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" Grandmother, we have been over this-" Koänä had been cut off by her grandmother, Mo'at, raising a hand to her. She looked down to her granddaughter, who was sitting on the ground looking up at her.
" You are nineteen, Koänä. You need to mate with someone." The granddaughter rolled her eyes before yelping by the light slap to her head she had received. " Do not roll your eyes at me."
" Sorry. I just do not understand why I need to mate. All of the boys here are disgusting looking."
Mo'at rolled her eyes as Neytiri and Jake walked into the hut. Koänä stood up from her position and looked at her father with excitement shining in her bright yellow eyes.
" It is time. I have the paints ready." Neytiri told her daughter. Koänä smiled at her grandmother before slipping out of the door to return to her family's hut.
" Your daughter has developed your stubbornness." Mo'at spoke to Jake. The man gave her a smirk before following his daughter out of the hut with his mate following closely behind him.
Koänä was walking through the base of her clan, weaving her way through to find her home. Slightly in the distance she saw Tuk running towards her with a stressed out Lo'ak behind her.
" Koä!" Her youngest sister squealed and jumped into the air. Koänä caught her with a smile, resting Tuk on her hip as they walked the rest of the way towards Lo'ak.
" Tuk, you can't just run off like that!" Lo'ak scolded her. Koänä laughed while Tuk stuck her tongue out at her older brother.
" Be calm, little brother. We have a fight to win," Koänä smiled. " Besides, you already have enough wrinkles on your forehead. Do not stress so much, yeah?"
Koänä walked away from him with Tuk giggling on her hip. Lo'ak touched his forehead with a confused look on his face before hearing his sisters laugh. He rolled his eyes and jogged after them.
Kiri and Neteyam were already inside the hut with their parents. Tuk got down from Koänä's arms and ran to Neteyam. The boy immediately started to play with her as Koänä sat in front of her mother. With no words said, Neytiri dipped her fingers into the black paint. Koänä closed her eyes as her mother gently painted her face. After she had finished with painting her face, the mother moved onto doing her hair. Unlike the rest of her family Koänä didn't have braids. She wore her hair down. Kiri and Neytiri had begged her many times to let them braid her hair but Koänä always refused.
Not much longer later Neytiri spoke up,
" You are done, my sweet girl."
Koänä opened her eyes as she looked at her mother. Neytiri felt her heart swell with pride. She saw so much of herself and her mate in their first born. Whenever Neytiri looked into her daughter's eyes she saw Jake.
" How do I look?" Koänä asked, a grin on her newly painted face.
From her lips to her chin there were three stripes of black paint. On the left side of her head and over her eye to the left side of her jaw there was a bold black stripe of paint with a slight crescent in it. The same print was repeated on the right side of her face. Her hair was let down like usual but Neytiri had taken her front bangs and pinned them back, creating a braid sealed with beads.
" You look like a warrior, sister." Kiri spoke up. Koänä looked over at her with a wide smile.
Jake looked at his mate and softly smiled. He saw her continue to stare at their daughter with a certain look of sadness in her eye. Jake knew it was because Neytiri did not like how fast Koänä was growing up. It was not the first battle Koänä had been in but for some odd reason this one time she had nerves running through her body.
" Koä will you paint my face?" Lo'ak mumbled to her. She looked at her little brother with a softness all of her siblings never failed to receive from her. Neytiri moved out of the way.
" Of course. Come sit." Koänä sat in the spot her mother was just in and Lo'ak replaced her in her spot.
With no words said after that, Koänä began to paint her younger brother's face with delicacy in her movements. She tilted her head and dipped her fingers in the yellow paint to repeat the lines she had just done in black.
" I'm jealous you get to fight." Koänä did not take her focus off of the painting. Lo'ak began to think she ignored his comment.
" Your role is just as important as mine, Loana." She assured him before laughing as he groaned loudly.
" I hate that nickname!"
" I know. That is why I use it."
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Koänä and her ikran, O'tekare, flew through the sky. She spotted an aircraft rounding the mountain and instructed O'tekare to go head to head with it. The ikran flew up and straight towards the ship. Koänä got her bow ready as her banshee dodged all the bullets that were flying at them.
Lo'ak and Neteyam watched their sister be recklessly fierce as she stood up and positioned herself. At the last minute, she shot her arrow straight into the glass. Satisfied as she heard the glass shatter and the arrow implant itself in the pilot.
" Up, up!" She yelled at O'tekare. The dark green ikran dove straight up as the ship went in spirals before crashing on the ground. " Very good, my girl. That is four aircrafts we have taken down today."
O'tekare screeched in joy at the praise. Koänä chuckled as she flew towards her father. She disconnected the bond and jumped off mid air before her ikran flew off. Jake brought his warrior into a side hug. Both of them were smiling. Koänä's smile dropped as soon as it came on her face and she started running.
" You idiots! What are you doing on the ground?!" She yelled at her idiotic little brothers. They both stared at her with fear dancing their features. Koänä was the one person they did not want to deal with while she was angry. She developed the rage of both her mother and father into one.
" You don't even know how to use that thing!" Neteyam tried to convince him, ignoring Koänä's words. He wanted to get out of there and away from Koänä's death stare.
" Dad and Koänä taught me."
Koänä gripped his ear in anger. The boy yelped in pain. She turned his body to him and Lo'ak felt he was going to die on the spot. The rage in Koänä's eyes scared him.
" You skxqwngs! You are not supposed to be on the ground. You. are. watchers. Get that through your thick skulls!" She yelled at both of them.
While she was yelling at them, none of them had time to notice a missile heading towards them. She heard her father yell. She let go of Lo'ak's ear and pulled both of them into her side. She shielded them with her body before it had hit, sending them all flying in different directions.
After a couple minutes of lying in pain she heard her father yelling for her. Her mind felt fuzzy, the yells of her father seemed distant and faded out. Koänä opened her eyes, they faded in and out of focus.
" KOÄNÄ?!" Jake screamed as he ran through the rumble trying to find her. Millions of thoughts went through his head once he saw yet another trail of blood, much like he had seen with Neteyam. His heart stopped beating for a moment.
Please no, great mother. Not my little girl. Not Koänä.
" Father!" Koänä gained all the strength she could to scream for her dad. Jake heard it and ran towards the noise. He had sent Neteyam and Lo'ak back to base already and told them to wait there.
Jake spotted her. There was blood. He ran to her and picked her head up gently. She gave him a lopsided grin before pointing to her side. Her left side had a large cut on it with blood seeping out. The father and daughter looked at each other.
" I will get Bob. Stay here." Jake instructed but she shook her head. He gave her a warning look but she waved him off.
" I got it. I will meet you at home, father." She assured him. Jake looked hesitant but he saw the determination on her face and listened to her call for O'tekare. Jake sighed but ran off.
The ikran flew down, eyes widening at the site of its hurt rider. She smiled at her and slowly got up. Koänä placed her head against O'tekare's. The ikran let out a noise and Koänä laughed.
" I am okay, my girl. Let's go home." Koänä had made the bond and instructed O'tekare to fly home.
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Koänä flew back into base. She got off her ikran and grabbed some fruit, feeding her. Her family was all standing near. Looking at her with relief.
" Oh thank you, great mother." Neytiri breathed out, finally seeing her oldest back home. Neytiri rushed up to her, crushing her in a hug.
Koänä chuckled and hugged her back tightly. Neytiri kissed the top of her head, letting her lips linger for a moment. When she had found Jake returned without her, fear shot through her heart.
" I am okay, mother." Koänä and Neytiri stepped back from the embrace. The mother immediately looked at her daughter's side with worry in her eyes. " Do not worry. It is nothing grandmother can not fix."
Neytiri opened her mouth to say something but all of her siblings ran up to her. Kiri and Tuk were the first people to reach her, the female Sully's developed each other in a tight hug.
" Koä, are you okay?" Kiri asked her. Koänä nodded with a tiny grin. Tuk didn't let her older sister go until Neytiri had ushered the girls away.
Neteyam and Lo'ak both stood in front of her with guilty looks on their faces. Especially Lo'ak. He knew he was the one to make this happen to her. Koänä still smiled at her boys and opened her arms. Both of them ran into them and hugged her tightly. She had placed both of her hands on each of their heads. She felt Lo'ak tighten his grip and she leaned her head onto his. Neteyam kissed her head, letting go. They all shared a smile.
" Fall in, " Their father started. The three of them all looked up and moved toward him.
" You're supposed to be spotters. You spot bogeys and you call them in, from a distance! Does any of this sound familiar? Your sister seems to be the only one who follows orders around here!"
Koänä sighed and looked away from her father. Don't get her wrong, she loved his praise but he gave it to her at the wrong times.
" Get here! Jesus, I let you two geniuses go on a mission and you disobey direct a order," He spotted Kiri and huffed. " Kiri, can you go help your grandmother with the wounded please."
" My siblings are wounded." She stated matter of factly. Tuk and Koänä began to look over Lo'ak while Kiri looked over Neteyam.
Jake demanded Tuk to go with her. They didn't do anything so they had no reason to be near. Koänä began to ignore her father's scolding, checking out her wound. She was simply there to support her brothers. She felt her father's gaze on her and she raised an eyebrow.
" What? I did nothing, do not give me that look." Her brothers held back their laughs
" Watch your tone, Koänä." Neytiri warned her daughter with a small glare on her face. Koänä looked down with an ashamed look.
Jake dismissed his oldest son. Neteyam quickly went off to get healed by grandmother. Koänä was talking to her mother as Lo'ak was being scolded at by Jake. Once they were finished, Jake and Neytiri walked off which left Koänä and Lo'ak.
" I'm so sorry." Lo'ak mumbled, not looking at her. Koänä grabbed his face and held it in her hands, looking at him with a calm smile.
" Do not worry about me, Lo'ak. I will always come back," He nodded and stepped back. " Besides, you can not get rid of me that easily."
They both laughed as they walked to the hut. Spider had found himself beside them as they walked. He asked Koänä if she was okay as soon as he saw her side. The girl only chuckled and ruffled the top of his head. He jokingly hissed at her as they neared the hut. She hissed back with the corner's of her lips lifted to show she was joking. The two flipped each other off, laughing while they walked inside.
" Awe, want a kiss on the boo-boo?" Spider teased Neteyam, who was groaning from the pain of his back being healed.
Koänä in between Lo'ak and Spider, all of them having matching smirks on their faces. Neteyam hissed as his back was poked at. Koänä chuckled, nudging Spider lightly to tell him to lay off before moving to Tuk. The younger girl's eyes lit up at her older sister and they shared a big smile.
" How are you, my little love?" Koänä asked. She sat down next to Tuk, the youngest sitting on Koänä's lap.
" I was worried about you, Koä." Tuk confessed. Her big wide eyes developed tears in them as she looked at the older girl.
Koänä felt her heart crack a bit seeing the sadness in Tuk's eyes. She wiped some of Tuk's locks out of her eyes and shook her head with a teasing smile.
" Yet I am right here, aren't I?" She had a playful tone as she dug her fingers into Tuk's sides gently. The little girl squealed and squirmed. The sadness and tears suddenly went away.
" I'm ticklish there!" Tuk squealed. She jumped up as Koänä raised an eyebrow at her with a playful look in her eye. Tuk ran out of the hut.
" Koä, don't." Kiri warned, knowing what was about to happen. " We need to heal your side."
Koänä only shrugged at her family before chasing after Tuk, forgetting the sting in her side. She'd do anything to make Tuk happy and if forgetting about her pain for a couple moments makes her happy then so be it.
Neytiri saw her oldest daughter run after the youngest and opened her mouth to scold Koänä for running but once she heard the laughs of them, she just sighed with a smile on her face.