Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 01: Rule Breaker

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

Bold - sign language 

Ja'lia was currently sitting in front of Lo'ak as she painted black, green, and yellow stripes on his face. It was something that warriors often did before going into battle. Although, it had been quite a struggle because Lo'ak was talking nonstop.

"I just can't believe Dad's finally letting me go on a mission, ya know?" He said, and Ja'lia nodded her head as she tried to paint the stripes from his forehead down to his chin.

"Lo'ak, if you want me to continue painting your face, I'm going to need you to shut up," Ja'lia said, and Lo'ak immediately stopped talking so that Ja'lia could focus on his face.

Once his mouth stopped moving, the girl could paint the final stripes and look at her work with pride. Since the return of the Sky People, battles and raids had become more common, and Ja'lia was sometimes asked to help paint the warriors, so she had become quite the expert at it.

"There you go," She nodded, and Lo'ak ran over to the mirror that Norm had gifted his mother years prior. "Woah," Lo'ak gasped.

"This is so cool! Dad is going to be so proud!" Lo'ak exclaimed, and Ja'lia smiled at his excitement.

When Lo'ak had come to her the day before and told her that he was going to be going on a mission today, she felt her heart stop for a moment. Her mind automatically went to the worst-case scenario. She was going to ask Lo'ak to sit out of the mission due to her selfishness, but when she saw how excited he was, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

If Ja'lia had asked Lo'ak to stay behind on that mission, he would have in a heartbeat, no questions asked. Not because he didn't want to go on the journey but because Ja'lia didn't want him to go, and he would do anything for her.

Even, if it meant sacrificing his happiness.

So, instead of asking him to stay behind, she decided to ask him something else instead. Something more simplistic and easier to guarantee.

"Lo'ak?" Ja'lia said, and Lo'ak's head snapped in her direction.

"What's up?" The boy asked.

"Will you promise me something?" She questioned, and Lo'ak moved to sit in front of her.

"Anything," He confirmed, and Ja'lia took in a sharp breath, "Will you promise not to do anything stupid and keep yourself safe?" Ja'lia asked.

It was silent for a moment as Lo'ak processed her words, and tried to think of a response that would ease her mind. He knew he would do everything to keep him and his brother safe, but not doing something that most would be considered stupid would be hard.

"I promise to keep myself safe," Lo'ak agreed, leaving out the first part of the promise.

Ja'lia rolled her eyes as she knew what he was trying to do, and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. "And that you won't do anything stupid?" She gave him a pointed look.

The boy released a dramatic sigh, and reluctantly agreed to not do anything stupid. Both teens, of course, knew that he would inevitably do something stupid, one way or the other, but at least Ja'lia would have a reason to be mad at him if he did.

"You know, my Dad said that he would be willing to let you come on missions too, if you're interested," Lo'ak suggested, and the teen girl beside him froze.

She hadn't attended any training lessons since her parents died, and it disappointed Jake and Neytiri because she was an astounding warrior. Ja'lia was almost at the top of her class, but being a warrior wasn't what she wanted.