Chapter Text
The sea remembered.
That was the first lesson every Metkayina child learned.
The currents remembered every swimmer.
The coral remembered every hand that touched it.
The tulkun remembered every kindness.
And the sea never forgot those who disrespected it.
Spider knew this.
He had heard the lesson hundreds of times.
It still did not stop him from climbing onto a rock that was far too slippery.
"Ay!"
His feet shot out beneath him.
With a loud splash, Spider disappeared into the lagoon.
Ao'nung stood on the rock above him.
"...You looked graceful for a moment."
Spider resurfaced, sputtering.
"I hate you."
"No, you do not."
"I dislike you greatly."
Ao'nung laughed.
"You climbed the wettest rock in the village."
"I thought it was dry."
"You watched me climb around it."
"I thought you were taking the long way."
"I was taking the smart way."
Spider sighed dramatically.
"You sound like Sempu."
"I learn from the best."
"Spider!"
The boys immediately turned toward the shore.
Tonowari stood waist-deep in the water beside three ilu.
His ears lifted slightly when he noticed Spider dripping from head to toe.
"...Should I ask?"
Ao'nung answered first.
"He believed the rock would not be slippery."
Tonowari looked at Spider.
"...Did you?"
Spider rubbed the back of his neck.
"...Maybe."
For a long moment...
Tonowari simply stared.
Then he laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make Spider smile.
"You remind me of someone."
Spider tilted his head.
"Who?"
"Myself."
Ao'nung blinked.
"...Really?"
"Oh yes."
Tonowari walked toward them.
"When I was your age, I attempted to jump from those cliffs."
He pointed toward the high rocks beyond the reef.
Spider's eyes widened.
"You did?"
"I believed I could glide."
"...Could you?"
"No."
Ao'nung covered his mouth to hide a laugh.
"I landed in a fisherman's net."
Spider burst into laughter.
"No!"
"Yes."
"Sa'nok laughed for an entire week."
Spider laughed even harder.
"I wish I had seen it."
"So do I."
"Enough."
Tonowari gestured toward the waiting ilu.
"Today you begin learning properly."
Spider's smile faded slightly.
The ilu.
He loved them.
He loved swimming beside them.
Playing with them.
Feeding them.
But...
He could not form tsaheylu.
Every lesson reminded him.
Ao'nung noticed immediately.
"You do not have to."
Spider looked at him.
"I know."
"It does not make you less."
"I know."
Ao'nung nudged his shoulder.
"You are still thinking about it."
"...Maybe."
Tonowari approached quietly.
"You wish to bond."
Spider nodded.
"Yes, Sempu."
Tonowari rested one hand on Spider's shoulder.
"There are many ways to know another living thing."
Spider looked up.
"Tsaheylu is only one."
The ilu waiting beside them was old.
Much older than the others.
Scars covered one side of her body.
One fin had clearly healed after a terrible injury many years before.
Tonowari smiled softly.
"Her name is Teylan."
Spider stepped closer.
The ilu regarded him with one large golden eye.
"She cannot bond anymore."
Spider frowned.
"Why?"
"She lost part of her neural braid saving a young hunter."
Spider looked at the damaged place.
The connection was gone.
Completely.
"Can she still swim?"
"Better than most."
"Can she still hunt?"
"Yes."
"Can she still love?"
Tonowari smiled.
"What do you think?"
Spider slowly reached out one hand.
"Teylan."
The ilu made a soft clicking sound.
She nudged his palm.
Spider giggled.
"Hello."
She nudged him again.
Harder this time.
He nearly fell into the water.
Ao'nung laughed.
"I think she likes you."
Spider laughed too.
"She almost pushed me over."
"Exactly."
The lesson lasted hours.
Spider learned to guide Teylan without tsaheylu.
With touch.
Voice.
Trust.
By the end of the afternoon...
Teylan followed him willingly.
Not because she had to.
Because she wanted to.
Tonowari watched quietly from deeper water.
Ronal eventually joined him.
"Our son has stopped looking at what he lacks."
Tonowari nodded.
"He has started seeing what he has."
That evening, the family gathered around the evening meal.
Tsireya chattered happily about shells she had collected.
Ao'nung proudly declared he had beaten Spider in three races.
Spider quickly corrected him.
"It was only two."
"It was three."
"You are counting yesterday."
"I am."
"That does not count."
"It absolutely counts."
Ronal placed a bowl between them.
"Eat."
Both boys obeyed immediately.
Tonowari tried very hard not to laugh.
"You enjoy this."
Ronal glanced at him.
"They become quiet when eating."
"A miracle."
"The sea provides many miracles."
Later, after the younger children had fallen asleep, Ronal found Spider sitting outside alone.
The stars reflected across the calm lagoon.
His golden curls moved gently in the evening breeze.
"What troubles you, ma Spider?"
He hesitated.
"...Will I ever have a kuru?"
Ronal had expected this question.
Not today.
But someday.
She sat beside him.
"I do not know."
Spider looked down.
"I wish I did."
"I know."
"I want to bond with an ilu."
"I know."
"I want to hear them."
"I know."
His voice became smaller.
"I want to hear Eywa."
Silence.
The waves rolled softly onto the shore.
Finally...
Ronal reached into a woven pouch hanging from her belt.
She removed a single polished shell.
It shimmered blue beneath the moonlight.
"When I was younger than you..."
Spider looked up.
"...I believed Eywa only heard the Tsahìk."
"You did?"
"I did."
"But that was not true."
She placed the shell into Spider's hand.
"My grandmother told me something I never forgot."
Spider waited patiently.
"Eywa does not speak only through tsaheylu."
The shell felt warm.
"She speaks through the sea."
Spider closed his fingers around it.
"The wind."
He nodded.
"The people who love us."
His ears lifted slightly.
"And sometimes..."
Ronal smiled.
"...through silence."
Spider looked toward the endless ocean.
For a long time...
Neither of them spoke.
Then...
A tiny wave rolled farther onto the beach than all the others.
It stopped just short of Spider's feet.
Leaving behind a single atokirina'.
Spider smiled.
"I think..."
He carefully picked up the glowing seed.
"...she said hello."
Ronal looked toward the stars.
"I think she did too."
That night, long after everyone slept, Ronal entered the marui to check on her children.
Ao'nung had somehow managed to steal half of Spider's blanket.
Spider had rolled closer without waking.
Tsireya slept curled against Spider's side despite beginning the night in her own bed.
Ronal smiled.
She quietly covered all three children with another blanket.
As she brushed Spider's golden curls away from his face...
She paused.
His ears.
They were undeniably longer than they had been only a season before.
Not fully Na'vi.
Not human.
Something in between.
Something becoming.
Ronal looked toward the glowing Spirit Tree in the distance.
She whispered so softly that only Eywa could hear.
"You are changing him."
The breeze carried the scent of salt and flowers through the marui.
Ronal smiled.
"No..."
She corrected herself.
"You are helping him become who he was always meant to be."
She kissed Spider's forehead.
Then Ao'nung's.
Then Tsireya's.
"My children."
Outside...
The sea continued its endless song.
And Eywa listened.