25

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saving your family, that's all that matters

Leyra woke up after a long sleepless night, when the sun was high up in the sky, which shined through a hole in the upper wall of the cave. The sunbeams shined straight in her face and she blinked a few times.

She couldn't really move as she was trapped between the body of Neteyam and Lo'ak. Their arms where lazily wrapped around her and she felt Lo'ak's breath at the back of her neck. While she tried to free herself of their grasps she felt the soreness in between her legs and she hissed at this pain.

"You good?" Neteyam asked chuckling while he sat up and looked at her with a smile.

Leyra nodded. "But I'm kind of sore." Her cheeks turned a little red and she avoided his eyes.

"We shouldn't have gone so hard on you." Lo'ak smirked behind her and put his hand on her lower belly.

"It's okay." Leyra now laughed herself a little. "I think I will get used to it in the future."

"You sure will." Neteyam agreed and Lo'ak nodded.

"We probably should head back." Leyra suggested and stood up. Feeling the pain more intensely, now that she is standing, she clenched her thighs together and sucked the air through her teeth.

"That bad?"

"We were too rough, brother, were we?" Lo'ak looked at Neteyam grinning, who gave him the same look.

"Maybe we are more gentle next time." Neteyam answered and looked up to Leyra with a satisfied smile on his lips.

She only rolled her eyes and turned around to collect her clothing, which resulted earning a slap from Lo'ak on her ass. She hissed and glared at him. "My ass hurts too from last night. All because of your slapping!"

"Sorry baby, but you can't deny that you don't like it." Lo'ak said grinning while he grabbed his loincloth from beside him. Leyra's cheeks turn pink at his words and she quickly dressed herself before something similar to last night happens.

"Can't we go for another round?" Neteyam asked her mischievously.

"No! We have to go back." Leyra said while walking to the water.

"Come on, love." Neteyam pouted but dressed himself anyway while Lo'ak followed her.

"No!" She yelled and rolled her eyes again. "Men, such horny asses." She muttered under her breath and lowered herself into the cool water. She closed her eyes as it seems that the water reduces her pain.

"Feels good?" Lo'ak asked behind her when he wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a kiss on her shoulder. Leyra nodded and let herself sink into his embrace. "I love you." He whispered in her ear.

She turned her head to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before smiling at him. "I love you too." Then she looked at Neteyam who got into the water beside them. "And I love you."

"Love you too, darling." He kissed her on the forehead and then mounted an ilu, which appeared beside him. Then two other ilu appeared and the trio made their way out of the cave and headed to the village.

Catching their breath above the water's surface they noticed a few Na'vi gathered around a floating animal in the water. Leyra's heart dropped when she recognized the leaders of the Metkayina clan and Jake with Neytiri.

The clouds were a dark shade of grey like the skin color of the surrounding tulkun. Leyra heard the heartbreaking cry of Ronal as she hugged the tulkun and Leyra knew it was her spirit sister Roa, when she approached the circle on her ilu. The brothers went to their parents to watch the scene from a distance.

Leyra made eye contact with Tonowari when she arrived beside him.

Ronal was studying the tulkun in front of her as tears stained her cheeks. "She was my spirit sister." She said and her voice broke while she looked at the small group of Na'vi.

Jake and Neytiri lowered their head in respect to the tulkun. The shared a look with guilt written on their face. They knew they had caused the events happening lately. Everybody knew that they have brought the sky people's attention to the reef clan. It was their fault.

"She was the composer of songs!" Ronal cried out. Her heart broke into million pieces when she felt the loss of her spirit sister. "We would sing together." A small smile was placed on her face, but it washed away with another sob.

She planted her cheek on the cold body of Roa and looked to the side. Seeing the little calf floating beside his mother made Ronal cry heavily again. "She had waited many breeding cycles to have this calf."

Leyra understood the pain Ronal was going through right now and she couldn't hold back her own tears when she saw her own spirit sister dead in the water replaying in her mind.

"The whole clan was happy for her." Ronal whispered as she looked at Jake and Neytiri. Anger towards them was slowly rising in her.

"What is this, Tonowari?" Ronal screamed while she looked back at her mate, who was trying to hide his own emotions. "What is this?" She asked again, but sadder this time. She never felt so much pain in her life before.

Leyra moved around the tulkun on her ilu and spotted bright red bags with a beeping tracking device on its flipper. It looked very familiar to her but she didn't know why or from where. She hadn't seen it on her spirit sister.

Her head snapped up and scanned the sea area around them. Luckily the demon ship wasn't in her sight but if they knew where they have left Roa then they knew where Jake Sully was. Leyra's gaze shifted to Jake and he was thinking the same thing as she was.

"We have to go." Leyra whispered to Tonowari, who only nodded as a response. Jake took the red tracker and turned it off. He then gave it his oldest son to carry it to the village.

The only thing that Jake Sully knew was that the sky people were back and are about to find him and his family while he was bringing all of the reef people in danger.

┅

Leyra flinched when she heard the thunder above her while the rain was pouring down on her. She watched from a distance when the clan gathered around their leaders in the main area. They were about to announce the horrible news.

Leyra walked between her clan members to get inside the circle where she saw Jake and Neytiri standing in front of Ronal and Tonowari, who were standing on a higher platform.

"My spirit sister and her baby have been murdered by the sky people!" Ronal shouted to the group of Na'vi, who where gasping, hissing and crying out loud.

Tonowari hissed and then spoke up. "The war has come to us!" He held his spear high in the air and the clan followed his movement. "We knew about this hunting of our Tulkun people. But it was way over the horizon, far away!"

"Now it is here!" He yelled and slammed his spear down on the ground and earned war cries and yells of the clan. The clan was holding out heir tongues and screamed in unison, ready to fight this war.

Leyra look around herself and felt lost it the crowd and in the situation. She felt like she has a deja vu.

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Eywa had shown her this exact situation and it confirmed her when Jake held his hands up in the air and waved to get the attention of the clan.

"You gotta understand how the sky people think! They don't care about the Great Balance!" He yelled and looked at the Olo'eyktan.

"We don't answer to sky people!" A warrior yelled.

"Listen! Listen to him!" Neteyam now yelled while he held the tracking device in his hand.

Leyra stood in the crowd anxiously and waited that the situation would hopefully calm down.

"The sky people are not gonna stop!" Jake tried again to calm the crowd and turned to them instead of facing the leaders. "This is only the beginning. You guys need to tell your Tulkun to leave! Tell them to go far away!" He yelled.

"Leave?" Ronal asked yelling in disbelief. "You live amongst us and learn nothing!"

Holding up his spear another Metkayina warrior, behind Ronal, screamed "We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" He let out a cry while sticking his tongue out again and the other clan members followed.

Something snapped in Leyra when she again saw her spirit sister dead in the ocean in her mind. She needed to find the human who killed her spirit sister and get revenge once and for all.

Jake got more and more frustrated and ran his hands through his hair. "No! If you attack- if you fight, then they will destroy you!" He yelled pleadingly. "They will destroy everything you love!" He motioned to Ronal and her baby bump, who immediately put her hand over it protectively.

The crowd continues ignoring Jakes words and hype each other up for war. Leyra glanced to Neteyam and then to Lo'ak.

"Listen to him! Listen to my father! He speaks the truth!" Neteyam tried to help his father.

"We will fight!" Leyra raised her voice and held her spear up in the air. The people behind her follow her movement while yelling again and again.

"No! Leyra, you can't go and fight." Lo'ak quickly said to her while grabbing her face. "I can't loose you, love." He revealed his fear and tears were glistening in his eyes.

"I need to revenge my spirit sister." She stated and her face got emotionless while her body and feelings got numb.

Jake grabbed the tracking device from Neteyam's hand and jumped on a higher platform, getting the attention of the Na'vi. Holding it up high to the sky he silenced the crowd. "You tell the tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death."

Leyra gasped at those words as she had heard them already a few weeks ago in her vision from Eywa. Now she knew the context and it frightened her so much. Her breathing became uneven and she felt like the crowd was swallowing her.

"Call for me and I'll silence it." Jake let out a heavy breath. " Saving their lives, that's all that matters. Right? Saving your family." He finished, his eyes on his own family and then he looked at the two leaders, who were thinking about his words.

Ronal and Tonowari shared a look. Ronal slowly nods while she holds onto his arm. " Tell the tulkun!" Tonowari yelled to the crowd.

"Go!" Ronal ordered and the whole clan moved immediately, diving into the water and started searching for their brothers and sisters.

Lo'ak slowly distanced himself from the crowd and looked if someone was watching him. Eventually he left and head to their family Marui. He paced back and forth while he clicked his tongue, calling his ilu. The ilu appeared near the edge and greeted him happily.

Lo'ak needed to warn his spirit brother, Payakan and he hoped that his family and Leyra would understand his decision. It was the right thing to do. He grabbed a saddle of the hanger and slips it on the ilu, who chirped happily and ready to swim.

Lo'ak turns around and stops in his tracks, as he watched Neteyam walking up to him. He decided that he won't let his brother stop him from going to Payakan and took something else from the hanger.

"No way you're running off baby brother." Neteyam said, before he stops directly in front of Lo'ak.

"I need to warn him about the pingers." Lo'ak reasoned.

"We've got to keep your skxawng ass here." Neteyam responded.

"He's outcast. There's nobody to warn him but me." Lo'ak scoffed and gestured to himself while continuing grabbing stuff to attach to the ilu.

"Bro," Neteyam sighed and placed a hand on his little brothers head. "Why do you always have to make things so hard?" He asked with an amused smile on his face.

Lo'ak glared at him and pushed his hand of his head. "No, you mean why can't I be the perfect son like you!" He yelled while holding Neteyam's angry gaze. He broke the eye contact when Leyra appeared behind Neteyam a few feet away. Seeing their tensed bodies she remained in the distance and let them sort it out themselves. She could feel both of their feelings though and bits of their thoughts in the back of her mind.

Neteyam clenched his jaw tightly while nodding slightly as he backed up a little.

"The perfect little soldier." Lo'ak pushed further while looking at his brother provocative. "Well, I'm not you!"

Neteyam seemed like a different person when he's full of anger while he approached his brother, towering over him slightly. Lo'ak felt a little intimidated so he took a step back.

"I'm not you." Lo'ak said, his voice moments away from breaking. "And never will be." He glanced at Leyra and his face said that he's sorry for his next words.

"He's my brother." Lo'ak gestures behind him to the water. "I'm going!" He went to turn around but Neteyam grabbed his arm, holding him in place.

"Oh? He's your brother?" Neteyam asked sarcastically while glaring at Lo'ak. "No, I'm your brother!" He said through gritted teeth and pointed to himself.

Lo'ak ignored his words and turned away, walking to the edge again and diving into the water. Leyra walked up to Neteyam and held his hand, stopping him from following Lo'ak. She knew what Lo'ak wanted to do was right, before it's too late.

Tsireya, Aonung and Rotxo arrived beside Leyra and Neteyam. "What's going on?" Aonung asked after noticing the bad mood.

"C'mon! He's going to Payakan!" Neteyam hissed under his breath and slapped the boys on the chest, so they would follow him into the water. They all jumped into the water and followed Lo'ak on their ilus.

Leyra sighed and looked to Tsireya, who had an unsure expression on her face and then the girls followed the boys.

✺ ┅*❋ ❋*┅ ✺

a/n

you are not ready for the next chapter.🫢😈

- eve