*ੈ✩‧₊˚ gentle breeze •°. *࿐

tulkun

It had been a few days since the situation with Kiri and you were finally rested enough to be out and about with everyone else. You were riding along the waves on ilus with Tsireya and Ao'nung since it was early in the morning and people were still waking up, sort of patrolling with the two but more of na'vi watching.

The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight and Polyphemus was glowing against the blue sky since the sun was so bright that day. You felt so ready for the day, ready for whatever was happening because you knew it was going to be good. Luckily, you were right.

You hear the sound of the shells bellowing through the air, you around for a bit in confusion at the noise, and in pure happiness when you realize what it meant when you saw some familiar figures jump through the air,

The tulkun are home, your brothers and sisters are home.

You let out a yelp for joy, calling out with Tsireya about how the tulkun are home and seeing many other na'vi jump into the water without a care. Excited to see their brothers and sisters who they have not seen in a long time.

Riding up to the Sully pod with Ao'nung by your side, you yelled for someone, "Neteyam! Hurry up, I want to show you my spirit sister!"

You see him walk up to the dock with Lo'ak and a confused expression, when he looked up from you, he too could see the magnificence that was the tulkun. The big creatures were jumping in the air, performing flips, na'vi jumping off the tulkun backs, and so much more happy chaos scattered through the reef.

Neteyam and Lo'ak soon dive into the water, Lo'ak joining Tsireya on her ilu as they ride toward her spirit sister. You knew that she was excited to talk to her spirit sister, as were you. Both you and Tsireya had a lot to say to your spirit sisters. You turn to Neteyam who had gotten on Nane as you were riding another ilu, examining his face, it was full of joy. His eyes danced between all the happy na'vi and tulkun, laughter spilling past his lips in excitement. He looked right at you, eye to eye, you share a grateful smile, enjoying the ability to witness the first time Neteyam got to see the tulkun.

You motion him to follow you as you dip into the water and ride in spirals toward your spirit sister. Ao'nung was going to see his spirit brother and you had decided to catch up with him later and to bring Neteyam to meet Ao'nung's spirit brother later as well.

Catching the eyes of your spirit sister, you sped up, a trail of bubbles following you into Neteyam's face as he struggled to catch up with you. When you reached your spirit sister, you quickly removed your bond with the ilu and cuddled up to your spirit sister's side. When Neteyam finally caught you, you motioned him to get closer to you.

'This is my spirit sister, Inaka,' you signed slowly so he could understand. He nods his head, telling you he understood what you were saying. You rubbed the side of Inaka's face, when she started speaking with you.

'Why, who is this? This isn't Ao'nung,' Inaka says, winking one of her many eyes at you. The familiar clicks from her made you feel some sort of comfort, but you still roll your eyes at her words.

'This is Neteyam, he is special to me like Ao'nung,' you signed, with a soft smile as you motioned to Neteyam. When you do that he looks at you with a bit of confusion and then a bit of smugness, not understanding what Inaka was saying but understanding your signs. You shake your head at him, not wanting to bother translating your spirit sister's words.

'Like Ao'nung? You like both?' she asks, you nod your head. Inaka could feel the conflict in your heart, understanding how you felt. 'I had this happen to me too.'

'You did?'

'Yes, two skxawngs captured my heart. Alas, I could only choose one.'

'How did you do it?' you ask, wanting to know how you could choose between the two boys that held your heart.

'You're in a different situation than me, but listen to your heart. Eywa is there,' she says, and you nod your head.

Neteyam, who had been watching the conversation and only understood one side, was trying to interpret what you two had been saying. He gave when he realized he needed some air, tapping on your shoulder to steal your attention. You look at him with wide eyes, realizing that you probably needed some air as well, not paying attention to your air supply because you had been so focused on Inaka.

When the both of you reach the surface, you immediately face Neteyam with a smile full of endearment, your heart full, "Inaka is so beautiful."

"She is," he says, looking down a bit but not fully at Inaka. From your angle you couldn't tell where he was looking, but you were sure it was Inaka, "but ah, I can't understand what Inaka is saying."

"When you're here long enough, you'll learn what the tulkun are saying. You don't really learn but it comes to you," you tell Neteyam, laughing a bit at his dismay.

"Another language, that's fun," he says with a chuckle.

You look around the reef, so full of life and elation. You could feel Eywa's presence sparkling in the water as she allowed everyone to recconnect, you felt as though you had been revived and all your worries had been lifted.

You motion for Neteyam to follow you and sit on top of Inaka's back as she swam around the reef, allowing you to point out all the na'vi and their spirit siblings. You pointed out some babies playing with a mother's tulkun, and you saw Ronal with her spirit sister, Roa.

"Ronal's spirit sister had to wait many cycles for her calf," you mention, "look at Roa's right side, it's a baby," you look over to Neteyam who was intensely looking for the baby tulkun, his face jerking back with a smile when he noticed the baby.

"Oh look! There's Ao'nung with his spirit brother!" you yell out, immediately getting up, dragging Neteyam with you, and running off the back of Inaka. Inaka, who understood what you wanted to do, launched both of you toward Ao'nung and his spirit brother. You let out cheers of joy, holding on to Neteyam's hand as he cheered as well.

"Take a deep breath in!" you warn Neteyam as you both quickly crash into the water, and are submerged under the sea. You drag him over to Ao'nung, signing a greeting to Ao'nung's spirit brother Ain. Ain clicked a greeting back, flipping around as he saw you. Ao'nung shook his head with a smile at his tulkun's actions, introducing Neteyam to Ain. Ain, catching on to Ao'nung's crush on Neteyam, teased Ao'nung a bit before looking at you.

'You know about this?' Ain asks you.

'I do, I also like him,' you sign back.

'Really? You two are so alike. Now, go away and play!' Ain says, noting who alike you and Ao'nung were.

When Ao'nung heard his tulkun talking about the two of you, he rolled his eyes but his demeanor quickly changed when Ain said to go and play. He quickly signs to you and Neteyam.

'Let's race ilus around the reef, whoever gets out of the water first loses!'

'That's not fair!' Neteyam signs, Ao'nung just shook his head at Neteyam, calling an ilu and immediately riding away. Neteyam shakes his head and gets on an ilu that was nearby, chasing after Ao'nung.

You decide not to join them and take a moment to truly feel everything around you. Ain has swam away and you were temporarily alone. You could feel the waves of movements from all the tulkun and na'vi moving, allowing the movements to wash over you under the water. You close your eyes for a second to let your other senses work. Tranquility washed over you, and the reef was at peace for the first time in a while.

You open your eyes to see Kiri and Tuk riding on the fin of Rotxo's spirit brother, Rotxo considerably close to Kiri. You wonder if he's looking out for her safety due to the incident that happened a couple days ago. Not soon after, you see Ao'nung and Neteyam circle around Kiri, Tuk, and Rotxo, Neteyam not too far from Ao'nung. The millionth smile gracing your face, happy to see the two na'vi connect with each other even from a distance.

Even though you had discussed some feelings with Inaka and Ain, it felt good that the emotion of like, or even possibly love, wasn't talking over your heart.

You felt someone tap your shoulder, it was Tsireya.

'My mother and her spirit sister are looking for you,' Tsireya signs, you nod your head, understanding why they were looking for you. For some reason Ronal liked to talk about your tsakarem training with Roa, specifically with you there. Maybe she wanted to show off her teachings to her spirit sister, but you went along with it anyway.

When you find Ronal and Roa, you see Neytiri is there as well, interacting with Roa and signing something about children. After last time, you didn't want to hear anything more about children.

You swish at the water to make your presence be known, the mothers immediately diving into a conversation on how you were a promising tashik, making you feel better about your current position as tsakarem despite all anxieties about it. You chime in here and there, praises of Neytiri and how she was able to adjust nicely to the way of water, Ronal joining you.

Your time with the three mothers was cut short when you felt as if the wind was knocked out of you. Ao'nung had grabbed you from the waist and taken you from the conversation you were part of, bringing the two of you up to the surface with Neteyam not far behind.

"Looks like I won the challenge, Ao'nung," Neteyam says with a smug smile, as he was the last one out of the water.

Ao'nung rolls his eyes, "It doesn't count. I had to save (Y/n) from my mother and your mother, and let her breathe a bit."

In a state of confusion, you put a hand on Ao'nung's back for stability, "what just happened?"

"Took you from my mother, now join us in our race," Ao'nung begs, wanting the three of you to do an activity together.

"Yes, (Y/n) join me and beat Ao'nung in his own stupid game."

"My game isn't stupid, it's just a game. We play it all the time!" Ao'nung exclaims, looking at you for confirmation.

"He does like to play it a lot," you say with a nod, agreeing with Ao'nung's words.

"Okay, but you gotta let me have a late start. I'm still learning to breathe," Neteyam says.

"Last time we practiced, you were doing perfectly fine for the same amount of time as me," you call Neteyam out.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Neteyam says, looking away from you.

"Anyway, (Y/n), are you in this time? You just stayed floating in the water, and that's boring," Ao'nung asks.

"Floating in the water is not boring, you just need to be doing something all the time," you say to Ao'nung, shoving his head to the side.

You called for an ilu to pick you up and you transferred off of Ao'nung's ilu and on to the one you had just called.

"Are you ready?" Ao'nung asks.

He starts a countdown and when he reaches the end of it, you, him, and Neteyam all dive down into the water and start to race around everyone and the tulkuns, circling Inaka and Ain, passing by Tsireya and Rotxo and everyone else.

Bubbles full of laughter would live around the reef for this brief moment of happiness, and everyone would remember it.

That night, when the tulkun had left and everyone was walking toward the communal dining area, you pulled Neteyam to the side.

"Do you have your songcord on you?" you ask, pulling yours out. He nods his head and takes his out, wondering what you would possibly do with both of your songcords. You gave him a bead out of the two you had stored in your marui pod, where you stopped by before heading to the communal dining.

"A bead for me and a bead for you. To celebrate the first time you got to interact with our spirit brothers and sisters, you better not forget about today."

"I definitely won't be able to forget."

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[a/n]: when i rewatched this scene i started crying everyone was so happy and omg it was such a pretty scene my heart is so full every time i watch it. i just got my wisdom teeth removed but here i am writing fanfic !! i have no life LMFAO i have a million avatar ocs rn my mind is growing crazy man. i think in chapter 6 i updated my did  you know there bc someone corrected me on some info so pls check that out if u havent !

did you know: that the tulkun are the biggest fauna on pandora and that the tulkun's queue is inside their mouths to protect it, having 2 sensory organs on the bottom of their snout. their mouths open weird as a way to allow not just food, but their young and the na'vi they are to bond with to comfortably be in their mouths. they protect their calves in their mouth until they are too big and their skin is super tough as a way to act as armour. the only reason they are able to kill roa (ronal's spirit sister) is because they suffocate her by keeping her above the water for so long, her calf also dies because he doesn't know where to go without her and is confused that she's not moving. (this fact might be a little off hehe)