I'm back with yet another story cause why not.

Words - 3435

Neteyams pov -

We had finally made it to the new land we were hopefully going to be staying at. The war was getting terribly worse at home, so we had to leave.

We landed our ikran on the sand. I hopped off, and my feet touched the soft sand.

I wiggled my toes into the sand. "This is so soft, bro!" My brother, Lo'ak, says excitedly. I nodded in agreement. I heard Kiri chuckle from behind us.

"Really showing how manly you guys are.." She giggles. Lo'ak rolled his eyes, and I just laughed along.

"Kids!" My father starts. "Act your age and come on!"

I sighed as we started to walk towards the village. Many Metkayina Navi formed a circle around us as they all whispered to each other.

Suddenly, a path cleared for what I assumed to be the cheif. The cheif gave us a look as he continued to make his way towards us.

"We come in peace." My father states doing the I see you greeting. We all followed his movements.

Just then, two more paths were cleared in the crowd. The cheifs children. I heard my brother slightly gasp as a beautiful woman stepped out of the ocean.

I could see why he gasped. She was very beautiful. She made her way into the crowd, smiling at us. She seemed nicer than a lot of people.

"Hey..." Lo," Ak says to her as she just giggles in return.

Meanwhile, while my brother gushed over the beautiful woman, two men appeared from the crowd.

One had his hair in a bun and a tattoo on his shoulder. He was tall and seemed to be really strong with his build.

As for the other man, he was short. He didn't have long hair, and it was kind of frizzy.

I guess the cheif had two sons.

They stood by their father. "Why do you come to us?" Tonowari asked but was cut off by what looked to be the Tahink.

"Yes, why do you.. forest Navi, come here?" She questions as she motions towards her two sons.

Her and one of her eldest sons started to walk around us. "We seek a sanctuary for my family.." My father breathed out.

As the Tahink, Ronal, started to judge my mother and sisters, I felt a hand on my tail.

I quickly turned around. I saw the cheifs son smirking down at me. My head only reached his neck, so I had to look up at him. He was a lot taller than it seemed.

"Their tails are thin.." I heard his mother say as I turned to look at her. "Their arms are weak. You guys will be too slow in the water."

Just then, she grabbed Kiri and Lo'aks hands. "They are not even true, Navi." Ronal huffed. "They have demon blood!" She shouts.

Everyone gasped. Aonung grabbed my hand. He examined it. I snatched my hand away and turned away from him.

I heard a low chuckle from behind me. Wasn't he supposed to be examining the others like his mother? Why is he standing behind me the whole time?

"Look, look!" My father sighs. "I was once a sky person, but now I am Navi by the grace of Eywa."

I saw the tahink walk back to her mate as her son went over to his sister. Finally, he had left from behind me.

"Dude, he was totally checking you out!" My brother whispers as he giggles.

"Shut up!" I whispered as my cheeks flushed.

"Ooooo, does someone have a crush already, and we just got here?" He pestered.

"Yeah, you." I sighed. He went silent. Thank the great mother, Eywa.

"It is decided!" I heard the cheif say in a loud booming voice. "Your family will stay with us. My children will teach your children."

Ronal looked over at us as she glared. "Learn well." She states blankly.

"But, father, why do I have to?" I heard the boy complain as he started to whisper to his father, but I heard it very clearly. "They're not even true, Navi."

"It has been decided." His father huffed as I heard Aonung hiss under his breath.

Ronal and some warriors took our stuff, and my parents, along with Tuk, went to find where we would be staying.

Tonowari and his children stood in front of us. "This is my daughter Tsireya." He starts. "This is my eldest son, Aonung, and my youngest Roxto."

"Come!" Tsireya says excitedly. "I will show you around your new home!"

We all started to follow Tsireya. She showed us many great sights at the Metkayina village.

On our tour, she showed us a small forest area behind the village. "This is where we gather our wood and fruit." She smiles.

My siblings and I were all staring in awe. They had a forest like our home!! I was overjoyed after seeing the sight.

As she showed us more of the village, we followed close behind. Just then, I felt a hand touch my tail and pull it slightly. I let out a whimper and quickly covered my mouth.

I took my hand off of my mouth and turned around a blushing mess to be faced with Aonungs smirking face and a giggling Roxto behind him. I also then realized that Kiri had made a friend already with Roxto.

I quickly started to walk up to my brother. "Bro!" I whisper shouted. "That guy just pulled my tail!"

"I know! I heard you!" He started to laugh.

"This is not funny!" I groaned.

"Oh, it is so funny!" He laughs. "You should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!"

I groaned as Tsireya made her way around, showing us the last places. "Alright!" She beams. "That's all for the tour. I hope you enjoyed it! Aonung.." She motions him over.

"Tomorrow, we will start to teach you the way of water." Aonung sighs. "We already have the pairs you will be in when being taught."

Roxto walked over. "Tsireya will be with the smaller one out of the brothers." He chuckles.

"It's Lo'ak." My brother sighs.

"Oh, alright, cool!" Roxto states. "I will be with Kiri, and Aonung will be with the older brother."

"It's Neteyam." I stated. I looked over to see Aonung smirking at me.

"I hope you all are okay with these placements." Tsireya chirps. "We will see you early in the morning to start training."

All of us start to walk to our huts. The cheifs children had to accompany us to show us where we lived.

We made it to our hut, and the siblings greeted us goodbye. I let my siblings into the hut first and was pulled aside by Aonung.

He grabbed me by my chin. His hands were big. "I'll see you at training, forest boy." He smirks. I blushed hard and quickly got out of his grip. I rushed inside the hut.

"Neteyam? Is everything alright?" My mother questions. I just nodded as I quickly made it to my new room.

It was small, with a hammock in the corner of the room. My bow stood tall over by my extra loincloth.

I sighed heavily as I lay on my hammock. "Neteyam..." I heard my sister Kiri walk in. I hummed in response. "Is everything alright? You sighed so heavily that I could hear it from outside your door." She chuckles.

"That guy... Aonung.." I started. She nodded for me to continue. "Did you see what he did while we were walking?" I questioned.

"I did. It was quite a funny scene." She chuckles. I sighed heavily once again.

"It was not funny!" I huffed. "Why me? Why does he gotta pick on me? Why not anyone else?"

"Because, Neteyam." She giggles. "I think he has a little crush on you. Guys pick on people when they like them."

"Well, that is too bad." I sighed.

"Why do you feel that way about it?" She asks with a now worried look on her face. "Do you not like that he likes you? Normally, you are happy people like you."

"It's not that..." I sighed. She gave me a confused look. "I don't like how he makes me feel. Like I can feel the blush on my face when he does anything."

"Well, maybe you should come to terms with the fact that you may like boys." She giggles.

"Already our first day here, and I've fallen for someone." I breathed out.

"Don't worry... I may have fallen for someone, too.." She says away. I gave her a shocked face. "It's Roxto..."

"Him?!" I giggled. "He's so short, and what about Spider back home?"

"I still can't believe you think I like him!" She sighs. "We are just friends. He's like a brother to the family, well, except in our mother's eyes..."

I giggled. "Do you think she will ever except him?" I asked.

"I don't think so.." Kiri sighs. "That's out of the question. She despises him.."

"Then it's a good thing we moved far away from him.." I tried to laugh, but it didn't work. "Do you ever miss it?"

"Miss what?" She asked.

"The forest..." I sighed. "I know it's only been a day, but still. I miss it so much.."

"Yeah, I feel that, brother.." She states. "Well, sleep tight.."

"Goodnight, Kiri." I stated as I laid down to rest.

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The next morning, I woke up to my brother shaking me awake. "Bro, wake up! We gotta train with the others!" He says excitedly.

"Alright, alright!" I groaned. "I'm getting up."

I went out of the hut and met up with the others who were already talking to each other. "There he is!" Tsireya beams.

"Sorry I'm late!" I apologized.

"No worries!" Tsireya smiles. "You've had a long trip yesterday."

"Alright, everyone get into pairs, and we shall start the training." Roxto states.

We all walked over to our partners. My brother was beaming with joy as he was with his crush, and so was Kiri. As for me, I was about to crap my loincloth.

Aonung stared down at me with a smirk. "We shall meet back here by this rock before eclipse!" Aonung says to everyone, not looking away from me.

Everyone goes off their separate ways. "You look worried, forest boy." I heard Aonung say. I turned to look at him. He lifted my chin. "What troubles you?"

"N..nothing!" I studdered. "Just uhm.. I haven't fully woken up yet!"

"Alright.." He chuckles. "Follow me, forest boy."

He started to walk to some where. I quickly followed. We made it to.. the forest? There was a big pool of water that connected to the reef in the forest.

(Imagine mako mermaids but with trees surrounding the pool of water and deep water with coral reef in it 👍)

"I figured you would feel more comfortable training in an environment your semi used, too." Aonung chuckles. I smiled at him. "This is a deep pool of water with coral in it. It connects the reef and the forest. I figure we can see how well you do with diving first."

I nodded to him. He dived into the water flawlessly. I followed with a not so graceful dive.

When I jumped in, a bunch of fish swam past me, making me lose my balance in the water and go spinning backward.

I guess it happened since I wasn't used to it. I felt two strong arms grab mine and hold me in place.

I then realized the struggle for air I had. I felt the strong arms pulling me up to the surface. I gasped for air as I turned and looked to see Aonung helping me.

"Just breathe, forest boy.." I heard him chuckle lightly. "That was not how I expected your first time in the water to go.."

"You could have told me fish would wipe me out!" I sighed as I continued to gasp for air.

"I didn't know!" He chuckles. "Let's try again."

I nodded as we both went back underwater. He did something with his hands, but I couldn't understand. I gave him the "I don't know what you're talking about" face.

He smiled before signaling to follow him. So, I quickly started to swim to him. After about a minute, the lack of air in my lungs was not helping.

I started to swim to the surface again. Once I reached, I took a couple of deep breaths and put my head back under to see Aonung swimming up to me.

"What is wrong?" He asked.

"I don't understand this.." I moved my hands around. "Finger talk... and I can't hold my breath that long.."

"I will teach you.." Aonung sighs. "Come.."

I quickly followed him out. We made it to a large rock near the beach. We both sat down in front of each other.

"Now, breath from here." Aonung states as he puts his hands on my chest and stomach. This is when I realized just how big his hands actually were. "Breathe slowly. You need to calm your heartbeat."

I tried, but with his hands there, it was quite litterly impossible. "Your heartbeat is fast, I told you to keep it slow!" He chuckles. Then I saw a smirk appear on his face. "What's wrong, forest boy? Are you nervous?"

His question was answered as my heartbeat started to beat even faster. "Uhm.. no." I breathed out. Then, I started to try my best to slow it down. Trying to forget he was in front of me smirking with his hands on me. Eventually, I got it.

"Very good, forest boy." He chuckles. "Now do it in the water."

We made our way to the beach this time. Hopefully, fish wouldn't knock me out of place this time.

When we dived into the water this time, I was able to stay stable in place and swim with Aonung for a good three minutes before I needed to breathe.

We arose to the surface together. "Aonung!" I said happily.

"You did it!" He replied excitedly. We high foured and got out of the water. "Now, for the last lesson of the day.. finger talk."

I chuckled as we went back to our rock. We had about three hours to spare.

After about an hour, I understood most of it. "Good job, Neteyam!" He chuckles. I blushed at him, actually saying my name.

We decided to go swimming for the remaining two hours. When we dived back in, I looked around at the scenery.

Aonung stayed by me and was about to sign something, but I turned around because I felt the waves get heavier.

Something with fins and sharp teeth was coming towards us. I screamed underwater, inhaling a lot of it.

I grabbed latched onto Aonung, and he swam up to the surface. I was gasping for air. "What was that!" I practically shouted through breaths. He was giggling. I was still latched around him. My arms and legs around him. "It's not funny! What is that thing!?"

I got off of him and looked under to see the thing coming closer. "It's getting closer!" I shouted to Aonung. "Aonung, why are you still laughing! It's gonna get us!" I started to swim away, but Aonung pulled me back.

"Mawye, mawye, forest boy!" He said as he stopped laughing and smiled at me. "They are not harmful. They are more scared of you than you are of it!"

"Oh..." I breathed out. "So, they won't eat us?"

"Of course not." He chuckles. "They are ilu. If you want to live here, you have to ride one. You'll learn to ride one tomorrow." I looked at him with a shocked expression.

"No way am I riding one of those!" I said flabbergasted.

"Then I'm afraid you will have to return to your old home.." He breathed out, giggling under his breath.

"But, they are scary looking.." I sighed.

"You are acting as if you don't get on those big ikrans every day of your life!" He chuckles. I just sighed. "Come. You can ride on the back of mine to get the hang of it."

I looked up at him and emidiatly started shaking my head. "No, no, nope, not happening!" I said as I started to swim away. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards him.

"Mawye, Neteyam." He says. "Trust me.. all you will have to do is hold your breath."

I sighed as I followed him to his ilu. He made some clicking noises before it appeared in front of us.

I swam back a little bit. I gave him a worried look. "Mawye.." He says again. He gets on it and gets himself situated. He then lends a hand out to me.

I take his hand and get on the back of it. I immediately wrap my hands around his waist.

"We can not go if your heartbeat is not calm.." He chuckles. "Mawye, Neteyam. Focus."

I did as he said and calmed my heart. Maybe it was because it's water and in the sky. But, I was terrified.

"Hold on." He says as we dive into the water. I held his waist tightly. I tapped his tummy to tell him I needed air, and he quickly went up. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." I breathed out. "I just ran out of air."

"Here." He starts. "Why don't you sit in front of me? That way, I can make sure you won't fall off and can tap to tell you to look around."

I liked this idea. Maybe I would feel safer that way. We switched places. His hands went in front of me, and he grabbed onto the handle on the ilu. I held onto his arms as we went under.

I closed my eyes. I felt him tap me. I turned and opened my eyes to look at him. He was smiling at me. He signaled for me to look in front of us.

I turned and looked. There were beautiful creatures around us. I smiled brightly and started to admire the creatures.

Aonungs pov -

I watched as Neteyam admired the creatures and scenery. It was nice to see his bright smile. He was very beautiful.

He pointed at his siblings, who were in the water signaling to follow them. They were on the ilus with Roxto and Tsireya. Like how Neteyam was with me.

Tsireya signed that we should race. Neteyam looked up at me and immediately shook his head no.

I smiled at him before I started to go faster and race with them. I was ahead of everyone else.

Only when we went up to the surface did I realize Neteyam was latched onto me like a koala.

His upper body was turned towards me. His arms were holding onto me for dear life and his head in my chest. He was breathing heavily.

"Are you alright, Neteyam?" I asked.

"No, you skxowng!" He says. "I swallowed like a whole gallon of water back there!"

I chuckled. "It's okay!" I giggled. "You can get go now..."

I saw his face flush as he quickly let go. "Im sorry!" He immediately states.

"It's alright." I chuckled. "Let's head back so you can get some rest for tomorrow."

He nodded as me and him headed to his hut. As we walked, I spoke up. "So, forest boy, I have a question.." He nodded for me to continue. "Do you have any friends here yet?"

"No.." He said in a disappointed tone. "People think me and my family are freaks. We're too weird for the others. Well, besides Tuk. Everyone has been wanting to be her friend." He chuckled. I laughed along.

"Well, let me be the first to ask you." I started, he gave him a weird look. "Would you like to be my friend?"

I watched as he smiled brightly. I smiled back. "Yes!" He says excitedly. "Wait... you're not just doing this because you feel bad for me, right?"

"Of course not, Neteyam!" I chuckled. "You worry too much, my friend."

He just smiled as we made it to his hut. "Well, thank you for the training today, friend." He giggles.

"No problem, forest boy." I chuckled. "I will see you tomorrow for training!"

I watched as he walked inside and smiled at me before he left.

Something about him made me so happy. Happier than my other friends make me...

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