Fate's Game | Lo'ak Sully

Part 7 - Trouble

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(POV: Fay'tari)

To my relief, Neteyam didn't make me go back to camp for the night, allowing me stay on the mountain I'd found, leaving me to be by myself.

My head slightly hurt from laying on solid ground, however the inside of my head hurt more. The reality of it set in that morning, as I began to pace the mountain and think about what I was going to do about the arrangement. I knew I couldn't stop it, so the question was if I was going to make it hell for Lo'ak or if that would only result in it also being hell for me.

I couldn't decide, I wanted nothing more then to leave and go elsewhere, not back to my clan but to a place with no... Well, Lo'ak in it.

Of all the things that Jake couldn't said, he said by far the worst thing he could've. I knew that arranged pairings weren't uncommon or looked down upon, but I was still free to look down on it myself. I had never even so much as spoken to Lo'ak in a normal way before, as whenever we would interact it would be through violence. So, technically, I didn't know him at all. However, I decided quickly that what I did know about him was more than enough already.

I'd been pacing around for the entire morning, meaning by the time I'd stopped my fast-paced walking, it was already the afternoon. I assumed that Neteyam told Jake and Neytiri where I was, or atleast that I hadn't fled, so I decided that it was about time I faced them again.

I mounted Ka'ani, guiding him back towards the main cave where the Sully's stayed. When I headed towards the place where they'd normally be eating, remember that they'd always eat around the same time every day, I found no one. It was a ghost town, no sign of any Na'vi, not even little Tuk.

Not being able to do much about it, I swivelled around and went to find the place where I'd stayed before. To my surprise, my bed was made up ready for me, guessing that one of the Sully parents prepared it for my stay, placing a few fruits by the side of my bed, which I gladly munched on.

Ka'ani had been carrying my belongings with him the whole time on a satchel attached to his saddle, with which I decided to organize in my small sleeping quarters. My heap-load of weapons sat beside a few other boxes, my clothes and other accessories inside them.

By the time I'd neatly placed everything where I needed them to be, the sun was setting outside, making me wonder why the Sully's hadn't returned all day. I asked myself if maybe this is how they went about their day know, which I then decided was possible seen as I'd been gone for so long. It felt weird. It felt strangely normal and nostalgic, to be back in the same place doing the same things I'd done on my first day there years ago, though the circumstances were vastly different.

Just as I was closing one of the boxes beside my bed, I heard a few cries which I knew to be that of an ikran's, making me rush outside to see who it was. Turns out, it was all six of them, the whole Sully family had returned on their banshee's, Neytiri carrying Tuk on hers.

I didn't want to be hasty, so I stayed back for a while and watched them instead, waiting for a good time to join in. My solid pokerface returned to my complexion as I stepped closer to the family to hear what they were saying.

What I saw was all too familiar to me. In front of me, I saw Jake stood before his two sons, who both had their heads down at the floor as he spoke to them. I could tell from a distance, even though I couldn't quite hear what they were saying, that Jake wasn't too happy with them and was giving them a telling-off for something.

Probably Lo'ak's fault.

Neytiri and her two girls were stood either side of them, Tuk running around her brothers to check for something on them, me not completely sure what that something was.

As Jake stopped talking and began to stare directly at his youngest son, Neteyam spoke instead of him. Because of this, I got even closer so that I could actually hear what they were saying.

"No, no, Dad. It was my fault, I-"

There he goes. I whispered to myself mentally. Thankfully, Jake realized what he was doing as he'd seen it happen plenty of times before, shutting down his son's attempt at resolving the situation.

"No, it wasn't. You've gotta stop taking the heat for this knucklehead!"

I had supposedly gotten too close, as Jake turned to find me stood there with an intrigued look spread across my face, which I quickly wiped away upon seeing I'd been caught. Jake sighed at his two sons, placing his hands on his hips in defeat and telling his youngest to "go stay out of trouble with Fay'tari", making sure that I heard him too. He shot his Dad a pleading look, however after being scowled at again, he listened.

He reluctantly and rather rudely walked straight past me without even so much as looking at me, assuming I'd have to follow him. Instead of going straight away, I looked over towards Neteyam, who gave me a nervous smile and a small thumbs up, which was supposed to mean "good luck" however I knew I'd need more than that.

Accepting my fate, I followed Lo'ak away from his family, heading in the direction of my sleeping quarters. As that wasn't where I had expected him to go, I rushed to catch up with him in case he were to begin rummaging. He didn't actually go in, though. He just sat himself near the tent, half inside and half outside, leaning back against the large leaf that acted as a covering.

I did the same, making sure to sit a good distance to the left of him, crossing my legs comfortably, even though I, myself, was far from comfortable. I lay my head back on the leaf, not moving my head an inch and staring forward at whatever was there. I probably could've forgotten Lo'ak was there all together due to the silence, however he began to fidget nonstop, disturbing me.

He would scratch his head, then his neck, then his head again and so on. He'd look all over the place, inside the tent, outside the tent, over at me, but I payed him no mind.

He was like a child, not being able to sit still for very long.

I hadn't seen this boy in six years and he hadn't seem as if he'd changed a bit, that much was clear. He was still irritating and rude, taking every opportunity to infuriate the people around him, whether he meant to or not.

Finally, having had enough of his disturbing presence, I broke the silence.

"What did you do?"

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