Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 17: Remorse

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

Bold - sign language

It felt like Ja'lia's heart had stopped beating when Neytiri uttered those words that brought Ja'lia's world to a halt.

Kiri had a seizure? When did she have a seizure? What caused the seizure? Ja'lia's mind raced with questions as she was by her friend's side in a heartbeat. Kiri was pale, and her face contorted in pain every once in a while, causing Ja'lia to give Neytiri a look of worry.

If anything happened to the Sully children, Ja'lia was always there for them. She considered them to be her second family, and that sentiment only grew when her parents died in that forest fire.

She took Kiri's hand in her own as she started to pray to Eywa that Kiri would be okay. Because even though Ja'lia and Kiri had their differences, that was still her friend and her sister, and if anything ever happened to Kiri, Ja'lia would lose another piece of herself that she wasn't ready to let go.

Although, Ja'lia didn't think she would ever be ready to lose another person she cared about, wasn't that the same for everyone?

Who would willingly want to lose one of their loved ones?

Lo'ak remained frozen in his spot. He couldn't think. He couldn't speak. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he was breathing. His older sister lay unconscious with the rest of his family circling her. Kiri and Lo'ak hadn't always gotten along, due to their extremely close age and polar opposite personalities, but that was his sister, and he was still going to worry about her.

The boy walked over and sat by Ja'lia's side to see that his best friend was holding Kiri's hand.

"How did it happen?" Ja'lia said quietly.

"She seized under the water. I called Norm so that he can come and make sure everything's okay," Jake explained, and the teen girl absentmindedly nodded.

Everyone was visibly upset, but when Ronal came in with her herbs and medicines, sighs of relief echoed throughout the room. The Tsahik was supposed to be the one who had one of the strongest relationships with Eywa, and they all knew that if anyone could wake Kiri up, it would be Ronal.

"Ja'lia, would you help Tsireya and me," Ronal asked as she concentrated on the unconscious girl in front of her.

"Of course, Tsahik," Ja'lia immediately agreed.

"Okay, everyone. Out," Neytiri said, but no one made any indication that they were going to follow her request, "Out!" She said, this time louder and with more authority.

Jake grabbed Tuk's hand while Neteyam followed closely behind his father, glancing over his shoulder occasionally to get one last look at Kiri. Lo'ak, however, still refused to move because he didn't want to leave his sister's side.

He felt horrible for what happened to Kiri. He thought it was his fault, and that maybe if he would have went to the Spirit tree with her, none of this would have ever happened. The guilt started to overwhelm the boy, but when Ja'lia grabbed his hand and squeezed it, it brought him back to reality.

"She'll be okay," Ja'lia assured, and Lo'ak nodded before he slowly made his way out of the pod to go be with the rest of his family.

As soon as he made his way out of the pod, Lo'ak went to sit beside Neteyam, who was holding his head in his hands. But when Neteyam heard something moving beside him, he lifted his head and saw Lo'ak. The oldest Sully child glanced around the area to see that his father had taken Tuk somewhere away from the rest of them so that she didn't have to see or hear what was going to happen in the pod.