Leyra ~ (Neteyam x OC)

Chapter 2

For the next few weeks, Neteyam watched for Leyra everywhere he went.

Startled by the experience with Toruk Makto's son, she began making herself even more scarce than usual. Her father dropped her off on the ground even before breakfast and she only came back when darkness was about to overtake the forest.

While she was out, she made sure to steer clear of anywhere anyone might find her. In her mind, being alone was the best option. She'd rather be eaten by a Palulukan than live a life of constant judgement.

Neteyam caught glimpses of her white complexion here and there as she came and went. He found himself scanning the tree line during training and hunts, looking for that flash of white. Yet he never found her outside of camp.

No wonder he had not noticed her before their meeting. Most of the time, he wasn't entirely convinced that she was real. Until he saw her scampering off to her marui, or quickly hopping onto her father's ikran before they took off.

Why didn't she want to be around people her age? It appeared that her father was the only one she interacted with. What a miserable life she must live, being isolated from the people all the time.

Once, Neteyam grew too agitated by this idea and tried scouting out the place he had last seen her as well as the surrounding area. Where could one little Na'vi girl possibly go in a forest this big and dangerous? His scout was unsuccessful, and it left him frustrated.

After a couple weeks, she figured that his busy days would have wiped their interaction from his memory and she resumed her regular schedule.

He had not, however, forgotten her, and was delighted to be seeing her around camp a little more. She must be getting over her shyness, Neteyam assumed.

A few days later, Neteyam noticed Leyra's father leaving camp on his ikran unexpectedly, carrying two bowls of food.

Usually, Leyra fed herself lunch from the forest, eating some mixture of vegetation. But today, her father was looking to spend a little extra time with his daughter.

Curiosity grabbed hold of him, and Neteyam followed the man. Did he know where Leyra was spending her days? Neteyam wondered how someone who stands out so harshly could disappear like she has. Silent as an owl, he flew a distance behind the man, though ever on his tail.

Eventually the man landed near at the top of a waterfall and unloaded the two meals. Bidding his ikran goodbye, he made his way to the bottom of the falls before creeping along the small ledge of rock behind the heavy downpour of water. After a few steps along the ledge, he was gone.

What? Neteyam followed the man's footsteps, the gentle spray of mist from the waterfall gently wetting his skin.

Sure enough, there was an entrance to a cave not far into the ledge. He had to bend down a little to enter.

"And I was telling him that he shouldn't-" The man's words were interrupted by Neteyam's sudden presence.

"Hello, Neteyam." The man greeted, shielding his daughter from view as much as he could subtly manage. "Sorry, is this usually your spot? We can leave, if you want." The man was evidently nervous.

"No, no," Neteyam assured, "I was coming to find Leyra, actually."

The man gave his child a 'what have you done?' look, and she returned the glance with an expression of 'oh crap'.

"Me? What for?" Leyra forced her voice to steady despite the nerves gnawing at her throat.

"Just to check up, I guess. Make sure you were still alive after spending so much time in the forest alone."

She was very obviously offended. "I've spent years alone in the forest, I think I can-" a peak at her father's expression and she was correcting herself, "I think I can thank you! Very much, for worrying about me. But I am alright, as you can see. No reason for concern. Is there anything else that you needed?"

"Do I need a reason to come see you?"

"No, of course not. I just figured you were busy with your duties, that you had no time for purposeless visits." Her hands were sweating and she wiped them on her top. Why had he come? To spy on her for his grandmother? She had done nothing to stand out lately, and didn't understand what she'd done to catch the Sully family's attention.

"Ah," he sighed in understanding, "I am a busy person."

"Indeed. You usually have many duties to tend to at all hours. You should go eat with your family, while you have the time. I'll bet they miss you with you being out all day."

Neteyam took the hint directed at the man's own life and excused himself. Though, not before asking, "Are you here often, Leyra?"

"Sometimes." She replied. She certainly wouldn't be coming back for a while now that perfect warrior boy knew about it.

"Good." He nodded to them both as a goodbye, and returned to the village.

He knew of her spot now. That's why he hadn't seen her from the sky, she had been in a cave. And it was a beautiful cave, too. He could see why she liked it so much.

He planned to return there later when her father was not there. He suspected the man did not want to draw more attention than necessary to his daughter and risk something bad happening to her at the hands of other clan members, so the man wouldn't tell his father about his imposing visit.

The day he first met Leyra, Neteyam had asked around about if anyone knew of a white Na'vi in the clan. The older ones knew of her, and asked if she was still around after all this time. The younger ones knew about as much as he had.

However, out of all the people he asked, none of them were happy to speak of her. A few called her 'a mistake in the bloodline' and demanded that he not bring it up again.

Neteyam couldn't grasp it all. How could a girl so beautiful be forsaken by her own clan-- his clan, the clan he had grown up in-- just because of her unique coloration?

Back in the cave, Leyra's father was digging into her.

"What did you do to attract his attention now? I thought you said he had forgotten about it and left you alone?"

"I don't know what I did! I wish he would just ignore me, but he won't."