ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕆𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕖𝕒 || 𝕃𝕠'𝕒𝕜 𝕏 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

5.

Contined...

I walked along the path to go find Tsireya. I found her talking to Ren. When she saw me, she told Ren bye and walked over to me. "Have you seen Ren's face?" She asked with a small chuckle. "Yes. In fact I was there to witness what happened." She gave me a small smile. "But, Rotxo would like us to help teach the Forest kids sign language." She nodded her head and we went back to the rocks. 

We climbed onto the rocks and Neteyam was sitting with Rotxo talking. "I thought you said Forest kids. Not just Neteyam." Tsireya spoke with a smirk. "Hey, the rest of my family are busy with all the new duties they have." Tsireya nodded her head. "Where is your brother?" She asked. "Apologizing to your brother." Tsireya had a confused look on her face. "What?" I asked turning to her.

"I saw Lo'ak go with Ao'nung and his friends on ilu. Out to the sea. What was he apologizing for?" She asked. I looked at Neteyam and then back at Tsireya. "Ao'nung took Lo'ak out to sea?" She nodded. "Lo'ak was only supposed to go and apologize." Neteyam mumbled to himself. "I'm sure they will be back soon." Neteyam slightly nodded his head. I looked at Rotxo and he gave me a worried look. "Shall we start?" Tisreya asked, sitting down. 

I nodded and sat down in between Rotxo and Neteyam. "Sign language is very important to us Metkayina people. It is our way of communicating in the water." Tsireya spoke softly. Neteyam nodded. "We will start with easy and basic ones first. Then as you start to understand we will teach you more advanced terms." Rotxo smiled. Reya and Rot both looked at me. I cleared my throat and nodded.

"Neteyam, watch as I do. Then you copy me. Okay?" He nodded his head, "Okay." 

~A little later~

"That is all of the most important terms. Good job." Rotxo smiled. "How do you Reef kids remember all of these?" Neteyam asked while rubbing his forehead. "We are use to it." I smiled. I noticed it was getting late. Lo'ak still hasn't come back. Then Ao'nung caught my eye and I stood up. "What are you doing?" Neteyam asked. "It's getting late and Lo'ak isn't back." I made my way over to Ao'nung, with Neteyam following. "Ao'nung." He turned and looked at me. "Yes?" 

Neteyam stepped in front of me. "Where is my brother?" He asked sternly. "How would I know?" Neteyam sighed. "Tsireya said she saw you and your friends take Lo'ak with you out to sea. Where is he?" Ao'nung's face dropped. "Ao'nung. Where is Lo'ak?" I asked. "We took him outside the reef." He mumbled. "YOU WHAT?" I yelled. "Ao'nung he could get hurt! He doesn't know his way around the reefs! What were you thinking!" Neteyam grabbed Ao'nung and walked him towards his families pod.

I ran to my parent's pod. When I stepped inside my father had a worried look on his face. "Y/n. Are you alright?" My mother stood up. "Torku Makto's son is lost outside the reefs." I huffed out. My parents quickly left the pod and prepared to arrange a group of our people to go find Lo'ak. I made my way over to the group of people, standing and waiting. Neteyam came over and stood with me.

"I'm so sorry. Ao'nung has gone too far." Neteyam put his hand on my shoulder. "It is not your fault. It is your brothers." Just then I heard others around me start to say Lo'ak was found. I moved closer to the docks and saw him and I couldn't help but smile. He signed to the Metkayina that brought him back. Lo'ak noticed Ao'nung and glared at him, trying to make his way over to him. His father stopped him before he reached Ao'nung. "Hey, hey. Let me have a look at you. Okay." I watched as Jake made sure Lo'ak was okay. He never took his eyes off of Ao'nung. 

"He's fine. He's fine. Yeah, just a few scratches." For a split second Lo'ak looked at me. A small smirk appeared on his face. Neytiri put her hand on my back and I stepped to the side, allowing her through. "Lo'ak!" She shouted as she jumped down and walked over to her son. She grabbed onto both of his arms.

"I pray for the strength that I will not pluck the eyeballs out of my youngest son!" She brought her hand up and reached for his face and hissed at him, causing him to close his eyes as he moved his head back and slightly to the side. "No. My son knows better than to take him outside the reef." Ao'nung had a shameful look on his face.

My father pushed Ao'nung down so that he was on one knee. "The blame is his." There was a small moment of silence. Neteyam and I looked at each other for a quick second. "Okay, let's go." Jake started to make his way to the steps. "No." Neteyam started to move, but stopped when he heard his brother speak. "This is not Ao'nung's fault. This was my idea. Ao'nung tried to talk me out of it. Really."

Once again Neteyam and I looked at each other. Neteyam signed something to me. Why is he saying that? I shrugged my shoulders. I do not know. "Come on." Jake sounded annoyed. My parents looked at each other. "Lo'ak!" Neytiri sighed. "I'm sorry." He spoke softly. "Come on." Jake said sternly. Lo'ak climbed up and started to walk away. Neteyam following. "I got this." My father gave Jake a small nod as he walked off.  I moved around towards the path, following the Sully family, hoping to talk to Lo'ak. My parents were talking to Ao'nung while Tsireya stood beside our mother. 

I was in ear shot of the Sully family. "Dad, you told me to make friends with these kids. That's all I was trying to-"

"I don't want to hear it." Jake turned to his youngest son. "Dad..." Jake sighed. "You brought shame to this family." My ears lowered. How could he say something like that to his own son..? Lo'ak stood there, no one saying a word. "Can I go now?" He asked. "Any more trouble, I jerk a knot in your tail. You read me?" Lo'ak slightly nodded his head. "Yes sir. Lima Charlie."

"Go on." Lo'ak walked off.  Neytiri turned to Neteyam. "Where were you?" She asked. "Yeah. What happened to keep an eye on your brother?" Neteyam sighed. "Sorry sir."  I walked up to Neteyam, causing all three of them to look at me. I put my hand on Neteyam's shoulder and gave him a weak smile. I put my head down as I walked past them, going after Lo'ak. 

As I caught up to him, I saw Ao'nung trying to catch up with him as well. I got closer as I walked behind them. "Why did you speak for me?" Ao'nung asked. "Because I know what it's like to be one big disappointment." Ao'nung stopped and I walked next to him. "You should be ashamed." I went after Lo'ak. I saw him up on one of the rocks that over looked the ocean.

I climbed up and sat with him. "You just pop up everywhere don't you?" He chuckled. "Lo'ak. Why? Why would you speak for Ao'nung? He deserved to get in trouble for putting you in such danger." He stood up and turned towards me. "What I decide to do and say, has nothing to do with you. Alright? I don't need to explain myself to you." 

I stood up as well. "I was just asking a question." He laughed. "And I'm giving you an answer. So now you can stop asking and you can leave me alone." My ears lowered slightly. Lo'ak growled under his breath. "I said. GO!" He shouted at me, getting in my face. I backed up. "Lo'ak.." I mumbled. "What? You afraid I'm going to 'try and hurt you'. Huh? Just like you mother thinks I would." I cleared my throat. "No. I'm not afraid of you." He chuckled. 

"Well maybe you should be. Just like everyone else in this damn village is." I scanned over his face. "I don't look at you like the others do."

"Y/N I DON'T FUCKING CARE HOW YOU SEE ME! CAN YOU JUST FUCK OFF AND STOP BOTHERING ME ALL THE DAMN TIME." He stopped himself from continuing. "A-as you wish." I walked off. "Y/n! Wait!" A single tear rolled down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away, ignoring Lo'ak as he called after me.

To be continued...