Italicize - story from the past
Bold - thoughts (normally sign language)
Marali paced around her and her father's tent, waiting for his arrival. She knew she was in for it, as she had disobeyed him. Marali rarely ever disobeyed driect orders, in fact, she couldn't remember the last time it had happened. She was a goody two shoes, like Neteyam. Always following orders, never talking back, and taking the blame for someone else's actions. In her entire 16 years of existence, she had only been grounded four times.
Four. That was it.
Not only had she disobeyed direct orders to stay off of the ground, but she had also failed at keeping Neteyam and Lo'ak safe. Of course, no one had died, but that didn't matter to her father. Norm scolded her when they got minor injuries, even if there was nothing she could have done to prevent them.
The young Na'vi girl made her way over to her cot and plopped down. She was going to be grounded, for life.
Her thoughts drifted to how Jake had previously scolded her and his children. Marali loved Jake, he was like a second father to her, but it hurt her heart to see how he treated his youngest son. Norm had told her that Lo'ak was a lot like Jake when he was younger, and that's why he was so hard on him.
Marali landed Tíli between Lo'ak and Neytiri's ikrans, seeing Tuk run up to her mother. Neytiri was calmly calling her youngest daughter's name, comforting her after she had came back from a long day. Marali envied the relationship the Sully children had with their mother, but Ja'lia knew she shouldn't envy that relationship because she should be grateful for what she had.
So selfish. Marali thought to herself.
"All right, fall in!" Jake ordered. Marali braced herself for what was about to come. She knew she was about to have her ass handed to her for the first time today. The second time would come when her father would come to find her.
She quickly made her way over to where Neteyam and Lo'ak were standing, taking her stance beside Lo'ak, knowing he would face the worst of the scolding. Jake was pissed, more so, than Marali had ever seen, and that was saying something. Lo'ak isn't exactly new to getting yelled at.
"You're supposed to be spotters! You spot bogies, and you call them in. From a distance! Does any of this sound familiar?" Jake said, glancing at Lo'ak as if he already knew who the mastermind of the whole ordeal was. "Jesus, I let you three geniuses go on a mission, and you disobey direct orders!" Jake spit, pushing aside the fact that he was yelling at children, who were bound to make mistakes.
Marali put her head down in shame, the feel of her ears pressing against her head in embarrassment. She looked over to see Tuk examining Lo'ak for any injuries and saw Kiri doing the same for Neteyam.
"Kiri, go help your grandmother with the wounded. Please. Take Tuk with you." Jake pleads, not wanting to yell at his sons and her in front of his daughters.
"My brother is wounded." Kiri fired back, before receiving a look that ultimately had both her and Tuk sighing before they went to help the Tsahik. Before leaving Marali's sight, Kiri gave her an apologetic look before disappearing into the Tsahik's tent.
"Sir, I take full responsibility," Neteyam informed, causing Marali to suppress a groan from coming out. Of course, he would take responsibility. He always did, probably always would, until the day he took his last breath.
"Yeah! You do. Because you're the older brother, you gotta act like it!" Jake scolded, while Neteyam just stood there and took it. The young girl couldn't criticize the poor boy. She was no different. The both of them were more alike than they cared to admit.
From the corner of Marali's eye, she could tell that Neytiri was about to step in. After all, Neytiri always stepped in before Jake took it too far and said something that could never be forgiven. Neytiri was the only one who could calm him down, the only one who knew how to calm him down, when he was this pissed off.
"Ma Jake, your son is actually bleeding," Neytiri interjected. Marali could see Jake's eyes soften after looking at his mate, then back at his son.
Neteyam looked at his mother and waved his arm, signifying that it was okay, that he was fine. "It's fine." The boy said softly, praying it would help diffuse the tension in the atmosphere.
"Go, get patched up. Go on, dismissed." Jake said, finally letting his oldest leave the suffocating air. Neytiri followed after Neteyam.
Great Mother, please allow me to come out of this unscathed. Marali thought to herself.
"You do realize you almost got your brother and Marali killed?" Jake asked Lo'ak, causing Marali to flinch at the harshness of his words. The girl held back a scoff when she realized that he only said that when Neytiri and Neteyam were out of ear reach.
"Yes, sir."
"You're grounded. No flying for a month. Now go see to the ikran, all of them and get that crap off your face." Jake said, waiting for his son to take his leave so that he could scold the her. Marali slowly let down her tail that was soothingly rubbing Lo'ak's back as a way to give him any sort of comfort.
After Lo'ak leaves, Jake looked at Marali, and she gulped.
"What the hell were you thinking, Marali? Huh? You're smarter than that!" He yelled, giving Marali a look that made her feel even worse than she already did, if that were even possible.
"I'm sorry, sir." She whispered.
"I sent you out there with those two knuckleheads because I figured you would talk them out of doing something stupid. I expect Neteyam to follow Lo'ak into danger. I don't expect it from you." He continued. At this point, Marali could feel the lump forming in her throat. It took everything in her to let any tears fall or at least say something in her defense.
"I'm sorry, sir." The girl said, swallowing the lump that was forming in the back of her throat.
"I'm so disappointed in you, Marali. Go get patched up with Neteyam." He finished, walking off in a direction Marali was unsure of. She could hardly see through the tears she was holding back.
I need to get out of here. Marali thought.
Before anyone else could see her, she took off and hopped onto Tíli. She didn't care about her injuries right now. All she cared about was finding a place to vent her frustrations, so she went to the one place she frequented as a child.
It was one of the tallest trees in the forest. It's where she, and the oldest Sully children would play, where she developed her first and only crush on the one and only Neteyam Sully.
Marali guided her ikran over to a large branch where she could stay until she was ready to go and get medicine put on her wounds. Disconnecting her queue from Tíli, she made her way over to the painted hand prints on the bark of the tree, smiling at the memories that had taken place in that very spot.
She ran her hand over the little faded hand prints as she let the tears fall, groaning in frustration. Marali had no idea why she was crying, it wasn't her first time getting scolded, and it most certainly wouldn't be her last because she had to protect and watch over the Sully children.
Yet, lately, her tears had become more frequent as she was gifted more and more responsibilties. It was all too much for a sixteen year old.
She felt like such a crybaby. Of course, getting yelled at was inevitable for a teenager, so why did it hurt so much?
Although Marali had never been one to take criticism well, she was receiving it a lot more than she had in the past. The girl found crying to be therapeutic. She often found herself feeling better after crying out all of her frustrations. So, that's what she did.
She cried until no more tears fell, until she felt numb.
Finally feeling calm enough to head back to camp and get her injuries looked at, she called Tíli over, deciding that if she were to be out any longer, it would only cause her more harm than good.
The ride back to camp was shorter than the ride away from camp mostly because Marali could see where she was going this time. Landing her ikran on the hard ground she had been on just moments prior, the girl thanked her ikran for her hard work and ushered her off to be with the others.
Marali ran her hand over her braids, softly running her fingers over the beads she had gotten from those she cared about the most. As she wiped her face of the tear stains, she made her way to Jake and Neytiri's tent, as she was positive that's where the Tsahik would be.
"Ow!" Marali heard a familiar voice yell. Neteyam. Slowing her pace, she saw Jake cleaning his gun, and Neytiri observing her son getting his injuries patched up. The two must of heard Marali approaching as they both looked in her direction, Neytiri lips slightly parted in shock at Marali's appearance.
She looked terrible, to put it bluntly.
Some of her braids were loose, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she had two medium-sized cuts on her body that needed attention immediately.
At the sight of Marali, Jake felt this overwhelming guilt. Jake knew he was too hard on her, but he let his anger get the best of him, and took it too far with all the children. But in his defense, he thought he had lost them.
Marali put her finger from her left hand up to her forehead and brought it down, greeting the Olo'eytkan and his mate, before making her way into the tent.
"I would use yanglabark," Kiri said, standing up, and stopping all movement when she noticed Marali. In an instant, Kiri pulled Marali over to sit beside Neteyam and started working on a remedy for her injuries. Marali felt everyone's stares on her, and she shifted uncomfortably, not used to all the attention being on her.
After Kiri finishes the paste that needs to be applied to the girl's injuries, she sits in front of Marali and started to gently brush it on the gash below her ribcage on her right side. She hisses softly from the sting of the ointment being applied.
"See, I would use yanglabark," Kiri said, attempting to diffuse the tension in the room after the arrival of the young Na'vi girl.
"Oh, you would?" Mo'at questioned, "And who is Tsahik?"
"You are grand- move," Kiri said, pushing Lo'ak out of the way, looking for something to protect the wound on Marali's ribcage. "You are grandmother. But yanglabark is better."
"Ow!" Neteyam yelled. "Ow!"
Marali rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Of course, it stung, but it wasn't that bad.
"It stings less." Kiri finished her statement.
"Some mighty warrior you are. Marali has barely made a sound." Lo'ak teased, causing Neteyam to scoff and send a glare her way.
"Speaking of Marali, what happened? You look like shit." Spider said, smirking at the girl in a teasing manner.
"I'm sorry, next time, remind me to freshen up for his highness." She snapped, instantly regretting the harshness of her words when everyone paused, including Tuk.
"I'm sorry, Spider, I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just been a long day, and I'm tired." She said softly. Spider nodded in understanding, instantly forgiving the girl, as he knew that she would beat herself up for it later.
"Mara, I need you to lay down on your back. It's hard to put the medicine on your wound when it's right above your hip bone." Kiri said, gently pushing Marali to lie on her back. Marali nodded and closed her eyes, allowing Kiri to push her down to the ground so she could apply the medicine.
~~~~
Neytiri watched the children, including Marali and Spider, interact in the tent. Her back to Jake as he continued to clean his gun, finally finishing.
"What?" Jake sighed, knowing his wife was about to confront him about his behavior earlier in the day.
"Neteyam and Lo'ak try to look up to you. Marali tries to look up to you. It is very hard on them." Neytiri said, finally looking at Jake, who is still looking downwards toward his gun.
"I know." Jake breathes out.
"You are very hard on them," Neytiri said, crouching in front of her husband to look him in the eye.
"I'm their father, Marali is like my daughter. It's my job." He said, loading his gun before putting it down so that he could look up at his mate.
"This is not a squad. This is a family." She said, noticing an unfamiliar expression on his face, or rather, a look she had not seen in a while.
Jake let out a sigh before looking up at Neytiri once more.
"I thought we lost them," Jake whispers. Neytiri moves closer to her mate, putting her hand on his to comfort him.
Neytiri understood how Jake was feeling. She had lost people important to her as well. At one point, she thought she lost Jake, her mate, her other half, the love of her life.
"You need to stop being so hard on them, ma Jake," Neytiri said, pulling her mate in for a hug. She felt him nod his head against her upper body in agreement.
~~~~
"There you go, all done." Kiri declares, forcing herself up by pushing on her knees. Marali slowly sat up and then made her way to her feet as well.
"Thank you, Kiri. I better head back home so I can talk with my dad." She said, whispering the last part. Everyone gave each other worried looks, even Neteyam. The girl had never acted this shy before, this quiet. Sure, she wasn't loud by any means, but she definitely wasn't timid either.
"Are you okay, Marali?" Tuk said, running up to hug the teen.
Marali smiled at Tuk's kindness.
"I'm okay, Tuk. I'm just tired, I promise." Marali said, holding out her smallest finger to show the girl she wasn't lying. It was something common amongst human children. At least, that's what her dad said. Tuk smiled brightly at Marali, interlocking their fingers.
The girl gave everyone else a gentle smile, seeing the tension in their bodies slowly dissolve. They didn't entirely believe the girl, but they also didn't want to push her to talk.
Bidding everyone goodnight, including Neytiri and Jake, she slowly made her way back home. She was going so slow that the little insects crawling on the ground were zooming past her.
The young teen didn't know if she had the energy to deal with another scolding. The one Jake had given her was worse than she anticipated, and her father's. Well, his would outdo Jake's tenfold. She thought about packing a bag and running away, and then she practically slapped herself for her cowardice.
All her thoughts came to a halt when she saw her father walk in. Her father was calm, way too calm.
I'm in deep shit. The girl thought to herself.
Norm made his way over to his daughter before pulling her into a bear hug, letting out a sigh of relief. His baby girl was okay. She was safe. When he saw her fly into the air after the missile hit, his immediate reaction was to find her. He wanted to find her and then reprimand her for her stupidity, but he saw that Jake was already headed in that direction, and he knew Jake would make sure his daughter was safe.
Then when he made it back to camp and saw his daughter standing in front of Jake, he figured Jake had already scolded her. Norm was going to go over and scold his daughter as well, but when she looked up from the ground, and he saw her face, his heart broke. Marali looked so hurt, so broken, and he knew if he went over there and unleashed his anger, it would have only made matters worse. He saw how she was fighting back the tears, how she was already beating herself up for what happened, how she had run over to Tíli to get away from everything, and it made him stop in his tracks.
At that moment, Norm had decided to wait until she returned to talk to her about the events that happened earlier in the day. He decided to go and see if he could be of assistance anywhere.
When he saw his daughter's ikran in the distance, he started to walk over to where Marali would land. He had given her time to cool off, to process what had happened, and now he was going to scold her the same way Jake did.
The father had every intention of giving his daughter a piece of his mind, until he looked at her, once again stopping dead in his tracks. Her braids were loose, her cheeks were tear-stained, her eyes were red and puffy, but most importantly, she had two cuts on the right side of her body.
He knew she would beat herself up, but never did he think this would be the end result.
Marali rarely cried, and when she did, it was never long enough to make her eyes swollen. Although he knew he would have to punish his daughter for her disobedience. He decided that he wouldn't yell at her or scold her. Instead, he retreated to the lab to eat dinner with the other scientists and talked about their days, waiting a little longer before finally coming face to face with his daughter.
"I'm sorry, Dad." He heard his daughter whisper. Norm pulled back from Marali and looked her over. Her injuries were bandaged up, meaning she went to visit the Tsahik to have them looked at.
"I know. It's okay." Norm said, placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder to comfort her.
"No, it's not okay! I disobeyed you! I went on the ground - I didn't protect Lo'ak or Neteyam!" The girl said, choking up as her emotions started to overwhelm her once more.
"Shhh. Mara, it's okay. I'm not mad." Norm whispered, pulling his daughter back toward him for a hug, soothingly rubbing her back. The girl tensed at first but then slowly relaxed into it.
"You're not mad?" Marali asked, confused. Norm was always mad when his daughter disobeyed him, no matter what. Why was he not mad at her?
"Well, I am mad." He started, causing the girl to pull back from the hug and look him in the eye. "But I'm more concerned that you're here and safe. I was so scared, Marali. I thought I lost you." Norm whispered, seeing his daughter's confused look turn into a sad one. After a few seconds, she laid her head back on her dad's chest and sat in silence for a moment before speaking.
"So, how long?" She asks, almost scared to hear the answer.
"How long what?" Norm responded, confused, before it dawned on him that she's talking about her punishment. "Oh, that. You really don't want to know." He finishes.
"I'm grounded for life, aren't I?" Marali questioned.
"Something like that." Norm joked, causing both of them to chuckle.
Unedited. 05/12/23
Edited. 07/05/23
Word Count: 3,314
Hey everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed - honestly, I enjoyed writing this chapter. I know I haven't done a lot for this book, but I really immersed myself into the scenes when writing it.
Marali won't be a crybaby in this book, I promise. I hope I didn't overdo how emotional she is in this chapter. If I did, let me know and I'll try to fix it.
As I've said before, I won't do an author's not every chapter, it will probably be every other chapter.
This chapter is the longest one yet! Feel free to point out any grammatical errors!
If anyone would like to make a cover for the book, please feel free to reach out! The one on the book is generic because I have no artistic skills.
Have an amazing day!