Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖⋆˚✿˖°

"Mommy!" A voice yelled.

Ni'la turned her head to see her youngest daughter, Kai'ra, running towards her with tears streaming down her teal face. "What's wrong, pretty girl?" The mother asked. Kai'ra instantly leaped into her mother's arms as she cried into the crook of her neck. The little girl had been crying a lot here recently, and Ni'la wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't getting as much attention with her baby brother being born, or if it was something else. Thankfully, her youngest child was with Jake and Neytiri today, otherwise, it would have been hard for her to direct her full attention to her daughter.

"Kai'ra," Ni'la cooed, pulling her daughter's face out of her neck so that she could look her in the eyes. "What happened?" She asked, and the girl's lip started to quiver as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"T- The other kids," She paused as she tried to calm herself down. "They were making fun of my fingers, Mommy. They said I was an ugly freak," Kai'ra sobbed, causing Ni'la's heart to break.

Out of her and Ao'nung's three children, Kai'ra was the only one to have inherited her 'demon' traits, and both parents dreaded the day they would have to console their baby girl because some kids didn't understand that it was okay to be different. Their son, Kiyeri, looked exactly like his father, and their youngest son who'd just been born looked like a mix of the two. Kai'ra was the spitting image of her mother, except she had teal skin instead of dark blue.

"Look at me, Kai'ra," Ni'la said, placing her fingers under her daughter's chin to have her look up at her, "You are beautiful, okay? These extra fingers and toes make you unique. There isn't anything about you that's ugly, pretty girl."

"But what if they're telling the truth?" She whispered, and Ni'la had to blink the tears away as she leaned up to kiss her daughter's forehead.

"I was bullied about my looks too, Kai'ra, but your Dad helped me to understand that I'm also beautiful, and I'm going to do everything I can to help you understand that you're amazing the way you are," The mother said softly.

"You're not ugly, Mommy! Daddy says your the most beautiful woman he's ever seen!" Kai'ra said, almost in a scolding tone.

"And what does he tell you?"

"That I'm the prettiest little girl around, and all the other kids are jealous," Kai'ra mumbled, causing Ni'la to smile.

"He's right," Ni'la kissed her daughter's cheek.

"But-" Ni'la cut her daughter off to give her a stern look, "Do I need to get your Dad? I'll get Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Lo'ak, Neteyam, and Aunt Kiri and Tuk here too," She said.

Kai'ra's eyes widened as she shook her head. Anytime her family heard someone was making fun of her, they showered her with kisses and Kai'ra felt that she was too old to be treated like a baby unless it was her mother who was doing so. She was mommy's little girl, through and through. Plus, her uncles and Grandpa were extremely overprotective of her, and they made a little boy cry when they saw him making fun of her. Not to mention what her Dad did once he found out.

That little boy still hasn't so much as glanced her way.

"No, that's okay, Mommy," Kai'ra said softly.

"Okay, why don't we get you back to your lessons?" Ni'la stood up and grabbed her daughter's hand as she took her back to her lessons. When the teacher saw the Olo'eyktan's daughter and mate, she instantly stopped the lessons to come up to Ni'la. "Kai'ra, I've been looking for you everywhere," The teacher scolded, and the girl flushed in embarrassment before her mother told her to go stand with the other kids.

The teacher then turned towards Ni'la, "Keep an eye on her, I don't want the other kids thinking it's okay to pick on her because she looks different," She said, and the teacher nodded. Ni'la turned around to go back to her duties before she heard a voice calling her name. She turned around to see Lo'ak running towards her. "Hey, sis," He said, stopping once he stood beside his sister.