Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 27: Overwhelming Anxiety

"You don't know my Dad and brother like Ja'lia and I do," Kiri said nervously, and Ja'lia nodded while cringing as flashbacks of arguments flooded her mind. "Are they that bad?" Tsireya questioned, and Ja'lia anxiously laughed, "Depends are your definition of bad."

Tsireya narrowed her eyes at Ja'lia, who shrugged her shoulders, "I grew up with Lo'ak, so I'm used to the constant arguments. If you're asking if they go weeks without talking like they have been, then no. Neytiri usually forces the two to reconcile their differences, but this time is different," Ja'lia informed.

The Metkayina girl looked at Ja'lia confused, so Kiri started to explain, "My Dad compared Lo'ak to Neteyam, and Lo'ak hates when people do that."

"Lo'ak is his own person, with his own life and personality. He doesn't want to be compared to the brother that everyone thinks is perfect. It's put a strain on Neteyam and Lo'ak's relationship," Ja'lia sighed as she thought of how the two brothers rarely ever spent time together before they moved to the Metkayina clan.

"But Neteyam isn't perfect. No one is," Tsireya said.

"Of course, no one's perfect. Neteyam will be the first one to tell you he isn't perfect, but when that's all he ever shows anyone, that's all they know to believe," Kiri muttered, and Tsireya looked to Ja'lia for clarification.

"They never saw the sleepless nights Neteyam had. He would train for hours, even after everyone else had gone to bed. He did everything to perfect how he rode his ikran, how he shot his arrow, how he hunted. All so that he could make his father proud," Ja'lia started, and Kiri finished her thought, "It was never his intention to give everyone the impression that he could do no wrong. He just wanted everyone to be proud that he would become their next Olo'eyktan."

"But didn't Lo'ak put in the same amount of effort?" Tsireya asked with her eyebrows furrowed together. "Of course, Lo'ak put in more than the required effort, but he also loves to explore and have fun. Plus, he wasn't meant to become the next clan leader, so there wasn't as much pressure," Ja'lia shrugged.

The two Omatikaya girls were doing their best to explain the situation to Tsireya, but it seemed that they were confusing the poor girl even more, "I'm confused," She grumbled, and Ja'lia internally hit herself on the forehead. "What's confusing?" Kiri asked.

"Why are Lo'ak and Jake at each other's throats if Lo'ak wasn't going to become the next Chief? He had the right to explore and have fun. Hell, Neteyam had to right to have fun even as the next Chief," Tsireya rambled.

"Dad's always been hard on Lo'ak and Neteyam when it came to training. It just got worse when the Sky people returned," Kiri said as her voice gradually got quieter.

"It also doesn't help that Jake and Lo'ak are alike in almost every sense," Ja'lia said, raising an eyebrow and Kiri snorted at her sentence.

If that wasn't the truest thing Kiri heard all day, she didn't know what was.

It almost pained her to see how much those two acted alike, especially with how much they argued. It was like looking in a mirror, with Jake seeing the younger version of himself.

All the children had heard growing up was how much Lo'ak was like Jake, and how much Kiri was like her biological mother Grace. Ja'lia still snorted anytime she remembered Kiri calling Lo'ak a 'penis face'.

"There's no way those two-" Tsireya was cut off by a voice yelling, "Lia!"

Ja'lia's head snapped in the direction of the voice, and she looked to see Lo'ak frantically walking toward her.

Oh no. That can't be good. Ja'lia thought to herself.

The girl quickly got up and muttered an apology to Kiri and Tsireya while bidding them goodbye as she ran to her best friend.