14

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Payakan

A new day has dawn in the village of the reef people. The sun was rising which wrapped up the village in an orange color as it was in the morning. The forest boys finally made peace with Aonung and they are slowly forming a solid friendship. The group of young Na'vi were gathered together near the beach talking about the adventure Leyra and Lo'ak had.

"Wish I had been there." Kiri said to them as Lo'ak finished telling the story. "The ocean blessed you with a gift, brother." She added while she smiled brightly at Lo'ak. Leyra was sat on the left side of Lo'ak as they held hands.

"The tulkun have not returned yet." Aonung explained as he leaned against a tree in the circle they made. "And no tulkun is ever alone." He added while the other oceanic Na'vi agreed nodding.

"This one was." Lo'ak turned to Tsireya and Rotxo. "This one had a missing fin, like a stump on the left side." He explained.

Tsireya's eyes widened in realization. "Payakan" She told him the name of the tulkun.

"It was Payakan, yes." Leyra confirmed. "But he helped us."

"Who is Payakan?" Kiri asked interested.

"A young bull who went rogue." Rotxo answered her. "He is outcast, alone and has a missing fin."

"They say he is a killer." Tsireya explained while she looked at Lo'ak and Leyra concerned. He only shook his head in disagreement as he couldn't believe his new friend would be a killer.

"He killed Na'vi and other tulkun." Everybody turned to Aonung at his words. "Not here, but far to the south." He states and leans forward to stare at Lo'ak firmly.

"No, he's not a killer." Lo'ak disagreed but Leyra heard the stories about what happened in the south but she couldn't believe that Payakan was responsible for all of that.

"You are lucky to be alive." Tsireya said to both Leyra and Lo'ak.

"I'm telling you guys, he saved our life." Lo'ak kept defending Payakan. "He is my friend." Leyra squeezed his hand in support as she looked at him.

"My baby bro..." Neteyam stood up and went behind Lo'ak and Leyra leaning forward, causing his braids to fall forward caressing Leyras cheek. She frowned at the tickling touch. Neteyam grabbed Lo'ak's shoulders playfully while laughing and shaking him. "The mighty warrior who faced a killer tulkun and lived to tell about it." Lo'ak hissed and pushed his brother away.

"You aren't listening." He said upset looking at the people in the circle before he walked away.

"No. I'm listening." Tuk yelled after him frowning sadly, who was sitting beside Tsireya but he just kept walking away from them. The others were watching him go and Leyra wanted to go after him but she knew he needed time alone.

"Come back, Lo'ak." Kiri called.

"You skxawng." She said to her older brother because he shouldn't have made fun of Lo'ak. Leyra, who was still squatting, looked up to Neteyam, who was standing behind her, with a mad expression.

"This comment was really unnecessary." She whispered to him and he looked at her with an apologetic look as he put his finger under her chin so she continues looking at him. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your brother." She answers and wraps her hand around his wrist gently. "I will." He agrees and stroked over her lower lip with his thumb, which made her smile a little.

┅

"Payakan!" Lo'ak shouted in the middle of the ocean as he searched for his new friend. His ilu helping as it splashes in the water with its fin. "Payakan!" he yelled again as he looked down into the water.

As soon as Payakan came up to the surface Lo'ak swam towards him. "It's good to see you." He got on his smaller fin and propped himself up on his elbow.

"Why are you outcast? What happened?" Lo'ak signed to the tulkun rather interested than prejudiced and Payakan blinked slowly while making a sound answering him. "It's too painful."

"I trust you." Lo'ak said while motioning with his hand for the tulkun to understand. "You can trust me." He added while laying his hand on the tulkun's head. The tulkun made agreeing noises and he was glad that he found a friend.

"Where is Leyra?" Payakan asked him with a questioning sound, but Lo'ak didn't fully understood the tulkun communication way yet, so he only understood her name.

"Leyra?" He asked and he took the blink from Payakan as a yes. "She probably is on her way to us." Lo'ak answered his question signing.

"You seem to like her. A lot." Payakan sounded and you could hear his smirk in the sound he made.

"I do. Is it that obvious?" Lo'ak signed back as his cheeks turned slightly red. Lo'ak liked to talk with someone about the girl he liked that wasn't Neteyam or Kiri and Payakan could give him advice on how to make Leyra like him more. Payakan blinked once for a yes.

"Talking about me, I see." Leyra said smirking behind Lo'ak as she swam towards them on her ilu.

"You came!" Lo'ak exclaimed happily as he turned around to her. "Of course." Leyra answered and sat beside Lo'ak on the tulkun's fin. She greeted Payakan as she laid her hand above his bigger eye to caress him.

"I'm sorry that the others didn't believe you." Leyra said to Lo'ak as she looked at him and put her hand on his chest. His heartbeat quickened slightly at her touch and Payakan made a knowing sound. "He likes you."

"I know." Leyra signed with one hand to Payakan and smirked. "What did he say?" Lo'ak asked confused as he was distracted by her touch. "Nothing." She just answered him.

"Lets go for a swim!" Payakan told them and moved under the surface. The two Na'vi inhaled a last time and followed Payakan under the surface holding on to his smaller fin as he began to swim, slow at first.

They were swimming all afternoon long and the young Na'vi had the best time of their life. They were holding on the fin of the tulkun as they looked at each other while swimming. As the sun goes down the two of them were laying on the back of Payakan staring into the sky above them exhausted from all the swimming.

The moons were clearer to be seen in the evening and the stars were coming through. Leyra was laying in Lo'ak's arms and her head was on his chest. She was listening to his heartbeat as they laid in silence, enjoying each others closeness.

"Do you like looking at the stars?" Lo'ak broke the silence and looked down to Leyras face.

"I do. I always look at the brightest star in the sky." She whispers back as she traced the glowing dots on his chest with her finger. "It reminds me of my Mom. That she is watching over me." She added and her mood switched to a sadder a little bit.

"What happened to her?" He asked carefully as he stroked over her arm to calm her down as her heart was racing because of the topic they are about to speak about.

"She died giving birth to me."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't even got to meet her." She mumbled as a tear slipped down her cheek. "My father only was there for me for a short amount of time. He just disappeared one day."

"Where did he go?"

"I honestly don't know. He was just gone. He said 'I'll be gone just for a few hours, flying on my ikran. I'll be back before you know it.' And then he never came back." She could remember the moment exactly as it had happened just yesterday. It was burned in her mind.

"My Dad came from this star." Lo'ak said after she didn't say anything more about her father and pointed to a star which was the planet earth. "He was one of the sky people before he was a member of the Omaticaya clan. They called him a dream walker because he would have a human body and a Na'vi body. He was in the-"

"- Avatar program." Leyra finished his sentence.

"How do you now that?" He asked her.

"Our fathers are very similar. Mine was one of the sky people too. Thats why I have five fingers like you." She said and raised her hand into the sky for both of them to see. He wrapped his hand around hers and interlaced their fingers. They fit perfectly into each other. Five to Five. The same number.

"So your Dad looked like me? Like a forest Na'vi?" Lo'ak asked and she nodded in response.

"That's why I look so different from you and the people in my clan. He met my mother who was, well, an ocean Na'vi and I am a mix of both. A freak." She mumbled the last part and it hurt Lo'ak to hear her talk about herself like that but he could understand her. He was the outcast from his clan. He glanced at their clasped hands on his chest.

"You are not a freak." He said firmly and Leyra shifted her position to look at him. "You are special, Leyra." He looked into her green eyes, that reminded him of the trees in his home forest. She glanced at their hands and brought them to her mouth, kissing his knuckles and then looking back into his eyes.

"You are special." She said and a small smile formed on her face. He took her head with his other hand and pulled her face to his. Their lips touched gently and as they kissed Leyra leaned back so she was laying down.

She pulled Lo'ak above her and they continued kissing each other as Lo'ak steadied himself with his arms above her. He gently pushed her legs apart and laid down without crushing her with his weight. Their bodies were touching completely and their kiss got more heated as his tongue brushed over her lower lip. She gave his tongue access to her own and the kiss got sloppier.

Lo'ak moved down to her jaw with small kisses and then to her neck. She closed her eyes and fought back a moan as he started to suck on a spot under her ear. She grabbed his shoulder roughly and arched her back slightly at the sensation. He moved further down as he kissed under her collarbone and sucked on her skin which made her gave up and let out a moan into his ear. She felt his growing bulge at her heated core and she wrapped her legs around his torso. While she pressed herself at him he let out a low moan as his dick was pressed at her cunt.

"Fuck, I want you so bad." He whispered as he continued kissing down to her breasts that were still covered by her top. She moaned again as he was just slightly away from her nipples.

They suddenly broke apart when Payakan made a sound and moved beneath them.

"Sorry!" Lo'ak yelled before they both got swallowed in the water because Payakan moved down into the water.

┅

Leyra and Lo'ak walked hand in hand to the center of the village where all the young adults were gathered for a party after they said goodbye to Payakan. They spotted Tsireya, Aonung, Rotxo, Neteyam and Kiri sitting in a circle around a small fire pit and other Na'vi were in groups around other fire pits too.

"Where have you been?" Kiri asked them both as they arrived at the group.

"Haven't seen you after this morning." Rotxo added.

Leyra and Lo'ak looked at each other, communicating with their eyes that they won't say anything about Payakan.

"We were just swimming and talking." Lo'ak answered as he turned back to the group and Leyra agreed nodding.

"Well, sit down. I stole some alcohol for us." Rotxo said and motioned to the cups in the middle of the group. While walking past Neteyam, Lo'ak gave him a pat on the back, saying that the comment from the morning was forgiven and sat down across from him next to Rotxo and Aonung. Leyra wasn't sure were to sit because she still couldn't forgive Tsireya and Aonung. She was standing closest to Neteyam so she sat beside him and Rotxo on her other side.

Neteyam immediately noticed the hickey on Leyra's neck that Lo'ak had given her and put his hand on her thigh, squeezing it slightly. That caught Leyra's attention and she turned her head to him while looking at him questioning.

"Just swimming and talking?" He asked with his accent coming through and looked at her neck. He couldn't help being a little bit jealous of his brother for spending time with her the whole day.

"What?" She responded confused and went over her neck with her hand. She felt a little pain on a spot under her ear and her eyes widened as she quickly put her wavy hair forward. "He gave me a hickey?" She whisper yelled and looked at Lo'ak for a second, but he was captured in a conversation with Rotxo.

"So what did you really do?" Neteyam asked while looking impatiently.

"Swimming, talking and making out." She mumbled so no-one would hear the last part and looked at him waiting for his reaction. He only nodded slightly and a small smirk appeared on his face.

"Only making out?"

"Yes."

"Good."

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[art by me]