Mighty Jewel | LO'AK + NETEYAM

chapter twenty five

Light rain was still pouring, the droplets' sounds tapping on the roof echoing in the Sully's hut where the family had just finished their dinner. The eclipse almost fully set in the grey sky, causing the Metkayina village to darkened, only faint and warm flames lighting each home of its habitants. Kyalayi hadn't mentioned her conversation with Marrek from earlier to Jake, even if she knew she would eventually have no choice but tell him. But right now, she kept lying to herself that her father's words weren't true, that Sky People weren't coming to their village. Denial was Kyalayi's only way to get through the night. The teenage girl needed time to swallow the words her father had shamelessly spat at her face like he didn't care for the repercussion they could have on his daughter. Kyalayi shook the thoughts away while she started grabbing the leftover fish, fruits and herbs from their meal and placed them in a half chopped coconut. The white haired girl joined Neytiri by the fire who was boiling the rest of the food to transform it into a healing paste, a trick that Marrek had taught the woman. Neytiri slightly grinned at the young girl when she dropped the leftovers in the boiling mixture, grateful to have help when the rest of her family was playing around. As she watched them, Neytiri couldn't be irritated by the lack of help, it had been a while since their last beaming family dinner and instead, the mother decided to cherish it. Tuk was on Neteyam's back, her arms interlaced at his neck as he jogged around the hut while Lo'ak and Kiri chased after them. Jake also watching his kids from afar with a proud and teary smile that both him and Neytiri shared. Kyalayi's mind wandered to what her life could have been if her mother had chosen to run away with Marrek all those years ago. Would she have had siblings? All the girl ever wished for was to have a family that cared, support each other and indeed, her father had done that but he had always been so distant with the girl, hiding something. Siblings are kindred spirits, they know one another by heart and no matter how many times you mess up, they will always be there to pick you up. The same way Neteyam does for Lo'ak, she thought. Their family moment was soon interrupted by the arriving of Tonowari and Ronal, completely sucking the happiness out of Jake's eyes as he noticed the chief's facial expression. 

"Kids," Jake started, getting up from his laid position and inviting the Metkayina couple into the hut. The father's firm and abrupt tone causing the Sully children to slowly tuning down their enjoyment. "Out, please."

"MyJake," Neytiri protested, confused on why the sudden change of attitude in her mate but the man simply looked at her and rose his eyebrows, indicating the woman to trust him. 

The children's gaze flickered between each other, torn by their parents' very different reaction but as Jake repeated for them to get out of the hut, it became very clear to them; something was wrong. Neteyam slowly let Tuk fall down from his back and as her footfalls echoed on the floor, all of the kids took it as a sign to move out of the hut and toward the beach, just like Jake had ordered them. Jake made sure that Kyalayi and his children were further before returning his attention on Tonowari and Ronal as he knew the reasons they had visited them. 

"What is this?" Neytiri asked to her lifelong mate as she joined them, all now forming a circle by their hut's entrance. 

"There was a video logged into Evelyn's spaceship's blackbox. She probably didn't realize that what she thought was her last words were being recorded."

"That demon is the reason why our villages are getting burned to ashes." Ronal growled, taking a step before Tonowari as she knew he might had wanted to stop her from intervening. "She almost killed your boy with her traps." Neytiri looked at the woman, stunned of her revelation but before speaking up, she turned her head to face Jake, in seek of confirmation. 

"Is this true?" 

Jake nodded, slowly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in as he realized that there was no way for him now to defend the human woman. Every arguments had been used. Nothing could help Evelyn from getting banished by the Metkayina's leader now. The white haired woman had done the unforgivable, she had been the one to lead Quaritch and his team to search the Metkayina islands, thinking it would lead them toward the wrong path. Never had the woman thought the Sully would had seek asylum with reef people as they were forest people. But her assumptions were wrong, Quaritch had a hunch he was getting closer and he didn't held any rage back. The Sully couple finally agreed with Tonowari and Ronal on Evelyn's future amongst them, there was no other direction for the woman's fate but banishment. And as much as it ached them to hurt Kyalayi, the Sully needed to protect their family and the people that had welcomed them. Marrek's words from the meeting suddenly resurfaced: If Evelyn is banished, I go. If the clan truly proceeded with Evelyn's punishment, Kyalayi would be orphaned and deeply destroyed. Neytiri red the expression on her mate's face, his features tensed and rigid as she thought that he might had noticed a similar one on her. 

"She is family, now." Neytiri simply said, immediately understanding that they had been thinking about the same person. Jake glanced back at the mother of his children, gently placing a hand on her cheek as he gave her a single nod, glad she had understood him.   

+++

When the children had been somehow gently kicked out of their hut, the group walked on the beach. The storm of this morning had finally passed. Now, their bodies all floating on the wave less and calm water, forming a circle and watching the eclipse set in. 

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kiri asked her siblings and friend, her gaze still focused on the stars that started appearing in the sky, their light reflecting on the water and illuminating the rest of the ocean. As most of them started sharing their theories out loud, Kyalayi stayed silent. The last time she had been stargazing, her mother's ship had crashed a few meters from where she was now laying. The memories came flooding back like waves on a storm day, spinning the girl's thoughts like she was trapped in one. 

"Kya?" A voice interrupted the teenager's remembrance as she dazedly hummed back to answer her interlocutor. "Which one is dumber? Roxto or Ao'nung?" Tuk chuckled provoking the same reaction in her brothers and rolled eyes from her sister. 

"What?" The girl quickly exclaimed, her head turning to face the giggly Sully as she finally realized the words that had came out from Tuk's mouth. 

"Who cares." Kiri stated before Kyalayi could answer the absurd question that Lo'ak and Neteyam had made Tuk ask which brought the ocean girl to refocused on the stars before her eyes. Something Neteyam find hard to do as she was the only star his gaze could stared at. His head turned to his side, the water blinding him from time to time, the forest boy enjoyed every tranquil seconds of looking at the girl and noticing her traits changing every time a thought popped in her mind. The voices and laughs of his chaotic siblings gradually tuning out as his mind derived from what was around him except for the jewel eyed girl. 

"Lo'ak!" Kiri shrieked, snapping Neteyam back from his daze as he swiftly straightened himself in the water on guard but quickly realized that there was no actual danger, only siblings playing around. Lo'ak chased around his sisters around the water, his arms stretched and his fingers wiggling, threatening to tickle them. Kyalayi still floating on her back, chuckled to Neteyam's instinctive reaction, causing the boy to swift his head toward her, his every muscles finally decompressing with relief. 

"They're only having fun." Kyalayi playfully said to the boy. "You should try that sometimes." She hadn't meant the words to be rude, the girl knew the pressure the eldest always put on himself, trying to be the perfect role model, an ideal for his youngest siblings and parents and Neteyam had understood her intention. She only wanted him to be a kid, for once.  

"So do you." The forest boy responded, his tone laced with hope that the girl would take her own advice as he walked closer to her. Soon, his body towering Kyalayi which forced the girl to lock eyes with him, a warm feeling flustering her cheeks as the starlight lit perfectly his features in the night. Suddenly, water splashed in the girl's face as a body stumbled on hers, sinking her underwater. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lo'ak swimming on top of her as she figured he was the one who had pushed her under the surface. Tuk and Kiri had did the same with their older brother. For the rest of the night, they all let themselves innocently playing around like kids would do, forgetting about their worries and responsibilities. 

Unknowing of the war that was coming.