Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 04: Two Weeks Later

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Marali was tracking the Sully children, staying far enough away so they couldn't see her. But also making sure she was close enough to hear the conversation happening. If the girl hadn't been in trouble with her father, she would have gone with them when they asked her to join, but her father told her no.

The girl saw Tuk bend over to inspect one of the plants, causing her older brother to yell at her. "Tuk, keep up!" Lo'ak yelled, not willing to slow his pace for his little sister. Marali jumped from tree to tree, stopping when the Sully children did so she wouldn't be seen.

She had a bad feeling about the kids being out in the woods, but she knew her father wouldn't want to hear of it, so she decided to sneak out.

"Why'd you bring her anyways?" Spider asked.

"She's such a crybaby." Lo'ak looked at Spider, "She's all - I'm telling. You're not supposed to go to the battlefield. I'll tell Mom if you don't let me come." Lo'ak said, raising his voice to mimic the sound of Tuk.

"Don't pick on her," Kiri rolled her eyes while Tuk stuck her tongue out at her brother. Marali softly giggled at the scene before her. When she looked at Lo'ak to see his reaction, all the boy did was roll his eyes.

As the group climbed higher, Marali went higher, doing her best to stay out of their line of sight. From below, she saw Lo'ak and Spider check out an old abandoned Samson left behind from the war between the Na'vi and Sky people. The girl wished she could look around the wreckage too, but that would blow her cover. "Are there any dead bodies up there?" Tuk questioned, looking at the boys curiously.

To anyone else, that question would have been horrifying to hear from a child, but to the Na'vi teens, they just pushed it off as a sign of Tuk's growing curiosity about the forest. As Lo'ak and Spider sat in the Samson, allowing Tuk to come and check it out as well, Marali noticed that Kiri had disappeared.

Calming her breath and heartbeat, Marali did her best to take in her surroundings to see if she could feel a pull from Kiri as they had always had a strong connection. She could feel a strong presence coming from the right side of the forest, so being as quiet as she could, she hopped from tree to tree looking at the ground below for Kiri.

It didn't take the young girl long to find her friend. Kiri was laying in the grass in a meditative state. The grass around Kiri moved in waves as she continued to lay there.

It didn't take long before Spider went looking for his friend. When Spider first saw the girl, he stared at her for a couple of minutes before deciding to shake her awake. Marali knew that Kiri and Spider had a special relationship, she didn't know the extent of it, but she knew that they both cared deeply about each other.

Eventually, Lo'ak and Tuk had come to look for Spider and Kiri. "Kiri!" Tuk yelled, running over to her sister. Tuk looked at them before speaking, "We've got to get back."

Spider held his hand out for Kiri to use to help herself up off of the ground. The group made their way back through the forest, jumping over broken trees, until Lo'ak stopped, kneeling and observing the ground in front of them. Spider jumped down from the tree he was standing on and kneeled beside Lo'ak.

"What is it?" Kiri asked as she joined the boys in crouching down. Marali saw the look on Tuk's face. She was getting anxious. Her siblings and Spider had stopped to inspect the ground, and eclipse would be happening soon.