chapter 16: amongst these people

⋆。 ゚☁︎。 ⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。 ⋆

A loud thud made Na'veya sit upright, already reaching for her knife. But then she saw Lo'ak standing in front of her with a few bowls. His whole body was covered in smudges of different colors. It was a mess around him and it looked like he'd just dropped something. He tried to cover it up and play it cool but it didn't necessarily work that well.

He looked like an innocent puppy, staring at her. 'I made you breakfast.'

Na'veya let out a large laugh. 'I wish you could see yourself right now.' She slowly walked up to him as her hips swung from side to side. 'I love it.' She gently placed a kiss on his cheek before turning around and trailing her tail across his chest.

Lo'ak stared at her in awe as she moved back to the middle of the pod and sat down. It felt like this wasn't real— like she wasn't real. 'I hope it tastes good.'

'I'm sure it does.' Na'veya softly spoke as she took a gentle bite of her food. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't half bad either. She mostly appreciated the effort Lo'ak made for her. It gave her a warm feeling in her belly. She'd never experienced a feeling like this before.

He got lost in her eyes once again. As he cleared his throat after realizing he'd been staring quite a while, he finally opened his mouth to speak. 'You know, you're going to have to learn how to swim. How to breathe.'

Her head shot up to face him. 'Why.' It wasn't even a question, just a demand he'd tell her why.

Her intense gaze used to make him uncomfortable. But now he realized why she does it. It's because she's a predator. He's used to it by now. 'Because you have to learn to be one of the people.'

What she didn't want to tell Lo'ak was that the was afraid. She'd never lived among other Na'vi before, she was incredibly nervous. She knew they thought of her as a killer. Na'veya couldn't picture herself living amongst these people. Even though she couldn't care less about what they think of her, it still made her uncomfortable. She didn't even know why. But she couldn't just say no to Lo'ak, not after the huge risk he took introducing her to the village. They were lucky with how it ended, they could've been killed at the sight. But thanks to Lo'ak, she was alive. In more ways then one. 'Alright.'

When Lo'ak carefully tried to lean over with his hand to grab hers, a loud noise to the right made Lo'ak jump upright and Na'veya wield her blade as she stayed close to the ground. But they could've never predicted who it was.

'Please don't tell mom and dad I'm here. I just wanted to see her.'

Na'veya's eyes flew wide open, putting her knife away and standing up straight as she looked over at Lo'ak to see what to do.

Lo'ak just looked at her with an expression that gave away he had no idea what to do. 'It's not safe, Tuk.' He walked over to the youngling, trying to nudge her out of the pod. If their parents found her here, he'd be dead in a second.

'Why? Is she going to kill me?' The young Na'vi turned around and raised her eyebrow at Na'veya. Bold move, Na'veya thought. She already respected the little girl.

'I just might.' Na'veya stepped forward as Lo'ak had a look in his eyes asking if she was insane. Na'veya could feel that Tuk knew this was a joke.

Lo'ak already kneeled down, facing Tuk to make sure she could look into his eyes to see he was telling the truth. 'She's joking.'

Tuk looked sceptic and Lo'ak had no idea if she was going to cry or either run away. She narrowed her eyes. 'She better be. I don't want to have to sleep with one eye open tonight.' And with that, she hopped further into the pod, looking around. Lo'ak looked over at Na'veya again, not really processing what his little sister just said. Na'veya's eyes were following Tuk as she moved over to her stack of arrows, brushing her fingers against the feathers. 'Aungia's arrows. I can't believe I'm touching them right now. The kids at home say that the only time you're able to see them, is a second before your death.' She stared at them with wide eyes. 'Take that, losers!' She yelled, pulling an arrow out and swinging it around.

'Alright, that's enough.' A worried Lo'ak practically sprinted over at Tuk, yanking the arrow out of her hand. He knew how incredibly sharp those are and knowing Tuk, her clumsy ass would cut herself within three seconds.

'You're no fun.' She said, rolling her eyes. It made Na'veya snicker but she quickly covered it up with her hand. 'Me and the others are going to this cove of Alister or something, do you and Vivi want to join us?'

Lo'ak nearly choked on his own saliva, trying to hold in a huge laugh. She just called the most dangerous being on the planet "Vivi". This couldn't be funnier. 'Vivi?'

'Yes. My nickname for Na'veya.' She crossed her arms, staring up at her with the most serious expression ever.

Na'veya saw how Lo'ak chuckled and Tuk shrunk just a little. She knows the little girl looks up at her brothers and lives for their approval and it doesn't seem like he agrees with her. Tuk is a really strong girl, leaving her home, her everything just like that. But her brothers are her weakness, which is fine. 'I like it.' Na'veya made clear, shooting daggers at Lo'ak.

Tuk stood a little straighter after she said that, smiling proudly. 'Are you coming or not?'

'No.' Lo'ak told her.

'No?' Na'veya asked him, looking over at him with a questioning look.

'Vivi still has a lot to learn. You can come here again when you come back.' He told her, patting her head and slowly pushing her out of the pod.

Tuk stumbled a bit, resisting. But after a few failed attempts to run back, she finally gave in. 'Okay, bye Vivi!'

'Bye Tuk!' She yelled as the girl left her vision. She chuckled to herself, shaking her head.

Fearless girl.

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