lvii. the aftermath of war
╰ avatar: the way of water

Neteyam had only now stopped crying, he had stopped wailing and asking the all mother for her to save his mamma. He had accepted that one of the woman who raised him, wasn't going to come back. He and Tsireya had spent the whole time with the lifeless body of Odessa. They haven't moved from their places on the rock, nor had they shared any words.

Lo'ak was quick to step towards Tsireya, who instantly stood and wrapped her arms around him. Her legs ached from how long she had been sitting on the rock, so she stumbled slightly when the two stepped away from each other.

Kiri was so involved in watching her cousin and Tsireya embrace each other that she hadn't noticed her mamma laying on the rock so still. It was when her mom Neytiri wrapped her arms around her and shifted her so she was wrapped in her arms, that she noticed the closed eyes of her mamma. "Mom, what happened to mamma?" Kiri wiggled herself out of her moms grasp, stepping around her and dropping to her knees beside Odessa's body. She shook her mammas shoulders in a way she hoped that she would wake her up. "Mamma? Mamma wake up. Mamma wake up!"

Tuk lifted her head off of Inkires shoulder when she heard her sisters cries. Her little eyes widened as she watched her older sister attempt to wake her mamma. "Mamma?"

Inkire knelt, letting the little girl wiggle away from her arms and towards the woman laying on the rock. Inkire hadn't realized that she was letting a little girl, one who was so full of light and happiness, run towards a woman who wouldn't answer her pleads to wake up.

"Teyam?" Tuk turned away from her mamma, her eyes widening when she noticed her brothers bloodied body. It was like something clicked, her mammas chest was still, but her brothers was moving rapidly. "Are you hurt?"

She took her brothers hand in her own, dipping it in the water that splashed up on the rock. She washed his hand, rid it of the dried blood that belonged to their mamma. She did the same to his other hand, cleaning any of the dried red she saw. Her fingers were gentle as she scrubbed at the spot on his palm that continued to stay red. "Teyam?"

"Tuk." Neteyam opened his arms, pulling the youngest Everett child into his open arms. He let her rest her head against his shoulder. "It's okay."

Kiri stood, her vision blurred by tears. Her heart and soul ached with pain that made her want to disappear. She realized that the cold hand she held was no longer one that belonged to her mamma, it was an empty shell. She's lost two parents now. "Neteyam, Tuk." She moved towards her siblings, opening her arms and joining the two in a hug.

Not only had she lost a parent, but so had her siblings. And her cousin had lost an aunt. Her uncle had lost a sister. Her mom had lost a mate. Everyone lost something today, and they all needed to stick together. Now more than ever.

🌍

❝The way of water had no beginning and no end. The sea is around you and in you. The sea is your home before your birth and after your death. The sea gives and the sea takes. Water connects all things. Life to death. Darkness to light.❞

Ronal wrapped Odessa's body like a curled up baby; she tied the seaweed string around her legs, her feet, her arms and shoulders. She braided the woman's hair in a traditional Metkayina way, placing shells that had been gathered from the shore in her hair as well. She cleaned the blood off the body of the woman she hadn't known for long. She stitched the wounds shut and dressed the woman in proper reef people clothing. She prepared the body for the funeral because she couldn't let anyone else burden what needed to be done.

The Everett and Sully families both gathered around as they swam outwards, not very far from the pods that houses the reef people. Underneath the surface of the water was where the reef people were buried when their time had ended.

Odessa fought along side the reef people and she died alongside the reef people. She was to be buried with the metkayina ancestors, as if she was one of them.

Jake moved his sisters body off the leaf that held her above the water. She held her up, afraid to let go. It was then that he realized everything his sister had done for him. How thankful he was for her.

Neytiri took a breath into her lungs before she submerged herself underneath the water. Jake followed suit and the two helped direct Odessa's body towards the plants that would welcome her. The swam, keeping the body of a loved one underneath them as they neared the bottom of the sea.

Like magic, the plants opened up and welcomed Odessa. They glowed brightly as Odessa's body sunk towards the bottom, disappearing from reach as her body was surrendered to the world of Pandora. She was now one with the world, more than she could have ever imagined.

❝The people say that all energy is only borrowed. And one day you have to give it back. Eywa holds all her children in her heart. Nothing is ever lost.❞