Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 30: Unfortunate Tragedies

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

Bold - sign language

The two Sully boys and Ja'lia quickly followed after Jake and Neytiri as they rushed to the group of huddled Metkayina people. The Tsahik's spirit sister and her baby were unfortunately murdered by the Sky people. Now, the Metkayina people were out for blood.

Ja'lia could hear the battle cries, and her heart ached for the Metkayina people as she felt that it was her and the Sully family's fault that something like this happened to them in the first place.

The Omatikaya people pushed through the Metkayina people as they tried to make it to the center of the group. Anger and hurt could be felt in the atmosphere all around them.

Once they made it to the center, that's when they could finally hear Tonowari's voice.

"The war has come to us!" Tonowari snarled, "We knew about this hunting of our tulkun, but it was over the horizon - far away," He claimed, slamming his spear into the ground. "Now, it is here!"

Tonowari continued to ferociously speak to his people about the tragic devastation their Tsahik had recently faced, therefore meaning they were affected as well. The Omatikaya girl could understand their hurt and pain because if someone were to kill her ikran, she would lose her mind. Certain lines should never be crossed, and killing a tulkun was one of them.

The tulkun were graceful and gentle creatures. There was absolutely no reason to kill one of them without asking for war, and Ja'lia knew that that's what the Sky people wanted.

They wanted a war. They wanted the Sully family, mainly Jake, to pay for their betrayal. It appeared that no one was off limits and that the demons would kill anyone they needed to get what they wanted.

It made Ja'lia sick to her stomach.

Ja'lia glanced to the side and knew Jake was about to say something. He understood how upset the Metkayina people were, as he'd felt all the same emotions a little over a year ago when the Sky people invaded the Omatikaya clan. However, the Metkayina people needed to be smart. If they went straight into it with no strategy, an unnecessary amount of people were going to die.

Of course, any amount of death was unnecessary, but it was the price that came with war, and Ja'lia knew all too well of that horrific price.

"You've gotta understand how the Sky people think." Jake tried to explain. "They don't care about the great balance."

Cries and snarls were heard around the group of Omatikaya people as the Metkayina people refused to listen to Jake's explanation.

Lo'ak gripped Ja'lia's hand, and she turned to see the scared look in his eye. He was petrified of what would happen if his father couldn't convince the Metkayina people not to fight. There was only one way it would end, and it wasn't a pleasant thought to have.

Her attention then turned to Neteyam as he pleaded with the people surrounding him, "Listen! Listen to him!" The boy held out his arms as a way to try and calm them down, but his actions seemed to do nothing as the shouting continued.

"The Sky people are not going to stop. This is only the beginning!" Jake said, warning the Chief and the Tsahik. "You've gotta tell your tulkun to leave," he pleaded, "You've gotta tell them to go far away!"

"Leave?" Ronal scoffed, taking a step down from the pedestal. "You live among us, and you learn nothing!" She yelled, causing Ja'lia to put her head down.

The Sully family and Ja'lia learned everything about the Metkayina clan, and they understood their ways, but the Sky people were something they'd never had experience with. It was ironic how Ronal believed that they hadn't learned anything when in reality, she hadn't learned anything from them either.