*ੈ✩‧₊˚ gentle breeze •°. *࿐

ao'nung's ending

Sometimes you think about your younger years, when you were fifteen and dealing with the events that the Sully family brought to your home. Some many moments haunt your brain from time to time, Ronal's tulkun who died and watching someone close to you fall to the sky demons. But it's been five years since those events and it was time for Ao'nung and you to mate, as per the arranged marriage the both of you were put into when you were younger.

It was a grand ordeal, and everyone knew it.

Usually mating ceremonies were private, tender, intimate. But considering it was the next olo'eyktan and tsahik who were going to mate, it was decided that your send off would be a big deal. Standing in the middle of your pod, your hair was showered with flowers from the jungle and shells from the beach were strung across your body. The fact that the whole clan was making this a big deal scared you, but Tsireya was able to help calm you down while brushing her fingers through your hair and rearranging the flowers.

"You look beautiful today, my brother is lucky that you were able to hold out this long to mate with him," she giggles.

"Well, it was arranged. Even then, I am rather fond of your brother," you admit to Tsireya. The past couple years especially, you and Ao'nung had gotten close, also considering the fact that the both of you went through the loss of someone close you found comfort in each other.

"Fond of my brother? Well, he always listened to you so it makes sense," Tsireya comments, turning to grab more flowers to place into your hair.

"He better listen to me, I am the next tsahik," the both of you let out more giggles before falling into a comfortable silence. You closed your eyes for a second to listen to the waves silently crashing into the roots that kept the pods up, the motions of Tsireya braiding the flowers into your hair, and the children playing on the nearby beach.

You liked this noise, the noise that meant things were peaceful.

That quickly ended with talkative na'vi quickly walking toward your home. Snapping your eyes open you see the female Sully children standing in front of you with bright smiles. Tuk took this moment of vulnerability from you to jump into your arms, snuggling her face into the crook of your neck, even at thirteen she was full of energy.

"Tuk! How was training?" you ask her.

"Fun! Well, actually it was kind of hard but I was better than everyone else there, so it was fun," Tuk says in a manner-of-fact tone. You ruffle the top of her head as she let out a little cry, Tsireya smiled at the younger girl and placed one of the flowers in her hair.

"Now you two match."

"Tsireya, put one in your hair too. Oh, and in Kiri's hair."

Tsireya followed Tuk's words, placing a flower into her own hair and handing one over to Kiri so she could place it into her hair on her own. Looking at the three, your heart felt tender. Maybe it was because you were the oldest there, or the events the four of you had to endure together over the years, but you couldn't imagine without the rest of your life without them. Tsireya and Tuk ended up getting busy with the flowers and whatever else you had inside your pod, meanwhile Kiri took this as an opportunity to turn to you and opened her fist that was closed this whole time.

"Here, I managed to grab it from my mom so you wear it," presented in her hand was Neteyam's songcord, looking at pristine as it could.

You jaw dropped as you walked closer to Kiri, you hands cupping hers as you leaned down to look at the artifact in her hand. "There's no way, your mom won't get mad, right?"

Looking up at her with a questioning glance only to be retuned with her avoiding your eyes. "She doesn't know but once I explain later she'll have to understand."

"Kiri, you shouldn't just take things without asking."

"What are you, my mother? I'll be fine, I'm old enough to make my own choices, you know."

"Fine," you give into Kiri's words and take Neteyam's songcord from her hand. Looking at eyelevel for a second, you drag your fingers over all the beads and stones that were strung into his songcord. There were so many things you couldn't recognize but knew was from their forest home, a reminder of the Sully family's origins.

Placing Neteyam's songcord next to yours on your hip, you couldn't help but stare at the noticeable difference of length between the both of your songcords. Over the past five years, a lot had happened that lead to your songcord being so much longer from when you started it, five years that was left out of Neteyam's songcord that could never be filled. Letting out a sigh, you ignored the thought and looked back to the younger girls who were now playing around with each other.

"C'mon guys, let's head out. Everyone is probably waiting for us to start," you say while shaking your head. The three of them scrabble to look presentable, having been too focused on your looks, and once they all felt satisfied with how they looked you all left the pod.

Halfway through your trek to the main beach, you all ran into the male counterpart of your group also known as Ao'nung and Lo'ak. The both of your groups merged together and while Lo'ak went to talk to his sisters and Tsireya, Ao'nung attention immediately went to you. He eyes you up and down, and you do the same.

Over the years, Ao'nung let his hair down rather than leaving it up in the small bun before. His dark hair cascaded down his shoulders and having finished his iknimaya trials, his tattoos emerged and held a striking presence on his body, which had also bulked up over time. Aside from the typical ceremonial clothing, he had a couple flowers in his hair as well, which you assumed to be the work of Tsireya before she went over to your pod.

"You look good, my tsahik," he says with a smirk.

"And I'm not yet the tsahik, simply the tsakarem," you smile at the familiar words.

"Still not taking away from the fact that you look good today, beautiful even."

"Why thank you, you look rather good today as well."

"Of course I do, today is an important day," he places as arm around your waist, the whole group being noticeably closer to the beach. "Of course, I would like to think that I look good everyday."

"Hm, debatable."

"Debatable?"

"Yes.

"What does that even mean?"

"Not sure, I heard Kiri say it the other day but I think I used it right," as those words left your mouth, you stopped Ao'nung with a hand on his shoulder, letting the rest of the group walk ahead. "Hey look at this."

He looks down to where you motion toward, and it is obvious that he spotted what you aimed for him to see with the surprise in his eyes. "How did you get his songcord?"

"Kiri got it somehow, let's not point it out incase Neytiri wants it back."

Ao'nung nods taking another moment to look a the relic laying on your hip, placing his hands on your hips as if to worth not only the item, but you. You smile at the soft gesture, knowing that something so small could have such an impact on the two of you.

"We gotta catch up to the others now," you pull his hands from your hips and one of his into your own hand. Slightly dragging him toward the group that stopped to wait for the two of you when you had stopped, a flurry of teasing words came from them as you all walked together.

As you all approached the main beach, you noticed the whole clan around the edges, allowing the tide to roll up to their ankles and cover their feet. The beach itself was covered in flowers and leaves, creating a path to the front of the beach where you and Ao'nung would be leaving. Your group disbanded to stand alongside the rest of the clan, aside from the obvious two, as the both of you walk toward the waiting skimwing.

Cheers and calls could be heard, those who came late were in the water, riding their own ilus and skimwings watching in delight. Tonowari, Ronal, and Ewkmal wave you both off with the happiest smiles. For a second, the sky felt brighter, and the sun's rays was warmer.

Ao'nung mounted his skimwing, turning back slightly to make sure that you were comfortable behind him as you both dip into the water to get the spirit tree. The trip felt short as you felt excitement bubbling up inside of you, the weight everything you went through the past few years felt as if they fell off your shoulders and melted into the sea. Your mating ceremony with Ao'nung was something that nothing would ruin.

The Cove of the Ancestors seemed to have held Polythemus at the right angle, cradling the planet in its grasps by the time the both of you got there. Dismounting the skimwing, the both of you start your descent toward the iridescent tree. You could feel Ao'nung sneak glances at you the closer and closer the both of you got.

Finding yourselves comfortable closer to the base of the tree, you finally face each other with faces full of content, the glow from the tree highlights your faces and the bioluminescence on your skin shine. Grabbing your queues, the both of you look into each other's eyes one more time before connecting them together in a bond. The neural connectors twist and embrace each other, pulling not only each other's queues closer together but your bodies as well.

A shiver finds it's way down your spine as you close your eyes to fully focus on what was happening inside of you. It was a rush of emotions, memories, thoughts. So much of Ao'nung's life that you thought you knew well, you knew even better, and he felt the same way.

When you finally open your eyes, Ao'nung is already staring straight at you. His piercing gaze startles you, you move back a bit in the shock. Shaking his head with his signature smile, he reaches over and pulls you closer to him once more. Not sparing a moment, you place a sweet kiss on his lips. Skin meeting skin, you can tell he's surprised but as you draw back, he brings you closer for another one.

You eventually pull away from Ao'nung, taking your queue from him and allowing your queue to now connect with the spirit tree to see your mother. And as she appears, she greets you with a smile and words that you could never forget.

"My child, I'm happy."

"And I'm happy too."

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[a/n]: now wait another 5/6 months for neteyam's ending /hj