CHAPTER 52

After the explosion sounded, the ship sunk in no time at all. The girls left on the rocks had no idea what was going on; just that no one had returned yet. They tried to keep their minds elsewhere but anything they said or did was a futile attempt at ignorance. Nothing worked.

So, given up on trying to ignore the situation, Erìhe turned to the Tsahik and asked: "When do you believe he will wake up?" She questioned, motioning toward Neteyam who lay between them, still as ever.

By now everyone in the group had sat down on the rocks as they figured they could possibly be there for quite a while. Tsireya sat next to her mother, looking down at her own hands sadly while Ronal drew gentle, comforting circles on her shoulder. Riik'o and Níawi were sat beside Erìhe, all three of them huddled close together for comfort while Aluva sat by Ronal's other side.

"If he wakes up," Aluva whispered to herself, blankly staring ahead. Everyone heard her and Erìhe turned to glare at her.

The Tsahik fixed Aluva with a cold look, wordlessly scolding her for saying such unhopeful things and embedding those thoughts into everyone else. "He will wake up," she said sternly, "But I do not know when. He has lost a lot of blood; he could wake up tomorrow or next week," her eyes turned to Erìhe as she spoke.

The girl worried her bottom lip with her teeth as her eyes turned back to Neteyam. He looked as though he were simply sleeping. All the muscles in his face were relaxed - he wasn't grimacing from pain or hyperventilating. By looking at his face it was hard to tell that he'd been shot.

"He'll be fine, Erìhe," Níawi assured her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Erìhe turned her head toward her and gave her a tight lipped smile, nodding her head softly.

Seeing as they were no longer ignoring what was going on around them, Tsireya spoke up next: "Will they be alright? When will Lo'ak get back?" She asked tearfully. Erìhe knew Tsireya to have a big heart and today that really showed, it seemed she was crying for everyone.

Despite everything, Erìhe found herself grinning at Tsireya. "Lo'ak will be just fine, we used to do dangerous things all the time back in the forest and he's always lived."

Tsireya looked up at Erìhe, "Dangerous things like what?" She inquired, sudden,y very curious to hear more.

And Erìhe began telling stories about their time back home. She told nerve wracking war stories, times when they'd gone hunting and others of their dumb adventures. She had to admit, remembering back and repeating all of these stories was making her realise just how hectic and dangerous their life had been back then. She did not miss the constant anxiety and danger at all, and it greatly saddened her to think that their life could now return to what it once was.

"-and he tumbled right off the ledge," Erìhe finished telling the story of Lo'ak's failed iknimaya. She had been there to see the ordeal, so whereas she nonchalantly recounted the incident, the other three girls and Tsahik listened alertly with their eyes blown wide.

"I can't believe his mother didn't intervene already when the ikran bit his leg!" Riik'o said in horror as Tsireya and Aluva nodded in agreement but Níawi seemed highly entertained by the story.

Erìhe waved them off, "The danger is a part of it," she shrugged, "If it weren't dangerous, anyone could become a warrior."

"Did you fail?" Aluva asked curiously, to which Erìhe scoffed and replied lightly: "I passed my first try."

"Of course you did!" Níawi squealed and clapped Erìhe's back in excitement. "And what about Neteyam?" She asked after briefly glancing at the boy.

"He passed on his first try too. And way before me," Erìhe admitted, a small smile ghosting over her lips. At the time she'd been overcome by jealousy but now it was just funny to her how she'd gotten so upset over his achievement. "He was the youngest person in the clan to undergo iknimaya and become a warrior."

"Kiri had an ikran as well," Aluva stated, "Did she-"

But she was suddenly interrupted by Tsireya letting out a loud gasp and scrambling to her feet. The rest of the girls looked up to watch as she ran toward the water, feet slipping on the wet rocks as she tried to make it across as fast as she could.

When Erìhe squinted, momentarily blinded by the sun returning to shine upon them. She could see a tulkun in the distance, wailing in a way that did not convey happiness nor sadness - it was something in between. But then she could spot people swimming over toward the rocks and she jumped to her feet as well, running over the slippery rocks just as Tsireya had.

A few times Erìhe almost flew on her butt due to slipping, but ultimately she managed to stay on her feet. The Sully family were already wading through the shallow water toward them when Tsireya wrapped Lo'ak into a tight hug and Erìhe was met halfway by Tuk who practically threw herself into the older girl's arms. Erìhe looked around last Tuk's shoulder and was relieved to see everyone had made it out of the ship.

Neytiri practically flew right past them to go see her son but Jake hung back a little bit before walking over to his daughter and Erìhe and gently wrapping his arms around them both in a comforting hug.

"You okay? You were so brave," He spoke to Erìhe, who still held tightly onto Tuk. Erìhe kind of felt like crying but she still nodded into his shoulder. She'd never truly met her father so she had sort of filled that empty spot in her heart with Jake. She didn't really consider him to be her father - just the closest thing she'd ever have to one. Any sort of acceptance from him had always made her so happy and it effected her no differently now.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Erìhe forced her voice to remain even as she slowly pulled away from Jake. "Neteyam is okay, too," she told him and smiled down at Tuk. She wasn't sure what the girl had heard while being trapped on that ship, but Tuk seemed so relieved to hear these news that she quickly scrambled out of Erìhe's hold to go to her brother.

Jake squeezed Erìhe's shoulder gently before the two of them took off to follow Tuk. Arriving back to the place everyone else was, Erìhe could see that her friends had quickly backed away from Neteyam to give his family some room beside him. The Tsahik had gotten up as well, and was quietly reassuring Neytiri - who was crouched beside Neteyam - that her son would be okay.

Tuk held onto Neteyam's hand, crying softly despite the assurance that her brother would be alright. Erìhe looked to her right and saw Lo'ak and Tsireya holding each other as they watched the others silently. She looked away sadly at that, wishing that she could be standing there with Neteyam, hugging each other just as the younger couple were.

It was then that Erìhe realised someone actually was missing. Not everyone had made it back from the ship.

"Spider. Where is Spider?" She asked, looking in every which direction in hopes of catching a glimpse of the boy. He was so small, maybe he was hiding behind someone? When Spider didn't step into view and no one knew what to say, Erìhe grew increasingly more worried. Had he died on the ship or drowned when it sunk? Or maybe it was neither and he was just swimming around somewhere peacefully.

Kiri looked around as well, as if just registering the fact that her best friend was missing. "He didn't return," she said. Somehow her statement sounded more like a question as her voice cracked. "Where did you last see him?" She asked Lo'ak.

Lo'ak frowned as he remembered. "We split up to look for dad."

"Is he still looking?" Erìhe wondered and glanced back toward the ship.

"Who is Spider?" Riik'o asked and looked around as if it would provide her with the answers she sought.

"Our friend from the forest," Tuk sniffed, "He's human."

Ronal frowned and looked towards Jake, who could only avert his gaze and clear his throat. The Tsahik wasn't an all too welcoming person, as they all knew firsthand, so it was understandable how the news of them having a human friend in her presence could be an uneasy thing for her. In a way, this made her similar to Neytiri.

"He's not dangerous," Lo'ak assured all the Metkayina who looked slightly uneasy.

"He's like us," Kiri added and Erìhe nodded, telling them that he was harmless. And as if he heard them speak of him, Spider pulled himself onto the rocks and heaved in a deep breath right at that moment. Despite his exopack, he seemed winded.

"Spider!" Tuk grinned and waved at him, not getting up from her crouched position beside Neteyam. Neytiri did nothing to acknowledge Spider's presence, but that seemed to suit him - Erìhe saw him glance at her with a weird expression before her everted his eyes once again.

"Monkey boy," Kiri breathed out as Spider walked over to her. He let her place one of her large hands over his chest and lifted his own to place on top of hers. The girl smiled up at him from where she was seated on the rock and Spider met her gaze, offering her the slightest smile.

Erìhe did not quite know what to make of their eye contact. It seemed way more than just friendly - but she didn't dwell on it for too long. She was the one who ruined their moment. : "Spidey!" she smiled and padded over to them to practically wrench Spider from Kiri's hold and place him into a bone crushing hug.

Erìhe rarely ever hugged Lo'ak or Spider, but when she did they would always try to break out of her grasp - seeming repulsed by the contact. She knew they weren't though, and it was confirmed when instead of fighting to be let go, Spider allowed himself to be hugged by her. She let go quickly though, when Jake asked Spider if he was alright and then proceeded to pull both him and Lo'ak into a loose hug. If you could even call it a hug.

The girl turned around and saw the way Níawi, Riik'o, and Aluva were looking at her. They seemed confused that someone like them, a Na'vi, was friends with a skyperson. But they seemed even more confused by just Spider himself. The three girls tilted their heads as they took in his appearance: pale skin, light hair, and tiny. But he dressed as if he were one of them. Erìhe could see how it could throw them off.

She grinned as she bound over to them, the pain in her leg long forgotten and perhaps by now nonexistent. "Where did you find him?" Níawi asked, looking toward Spider and not even bothering to lower her voice. Perhaps she believed he wouldn't hear her with his tiny ears.

Spider crouched down beside Kiri and smiled at Níawi when he heard her talking of him. The girl looked taken aback and quickly looked toward Erìhe instead.

"He's family," Erìhe shrugged.

Spider looked down at his hands, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

-
A/n:
BORING ASS CHAPTER bc Neteyam is knocked tf out 🙄🙄 (idk how I should wake him)

Tbh I have no motivation to continue this book I ran out of ideas but anyways a Na'vi flipping someone off is so silly