Freak || Aonung

Fifteen

"Zo'ile!" Neytiri yells as her daughter finally shows up.

The sun is rising slowly along the horizon. Zo hasn't been home all night with zero word to anyone.

Neytiri runs out of their home and to her daughter. She grabs Zos arm and instantly begins to pull Zo back into their marui.

Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk won't be asleep fore much longer, Neytiri is furious. Neteyam already sits on his hammock, weaving a piece of clothing for Tuk. Zo is embarrassed as soon as Neytiri starts to yell again. Neteyam shouldn't hear this.

"Oh great mother!" Neytiri yells. Her face is angry, Zo has rarely seen her mother like this. "Where were you?!"

"I was out learning to breathing and fell asleep im-"

Neytiri holds her hand out in front of her daughter, stopping her. "I was willing for a little leniency, and you made it so I cannot trust you as much Zo."

"Mother, in the forest-" Zo tries to plead. At home, Zo was able to stay out all night most times. It was way different.

"We are not in the forest!" Zo looks to her father who sits watching Neytiri scold Zo.

Each of her siblings sit up from her mothers loud voice and look to each other confused. They watch the scene as it plays out.

Normally Jake is the one that disciplines them like this and to this level. Neytiri just gives them attitude and enforces their grounding.

Zo's eyes try to get her father's attention but he just shakes his head with his eyebrows raised, showing that he can't do anything.

"Zo'ile, you were with that boy. You can't be alone together."

"Mom what?" Zo asks, her face finally falling. Lo'ak gets to be alone with Tsireya all the time. No one is blind, they all can see their connection.

"I don't trust him. The way he looks at you, and just," She breaths out, closing her eyes and shaking out her hands. The thought of her daughter with someone makes her cringe.

The teenage girl, almost in tears looks down at the ground of the marui. Everyones eyes are on the pair. Everyone knows what Neytiri means. Her obvious secret crush has been announced for them all.

It's a shame for Zo, she feels terrible for everything she's done. It makes a piece of her lose what she wants from Aonung for a moment.

In the back of her mind, it's like she knew that after Aonung and her would admit to each other, everything would turn to shit. It always does. "Zo you will not be leaving home without your siblings. You are going to stay home when they are not with you. This will not happen again."

Zo nods, looking back up to her mom. She wants to argue, but doesn't. She would just dig a deeper grave if she did. She learned this from the many time Lo'ak and her have argued.

"Help me with the nets." Jake says from behind Neytiri. Neytiri watches the girl, sighing, as she follows her father out of the marui and to the side of their home.

Zo's siblings all watch. Tuk confused and sad for her sister, Kiri understanding the whole situation, and Lo'ak also sad for his sister. He's gotten that exact scolding on a number of times. No one should deal with that.

__

Jake and Zo sit out on the walkway, pulling up the nets that Tsireya and Aonung helped the kids make for food.

Neither of them say anything. Jake has so much to say, but no idea how to say it. Zo is just sitting in her own sadness and disappointment, occasionally thinking of the perfect night that she shared with Aonung.

Jake takes a deep breath and finally says something. "You were out with Aonung right?"

Zo pauses and looks to her father who continues to look at the net. "Mhm." She hums.

Jake nods and doesn't say anything else. "He was teaching me to breath." Zo says in a monotone voice, trying to explain it further.

"Im sure he was," Jake whispers through a sigh. Zo looks up at him with furrowed brows.

"Dad." She says, disapointed.

"Sorry." He smiles at her.

The silence settles in again and Zo pauses, setting the net beside her.

"Dad I feel so bad," Zo looks up from the clear water below and to another Metkayina man as he leaves their marui. Everyone who doesnt do morning chores is beginning to wake up. "I never meant for this to happen. I wouldn't have gone. There's already so much going on with Lo'ak, and Kiri."

"Zo'ile, they are not your problem right now," It feels like they are to Zo. They always have been because their family sticks together. It's what her parents always says. "You know, don't tell your mom, but I'm glad you went."

Zo looks up to her father beside her and gives him a small smile. His grows as well, almost mischevious.

"What?" She asks, amused and surprised. Zo thought her dad was just as disapointed as her mother.

He laughs faintly, and thinks back to when he was young with Neytiri. "When your mother and I were first meeting-"

"Dad I've heard your guys story too many times."

"Im telling a story not our story. This one is secret."

"Okay." Zo waits to hear it. There's no way she hasn't heard it before.

"I was always getting your mother in trouble. We were always out doing things we weren't supposed to and just being dumb." Zo listens to Jake a his voice gets warm from the memories. She loves to hear him like this. "Your mom was going to mate with someone else-"

"What?!" Zo grabs her dad's arm, shocked. No one knew this.

Jake laughs at her and explains more. "And the two of us snuck out during an important night with the Omaticaya. It was a music festival. When we got home, she was in so much trouble," Zo laughs at her father. She can't imagine them skipping something like that.

"Hey I didn't get to see your mom for a week don't laugh it sucked. I thought grandma was going to kill me for keeping her out." Jake jokes. "I was with the guy she was supposed to mate with for that entire week and he was a," Jake leans closer to Zos ear and whispers, "a dick."

"Jake!" Neytiris voice comes from behind the two of them. She stands in the doorway with a slight smile on her face.

The two of them turn around quickly and face her. They both begin to laugh and Neytiri rolls her eyes.