Petrichor

Cove of Ancestors

The next few months went smoothly. Ish. Leypa had asked Tonowari if there was a spare place anywhere when Ätopä began to have morning sickness, and Ilhia was secretly glad of her son moving. The tension between her eldest son and her husband hadn't dissipated in the slightest, even after Jake had apologised to Lo'ak. 

Her son had become more withdrawn, only coming home for food and sleep. He often slept in Leypa and Ätopä's hut, needing time away from his father. Leypa was more than happy to oblige him. 

None of them had had the heart to tell the kids about Spider. Not yet. Leypa had point blank refused, and Jake and Ilhia didn't know how to tell them. And the months dragged on, and it got harder and harder to say. They hadn't been in contact with the Omatikaya clan, and Jake knew that they wouldn't be going home anytime soon.

She didn't know what to do. Kiri spent most of her time with Tsireya, Rotxo and Aonung, as did Neteyam and Tuk, but their Metkayina training was over. They'd all successfully learnt how to breathe underwater, as Tsireya said, and how to ride ilus. Jake had mastered the skimwing, as had Leypa. Ätopä didn't travel far enough into the water to need an ilu, but those times she did go somewhere, her ikran was more than happy to accompany her. And Lo'ak, Lo'ak would disappear for hours on end.

Ilhia had tried to talk to her son, she really had, but he would just brush her off, or redirect the conversation so that the topic wasn't about him. 

The reef kids were taking Neteyam, Kiri and Tuk to visit their version of Vitrautral, the Cove of the Ancestors. Tuk had told her all about it over breakfast, happily munching on the fruit that Ilhia had collected from the forest. Kiri had seemed quite excited, and Neteyam was more than happy to accompany them. None of them had been connected to Eywa directly in quite some time.

Ilhia gathered the remaining cut fruit into a basket after the kids left. "What are you doing today?" she asked Jake, who was sitting on top of one of his metal tins, fiddling with his songcord on his loincloth.

"Not sure yet. I wanted to go hunting with Tonowari." He looked up at her. "What're you doing?" 

"I am taking these to Ätopä." She lifted the basket in front of her, an eyebrow raised. "Have you spoken to your son?" 

"Which one?" Jake asked bitterly. Ilhia took a deep breath as she crouched in front of him, setting the basket down. "I don't know what to say. To either of them. It's like Lo'ak isn't even here, and Leypa just totally ignores me." 

"Lo'ak just needs time."

"How much time, Ilhia?" He stood, beginning to pace. Ilhia turned on the balls of her feet, watching him. "How much time does he need? Because this?" He made a circle with his finger three times, his face distraught. "This is killing me. My little boy doesn't even want to talk to me. And Leypa?" He scoffed. "Forget it."

"Jake," she said softly. "They will come around. You are their father, they are your sons. Leypa has a lot going on right now, and Lo'ak is a teenager. You cannot tell me that you did not fight with your father when you were fourteen." 

Part of the whole reason that he'd joined the Marines was because he'd fought a few times with his father about his future. His father had told both boys stories of the legendary planet Pandora, and Tommy had decided that he wanted to be able to work there. Jake had been at a loss, and when his mom had suggested the Army, that was the path he stuck with.

His father had died a few years later, from cancer, and he'd regretted not being by his side when he'd passed. He refused to let Leypa and Lo'ak make the same mistake he did. 

"Give me that," he said, extending a hand to the basket in front of Ilhia. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she stood, handing him the fruit. He leaned in and kissed her on the side of the head. "If you see Tonowari tell him I'll meet him later."