Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 18: Beads

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

Bold - sign language 

Ja'lia groaned in pain as Neytiri pulled on her hair once again to get a better grip. Since Kiri had a seizure a little over a week ago, no one had left the pod, and it was starting to drive Neytiri insane.

So, Tonowari and Ronal said they would resume the Omatkaya's training within the next couple of days to get the kids out of the mother's hair, except for Kiri.

Because Kiri had a seizure, she was allowed to have another two weeks off from training, and it left all the other children jealous as they were enjoying their carefree and relaxed days. As well as the fact that they didn't have to get up early, and Ja'lia and Lo'ak could roam wherever they wanted, at any hour of the night.

But once their training started, they wouldn't be able to sneak out every day because they would have to get a full night's rest once training picked back up. Although, they didn't know what other training they would be receiving as they all did pretty well with holding their breath underwater. They could now ride their ilus without falling off, and they had all quickly picked up the customs and culture of the Metkayina clan.

The only thing that the Sully children and Ja'lia weren't educated on about the Metkayina clan, was the warrior training. When Neteyam and Lo'ak figured out what type of training, they were extremely excited, however, Ja'lia felt the opposite.

She had absolutely zero interest in learning how the Metkayina people fought. She didn't want to be a warrior, and she thought that she had made that perfectly clear.

The teen girl tried to talk to Jake to see if he would get her out of it, but he refused. Jake thought that it would be a good thing for Ja'lia to learn different fighting methods, even if that wasn't what the girl wanted for herself.

Under normal circumstances, Jake would have allowed Ja'lia to skip out on warrior training, however, they weren't in normal circumstances, and they were living in dangerous times.

With the return of the Sky People, everyone, including his own children, had to be prepared to do whatever it took to defend themselves and to also protect those they loved.

Besides, fighting was in Ja'lia's blood, and no matter how hard she tried to deny it, no matter how hard she tried to fight it, being a warrior was who she was destined to be. However, that didn't mean that she couldn't also be a healer as she wished to be. She could be both, and it seemed that Ja'lia didn't understand that.

Or, maybe she did, and she just tried to deny the possibility that she could do both.

Ja'lia was a natural talent when it came to archery, hand-to-hand combat, and tracking. Everyone who saw her fight knew that she was one of the most skilled warriors they had, which is why multiple people had come up to Jake when he was the Olo'eyktan, and suggested that he make her top warrior when she was of age.

The man had talked to her parents about it, and they had been overjoyed, but they told Jake that it was ultimately up to Ja'lia whether or not she wanted to accept the position. They weren't going to force her to be someone she didn't want to be.

Jake winced when he heard Ja'lia hiss in pain because the girl had been long overdue to have her hair re-braided.

Everyone in the Mauri pod felt bad for Ja'lia as Neytiri wasn't known for her gentle hands when it came to braiding someone's hair. In fact, everyone in the pod would always run away from Neytiri when she mentioned that she wanted to redo their hair.