Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 02: Night Skies

He always did hate being the center of attention, which was ironic considering that he was going to be the next Olo'eyktan.

"Go, get patched up. Go on, go." Jake said, allowing his oldest son to get his wound looked at. As Neteyam and Neytiri passed the tent that Ja'lia had been hiding behind, Neytiri glanced over at her as if she knew she had been there this entire time.

Neytiri gave her a look that told her that she needed to stay to listen to what Jake was going to say.

Ja'lia gave her a nod, and Neteyam and Neytiri continued to walk to Mo'at's tent before the teen girl redirected her attention back to her friend, and the man who had taken over the role of her father when she needed him too.

"You do realize you almost got your brother killed?" Jake asked, and Ja'lia scoffed at the father's words.

Leave it to Jake to blame Lo'ak for Neteyam getting injured.

"Yes, sir," Lo'ak nodded.

"You're grounded. No flying for a month, and certainly no late-night adventures with Ja'lia either." Jake informed, and Ja'lia's jaw dropped.

She didn't do anything, so why was she being punished? Sure, she had disobeyed him when he first told her to leave with Kiri and Tuk, but Jake knew that sometimes Ja'lia needed to get away, and he had always encouraged it. Why was he taking it away that away from her?

"But Dad-" Lo'ak interjected, only to be shut down by Jake. "No buts, Lo'ak. Now go see to the ikran, all of them, and get that crap off your face." Jake demanded, and Lo'ak let out a low 'Yes, sir' before Ja'lia heard two pounding footsteps, telling her that he was headed towards her direction.

She quickly ran to the other side of the tent to take cover, and let out a sigh of relief when Jake passed by without even glancing at the spot where she had been moments prior.

The girl quickly came out of her hiding spot, and she headed toward the direction where she saw Lo'ak walking. As she continued to walk, she saw Lo'ak's back, and she knew that he was going to be wiping the paint off of his face. When he squatted down in front of the bowl full of water, Ja'lia took it as her opportunity to rush over.

"Here, let me help you," Ja'lia said as she pulled the wash rag out of his hand and turned his face towards her.

Lo'ak was upset, "Why am I never good enough?" He whispered, and Ja'lia slowly wiped the paint off of his forehead.

"Lo'ak, tell me what happened," Ja'lia said softly, and Lo'ak saw the concentration on her face as she continued to clean his face. "They had just blown the train up, and I wanted to go see it up close, so I did, and Neteyam followed after me like he always does," Lo'ak started.

"Everything was going fine, until enemy aircraft came and shot a missile at us," Lo'ak said, and Ja'lia slightly tensed. "Both of us went flying into the air. I didn't mean for Neteyam to get hurt. I just went down to the ground without thinking it through." He whispered, and Ja'lia started to clean the paint off his upper lip.

"It's not your fault," She murmured in concentration.

"Dad thinks it is," Lo'ak grumbled.

"Your Dad has a funny way of showing that he cares for you," Ja'lia retorted, and Lo'ak scoffed at her words.

"He doesn't care for me," He said, and Ja'lia stopped cleaning his face to look him in the eye, "Jake does care for you. He doesn't want to see you get hurt, and he doesn't know how to express his love for you in the right way," She reasoned.

"He sure knows how to show Kiri, Tuk, and Neteyam his love," He sighed.

Ja'lia saw the hurt look on his face, and she understood. Lo'ak just wanted to be loved unconditionally by his parents, but after the Sky People came back, Jake barely showed any love to his kids, and Jake wasn't affectionate with Lo'ak in the first place.