The big day had arrived.
Today was the day when Jake was giving up his role as Toruk Makto and when the Sully family would leave the Omaticaya clan for some indefinite time.
When Lo'ak opened his eyes he instantly felt like he was missing something. He remembered then that he went to sleep with Laia for the very last time in who knows how much time. He was kind of upset when he sat up on his bed and did not see the girl curled in a ball next to him.
It was very early in the morning, the suns had just raised, but still the Sully's had a lot to prepare for the day and for their departure. Lo'ak thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that Laia could be so overwhelmed by the situation that maybe she went on a walk to gather her thoughts, although he would have wanted her to do the traditional painting for the ceremony for him.
On the other side of the room there was his brother, Neteyam. He was not sure if he even got any sleep that night. He was the first one to notice that Laia's place in Lo'ak's bed was empty, as he was the first one when to wake up; but he didn't know at what time she left.
He had mixed feelings. On the one hand he kind of liked the idea that Laia didn't spend the whole night next to his brother, he wasn't going to admit it, but he had always been a little jealous about this. He also wanted to hug her in his sleep, he wanted to inhale her scent all night, he wanted her to look at him the same way she looked at his brother right before she closed her eyes... but he didn't have the courage to ask her when they were kids and now they were older, the least he wanted was to make her uncomfortable.
On the other hand, he was worried. Maybe she wasn't going to show up at the end of the day. Maybe last night, when she held his hand and he saw her smiling was the last time she he saw her, maybe that was his last memory with her.
No. That could be true. He didn't have the chance to talk to her one last time. He had to tell her how much he is going to miss her. He needed to tell her he loved her.
Oh.
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The whole clan was under the Tree of Souls. Jake chose a young teenager named Tarsem as the one who would lead their people.
In order to have a new leader, the old one had to die. Tarsem made a harsh movement with his knife in his right hand, as if to stab Jake on his chest, but he only made a scratch.
The Sully family all walked away. Neytiri could not hold back her tears anymore and Kiri placed a hand on her mother's shoulder to show her support while she held Tuk close to her.
The boys were at the back, looking from side to side searching for a specific figure with green feather earrings. Kiri glanced back at them at shook her head as a no, telling them that it was useless, that she had searched for her before and she was nowhere to be seen.
It hurt them. Their best friend was not there to support them. Yes, she was having a rough time, but they were as well. Soon after they will have no time to think about this, more challenges will come and eventually they will forget it.
They got the painting off their bodies and went to grab all their bags. They were nowhere to be seen. They thought someone had already take them to the ikrans, although they had never agreed to this with anyone.
They arrived at the cliff where they would take off to begin their journey. There was one more ikran there. It was fully black with black and purple stains. It was Etti, it was Laia's. Next to the animal was the girl. She immediately smiled.
"Hey guys" Laia started. She struggled a little to maintain her smile when she saw the looks of her friends.
"Laia what are you doing and why is Etti here?" asked Jake. He had seen his children eyes, he knew how they felt, so it the best if he was the one speaking.
Laia swallowed hard, she didn't imagine their reaction to be like this. "Uhmm Etti is here because I'm going with you. I have already packed everything and the baskets are all secured attached to the ikrans-"
"Laia we already talked about this, you have responsibilities here and we agreed on you staying." Said Jake cutting her off.
Laia sighted. "May I explain myself? It will only take five minutes" She moved her eyes from Jake to all his family members. She saw the looks her friends were giving her, she felt guilty, she knew her behaviour today hurt them, but she had to it in order to go with them. She also spotted Tarsem, which was great to help her explain.
Jake nodded as an answer, at least he wanted to hear a good reason.
"Ok so, last night, right after we went to bed I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about everything and my mind was a mess, so I went outside for some fresh air" she paused to see if everyone was paying attention, this was important for her, for her friends, for her village "I was trying to come up with ideas of how can I help the clan while I'm out, and I came with a great idea"
Behind her was a big basket. She opened it and took out a little round device, like a flat rock, and held it up so everyone could see it.
"I began to remember one day I was in the laboratory and saw this thing with light coming from it and you could see someone's face, talking and explaining things" It was Grace. On one trip to the laboratory they saw a video of Grace in a projector, and Laia was mesmerised by the device. "Luckily I got curious and asked Norm to teach me how to use it, but I never put it on practice" she turned to Jake. "This is a projector, it is like a video camera but the scene is seen by a hologram instead of a screen" she smiled to herself, judging by Jake's face, he was surprised that she had learn that, behind him, his sons were both mesmerised by the girl, she was so intelligent, she was so Laia.
"Right after this crossed my mind I rushed over the lab, everyone was asleep and I only grabbed these three things" she showed three little squared things "these are used to keep those images, those videos" she began walking slowly towards Tarsem "I spent the rest of the night recording myself, showing some stuff new warriors may want to know, or even daily life stuff such us how to braid or how to add a bead to your song cord"
She was finally standing in front of Tarsem. She looked at him in the eyes, seeing him with the traditional paintings all over him made her imagine how Neteyam would look if he was in his position. Tarsem was also the warrior her and Neteyam talked about that day. They were close, but just in training. She was proud of him after all.
She saluted him formally with her right hand. "I see you Tarsem" Laia said. The boy was a little startle, she was the first one to talk to him with that respect. He blushed and saluted her as well.
"As the leader, I would like you to make the honour of showing our people how this works" she told him, signalling to the device. "You just have to press this blue bottom and it will begin" He did as she told her and within an instant a huge bluish light with Laia's figure in the centre.
"Hi, I'm Laia and this is chapter 1 of 30 of introduction to na'vi's lifestyle..." the recording went on until Laia stopped it. "As you see there are 30 of this, ten per these, which are called cards" she showed the rest the three memory cards "You only have to press this once to stop it and twice to pass to another video, and this other bottom to change the card"
She turned to look at Jake with the biggest genuine smile on her face. "As you can see I have fulfilled what I was asked for, would you now let me go with you, as your protector Sir?" she asked Jake.
He was too stunned to speak. "Laia I-wha-what you have done is amazing, how did you manage to do all of this by yourself" he could sense the tears coming, he was so proud of her, she once again had shown them how much she loved them and what she is willing to do for them. "As I said I spent the whole night and also the whole morning, that is why I couldn't go to the ceremony" she then made eye contact with Kiri "And I am so sorry that I wasn't there for you but I had to finish this, so we didn't have to say bye"
She felt strong arms hugging her, and some liquid on her shoulder. Jake had bent down to her level to hug her and he was crying.
"Laia, your parents would be very proud of having a daughter like you, I wish they knew" he said when he pulled away. Neytiri took a step closer and held one of her shoulders "I'm sure they know ma'Jake, they are always watching" she looked at the girl with the softest gaze ever.
Jake wiped off his face and stood up "We will leave now" he looked at Tarsem "You have everything you need here, take care of the people" With this Jake and Neytiri headed to their respective ikrans, ready to mount them.
Laia was looking and them and then turned to her friends to find Tuk already running to her. She took her in her arms and let her down, letting her go to mount her mother ikran. Kiri came next "I never gave up you know?" Laia said to her while hugging her closer. "I totally take back what I said, you are the best Laia".
Lastly the two boys were standing there just smiling at her. "Are you going to hug me or-? She couldn't finish the sentence when she felt two bodies hugging her the strongest someone had ever hugged her. When they pulled away she looked first into Neteyam's eyes, placing a hand on his cheek to bring his forehead to touch hers, words were not needed to express what they felt.
He let go off her and run to his ikran. Laia turned to Lo'ak to find him already starring at her and hugged him one more time. "Don't you dare leave the bed without telling me what's up, ever, ok?" she giggled at his comment "Ok dad" she pulled away to find him blushing "I serious I was worried to death" "What would you do without me uh Lo'ak" she answered in a teasing tone.
They all were mounted in their ikrans and took off. Laia had a smile on her face, even though sadness was still present because they were leaving home, she still was happy that she was with them. She preferred leaving than staying there on her own.
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Hey guys!!
Sorry for not posting this past week, I'm a mess when it comes to organize work for school and always end up having to do everything on the same day, but here I am with another chapter for this story.
I hope you guys are liking it for now, also prepare yourselves because now is when the drama stars 🤭 .
Also thank you so much for more than 600 reads. I can't believe it, I started this book to entertain myself and to let out some thoughts but I glad people even think about giving it a chance a read it 🥹.
Anyways, see you on the next chapter!! <33