Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 13: Healing Wounds

Then the second time she saw one, she wished that Lo'ak would reciprocate her feelings.

To anyone else, it might seem childish, but to her, it gave her hope that maybe one-day Eywa would bring them together as more than friends. And when someone felt like they'd lost everything, hope was a beautiful thing to have. It also didn't help that she overheard Lo'ak talking to Neteyam in their family's tent.

The boy was seriously concerned for his best friend; Lo'ak desperately wanted her back. He felt hopeless, and he told his brother that he would do anything to at least see her smile or hear her voice.

After Ja'lia heard Lo'ak's concerns, and how distraught he sounded when speaking to Neteyam, a switch flipped inside of her. Yes, she was still upset about her parents, but she was hurting one of the only people she had left, and she didn't want to push him away permanently.

So, she pushed down her own feelings to try and make her friend feel better.

As Ja'lia pulled away from her thoughts, she looked over to Lo'ak, who was staring blankly at the wall at the opposite end of the cave.

"Lo'ak?" She murmured.

"Hmm?" He responded.

"Did you want to go to the pod or stay here?" Ja'lia asked.

She thought he would want to stay as far away from his Dad as possible, but his answer shocked her. "Let's go back to the pod," Lo'ak whispered before slowly getting onto his feet.

"Are you sure? I'm fine with staying here," Ja'lia offered, and he shook his head. "I'm already in enough trouble as it is. I don't want to make my Dad even more mad," He said, staring down at his feet.

Ja'lia placed her hands on the back of the rock wall and forced herself up off the ground so that she could look Lo'ak in the eye. "I'll be right there with you, okay?" She said.

"I know," Lo'ak confirmed, and Ja'lia laced their fingers together before she slowly brushed the vines out of her way to walk out of the cave.

Neither one of them truly wanted to go back, but Lo'ak was right. Jake was pissed at him, and if he didn't go back home, who knew what he would do to Lo'ak when he finally returned. But that didn't mean that they couldn't walk as slowly as possible to put off their return.

They were going at the pace of a turtle, but neither of them cared because at least they weren't back in the pod yet. The anxiety in the pit of Ja'lia's stomach continued to grow as they drew closer and closer to the Sully family Mauri pod.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back? It's not too late," She tried to persuade, but Lo'ak was persistent in going back home.

Ja'lia hung her head in disappointment as they could finally see the pod in their line of sight, and they also saw that the Sully family was still awake because there was still a fire lit.

Once Ja'lia and Lo'ak set foot into the pod, all the attention was on them.

"Where were you two?" Jake asked.

"Out," Ja'lia simply put, and Jake went to open his mouth, but Neytiri shot him a glare that told him to keep his mouth shut.

"Lo'ak, come here," Neytiri said, and Lo'ak dragged Ja'lia along with him to go beside his mother. "Is it true?" She questioned, and Lo'ak lifted his head to look at his mother.

"Is what true?" Lo'ak said, barely above a whisper.

"Was it your idea to go past the reef?" Neytiri asked.

Lo'ak remained silent as his mother waited for him to answer her. The teen girl beside Lo'ak knew that he wasn't going to say anything, so she decided to speak up for him.