Kira's POV
We barely escaped with our lives.
Morning light finds us huddled in a cave three miles from the burning shelter. My legs ache from running all night. Tuk sleeps curled against Mom's side. Dad stands at the cave entrance, watching for Sky People ships. Lo'ak paces like a trapped animal. Spider sits with his head in his hands.
Nobody talks about how close we came to dying. Again.
I stare at my hands, remembering how they glowed last night. How Eywa's words poured out of my mouth like I was just a puppet. Everyone heard it. Everyone knows something big is happening to me.
But nobody knows what to do about it.
"We can't keep running." Lo'ak breaks the silence, his voice sharp with anger. "We should fight back."
"Against an army?" Dad doesn't turn around. "That's suicide."
"So is this!" Lo'ak kicks a rock across the cave. "Six months, Dad. Six months of running and hiding and watching you look more broken every day."
"Lo'ak—" Mom warns.
"No! Neteyam died protecting us, and for what? So we could keep running? So Kira could start glowing and speaking in creepy voices?"
The words hit me like a slap. Lo'ak sees my face and his anger cracks, showing the hurt underneath.
"I'm sorry, Kira. I didn't mean—"
"Yes, you did." My voice comes out smaller than I want. "You think this is my fault. That I'm making everything worse."
"That's not—"
"Everyone thinks it!" The words explode out of me. "You all look at me like I'm some kind of bomb about to go off. Like Eywa chose wrong when she picked me for whatever this is."
Silence fills the cave. Even Dad turns to look at me now.
"Maybe she did choose wrong," I whisper. "I couldn't save Neteyam. I can't understand the visions. All I do is make everyone's life harder."
Tuk wakes up and reaches for my hand. "That's not true."
But it feels true. It feels so, so true.
Spider clears his throat. "Maybe we should talk about the elephant in the room. Or, you know, the glowing prophecy."
"There's nothing to talk about," Mom says firmly. "Eywa's messages are sacred, but we don't rush into danger because of riddles."
"What if it's not a riddle?" I ask. "What if Eywa is trying to tell us exactly where to go?"
Dad's jaw tightens. "The Ash People."
Everyone goes still.
"You're not seriously considering—" Mom starts.
"I'm considering everything." Dad moves away from the cave entrance and sits heavily on a rock. He suddenly looks much older than he is. "Last night, before the attack, I received a message. The Ash People are offering us sanctuary."
"The Ash People?" Lo'ak's eyes widen. "The clan that disappeared into the volcanic territories? That nobody's seen in years?"
"They haven't disappeared. They've isolated themselves." Dad runs a hand through his hair. "They're offering neutral ground for peace talks with the surrounding clans. A chance to negotiate safe passage."
"They reject Eywa," Mom says, her voice hard as stone. "They worship fire instead of the Great Mother. They're godless."
"They're survivors," Dad counters. "And right now, we need to survive."
"By abandoning our faith?"
"By protecting our children!"
Their raised voices wake Tuk completely. She starts crying, and guilt floods Dad's face.
"Sorry, baby girl." He pulls Tuk into his lap. "We're just tired."
But we're more than tired. We're breaking apart, piece by piece.
Spider stands up. "Look, I know I'm just the token human here, but maybe this is worth considering? The Ash People live in volcanic territory. Sky People won't attack there—too dangerous, too unstable. It could actually be safe."
"Or it could be a trap," Lo'ak mutters.
"Everything's a trap now," I say quietly, echoing Dad's words from last night.
Mom looks at me, and something in her expression shifts. "What did Eywa say to you, daughter? Exactly."
I close my eyes, remembering. "Find the flame. Seek the forsaken. The seed must be planted where faith burned away."
"The forsaken," Mom repeats. "She means the Ash People."
"And the flame?" Spider asks.
My chest tightens with a truth I don't understand yet. "Someone. Eywa said 'he is waiting.'"
"He who?" Lo'ak demands.
"I don't know!" Frustration burns in my throat. "I never know until it's too late!"
The cave falls silent again. Then Dad speaks, his voice heavy with defeat.
"We leave at dawn. The Ash People are our only option left."
"Jake—" Mom protests.
"Neytiri, please." Dad looks at her with exhausted eyes. "I have failed to protect this family in every way that matters. Let me try this one last thing. If it's a trap, we'll fight. If it's safety, we'll finally rest. Either way, we stop running."
Mom's face crumbles. She turns away so we won't see her cry, but we all hear it.
This is what the Sky People have done to us. Broken the strongest woman I know.
That night, I can't sleep. The whispers won't stop.
He is waiting. The flame. The forsaken. Your destiny approaches.
I slip out of the cave when everyone's asleep. I need air. I need space from the weight of everyone's fear and hope pressing down on me.
The forest is quiet. Too quiet.
I find a small clearing and sit on a moss-covered rock. The moons shine bright above, and I let the tears I've been holding back finally fall.
"I don't know what you want from me," I whisper to Eywa. "I don't know how to be what you need me to be."
The whispers surge suddenly, so strong I gasp.
Close your eyes, daughter. See.
I don't want to. Eywa's visions hurt. But I'm so tired of fighting.
I close my eyes.
The vision hits like lightning.
Fire. Everywhere fire. But not the destroying kind—the living kind. Flames that dance like they're alive. And in the center of it all, a figure. Tall. Strong. With skin that glows like cooling lava and eyes...
Golden eyes that burn straight into my soul.
He stands in front of an eternal flame, alone, and when he turns to look at me—even though it's just a vision—my heart stops.
He's beautiful. Terrifying. Angry. Sad. Powerful. Lost.
He's everything and nothing I expected.
And then he speaks, his voice rough like grinding stone:
"I don't believe in goddesses. But if you're real... come find me. I dare you."
The vision breaks.
I gasp awake to find I'm glowing again, brighter than ever. My freckles pulse like stars about to explode.
And burned into my mind is one absolute certainty:
Tomorrow, we travel to the Ash People.
Tomorrow, I meet him—the boy made of flame.
Tomorrow, everything changes.
But what Eywa doesn't tell me—what I won't discover until it's too late—is that the golden-eyed boy in the flames is promised to someone else.
And she will kill me before she lets me take him.