Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 5: Damsel

. • .° • *. •.  .

(POV: Ni'teya)

This cannot be good.

If there's been another attack, it can only mean that the Sky-People are back at work, perhaps with a new strategy under new leadership. — It's been a long time since... Then. So, it might not even be a real attack; It could just be those damned harvesters that collect the tulkun's amrita again. And they're easy to stop.

Needing to know the depth of the situation, I held Kiri's shoulders tighter, looking directly into her shaken eyes. "Kiri, stay here." I said, making her mouth open as if she was going to protest against my words. However, I didn't let her get to that point. "Look for Spider, he was just there moments ago, okay?" I told her as I let go of her shoulders, darting away.

"Wait, where are you going?!" I heard her cry out from behind me.

I turned to speak however I continued to walk backwards, too far gone to stop completely. "Just— To see what Tonowari thinks of this."

"Don't lie to me!"

She always could tell when I wasn't being truthful.

"I'm not!" I try to convince her, though I didn't see it working in reality.

"Come on, Teya. As if you give a damn what Tonowari thinks, you've already made up your own mind about this, haven't you?!" She yelled, pacing forwards angrily, her feet heavy on the beach. Because of her obviously agitated state, as well as her clear concern, I stopped walking backwards to speak in a calmer manner. I saw Lo'ak begin to walk towards me, however he seemed apprehensive to make eye contact with his sister, understandably.

"Please, Kiri." I spoke loud enough so that she could hear me. "Just trust me."

I saw her take a deep breath in as she stared at me with discouraged eyes. She wasn't racing towards me any more, either. So, I took it as a sign of acceptance in what I was about to do.

As I rotated to continue my run, I heard yet another frustrated yell. "Ugh! You're so careless!" Kiri shouted, not making me stop as I knew I'd already spent enough time trying to reassure her that I knew what I was doing (which was true... in a way). — Following Kiri's voice was Lo'ak's, who's words made me laugh a little.

"Hey, just go look for your boyfriend, 'kay?" He told his sister as he started to follow me.

"He's not my— Ugh!" She probably reached to hit him in some way which almost made me regret I hadn't seen it.

.

Before I even entered the crowd, I could hear them yelling. Anyone could've known the people were angry by the sound of their voices, the way they were waving their spears in the air, the way Tonowari was trying to calm them but couldn't. — I made my way through, Lo'ak following me from behind closely, spotting Jake, Neytiri and Tuk already there. Tonowari and Ronal's children were somewhere in the crowd, I could hear Ao'nung yelling even though I couldn't see him.

When we reached the centre of the crowd, I felt Lo'ak take my hand. Everyone was chanting, yelling about how they "must fight!" as both Tonowari and Jake tried to calm them down. Jake was bellowing all sorts about how "it's too dangerous!" and that "this is exactly what they want us to do!", with Tonowari agreeing and repeating his words to his people.

Meanwhile, I was getting majorly impatient. I moved over to where Neytiri was stood with her youngest daughter, seeing the bewildered look on both of their faces, which wasn't a good sign. Tuk was being held in her mother's arms, digging her head into her neck as she turned away from the crowd, trying to block out the noise. When she saw me, Neytiri beckoned me and her son over, whispering something in my ear.