Chapter Text
‘ The sky was so beautiful.. ’ was her first thought as she opened her eyes. The thought was quickly followed by a loud crash and a violent jerk. Looking around in a panic, the girl quickly realized she was surrounded by glass. She frantically inspected the glass around her, realizing that she was trapped in some kind of a cylindrical glass tube. There was some unidentifiable gold liquid inside which seemed to have once filled the tube to its brim, some of it leaking out now that the unit had broken under the intense swaying and crashing.
“oh god.” The girl breathed as she realized the tube she was trapped in was surrounded by another liquid, water. Rapidly moving water. Was she.. in a stream? Heading towards.. THE WATERFALL?
She tried screaming out for help to whoever could hear her but her voice cracked and choked. Her throat closed up, not having adjusted to being used. She was terrified of the impossible situation she found herself in; naked as the day she was born and though she tried breaking out of her glass prison, she was far too weak. Her shoves and punches seemed futile against the thick glass. What happened to her? Was she sleeping inside the tube unit? Was she sedated? Her mind frantically tried to remember how she got into this situation before immediately realizing this was not the time to go on a trip down memory lane. she needed to get out. Now!
It felt like she spent an eternity tossing and turning in the small space, when really, it had only been a few minutes. Her long dark chestnut hair was sticking to her face, neck and around her arms, blocking her vision and her breathing.
‘It's hopeless.. I’m going to die.’ She thought.
She wanted nothing more than to go home. The water from the river was starting to leak into the tube and it was sinking her deeper into the water. Soon she was below the water surface. Slowly, she closed her eyes ready to accept her fate. And then there was another crash followed by a bright light and the feeling of being suspended in the air. When she opened her eyes again, she realized the river had spat her out for a split second. Mocking her in her final moments with the false sense of hope.
‘cruel.’
And then she was going down— down down down, aiming directly towards a big rock. The glass shattered upon impact but she didn’t miss the chance to hold on to her rock; holding onto dear life. Despite the glass penetrating her skin and the water surrounding her like an overbearing mother, she held on.
She tried her hardest to breathe and regain her strength as the remainder of the glass disappeared down the waterfall, followed by ribbons of her blood. With great difficulty, she raised her head, looking around for the stream edge. And at that moment, she could feel the gods smiling down at her as solid land was just there, a little more than an arm's length away. She gathered all the strength she had left and with one strong push, she was able to hold on to some plant roots along the river edge, hauling herself up with a guttural yell to the hard embrace of the cold, dirt ground.
***
Lo’ak was tending to the Ikran as per his father’s orders. He was angry, mostly at himself but also some of his anger was directed towards his father. All he wanted was to prove himself to the mighty warrior and leader, who he only seemed to let down. His eagerness put his older brother in danger; he knew this, the guilt was eating him up alive. He only wished his dad considered his intentions every once in a while.
“Hey baby bro!” He heard his older brother call out somewhere behind him.
He didn’t want to look at him, too ashamed to see the result of his actions on his brother. He was about to walk away when Neteyam grabbed him by the arm, halting his escape.
“Hey why the long face?” Neteyam smiled at Lo’ak’s avoidant eyes, trying to get their attention.
This killed Lo’ak. Neteyam was too good.. too forgiving. Even after sustaining such injuries because of him, Neteyam was still trying to ease Lo’ak’s guilt.
“Angry because dad forbade you from flying?” Neteyam joked.
Lo’ak jerked his arm back and away from Neteyam, not in the mood for jokes. “You should be resting.” He said trying to not let his frustration show in his voice and failing. Neteyam rolled his eyes at his little brother. “Only if you come with me. You also need rest and food bro.” He urged, not realizing how difficult his presence was on Lo’ak given the current circumstances. His perfect older brother, just being his perfect self right after Lo’ak fucked up wasn’t exactly something he could handle right now. It was too much.
Lo’ak scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief before taking a few steps back, still unable to look Neteyam in the face. “You go. I’m not hungry.”
With that, Lo’ak turned his back on his brother and ran, ignoring his calls and pleas for him to come back. He needed to be in the forest away from his family. He felt so many emotions he needed to let them out, or calm down and breathe. anything but facing the disappointed faces of his loved ones. “fucking skxawng.” He puffed aggressively under his breath. Not knowing if it was directed at Neteyam or himself.
A few hours had passed and Lo’ak finally felt calm enough for a little walk around the forest among the trees, flowers and other Pandorian creatures.The river close by acted as white noise to help him get lost in his thoughts. This was nice. Quiet. He thought, staring at his feet as he walked. Just then, something caught his attention. On the ground by his feet, there were many foot trails of various animals and creatures heading to a specific direction— towards the river. Something was there he suspected. Crouching down, he started following the trail cautiously. It didn’t sound like someone was hunting and the trail didn’t look panicked or distressed but he still didn’t want to risk it. The closer he got to the river the more he got hints of a coppery metallic scent. It was extremely faint but his nose was able to catch it. It was blood and it was still warm, he realized, his faint black eyebrows raised in curiosity and alarm.
Upon reaching an opening his jaw dropped at the scene before him. Many forest creatures were gathered around something near the stream. No signs of aggression or hostility coming from them, only curiosity and maybe even a little bit of concern. And in the center, an unconscious human girl. Lo’ak’s eyes widened. What's a human girl doing here? Why wasn’t she wearing an oxygen mask? Why is she bleeding? all these questions nagged at Lo’ak’s head and he had to remind himself to still approach with caution. The sky people were their enemies after all. Why would she be any different?
With a hand steadily on his dagger he slowly approached. Noticing the animals were making way for him to approach and inspect for himself. He was only a meter away from the girl but he could tell she was still alive and severely injured judging by her ragged breathing and pale skin. There was glass penetrating her skin and her body was severely bruised. Lo’ak frantically looked around to make sure there were no other enemies before carefully kneeling by the girl’s side and letting go of his dagger. He had a decision to make; either leave her to bleed to death, or help her. She was so small Lo’ak noted. Smaller than the average adult human so he assumed she was around his age. maybe a little older. She didn’t have any weapons around her and some of the animals seemed to want to help her. That piqued his interest. Could this be a sign from Eywa?
“H-hey,” He tried calling out to her and after a minute with no response he put his hand on her chest to try and shake her awake. His hand was almost the width of her torso which fascinated him. He’d had close contact with humans before. Namely Spider but since he was raised around the Na’vi family, he acquired some of their talents and strength. This however, was different. She was just a regular human. He’d always thought of them as fragile but dangerous creatures and with this proximity and the current circumstance, the former seemed to be more fitting.
“Can you hear me?” He tried again trying to pronounce the words as clearly as possible in English with his Na’vi accent. Lo’ak was glad his father took the time to teach him English “just in case.” Jake used to say. He never cared to ask his dad to elaborate but he had a pretty good idea why, seeing as the sky people had returned.
The girl finally responded. Barely. She moaned weakly and tried to open her eyes but to no avail. She was losing a lot of blood. So with his final decision made, Lo’ak urgently but gently slid his arms beneath her knees and her back, carrying her close to his chest, trying to keep her warm. “Don’t worry, my grandma’s a healer. My sister too. They can help you.” He spoke softly to her. Worried that even his voice could somehow hurt her. He really hoped his parents wouldn’t get too mad at him..