~+ Outcasts +~+ Lo'ak x fem reader +~

Chapter 53: Lo'ak's PoV

The morning of our departure, I wake up to absolute chaos.

My parents are arguing about how much we need to bring, Tuk is crying about leaving the Metkayina, Kiri is no where to be seen, and Neteyam is trying to calm everyone down. 

I take a deep breath before getting out of bed to face my family. I'm immediately bombarded with a list of things I need to do within the hour before we leave. I get to work rounding up the ikran, preparing them for the journey, saddling them and strapping our luggage to them. I'm about halfway through my tasks when Kiri appears.

"Kiri! Where the hell have you been?" I ask her as she approaches. I playfully shove her shoulder. "I was about to figure out how to tell mom and dad that you were missing!"

Kiri rolls her eyes, clearly not in the mood for jokes.

"Kiri, what's wrong?" I ask, concerned that something has happened.

"I ran into Atala at your guys cove," Kiri says. "She sort of blew up on me when I commented about her ethnicity."

 I wince. "Yeahhhh, Atala is very sensitive about the topic. It's gotten worse since she agreed to come on this trip."

Kiri huffs. "It wasn't even anything bad. I just said how lucky she is to have the blood of two Na'vi clans in her." She folds her arms. "But I do feel bad for making her upset. And she did forgive me."

"See? She forgives you. Now, how about you move on so we don't start this trip with drama, ok?" I say, trying to reason with Kiri.

Her eyes wander to her ikran before nodding. She silently moves towards her ikran and begins murmuring to it.

I shake my head. She can be so odd sometimes.

By now, my parents and my other two siblings have come out onto the dock where our five ikrans are waiting, ready to go - thanks to me. My dad is loading the bigger items onto the ikrans while my mom comforts Tuk. Neteyam is trying to help my dad but also keep an eye on the rest of us.

I turn to see Atala approaching. One of the funny things about her is that she will go out into the open sea with just a few knives and casually escape an akula. But an ikran? She's terrified. It's honestly quite adorable. There aren't many times where I can be the obvious brave one between the two of us, so I don't mind her ikran aversion.

Atala's eyes are trailing over my ikran, absorbing every detail. I can't help but take pride in him. It certainly wasn't an easy task to tame him, but once we did, we clicked.

"Atala!" I say to her. "This is my ikran. You'll be flying with me."

She offers me a shaky smile, for once not doing a great job of hiding her emotions. "Great," She says, her eyes still wandering over my ikran. "I can't wait to get going."

"While my parents and siblings get everything set up, I'm going to give you a lesson on how to sit on him." I explain. She sort of needs to know how to at least sit on an ikran, considering we're going to be flying for at least a day.

I take a step back before mounting my ikran. Unlike many other things, riding an ikran came pretty naturally to me. I think it's because its such a great way to escape everyone. I position myself into the proper pose over my ikran. 

Atala looks baffled and nervous.  "Um, could you maybe fly around so I can see how he moves?" She says, in an oddly squeaky voice. 

That's new. Atala is nervous.

I give her a reassuring smile as I ask my ikran to lift into the air. I make a few of my favourite moves with him - figure eights - before I land next to Atala in almost the same spot.

Atala's mouth is agape. "Wow," She says. "That's incredible."

I shrug. I'm not really that good, and the only "fancy" move I can do are the figure eights. "You should see what my mother and her ikran can do. It makes me look like an amateur."

Neteyam appears next to Atala. "Trust me, Atala, my baby bro is an ameteur," He says, slapping me on the back. "He looks like it too."

I step away from his reach. "Neteyam," I say with a warning tone. I don't really want Atala to see my older brother talking down to me like this.

Neteyam raises his hands and steps back. "Alright, backing off," He says. "Wouldn't want to embarrass you infront of your girlfrie-"

"Skxawng!" I hiss as I smack the back of Neteyams head with the back of my hand. Which was not the smartest move, considering I hit a knuckle and it hurts. But I ignore it as we start fighting. My mom comes over and separates us before either of us get seriously hurt.

My mother shoots Atala a pitying look. "I am so sorry Atala. You'll get to experience these skxawngs fighting on this trip a lot."

Atala laughs."I'll help make sure we keep the fighting to a minimum."

My mom gives a super sweet smile to Atala before walking away, taking Neteyam with her.

I want to move past that slight humiliation as soon as I can. "Sorry about that - where were we?"

"You were about to attempt to teach me how to sit on your ikran." Atala says with a grimace.

"You'll be fine, I promise. I'll help you climb on and then show you how to sit." I assure her. I pat my ikran on the shoulder and press my hands together so that I can boost Atala onto his back. 

"Alright, step on my hand and I'll boost you onto his back," I explain. "Go on three."

Atala lifts her foot into my palm. I count down and on three, Atala hops up. I use the momentum to get her on my ikrans back. 

Once I see that she has somewhat settled, I explain my brief plan. "Ok, so I'm going to get on so we can practice flying a bit," I mount my ikran, sitting right in front of Atala. I help her position her legs around the ikran and her arms around me. "I'm going to fly for just a few minutes so you can get the feel, alright?" I say.

Atala nods before burying her face into my back and tightening her grip around me. I can't help but smile. Her nervousness is adorable. I ask my ikran to start flying and we're soon in the air. I make a few figure eights, moving up and down through the air. After a few minutes, I can feel as Atala lifts her head off of my back.

I feel her sharp inhale as she observes the land below us. The village is pretty cool looking from up here. Everything is.

I ease my ikran to the ground. But as soon as we touch the ground my dad speaks up. "Alright. We're ready to go. Lets go home."

The trip back home isn't as bad as the trip here. There are no tropical storms, only a light rain. No one is crying and only Kiri is being sulky. Atala picks up flying pretty quickly. It only takes about half an hour for her to be comfortably sitting on my ikran's back, moving with him like a pro. I think her initial fear has faded.

I do feel bad for her though. Because of how mentally stimulating flying with a Tsaheylu is, I'm not bored. But Atala has been sitting there for what probably feels like hours. My dad practically refuses to stop. Atala and I chat, keeping each other awake.

I think the entire trip is worth is when we get a first glimpse of our home. I feel Atala exhale and I almost do the same. I'd forgotten how much I actually missed it. She tightens her grip, getting a bit uncomfortable but I don't say anything. I don't want to ruin her moment. She relaxes her grip after a moment, remembering that she's holding onto me.

I twist just enough so that I can see Atala. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

She grins. "Yes, it really is."

I start to get excited about showing Atala all of the things that I love. She'll definitely enjoy the The Hallelujah Mountains. I think she'll be good at hunting with bows and maybe riding direhorses. I hope she can learn everything fast enough to be able to be allowed to tame an ikran, but I'm not sure if that will be possible. I hope it is. She deserves one.

I am a bit nervous about how the rest of the clan will react to her. Not only did she return with us but she is a never before heard of Na'vi. But she did return with Toruk Makto and his family, so I think she'll be fine.

What could go wrong?