Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 22 - Distance

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(POV: Narrator)

Everything seemed a lot quieter around the village for the next week. Nobody would laugh as much, meals were almost always endured in silence. Jake would sometimes try to lighten the mood by telling one of his terribly jokes, making mostly Tuk respond with a short spurt of laughter before quieting down again.

The same thing would happen everyday. They'd wake up, go do something to keep them busy, come back when it was dark to eat and go to sleep. They'd fish all day, help out where they were needed, swim up and down the coast of the reef, go for walks in the jungle, train, anything. Ni'teya would spend most of her time on the beach, either collecting shells or making something with them, sat at the same spot everyday as it was the perfect area to catch the eclipse's short streak of light reach far ends of the sky above her.

Lo'ak was becoming more distant towards everyone. One night, when he didn't return to the hut, Ni'teya and Jake went out to find him. It turned out that he'd fallen asleep in the jungle whilst making something to eat for himself. Jake had to carry him all the way back, laying him down to sleep on his own bed.

He'd talk, but not much. Ni'teya would offer to take him places on her ilu, as his wound still hadn't fully healed yet, but he'd refuse every time. His excuses ranged from 'feeling tired' to 'feeling hungry' and that was about it. Ni'teya tried to take him out onto the beach with her some days, too. If he did, he'd just sit there in silence as she tried her best to make conversation. He'd chime in with various 'okay''s and 'yeah''s, sometimes zoning out so that Ni'teya would have to ask the same question a few times. He didn't mean to, and Ni'teya knew that. She just wished he'd at least talk to her about what happened.

When Neytiri and Jake had tried to talk to him about how he was feeling, he shrugged them off each time, sometimes getting angry with them for asking him constantly. When this continued, they decided to ask Ni'teya to help get something out of him.

Tsireya would come by sometimes, offering foods and necessities kindly, joined by Ronal and Tonowari, who'd always pay their respects to Jake and Neytiri as they left. Aonung stayed well away however. He probably thought it best to not talk to either Ni'teya or Lo'ak in fear of making them angry or annoyed, worsening his situation.

Additionally, Ni'teya and Kiri would take frequent walks around the jungle during the day, talking all about what they could see and hear through the depths of the trees. When the topic would turn to Neteyam, Kiri wouldn't stop and change the subject, she'd talk about him as if he was right there with her, which was extremely comforting for Ni'teya to hear, not having been able to talk to Lo'ak about him yet. When Ni'teya asked Kiri for help on the matter, she told her to 'just hit him until he talks' like she did up on the Hallelujah Mountains. Ni'teya refused to, though. She thought that was unfair on him, as it was understandable why he wasn't talking.

The end of the first week came around, the Sully family and Ni'teya gathered to eat inside their hut once again, Lo'ak arriving late as he usually did. This time, Kiri and Tuk were talkative, bringing their Mom and Dad into conversation too, which pleased both of them. Ni'teya was too focused on Lo'ak, though. He didn't so much as touch his food, he only looked at it the whole time, waiting until it was okay for him to leave again. When he did, Jake and Neytiri would give eachother a look.

Ni'teya then finished her food, asking to leave in order to follow Lo'ak quickly to where he was going. Even though he no longer had to use a crutch, he was still rather slow at walking as sometimes his leg would hurt him too much so he had to stop for a while, meaning he hadn't gone too far along the beach by the time Ni'teya had caught up to him.