Family

Joey

My panic eases very slowly. From the second I saw Neteyam on the field with Lo'ak, I panicked. I know he wants to help more, but I honestly prefer knowing he's safe. Then that explosion hit and I saw him fly through the air. I thought that was it. I thought he was gone. 

We arrive at High Camp and land our Ikran quickly. I absolutely hate it here. We're inside one of the floating mountains, so we can't see the sky. I feel so enclosed in the giant rock. I feel like I can't breathe. But this has been our home for the past year. Eywa keeps the Sky People away from here very effectively. Plus, Norm said that their tools don't work in the mountains, so they can't really track where they are. 

The whole clan yips in excitement when we land. I immediately go and help Jake with Neteyam, who tries to keep from grunting in pain. 

"Fall in." Jake commands angrily. His family comes and stands together. I am holding Neteyam's arm tightly. It probably hurts a little, but there's no way I'm letting go. 

Jake immediately starts ripping into Lo'ak and Neteyam. "You're supposed to be spotters. You spot bogeys and you call them in. From a distance! Does any of this sound familiar?" He turns to Lo'ak, who is standing further back, definitely afraid. "Get here!" 

Lo'ak approaches guiltily. 

"Jesus, I let you two geniuses fly a mission and you disobey direct orders."

They both stare at the ground. 

"Kiri, can you go help your grandmother with the wounded?" Jake turns to his daughter. Kiri is very talented when it comes to healing. "Please?"

"My brother is wounded." She replies, examining his back. 

"it's fine." Neteyam mumbles. 

"Baby girl, please." Jake begs. "Tuk! Go with her, go!" 

Kiri rolls her eyes and walks off with Tuk. Neytiri is checking out Neteyam's back now. 

I let go of his arm to examine it myself. He got hit with a lot of shrapnel from the explosion. He has scrapes all down his back and is bleeding quite a bit. 

"Sir, I take full responsibility." Neteyam is trying to diffuse the situation, but I know he feels gutted. He only ever wants his dad to be proud of him. Why would he do something so stupid?

"Yeah, you do. That's right." Jake is speaking to him, but I know he wants Lo'ak to hear too. "Because you're the older brother. You gotta act like it."

"MaJake," Neytiri interrupts, her voice calm. She's good at getting Jake to take a breath when things like this happen. "Your son is actually bleeding."

"Mother, it's fine, I..." Neteyam sounds so defeated, I can't help but feel his pain. 

"Come on." I take his arm again, this time gently. I think he got it bad enough from his dad. I'm not going to say anything. 

"Yeah, just go and get patched up." Jake sighs. "Go on. Dismissed." 

Once his father gives the word, Neteyam allows me to walk him to Mo'at. 

"Please, Joey, I really don't want to get yelled at again." He is very quiet when he speaks. 

"I'm not going to." I promise, interlacing my fingers with his. "But you scared me."

"I don't understand why he won't let me help more." 

"Because he is afraid of losing you." 

"But he won't."

"You don't know that."

"Lo'ak wanted to go, not me. I was trying to do my job as a spotter. But what was I supposed to do, let him go alone?"