Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟟⋆˚✿˖°

"Kiri had a seizure," Jake explained, and Ni'la looked at her Dad with furrowed eyebrows.

"A seizure?" She questioned, and Jake nodded in confirmation.

"It happened a little bit after she connected to the Spirit tree," Neytiri said softly, and the girl looked at her mom, confused.

Why would Kiri have a seizure because she connected to the Spirit tree? She'd done it a million times back home, so why now? It didn't make any sense to the girl, but she was pulled away from her thoughts when Neytiri grabbed her hand. "Do you remember anything that happened before you fainted?" The mother asked.

"Ao'nung was walking me back here, and then I felt this stabbing pain in the back of my head," Ni'la said slowly as she tried to recollect the memories of what happened before she lost consciousness. "The pain continued to get worse until white spots clouded my vision," She paused, remembering what she had told Ao'nung. "And I don't know why, but I knew Kiri had something to do with the pain."

Jake and Neytiri looked at each other before looking back at their daughter. "Is that everything that happened? You didn't see anything after you passed out?" Jake asked, and Ni'la shook her head while she played with the fingers on her right hand.

"Okay, well, why don't you get some rest? Norm will be here tomorrow, and he's going to check up on you and Kiri," Neytiri informed, and Ni'la nodded her head before Ao'nung popped into her mind.

"Did Ao'nung bring me here?" The girl asked.

"No, Neteyam carried you here, but he didn't leave until his mother and sister left," Jake said distastefully, and Ni'la hummed in response.

"He was worried for you. He told the villagers to go find his mother before your father and I got there," Neytiri said as she watched to see how Ni'la would react.

"I'll thank him the next time I see him," Ni'la said, looking down at her hands, only to look up when her father scoffed. Of course, Jake tried to disguise it as a cough, but he wasn't fooling his mate or his daughter, and he sighed. "Why should you thank him? He was doing what any decent person would do."

Neytiri stood on her feet and slapped Jake's chest, "Need I remind you that our daughter and the Chief's son don't exactly get along," She hissed, and Jake rolled his eyes.

"Good, let's keep it that way," He said, glancing down at his daughter. Ni'la felt her cheeks hit up in embarrassment as she knew what her Dad was hinting at. The girl knew that her father wasn't fond of the idea of any of his daughters dating, and now that a boy seemed to focus most of his attention on Ni'la, though it seemed to mostly be negative, he couldn't help but feel protective over her.

Mostly because he knew that there was a fine line between love and hate, and he didn't want any of his daughters to fall in love anytime soon. Jake knew how teenage boys thought. He didn't trust them. He didn't like them. And he certainly didn't want them anywhere near Kiri, Ni'la, or even Tuk.

This is why he was so grateful to have two sons to help protect their siblings, and Jake knew that Neteyam and Lo'ak would take that responsibility seriously.

"Dad, Ao'nung wants to try and be my friend," Ni'la stated, and Jake crossed his arms over his chest.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" Ni'la questioned.

"I don't want you and Ao'nung to be friends," Jake affirmed.

"Listen, I don't like him all that much, but because this is our new home I'm going to try, okay?" She said, raising an eyebrow, but her answer didn't seem to satisfy Jake, so the girl looked to her mom for help.