Mighty Jewel | LO'AK + NETEYAM

chapter eighteen

It had been a few days since Evelyn's ship had crashed onto the beach. Since Neteyam had grudgingly turned down Kyalayi, pushed her away. Tonowari had prohibited Evelyn from wandering around the village thinking it would be best for his people. Marrek stayed most of his time with her in the family's hut and they talked all day, every day. Kyalayi took Neteyam's advice and enjoyed learning more about her mother. Her father had been right, she was a beautiful soul. While Marrek was cooking dinner by the fire, he watched his mate braid the hair of his daughter, a proud smile plastered on his face. It was a picture he never thought would be possible for him to witness. Marrek didn't care about the reasons of why Evelyn had finally come back, he only relished the fact that she was here, getting close to her fifteen year old daughter. The healer put the cooked fish on a big leaf and placed it into the middle as they sat for their usual family supper since Evelyn had arrived in the Metkayina clan. Kyalayi timidly teared up a piece of the fish and proposed it to her mother.

"Thank you, Kya." Evelyn smiled as she grabbed the food and chewed on it. Kyalayi wiped the grease on her fingers and gloves on her thighs as she returned her attention to supper. Evelyn couldn't help her eyes from dropping to the leather bands that wrapped her child's hands. When she had asked Marrek about it, he had drifted her question by groaning and walking away and since then, it was the only thing she could think about. Why did Kyalayi had to constantly wore these gloves? Once again, her gaze flickered to Marrek, the woman's eyebrows scrunched together as she looked for an honest answer in his eyes. Marrek shook his head, warning her to not bring up the topic to their daughter but Evelyn ignored the man.

"Baby," She addressed her child, sitting closer to her and taking her forearms in her hands. Kyalayi stared at her mother, her eyebrows furrowed due to her mother's voice crack. "Why do you wear this?"

Kyalayi glanced at her father's direction, searching for his approbation for what she was about to do. Marrek closed his eyes as he inhaled a big, heavy and guilty breath before giving his daughter a single nod as he understood that Evelyn wouldn't stop until she had her answers. The young girl proceeded to slowly unwrapped her hands, freeing them from the leather bands. It was an unfamiliar gesture she wasn't used to do. Evelyn gasped and choked on a sob as her daughter let her gloves fall down on the ground, revealing the healed scars beneath it. She was horrified to see the missing fingers from her child's hands.

"Who did this to you?" Evelyn whispered, her hands shaking as she gently touched her scars. Marrek turned his head away, the father couldn't bare seeing her wounds.

"Dad said I was born with it." Kyalayi shrugged, causing Evelyn to quickly turned her head to face Marrek. She stared at his mate in complete disbelief. The last time she had seen her child, she had all of her fingers which only meant that something had happened after she had free them. Evelyn knew that Marrek had lied to Kyalayi so she pushed for the answers.

"Marrek." Evelyn paused, trying to stop the tears from obstructing her vision. "What did you do?" Her voice broke as she insinuated the worst from her mate. Kyalayi glanced back and forth in between her mother and father, trying to understand what her mother had meant. But it was when she noticed her father silently sobbing that everything clicked in her head. The young girl sucked in a breath in between her teeth, choking on a sob that kept her from breathing. Tears slowly warming all of their cheeks as Marrek continually shook his head, trying to push the hatred he had for himself.

"I did what I had to do in order to protect her. Protect our daughter." Marrek silently inhaled, his chest inflating as he rose his chin up to show that he had no regret. Remorse, maybe... but at the time, Marrek was desperate. He knew that the Sky People wouldn't stop looking for them and as he travelled to find a new home, many clans were hissing them away as they saw the five fingered child. So to keep his daughter safe, to give her a new home, Marrek did the most horrible thing a father could do. "Kya. I need you to understand-"

"Understand?" She finally spat, the rage overcoming the sadness in her. The girl was tired of the dishonesty from her father whom she stared into his eyes. Eyes that felt like they belonged to a stranger. She was now realizing how everything she believed her father was, was an absolute lie. "How can I understand what you did when you're the reason I feel disgusted of my own body. You're the reason of why everyone made fun of me since I was a child. You've poisoned me, you've made me different." Kyalayi was now standing as she watched her father and mother cry, her words whipping them in the face like a wave during a storm. She glared at her parents as she felt nothing for them. This was no family. The only thing warm in this hut was the fire's flames strongly burning, maybe almost as much as the rage inside of Kyalayi's body. "I will hate you. I will hate both of you forever."

As she left her hut, complaint shouts from Marrek and Evelyn echoed in her ears but didn't stopped her. She walked around, looking for the warm she desperately needed which she knew the sand wouldn't be enough to fulfilled it. Not tonight, at least. So, the ocean girl headed toward the first thing that popped in her mind.

"Kya!" The Sully's youngest excitedly shouted as she ran into the teenager's arms who Kyalayi immediately picked up. Her sudden entrance interrupting their family dinner as every member of the Sully's redirected their attention to the girl. Neteyam quickly got up on his feet, worried of the reasons she had came but his brother was faster on speaking what everyone was staring at.

"Kya, your gloves." Lo'ak softly exclaimed, referencing to her bare hands as he approached the girl. The teenage girl dropped Tuk onto the ground as the youngest examined her friend's hands.

"What happened? Did somebody hurt you?" Tuk asked Kyalayi as she crouched to her level and forced herself to grin at her, trying to lighten the situation. She didn't want to scare the poor child, take her innocence away like her father had done. Jake and Neytiri glared at each other as they ached for the young Metkayina girl. Neytiri rose her eyebrows at her mate, indicating him of her intentions as she walked behind Tuk. Kiri also joined her mother and youngest sister as she felt somehow connected to the girl, their lives more similar than they both could think.

"Yes, Tuk. Someone did hurt me but it was a long time ago." Kyalayi softly answered as Neytiri moved Tuk behind her and kneeled in front of the white haired girl. Neytiri easily spotted the despair in Kyalayi's eyes and her motherly instinct took over as she rested her forehead on the girl's, causing the teenage girl to finally find the warm she had been looking for, alongside the Sully's.