Chapter Text
The water churned and foamed white. The sea dragon waged from side to side at the force of the waves as they hit it.
There was yelling and panic among the grew on the bridge. The crew moved like ants. Running side from the side and from monitor to monitor.
"What's going on!" Demanded a towering blue figure who clutched the way too low railing for support. when the ship tilted threatened. "does any of you know how to do your job!"
The blue man known as Quatrich knew the basic qualities of sea dragons and there over knew if the grew would treat her right rough sea wasn't a problem.
As nobody acknowledges the Blueman. With a frustrated growl, he made his way to the captain of the boat. Who had a white-knuckled hold of one of the radars in front of him? On the radar was a clear dot that seemed to follow the ship itself.
"What in the name of hell is going on?" He growled at him but didn't look at him for Miles had slipped and was standing next to one of the windows and looked out of it with a pale face.
The captain gave an unhumored laugh and answered him. Yelling over the roar of the sea and the nervous grew.
"It's the local Moby Dick! A killer whale!"
Quatrich saw something white and black flash from the window which Miles was looking out from. Luckily for them, it was still in the distance.
"An orca?" He wondered.
"Pretty much! It's only one of its kind to attack ships! It has killed people! but another boat got it tagged and now it's following us!" The bear-bellied captain admitted and glanced outside the window too.
"Then shoot it. You are a whaler. You kill it." Quatrich growled at him.
"Na a. In this wheater, the risk is too great. The killer whale is too smart and could kill all of those who we would set out! It ain't whort of the risk!" The captain looked straight into his yellow eyes and Quatrich could see the fear behind them.
"Our best chance of staying alive is to drive away from it. Machines will not get tired, but they will."
Just as the captain got the words out the ship gave lurched as something, big hit its side. Screams accompanied it and Quatrich couldn't help but run to the window while clutching his gun. Knowing all too well that it wouldn't do much against the animal.
"FULL A HEAD FULL AHEAD! DAMM ALL OF YOU!" The captain screeched and ordered him grev, but Quatrich didn't listen to him anymore.
He was too captured by the dark almost black mass of the whale's back which was crisscrossed with white scars like tattoos and disappeared under the raging sea as the ship started to gain distance from it. Miles may be the first time in his life that will fully be pressed against his leg for the fear he too was feeling against another unholy creature of Pandora.
I'm Sick. I'm sick in my body and my mind. My body died, but unfortunately, my mind did not. For a while, I was alone with my thoughts. Floating in the darkness without any means to track down time or where I was.
I was dead. There was no denying that.
I cursed my beliefs in my life. I was stuck in Limbo. A place between existence and nonexistence. A theory that had been widely disgusted in my friend group. "You can't exist once you had excited. Oh, how I wished I had been a believer in any religion so I wouldn't be stuck in nothingness.
A steady beat floated around my lonely mind. It was a heartbeat, but not mine. I didn't have a body so it couldn't have been mine. The pulse was warm like a mother's embrace, but it was not physical. The pulse made my being that was left shudder.
It pressed against my soul like a weighted planged only to be yanked away the moment I felt like drifting away. It happened again and again. So, many times until I felt like I could scream or tear my hair out, but then something shifted.
I felt warm and floating which was strange because I didn't have anybody. Or did I?
The existence around me sifted and I had a body again. This body wasn't sick, but I knew with my mind sick as I had it would soon follow the path I had taken previously.
Even in my new body, I did not need to breathe and I didn't see anything, but what I could feel and move. Honestly, I was okay with it. My mind wasn't trapped spinning circles around so I was content.
Ro'a had been living for a long time. She had a soul sister Ronal the new Tsahìk of Metkayina. Ronal even had her mate now and it was only a question of time before they would receive a little blessing of their own. A family.
She had always dreamed of a family of her very own. A child she could love and cherish. So that the time spent parted wouldn't feel so long.
So, Ro'a prayed for Eywa to grace her being and gift her a child. And what surprised her was that she didn't need to wait for long. For the great mother herself blessed Ro'a with a child of her very own.
Later in life, Ro'a convinced herself to be a fool for she didn't notice the warning signs of her child's sickness. Even before the child was born it was restless, always wiggling around. Ro'a should have known it to come when her child refused to form Tsaheylu with her after birth.
and when she finally convinced the little one to do it, Ro'a would have never expected her first child to have such memories. They were dark and lonely memories filled with pain and anger.
But Ro'a loved her child unconditionally and even if the child was sick Ro'a was certain that it wasn't anything that Eywa wouldn't be able to fix.
Ronal was flooded with joy as the migration had finally come to the part where the tulkuns were finally here. They were late this year.
Distant horns and her people yelling about the return of their family brought a grin to her face.
She let out a call for her Tsurak and jumped on him. Together they hurried to meet her sister. She could see her mate in the distance greeting the tulkuns while gliding over them on his tsurak.
It took Ronal some time to find Ro'a, which worried her greatly. Ro'a had been about to give birth to a very restless child before the tulkuns left last time.
Ronal worried that something had gone wrong during the birth, but then she noticed them.
Ro'a was floating just under the surface and she was pushing a smaller tulkun toward the surface. The said tulkun didn't seem to make any effort to swim which worried her greatly.
"Ma Ro'a!"
Ro'a looked at her and Ronal could feel her relief. Even the little tulkun seemed to notice something wasn't as it was before and they started actively swimming and turn to look at her.
"Ma Ronal! I see you." She rose from the water so she could sit on her fin.
"I see you," Ronal gestured while curiously peering at the tulkun baby who was now looking at her in a melancholy way that almost gave her a whiplash. "Is that you child?"
"Yes, Ronal she is my daughter Rikx." Ro'a presented proudly and nudged the said daughter with her head which caused the smaller one to spin over lazily.
Ronal could agree on one thing. Rikx was strange in her own right, but beautifully so. She was darker colored than most of the tulkuns which made the white parts of her body pop out even more.
Even if her behavior was strange Ronal felt herself fall in love with the gift that had been bestowed on Ro'a. Rikx inched closer. Ronal had woken up her curiosity. She had done so so well that when Rikx was close enough she didn't stop her momentum, but glided against Ronal until she too was on Ro'a's fin.
"I see you Rikx." Ronal signed clumsily to Rikx who was now against her and made it difficult to sign anything to her because of the proximity. Rikx Hower didn't answer her but blinked at her like she hadn't fully gotten that she was speaking to her.
"Rikx be kind. Ronal is my sister."
Rikx blinked at her again and rolled off the fin and into the water. Ronal couldn't help but laugh as the youngster cooed at her while she went down and under the surface.
"She is quite a character isn't she?" Ronnal smiled at her spirit sister who hummed in agreement. "Today will be her ceremony... Are you excited?"
"Of course I am!" Ro'a nudged her finn and almost pushed Ronal off it. "It's not every day that your child will get to meet the all-mother for the first time!"
Ronal smiled at Ro'a. It would be her first ceremony with tulkuns she would get to hold. It would be the first tulkun she would bring up to commune with Eywa, and it would be her soul sister's first child.
Honestly, Ronal was a little bit nervous. She wanted it to be perfect. She wanted it to be done right. So Rikx would get the best chance to begin her life.