From the Forest | ATWOW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Hey. Do you wanna come to a bonfire tonight?" A voice spoke up from behind Lo'ak.

"WHAT THE FU-- Dude. Holy shit. Where the hell did you come from?" Lo'ak gasped, putting a hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. "Maybe a little warning next time?"

"I called your name like five times bro, not my fault you're deaf. Is that a forest trait?" Ao'nung looked down at the navi with confusion laced on his face. His nose and brow were scrunched up.

The sun was still high in the sky as Lo'ak sat on the woven path with his ilu right below him. He was only sitting right outside of his family's Marui pod as Neytiri and Kiri prepared dinner, they had started to talk about what the kids had learned and Kiri immediately snitched on him being bad at everything. It felt like his chest was caving in on him as he saw Jake's disappointed stare. He just needed to get out.

He often just sat outside of their pod, if he went any further he was sure his father would send Neteyam after him and he would get an ear full when he got back. It also gave him a decent view of Sai'eyla, since the girl always left her pod curtain open.

"Tonight? A bonfire? What do you guys even do there?" Lo'ak lowered his voice hoping his family wouldn't hear it. He turned back to look at the slightly opened curtain before staring at Ao'nung again.

"We just hang, drink, party, and dance. Helps to get our minds off things." The Metkayina boy responded kneeling down to pet the ilu in front of him.

"You guys drink? We aren't even old enough for that." Lo'ak stuttered out. They didn't have parties in the forest. Or maybe he just wasn't invited to them. Probably the ladder if he was being honest.

"Who cares? Nobody ever finds out. Are you in or not?" Ao'nung rolled his eyes, a bored look settled onto his face. He wasn't really expecting Loak to be so resistant, he seemed like the type of boy to jump up at everything.

Hesitation spread across Lo'ak's body. It sounded fun, and he'd never been to a party before but how would he sneak out without his father finding out? He pondered for a second and he could tell Aonung was getting annoyed.

"What time?"

"Just a few past eclipse, you in?"

"Yeah, sure.

"Bet, don't be late. Tsireya is going to be there too." Ao'nung whistled to the ilu chasing it off and earning a glare from Lo'ak.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lo'ak frowned.

"I'm not stupid, bro."

"It's pretty romantic though if you know what I mean. I made out with Sai'eyla there once." Ao'nung says casually standing up and stretching, his eyes lingered on Sai'eyla's marui, it was wide open and she wasn't home. Who leaves their curtain wide open like that?

"You WHAT?" he started to choke on his salvia, eye twitching as he stared, mouth agape.

"She's a good kisser," Ao'nung moves past Lo'ak and steps into the girl's pod to check if she was hiding or something. Wouldn't be the first time. Once he came knocking and she hid underneath her mat as if he couldn't see the lump. "Anyways, I swear to ewya you mess with my sister and I'll make your life a living hell."

--

"You sure are excited for tonight!" Tsireya said as she combined through Sai'eyla's hair, separating sections, and started to braid a few beads onto her hair. The two of them had gotten all dolled up for tonight, it was Aonung's big bonfire party of the year, so they had to look good.

Sai'eyla smiled to herself, remembering her talk with the eldest forest Navi a few days ago, "I invited Neteyam," Tsireya stopped what she was doing before playfully shoving at the other girl's shoulder, shocked. "What?! And you didn't tell me?"