Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 12: Not a Pushover

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

Bold - sign language

Lo'ak and Marali made their way back to the village on Marali's ilu. As they got closer to their Mauri pod, they could hear the horn blow, signifying that they had been found. The entire village had been looking for them.

"The Sully children have returned!"

Lo'ak had been the first one to get off the ilu, offering a helping hand to Marali, which she gratefully accepted. All of the village people had been looking at the teens with worry. Marali had been looking around to see if anyone else in the Sully family was there, only to see Jake approaching them.

Great. Marali thought to herself.

She looked over to see Lo'ak had an annoyed expression on his face, and she directed her attention to what he had been looking at. Ao'nung. Lo'ak had started to walk towards the boy but was stopped by his father.

"Hey. Let's have a look at you." Jake said, looking his son over for any serious injuries, completely ignoring the girl beside him. Marali had been looking at the Metkayina boy in front of her, shooting daggers at him. The girl started to walk towards him predatorily, ready to pounce at any second, but she was stopped when someone grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards Lo'ak.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked as he then did the same thing that he did to Lo'ak to her. Marali ripped her attention from Ao'nung, her entire body burning with rage.

"I'm fine." She gritted out.

In reality, Marali was anything but fine. She had never felt so much anger in her life. She was angry at Ao'nung. She was angry at Jake. She was angry she left home. But, most importantly, she was angry with herself. If they had stayed back in the forest, none of this would have ever happened. Marali would have never let Lo'ak come close to dying in the forest. The girl knew the forest like the back of her hand. She had never felt as useless as she did when she was searching for Lo'ak in the water.

Lo'ak softly nudged Marali, and she looked up to see what he was looking at. Neytiri. Neytiri approached the children, fear and rage taking place on her face. "I pray for the strength that I will not pluck the eyeballs out from the own son!" Lo'ak turned his face away, embarrassed. The mother then turned her attention to Marali, and the girl visibly gulped. Neytiri looked as if she was about to say something, but then she hissed in frustration, not able to think of what to say to Marali.

"No," Tonowari said, stepping forward as he made his son kneel before the Omatikaya teens. "My son knows better than to take him outside the reef. The blame is his."

Lo'ak looked around to see all the disappointed and judgmental gazes that were placed on the Olo'eyktan's son. The looks were all too familiar, and for some reason, he felt sympathy for the boy who almost had him killed. Then, Lo'ak looked at Marali to see her softly hiss in the boy's direction.

"No, this is not Ao'nung's fault." Marali snapped her head in Lo'ak's direction as she gave him a warning look. She had no idea what he was about to do, but the only person it would end poorly for him.

Ao'nung had looked at Lo'ak confused as to what he was doing. He thought that Lo'ak should've been happy that he was in trouble, ecstatic even so why was he standing up for him? What was the boy in front of him playing at?

"It was my idea. Ao'nung tried to talk me out of it." Lo'ak assured, and Marali growled in frustration. It wasn't true. It was Ao'nung's idea. The people had to believe that, but when she looked at Tonowari and Ronal, her hope diminished, and her shoulders slumped. The Olo'eyktan and Tsahik were unsure of who to believe, and Marali knew better than to put her hope on Jake and Neytiri.