Mighty Jewel | LO'AK + NETEYAM

chapter seventeen

Kyalayi hid into the forest by the beach, under the big green leafs of some tree. I destroyed villages, families and forests, her mother had admitted and her words didn't reasoned with Kyalayi. She didn't accept the pain her mother had caused to her people over all of those years. The teenage girl felt culpable. I helped them in exchange of your safety. Maybe Evelyn was the one who had aided the Sky People but Kyalayi still felt like she had blood on her hands. Her people's blood. Her mother had did it all for her and her father. As the eclipse gradually set in the sky, Kyalayi understood that her father wasn't coming to get her and she didn't blame him, Marrek deserved to make up for the time he had lost with his mate. The white haired girl was now laid into the grass, her arms locked in behind her head as she watched the stars. One of them had once been her home, if she could describe it as that because she had no memories of it. Sometimes, when Kyalayi closed her eyes, she caught glimpses of it but they ultimately always turned into nightmares and then blank. She couldn't remember what it was about, she couldn't remember the memories her mind kept sharing with her. She tried to tuned out her loud thoughts by focusing on the forest and its wildlife. Creatures snarling and singing, wind making the leafs dance and fall but her ears perked to the unusual sound they had picked up deeper in the forest. Kyalayi crawled through the grass as her heart pumped hard in her chest. After the trap and her mother, the girl was way more on guard than she usually was. She grabbed her knife out of her leather pouch and shielded her face with it, ready to attack if she crossed paths with Sky People. As she approached and the sound became louder, closer, Kyalayi slid her body up behind a tree and as she was about to attack the stranger, an arrow flew right by her ear and into the tree she was leaning on. She immediately lifted her hand to her ear, surprised by the sting she felt of the arrow cutting, blood now on the tips of her fingers.

"Shit." Neteyam exclaimed as he had realized that the stranger who had been creeping on him was Kyalayi. "Are you okay?" He asked, running toward the girl as he clutched his bow on his back. As he reached for her wound, Kyalayi lowered his hand with hers, bringing it back to his side.

"It's just a cut." The girl calmly reassured him as she wiped the blood on her thigh. "It's my bad, I shouldn't have snuck up on you."

"Maybe. But I should be the one apologizing, I nearly killed you."

Kyalayi chuckled to the incident, finding it more ridiculous as she replayed the whole thing in her head which took Neteyam by surprise. He didn't know if her laugh was genuine or if it was her way to cope, trivialized the recent events in her life. But the forest boy still joined her, grinning at the girl but also at the fact he hadn't seriously wounded her. He would never had forgotten himself if he did. But as the girl's laugh turned into soft sobs and dropped onto the ground, Neteyam's smile quickly faded. Kyalayi brought her knees closer to her body as she hid her face in it, embarrassed of her pathetic act, of presenting herself as weak. Neteyam crouched to her level and searched for her jeweled eyes, longing to get lost in them.

"Kya." He whispered while he placed his hand on one of her knee, caressing it with his thumb as a way to encouraged her in lifting her head up. The teenage Na'vi's sobs started to become quieter and as she looked at the boy, she inhaled all of her sadness and locked it away. Neteyam's eyebrows furrowed to the quick shift in her expression and he wondered why she wasn't letting herself fully live her emotions. Why she had to hide it.

"I'm fine." She stiffly said, wiping the last tears and replacing one of her braid out of her face. "What were you doing?" She asked, quickly getting back on her feet and acting like her breakdown had never happened by changing the subject.

"Kya." Neteyam repeated, pleading her to acknowledge her own feelings as he followed her in between the trees.

"I've never did archery. Can you show me?"

Before Neteyam answered the girl, he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look up at him by lifting her chin up. As the girl jerked away the first time, the forest boy put once again a finger under her jaw and gently raised her head. Kyalayi knew that the minute she would stared into Neteyam's eyes, she would became transparent. He would see her entirely and she wasn't ready to let herself be this vulnerable with the boy.

"Why are you running away?" The boy asked, his head tilted toward the girl's straight face. He knew she wasn't going to answer because that meant putting words on her feelings and the girl was clueless when it came to that. "I'm just saying that Eywa is giving your family a second chance. Take it and enjoy it. Remember how happy you were when your father told you about your mother. Your eyes were glowing and it was the first time I had seen you genuinely smile. I want to see that smile again, Kya." Kyalayi let Neteyam's words sank as her gaze flickered to the necklace around his neck. The necklace she had made for him when he had once again comforted her in that same forest. Something that seemed to have become a habit from the boy. As Neteyam watched the girl before him think, he hoped for his words to have an impact, he hoped he had gotten through her. "Come on, now. I'll teach you." He added as he took his bow from behind his back and placed it in Kyalayi's hands. The girl gently patted all along the bow, feeling the wood under her fingertips. She excitedly smiled as she stretched the string with her hand, her leather gloves getting in the way of finding a comfortable grip. Neteyam lowered the bow, causing the girl's arms to fall back down to her sides.

"You shouldn't point it at me." He grinned.

"There's no arrow." Kyalayi protested.

"Still." Neteyam replied as he remembered a faint childhood memory of Lo'ak injuring him as he taught him archery. Neteyam walked up behind Kyalayi, his hands brushing her lower back as he placed one of them on her elbow. Once again, the girl stretched her arms, a firm grip on the front of the bow as the other hand extended the cord. Neteyam corrected her posture as he raised her elbow up in a straight line, causing her to chuckle to the tingling feeling of his fingers on her skin. Kyalayi felt her heartbeat picked up, getting faster the more Neteyam closed the gap between both of their bodies. Their proximity making her mind wander to places she never thought it would. Before she could recollect her thoughts, Neteyam met her eyes, his breath shallow as Kyalayi felt his chest rose and fell onto her shoulder. The forest boy had longed for this moment but the promise he had made to himself earlier resurfaced, interrupting what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry." Neteyam whispered as he stepped away from the girl, breaking any contact when he turned his back on her.

"Sorry?" She asked, struggling to follow the boy but soon caught up with him and stopped him from moving further.

"I can't do this." The girl furrowed to his answer, not completely understanding what he meant by that. "You and me, we can't do this." He added which made it all clearer for Kyalayi.

"What is this anyway?"

Neteyam cocked his head, his eyes squinted as he knew that Kyalayi's question wasn't really a question but rather an opportunity for him to confirm what they both felt. "I can't do this to my brother." His words caught Kyalayi off guard, a small part of her knew why he had mentioned Lo'ak, even if she tried her best to buried it. "He likes you, Kya. You are great together, you balance him into being a better man. He needs you and I'm pretty sure you need him too."

And before Kyalayi could fully soaked the words Neteyam had just said, the Sully boy grabbed his bow and walked out of the forest, leaving a stranded ocean girl rethinking her whole life.

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Hello hello,

I'm not going to lie, this is probably my favourite chapter I've written for this book. I do love some angst in a love triangle, especially when one of them do not allow themselves to love.

Anyways, I hope that you liked it as much as I did so comment your thoughts and ideas and what you might want to see for our characters!

Bisous xxx