Forest Boy

Chapter 8 - Neteyam

"He's shot give him some room!" Lo'ak and Jake put Neteyam down and he groans in pain. I see the blood pouring from Neteyam and I cover my mouth and start to tear up

"There isn't an exit wound, he'll be fine. I hope." Jake holds his hands over where Neteyam was shot and looks around for Neytiri.

"Zaya put your hands on Neteyams wound, I need to go get Kiri and Tuk. Quaritch has them." Jake swims off quickly with his Ilu and goes towards the slowly sinking ship.

"Lo'ak go with your dad and help, please." I say, my voice breaking. Lo'ak nods at me then swims away on his Ilu.

I look up and see Neytiri flying towards us. She lands and quickly approaches Neteyam. "Neteyam, look at me. You will be okay." She cups his face with her hands and strokes his cheek. She starts to cry and holds onto Neteyams hand.

"Jake went to go get Kiri and Tuk." A worried look floods Neytiris face.

"I have to go help him. Please look after my son." She places her hand on my shoulder and I nod at her.

She gets on her Ikran and flys towards the ship.

"Neteyam speak to me." He looks up at me and smiles. "I'm okay Zaya." He says quietly.

"Ill go and get Ronal! We need to take Neteyam back to our cot." Tsireya quickly gets on her Ilu and looks over at me.

"I'll be right back."

-

The next day Neteyam was still recovering from the gunshot and Spider was back. But he didn't seem normal.

He had this constant look of guilt and fear on his face. Kiri and the others payed no attention, they were just glad to have him back.

I stayed with Neteyam all night. Checking on him hourly and giving him water. He can sit up now but I don't let him, he needs to rest for longer.

I cup his face in my hand and smile at him, he really smiles back. "I'm going to speak to your father and ask him to let you have a break from fighting and helping him out with stuff."

He slowly nods and closes his eyes. I remove my hand from his face and kiss his forehead.

I leave the cot and look around for Jake. I see him speaking to Tonowari and walk over.

I awkwardly wait for their conversation to end and then finally Tonowari walks away. "Hi Zaya, thanks for looking after Neteyam."

"It's okay, he still hasn't fully recovered but he's getting better quickly." He nods his head at my reply.

"But Jake, I wanted to ask you something." I look back at the cot and catch Neteyam peeking outside, he quickly lays back down after seeing me.

"What's wrong?" He says, finally.

"After Neteyam has fully recovered, I don't want him to go back to fighting straight away. I want him to have time to do the stuff he wants." Jake looks at me with a slightly annoyed look.

"Please Jake, give him a break. He's only young and I've seen the way you speak to him. Let him have some fun." My ears lower and I fidget with my fingers.

"Fine, I've been a dick to my son. After yesterday I've regretted treating him like a warrior and not a son. Tell him I said, whenever he needs a break tell me." He nods at me then walks away.

-

"Zaya, could you pass me some water." Neteyam whispers. I pick up the bowl of water and lift him up. He puts his hands under the bowl and lifts it to his lips.

He opens his mouth and lets the water slowly pour in. He swallows the water then puts the bowl down next to him on the floor.

"Tomorrow I want to go walking with you. I'm tired of being stuck here." He holds himself up and holds onto my hand.

"Okay Neteyam, what ever you want." He puts his hand behind my head and pulls my face towards his. He presses our foreheads together and closes his eyes.

"I'm going to sleep for a bit now Zaya, I'll be fine for a while." He slowly lays down and grabs my hand. I lean down and kiss him.

"I'm gonna go check on Tuk and Kiri, I'll probably be here when you wake up." I stand up and he closes his eyes.

I walk out the cot and go towards where everyone is. "God Zaya you still need to sort out your face, you've been looking after Neteyam too much to even focus on yourself." Spider stares at my face while saying that.

I ignore Spider and sit with Kiri and Tuk. "Thank you for looking after Neteyam!" Tuk wraps her arms around me and I side hug her.

"You're welcome Tuk, are you feeling better today?" She has an unsure look on her face after my question.

"Kind of.. That old man scared me, and I had a nightmare. But I've being playing with Kiri today so I think I'll have a dream about Kiri and lots of plants and maybe my Ilu an-" Kiri cuts her off.

"Okay Tuk that's enough, go and play with Lo'ak over there." Tuk nods at Kiri and creeps behind Lo'ak. She jumps on his back and makes him fall over.

Me and Kiri laugh then look at each other. "You okay Kiri?" She looks at me, then Spider.

She nods and avoids eye contact. "Kiri, I have a question." She looks at me.

"What's wrong Zaya?" I quickly look over at spider to see if he's listening.

"Have you noticed Spider's acting weird?"