Skxawng • Neteyam

8

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"Yeriyah?" It was Jake who found her first the following day. She'd been debating for hours what she was going to do today. How would she defend the nasty bruises on her cheek and ribs where he'd kicked it? She'd thought about hiding until they healed, but Neteyam would surely know by then.

She spun on her heel and jumped a little. Zaeyli snarled from behind her at Jake. They'd stayed together the entire night. Yeriyah wanted to make sure her cut didn't get any worse. "Jake! Hi, what are you doing here?" She questions.

"I was out on morning scout and saw you all the way out here." One of his eyebrows raises, and he steps closer. His eyes widen upon seeing the cut and purple bruise on her cheek. "Eywa, what happened to you?" He asked.

"We were flying at dark, and a branch caught my eye." She lied right through her teeth. The Olo'eyktan eyed her and then found her ikran behind her.

"Want to explain what happened to your ikran then?" He gestured and saw the mark on its shoulder. She looked away and winced; she'd still been coming up with an excuse for that. Their skin was much harder to penetrate.

"She came to me this way." Many ikran fights, and perhaps her strong-hearted ikran got into a match with one of the larger ones. Yeriyah would be surprised if she'd done that before.

Jake stepped closer, and she was able to observe his rider's mask. The details and bones were magnificent and made him seem incredibly intimidating. Yeriyah's resembled more like Neytiri's in the way that it went further down her nose. "When did it happen?"

"Last night."

"You should come to get it cleaned. It looks bad." He tells her honestly. Jake liked Yeriyah and had always been excited to watch her and Neteyam be competitive. She appreciated the way she pushed his son to be better and noticed her as an exceptional warrior of her own. Jake knew she tended to stick to herself, and because of that, he'd always kept a little extra eye on her.

"It's fine." She tells him. "I cleaned it last night like when I cleaned Zaeyli's injury." Yeriyah spun to grab her bow to reattach around her body. This action revealed the giant bruise on her side. Jake hissed and grabbed her arm softly, truly getting her attention.

"I don't suppose a tree did that to you." He pointed to her side, and her ears dropped immediately. Jake laughs, but there is no humour in it. Fear coursed through her body at the sound. "Tell me what really happened, Yeiryah."

"Please, Jake. Nothing happened." She felt awful lying to her Olo'eyktan, but he was friends with her father. The clan loved her father. What would happen when she told someone he hit her? The People would turn on him, and they'd lose a great warrior to defend them. They didn't need this loss of strength.

"Don't lie to me, girl." Jake raises his voice. The one difference between Jake and her father was that Jake's grip on her never hurt. It was firm and felt more like a way of grounding her than punishing her.

The sound that left her broke his heart. She looked down for a moment, and when he saw her face again, tears slipped down her cheek. Jake dropped the bow he held in the other hand and grabbed her other arm, centring her to him. "You can't say anything." Her voice was merely a whisper.

"Just tell me what happened," Jake says softly as he leans down to eye level. She'd never seen a side like this to him before. He'd imagine Kiri and Tuk getting this same treatment from him.