Work Text:
Jake, Neytiri, Lo’ak and Tuk are going away for a few days since an award of recognition will be rewarded to the two youngest Sully kids for their adaptivity to the fauna of Pandora. Jake and Neytiri are fairly proud of both Lo’ak and Tuk and wish to accompany them on their journey. As Jake loads their Ikrans and straps Tuk, Neytiri gives a few words to Neteyam and Kiri.
“Watch your sister closely, if she passes out-“ “I know what to do, Mother” Neteyam answers back. He’s quite used to having to save Kiri from tragedy, he is calmed by the sense that both Neytiri and Kiri are comfortable with him being in charge. Kiri guts into the conversation, “Ma, I’m old enough. I don’t need Neteyam to be constantly on my back” as she scoffs. Neteyam just chuckles, “I’ll still have an eye on you.” With that, Neytiri kisses them both on their foreheads and rides her ikran.
Jake approaches the two, refers to Kiri, “see you in a few, baby girl” and hugs both the kids. Jake does a military salute to Neteyam and says “I’ll keep your most prized possession of a daughter safe, sir, yes, sir.” Jake laughs and hops onto his ikran, “Stay out of trouble.” And with that, they fly into the skies.
Neteyam grabs his bow and calls out for his ikran, Kiri looks at him skeptically. “Where are /you/ going?” Neteyam rides onto his ikran, “I’m scouting us fish for dinner. Are you coming?” Kiri stares, thinks about it, spots her crystals that need to be studied, thinks about visiting her Ma (Gareec) back at the lab, hanging out with Spider—so many fun things to do instead of hunting with her older brother. “No, I’ll visit Spider instead.” Neteyam licks his lips, before flying off, he looks back and says “Dad told us to stay out of trouble. I’ll be back.”
Kiri waits for him to get out of range and then grabs her handmade satchel filled with all sorts of crystals and leaves, then she heads off to the forest to collect sticks to grow their fire. She thought it out: if Neteyam is hunting for food, she might as well cook it. A small, simple, sweet gesture, a first for her. Well, a first she’s doing for Neteyam.
As the sun settles, Neteyam realizes it’s almost eclipse, he’s hunt three pieces of fish and practiced a little bit of target shooting. He’s also found a few herbs and flowers he’d think Kiri would like. How he’d give it to her without seeming mushy? He has no idea. Neteyam heads back to their home pod, he finds Kiri there—is she tending to a fire? Eywa knows. He decides to tease his sister. “Are you preparing the fire so we can cook this fish or are you setting it to the right heat to burn me into it?” Neteyam laughs. Kiri scoffs, she says back “Where’s the fish skxawng?” Neteyam hands her the fish and she impales it with a stick and cooks it over the fire. Once it was done, she puts it into a serving and sets it on the floor next to the fire to be savored by her and her brother.
They have a nice dinner, talking about all sorts of things. First it was missing the others, then about Lo’ak’s stupidity, then about ikrans since Kiri has yet to ride one. It was small but sentimental, they both wish to have more moments like this with each other. Before going to sleep, Kiri feels a sharp pain in her stomach, she grabs ahold of the nearest tree branch and crumbles. Neteyam let go of the dishes he was tidying and walked to Kiri, asking her “Are you okay? What happened.” He worries that it’s the fish—guilt flashes across his face.
Kiri sways her hand and signals him to go away, “I’m fine, I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” Neteyam asks, “Did I catch a bad fish, I’m sorry I-“ “Teyam, I’m okay. Trust me. I’m heading to bed…” She gets into her snonivi hammock and gets some shut eye. Neteyam waits until her eyes are closed and then continues to fix the plates away. Before he sleeps, he puts the herbs and flowers he collected for Kiri into her trunk. Finally, he gets into his hammock but doesn’t sleep until he is sure that his sister is.
The next day, Kiri awakes and Neteyam is already out. He did tell her that he had to train today so she didn’t think much of it. Ready to take a quick clean of herself, Kiri opens her trunk so she can replace her necklaces for the day. Only to find a new set of herbs and flowers and leaves and small insects. She smiles, knowing this was the reason that Neteyam took so long to hunt yesterday—considering that her brother is a swift hunter. As she was examining the herbs, the sharp pain returned to her stomach, she grunts and sits down for a while, feeling dizzy. She waits for the pain to die down before she cleans her body then runs off to do what she wishes to.
The next three days passed like a blur. Kiri still felt the pains, but it was mostly the same schedule every day. Wake up, Neteyam goes for training, Kiri practices her healing, eat lunch together, they both do their leisure, then have dinner with whatever Neteyam hunts during the afternoon. The pain that Kiri feels still is there, getting stronger by day, Neteyam tells her to stay home today—she doesn’t refuse but she does beg to differ. So now, Kiri is etching her paint into the trees of their home pod, Neteyam will be home soon since they’ll be having lunch. Kiri feels a gurgling inside her stomach, as if it were going to implode into her intestines. She decides to endure it, not wanting to be seen as weak by her all and mighty brother.
Neteyam gets home, brought one more fish than usual. “Lucky catch! I got two with one arrow…Are you okay?” His smile fades, and he observes her face. “I’m fine, Neteyam, stop worrying.” Kiri snaps, Neteyam takes a step back. Kiri voices, “I’m sorry, just, set the food so it’s ready. I’m going to the lavatory.”
The Sully lavatory is a small enclosure off the side of their tree pod, equipped with a washbasin and a small pot for their business. It is guarded and closed off by a wooden plank, no lock, just a leaf that they hang when it is occupied. Kiri goes in, sits onto the toilet-like contraption and pulls her loincloth down, followed by a weak expression, then words blurting “Oh hell.” Kiri realized that today out of all days, she got her period. Her mother, nowhere near to be found. Neytiri has educated her on this topic, and so has her grandmother. A Na’vi period is not as similar to a human period—for instance, it only happens once every three months, and it only lasts three or four days.
Kiri knows what she has to do, just marinate her mouth with herbs to stop the bleeding, the same, specific herb for every two hours, or else the blood will flow again. Where she will get this herb? Well, her mother probably has some in her trunk, she’d need to get it though. Easy, isn’t it? Well, right now, she’s encountering a huge, sad problem—her loincloth is badly stained and smells, she would not want to face her brother in the state the she is in right now.
She calls for Neteyam. “Teyam.” Neteyam looks up, “Kiri, are you still in there?” He started to get the feeling that something was wrong but didn’t ask since his father raised him right, and he knew never to judge a woman’s time inside the lavatory. “Yes, yes, I am. Is grandmother home?” Neteyam knows that by this time, his grandmother would be off with her friends and fellows, “No, grandmother is out right now. What is it that you need?” Kiri hesitates, there must be some other woman she can go to or approach. But she’d be too shy to ask Neteyam to travel the village and call for her friends. Kiri starts crying, hormonal already.
Neteyam hears her quietly sobbing and decides to ask in a gentle tone, “Kiri, are you okay? Is something wrong?” Kiri appreciates the gentleness in his voice, but it only brings more shyness into her—she obviously starts crying more. “You wouldn’t get it, I’m sorry, I need mom or grandmother or- anyone but a man!” Neteyam blinks, he realizes what is happening. Neteyam finds it best to slow down the world for Kiri, calm her down before acting again. He sits next to the lavatory door. This time, in a quiet, nurturing voice, he talks “Kiri, I know what’s happening…” Kiri springs her head up, she blushes with shame.
She shouldn’t even be feeling shameful for what she is experiencing. This marks her entrance into womanhood—why should she be sad? But of course, she is. “Neteyam, I’m sorry. I’ve probably made you so uncomfortable already.” Neteyam blushes, he is, but, he has to be strong for his little sister. “I am, what man wouldn’t” He laughs, she chuckles. “But, I promised Dad that I’d keep you safe, not only do I have to protect you, but that also means you’d have to /feel/ safe.” Kiri wipes her tears, she decides that she’d ask Neteyam to scout for what she needs. “Okay, uhm, thank you. I’ll ask you to uhm, get a few things for me. Is that okay?” Neteyam doesn’t hesitate to say yes and agree. Kiri starts talking again, “First, I need you to grab me a new loincloth, it would be in my trunk then a wet washcloth from the basin on the steps.” Kiri hears Neteyam stand up, he shuffles around, grabs her loincloth from her trunk, then soaks a washcloth. He puts the washcloth on a tray along with the loincloth and goes back towards the lavatory.
“Kiri, my eyes are closed, I promise. You can grab these things now.” He says. Then he stands in front of the lavatory door. “Okay, okay you got this” Kiri wishes she’d be saying this to Neteyam, but this is mostly a call for her own sanity. She opens the door, Neteyam’s eyelids are flushed against each other, and she quickly grabs the tray and shuts the door close. “You can open your eyes now, Teyam. But could you please face your back to the lavatory then uhm, block your ears off.” She says, the last thing Kiri wants is for her brother to hear the squelch of her cleaning herself. Neteyam finds the request odd, but he still follows.
Once Kiri is done, she calls out for Neteyam, then again but in a louder tone. Neteyam almost jumps but he was just startled. He calls “okay, what does my sister need now?” Kiri laughs a bit, then she answers “This might shock you, please, grab the jar of red herbs from inside mom’s trunk.” Neteyam stares blankly at the wooden trunk. He knows many things, and the main thing is to never dare to come near his mother’s things. Neteyam sighs, “Shouldn’t you be doing this? Instead of me?” “I wish I would be doing this, I’m sorry, Teyam. But, please. This will be the last.” She begs off her brother.
Neteyam runs to his mom’s trunk, swears under his breath that he will never be doing this again, then shuffles it open to look for the jar of red herbs. Eventually, after almost opening a jar of dead insects, he finds the herbs. He closes his mother’s trunk then heads back to the lavatory. “Kiri, I swear to Eywa, if you need something, hope it be from the depths of the forest rather than mother’s trunk.” “You skxawng, are your eyes closed?” “Yes, here you are” Kiri opens the door, takes the jar, swallows exactly one herb, and then ponders on why it is so spicy. She closes the door, checks herself with the washcloth—no more bleeding. She thanks the powers of plant life then stands up.
“Teyam” she taps him on the shoulder. Neteyam opens his eyes, blinks for a while, then jumps backward as he notices that Kiri is finally standing. “Thank you, Eywa. And Kiri.” Kiri blurts out “Now we promise never to speak of this again, do we?” Neteyam curses himself, then agrees. “The fish might be burnt but I bet it still tastes fine. Lunch?” Kiri laughs and sits onto the floor, her brother joins her. They finish eating the fish and then Kiri grabs her crystals, then she forms a small, simple, sweet thought. “Neteyam, wanna just…I don’t know, hang?” Neteyam tilts his head, “Hang? Like, just, be here?” Kiri nods yes. Neteyam smiles, “Let’s do it, I haven’t spent much time with you in a while.”
They both crawl into the seating of their pod, Neteyam grabs the closest cloth, wraps it atop them, then they just sit together. Kiri lays her head onto Neteyam’s shoulder, saying “I missed these times.” Neteyam joked, “Wish Lo’ak was as sweet as your better brother, don’t you?” Kiri swats his hand for that. Neteyam groans an “Ah” and swats Kiri’s hand too. They go on, telling each other stupid stories, and Neteyam starts braiding Kiri’s hair. As Kiri tells a story about one of her experiences as a healer, Neteyam falls asleep, his head on Kiri’s. Kiri lets out a sweet laugh, then she adjusts the blanket, and says to her sleeping brother, “I wouldn’t have wished for anyone else to help me out today.” Neteyam hears this, but doesn’t answer back, he just continues to fall back into his sleep. Kiri also follows after his brother, sleeping so soundly.
They awake the next day to the sounds of ikrans and Tuk’s heavy feet. Jake and Neytiri both smile as they see their two eldest, taking breaks, and just enjoying each other’s presence. Lo’ak lets out an “Ew, being all touchy aren’t you two” as he smacks Neteyam to fully wake. Kiri hisses at Lo’ak. Tuk laughs out loud. The Sullys are back together. Neytiri asks what the two had for dinner. Kiri and Neteyam laugh, Neteyam says “Looks like we forgot to eat dinner, did we?” Neytiri scoffs, kisses the two. Jake sits next to them, signals for Lo’ak and Tuk to bring it in. They sit like that for a while, in silence, in calmness, as the family they are.