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"Li'laak! Li'laak, come on, we're almost here!" Kiri called as I slowly lifted my body and took in my surroundings.

It had been a long journey that had lasted for many days and were all almost dead with exhaustion and uncomfortableness.

"Where are we?" I asked drowsily.

"We are at a Metakayina village," Neteyam explained.

Great, the reef people, I would much rather like to be back with the Omatikaya in the forest. I sighed and followed Jake and Neytiri as they circled the village, and a horn was blown. We made calls to signal that we had arrived. As we landed the villagers looked amazed at our Ikrans but even more at us, we looked and dressed very different from them. The final Ikran flew off to who knows where, but Zelay stood firmly next to me as I stroked her neck and held onto her shoulder.

"Li'laak," Jake tilted his head.

"No, she stays with me," I replied firmly.

Neytiri grabbed my hand, "Please."

I growled in frustration as I called for Zelay to leave. We walked out onto the sand and stood around waiting for the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik to arrive.

Two boys walked towards us and scanned us up and down. Neteyam and Lo'ak signaled to them the traditional greeting, but I stood my ground with my arms crosed.

They did not return the gesture and the taller one scoffed, "You call that a tail?"

I hissed and his gaze landed on me. It looked like he was about to speak but could not form the words. An intense blush appeared on his cheeks as he frantically scanned me. I smirked and raised one eyebrow as he was led away by the shorter boy, still in a trance. When the boy did not take his gaze off of me, Lo'ak inched closer, holding his arm out in front of my leg.

Then, a girl emerged from the water walking and flipping her wet hair over her shoulder. Neteyam and Lo'ak's heads both turned to look at her., but I noticed that Neteyam was getting flustered.

As the girl slapped the boy who was laughing at them, Neteyam awkwardly said, "Hey."

The girl gigled and Lo'ak looked over at Neteyam snickering, but quickly stopped when he saw his deathly expression. I was about to say something but was interrupted by the arrival of the Olo'eyktan.

They rode odd animals that were hovering over the water, soon diving over the patch of sand and landing on the other side. The man waded out of the water as the Tsahik parted the crowd, making her way towards us.

Tonowari greeted them all and asked, "Why have you come here, Toruk Makto?"

All Na'vi knew him to be a great and respected warrior. But it was not the chief that worried me, it was his wife.

"I have come to seek a sanctuary for my family," Jake pleaded.

"Sanctuary?" Ronal repeated.

"You are forest people, your skills will mean nothing here," Tonowari stated.

Ronal walked around us, picking up Tuk's arm and Kiri's tail.

"There arms are thin, and their tails are weak, they will be slow in the water." She grabbed Kiri's hand, "They are not even true Na'vi!" She held up Kiri's hand.

"Yes we are!" Kiri exclaimed.

She advanced over to Lo'ak, holding up his hand as well. "They have demon blood!"

I hissed at her, and she slowly turned around, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Did you just threaten me girl?"

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"No, I gave you a nice big smile," I replied sarcastically.

"Li'laak!" Jake stepped in front of me as Neteyam and Lo'ak snickered.

He held out his hand, "Look! I was born to the Sky People and now I am Na'vi! I adapted; we can adapt!"

Neytiri moved forward, "My husband is Toruk Makto. He led the clans to victory over the sky people."

"You call this victory? Hiding amongst strangers? It seems Eywa has turned her back on you, great warrior."

Neytiri hissed at her, and Ronal did the same. Tonowari rolled his eyes as Jake looked at him with raised brows.

"I apologize for my mate-"

"Do not apologize for me-"

"She has come a long way and is exhausted," Jake continued.

Neytiri scoffed and backed away.

"We cannot let you bring your war here," Tonowari leaned forward as Ronal returned to her spot next to him.

"No no, I am done with fighting," Jake said, picking up Tuk.

Kiri placed a hand on Neytiri's shoulder and Neytiri put hers over it. Closing her eyes she said, "Sanctuary has been asked."

Tonowari and Ronal looked at each other as if arguing without words, Tonowari seemed to be winning. "Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us. They will be like babies taking their first breaths. My children Aunong and Tsireya will teach them our ways, so they do not suffer the shame of being useless."

"What no-" his son started.

"It has been decided."

"What do we say," Jake asked us, I did not follow along with the mumbling of thanks to the leaders.

"Come, I will show you our village!" the girl called Tsireya exclaimed and helped them carry their stuff.

Her brother rolled his eyes and as I bent down to pick up a basket, I said just loud enough for him to hear, "Trust me, the feeling is incredibly mutual."

At this, Neteyam and Lo'ak laughed, making the boy fume.

Eventually Tsireya stopped and smiled, "Here, this will be your new home!"

Jake stepped inside and looked around, "Alright, this is great! This will work, huh?"

Neytiri simply dropped the rolled-up carpet she was holding and sighed loudly. I felt the same way as I watched Tsireya walk away.

I saw Lo'ak going to sit on the bottom hammock, so I quickly ran to him to push him out of the way. I laid down and crossed my feet resting my head on the palms of my hands.

"Yup, this'll do," I said stretching out.

Lo'ak tilted his head getting ready to pounce, "You little piece of shi-" he started as he ran over and started tickling me very hard.

"Surrender! Surrender! Please!" I exclaimed after enduring a whole minute of tickling.

Lo'ak pulled away with a very wide smile on his face, "You know we could just share the bed," he shrugged as he sat on the edge of the hammock.

I furrowed my brows and tilted my head, observing him to see what he meant by that. He sighed and got up pressing his thumb on my cheek for a second, "It is good to see you smiling again, Ma Li'laak."

- - -

A couple hours later I was hanging beads and plants on the wall next to my bed for decoration. Then, Tsireya showed up at our pod, and I smiled at the sight of her.

"Eating time is at eclipse! Come!"

Neteyam was the first to get up, stumbling after her and tying to catch up.

Me and Lo'ak looked at each other smirking, think the same thing: Neteyam definitely liked Tsireya. They all followed behind Tsireya to the main Mariu Pod where the village gathered as a community. When we arrived, all eyes turned to us, it was quite an awkward moment. The Olo'eyktan signaled for Jake and Neytiri to come eat with them, and at that, Tsireya led them to go sit with her brother. I rolled my eyes as I sat down in between Lo'ak and Kiri.

We conversed for a while, and to my surprise the boy called Aonung stayed quiet. In fact, he was staring at me! Ew! Gross!

The boy cleared his throat looking at me, "Wait, so are you apart of this family?"

"Huh?" I asked looking up from my food.

"I mean you just don't look like them and neither does that girl," he pointed to Kiri.

"I have a name, thank you," Kiri said.

I smirked, "No, but I am a family friend and decided to come with them."

"So, you are mated with one of them?" he asked, pointing to Neteyam, Kiri, and Lo'ak.

Lo'ak choked on his food at these words and Neteyam smiled patting him harshly on the back. Lo'ak growled and shrugged him off, he looked at me very closely almost squinting his eyes.

"Uh, no, I do not have one," I stuttered.

Aonung perked up and happily continued to eat his food, meanwhile Lo'ak's face had dropped, and he sadly looked at his bowl. What is going on? I was so confused.

As we were walking back to our pod, I pulled Lo'ak off the walkway and onto a closed off beach.

We stood in front of each other and Lo'ak asked not meeting my eyes, "What?"

"Are you mad at me?" I asked.

"No," he said quietly looking down at our connected hands.

I sighed, exasperated, bringing both my hands to my head as I turned away from him.

"Then what is this?" I exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Lo'ak asked searching my face.

"Us! What is happening?"

"Um- well, well I don't know. I hadn't really thought about that yet," he stumbled.

"Well, I have! I am so confused! I'm trying to figure out if you like me and if I like you and I- I, ugh!" I yelled in frustration.

"Woah woah, I am sorry, ok? I don't know what's going on either, you've been sending mixed signals ever since we slept in that old home tree."

"What? You have been the one sending me mixed signals!"

"No-"

"Yes!"

Lo'ak smiled, "Ok ok, so we've both been sending each other mixed signals."

I laughed burying my face in my hands, "Then what are we Ma Lo'ak?"

"See that, that right there!" he pointed at me. "I thought that meant you wanted us to be something more, like way more than just best friends."

His smile dropped and he started playing with my hands again.

"Is that why you were so disappointed when I said I didn't have a mate?"

"Well, I- yea, well I guess I expected you to mention something," he shrugged.

"Well, for now, and for clarification because I am so damn confused!" Lo'ak smiled. "Can we be, well I don't know, something that is not best friends?"

I reached up to cup his face with both of my hands.

"Yeah, I'd like that." he shyly replied.

"Ok," I exhaled deeply and grabbed his hands giggling and leading him to the pod.

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