead to the jungle, neteyam stops you.

"let me ride my ikran, i'm sure the others will follow," he says.

"you just want to ride your ikran."

"of course i do, we have a connection," he walks over to the one of the ikrans that looked more green, with yellow and brown details. he took off the lead, rubbed its head and gave it a small hug before mounting the beast.

"i still have to lead," you say, undoing the leads of the other ikran, hoping you won't regret your decision and walk up ahead of neteyam.

"yeah, yeah. lead the way then," he says, and you do just that. it was a small walk after the slope though. there was a small clearing with large bushes that looked like it barricaded the area, two large trees acting like the entrance to the place.

"this area should be good, we cleared it a bit ago but never knew what to do with it," you say, looking at a neteyam and the other ikran that seemed to like the area and immediately got comfortable. except for neteyam's, as he stayed on top of his ikran.

"c'mere. pet him," he says, motioning you toward him and his ikran. you cautiously walked over, hand out as you placed your hand on the ikran, rubbing your hand back and forth on top of him.

"he is... calm," you say, looking the creature up and down.

"he is. do you want to ride him with me?" he says. you look up at him, and then at the sky. you noticed it was almost eclipse due to the sky being a bit darker from when you arrived.

"no, we must go back," you drag your hand off of the animal and start to walk away. you hear neteyam's footsteps rush a bit to catch up to you. you wonder if his face held any disappointment.

when you reached the water, you noticed that your tsurak had gone. she had probably swam off and was not too far. you walked into the water until it reached your waist, you motion for neteyam to follow you, you noticed confusion on his face.

"hey, where's your-"

"ih í, ih í," you call for your tsurak, and she comes rushing. the splashes in the water indicating how close she was.

when she finally got to you, you got on to her again and neteyam soon followed. the same thing as earlier happened, as you and neteyam soar through the air. this time a conversation occurred.

"so... does your animal have a name?" neteyam asks.

"my animal is a tsurak. they are like your ikran, for warriors and only like one."

"okay. and the name for yours?"

"she has no name. i haven't thought of a name for her as there is no need. she replies to my call and that is all," the thought of giving your tsurak a name has passed your mind a few times, but you never really thought about it.

the rest of the ride is silent, and you appreciate it. you didn't intend to interact with so many people today, and it drained you a bit. you dropped off neteyam in front of his marui pod, his youngest sister waiting for him as the rest of his family seemed to be busy.

"neteyam!" she cheers out, running over to the edge to greet him.

"tuk, i'm back," he pats her head after he struggles to get up to the platform.

"ah neteyam, welcome back son," you overhear jake sully say. you were about to leave when jake sully enters your vision.

"thank you for caring for my son, and bringing him back yourself. i hope he was helpful," he says. you look at him for a second, the man in front of you was toruk makto. something deep inside of you was starstruck, but you quickly shook off the feeling.

"i am doing what i should be, your son was good help," you say, nodding your head at him.

you quickly say goodbye to neteyam, his sister, and toruk makto and head back home.

⎯⎯ ୨୧ ⎯⎯

[a/n]: neteyam's ikran's description is literally "which is very similar in appearance to his mother's former ikran" IM PUNCHING THE AIR. anyway! i need to think of a name for your tsurak and for neteyam's ikran so when i do i'll prob go back and do some editing!