Rivals || Lo'ak Sully

Chapter 22: "Missing" 💫

(POV: Ma'i)

"Have you seen Lo'ak?" Neteyam rushed into the dining place with furrowed eyebrows and wavering eyes, looking a little bit uneasy.

Ma'i raised her eyebrow.

"No." She put the food in her mouth and after fully swallowing it she noticed that Neteyam looks more worried than relieved. "He's probably somewhere training or whatever." Ma'i rolled her eyes a little bit, imagining Lo'ak fixing his weapons or practicing his skills. She had seen it too many times before for that view to not pop up in her mind.

"I've looked all around and he's nowhere to be seen." Neteyam took a seat next to Ma'i and Txarey'kan as it made the girl move a little bit closer to her long-time-no-see friend.

Her body flushed with hot blood as she touched his skin. Goosebumps erupted in her whole chest and arms as her tail waved a little bit. It was worse when Txarey'kan didn't even flinch nor move to give Ma'i space.

Like he wanted her close.

But Ma'i had to abruptly leave her thoughts and unexplainable body language when her eyes settled on Neteyam again.

Not the right time when Neteyam is obviously worried about Lo'ak.

"Maybe he went out to rest somewhere." Txarey'kan suggested and shrugged giving a calm impression. "You know how he likes to sometimes be with his thoughts." The boy looked down at the table as he stabbed the food and wiggled it around the corner of his plate.

"I know." Neteyam paused a little bit. "But I don't have a right feeling about this."

Ma'i saw how worried he was and she had to admit to herself that even her body started to give signs of distress.

She looked between the two boys.

"Maybe we can look for him after we finish eating. I don't think there's anything crucial we have to worry about and no meeting is scheduled." Not that it would matter when Lo'ak is way more important. Well, anyone would be. Not just necessarily Lo'ak.

"Yeah, I also thought that." Neteyam nodded his head and looked at Txarey'kan like waiting for an approval of participation in Lo'ak's searching process.

"Yeah, I'm in." Txarey'kan tilted his head slightly. "But I'm sure Lo'ak will turn up any second. He rarely misses food."

"Yeah." Ma'i also tried to smile. "You shouldn't worry about it too much. Plus, he's way too old to be bossed around by you." The girl laughed after a joke and Neteyam snickered.

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe my older brother instincts are just tingling." He smiled.

But it wasn't just Neteyam's instincts that were tingling. Ma'i felt like something is definitely not right. All this situation seemed off and she just hoped that her gut feeling is playing with her mind.

"I've heard that they have to announce some important decisions today." Txarey'kan changed the topic as he saw some people gathering near the round table.

"Yeah." Neteyam nodded. "My dad is planning some sort of defense plan. There were a few reports and rumors that sky people are trying to occupy our land turning it into a fabric for their scientific experiments."

Ma'i bit her lip.

"Not this again." Everyone was truly tired from all this fighting that was going on between sky people and Na'vi. "I know your dad was a sky person but they really piss me off with everything. How can one be so greedy?"

Txarey'kan stopped eating to listen to Ma'i's raging. His eyes followed her lips and facial expression as he understood how worried she actually is for Na'vi people.

"They're humans." Txarey'kan shrugged. "That's what they do."

The girl sighed and put her elbows on the table with her chin on her hands facing Txarey'kan.

Suddenly he extended his hand and slowly brushed his warm thumb on her cheek near her mouth.

Ma'i stilled, frozen in place and time as she looked deep into his eyes, not leaving them for a second. The butterflies became rhinos in her stomach and her whole face burned up until she was sure it looked like a boiled tomato.

She was about to explode and say something but the words stuck in her throat.

"Wha-"

"You had some crumbles on your face."Txarey'kan looked down at his plate again, continuing to eat like nothing happened and he  hadn't just created a whole volcanic eruption inside Ma'i's mind and body.

"Oh." She flushed even more - this time from embarrassment. "Thanks."

Txarey'kan looked up and softly smiled at her then continued devouring his plate.

Ma'i could feel her heart pounding in her ears not just chest and she suddenly became afraid that it's going to rip away from her body and walk to her hut to hide from everything that just happened.

But she had to push those thoughts aside knowing there was an important task ahead - finding her missing rival.