Don't blame me - Neteyam

Chapter 4

Pandora forest 

Omatikaya high camp

Lei'la clung to Lo'ak's arm like a lost child as the three teenagers waddled into the Sully tent. Jake stormed in behind the kids, visibly tense, closing the flap of the tent and stopping any interruptions.

"Are you okay?" Lo'ak whispered in Lei'la's ear, but the girl only nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. Neteyam held his bleeding arm close to his chest, hiding it from his father. Lei'la was doing the same with her arm; large purple handprints covered her wrist.

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Jake boomed, pointing his finger between the three teenagers.

Lei'la and Neteyam quickly made eye contact, and the girl could see Neteyam was ready to take the blame as always.

"Sir, it was..."

"It was my fault," Lei'la interrupted, stepping forward, her arm detaching from Lo'ak's. Jake whipped around to the girl, motioning for her to step forward and muttering, a quiet get here.

Lo'ak tried to pull Lei'la back into his embrace, but the girl lifted her hand, letting him know it was okay.

"Lei'la" Jake breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose "Tell me what the hell is going on here". Lei'la almost flinched back from the harshness of the chief's voice; she hadn't been shouted out by him since she was six when she was jumping through the trees 'accidentally' pushing Spider out of the way.

"Neteyam was only trying to keep me in the lab, sir, and I overreacted." Her voice drifted off towards the end, her eyes casting downward towards the floor.

"Overreacted! Lei'la, you bit Neteyam; that will leave a scar!" Jake shouted, running a stressed hand through his hair. He thought his kids had finally grown out of this childish rivalry, but clearly, he was wrong.

Lei'la stayed quiet; her eyes quickly shot over to Neteyam, who was already watching her. Her arm tightened around her bruised wrist, which Jake didn't miss.

Jake sighed when he realised that his eldest had also injured the girl. "Lei'la, move your hand." Lei'la's eyes widened, looking up at the chief before shaking her head.

Jake stormed towards her, yanking her injured hand away and showing off her bruised wrist. A dark purple handprint covered the entirety of her wrist, deep enough to see every detail of Neteyam's print.

"You son of a bitch," Lo'ak seethed, moving towards Neteyam, but he was stopped by a light touch on his chest. Lo'ak looked down at the girl, her eyes sending him a pleading look.

"I'm okay; this is nothing." Lo'ak was still not convinced: "It's nothing".

Jake grabbed Neteyam's shoulder, putting him next to Lei'la. "What the hell am I supposed to do with you two? You are both eighteen years old." His eyes turned to Neteyams, who immediately shrank under his father's gaze. "You are to be the future Olo'eytkan, and you are running around like a child, injuring members of your family!"

Neteyam scoffed, shaking his head. "She is not my..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, son?" Jake threatened, his eyes now turning to Lei'la. "You do understand I will have to get your father involved in this?"

"Yes, sir," Lei'la mumbled, her nerves shooting all over her body at the mention of her father. She was never going to hear the end of this. Sweat began to form on her forehead at the thought of what her father would do to her once he found out she had another altercation with Neteyam and was shouted at by the chief. Neteyam noticed her change in demeanour as soon as her father was mentioned. Was she that scared of him knowing?

Jake let out a deep breath, staring at the three teenagers. "Both of you go get patched up and dismissed." Lei'la didn't waste another second before she shot out of the tent straight towards the forest, ignoring the order to get her arm looked at.

Neteyam walked out of his tent, moving towards the Tsahik tent, but not before the flash of blue caught his eye. He watched as Lei'la disappeared off the mountain onto her Ikran, heading for the forest. He knew they were banished from visiting the forest as the RDA was always experimenting down there, but watching her vanish into the green sent a shiver down his spine. What if she got hurt? or were killed? Neteyam shook those thoughts from his head. She wasn't his problem; if she wanted to get herself killed, that was her fault. So he watched her retreating figure until she was nothing but a dot in the sky.

Neteyam waddled to the Tsahik tent. He pushed back the flap, hoping to find comfort in his grandmother, but...

"Oh"

Nali's head shot up at the voice, her fingers stopping their work on the skirt she was sewing. When her eyes caught sight of the eldest Sully, they contorted into disgust before looking back down at her sewing.

"Where's my grandmother?" Neteyam asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Nali refused to look up at the boy. "She left to collect some herbs from the garden," she said with no emotion, earning a small growl from Neteyam.

Neteyam turned to leave, giving the girl a short thank-you even though she didn't do anything.

"Are you hurt?" Nali asked before Neteyam left the tent. Neteyam's ears flicked up at the question, his tail swaying from side to side.

"Um, sort of," he said sheepishly, hiding his bite behind his back. How could he tell Nali that her best friend had bitten him without her getting pissed at him? He knew that Nali didn't like him only due to the rivalry the teens had with each other.

"Let me see then." Nali placed her skirt to the side, collecting an array of pastes and herbs to treat his wound. Neteyam flopped down in front of the girl, still holding his arm away from her.

Nali huffed, "You're going to show me, or am I going to magically heal you?" She joked, holding out her hand to take his injured one.

Worry spread across Neteyam's face as he lowered his arm, handing it over to Nali, who gasped in shock. Never once has she treated a bite done by another Na'vi.

"Who did this?" she demanded while she cleaned the blood off his arm before slathering cream over the wound.

"Um, I... um," Neteyam stuttered over his words, which only confirmed to Nali who the perpetrator was.

"This is getting out of hand now; Lei'la doesn't hate you," Nali confesses, wrapping Neteyam's arm with a leaf and tying it with a piece of twine.

"Are we talking about the same Lei'la?" Neteyam joked, shaking his head. Lei'la not hating him was not on his bucket list.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sully; things change. Maybe you should talk to her about it," Nali suggested, patting his forearm.

Neteyam let out a small hum, leaning back on his arms. What would he even say to her? He could never get her alone to talk about this before she stormed off. A light bulb went off in Neteyam's head. He knew exactly how to get her alone without the threat of her running off.

If only Neteyam knew what he was getting himself into.

—————————————————————————

a/n

whoever wrote the aqa law paper 1 I literally love you so much. Anyway, I only have 5 more levels then im done!!! This book will be priority number 1 after the 12th of June when im finally free. So here's this chapter until I have some free time xx

- S