~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

The unlikely adventures of

Jake nodded, although he hated the fact that whatever was wrong with Neteyam earlier had happened. He hated the fact that his boy was having to go through something again, even if it was just for a moment and he was okay now. But something deep inside Jake was telling him this wasn't a one time deal. 

"What do you think was wrong?" Neytiri asked, her voice soothing. She nuzzled the side of her face against his neck, and it was her way of telling him she wanted to hear him speak. She wanted to hear his thoughts on the matter of their oldest son. She was comforting him into talking. 

"I think he was scared." Jake muttered flatly, stroking his thumb in circles across her hand. "I think he was longing for his mother, because something set him off. He asked for you." He looked at his wife seriously. The woman met his eyes with an equally intent expression and blinked, her ears going flat against her skull. 

"You know a child's instinct is longing for their mother when they are in distress." Neytiri informed, her voice going as gentle as a butterfly's wing. "Our 'itan was fighting back tears, MaJake. But I wish to understand why—I do not believe he was in pain where he would cry. I could feel it in my heart, and this was different. But it hurts me not to know. He will not talk about—" she paused, going quiet, "about what happened."

Jake soaked in her words and mulled them over in his brain, as well as his heart. "We haven't really asked him about it yet. He hasn't spoken up on his own, either. You know how he is—he doesn't ever want to bother us, and pressing him about what happened will stress him. I don't want him to get upset."

In the hazy darkness, both the parent's watched Neteyam's ear twitch a couple times as if a fly were annoying him. 

"He has always been too aware." Neytiri eventually said. "Ever since he was little, he notices everything, whether it be the emotions of a person or the way the wind blows the leaves during a busy evening. He is not a talker, or a loud child—he is a listener and an observer. This makes him very aware of every little thing, and that means he will do everything for the good of others."

Jake knew all too well that however many people Neteyam had killed in that helicopter mixed in with the injuries he'd sustained while being taken must have an effect on him, in some way, wether he was aware of it or not. He remembered back in the forest how Neteyam had clung to him after making his first human kill. How was this any different? The kid was only fifteen, and no matter how much training he'd had in order to be a warrior didn't have anything to do with the effect on his soul. Or maybe it did, and Neteyam was able to spare himself some pain knowing this is what was necessary for his people and his survival. 

"I'll talk to him tomorrow." Jake decided, "And we'll go from there." 

                                                                                             ~~~

Fey'atsi played a lot of games when she was a little girl, especially with the fellow Omaticayan children. She grew up singing songs and making toys, finding cool pebbles in nearby streams, climbing, running, all the classic activities that her kind indulged in. Then, when the Sully boys were old enough, they started doing all the same things—except not only those games, but they were often wrestling and getting into trouble. Of course, not bad trouble, just minor things that inconvenienced their parents, like hitting each other with sticks or tying your baby brother to a tree. 

During Neteyam's recovery time at camp, Neteyam introduced her to a lot of different games, like the ones he and his brother would play. One of his favorite games was called fight club, and it was basically just a wrestling match between him and Lo'ak with Jake as the occasional "referee". She'd never heard that word before and she didn't know what it meant, but Neteyam told her it was like a person who oversaw the match and decided who won. He taught her how to play when they were in the woods together—and she was victorious, but she had a subtle feeling he went easy on her. Or maybe she won because he was too weak to put up a real fight.