Daughter of Eywa (Avatar fanfiction)

Landing Strategy

Why are we up here? I gaze over the edge of the tree limb. And so high up..?! I feel my breakfast try to resurface and decide it was better to back away from the edge slowly. "Uh...Tsu'tey...why are we up here?" I ask looking behind myself. "Jumping." He says matter of factly. My eyes widen. "Uh...I'm sorry, I must've heard you wrong, I thought you said jumping.." I say hoping I heard wrong. "No, you heard right. There." He says, pointing to the edge of the tree limb. I stare at the edge for a few seconds, blinking a few times, while his words sink in. Once they do, fear explodes from my chest. 

"WHAT?!" I say completely shocked. He says nothing, ignoring my outburst and walking to the edge. Turning towards me, he motions over the edge. "Jump." He says. I laugh nervously. "Look...Tsu'tey I know we don't exactly get along and all but.." I trail off. That doesn't mean you should force me to commit suicide!! Is what I wanted to say but stop myself. "Jump. Now." He says. "Come on, let's be reasonable here! Lets talk this out!" I say pleading, as I back away from him. He starts walking towards me, making me back up even more. "I'm sure we can tal-AH!!" I'm unable to finish that sentence, in my haste to get away from him, I forgot to pay attention to where I was going, until it was too late. Tsu'tey charges at me, realizing what was happening, but gravity was just a few paces quicker than him. I fall off the edge, eyes widened as I stare up at where I once was.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!" I scream as I'm falling. My body crashes through leaves and smaller tree branches. I struggle to grab ahold of anything to stop my fall. I can't do anything if I can't see behind me! I've gotta flip over! With that thought, I swing my arms to one side, making my body follow soon after. Now that I could see the ground quickly approaching, I wished I hadn't flipped over. I shake out of my fear and reach for any of the vines that surrounded me, missing or snapping them.

Once the ground was only a few feet away, I make one last attempt of survival, reaching for another vine. Please don't break! I struggle to grab onto it, over and over, until I'm finally able to get ahold of it. I hold onto it for dear life, closing my eyes, bracing myself for impact, my palms burning as I slide down the vine. I finally come to a halt, much to my surprise. No pain..? Does that mean! I peek out of one eye, looking down. The ground was a few feet down still, making both my eyes open and widen. I...made it..? The realization that I'd live another day finally catches up to me and I can't help but break out in nervous laughter. "I made it...I actually made it!!! HA! Take that you dam--" I'm cut off, as my pride is short lived, for the vine I clung to, groans from the weight. "Oh no.." Is all I can say before it snaps completely, and I fall the rest of the way down.

I scream, my arms flailing, my grip on the now broken vine lost. I land on my butt with a splash, the impact hurt but it wasn't nearly as painful as it could've been. Something splatters all over me as I land, including on my face. I open my left eye, due to something being all over my right. A familiar wet earthy scent fills my nostrils. Mud..? I look down over my body, finding it covered in the stuff. Honestly...I'm not even mad. I'd take mud over death any day. A few broken branches fall around me, and the vine I had clung to falls and drapes over the top of my head. I narrow my Gold eyes. For a few seconds I sit there, not moving, just focusing on my breathing, trying to calm my racing heart. Once it wasn't beating out of my chest, I look around for Tsu'tey, who joins me on the ground soon after sliding off a large leaf. Finding me, he walks over to me.

"Hello.." I greet. He stops infront of me. "You did not die." He says. Anger boils in my chest but just as I'm about to give him a piece of my mind, something about his expression shocks me. Is he..! The left corner of his mouth was turned slightly upwards, making my eyes widen in shock. He is! Tsu'tey was smiling. I blink a few times as I stare up at him. Who would've thought...he can actually smile.. I snap out of my musings when the vine slides off of my head, to the mud below, splattering mud onto me. "I-uh no...guess not.." I say wiping some mud off of my chin. He nods and holds out his hand towards me. I give him a slight smile and reach my hand towards his, wincing slightly at the pain as he helps me up. Ugh...that's gonna leave a bruise.. I shake out of my thoughts once I'm up completely. Everything hurt but it wasn't too bad, as opposed to what could have been. "You did good." He says, making me even more shocked. Did he just...give me a compliment..? I can't believe it..  "Uh...thanks.." I say, feeling weird from the sudden compliment. He nods again, before his smile vanishes and his usual face reappears. "But you are sloppy. We work on that next." He says, making my eyes widen, before I shoot a glare at him. Oh for the love of...really?! Tsu'tey! We were having a moment and you go and ruin it! "Follow." He orders, before turning, and walking away. "Follow~" I say, mocking him with the stupidest voice I could manage before rolling my eyes, and following after him, muttering a few choice words lowly as I wiped off the mud. Men..