𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 | 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐦

9.

Laya didn't think much of going to the effort of healing Neteyam, but once she did, she was glad. Hearing him defend her without a second thought touched something in her. It intrigued her. Those around her had always been loyal, but she never knew anybody who was willing to fight somebody because they said a few opposing words about another. She was inspired. It made her infinitely happy, and that's why she didn't mind helping him heal his bruises. In fact, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed seeing him lie down and trust her completely. She also didn't mind being so close to him.

Letting the paste that she had created sink in, she focused on other things. Like his hair. She always liked his hair, and the beads that so seamlessly fit into it. She raised a hand to his hair, and started to play with it. This caught him off guard, but he quickly melted into her hand.

"Is this okay?" She asked. He nodded, and raised his hand to meet hers. She stopped brushing her hands through his hair, and simply laced her hands around his. She knew that realistically, the paste had sunk in enough and she could take it off now, but she didn't want to stop holding his hand. She enjoyed the feeling of his warm hand in hers, and even if this would mean to her overthinking this moment in a few hours, she wanted nothing more than to keep feeling the heat radiate off his body and bounce off of hers.

Both in somewhat of a trance, the footsteps that neared the pod didn't alert them. Instead, the yelling of Lo'ak did.

"Neteyam! Dad is SOO mad at you, you better come quick-" He saw Neteyam lying down and Laya sitting next to him, holding his hand. Neteyam raised his head and looked at Lo'ak, who was currently trying to hold his laugh. "Shut up Lo'ak. Tell dad I'll be there soon." Lo'ak nodded and skipped off. Neteyam looked at Laya and smiled. "I'm sure he's relieved that he's not the one in trouble anymore." Laya let out a small laugh, before she grabbed the leaves from before and used them to wipe off the paste. "There." She said. "All better." She looked to where Lo'ak stood a few moments ago. "You should-" And at the same time Neteyam said, "I should-" They both paused, smiled, and then said Laya said "Go." Neteyam sighed and nodded, dreading the argument he was about to get into. Before he went, he grabbed Laya's hand and gave it a quick peck. "Meet me tonight. Where we met last time." She nodded and ushered him out.

Then Neteyam started the walk back to his family's cot. He didn't want to think about what was waiting for him, instead he just wanted to focus on tonight. And with the promise of tonight on his mind, he arrived to the cot and stepped in.

Sitting down on the floor with his knees in front of him was his father. As Neteyam stepped inside of their cot, neither of them said a word. Neytiri was pacing across the room when she saw Neteyam step in, and quickly rushed to him. She grabbed his face and inspected his bruises, though healed, they needed time to fade. Seeing his bruises, she checked the rest of his body, turning him around.

"I'm fine mom. Really." He tried to reassure her. HIs mother still fretted over him, inspecting his arms. Suddenly his father stood up. He walked over to Neteyam, and looked at Neytiri.

"Can I talk to him alone?" He asked gently, an eerie calm in his voice. She looked at him with a certain expression, telling him to play nice. He nodded, and she walked out. Neteyam sat down on the floor, and his father joined him.

"Are you hurt?" His father asked roughly. Neteyam shook his head, eyes trained on the floor in front of him.

"I'm glad." His father cleared his throat. A brief silence followed, but Jake quickly filled it. "Is there a reason? Or were you just in the mood to punch somebody." Neteyam pursed his lips, trying to think about what he should say.

"There was a reason." Neteyam replied. His father sighed. He wasn't used to Neteyam being so closed off. Usually they would talk while out hunting, but something had shifted in their relationship.

"C'mon boy, what happened. Don't leave me guessing. This trust thing only works if it's two ways." Neteyam nodded and began the story.

"Lately I've been... hanging out with this girl." His father raised an eyebrow and looked at Neteyam. Neteyam bit a smile back and shook his head.

"We're not-" He tried to explain, but gave up and moved on with the story. "Anyways, we've gotten pretty close, and Rotxo didn't like that. This morning we were going to ride Ilu's, I needed help, and Rotxo offered. I knew it was a trap but I didn't want to get into another argument with him, so I just gave up and accepted it." He looked at his father, trying to read his face. His father didn't seem phased. He knew it was out of the ordinary for Neteyam to get into physical fights with people that aren't his family, specifically Lo'ak, so he trusted him. Neteyam continued his story.

"Then.. after breakfast I went down to the beach where he said we'd meet, and he shoved me. I didn't even shove him back! I just asked him what his deal was. He basically went on to talk about how I was stealing his property." Neteyam paused, and looked down. "The property being Laya." Jake looked at his son, suddenly understanding why Neteyam had gotten into a fight. Not needing to hear any more, he put his hand on Neteyam's shoulder and sighed.

"I see. Well, you know why I can't let you go with no punishment right?" Neteyam nodded. This wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

"And you understand why you can't do that again?" Jake's voice got deeper. "We're guests. Getting into fights isn't going to help our situation at all." He looked at his son. "If you do that again-" He paused. "Just don't. I won't care what happened before. I need you to stay out of trouble. That includes setting a good example for your younger siblings. From now on, no flying for a month." Neteyam nodded, and Jake clapped his back. He stood up, and looked down at his son.

"How'd the other guy look?" He asked quickly. Neteyam tried to hide a smile, but failed.

"Worse." He replied. His father's face had a sense of pride. "Good." Neteyam smirked. "Way worse." Jake smiled and pointed his head outside. "Get outta here." Neteyam nodded, quickly leaving the cot.

He stepped out of the cot and Lo'ak suddenly appeared at his side.

"How'd it go? You get a scolding? Did he hit you? What happened bro." Lo'ak asked. Neteyam bit back a smile. "We talked. I can't fly for a month." He shrugged. "Wasn't a big deal."

Lo'ak rolled his eyes. "Of course. Golden child. Oh Eywa if I did that- I wouldn't be allowed to leave the fucking cot." Neteyam looked at his brother. "I just talked to him, he listened. He trusts me y'know. It wouldn't hurt if you started to listen to him."

Lo'ak rolled his eyes again. "Whatever." Obviously sick of this conversation, Lo'ak scampered off. Neteyam, happy he didn't get the worst punishment, went off to find somebody to help. It was getting darker, so he decided to find his mother and help her with dinner.

Most of the day had gone by quickly, what with the fight and all. He didn't notice how hungry he was. Walking around the village, he finally found his mother preparing fish for others to eat. Sneakily grabbing an already prepared fish, he quickly ate it and spit out the bones. His mother noticed and quickly scolded him.

"Netty! Stop. Be patient." She turned away to grab more, but not before giving him a look that told him not to touch the food. He whined.

"I didn't get lunch!" His mother rolled her eyes and looked at her eldest son.

"And who's fault is that?" Neteyam rolled his eyes and turned around. "Fair enough." Deciding against helping his mom prepare food, he walked away. Now bored, with nothing to do , he wandering through the village, he eventually found Kiri and Tuk walking.

"Kiri! Tuk! Wait up!" He called out. They turned around and waited for him to catch up. Once Neteyam had come close, Kiri took a close look at him.

"Your wounds are healing quickly. Unusually quickly. Who helped you?" She eyed him. He scoffed. "Maybe I'm just an excellent healer. Or maybe it's the ocean water." He tried to brush the subject off. Kiri didn't let him get away with it. "No. That's not it. Hmm" She took a closer look at his face and moved her hand to she could brush his hair away. He backed away and pushed her hand away. "Why are you being so weird brother?" She questioned suspiciously.

"No reason. Anyways, where are you guys going?" He changed the subject. Kiri sighed, "We're going to meet with Tsireya, Aunong, Laya, Lo'ak, and Rotxo. They want to go ride some Akulas." She looked at him. He looked down. "Rotxo, huh?" She rolled her eyes. "We need another person anyways, Alukas seat two people each. If you wanna come, you can't throw fists with Rotxo." He sighed and nodded.

"Deal."