Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past
Bold - sign language
Lo'ak and Marali made their way back to the village on Marali's ilu. As they got closer to their Mauri pod, they could hear the horn blow, signifying that they had been found. The entire village had been looking for them.
"The Sully children have returned!"
Lo'ak had been the first one to get off the ilu, offering a helping hand to Marali, which she gratefully accepted. All of the village people had been looking at the teens with worry. Marali had been looking around to see if anyone else in the Sully family was there, only to see Jake approaching them.
Great. Marali thought to herself.
She looked over to see Lo'ak had an annoyed expression on his face, and she directed her attention to what he had been looking at. Ao'nung. Lo'ak had started to walk towards the boy but was stopped by his father.
"Hey. Let's have a look at you." Jake said, looking his son over for any serious injuries, completely ignoring the girl beside him. Marali had been looking at the Metkayina boy in front of her, shooting daggers at him. The girl started to walk towards him predatorily, ready to pounce at any second, but she was stopped when someone grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards Lo'ak.
"Are you okay?" Jake asked as he then did the same thing that he did to Lo'ak to her. Marali ripped her attention from Ao'nung, her entire body burning with rage.
"I'm fine." She gritted out.
In reality, Marali was anything but fine. She had never felt so much anger in her life. She was angry at Ao'nung. She was angry at Jake. She was angry she left home. But, most importantly, she was angry with herself. If they had stayed back in the forest, none of this would have ever happened. Marali would have never let Lo'ak come close to dying in the forest. The girl knew the forest like the back of her hand. She had never felt as useless as she did when she was searching for Lo'ak in the water.
Lo'ak softly nudged Marali, and she looked up to see what he was looking at. Neytiri. Neytiri approached the children, fear and rage taking place on her face. "I pray for the strength that I will not pluck the eyeballs out from the own son!" Lo'ak turned his face away, embarrassed. The mother then turned her attention to Marali, and the girl visibly gulped. Neytiri looked as if she was about to say something, but then she hissed in frustration, not able to think of what to say to Marali.
"No," Tonowari said, stepping forward as he made his son kneel before the Omatikaya teens. "My son knows better than to take him outside the reef. The blame is his."
Lo'ak looked around to see all the disappointed and judgmental gazes that were placed on the Olo'eyktan's son. The looks were all too familiar, and for some reason, he felt sympathy for the boy who almost had him killed. Then, Lo'ak looked at Marali to see her softly hiss in the boy's direction.
"No, this is not Ao'nung's fault." Marali snapped her head in Lo'ak's direction as she gave him a warning look. She had no idea what he was about to do, but the only person it would end poorly for him.
Ao'nung had looked at Lo'ak confused as to what he was doing. He thought that Lo'ak should've been happy that he was in trouble, ecstatic even so why was he standing up for him? What was the boy in front of him playing at?
"It was my idea. Ao'nung tried to talk me out of it." Lo'ak assured, and Marali growled in frustration. It wasn't true. It was Ao'nung's idea. The people had to believe that, but when she looked at Tonowari and Ronal, her hope diminished, and her shoulders slumped. The Olo'eyktan and Tsahik were unsure of who to believe, and Marali knew better than to put her hope on Jake and Neytiri.
Marali felt Lo'ak's hand on her wrist as he started to pull her along with him. They had been instructed to go to the Mauri pod and wait for Jake.
"I'll handle this," Jake said, assuring the Chief that his son would be punished. After that, he stormed after Lo'ak and Marali and then waited for the Metkayina people to leave.
"You told me to make friends with them-" Lo'ak tried to defend himself.
"I don't want to hear it." Jake said, holding up a hand to keep Lo'ak from speaking, "You've brought shame to this family." Marali stared at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe those words escaped Jake's mouth. Lo'ak's fists were clenched, and he looked like he was about to cry.
"Can I go now?" Lo'ak asks.
"Any more trouble and you'll get your tail in a knot. Got it?" Jake said with a sigh.
"Yes, sir. Lima Charlie." Lo'ak said, walking off.
"Where were you?" Neytiri asked her oldest son as if it was his fault.
"Yeah," Jake said, turning his attention to Neteyam. "What happened to keeping an eye on your brother?" Then he looked at Marali. "Matter of fact, why didn't you call to tell me you found Lo'ak? I see the device around your neck, so what's your excuse?"
Marali had been trying so hard to keep quiet, to keep her head down, to not snap at Jake or Neytiri, but something just broke inside of her. It's like the little restraint she had been holding onto disappeared into thin air.
"I'm sorry, sir," Neteyam apologized before all the attention had been turned back onto Marali. The girl could no longer hold back the scoff that escaped her lips.
"I did call. Three times." She snapped. Neteyam looked at her with wide eyes. He'd never heard her speak like that before.
"Then you should have kept calling until I responded." Jake scolded. Marali looked at him and contemplated her next words before opening her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry. Why didn't I just forget about saving your son from drowning to call and make sure you would be the one to do it!"
"Watch your tone," Jake warned, and the girl laughed at him in shock.
"I'm sorry, sir," she mocked. "Let me rephrase that so I don't get told I've brought shame to this family." She spit.
Neytiri looked at Marali surprised. The girl had never talked to anyone like this before. Not even when other kids were picking on Neytiri's children. It was like she was seeing a whole other side of Marali, and she had yet to determine if she liked it or not.
"I'm sorry you were too busy to pick up my call, leaving me to make a life-or-death decision, Jake." She said. "You don't even seem to care that your son almost died! He almost drowned! But do you care? No, of course not! You only care about your image within this clan!"
Jake looked at the girl stunned. He couldn't move. The man couldn't speak. All he could do was stare.
Lo'ak almost died? Jake thought to himself as the guilt took over his thoughts.
"I can't believe you told him he brought shame to this family." Marali scoffed, shaking her head. "It wasn't even his idea. He lied."
All three of their heads turned in her direction. Neytiri was the only one who could will the words to come out. "Why would he lie?" She asked, confused.
"I don't know, maybe you should ask yourselves that." She said exasperated. "Why were you so quick to believe that he was the one who had the idea to go beyond the reef? Lo'ak may be reckless, but he's not stupid, no matter what any of you think."
Neytiri could feel the hot tears start to form in her eyes. She could only imagine how her son was feeling right now. The people who were supposed to stick up for him and protect him allowed him to take the blame for something he didn't do. She felt ashamed of herself like she had failed as a mother.
"What's it going to take for you to stop treating him the way you do?" Marali said. She could feel her anger start to dwindle, but she wasn't done yet. "What would you have done if he died out there? Huh? Would you have just moved on with your life?"
Jake glared at Marali.
"No, I wouldn't have just moved on." He gritted out.
"Really? You wouldn't? Because Lo'ak is quite convinced that you hate him. Is that true? Do you hate him? Do you hate your own flesh and blood?" She said, knowing what buttons to push. She could see his body going tense.
"I don't hate Lo'ak." He whispered due to the fear that if he spoke any louder, he would lose his temper.
"I don't believe you," Marali said, narrowing her eyes. Jake looked down at her, and she could see the hurt flash over his eyes.
Good. Now he knows an ounce of what Lo'ak feels.
Everyone stood there for a minute, no one daring to speak. Marali had been doing a breathing exercise her father taught her for when she needed to calm down. When she felt she was ready, she continued, "I don't know why you treat Lo'ak the way you do, but it has to stop before someone gets hurt." She said calmly.
"I love your family, Jake, and would do anything for them. I would die for them. I would kill for them. I have killed for them. But I can't sit back and watch you talk to Lo'ak the way you do anymore. I won't always be there to pick up the broken pieces left behind every time one of you argues." She sighed, turning on her heel and making her way out of the Mauri pod.
~~~~
Neytiri watched the girl leave in silence as she finally allowed the tears to fall. The mother's heart shattered more and more with each word that the girl spoke. It was like a knife was to her chest, and every time Marali said something, it was plunged deeper and deeper until it finally pierced her heart.
She knew that Jake had been too hard on Lo'ak, and she planned on talking to him after the children had left, but Marali did it for her.
Jake looked over at his wife to see her silently crying, and he walked over to comfort her. Marali's words had hurt them all, but it seemed like they impacted Neytiri the most. Jake wrapped his arms around his mate as she buried her head into the crook of his neck and sobbed.
"What have we done?" She wept, holding her husband tighter. Jake stood there and soothingly shushed Neytiri as she continued to cry.
He couldn't believe that he thought Lo'ak was telling the truth when he said it was his idea to go beyond the reef. He should have known his son better than that. But, after the war started, he stopped playing the fatherly role and treated his sons more like soldiers rather than kids. As the boy's training intensified, Lo'ak grew more and more distant from his father, and soon the only time the two talked was when Lo'ak got into trouble.
When the family arrived at the Metkayina clan, Jake swore to his wife that he would be different. He swore that he would try to repair the relationship with the kids and he would be a better father. However, for the Marine, old habits seemed to die hard.
"Sir?" Neteyam spoke, causing both of his parents to look at him. "Can I go find Mari? I don't want her to get hurt or do something stupid."
"Okay, but as soon as you find her come straight home," Jake said. Neteyam nodded his head and quickly ran out of the Mauri pod in search of his friend.
Neytiri pulled back from her husband with a sigh. "We have to fix this, ma Jake."
"I know."
~~~~
Marali felt blinded with rage. She thought that after she said her peace, she would feel better. But as soon as the girl left, she felt overwhelmed with anger. The girl was hastily walking into the forest to find something - anything that she could release her newfound wrath onto. She felt as though a switch had been flipped, and she could no longer contain the emotion she once had one hundred percent control over.
It was unbelievable to her that Jake and Neytiri automatically believed what Lo'ak had said, no questions asked. When Lo'ak stormed away from the girl and his family, she felt her chest tighten, and all she could see was red.
Jake hadn't always been so hard on Lo'ak. He used to be an amazing father to all his children, but when the boys were old enough to start training to become warriors, he got more strict. Then, when the Sky people returned, he became ten times worse.
The girl had always wanted to say something when Jake scolded Lo'ak or even Neteyam, but her father always discouraged her from doing so. Marali had brought Jake's behavior to her father's attention one night, telling him that she wanted to say something to stick up for her friends, but Norm told her no. He told her that it wasn't of her concern the way Jake talked to his kids. So, instead of fighting him on it, she obeyed what he said without saying another word about it.
Now, she regrets listening to Norm. Maybe if she had stuck up for Lo'ak or Neteyam in the past, things wouldn't be so bad now. Marali walked up to the nearest tree and punched it, hissing at the impact on her knuckles. She knew she shouldn't have punched the tree, but hitting it made her feel better.
So, that's what she did. The girl ignored the aches and pains in her knuckles and hit the tree until she no longer felt mad. She hit the tree until she was panting for air, and blood poured out of her knuckles. Marali hissed when she grazed her fingers over one of the cuts on her hand.
Marali wasn't ready to go back to the pod yet, still not trusting her anger to have fully subsided, so she slowly made her way over to the opening where she last met her ikran and sat down on one of the rocks.
It was a colder night for the Metkayina clan, and when a breeze hit the girl's skin, she felt goosebumps start to form. The breeze felt nice on her burning knuckles, though, so the girl decided to stay on the rock and stick it out until she was ready to go back.
She sat on the rock and allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts until she had an eerie feeling that someone was watching her. Marali ignored the feeling, though. She thought she was just being paranoid.
"Hey." A voice said, standing right behind Marali.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Marali slowly turned around and screamed at the sight.
Unedited. 05/20/23
Edited. 07/19/23
Word Count: 2,541
Quick note-
So... I hope y'all enjoyed that chapter. I'm letting y'all know in advance that Marali and Jake's relationship in going to be a bit strained for now on.
How did you like this chapter?