Blood and Water | Neteyam

New Beginnings ∼ 7

Watching Jake give up his position as Olo'eyktan had been hard for the whole family as well as Tcelia. She had watched, with a burning feeling in the back of her throat, as the new leader had cut Jake, signifying the change of leadership. As they walked through the crowd of Na'vi who were bidding them goodbye, she had finally realized what leaving the forest behind entailed.

When Tcelia had entered the tent after Jake had asked her to come with them, she had felt elated. Neytiri had passed her in the opening and put a hand on her shoulder, just like Jake had done earlier. Tcelia had mirrored the older woman's saddened but reassuring smile even though she had felt anything but sad, and Neytiri had left, probably to find Jake.

Tcelia had gone straight to Tuk who was sitting on her sleeping mat, chatting with her brothers. Kiri was sitting a bit away from them, bent over and braiding something furiously. They all looked glum, obviously unhappy about having to leave everything they knew behind.

Tcelia drew the younger girl into her lap, who gladly obliged. Lo'ak had noticed her good mood and asked her 'what all that was about', and when Tcelia had informed them about the reason for Jake's ambush, they had all looked at her incredulously. Even Kiri had stopped what she was doing and echoed her siblings' expressions.

"You cannot seriously have believed that you would not be coming with us," Lo'ak had said, "That is just stupid." The others had voiced their agreements rather quickly, making Tcelia flush.

"I am sorry that I did not feel like I could just invite myself along, Lo'ak," She had shot back, smacking his arm, eyes narrowed. But she had felt incredibly delighted that not even the children had for a second toyed with the idea of leaving her behind.

But now that it had finally sunken in that they were, in fact, leaving, Tcelia's cheerfulness had subsided. She was saying goodbye to nearly everyone she had known her entire life. She was saying goodbye to the place where she had been taught to fight, where she had made her first bow, had her first kiss. Goodbye to her parents' resting place. It felt like stones in her heart, but she also knew that she would follow the Sully family to world's end and then some more if they asked her to.

She had been holding Tuk's hand as they had walked through the crowd, and though the younger girl had been putting on a brave face, Tcelia could tell how sad she was by the way she was clinging to Tcelia's side. Neytiri, who was walking ahead of them, was sobbing silently. Tcelia couldn't remember the last time she had seen her cry, and it made the whole experience that much more upsetting.

Now as they were flying over the forest on their Ikrans, Tcelia savoured every minute of it, breathing in the forest air that she had grown up with, feeling a melancholy within herself, not knowing if she'd ever come back. She agreed silently with herself that from now on she needed to look on the positive side of things. Jake needed someone who was resilient and adaptable and she didn't want to be a burden.

So, as they flew across the shore and over the ocean, she tried to remind herself of all the good things. Like how beautiful the water looked, how nice the weather was and... and... Yeah, she was definitely going to need to be better at the whole positive outlook on life thing, if the plan was going to work.

They flew for a long time over open water. Tcelia didn't really know where they were going and from the conversation she'd had with Neteyam a bit earlier on, it didn't seem like anyone else except Jake knew, either.

After what felt like forever, they were finally approaching land. Tcelia and Lo'ak exchanged a quick glance of wonderment as they got closer. They flew over pools of water and towards a beach that was lined with tents and walkways slightly lifted above the sand and water.

Na'vi people, who were busy living their everyday life, swimming, catching fish and whatnot, stopped and stared at the Ikrans that flew above them. Horns were blasted, probably indicating that strangers were arriving. Their group circled in the air until Jake pointed at an empty spot of sand, signaling for them to land there. Tcelia landed right after Neteyam and jumped off her Ikran.