The Bond of The Forest - Lo'ak X Reader

Chapter 10

Jake was absolutely furious at Lo'ak and Neteyam for fighting with the chiefs son. I felt bad for Jake as he was so worried about his reputation being ruined and Tonowari and Ronal being disappointed in them.
Jake was scolding the boys whilst they wiped the blood from their noses and faces. I couldn't help but find Lo'ak mildly attractive being a little beaten up. It made him look tough.

'You go and apologise, now' Jake says sternly to Lo'ak.
'Dad are you kidding me? They were taking the piss out of us and saying rude shit to Mai.' Lo'ak protested at his dad which earned him a warning look from Jake. Huffing, Lo'ak disappeared out of the pod to obey his fathers command.

'What did the other guys look like?'

Neteyam smirked at his father, 'worse much worse'

Jake nodded in approval and told Neteyam to leave, yet asked to me to stay. I felt nervous, was I about to get scolded too?

'Mai, are you happy here?' Jake asks me. The question surprises me as I didn't think that it mattered to Jake.
'Yes sir, I am.' I reply, 'I worry about the others, Kiri seems not herself, and Lo'ak seems angry all the time.'

Jake gives me a knowing look,

'You seem to have taken a liking towards my son,'
My cheeks flushed violently and I dreaded where this was going. Jake continued,
'And he seems to have taken a liking to you. Lo'ak is a good boy, but he will lead you astray if you're not careful. On the other hand, I have faith in Eywa that you can also calm him down.' Jake tells me.

I smile at Jake and tell him that I will do my best before exiting the pod to go and look for Lo'ak to make sure he is apologising to Ao'nung to avoid further trouble.

I see him out in the distance on his Ilu talking to the other boys. They soon all disappeared into the water and I couldn't help wondering where they were going.

'Hey'

I turned around and smiled at Neteyam who was approaching me.

'What are you looking at?'

'I was watching Lo'ak apologise to Ao'nung. Looked like it worked they all went swimming just now.'
Neteyam's brows furrowed in confusion. He was unsure as to why his brother would want to spend time with those people.

Neteyam and I made our way down the beach chatting about the fight they'd previously had.

'You know, Lo'ak looks up to you a lot. Almost too much. He feels a great pressure to be like you.' I tell Neteyam. He responds with a sigh,

'I know Mai, I try and be a perfect balance of the big brother my dad wants me to be, and the brother Lo'ak needs me to be.' Neteyam looks troubled. I felt sorry for him, he had a lot of pressure on him. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

'You ground him you know, better than I've ever been able to do,' he continues, 'you two have something special, I envy you, when are you going to speak to him about it? Don't think I haven't noticed your matching beads' He teases me shoving his shoulder against me playfully.

'I don't know Neteyam, I don't know where I stand with him, like before he shoves me off when I try to comfort him, but then he does these romantic things like give me a matching hair bead.' I shrug my shoulders.

'Talk to him Mai, you know he's shy. It'll do you both good to know where you stand.'

The sunlight is dimming as eclipse approaches and we watch Ao'nung and his friends arrive back from wherever they've been. I scan the area for Lo'ak and become confused when I see that he isn't returning with the others.

'Neteyam' I say, 'where's Lo'ak?'

Neteyam speeds over to Ao'nung and grabs him by the hair,

'Where's my brother, what the fuck have you done' Neteyam hisses at him. His friends shuffle awkwardly not wanting to pick another fight with the embarrassing state of their faces at the moment.
'He's at three brothers rock, we left him there as a prank.'

A prank? What kind of sick prank is that?

Tsireya appears with a horrified look on her face after what she had just heard.

'A prank?' She repeats my thoughts. 'You know how dangerous it is out there Ao'nung, the amount of dangerous sea creatures out there. He could die!'
Hearing those words were like stones in my heart.

'Neteyam we have to tell your dad, they have to bring out a search.' I say

Neteyam nods but replies with a disgusting tone of voice,
'He can tell him himself.' He clutches Ao'nung by the back of his neck and drags him away to find Jake. I look worriedly at Tsireya who looks just as equally as worried.

What has Lo'ak gotten himself into now