05

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Neytiri and Jake

Early after the sunrise, standing in the shallow water, Leyra was hunting with other people of her clan for a celebration that was set up for tonight. The clan is celebrating their mother goddess Eywa with rituals, old songs and plenty of food Eywa has given them. They also cherish the dead who are now back with Eywa. Individual's would sing their songcord and together they would sing about their home village and Spirit Tree, thanking Eywa for it.

In the water far away from the hunting section Leyra saw how Jake Sully struggled to tame an skimwing and falling off a few times. Tonowari and two men had started to train him yesterday, but it didn't worked out so Jake continued to try today.

"Leyra, you have offered your help yesterday. Would you mind helping ma Jake now with the skimwing?" Neytiri said behind Leyra.

"I can feel that the failed attempts hurt his ego, because I got it on the first try yesterday." She added chuckling as Leyra turned to her.

"kaltxì, Neytiri." Leyra smiled at the woman.

"And he won't let me help him."

"I get it. It would hurt his ego even more." She laughed with her. "I don't know if it would help that a much younger person would teach him, but I'll try."

"Irayo. I see you haven't finished hunting. I could continue the work for you." Neytiri offered.

"That would be perfect, irayo Neytiri." Leyra said and collected her dagger from the beach.

"It would be lovely if you would spend your time at the celebration tonight with me and my family, Leyra. I've heard so much about you and would like to get to know you more." Neytiri spoke and put her hand on Leyra's shoulder, looking at her motherly.

"I would love to."

"You said your parents aren't around anymore and I noticed that you don't have a good relationship with Ronal or Tonowari either, so I just wanted to say that I am here for you, Leyra." Neytiri said and giving her a smile.

Tears formed in Leyra's eyes. Leyra never had a family that loved her and even though Ronal and Tonowari had raised her, she never had grown a bond with them or seen their kids as her siblings. She never was a part of their family because she would never be like them. She was different. A half-breed and they had never accepted her. Only used her for missions.

"Thank you, Neytiri. I'm not ready to talk about my parents yet, but I trust you." Leyra answered sniffling and went to hug her tightly. Neytiri hugged the young one too and caressed her back.

"It is okay to let your emotions out. I am very sorry that no one was there to protect and love you, my 'eve." Neytiri whispered as Leyra cried silently into her chest. "You are a very strong and special girl. Don't let anyone tell you something different."

Leyra nodded and Neytiri wiped the wet tears away from her cheeks.

"I'll go now." Leyra muttered and turned around to go. Still looking down on the ground while walking to the place, where Jake trained, she wiped the remaining tears away but walked into a hard chest.

"Oh, sorry." She muttered.

"Have you been crying?" A deep familiar voice asked concerned as he saw the dried tear stains on her face and Leyra looked up.

"I saw you talking with my mother a few minutes ago. Did she said something bad to you?" Neteyam questioned as he took her head in his hands examine her eyes to find a clue. Leyra was perplex and couldn't form a sentence because of his presence. Neteyam took her silence as a yes.

"She can't just insult you. I'm gonna go talk to her." He said quite angry and moved forward to go.

"No, wait!" she grabbed his hand to hold him back. "She was comforting me."

"Oh. Really? I always thought she is kind of cold-hearted." He chuckled for a second.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yes. Now that I saw your face I'm better." Leyra said smirking, knowing the effect her words have on him. Neteyam blushed slightly.

"Well, Lo'ak was annoying me before I saw you, but your presence calmed me down." He answered charmingly and Leyra blushed when he tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her right ear. They were looking in each others eyes and their faces came closer. He glanced at her plump lips and his left thumb was stroking over her lower lip. He had the desire to kiss her right know and she felt the urge to do so too, but the words of Tsireya were in the back of her head.

"I can't. Not yet." She whispered and Neteyam nodded understandingly.

"I know." He whispered back. "I'll wait."

She gave him a small smile and continued her way to Jake and Tonowari.

"If you break her heart I'll kill you myself. I do not care that you are my son." Neytiri called to Neteyam from the beach and looked at him threateningly.

"Mom!" he yelled. "You were watching us the entire time?" His cheeks turned red and he quickly turned around fleeing from his mother.

┅

Leyra arrived on her ilu beside the group of men.

"What are you doing here?" Tonowari asked her while he is holding a skimwing in place with another man.

"I offered my help with the skimwing to Jake." She answered and nodded quickly to everyone as a greeting.

"Of course you did. You are one of our youngest best riders." Tonowari said proudly. He always had respected her more than Ronal ever did. He raised her as a warrior and was good friends with her mother before she died.

"As you know this is a warriors mount. It is not easy to master. I even got a few scars from my skimwing, Te'ylar." She said and looks at Jake who makes the bond with the skimwing.

"Maybe you should try an ilu before you try again." Leyra suggested.

"No, I got this." Jake just said confident and tied his hand to the harness of the skimwing.

"Remember, when you dive back in, good position, very important." Tonowari reminded.

"Yeah, yeah." Jake nodded and went forward with a cry on the skimwing. He was on the surface of the water on a fast pace and when the skimwing flew above the water it really looked unstable because he was struggling with the strength of the animal. As soon as they dived into the water he lost control over the skimwing. The men beside Leyra let out a laugh and Tonowari looked a little bit disappointed.

"We really need your help, Leyra." Tonowari sighed. "Maybe you should show him your position as you have a similar body type."

Being a mix of oceanic and forest Na'vi she had more difficulties than others in her clan. Her oceanic futures weren't as developed as they should be so she couldn't do things exactly the others. She had to adjust her skills on another level.

While Jake came back, Leyra was clicking her tongue and a certain deep sound came out of her mouth and with a little higher pitched cry she called her skimwing to the place where she stood a little bit away from the men. She felt her coming nearer and soon her female skimwing Te'ylar was circling her dangerously in the shallow water showing her sharp teeth.

"Come on, stop being a bitch and behave." She called out while looking her directly in the eyes with a grin on her face. With a growl Te'ylar swam beside Leyra.

"Good girl." She whispered petting the head of her and connecting their queue. She felt the breath and strength of the animal pulsing through her body, and becoming one with the skimwing.

She positioned herself on the skimwing. "You must adjust your position, because your body type is quite different from ours. When you're flying above the water you should lean back and let your body weight drag you down. Thats how you can control the strength from the skimwing better." Leyra adjusted to the right position to show Jake, while he is listening carefully, more than he did when Tonowari was talking to him.

"When you are about to go back into the water you should lean forward and hold your body flatly to the body from the skimwing and clench your legs a little bit so you don't loose control. Hold it till you are trough the surface. If you don't the strength of the water will throw you off the skimwing again." She shifted her position while she described.

"Under the water you should hold on tightly but you can relax your body a little bit because then you move as one with the skimwing." she said.

"Now let's show them how it is properly done, Te'ylar." she whispered to the animal and moved forward with a cry of a warrior.

"Watch and learn." Tonowari said to Jake.

Little did she know many of the clan, including the forest family, was watching her the entire time. People of the clan were a little frightened by her because of her differences and because she was a very good warrior, but they would take their fear and would turn it into hate towards her. They called her a freak but never into here face. But still they were captivated by her beauty, skills and strength.

The fascination of the forest people were written in their faces as Leyra was moving above the surface with the wind gliding trough her hair. She really looked like a goddess with the sun glowing behind her. She went into the water and came back to the surface beside Jake.

"Come on. We try together." She said and Jake jumped onto the skimwing while connecting their queue again. They moved forward slowly at first and then increased their speed when they got into the air.

"Lean back a little." she yelled and Jake did what he told her. He could feel the strength of the skimwing and controlled it.

"It's working." His posture was a lot more stable.

"Now lean forward before we dive in." She did it as she said it and Jake did the same. Now the dive was better than before and he didn't fall off again.

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Neteyam and Leyra[art by me]

kaltxì - Hello

Irayo - Thanks

'eve - girl