Tcelia quickly slipped off her ikran when they landed and stroked her across the face, cooing and praising her for her great flying today. She nuzzled Tcelia's hand gently, letting out satisfied whines. Niwin had always loved being praised and so Tcelia did it often. She never seemed to grow tired of it.
Neteyam once teased her about it, saying that she spoiled her too much. Tcelia had argued that he didn't spoil his own enough even though that was a total lie. Neteyam and his ikran had one of the closest bonds she had ever seen, she just didn't want to admit that he might have been a little right. Niwin was getting a little too used to being praised and would not fly with her unless she told her how amazing she was beforehand. But Tcelia found it adorably hilarious, and besides, Niwin was one of the fastest ikrans out there. She could bear sacrificing saying some words of praise to her, because, well, they were all true. She was amazing.
Lo'ak had landed to Tcelia's right, in the cave of one of the Hallelujah mountains which was where their stronghold was situated, Neytiri to her left.
She saw Tuk come running towards Neytiri, throwing herself into her mother's arms. Tcelia smiled at the younger Na'vi girl as she detached herself from her mother and crashed into Tcelia, squealing her name.
"Hey Tuk, I have missed you too." she said, ruffling her hair. She brushed her own hair away from her face and looked at Jake who had just landed, jumping down from his ikran in a fury and grinding his teeth. Out of Tcelia's peripheral vision she saw Kiri appear to check on her brother's wounds.
"Alright, fall in line," Jake turned to his children, looking at them, "Now!" They all scrambled to stand in front of him. Tcelia glanced at Neteyam, finding him already looking at her with a questioning look in his eyes, silently asking her if she was okay. Tcelia nodded her head softly and he sent her a relieved smile in return.
Jake let out an angry huff. "You're supposed to be spotters, you scout from above and let us know of any dangers, from a distance! But that was all!" His nostrils were flaring, "Jesus, I let you fly a mission and the only person who doesn't disobey direct orders is Tcelia."
Tcelia shrunk into herself, filled with shame knowing that if Neteyam hadn't told her to stay, she too would have been down on the ground with the brothers. Jake was working himself up and getting more and more frustrated by the second. She couldn't blame him. A lot of things were happening right now; sounds bouncing off the walls from the many ikrans and Na'vi that were reuniting with their families, not to mention the fact that he had just half an hour ago, been scared that he might have lost his two sons.
"Kiri, would you go help your grandmother with the wounded please." Jake was obviously restraining himself from strangling someone and even his attempts at sounding civil came out as a frustrated groan.
"My brother is wounded." Kiri shot back at him, back straight, eyes fierce.
Jake noticeably had to count to three before he could talk again. "Just take Tuk and go please." And Kiri, who realized that she wasn't going to win this one when her dad was in this kind of mood, took Tuk under her arm and, rolling her eyes, made her way over to the Tsahik who was helping a Na'vi woman clean up an ugly knife wound she had gotten across her thigh.
Neteyam swiftly stepped forward, "I take full responsibility, sir."
But Jake was really not having any of it right at this moment. "That's right, you do, because you're the oldest and you're supposed to behave accordingly." Tcelia was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable standing in the middle of this family squabble.
Neteyam looked down, shame burning in his eyes and Tcelia restrained herself from reaching a hand out to comfort him. She knew how much he hated to disappoint his family and especially his father, but he wouldn't appreciate her trying to comfort him after just having been scorned. He would see it as pity, and if there was anything Neteyam hated more than disappointing the people he cared about, it was being pitied. She flexed her hand by her side.
"MaJake, your son is actually bleeding." She had almost forgotten that Neytiri was standing behind them and Tcelia was startled slightly when she spoke up.
"Mother, it's-its fine," Neteyam said, shaking his head softly. But her soft voice obviously affected Jake as the lines in his forehead soothed and his shoulders relaxed. He nodded gruffly.
"Dismissed. Go and get patched up."
Shooting a small smile at Tcelia and Lo'ak, Neteyam scuttled off to find his sisters. Jake quickly turned his burning gaze on Lo'ak. "You do realize you almost had your brother killed right?" Yep, this was starting to get really uncomfortable for her. Tcelia bit her tongue before she could say something stupid. She wanted to tell Jake that this really wasn't Lo'ak's fault, but Jake was Olo'eyktan, and she didn't dare speak against him out of respect for him.
Jake dealt out Lo'ak's punishment. No flying for a month. That was a rough one. Tcelia had been grounded more than a few times herself, since she somehow always found herself in the middle of one of Lo'ak's shenanigans. And then there was also the fact that she was a very hot-headed person and had more than once started a fight if she felt wronged or if someone had dared tease Kiri. Lo'ak was often involved too, and they frequently found themselves grounded together.
Tcelia didn't exactly know what to make of her hot-headedness, but she knew that she very much disliked standing by whilst something unjust happened. Neytiri called her passionate. Jake just shook his head.
Tcelia had looked up to Jake for as long as she could remember and though she usually agreed with him, she often thought him too tough on his youngest son. She had noticed that Jake often compared his two sons to each other, which couldn't be healthy for any of the three of them, but she was too afraid to share her thoughts with him. After her mother had died, Jake and Neytiri had accepted Tcelia into their family, and she now lived in constant fear of every misstep she made, fearing that it would make them realize they had made a mistake.
Tcelia's mother, Ninat, and Neytiri had been best friends since they were kids. Soon after Neytiri had Neteyam, Tcelia's mother got pregnant with her. She had fallen in love with an avatar just like Neytiri, one of the few who had been allowed to stay on Pandora. But her dad had died before she was even born. He had wanted to transfer his consciousness into his avatar body just like Jake had, so that he could be with Tcelia's mother for real, but his soul had been too weak, and he hadn't made it.
Her mother never got over the loss of her mate and slipped into a depression so deep no one could reach her. She had tried for the first couple of years of Tcelia's life to be a mother, with help from the Sullies, but slowly it had gotten too much for her. Her sorrow was too grave, too real and she had taken her own life when Tcelia was five.
After that, Jake and Neytiri had taken her under their wings. But although she usually felt a part of the family, she also had a constant voice in the back of her head telling her that she was only a guest in their house, that soon they would realize that she wasn't worth the trouble.
Jake and Neytiri started out by making sure that they didn't treat Tcelia differently from their other kids, but they had almost stressed this to the point of ridiculousness and made it openly obvious that they weren't trying to favouritise anyone. Tcelia's young brain had picked up on it and concluded that they were doing it only out of pity. And that seed had grown and blossomed into a constant insecurity.
Although another part of her brain, the larger part of it that she usually listened to, told her that, of course they loved their other kids more than Tcelia, and that was completely fair. She wasn't truly theirs and she never would be. Tcelia had come to accept that, and she couldn't expect Jake and Neytiri to love her with the same intensity they did their actual children.
"You did great today." Tcelia was pulled out of her spiraling depressing thoughts by Jake's voice. He had dismissed Lo'ak and was now looking at her with... was that pride that shone in his eyes? He reached out and ruffled Tcelia's hair, like she had done earlier with Tuk. "You came through when we need you, warning us about the helicopter before it came too close." Jake gave her a smile. It was incredible how fast his mood had changed after Lo'ak had left. She had to find Lo'ak after this and make sure he was alright.
"Thank you, sir. It was an honour."
Jake chuckled and shook his head gently, "How many times do I have to tell you that you can call me Jake, Tcelia?" Jake looked over his shoulder as someone called his name, needing the guidance of the Olo'eyktan. "Now, go on and get out of here, I'll see you tonight," he said before turning around and walking briskly over to whoever had called his name.
Tcelia turned on her heel and started her search for Lo'ak.
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You see, already with the longer chapters? Impressive right?