Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 28: Confrontations

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

Bold - sign language

Jake blankly stared at Ja'lia as her words rang through his ears.

"You and I are going to talk."

What could they possibly need to talk about? And why did they need to talk about it right at this second? He was already stressed out enough because Tonowari informed him that the Sky people were looking for him and his family. He didn't need whatever argument Ja'lia was trying to start.

But that's when it hit him.

Ja'lia was going to talk to him about Lo'ak. Of course, she would talk to him about Lo'ak because Jake ignored his son when Lo'ak was the first one to reach out after their heated argument. Jake internally grimaced when he realized that he was going to get yelled at for the second time that day.

The first person to yell at him was Neytiri, and boy did she go after him for hurting her baby boy's feelings. Neytiri was always extremely protective of her children. Anytime someone were to yell at them, and she didn't feel it was justified, all hell broke loose. In fact, Jake was surprised that he went as long as he did without getting reprimanded by Neytiri.

However, this would be the first time that Ja'lia would ever confront him about anything. Jake was hoping that he might be able to deter the conversation for a different day, but when he saw the determination in her eyes, his shoulders slightly slumped. Ja'lia was about to have her way with him, and he had no other choice but to allow her to.

"Okay, let's talk," Jake agreed, and Neytiri glanced between the two, wondering if she should leave to give them some privacy or stay to mediate and make sure it wasn't taken too far.

Neytiri decided it would probably be best to go with the second option.

The mother watched as Ja'lia walked further into the pod, and she could essentially feel the pulsating anger flowing off Ja'lia in waves. Neytiri wasn't sure if she'd ever seen Ja'lia this angry before, and she also knew that Ja'lia had an impressive hold on her emotions.

That's why Lo'ak and Ja'lia made sense.

She was calm and level-headed, while he was a loose canon waiting for someone to set him off. They balanced each other out.

When Ja'lia finally walked into the pod, she sat a few feet away from Jake to look him in the eye. Jake remained seated with an emotionless facial expression, while Ja'lia knew they could feel her anger.

Although, Ja'lia didn't want to go straight to yelling at Jake. She felt it was only fair to get both sides of the story, even though Jake's side didn't matter to her. Ja'lia didn't care what other obligations Jake had, Lo'ak was his child, and in her mind, children automatically trumped any other task that needed to be completed or dealt with.

A parent was supposed to do anything for their kid. They were supposed to love, cherish, and protect them, and Jake had slacked for far too long on almost all of those. Ja'lia would give him credit for protecting Lo'ak when he was in physical danger, but Jake was practically the reason his child had anxiety.

Hell, Ja'lia wouldn't be surprised if Neteyam or Kiri had anxiety, they were just better at hiding it while Lo'ak wasn't. But that's how he's always been. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and Lo'ak felt every emotion to the fullest.

Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it was bad.

As Ja'lia stared at Jake, she decided to take some deep breaths before speaking due to the fear that she would completely lose her cool.