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After bringing Kiri back to her parents and the initial commotion has calmed down, Rotxo settles outside of the Sulis' marui. Lo'ak and Neteyam, feeling helpless and not wanting to get in the way, have gone to hunt. Tuk stays inside with Kiri and Neytiri. Jake is the one who comes and goes, squeezing Rotxo's shoulder silently as he passes him.
He needs no thanks. Though regret weighs in his heart, it doesn't motivate this vigil.
The people come to visit throughout the afternoon. Fathers offer services and small handcrafted charms. Mothers bring food and share memories of illness in their family and their cure. Young hunters wave and sign to mark their respect before moving on. Children only have questions.
Is she well? No. Has she woken? Not yet. Did something bite her? No, it's not like that. What is wrong with her? Rotxo doesn't know. Will she be all right? Of course. She has to. And is it true Humans are coming?
That one Rotxo knows for sure. Tonowari has allowed it. They're coming on an alien flying ship. Deep down Rotxo shares the kids' excitement at the news. All the talk of demon blood had sounded impressive at the start, but within days he'd stopped noticing the fingers. And the hair, the "eyebrows" as they call it, somehow just help make their expressions stronger. Like dark stripes. It makes Kiri's funny faces even better. It's nothing to fear, in short.
Humans are the real stuff. Aliens from foreign stars. Lo'ak had described them when Ao'nung pressed him. Small, pink, tailless and without a tswin or kuru. Incapable of breathing the air without dying, encasing themselves in their technology to survive. So fragile and yet such a blight that they had Toruk Makto flee from his clan to join them here, in Awa'atlu. Frankly, it sounds disturbing. Yet apparently Humans are intelligent and can become close friends. Rotxo notices how much space the one they call Spider takes, how careful the Sulis are in avoiding his name, the way Kiri will start recounting some anecdote involving him before blinking, confused, and falling silent.
'She misses him,' Lo'ak had explained. 'We all do.'
So the Humans are coming in the morning, and in the meantime Rotxo deals with his curiosity the same way he does while fishing. He composes a song, then another. He whiles the time away assembling the percussion that would accompany, beating rhythms on his knees.
People continue their visits and good wishes. Rotxo thanks them and passes the food and charms on to Tuk.
'You should eat too,' she says, pressing a wrap back into his hand. 'You've been here all day.'
'How is she?'
Tuk's enormous ears droop low. 'Just the same.' Her eyes glass over with a film of tears. 'Rotxo, she looks dead.'
'But she is still asleep, right? That's good,' he says, unsure who exactly he's trying to reassure. 'Your father said she wasn't getting any worse.'
Tuk shrugs and the tears fall free. Rotxo doesn't know what to say. Any reassurances would be a lie. Calling to Eywa feels wrong right now, when everything happened while Kiri was connected to her. At a loss for ideas, he opens the wrap and takes a bite.
'Mmh. Oh, it's fried rimgrr, have you tried it?'
Tuk sniffs and rubs her eyes before accepting the wrap and taking a bite, more than willing to be distracted. 'I like it,' she says around a mouthful. 'It's sticky.'
'Yes. My mother makes it into a sweet. When Kiri wakes up, you and her must come and visit us. She will prepare some just for you. And you haven't met my new baby sister, so I can finally introduce you.'
'Okay... We will.'
Tuk's ears are a little less droopy when she returns inside, and Rotxo counts it as a victory.
The sun begins to set then, and riding the wings of night is just the person Rotxo hoped to see.
Anukai is his cousin. He's two years younger than Rotxo and Ao'nung, but you couldn't tell from the way he acts. Nowadays he swaggers around like he's the greatest deep-sea hunter the Metkayina have ever seen, and even losing a fight to Lo'ak and Neteyam hasn't curbed his ego.
They used to be on better terms—Rotxo even helped him fashion his hair just like him, taking his cousin's imitation as a compliment—now though... He gets up and goes to intercept him. No need for the Sulis to overhear this.
'What are you doing here?' Anukai asks, swishing his tail uneasily.
'Tell me why you are here and I'll say,' Rotxo fires back.
Anukai shrugs. 'I heard the weir—'
Rotxo snatches Anukai's arm, rotates on his heels and shifts his weight, sending him toppling over his shoulder and into the water.
Anukai breaks the surface sputtering. 'W-what did you do that for?'
He looks indignant. Like he really doesn't get it. Rotxo takes a deep breath. Eywa give me strength! He has to be the bigger person. He must. Besides, Lo'ak and Neteyam's work is still visible, now faint blotches around Anukai's brow ridge.
Rotxo goes to squat by the edge, his voice low and serious as he asks, 'Have you ever considered that maybe you're the weird one?' He points an accusatory finger. 'Look at you. It's been weeks, your parents talked to you, Tonowari talked to you, Ao'nung learned his lesson, and you still don't get it. You got a beating and watched Ao'nung get his skin saved by a blatant lie, and you still don't learn. Did you let a ribbon worm lay eggs in your ears?'
'Don't learn what? Ao'nung said to leave Lo'ak alone, so I will, it's fine.'
'Lo'ak? Just Lo'ak? You think it's still all right to mock Kiri? You can follow instructions but you don't understand the reason behind them.'
'Whatever! That's not weird.'
'No, what's weird is how everyone else learned how to behave honourably but you can't help yourself.'
Anukai scoffs. 'Ao'nung was also—'
'Is the head on your shoulders called Ao'nung?' Rotxo cuts him off angrily. 'Think for yourself for once!'
'I do! I did! And it was just a bit of fun. We aren't the ones who started the fight.'
'You're the one who mocked Kiri. And you call it fun, still?'
'What do you care?!'
Rotxo cares because he likes her. That's the beginning and the end of it—not that he'll share that with Anukai, not when she doesn't even know. She hasn't really noticed him, which is funny, considering she notices absolutely everything. But it's fine. He's happy to just like her. She's smart, patient, kind and considerate. And pretty too, with her demon eyebrows and her five fingered hands that weave such beautiful and intricate works.
Rotxo also learned to be ashamed of his early jokes at the Forest clan's expense. A thick tail is no help on an ikran's back, and his first ride on one gave him a whole lot of perspective and new-found respect. They each are the way they are for a reason.
Anukai is a dumbass for a reason too. Maybe he simply doesn't get tossed around often enough. Rotxo will be correcting that.
'Everybody knows how fast Kiri learns,' he says instead, pointing out the obvious and quickly warming up to the subject. 'You only have to explain things once and she gets it. She's nice to everyone, too. She tells great stories. She's patient, she's funny—'
'What, are you in love or something?'
'—and she didn't deserve to see the colour of your tongue!'
'Rotxo—'
'We all learned to accept them. Even Ao'nung. But you're just... You can't learn.'
'But Rotxo,' Anukai whines, 'she is different!'
'And your sister has a flat tail.'
'Hey, leave my sister out of it!'
'Wow, you sound just like Lo'ak. I wonder what that feels like?' Anukai gapes at him, taken aback. 'What you're experiencing right now is called perspective,' Rotxo says, getting up. This conversation is over, his point has been made. 'Sit on it for a couple of days, and don't come back.'
'I... My mother said I should come and ask...'
'She's alive. Tell her that. Oh, and ask her to braid or cut your hair. It's shameful enough to share family ties with an idiot like you, I don't need people mistaking us too.'
The boy looks crestfallen, but Rotxo has no sympathy to spare. He bares his teeth, a flash of anger to prove he means it. Anukai baulks. He glances at the Sulis' marui before diving away, kicking luminescent algae in his wake.
Rotxo turns to the marui and sees Neytiri standing there, looking at him with an unreadable face. He rolls on the ball of his feet, suddenly self-conscious. How much of that did she hear?
Neytiri nods, touching her fingers to her brow in a short and silent greeting. She goes back inside before Rotxo can collect himself enough to return the gesture. He sits back to his vigil, a little dazed, but also buzzing with a warm feeling.
He wraps himself in it as night deepens. The humans arrive in the morning, and Eywa willing, Kiri will wake up.
Rotxo will stay there as long as it takes.