Fate's Game | Lo'ak Sully

Part 3 - Eight

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The year was similar to the first, only with added tensions and chaos. Instead of staying quiet and not bothering each other, Lo'ak and Fay'tari would do whatever it took to make the other's life a misery. They'd argue, fighting verbally and physically, trying not to let the other win whenever they did.

It would always start the same; Fay'tari would be peacefully going about her day with Neteyam and Lo'ak would seek to destroy that. He'd make some rude or snarky comment, sending Fay'tari into a shoving frenzy before they'd embark into actual fistfights. It was quite pathetic to behold, actually, as Neteyam and Kiri would often have to stand aside and wait for them to stop hitting and pulling each other's tails.

How it would end varied though; Sometimes it would be Fay'tari who won, leaving Lo'ak to plan his next attack carefully, and sometimes Lo'ak would win instead, making Fay'tari only want to beat him around some more. A few times, Neteyam had stopped the fighting by himself, which was easier said than done. Fay'tari would try to lunge towards the boy, causing Neteyam to have to hold her back and wait for her to calm down first before he even got to Lo'ak.

Neither Jake or Neytiri ever saw any of that, however when they'd ask Lo'ak or Fay'tari where they'd gotten their cuts and bruises from, it was growing harder for them to lie and say "training" every time.

What particularly annoyed Fay'tari about the whole ordeal was that Neteyam would constantly stick up for his brother and take the blame if Jake ever did bring it up. He'd make something up along the lines of "it was my fault" and that he "should've been paying attention."

Fay'tari couldn't understand why he did this, as he'd tell her repeatedly how he thought Lo'ak's actions to be idiotic sometimes, making her dislike the boy even more than she already did. She'd sometimes remember whilst in the midst of a brawl with Lo'ak that Neteyam would probably receive the blame for it later, making her surrender to Lo'ak's annoyance and surprise. So much so, that he'd intentionally say something even worse to her when she stepped away, making her forget her morals and get right back to hitting him.

One thing was for certain; The two did not get along.

Apart from that rather large part of her life, the rest of it was smooth sailing. Jake would tell her frequently how he thought she was a good fighter and that she had surprisingly good aim, to which Neteyam would shoot her a sly side-eye.

As she was coming up to the age of eight, It was around the time when Fay'tari would be able to bond with her own ikran, to which she was most looking forward to. In fact, if her and Neteyam ever got onto the topic of the creatures, Fay'tari's face would immediately lighten up and she'd go on to ramble about everything she knew about them and how excited she was to finally be able to fly one.

But that day never arrived for little Fay'tari.

She'd been tidying her bowls and plates away after eating one night, finding tye male members of the Sully family stood in a circle, deep in conversation. Rather than all of them talking at the same time however, it was Jake who was pointing at both Neteyam and Lo'ak with a strict look on his face.

Assuming they were being told off for something, that most likely Lo'ak did all by himself, Fay'tari walked towards the group and tried to listen in. Before she could hear anything though, Jake had noticed she was coming nearer and stopped his talking, ushering the two boys away to the side.

Both Neteyam and Lo'ak looked serious, Neteyam with a slightly nervous glint in his eyes, both of them trying not to stare at her as Jake approached. He stopped before her, taking her hand and pulling her towards a rock that he lifted her up to sit on so that the two were eye to eye.

He sighed a few times, running his hand across his eyes and forehead, seemingly trying to come up with what to say. Both of his sons were still waiting behind, watching what was going on a few feet in front of them.

Finally, he looked down at the ground and then up at Fay'tari, who was patiently waiting for him with no objections to the interaction.

"Fay'tari, your Mother needs you back at home with her."

Taken aback by the man's words, Fay'tari jolted her head backwards and a strange face took shape. "What? Why? I'm not a warrior yet, I'm not supposed to go back?" She frantically questions, her eyes wild.

He sighs again, softening his look and taking her hands into his.

"It's your Dad, Fay'tari. I'm so sorry..."

Fay'tari knew what that meant. She could tell by the look on his face what that meant. The girl didn't say anything, she only kept her blank stare and loose grip on Jake's hands, her mind not as tired as it was before.

She didn't want to go back, not at all. She didn't want to see her Mother after what she'd done, making Fay'tari realize in that moment that she hadn't had a singular thought of Ikeyni in the past however many months or years, and that she was perfectly fine without her. But then, she thought of her Father, Tsentey, who wanted nothing more than for her to become what she'd always wanted to be. She couldn't remember much of him, but she could remember his eyes, which were matching hers.

Jake had said something to Fay'tari as she was deep in thought, zoning out but she didn't hear him. He had to gently tug on her hands for her to come back to reality, making her eyes snap back into focus.

"She needs you back with her, soon."

Fay'tari couldn't help but scoff mentally at his use of the word "need". She thought, if her Mother really had indeed "needed" her, then she wouldn't have left her to begin with.

She nodded, understanding what he was saying. He told her that he'd be flying her there, which Fay'tari guessed was because of the increasing risk of being attacked by "Sky-People" that she'd come to learn about from Neteyam. She stepped down from the rock, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her, which to he frank, weren't ones of pure sadness.

She looked towards the two boys, noticing their faces. Neteyam's was full of worry and condolences, he was inching forward, attempting to say something but failing to. Lo'ak's however was difficult to read. He looked almost lifeless. His eyes were glued to Fay'tari, looking at her intensely with almost no emotion, however she could see he was holding something back. He looked uneasy, sketchy almost. He was breathing a bit faster than he should've been, his ears raising up and down every few seconds. Fay'tari couldn't figure out what he was thinking, but she didn't care.

She only cared that she was being taken away by the person who abandoned her, and that she had to return to the Tayrangi clan once again. Fay'tari had settled in the forest, and now she was being taken from it. She hadn't even bonded with her ikran and yet, she was leaving. Fay'tari was also leaving her closest friend along with her new home, knowing that there was nothing waiting for her back with the Tayrangi clan.

She'd always wanted to be a "mighty warrior", but now, she wasn't being given the chance to become one.

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