Sea of Stars | neteyam sully

chapter 1: finger biter

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Her eyes shot up to the sky, watching the stars twinkle. The glowing white dots reflected in her eyes, making them look like the whole universe was inside of them.

Trying to climb a tree to the highest point, Ikariya was concentrated. Her tongue peeked out as she grabbed onto the next branch.

'And you told me I wouldn't be able to do it!' Lo'ak pointed at her with his finger as Ikariya finally reached the top. He was faster than her, which annoyed her deeply.

'Lo'ak, don't come for me. I'll bite that little extra finger of yours right off!' She swatted away his hand. Her eyes shifted over to the view. It was breathtaking. Her feet had a life of its own, already making their way to the edge of the tree. She could see a herd of talioang from up here.

Lo'ak laughed at her, walking up next to her. 'I've never seen you so exited about something.'

'You know I love the stars.' She said, looking up at them.

'Shit.' Lo'ak exclaimed, making Ikariya shift her eyes to him while tilting her head. 'I was supposed to be home like twenty minutes ago. My parents are going to murder me.' He explained as he swiftly hopped from branch to branch, trying to get down.

'I'll come with you. You know, to make sure you get home safe.' Ikariya told him, nodding.

'Yeah, nice try.' Lo'ak scoffed as he almost fell down face first before Ikariya grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

Ikariya whined, looking at him. 'Come on, Lo'ak. You can't keep me a secret forever!' She told the boy, jumping down from the last branch as he did.

'No, but I'll try.' Lo'ak said, already walking away from her.

'Why won't you just let me meet them?' She tried again, hoping he'd give in. But he didn't. He kept the stern look on his face.

'I've told you why about a million times already.' Lo'ak exclaimed. He held a large leaf back to prevent it from hitting Ikariya as she walked behind him.

She sighed deeply. 'But I don't get it.'

'You're not stupid, Riya.' He said, maneuvering through a path of sticking out roots. 'And I'm not either. So just stop.' He stopped in his tracks to show that this was as far as Ikariya could go. Not one step further.

'Well,' Ikariya looked away, hoping he wouldn't scold her for calling him stupid. As she figured he wasn't going to she sighed again, biting the inside of her cheek. 'Fine. I'll see you tomorrow.' She said, turning on her heels and running off again.

Lo'ak looked down, feeling as if he maybe was a little too harsh.

Truth be told, he wanted to show everybody the pretty best friend he'd made. He wanted to rub it in everybody's faces. "Look here, I have a gorgeous female following me around like a lost puppy all the time!" But he couldn't. He was afraid she would run away if she found out what his family is really like. And something inside of him thought that she could also possibly only hang out with him because of his family. Although they've known each other for a little over thee years now and that was probably not the case.

Either way, he was still enjoying his free time hanging around with someone from another clan. He was afraid what his parents would think. He knows that his father was Toruk Makto and actually brought all the clans together, but Lo'ak felt like there was always something he did that would disappoint him. He didn't want to be the disappointment of the family yet again.

He did hear her talk about the fact that her mother doesn't like it when she hangs out with other people, especially not with Na'vi from another clan. See, she was from the Tayrangi clan while Lo'ak was from the Omatikaya clan. Two different worlds. That would be the reason that he was her only friend. He was sort of doing it to protect her. In his own weird way.

☆彡

Her eyes caught the moss lighting up in blue spots beneath her feet. Ikariya loved running around in the forest.

But nothing is as great as her love for the forest itself. Everything was so pretty here. At night, the whole forest would light up in different colors. It was gorgeous.

Once she was at a safe spot, making sure to look around her, she called her ikran. He swiftly appeared in front of her, slowly making its descent. 'Calm down, boy.' She ran her hand along his face, patting him on the top of his head. She reached into her satchel and took out a piece of food as she threw it at him, he caught it mid air.

Ikariya smiled looking at him. He was her everything. Her one escape. She'd fly high in the sky at night and it would feel like she was one of the stars.

He'd been her only friend her whole life. It had only been about thee years that he had to share her.

That one day she met a lost boy in the woods, changed her whole life. Everyday revolves around him. Ikariya would wake up, eat breakfast, fly off to the forest to spend her whole day with Lo'ak, fly back, eat something again and go to sleep. All of that so she could do it all over again the next day. It was like a ritual. But it was everything but boring.

They'd always find something new to explore. Take yesterday for example. They'd spotted a little pond. They spent their whole day swimming in it.

Her ikran wasn't her escape anymore, Lo'ak was.

☆彡

Ikariya jumped off her ikran, petting him one last time before letting him rest for the night. She yawned, rubbing in her eyes as she sleepily made her way over to her tent.

'Where were you?'

Ikariya sighed. It wasn't on her schedule to get caught tonight. 'Out.' She said, turning around to meet her mother. She had her arms crossed and that stern expression on her face. That look was practically stuck on her face, she wore it all of the damn time.

Her mother nodded. 'Where?' She asked as if her daughter was stupid.

'The forest, ma. Can you please let me sleep now? I'm tired.' She said, already done with this conversation.

Her mother finally dismissed her before she practically sprinted up to her tent and plopped in her hammock.

She was wondering what Lo'ak was doing right now.