"tell the tulkun." "go. go!"
ronal and tonowari looked at eachother in despair as the crowd dispersed and the people went to warn the tulkun. jake walked over to me after most of the clan had left, he looked so tired. "majake, you look exhausted." i placed my hands on either side of his face and looked into his eyes. he gave me a weary smile and rested his head on my shoulder. i brought him into my embrace as we stood, just holding eachother. what felt like many minutes, was probably only mere seconds so we broke apart and walked down to my marui.
"are we to fight? i do not wish to stand by and do nothing." i broke our silence when we reached the hut. "it's a trap, they're not hunting tulkun. they're hunting me." he speaks with a strain in his voice, as if he does not want to hear his own words. jake is a formidable warrior but it seems this entire ordeal has taken all of his energy. i could feel his pain radiating around him like a halo. i walked over to him, gently held his face and rubbed small movements on his temples. "it's going to be okay, we will all survive this."
he sighed in a dejected manner and we rested our foreheads together. when we separated, jake seemed to have remembered something and left my side momentarily to pick up what looked to be a black leather strap and matching black bean-shaped thing. "i need you to wear this. please, just so you can tell me if your in trouble." he handed me the strap and the smaller one. "what is it?" "a communicator, comms for short. lo'ak and neteyam each have one too. i just can't loose any of you."
his voice was desperate now, almost begging me to wear it. my heart broke at the sight and sound, he had been through so much already, this shouldn't have to happen. but regardless, i grabbed both pieces and put them on. i took my time with the strap, fiddling with the clasp until jake helped me out. his facial expression immediately relaxed slightly after i was wearing the contraption. "we have code names for each of us, lo'ak is eagle eye, i am devil dog and neteyam is pathfinder."
i giggled at there code names for each other. "what's my code name?" jake paused in a look of thought before grinning at his idea. "yours can be blue wing." i smiled at my new name and attempted to remember all the other names in my mind too. jake had taught me how to use the comms band, just push the button and speak, no one can hear you if you don't hold the button. thank eywa for that, i thought. i would simply cease to exist if both the boys could hear everything me and jake had conversed, ever.
after we'd settled down and i'd gotten used to the band on my neck, i picked up my spear and started sharpening it. jake was polishing his gun, which was like his pride and joy. it was peaceful for us, which was a first in a few weeks. but that shattered when one of ao'nung's friends arrived at our hut, requesting to talk to us. "what is it, akx'ri?" "i saw the other kids swim off." he wasn't the brightest na'vi, but he was doing the right thing.
"do you know where?" "they went towards that way, the reef." i was a mixture of thinning patience and confusion towards the boy, rubbing my temple and asking him again. "but did you see where they went?" trying to extract more information was almost as difficult as killing akula. "they went outside the reef." he just stared back at me, blinking incredibly slowly it could creep anyone out. jake had been standing next to me the entire conversation when suddenly he turned, looking out towards the sea.
then he reached back towards me without looking, managing to tap my arm a few times. i understood his furrowed look and hand on his earpiece to mean the kids were talking to him. i pushed mine in and heard lo'ak's voice speaking through the comms. "we're at three brothers rocks, defending a tulkun under attack. killer ship inbound!" "who's there?" jake's voice was urgent, needing to know which kids where there.
"it's all of us, ao'nung and tsireya too." a hiss escaped my throat, i couldn't imagine tsireya out there let alone little tuk. my mind went into warrior mode as jake responded. "get to cover, do not engage!" we ran back into the network of marui's then, and found tonowari and ronal in theirs. "the kids are under attack, they're defending a tulkun, it's your kids too!" jake wasted no time in pleasantries as he tried to gather everyone to protect the kids. "the demon ship?" tonowari questioned while ronal had immediately dumped her weaving to grab weapons instead.
"yes, we gotta go!" jake and i ran back to our marui while we heard a faint "sound the alarm." from tonowari. i grabbed my spear, knives and throwing arrows while jake grabbed his gun and put his artillery vest on. before we ran back out, i grabbed jake's face with my hands on either side and kissed him. he froze for a second before kissing back, and then we broke apart. "don't die out there." i spoke between us. he smiled at my words, "wouldn't dream of it." then we both exited and dove into the ocean, calling a tsurak each.
every na'vi who could fight was on their tsurak and en route to the demon ship. we were all together, riding into the battle without hesitation. echoes of yips and calls were heard throughout, especially ronal who was riding close to me, she had a fearsome look in her eye. it didn't help that her kids were under attack. as much as i would normally pray to eywa that any na'vi on the receiving end of her wrath would survive, these demons deserved to die and i would make sure of it.
we rounded the corner of a cliff and found the killer ship waiting in the water, no tulkun in sight. i was elated at that fact but my heart sunk when i saw smaller blue figures on the front deck of the ship. i couldn't tell their facial features so i had no clue which kids were there but i was furious with these creatures for kidnapping them. the clan slowed and came to a stop away from the ship. jake, tonowari, ronal i were in the front line, jake pulling out his gun, trying to scope out what was happening.
"they have our kids, lo'ak, tuk and tsireya."
