(a/n) it's been so long since i updated oops... anyways! 13 days later here's an update!!😘😘
they released their ilu, swimming over to hide behind a group of plants and animals
they watched as lo'ak swam to face payakan. he shot the tulkun a confused look while trying to figure out what it was that payakan could want
"what's happening?" fey loosely signed to ao'nung (as she was still learning and not 100% fluent)
"hold on" he dismissed her, trying to understand what was happening
payakan opened his mouth as if telling lo'ak to go inside. neteyam and fey looked at each other in confusion hoping the other had an answer but no luck, they were both clueless as ever
lo'ak shot payakan a confused look before shrugging and willingly swimming in. neteyam jumped forward but fey grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. he gave her a concerned glare in response, rolling her eyes she released him so she could turn her attention back on payakan and the now missing lo'ak
they sat in silence for what felt like forever with all the worry and anticipation the two felt. fey knew he was safe because of how calm tsireya looked but she would still always worry about the boy
the mouth opened again, revealing lo'ak who immediately swam up to speak to the tulkun
"im so sorry" lo'ak softly stroked above payakan's eye, pressing his face against his trying to soothe the tulkun
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"you allowed this?" ronal scolded as she followed closely behind the teenagers into the marui
fey scrunched her face slightly when the sudden yelling interrupted the awkward silence that had lingered in the air
as ronal whipped her head toward her son she stopped for a moment to give fey a nasty look
"you allowed him to bond with the outcast?" she spun again, this time to look at her daughter- waving a finger in her face as she questioned
"tsireya" tonowari had a stern tone as he approached from behind ronal, watching tsireya wince and stiffen up from his words "you disappoint me daughter" for a moment it looked like tsireya would speak but she restrained
"and you" he turned to speak to lo'ak "son of a great warrior who has been taught better"
somehow, jake and neytiri already caught wind of the situation and made their way behind lo'ak
"payakan saved my life sir, you do not know him" lo'ak protested
"no lo'ak" tsireya spoke quietly, almost too quiet to hear
"sit" tonowari signaled lo'ak to sit down
the young boy obliged and took a seat while the others watched. tonowari crouched along with lo'ak, allowing silence to fill the room once again
"SIT DOWN" he yelled at the remaining teenagers who immediately shot down. he blew quickly before speaking again, "hear my words boy- in the days of the first songs the tulkun fought amongst themselves for territory and revenge- but they came to believe that killing, no matter how justified, only brings more killing. killing was forbidden, this is the tulkun way"
tonowari paused for a moment, allowing his words to sink in and mean something
"payakan is a killer, so he is outcast" tonowari finally finished his long rant
"i'm sorry sir, but you're wrong" lo'ak stated with no fear in his voice whatsoever this stupid ass kid
"lo'ak" neytiri called sternly from behind him "you are speaking to olo'eyktan"
lo'ak was about to say something stupid but jake quickly cut him off "that's enough"
tsireya gave him a warning look trying to keep him out of trouble. neteyam and tsu'fey gave each other a look- knowing good and well lo'ak was going to say something stupid
"i know what i know" lo'ak shrugged as he made his final statement causing ronal to hiss from behind tonowari
"i said that's enough" jake emerged from behind the young boy to grab his arm. tsireya shot a concerned look between the two before jake spoke again, "i'll deal with this one" he quickly tugged the boy away. fey and neteyam stood, following closely behind with neytiri
the walk back was silent as they all watched jake drag lo'ak all the way home
"i would stay out of there for a while... why don't you go visit the spirit tree- it will calm you" neytiri finally spoke to the two as they approached the marui hearing jake yell
"how bad do you think it is?" fey asked, still concerned about lo'ak
"he will be fine, don't worry" neytiri gave her a small side hug as well as a soft smile before walking inside to either join or make sure lo'ak doesn't die, the world may never know
"do we get the others to come with us or do you think they are getting yelled at as well?" neteyam asked
"or... you know what we could do" she turned to him with a mischievous ass smile
"oh uh... drugs?" he said the first thing that came to mind
"well... yeah" she agreed with him as that was part of what she was thinking about (😁😉)
"they probably aren't good for us to be doing regularly" neteyam looked deep in thought, considering the outcomes
"who cares" she shrugged before turning to walk away which caused her to miss neteyam's dramatic eye roll
"do you even know how to get there?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her as she began to walk away
he waited for a response, shaking his head like a disappointed mother
"of course i do you asshole" she sent him another devious ass grin over her shoulder before calling her ilu
quickly throwing everything on her ilu and jumping on before neteyam could make it to them. she stuck her tongue out at him before laughing and diving under towards the spirit tree
he stood there with his hands on his hips and jaw dropped in disbelief for a moment until he finally broke and began to chase after her
authors notes
•deeply apologize for the short ass chapter i have been so busy and i just need to update it's driving me crazy
• fun fact i wrote 90% of this while riding my horse the other 10% i almost died cuz i decided to sit at a stoplight and write
• why have a time skip when i can just throw a random meme in😝 i genuinely don't know how else to a time skip deal with it
• i've literally been having a battle in my head for weeks if they should like become mates before shit starts going down yk. are they too young? i mean neytiri was 19 i think but idk. this is the most chefs kiss time to do it if so- so HELP ME PLEASE
