Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟡⋆˚✿˖°

"Ao'nung?" Ni'la said before taking a step back to look up at the boy. "What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down to see a fish on the ground. The girl's cheeks flushed because she realized that he'd come to give her food after he'd taken a bite out of her first meal.

"Well, I felt bad after you stormed off without eating, so I decided to get you another fish," He explained, frowning down at the wasted food on the ground. Ao'nung hated wasting food, and he knew that Ni'la most likely wouldn't eat that fish now that he'd dropped it because he had run into her. "Oh, well, thanks," She said awkwardly rocking on the heels of her feet.

The boy absentmindedly nodded as he bent down to pick the food off the ground, "I don't suppose you still want to eat this?" He questioned, and Ni'la instantly shook her head. "But I don't want to be wasteful, so I can take it to Tarya," Ni'la informed.

"Who's Tarya?"

"My ikran," Ni'la said, and an awkward silence fell over the two teens.

It seemed they didn't know how to talk unless they were arguing with each other, and if they were both being honest, they'd expected an argument to have already started. Ao'nung wouldn't have been surprised if Ni'la hit him because he ate her food because according to Neteyam, Ni'la loved food, especially Yovo fruit.

"Look, I'm sorry for taking a bite out of your fish. I didn't think you'd get that mad," Ao'nung muttered his apology, and the girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing him to sigh. "Okay, maybe I did think you'd get mad which is why I did it."

Ni'la hummed in response before speaking, "Anyway, you should probably go back before my Dad gets here. He's protective over me." She nodded, and Ao'nung's eyes squinted, but instead of questioning her request he walked away and the girl sighed in relief. She picked the fish off the ground and decided to wait until her parents returned so she could ask if she would be allowed to go give it to Tarya.

She didn't have to wait long because after Ao'nung left, the rest of her family showed up within minutes. "Hey, sis. Did Ao'nung bring you your food?" Lo'ak asked, and Jake frowned, looking between his two children. "Are you okay, Ni'la?" He asked in concern.

"Ao'nung took another bite out of her food, and she didn't feel like eating it like she did last night," Lo'ak snorted, causing his sister to slap him on the chest. "I don't know where his mouth's been," She scrunched her nose.

"Oh, so he decided to bring her more to make up for it?" Jake questioned.

"He did, but I ran into him and he dropped it on the floor," Ni'la informed before speaking again, "I wanted to ask if I could go give it to Tarya."

"Of course, why don't you take Neteyam with you?" Neytiri suggested.

"Okay," She shrugged as she went to grab Neteyam's arm before dragging him out of the pod.

The two siblings walked along the beach before stopping at the spot where they landed when they first arrived at the Metkayina clan. Ni'la called for her ikran while Neteyam did the same, and soon the two majestic beasts landed in front of the teens. "Hi, Tarya." Ni'la smiled, hiding the fish behind her back.

However, her tricks of hiding the food didn't work as Tarya nudged at her, and the girl brought the fish out from behind her back to show the animal. Tarya screeched in excitement, and her rider through the fish into the air so her companion could catch it.

As the two Omatikaya teens conversed with their ikrans, Ni'la noticed that Neteyam had been unusually quiet on the walk over. In fact, he'd been quite tense at dinner from what she could tell from the five minutes she'd been present. So, the girl walked over to her brother, and when he noticed she was beside him, he turned his head to look at her.