Tsaheylu

Can I Stay With You?

"Neteyam!" A loud voice shouts, startling me out of my slumber. I feel the hot body beneath me stir and sit up, making me slump to one side and sit up beside him. My eyes peel open to see Neytiri's anger filled ones, staring at her son with disappointment. "You got into a fight?!" She yells, shaking her head while Jake tried to calm her down. She puts her hand up to warn him to stay away, and he backs away without another word.

I rub my eyes and pat down my hair, hoping it wasn't sticking up from either earliers activities or our nap. Her eyes soften for a moment as she looks at me, giving me a curt smile, "Ai'ina, sorry for waking you up darling."

Her eyes snap to her son once more as he scratches the back of his head, unoffended as I shuffled away from him to try and get some distance in front of his parents. "They were insulting Kiri. I couldn't let it slide," He explains, though Neytiri seemingly didn't care. "I'm glad you protected your sister, but to get in a fight Neteyam? You know better. Especially with the future leader of this clan. You're doing us no favours!" She says angrily, pacing around the room.

"Where is your brother now?" She asks, looking to me too now. "I don't know. The last I knew he was going to apologise to Aonung," Neteyam answers, gesturing to the pair of us in the bed, "And we fell asleep after Ai'ina patched me up." I nod my head to confirm what he was telling them, still a little dazed from my sleep.

Jake steps forward, concern on his face now. "Wait you guys aven't seen him either?" He asks, his brows furrowed together. "No..?" Neteyam says, the concern emitting into his body now. I could feel the fear in his body, like it was my own, and I could quickly feel my heart racing because of it. "Tsireya hasn't seen him either. And Kiri and I haven't." Jake says, looking to his wife. "And we haven't," Neytiri says, pointing to little Tuk who was sat with a mango in her hand at the dinner table.

We hear a flurry of footsteps heading towards us, and soon Tonowari is stood in the doorway with a rather bruised up Aonung behind him. I jump to my feet and move across the room before Aonung could see where I was, standing myself next to Tuk.

"Tell them what you told me," Tonowari says sternly, pulling his son into the room. Neteyam stands up and walks over to his mother, standing beside her to stop himself from choking the boy. Aonung looks to his feet sheepishly, shuffling under the weight of everyones eyes on him. Ronal appears in the doorway behind him, peering into the room to see who was there.

I watch as Jake casually strolls over and stands in front of me, hiding me from her view. She doesn't pay any attention and starts to hiss something into her son's ear, making him finally speak up.

"We took him out of the reef... He hasn't come back." Aonung admits, catching the family off guard. Out of the reef!? Aonung knows how dangerous it is out tere, even for him! He sent the boy to his death, what the fuck was he thinking?! I turn my attention to Tuk, trying to keep myself as unknown as possible, but it was difficult with the fury coursing through my veins. But when I saw Neteyam, he looked just as pissed off as I did.

Neytiri hisses at the boy, muttering something angrily under her breath. Neteyam shoves past Aonung, running out of the Marui Pod. "Neteyam where are you going?!" Jake yells after him, getting a faint muffle back. "I'm going to get him."

Jake looks to Neytiri, knowing that she wasn't going to sit back and wait for the possibility that her son would come home. It was dark outside, meaning he had been out there for hours which wasn't promising.

Neytiri breaks out after Neteyam, Tonowari following after her. "Show us where." Jake orders Aonung, pointing out of the door. The boy turns around and leaves, Ronal moving alongside him as Jake hurriedly following them out. "Ai'ina? Is Lo'ak ok?" Tuk asks, peering up to me with sad eyes. "He will be ok sweetie. Your brother is smart, he will be ok." I tell her, stroking the side of her head.