CHAPTER 0:

( prologue )

THE OCEAN WAS ITS LIVING ORGANISM IN ITS OWN WAY. To breathe out was a wave crashing down on a shoreline and to breathe in was the wave recoiling to reveal shells within the sand. A heartbeat for every creature that swam around, a heartbeat for every typhoon and tsunami, and a heartbeat for everything that had ever been created because of it.

      Su'leio sat at the edge of her Mauri pod, one leg bent with her knee touching her chest and the other hanging over the edge to keep in contact with the cooling sensation of the sea. Her eyes had been trained on the simple waves beneath her that came from the circulating ilu, the way the swirls contracted in ways nothing else ever could in her eyes.

      Her best friend sat crisscrossed behind her pleating her hair to arrange in multiple tiny braids. Tsireya, that was her name, hummed quietly enough for it to have blended in to create an ocean song once she had gotten to her last braid. The two friends, though very chipper when together, hadn't spoken very much towards the end of the hair-braiding session due to the sounds of their great sea washing away all of their thoughts.

"And... done," Tsireya finally broke their comforting silence admiring her work of the hair that had been braided and then tied up with a small dimpled smile on her features. Su'leio took this as her chance to recoil her leg from the water to face her friend crisscrossing her legs and pulling a few braids forward in front of her face to gaze at them. The two girls frequently did each other's hair when they had enough time to be together so none of it was out of the ordinary for them.

      "Oh, you added the shells into them like last time," Leio observed aloud grinning at the few braids that hung framing her face.

Before Tsireya could even think about responding to her friend, the sound of horns reverberating through the entire Metkayina reef had sung. Su'leio's ears twitched at the sound and her head snapped into the direction of the far side of the reef and her eyes widened at the sight.

Ikran. Five of them flew high above the village, their wings cascading large shadows over the water. Leio had only heard stories of such creatures, living all the way in the forest, but never did she ever think she would live to see one in front of her.

The girls exchanged looks of confusion before rushing to dive into the water and feel the familiar bond between themselves and their ilu. Beneath the water, Su'leio and Tsireya swam beside multiple other Metkayin who also were trying to understand why exactly there had been such things so far from their home.

Once they reached an area at bay where they could stand, the girls dismounted their ilu and finally resurfaced to be met with the sight of what seemed to be a family. Their appearances were different from the people of the reef clans—dark blue skin that resembled the depths of the ocean, thin tails that freely moved all around, and their eyes had been some of the brightest of yellows that Su'leio had ever seen.

As the best friends joined the forming crowd, Leio's eyes glued themselves to marvel at the ikran, the intricate designs of their wings fascinated the girl so much to the point she hadn't felt the pair of eyes that had been trained on her. Until she did.

A brief moment was all it was, her eyes glancing down for a second away from the ikran but then going back when she noticed the eyes. Yellow eyes meeting her light mauve colored ones and all she could do was squint at the sight. Su'leio was to be a war leader, if she could not feel the presence of eyes watching her then she must have been doing something wrong.

Then the tsuraks came, slithering through the water and then flying up above just as the ikran once had. Leio proudly smiled at the sight, tearing her eyes away from the boy, soon enough it would be her time to bond with a tsurak.

Tonowari, Metkayina Olo'eyktan, greeted the family and they reciprocated the gesture as Su'Leio followed Tsireya to the area where her brother was and father would soon be. Upon silently greeting Tsireya's brother, Aonung, she bumped his hip with her own to set him off balance while keeping her eyes straight on the foreign family with a giggle threatening to bubble past her lips when she felt the boys' eyes on her. He only reciprocated the action just without the girl losing her footing at all.

"I see you, Ronal," the possible father acknowledged the woman, Tsireya's mother and village Tsahìk, who had parted the crowd to get through.

"Why do you come to us, Jake Sully?" Tonowari pursued. Su'leio's ears twitched attentively at the information of the chief knowing the man's name.

"We seek uturu," Jake replied motioning toward his family. Ronal's eyes widened at his claim. "A sanctuary for my family."

Ronal advanced towards the family, Su'leio watching the family just as the woman did. "We are reef people, you are forest people, your skills would mean nothing here," Tonowari explained. Ronal snaked through the children, looking them up and down, examining their features.

      "We will learn your ways, right?" Jake turned to his family urging for confirmation. Ronal grabbed the tail of the woman standing next to Jake who had been holding the hands of a young girl to which she slithered it out of her hands.

Inspecting the other children, Ronal's eyes narrowing more and more, she continued to judge them. "Their arms are thin," she held up the young girl's arm, "their tails are weak," she yanked at the tail of one of the other children. "You will be slow in the water" she grabbed the hand of the teen girl, holding them up. Five fingers. "These children are not even true Na'vi!" Su'leio's eyes widened at the sight growing curiouser and curiouser. Ronal moved to another child, "they have demon blood!"

      Jake Sully held up his hand to Ronal. Five fingers again. "Look, look! Look, I was born of the sky people and now I am Na'vi. You can adapt, alright? We will adapt."

      "My husband was Toruk Makto," the woman beside Jake began. Su'leio had now been more intrigued with the family than before. She had heard the stories of the most recent Toruk Makto from beyond the reef and he had been a great motivation for her continuing her training as a warrior. "He lead the clans to victory against the sky people."

      "This you call victory? Hiding amongst strangers?" Ronal questioned. Leio pitied them for a moment having to endure the wrath of the Tsahìk. "It seems Eywa has turned her back on you, chosen one." Jake's mate hissed at this statement and Ronal only returned the action.

      Then Su'leio's eyes drifted around the group, four children—two girls and two boys acutely resembling their parents. And then she felt those eyes on her again. Her eyes darted in the direction of the boy from before and she caught him in the act of gazing at the ornate stripes adorning her face.

      His eyes enlarged once he had been caught in the act and quickly moved his attention to his parents. When he eased himself back into glancing at her, she remained to stare at him with a neutral expression before choosing to hold her attention elsewhere.

      "Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us," Tonowari proclaimed to his people. "Treat them as our brothers and sisters. They do not know the sea, so they will be like babies taking their first breath, teach them our ways so they do not suffer the shame of being useless." Leio giggled at the unnecessary jab the man had pointed at the family but quickly covered it up with a cough.

The ocean was sure to be a great friend to the family, that was for sure, but before they could ever become a friend to it, they were in need of an introduction to immerse them in the new life that awaited them in their futures.

NOTE. this is literally gonna be the longest chapter in this entire book bc no way i can go through taking that much time to write again