Skxawng • Neteyam

13

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After returning to High Camp safely, Neteyam's mother and father were the first to excuse themselves. He remained by Yeriyah's side the entire time. He'd been mortified to hear about his siblings and Yeriyah...when he'd saved her from almost being shot. Eywa, he'd never been so scared of missing. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he did.

He was just glad his family was okay, but they had more significant problems now. Neteyam knew that, and the far-off look in her eyes told him that Yeriyah knew it too. The avatars took no time pointing out their four fingers; they were searching for his father.

"That was some mighty fine shooting out there," Neteyam says after a while. The two had fallen into a comfortable silence, just happy to be in each other's presence. Her head rested on his shoulder as they cuddled together in the tent.

"I wasn't even thinking. I was just...shooting." She admits. "I saw the aliens hold on all of them, and I had been waiting for you all to show up before I did something, but I was so scared."

"Me too." He agrees and leans his head on her, closing his eyes. "I should have gone with you."

"You couldn't have known. Besides, you had to go scouting with your parents. You couldn't have even if you wanted to." Riyah says, and he hums in reply. The feeling vibrated on her cheek. From afar, she watched as Tuk and Kiri crouched before their tent, eavesdropping. "Look." She points, and Neteyam gets up quickly.

"Come on." He beckons. As they rush over, they arrive at the same time as Lo'ak. "What's going on?" Neteyam asks, but Kiri is quick to silence him. As they approached, he could hear his parents arguing from inside. He crouched down close enough to hear, Yeriyah going down beside him.

"He can walk right in here. He can walk right in under Eywa's nose!" Jake yells.

"This is our family. This is our home!" Neytiri replies.

"This is about our family! This is about our little ones!" Jake yells before sighing.

"I cannot. You cannot ask this. I cannot leave my people." Neytiri says as she cleans up the tent. A way for her hands to do something. "I will not."

"He's hunting us. He's targeting our family." Jake says calmly, trying to get it into her head, but Neytiri turns with anger in her eyes.

"You cannot ask this! The children! Everything they've ever known. The forest. This is our home!" She yells, and Neteyam's ears fold down at the tone his mother used. There was real pain in there.

"He had our children. He had 'em under his knife!" Jake grits out, and it falls silent in there. They'd almost all died today. It could have ended much worse than it had.

Neteyam listened as his mother picked up her bow, his grandfather's old bow. "My father gave me this bow as he lay dying. And he said protect the People. You're Toruk Makto!"

"This will protect the People! Quaritch has Spider, and that kid knows everything! He knows our whole operation." Jake says, and the group of them share a look. "He can lead them right in here. If the People harbour us, they will die." Yeriyah's ears flatten, and Neteyam puts a hand on the small of her back. "Do you understand?" Jake breathes. "Look, I got nothing. I got no plan...but I can protect this family; that I can do!"