Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 06: New Beginnings

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language 

Ja'lia let out a frustrated groan as she and the Sully family had been traveling on a seemingly endless flight. They had traveled through forests, over mountains, and through a raging storm. However, Ja'lia still had no idea if they were even remotely close to their destination.

The girl desperately wanted to go to sleep, but she knew she couldn't, so she watched the sea creatures interact with each other as they continued to fly over the water. All the sea animals were completely different from the ones found in the forest, at least from what she could tell.

She wanted to fly down to get a closer look, but she knew they didn't have the time to stop, so she did her best to satisfy her curiosity by watching the creatures move through the crystal-clear water.

"Are we almost there?" A voice asked, pulling Ja'lia away from her thoughts. Ja'lia looked over to see Tuk clinging to her mother, and the teen girl sort of felt jealous. Out of everyone, Tuk was the only one who could fall asleep because she wasn't flying.

"I don't know, baby," Neytiri whispered.

Everyone hoped they were nearing their destination, as they didn't know how much more flying they could take. Don't get them wrong. They loved to fly, but when they'd been doing it nonstop for days, it started to become a little grueling.

Especially when they were doing it with little to no sleep.

All of them missed their beds, and Ja'lia knew that when they finally arrived at their new home, she could probably sleep for days.

She released a big yawn and felt her eyes droop, "You okay, Lia?" Lo'ak asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just tired," Ja'lia responded as she fought to keep her eyelids open.

"We're almost there," Jake informed, and everyone's ears perked up at his words.

Soon, they were flying over rock terraces, and Ja'lia could see the people down below pointing at them in curiosity. This was most likely their first time seeing forest people. So, it was understandable. As the group drew closer to the village, a horn rang through the girl's ears as someone was warning the rest of the clan that they had visitors.

Jake directed his ikran to circle back away from the sea people's housing as he looked for a piece of land he and his family could land on.

Once he found a suitable spot, Jake was the first one to land as the rest of his family followed his lead. Ja'lia landed at the same time as Lo'ak, and she waited to jump off of her ikran until someone else made the first move.

Jake was the first one to jump off his ikran, then Neytiri, then their children, and Ja'lia. Ja'lia saw that Neytiri went to grab her bow before Jake told her to leave it.

At this point, the group of Omatikaya people was surrounded by heaps of Metkayina people; and it made Ja'lia nervous. The girl walked over to Lo'ak and stood by his side as the Metkayina people continued to stare and whisper.

However, Jake ignored the whispers as he continued to walk forward with his arms held out, causing Neteyam to do the same to display that they weren't a threat. "Be nice," Jake whispered, and Ja'lia did her best to ignore the snide remarks that were being made about her and the Sully family.

Time continued to pass, and as more time went on, more and more villagers showed up to see what all the fuss was about.

Suddenly, two boys pushed through the crowd and gave the newcomers a look over, assessing them. Ja'lia immediately greeted the boys, and Lo'ak and Neteyam followed her lead. The girl gaped at them when they didn't return any of their greetings, and she was tempted to say something but knew to keep her mouth shut.