Lo'ak?" You asked a bit shocked, not fully processing what your parents said. You didn't know how you felt about this. You had never seen Lo'ak as more than a good friend, let alone being your future mate. "Yes, Lo'ak. You're always with the Sully kids, you must know who he is." Your father said, crossing his arms. "Of course, I know who he is. I-I guess I didn't expect it to be him." You looked down, feeling slightly uneasy. As if it wasn't bad enough already that you felt uncomfortable around Neteyam. Your relationship with Lo'ak would now change too. "It's has been decided some time ago. Toruk Makto asked us to wait to announce it until they announced Neteyam's arrangement." You nodded at your mother's words, understanding your parents couldn't tell you earlier.
Neteyam had been silent since hearing Jake tell them Lo'ak and you would be arranged. Neteyam knew you were an only child and that your parents would arrange you. Deep inside him, he wished you could be his arranged mate instead of his brother's. You would be so close to him, yet so far out of reach. He hadn't noticed he zoned out until Kiri and Tuk left, meaning it was time for him to leave too. You would be coming over any second now with your family. But instead of leaving, he found himself sitting down next to his brother. "Neteyam leave! This has nothing to do with you." Jake said sternly while looking Neteyam in the eyes. Neteyam was fighting with himself. He wanted to obey his father, but he couldn't just do nothing. He opened his mouth but closed it again before saying a word.
"Neteyam..." Neytiri said gently before being interrupted by you and your family arriving. Your parents were the first to walk in with you behind them slightly looking down. Neteyam searches for your eyes, hoping to make eye contact. He wanted you to notice him. Your family and you sat down across the Sully's after getting a quick welcome. "I'm not going to ask you again." Jake said, grabbing Neteyam's attention. This got your attention as you looked from Jake to Neteyam. Before he could argue or do anything of the sorts, your mother spoke. "He can stay, he is the future olo'eyktan after all." Neytiri looked at Jake, giving him a nod, signaling she agreed with your mother. Neteyam looked back at you, trying to find any hint in your eyes before you looked away.
You look at Lo'ak to try and figure out how he felt. Lo'ak was already looking at you doing the same. He gave you a small reassuring smile. Maybe there won't be a lot of changes between the two of you. It made you feel better, relieved even. Neteyam saw what was happening as he looked between the pair. He had never thought of you two as more than friends. He couldn't imagine it actually.
You could feel Neteyam eyes burning holes in your skin. Both your parents did most, if not all of the talking, making sure everything was settled like they wanted. "We want the both of you to get to know each other better, without the rest of the kids around." Your father stated, you nodded. "Without you too, Neteyam. " Jake said glaring at Neteyam. "I won't interfere, sir." He answered.
Not long after, you found yourself standing outside with Neteyam and Lo'ak by your side. You felt an uneasy tension hanging around. "I better let you two alone.." Neteyam said before turning around and walking off. Lo'ak turns to you with a small smile, trying to make you more comfortable. You give a gentle smile back, which makes him smile more. "Let's go." He said as he grabbed your hand before dragging you along with him. Neteyam had turned back around as he realized he didn't know where he was going. He watched Lo'ak grab your hand and walk off, making him clench his jaws.
Lo'ak had brought you to your ikran. He connected to his ikran, making you do the same. You follow Lo'ak as he flew off before flying next to him. "Where are we going?" You asked as Lo'ak lifted his shoulders. "No where in particular. I thought we could show each other what we liked." He said before diving toward the ground. You smile before going after him. You could see that Lo'ak was good at flying as he dogde al the trees as he flew close to the ground. And man was he fast, but you're fast too. You start laughing as you almost overtook him. Right as a huge floating rock came in view, he flew almost straight up, barely missing it. You quickly swerve to the side to not fly straight into the floating rock.
You slowly fly up to where Lo'ak is waiting for you. "I see you like flying and the thrill of it." You chuckled as you fly next to him. "Yeah, I like to make it a little interesting, don't I?" He starts laughing as we slowly made or way back home. You look in front of you, noticing it's getting late. Lo'ak looks over to you before you two slowly descend and land. "So what is something you like a lot?" He questioned getting of his ikran. "I like looking over the forest. It's just so beautiful." You said daydreaming about the view you last saw with Neteyam. You silenty wished you were there again, before all of this and with the perfect view. "I haven't seen it around eclipse though. " You stated as you looked up into the sky.
Lo'ak nodded as he grabbed your hand. He started walking in the opposite direction than the clan was. You held your ground, knowing you couldn't be late. Lo'ak turned to you confused as you let go of his hand. "The clan is this way." You stated as you crossed your arms. He rolled his eyes, Lo'ak knew which way the clan was. "I'm not taking you back yet." He said, trying to pull you along, making you uncross your arms. "Well, I won't go with you if I don't know where we are going. And I can't be late or my father will ground me." You continue while turning around as you started walking home."I'm taking you someplace you will like very much. I am sure they won't ground you if you tell them you were with me." He said as he jumped in front of you. "I promise you, it will be worth it!" He looked at you with pleading eyes. You sigh, he was right and you knew it. "Okay, show me."
He quickly grabbed your hand as he stared running. Lo'ak knew that if you didn't hurry up, you would miss it. You noticed a huge tree not far away. Lo'ak let go of your hand and started climbing up the tree. You quickly followed him up. Lo'ak helped you up upon the last branch. You looked around and the view was even more breathtaking than last time with Neteyam. You sat down somewhere on the outerside of the big branch you two stood on. Lo'ak sat next to you. "How did you find this place?" You questioned in amazement. "Spider tried to race me up here. He never made it fully up here though." He laughed, thinking back about Spider being exhausted afterward. Slowly, the eclipse took place, covering the entire forest in darkness. You could see all the glowing plants from up here. Like you said before, it was nothing but breathtaking.
