To Yearn or To Not Yearn
sfw | minors can interact! translations : leiokoaktu - respected elder. yawntu(s) - beloved one(s) includes my head canon of teylan with a cleft lip! (peep the pfp) inspired off of vividhelene (our wonderful tsahik) from tiktok! tag list : n/a just ask pairing(s) : implied okul x tamtey, implied so'lek x tamtey, and implied itu x tamtey word count : 2,510 Summary : So'lek yearns from afar, despite the loss of everyone in home tree. He can't bring himself to tear his eyes from Tamtey, even if Teylan and Itu are insisting on annoying him today. Taking place after From The Ashes.
Voices rumbled over the twine of ancient branches and roots, carrying to the outer exterior of the Aranahe's living space; beautiful leaves adorning the burn marked bark of the tree, proof of a war it'd long since suffered at the hand of sky people. Proof of Eywa's loyalty to her planet, to reclaim something so torn apart and make it new.
It was harder to care for everyone, the bustling inside of Home Tree was eerily more silent than it had been before. With the loss of the most lively amongst them still fresh. Young warriors were marred in scars that seniors looked on at with disappointment, someone with such youth should not have experienced something so traumatic. To lose their home despite its reclaiming.
So there was work to be done, and at the forefront of it all was as expected; Tamtey. One of the younger Sarentu, but not the youngest. No, Teylan still held that title despite his curiosity of the Zeswa's ways; his need to stay with them growing all the more agitating on the already broken clan's wounds. They had lost their own people, and upon finding out all he'd wanted to do was run away to another clan.
Tamtey wouldn't blame him, she'd do that too if she could. But she couldn't, so she was stuck here working with the aforementioned boy who'd finally peered in for a visit; Nor and Ri'nela grilling him about staying gone for too long, though the words fell on a newly scarred ear belonging to the leader of the few. Yellow eyes drifting their way back to Rasi who just seemed to hover over the young ones, much like a sa'nu who'd only regained her coup would, but to call it suffocating was an understatement. Of course she loved Rasi, they may as well have been kin due to the way the elder spoke of her mother! But Tamtey had always done things on her own, had always been a fierce and independent force others had grown to look onto; now that she was recovering and still heavily injured, the bandage wrapped over a bloodied patch of skin all to prove of it (a remembrance left by Wukula before her rescue), everyone had been over her repeatedly.
First it started slow, a gentle press of Nefika's hands taking the heavy thing she'd attempted to lift from her aching arm; muttering something about how helpful her yawntu was. Then it shifted into Ri'nela refusing to let her join in on pulling away debris, situating her amongst the remaining weavers that was... Much more solemn without Koranu's blurting speech.
However, all of this was lost to the eye of a certain male. The former Dog Tag Warrior of the Trr'ong, So'lek. He held new wounds of his own, bruises that were fading out still marked around his hips and bicep; a Sarentu paint mark, now refreshed, bumping off of his cheek to accompany the entire new get up he had been gifted for the previous week's ceremony. Everything about him carried a new air, the grief that had laid thick now barren with love for his new family. Despite the turn and twist of everything going on at the moment, the days of grieving everyone had resorted to taking; to remember the ones who now lay with Eywa though not completely, they hadn't recovered enough of the bodies to complete the proper mourning rituals yet.
It was a terrible sight, one that brought up memories from within; those that had plagued his nights endlessly in youth he could barely recall from this moment. So he worked, he worked to reinstate the walls of Hometree, to reclaim the burned ground charred with ash so that Eywa's new life could push through.
Despite this and his endless work, So'lek was forced to sit down more often to ease away the pain of older joints that had gathered pressure within them; unfortunately this left him surrounded by young hunters who now questioned over everything, annoyance fleeting but there in the older of the few. "Tell us-" "No tell me!" "I was asking as well-" The melting of voices combined within flicking ears as each and every young male alike tried to question the elder for his knowledge of wars, for his past within the people's clans that were not from this etch of the frontier. Most of the boys before him having never even heard of there being a whole nother part of Pandora that held Na'vi! Their interest was.. Refreshing to say the least. Young hands able to guide their clan back to the state it had once been in, the one So'lek knew it in. But his gaze wandered still, away from the now tussling hunters onto a more agile body. One he adored all too well from afar, but never up close; not until recently that was.
The high curve of a tail on a dimpled back, the insistent press of muscled limbs hardened from moon cycles of forceful training and another grant from the forest's dangerous exterior. So'lek's lips gave a twitch that neared on a smile, never completely there but noticeable to anyone who paid too much attention to someone; Yellowing ember eyes traced up the working frame of Tamtey, of the Sarentu he had come to know and adore, who held his heart in every term but physical. The mere thought of her not being able to grasp it brought physical pain to him, one that lingered deep within the muscle of his myocardium; as if it was tearing his physical heart to pieces that would pump in bloody love for the woman who was ever so oblivious to the affections the warrior held for her.
Raven hair shifting at his side was the first thing that drew the older male's eyes from their target, and despite having the entirety of Tamtey memorized from his year of yearning stares; it was still a pain to drag away from the movement of her form, only to find.. Teylan. Sitting next to him. How pleasant.
So'lek immediately moved to stand the moment Teylan's mouth parted, the new hairstyle was almost enough to drag a laugh from his lips. Scarred cheek twitching at the will of keeping it in, to remain stone faced as the younger male who looked up to him began to speak. "You know, So'lek... If you did not spend so much time yearning from a distance, you would have probably gotten Tamtey's attention by now! I am surprised she does not feel you staring at her."
Teylan swung his feet where he sat, unintentionally driving a form of sour anger within the older man's chest that blossomed further as he closed his lips to stare into him; through him. It was unsettling almost how the young man perceived everything, paid attention to everyone down to the micro stable of personality.
"Yearn?" A scoff bubbled from the older male, brow muscles furrowing; the tattoo lining his forehead wrinkling in reply to the rustle of skin. "I do not yearn, brother."
It was simple, held forth, a reply trained from within his heart that he'd grown accustomed to situating in other's minds; Nefika with her ever so insistent press on angering him with Itu, to the younger that sat before him with a keen eye for observing everyone and everything that stood before him. Especially those he'd loved.
Only when things settled between them into silence, and So'lek's gaze returned to the female that lay feet across home tree did Teylan speak once more; his human accent ringing off of the hollow space of the emptied out home. "Yes you do.” He spoke matter of factly. “I see how you yearn! It is very clear, you do not try to hide it at all. You and Itu both yearn for Tamtey, if I was Itu I would have taken her out already because you are taking too long! At least Itu speaks about his feelings aloud to people and doesn't pretend they do not exist. Because they do!" The words that had slipped from his mouth only seemed to enrage the male above him, whose head swiveled at the rate of a fierce Storm Glider's talons scraping the back of any Na'vi that dared fly too close to its nest. A hiss baring on white fangs that seemed almost sharper than any other male he'd come into contact with.
Bubbling feelings finally poured from his chest, both boys oblivious to the fact Nefika sat above them listening; intentionally? Of course! By far this was her favorite gossip of the day, the most enjoyable time in her resting that the elder had come to love. Three men going back and forth with no clear path between them, what was not to adore?
"Yearning is for young hunters who do not know what lies before them, I do not yearn. I am a warrior, one finer than Itu-" His insistent ramble was cut short by that gratinating voice that just settled so wrong on his ears, the throb of pain behind his eyes beginning to grow into something of a stabbing headache that made even the strongest of warriors keen over and growl with hurt. "Brother you wound me with your words!" Itu's voice carried over the edge of the trail, his head tilted in bewildered amusement; any day to mess with So'lek in his books, was a day spent usefully wasted amongst chatter. Despite the low growl forming within the older's throat at each twist and turn of the youngers ganging up on him, his whole body turning to face Itu; bringing his muscled yet scarred form to appear much larger than the Aranahe's best hunter, a sneer gathering itself on his lips.
A finger pressed to his chest tilted him back a bit, mostly from the shock of the action being used against him; something so small at a show of dominance? Most warriors would have flared up and hissed in his face at that, but not Itu. With his wonderful laugh, and his infuriating hair, Itu in general was an annoyance and mystery to So'lek. How someone could act so casually charming about the female they yearned for was a bewilderment to the seasoned warrior. "Words cannot wound, brother. Only the way you carry them will injure your soul." So'lek spoke with a tone aged by wisdom, words carrying the weight of someone scorned by loss.
Though it didn't quite matter to the fawn brown haired male before him, an agitating grin spread over his lips; a glint of white fangs parting beneath all So'lek could catch as he spoke. "You misunderstand me, So'lek. To say I am not a warrior because I yearn is.." He paused, searching for the words lost on his tongue. "To say that our dear Tamtey does not deserve to be yearned for."
Bewilderment settled over the features of the previously feared legend, his ears pinned back to the crown of his head; black braids and straight hair falling over his head guard in a fret of useless sputtering. "I would never imply such a thing!" He'd spat, tail lashing with residual anger behind him; almost whipping within the ear, a rich sounding laugh from above barely registered to the man who was now nearly nose to nose with the annoyance of a hunter that plagued him with his words. "But you did, so perhaps I should go on what Teylan had said and ask out our beloved Tamtey. She would enjoy any courting gift I bring, don't you think so?"
The tension boiled between the two males, both of which had shifted away to gather an item of their choice; one that meant something to both of them, such as a wooden carving of Katir from Itu and a Tana'rìng stem woven head guard from So'lek. Something that rested within both of their hearts... But neither seemed to notice Teylan slipping away, noisily whistling with each breath from the gap of his lip not meeting his nose; most likely off to have another war of flowers with a na'vi that insisted on throwing them at another clan's tsahik, the previous night's battle had left the younger male covered in petals of leopard orchids.
Now turning, it was like a race to who could greet Tamtey first; who could entice her to go hunting with them so they could present their gift, shoving each other by the shoulder of a more well muscled frame, slipping beneath with a lithe one formed from years of training in the Kinglor's home woods. Both of them quarrelling towards the unsuspecting woman only to pause in their wrestling at the sound of her laugh, their chests warmed with blooming heat that bellowed their affections for her.
Two pairs of eyes met over the frame of a.. half painted.. darker na'vi.. Okul. Of the Kame'tire.
They both stood bewildered as Tamtey was lead off by the other, gifts hanging loosely in the air alongside their own facial expressions; the descent of feet behind on the curve of the roots along with a chuckle barely drawing their shared attention from the fact they just lost their woman to a fucking healer. Nefika's presence only served to doom them more, perhaps they weren't courting her? They only wished to discuss, that's what So'lek would think.. Until that Eywa awful woman (by so'lek's words) opened her mouth. "Oh ma yawntus, if you were not so busy fighting amongst yourselves like two males in their breeding cycle. Perhaps you would have caught the affections he shared for your beloved, now step aside young ones." The laugh of a rich tune faded on their ears as Nefika glided by to greet the two with a careful press of an open palm to two shoulders, leading them away from the disappointed rivals at her tail.
Silence drew out between them, standing with their shoulders hunched low at the center of home tree's charred grounds; yellow optics shifting to meet once more. "I should not have insulted you so, brother.." So'lek spoke first, his words heavy with jealousy that mingled on apology.
"The ill was not yours, ma leiokoaktu, but my own. I should have more respect for those above my age.. Though it seems we now share a common enemy." Itu's sharpened gaze shifted back onto the movement of Okul who marched on chatting away with Tamtey, their tail showing the emotions their face did not register; waving within the air to brush against her own, though it thankfully did not return the gesture.
"Yes.." So'lek paused to chuckle, glancing away from the retreating three to gather his gaze back onto the man he'd spent so long arguing with. "It does appear so, ma 'eylan."
A/N : I had quite a lot of fun writing this! Originally wrote for the clan of vividhelene on tiktok, even including a small joke reference to something me and someone had done in a live the day prior! Teylan out!
