Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past
Bold - sign language
Tsireya had come shortly after the argument between Marali and Neteyam and told the family that she and a couple of other people decided to dive for shells. She asked if the family would like to join them so that they could maybe find sea shells they wanted or a shell to add to their song cord.
Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk agreed as they thought it would be a new thing to experience. "Of course, we just have to go find Neteyam and Marali," Kiri said with an amused expression on her face. Tsireya looked at all of the siblings curiously but decided against asking.
"Okay! I'll wait for all of you by the beach." Tsireya said cheerfully. The family waved goodbye to the Metkayina girl and then looked at each other. "I'll go find Neteyam. If you find Marali?" Kiri suggests.
Lo'ak smirked and nodded his head.
"What about me? I wanna help!" Tuk whined, looking back and forth between her siblings. Lo'ak and Kiri looked at her, then at each other before dashing out of the Mauri pod. The little girl looked at them in disbelief before turning back to her parents. Jake and Neytiri watched entertained by their children's behavior. They turned their attention to their youngest child and smiled at what they saw. Tuk stood before them with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.
"It's not fair! They always leave me behind!" Tuk cried out, complaining to her parents. The two adults looked at her with a sad look. They felt bad for their youngest child, as she didn't have any other friends besides her siblings and Marali. "Come, Tuk. Your mom and I will take you to Tsireya, okay?" Her father soothed.
~~~~
Lo'ak walked alongside the beach on the opposite side of the island, looking for Marali. He was growing frustrated at the girl for being so difficult to find. The boy was getting ready to give up when he heard a frustrated groan.
As he walked further down the path, he saw Marali aggressively throwing rocks at the water, trying to skip them. The girl was failing pathetically, as the rock would only skip two times before plopping into the water. Lo'ak slowly snuck up behind the girl, preparing to scare her.
"If you do what I think you're about to do, I'll punch you so hard your ancestors will feel it," Marali said, not even looking back to see who it was. The boy walked up to Marali and stood beside her. "How did you know I was trying to scare you?" Lo'ak asked bewildered.
He knew he wasn't the best at keeping quiet, but he was on the sand, and it didn't make a noise when you walked across it. Lo'ak looked at the girl who hadn't even so much as glanced at the boy beside her.
"Lo'ak, I could hear you from a mile away." The girl deadpanned slightly lifting her lips into a smile. Lo'ak rolled his eyes disappointed that he failed to scare the girl, but then softly smiled as well. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking at his best friend.
"I'm okay, just frustrated." She said, finally looking at Lo'ak, "I'm annoyed at Neteyam and your father, of course."
"Why are you annoyed at my dad?" He asked, confused.
"Your dad insinuated that your brother and I are sleeping with each other," she said, a scowl on her face. The boy next to her tried to hold his laughter back. He did, but after a few minutes of holding back the demons trying to escape, he had failed.
Marali's scowl deepened when she heard Lo'ak laughing uncontrollably. "It's not funny," she gritted out. This only made him laugh harder. Tears were now present in his eyes, and he was holding his stomach in pain. "I- "I can't believe that my dad asked if you and N-Neteyam were sleeping together," He said, now holding his stomach in pain.
After a few minutes of only hearing Lo'ak's maniacal laughter, he finally calmed down enough for the girl to continue.
"That's not even the worst part," Marali said, groaning and she rubbed her hands over her face.
"How is my dad asking if you and Neteyam were sleeping together not the worst part? What else did he say?" The boy asked, curious as to what help his father could have said.
"He brought up the fact that Neteyam and I are getting closer to being able to mate." Marali grimaced as her mind flooded with memories of the conversation before.
"How is that worse than what he said before?" Lo'ak asked, clearly confused, "It's not what he said. It's what I said." Marali said. This piqued Lo'ak's interest as he stared at the girl in anticipation.
"When your father said that, Neteyam and I had insisted that we only went on a walk," Marali sighed. "But your father, of course, didn't believe us, so I told him that Neteyam wasn't my type."
Lo'ak looked at the girl, willing her to continue, receiving a groan in response.
"Well, Neteyam kinda looked offended? When I said that he wasn't my type, and he asked who was my type-" she said, taking a deep breath before finishing her response, "So I said that you were my type."
Lo'ak looked at her with an 'Are you serious?' face.
"You lied straight through your teeth, Mara," He said, amused. She glared at him.
"Whatever," she said. "Why did you come to look for me?"Lo'ak looked at her for a minute, his mind blank.
"Oh! Tsireya wanted to know if we wanted to go shell hunting with her and a couple of others." Lo'ak said, eventually remembering why he came to look for the girl in the first place.
"Sounds fun, let's go," Marali smiled, grabbing Lo'ak's hand and pulling him with her.
"I can't believe you said I was your type," Lo'ak teased as Marali continued to pull him. The girl looked at her friend and softly punched him on the shoulder.
~~~~
Neteyam walked along the beach thinking about the argument he had with Marali. He was cursing himself for being right about the girl. She liked Lo'ak. Sure, she said she wanted someone like Lo'ak, but Neteyam knew she was just using that as a cover in front of his parents. He kicked the sand in front of him in frustration.
"What'd the sand ever do to you, brother?" A voice asked. He looked over to see Kiri walking towards him.
"It didn't do anything," Neteyam sighed. "I guess I'm just frustrated."
Kiri looked at him, surprised. "Why are you frustrated? Is it about Marali?" Neteyam scowled at the mention of the girl's name. That's all he ever heard coming from his siblings, Marali this and Marali that.
Marali.
Marali.
Marali.
"Why would it be about Marali? Not everything is about her, you know." He asked. Kiri gave him a knowing look. Neteyam was close to all his siblings, but Kiri was the only one he could go to without the fear of being teased. Lo'ak would tease him or tell him to suck it up because at least he was the perfect son, and Tuk was too young to understand.
"She's just so annoying, you know?" He complained, "She's all 'Neteyam's not my type' and 'I wouldn't mate with him even if he was the last Na'vi on the planet.'" He finished, mimicking the girl's voice.
Kiri was doing her best to stifle her laughter. "Did she say all that, or are you being dramatic?"
Neteyam looked at her, slightly embarrassed about his outburst. "Well, she didn't say the second part, but she did say the first part." He sighs, "You know what she said? That she wants someone like Lo'ak to be her mate. Lo'ak!" He scoffed.
"What's so bad about Lo'ak?" Kiri asked innocently.
However, the question was anything but innocent. Kiri was allowing her brother to play right into her hand. She knew that Marali had liked Neteyam, but she had never been able to figure out if he felt the same way.
"Nothings bad about Lo'ak. He's my brother, and I love him, but he's not the right match for Marali." He paused. "I mean, he's so reckless and sometimes stupid. He acts before he thinks, and he's always putting others in danger. He's the complete opposite of Marali!" He ranted.
"What's that saying the humans always said?" Kiri asked, and Neteyam looked at her, confused. "Oh yeah, opposites attract."
Neteyam narrowed his eyes at her, not finding her teasing funny.
"They aren't a good match," Neteyam said. Kiri looked at him, amused.
"Are you jealous?" Kiri asked with a smirk. The boy scoffed at his younger sister's question. Of course, he didn't like Marali. Maybe he did when he was little, but he's different now. He's older, wiser, and a mighty warrior.
"Why would I be jealous?" He asked.
"Oh I don't know," she sighed dramatically, draping her arm over her brother's shoulder. "Maybe it's the fact that you have been complaining about the fact that she wants someone like Lo'ak," she paused, "or, maybe it's that you secretly are in love with the girl you pretend to hate."
"I don't hate Marali, and I'm not in love with her either." He said rather quickly, causing himself to cringe.
"So you do like her!" Kiri said as she smirked at her brother.
He spent the next few minutes trying to deny the realization that his sister had had. He didn't like Marali, it wasn't possible. She was the most annoying girl he had ever met. He hated the way her braids flowed through the air when she was on her ikran. He hated the way she would laugh when his siblings said something funny. And he hated-
Oh. I've got it bad. The boy thought to himself.
"Whatever," He puffed out, "What are we doing today?" Accepting the defeat that he just unintentionally revealed his feelings for a certain forest girl.
"Tsireya wanted to know if we would go look for shells with her and a couple of others," Kiri said, and Neteyam nodded his head, getting up off the ground.
"Let's go." He said.
~~~~
The Sully children and Marali had made it to the area where they would be diving for sea shells. Tsireya had explained to the group that once they got underwater, she would help them attach a fish to their back that would help them hold their breath longer. Marali had decided to stay beside Kiri as the girl always tended to wander off on her own.
As the Sully children dove underwater, they all smiled at the sight before them, still not used to the beauty of it. Marali swam hand in hand with Kiri looking at all of the fish in amazement. No matter how many times she saw the animals underwater, she still couldn't believe her eyes. The fish back at home would always swim away startled whenever she made a slight movement in the water, but these fish swam with no fear.
The ocean brought her a different type of peace that the forest never could. It was quiet underwater for the most part, whereas you almost always heard some sort of noise in the forest. She didn't know if it was the peacefulness of the water or the fact that she had been able to adapt to her surroundings so quickly.
Marali smiled as she saw Tsireya approach her with the special fish in her hand. The girl turned around so that Tsireya could place it on her back then she turned around and signed, "Thank you," receiving a smile from the Metkayina girl.
Tsireya then made her way over to Kiri and placed a fish on her back as well. The Omatikaya girls closed their eyes and felt themselves instantly connect. As they opened their eyes, Marali could see the Kiris were glowing.
"Your eyes," Marali signed.
Hers widened when Kiri signed the same thing back to her. Both girls smiled at each other underwater. Marali and Kiri had always had a special relationship. Out of all the Sully children, Marali was closest to Kiri. They understood one another. While Marali's connection with Eywa wasn't as strong as Kiri's, it was still quite noticeable.
Marali smiled as she saw Kiri telepathically moving the glowing fish at her will. She'd never seen something so beautiful before. When she looked at Kiri, she saw the girl already looking at her. Kiri directed the fish to softly brush against Marali's skin, causing her to giggle underwater.
As she did her best to concentrate on the fish before her, she quickly took control of some of them, directing them towards Kiri, doing the same thing to her as she had done to Marali.
The two Omatikaya teens were in a complete daze, interacting with one another and the fish they were controlling. Ronal, the Tsahik, had been watching the interaction from afar skeptically. She had never seen anything like this before, but she didn't do anything to stop the girls. After all, they weren't hurting anyone.
Eventually, after Kiri and Marali had enough of playing with the fish, they decided to swim over to Tuk and collect some shells of their own. Marali didn't have as many as Tuk or Kiri, but that's because she was picky. She wanted to pick the prettiest of shells, and a lot of the ones she saw weren't going to cut it. However, after a couple of minutes, she found the perfect shell and swam up to the surface. The rest of the Sully children and Tsireya followed.
It was almost eclipse.
"We should start to head back. It's almost eclipse." Tuk said as worry etched itself onto her face.
"Okay, I will escort you back ashore," Tsireya said as she started to swim away from the group.
The Metkayina teen would stop and look back every once in a while to make sure that she hadn't lost anyone. Luckily, she didn't. Everyone started to swim a little faster as they could now see the beach.
Once they all made it ashore, the Sully children and Marali thanked Tsireya, and quickly made it back to their Mauri pod.
Tuk had asked Marali to carry her as she was tired from all the swimming they had done. Marali happily obliged and picked the little girl hop, hoisting her onto her waist. The girl herself had been exhausted as she hadn't slept the night before, but she didn't want to worry Tuk.
When I get back, I'm going to sleep for days. Marali thought to herself.
Unedited. 05/17/23
Edited. 07/18/23
Word Count: 2,453
Hey everyone!
Hopefully you enjoyed - I genuinely hate this chapter, but let me know what y'all think!
If there is anything you would like to see in upcoming chapters, please comment ideas! I would love to hear from all of you.
Sorry for the late update! I had a job interview today that got in the way of me writing this chapter.
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.
Also! I'm thinking of writing a Lo'ak fanfic after I finish this book. What do y'all think? Would you be interested in me writing a Lo'ak fanfic?
Have an amazing day!