𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍, A:TWOW imagines

words never said, lo'ak

a shawl made of leaves wrapped around your form as you stood silently in the middle of your kelku, watching your mate frantically search for his battle gear. jake sully had called the warriors again for another raid against the sky people who were planning to take over yet another area in your clan. the raids have been happening quite frequently now, and being the son of the olo'eyktan himself, lo'ak, your mate, was expected to participate in all of them.

you grew worried every moment he wasn't here. you prayed to the great mother he'd come back to you in one piece, safe and sound, but you knew it wouldn't always be possible. every time the war party came back, someone would be gravely injured. most of the time, a couple of them wouldn't even return - their corpses lying cold on the battlefield.

thankfully, your husband was a great warrior. although he was reckless and often didn't follow jake's orders, he was witty enough to survive all the hits and attacks of the humans, and also, your brother-in-law, neteyam, would always be there to keep him in check. not once did lo'ak return with a fatal injury, but still, you couldn't help but worry.

in front of you, lo'ak grunted, securing his battle band around his waist. he grabbed his hunting knife from the ground and wiped away litters of dust the blade caught from lying on the floor. his brows formed wrinkles on his face as he frowned, and you didn't really know why he was upset again right now.

"please be careful, ma'yawntutsyip." you uttered softly, but he didn't reply nor look at you. even if it was usual for him to do this, it still hurt you. you tried not to mull over it too much.

still ignoring you, lo'ak turned his back on you as he moved to exit. he was leaving again to battle without saying anything, while you were here, dying with concern over his safety. it pained you so much how it seemed like he didn't care about you every second of every day since you were mated. but you still loved him anyway. he was your mate, your husband, your second half.

before he could completely leave you, you took the chance to say, "i love you, lo'ak." something you never failed to tell him every day, just to remind him that you were here, that he had you to come back home to. "please, will you say it back just this once?" it took every bit of your strength to plead to him, you just wanted to hear him say it.

your words made him stop in his tracks. he turned his head to the side to spare you a glance, and you tried to fight his cold eyes. you saw how he clenched his jaw as if he was going to say something, but he sighed and turned away before he could. saying nothing else, he marched out of your kelku.

you felt your whole body relax as soon as he left, you didn't even notice how tense you were while he was here. still standing in the same spot, you looked around your kelku. some stuff were disordered from how much lo'ak moved them around while he was searching. when the air entered from the opening of your kelku and touched your skin, the heaviness of your heart became difficult to ignore, and you simply inhaled deeply to try to calm yourself down.

tears started welling in your eyes and your lips quivered. you were upset. so so upset at how cold and lonely you felt in your own home right now, so upset that you have to clean up all of these cluttered things as if you were once again fixing up the mess that was your union with lo'ak.

you tried to keep your sobs quiet as you knelt to pick up the things your husband didn't bother to put back properly. it was always like this with him. while he never yelled at you nor physically hurt you, lo'ak also was never affectionate to you. it was like he wasn't even your mate. it was like he was just living with you in the same home, sleeping in the same mat and hammock. it was like he never acknowledged you as a lover with how cold he was towards your advances.