4EVER | NETEYAM

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"Ao'nung? Weren't you with Lo'ak?" Ao'nung had a very concerned expression on his face, he was rejecting any sort of eye contact. His hands were fidgety and his eyes were wandering. "Ao'nung." Adhara sternly said, she knew something was wrong. "We left Lo'ak outside of the reef as a prank and we can't find him." He blurred out all at once, Neteyam stood up almost in the blink of an eye and grabbed him by his Tsaheylu.

Her cousin whined in pain as he was dragged by force. "Neteyam!" Adhara yelled, Ao'nung is reckless and stupid but he was still her cousin and she hated seeing him in pain like that. Neteyam completely ignored her calls and headed toward the parent's cot.

"Tell him what you told me!" Neteyam demanded, he was more than furious. He saw red. In the cot was Tonowari, Ronal, Jakesully, Neytiri and other people. Adhara was way too worried so she went running back to the beach and called for her ilu. "Wezen, take me outside the reef." Her ilu was beautiful, ethereal. The ilu had blue marks all over and a tree shaped birthmark on the ilu's nose.

It had been quite a bit of time since Ao'nung told us about Lo'ak. Adhara was concerned for his safety and was definitely going to yell at him personally. How could he? He knew about the dangers that lurked outside the reef. If Lo'ak is found deceased, her beloved cousin will bear his death for the rest of his life and Adhara would remind him of it forever.

She saw some movement in the water, "Payakan." She gasped, Adhara was on high alert as she saw Lo'ak swimming with Payakan with no care in the world. It was nice watching them swim around and have fun but Payakan bears the death of a lot of innocent lives. She looked back at the sudden noise and Adhara saw Jakesully coming over here, she saw Payakan quickly swam off as Adhara hid away on the corals.

"Lo'ak!" The worried father called out for his son. He grabbed him by his arm and swung him on the back of his skimwing. Jakesully's face said nothing more than rage and pure anger. They bolted away past Adhara, but Lo'ak had caught a glimpse of the girl. She called for her ilu after a while and head back to shore. 

Adhara seemed to get there late as Neytiri was snarling at his son."—out of my youngest son!" Neytiri snarled at Lo'ak and pretended to snatch her son's eye. Lo'ak tilted his head away and looked away in frustration. "This is completely my sons fault, he's been taught better—" "No, he didn't do anything. He tried to talk me out of it but I went either way." Lo'ak defended Ao'nung. Lo'ak has such a big heart, Adhara would never take the blame for someone like Ao'nung.

"Is this true?" Asked Tonowari, he was calming down but he knew his son knew better than to lead him there anyways. Ao'nung just lowered his head in defeat and closed his eyes. Ronal took deep breathes to calm herself down from the frustration they all felt. Everyone felt the same except Ao'nung, he was just utterly confused.

Tonowari then spoke, "Heal his wounds, Adhara." Adhara quickly strained her posture and nodded, "Come, Lo'ak." She walked with Lo'ak and Neteyam by their side. Just as they got out of the cot and far enough from there, Ao'nung caught up to us. "Why did you speak for me?" Asked her cousin, "Because I know how it feels to be one big disappointment." Lo'ak stopped in his tracks and stared at Ao'nung. "I'm sorry."

Adhara never knew that boy could ever apologize, she figured the word was banned in his vocabulary. Lo'ak sighed and kept walking, Neteyam shot Ao'nung a look and Ao'nung stepped back, not wanting to cause more problems.

"Lo'ak, wait in there. Neteyam, help me grab some herbs for this moron." She pushed Lo'ak away and grabbed ahold of Neteyam's forearm. Adhara dragged him with her and let go of his forearm when they were there. "You must love my skin or something, you keep touching me." Neteyam teased, Adhara scoffed and pushed him away.

She sighed and crouched down, now in her sight were medicinal herbs that helped with cleaning and avoiding further damage. "Grab a few." Adhara told Neteyam, he crouched down next to her and started picking out the best ones.

He got ahold of one that she was already picking up, to which made her look at him, "Are you okay?" "Yes, why?" Neteyam was confused as to why she had asked him how he was, "You seem dumber than usual." Adhara smirked playfully and snatched the herb.

Neteyam groaned and pushed Adhara, causing her to fall to the side. "Eywa forbid you pushing me." Adhara gasped. Neteyam was laughing his ass off at the annoyed Na'vi, "Apologize." She demanded as he shook his head, disagreeing. "Apologize!" She repeated.

This time, she was the one pushing him. Neteyam let out a yelp as he lost balance and fell down. Adhara laughed at him and stood up. "Lo'ak is waiting." She held out a hand for him to grab and he did grab it, but the moment he got up, he pulled her close.

"Neteyam." Adhara threatened, they were touching noses. He let her go and he chuckled, "Weak—" "Stop that! I am not weak. The audacity for you to call me something I am not is disrespectful." Adhara cut him off and snatched her hand away from his hold. "Do not get comfortable." The fierce girl added and gave him the cold shoulder.

Neteyam could only stare at her in curiosity. He had never met such a feisty woman. She knew what she said was harsh, but she had lost track of where she stood. Adhara forgot what she first thought when she saw them. 'Do not get attached.' She repeated that same phrase in her mind as she walked back to the Marui.

"Here, Lo'ak. Lay here." Adhara watched him lay down slowly, she prepared the herbs and mashed them together with a little water. "What's the fish for?" Lo'ak pointed at the cooked fish in the basket. She looked at it and shrugged, "Just in case I get hungry." Adhara started grabbing a little of the mashed herbs and applied some on the cuts around his arms, back, and legs.

"I saw you." Adhara started, doing an effort to bring up the Tulkun, Payakan. "What do you mean?" Lo'ak looked at her with confusing written all over. "Nothing." Adhara sighed and put her hand on his shoulder. "Go." She ordered and he immediately scurried away, probably going to find Tsireya.

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