KAEYLA TE KATHAN SAEYLA'ITE.
PART 3.
AFTERMATH.
Author's note: Original name of this chapter was going to be "Blood in the Knife" but I decided to change the name at the last second.
Later, after the fight with Punkun and his friends, Neteyam, Spider and Lo'ak were carrying still unconscious Kaeyla back to the village. Neteyam carried her on her left side, with his left arm wrapped under of her back while he held Kaeyla's head up with his right hand so that she wouldn't accidentally hit her head into anything and hurt herself, while Lo'ak carried her on her right side, with his own arms wrapped under Kaeyla's lower back and waist, while Spider carried her by her legs.
Once in the village, the foursome walked along the serpentine tree roots and branches, heading towards the particular Marui where Neteyam and Lo'ak lived, which was located to the highest spot of the village. The fourth member in with Neteyam, Lo'ak and Spider's's trio was sent with Kai'ani to fetch the clan's Tsahik and Kaeyla's parents.
On their way to their Marui, Neteyam, who had bruises all over his face and body, including two big ones under his right eye and in his left cheek, including the light nosebleed, was sternly lecturing his brother and Spider for stirring up the fight with Punkun and his friends.
"Why is it always that when I get things somewhat cooled down, you two skxawngs have to end up ruining it?!" Neteyam hissed.
"Those knuckleheads had it coming, Neteyam." Lo'ak, who had way more bruises all over than Neteyam, including left black eye and slightly swollen and bleeding lip, replied casually. "But at least we did show to them... again. Sullys won 10, Punkun and his friends lost 0. Ain't that right, cuz?"
"Hell yeah, bro." Spider, who had bruises mostly in his chest, arms and shoulders, agreed with the prideful smile. "I even gave Punkun a good dose of his own medicine when he came after me."
"How many times did you beat him again?" Lo'ak asked, intrigued. "I kinda lost counting when I had to hold on my own against Baldang."
"Something about... 11-0, at least." Spider responded.
Lo'ak scoffed at Spider's claim, knowing that he was making that up. "No way, bro. Not possible. Not at least with those bruises all over your body. How many, really?"
"Alright, alright. I was kidding, okay." Spider said with the shrug. "6-2, at least. Three hits in the head, one in the butt, one in the legs... and the last one in between of his legs."
"Ha! And they say that the Sky People are more dangerous with their guns!" Lo'ak laughed. "Yet they appear to be far more dangerous when they got bows."
Both Lo'ak and Spider laughed at this, amused.
However, Neteyam wasn't pleased by this at all.
"Guys! Let's be serious in here! This is far from being funny thing." Neteyam hissed to both of them. "Dad has said that getting into the fights can only lead into a trouble... especially when you're supposed to be the prime example to the clan."
"Hey! Ease up, Neteyam." Spider said. "I'm sure that being prime example to the clan doesn't means that some jerks can be however they like and do whatever they want to the others. You have to discipline them a little, right?"
"True, Spider, but still." Neteyam said, turning to Spider. "Besides, you getting involved in the fights with the Na'vi won't do any good either."
Spider rolled his eyes at this. "C'mon. What's the big deal about that? Punkun asked for that himself, so I granted him that."
"Don't take this lightly, Spider." Neteyam advised. "First of, you should know that by picking up the fights with the Na'vi you're putting yourself in the high risk of exposing yourself to our air the humans cannot breath without your mask-thingies. I mean..."
Neteyam took the pause, wondering how to explain this better to Spider so that he would get his point.
After pondering that for a moment, Neteyam turned back to the Spider before pulling his left hand from under Kaeyla's back and gestured to the Spider's own mask.
"Look at your mask, Spider! Thank the Great Mother that it is still intact after that blow you received from Punkun's bow!" Neteyam said, asking Spider to look at his mask.
At one point during of his fight with Punkun and his friends, after Spider had managed to temporarily beat Punkun in one-on-one fight, he had paid a quick look at Lo'ak and Neteyam to see how they were faring against Baldang and Palree and to be sure if any of the two needed his help or not. However, this distraction had let his guard down, which vengeful Punkun had taken advantage of by swinging his bow at the boy's head at the same time as Spider was about to turn back to him to resume their fighting.
And as a result, Punkun's bow had whacked Spider in the face with such of powerful force, that it had knocked Spider off his feet and sent him flat on his back to the ground. Unfortunately, though the blow had not literally hit Spider in the face, thus sparing him from facial bruises unlike with Neteyam and Lo'ak, its force was enough to critically crack his mask's glass from the left side... very nearly smashing it open and nearly exposing the human boy to the Pandoran air.
"Oh." Spider let out a surprised gasp, as if he hadn't paid any attention to the damage to his mask until now. Spider then lifted his left hand up and touching his mask with his fingers, feeling the cracks in it. "Didn't notice these until now. I guess I should get a new one to replace this."
"Yeah, you should, cuz." Lo'ak said in agreement.
"And not just that why getting Spider involved in the fights with one of us is not a good thing." Neteyam then continued, as he wasn't finished yet. "This could once again lead to the sourness in the relationships between of our people and the people at the human base."
"Oh! Not that again, Neteyam!" Spider begged with the frustrated groan, as if he had gone this through many times over.
"Hey, give him a break, will you?" Lo'ak said in Spider's defense. "It can't be that just one dude, who knocked the lights out from one big jerk, can lead to strained relations between two peoples."
"Well, it kinda does, you skxawng." Neteyam shot back. "There's still some tensions in the air between of our two peoples, even though dad is doing his best to keep the things cooled down between our people and the humans."
Neteyam then turned to Spider.
"And that ain't easy, as you know what some of the humans, especially your father, NashmcCosker, thinks about us. And what our mother thinks about you getting in the fights with one of our people." Neteyam said.
Lo'ak gasped at that last one and show a narrowed look at his older brother.
"DUDE!" Lo'ak snapped.
If Neteyam's hands were free, he would've pulled his hand over his mouth to stop himself upon realizing that he had said too much, especially when it was about that subject regarding their mother and that what she thinks about Spider in general.
However, it was already too late. The damage had been done.
Spider looked up at Neteyam for a moment with the hurt look, knowing very well where that particular topic was going, before the boy slowly lowered his head down, frowning bitterly and letting out a frustrated sigh.
"One word too much, you skxawng! You know what Spider thinks about that one!" Lo'ak reprimanted.
"Oh! Oh, yeah. Yes. Right." Neteyam said, feeling pretty awkward, embarrassed and remorseful upon realizing that he'd gone a bit too far by going to that particular subject, despite knowing how much it affects to Spider. "Forgive me, Spider. I-I didn't mean to go that far..."
"No. It's nothing, Neteyam. It's nothing. Really. It's nothing." Spider said with the lower voice, holding his right hand up to cut Neteyam short.
"You okay, bro?" Spider said sympathetically.
"I'm fine." Spider insisted, though sounding still hurt though despite his claim that he was fine.
All three boys were now completely silent for a moment, with Spider keeping his gaze down, Neteyam looking at him with the pity and remorse for his words while Lo'ak looked up ahead of them to ensure that they won't make any wrong turns (which was highly unlikely due to them knowing the pathway to their own Marui) or any missteps that could accidentally knock them all off the branch, and they were already high above the ground anyway.
Spider eventually broke the silence between of them.
"But... you're actually right, Neteyam." he added sincerely with the shrug, before looking up to Neteyam and Lo'ak.
"Huh?!" Both Lo'ak and Neteyam gasped in surprise.
"What you mean, cuz?" Lo'ak asked.
"I know that my so-called father doesn't really like you guys, or your people or your ways unlike I do. He's always belittling them, always negatively comparing them to "superior" human ways, always disapproving them, always saying that they are not "our ways" and constantly tries to dissuade me from using them and tries to make me to be like the rest of us: a human. But as you guys know, I'm more into your ways than the humans'. Heck! He even keeps calling you guys as tree-hugging blue monkeys living the Stone Age." Spider said with the shrug.
Lo'ak and Neteyam glanced at each other.
""Blue monkeys", he said?" Lo'ak questioned, slightly offended by what Spider's father had called them.
""Blue monkeys", he said." Neteyam confirmed with the nod, keeping his cool in the face of such of insult.
"Hey! That's was rude!" Lo'ak complained.
"I hear you, bro. Even I find that ridiculous claim and totally outrageous. That's why me and him, well, we've never had a real connection with each other, no matter how much he tries to build one." Spider added.
"Well, in that case, you're better off as Na'vi wannebe than human wannabe." Lo'ak said truthfully.
"Yeah. That's what I think too. I don't really care about what my dad thinks of you, guys." Spider said with the smile, until that smile dropped off his face and was replaced with the frown. "But your mother is quite another matter. I wish she'd see things the same way as you do."
"Me too, Spider. Me too." Lo'ak said.
Neteyam didn't say anything, but he did gave Spider a sympathetic look nonetheless, knowing fully well how heavy the burden of that issue is to both Spider and his and Lo'ak's mother. He too wished things would be more like that for everyone's good, but with the events of the past and their effects on everyone, both Na'vi and humans, it proved to be much more difficult than what it can be described in mere words.
However, Neteyam's mind then went back to their topic, which was taking unconscious Kaeyla to their Marui for rest and healing.
"Come on! Let's keep going, guys!" Neteyam said, taking the lead. "She won't get herself healed by this rate if we keep slowing down like this."
"Yes!" Lo'ak and Spider said in unision, as the trio kept going on their way to their Marui.
###
A little later, in Lo'ak's and Neteyam's home Marui in the highest spot of the village...
There Lo'ak's and Neteyam's parents - Jake Sully (Tsyeyk Suli as spelled by Na'vi), the current Olo'Eyktan of Omaticaya clan, and his mate Neytiri - were spending some quiet time together while their children were elsewhere playing.
Jake, whose hair had grown longer in the past years and was braided into thick dreadlocks that reached to his back and over his shoulders, was carving something out of the piece of wood, while while Neytiri was sitting in middle of their Marui's hammock floor, cradling a several months old Na'vi baby, a girl, in her arms.
Turning to his wife and the baby, Jake stopped carving the piece of wood and put it aside and his knife back into his sheath, before he moved closer to Neytiri and cuddled together with her, placing a kiss on her left temple before looking down at the baby girl in his wife's arms.
Neytiri gently swung her child in her arms, smiling happily down at her, while softly and lovingly singing to her in Na'vi.
"I see you, Ma Tuktirey, what happiness and delight you've brought to me"
"I look down at you and I can't believe, how am I so blessed with such precious gift"
"Take my hand, my daughter, and hold it tight, and I will keep you safe, no matter what"
"Feel the warmth, my child, of the mother's love, as we are all the children of the Great Mother"
As Neytiri kept singing to the baby, named Tuktirey, Jake moved in front of his beloved mate while looking both proudly and happily down at his young daughter, before he raised his right hand up and gently rubbed with it little Tuk's head. Tuktirey reacted to her father's touch by making cute baby noises before she lifted her head up and then raised her tiny hands up and rested them over Jake's fingers.
With the smile, Jake moved closer to his wife and baby before he lowered his hand from Tuktirey's head on top of her tiny belly and playfully tickled it a little with his fingers, making Tuk squirm a little in Neytiri's arms while letting out a cute baby giggling.
Both Jake and Neytiri chuckled at little Tuk's reaction to Jake's playful tickling her belly, before the happy couple looked up at each other with the happy smiles.
"Dad!" Neteyam's voice then called from behind Jake's back, breaking the silent moment.
Both Jake and Neytiri turned from baby Tuk to where their oldest son's voice had came from, and they were taken aback when they saw Neteyam, Lo'ak and Spider walking towards their Marui while carrying an unconscious and badly beaten Kaeyla with them.
"Dad!" Neteyam called again, as he, Lo'ak and Spider stepped onto the edge of their Marui's hammock floor. "Dad! We got the situation here!"
Jake was immediately up to his feet and he walked over to his boys and Spider as they carried Kaeyla inside of the Marui. He put the frown on his face when he looked over sons, from heads to toes, and saw that they and Spider were all covered in dark-blue bruises all over.
"Neteyam, Lo'ak, Spider? What is this? What happened to you, boys?" Jake asked, before he took a look at Spider and noticed the cracks in his mask.
"Spider? Your mask. What happened out there?" he demanded.
"There was a little... scuffle, by the edge of the village, Mr. Sully." Spider said as he, Lo'ak and Neteyam carefully put Kaeyla down on her back to the hammor floor.
"Scuffle?" Jake questioned with the quirked eyebrow, sounding like this wasn't the first time.
"Yeah. With Punkun and his friends." Spider added, as he stood up and turned to Jake. "They attacked her and her little brother, so me, Lo'ak and Neteyam defended them. Kiri went to fetch Mo'at to treat her injuries and her brother went to fetch their parents. They should be here soon."
Jake looked down at Spider for a moment, taking in and going over in his head everything the boy had just told him before nodding at him in acknowledgement. Jake then turned to Kaeyla, as she was watched over by Neteyam and Lo'ak, before he went over to her and knelt next to Lo'ak to take a closer look of her injuries.
Spider was just about to join them until the boy paid a quick sideways glance towards Neytiri as she was still sitting in middle of the Marui's floor while clutching to baby Tuk in her arms... and all Spider could see in her face was a silent yet emotionless and territorial look of disapproval - with the mixture of the motherly protective instincts - once she set her eyes on him.
Afterwards Spider quickly pulled his eyes away from her, knowing full well that that particular look on Neytiri's face meant that he was an unwanted guest in their home every time he set his foot on the Marui's floor's edge... even then when Jake had often allowed him to come in to see their children.
However, at least she didn't say that or anything else of her views or opinions of him out loud, meaning that she had granted, albeit just begrudgingly, him the access to their home.
Spider knelt down beside Kaeyla on Jake's right side, looking down at Kaeyla's unconscious and beaten up form.
Jake then turned to Lo'ak, grabbing from his head with his left hand and made him to turn to look at him, wearing a rather irritated look on his face.
"Spider told me that you three stood up for her. Well, that was a good thing, but you look like you went that far to engage Punkun and his friends in a fight. Is that true, boys?" Jake questioned, looking at both of his sons alternately. "And what exactly have I told you boys about starting the fights with the other children."
"Dad, I'm to blame for that." Neteyam said, quickly raising his hands up.
Jake gave Neteyam a look with the quirked eyebrow.
"It was never supposed to go that way. I tried to tell Punkun and his friend to just turn around and walk away, and that there was no need for the brawl all we all could end up into trouble." Neteyam explained.
"And did that work? Did Punkun and his friends walked away like you said?" Jake questioned.
"Well, initially they did." Neteyam answered.
"And yet you three come back home looking like this... bruised all over... and with Spider having his mask cracked from the left side, thus risking him getting exposed to our air. How do you explain that, son?" Jake questioned, as he pointed with his finger at Spider's cracked mask.
"Well, it didn't go to way I planned, dad. I thought I could've put an end to the fight before it could've even started. I guess I wasn't good enough." Neteyam simply explained, purposely leaving out the part where both Lo'ak and Spider had goaded - whether it was accidental or deliberate or both - Punkun and his friends to attack them in the first place.
However, that didn't work when Lo'ak spoke up.
"Well, Punkun asked for that, dad. Anx he got what he wanted." Lo'ak explained, making his father ho turn to his youngest son.
"I beg your pardon?" Jake asked, though it sounded more rhetorical, as if Jake already knew from Lo'ak's proud attitude and tone of voice what had really happened.
"Punkun was the one who decided to play his old "I'm over everybody else" game again when he started to pick on her. So we showed him the meaning of what you once said: if you can't take the heat, get out of the... eh... uh... what was that word again... uh... ah... kitchen! Get out of the kitchen. And zo, we showed him one good!" Lo'ak explained before folding his arms and giving his father a confirming nod with the proud... or rather cocky smile on his lips.
Jake frowned deeply in annoyance with his son. "That doesn't mean you have to take it so seriously like this, son. Besides, haven't I already told you two not to pick fights with the other kids of the clan?"
"But dad. We weren't here picking up any fights! We were here to defend this girl and her brother from those..." Lo'ak protested.
Jake, however, cut him off. "Standing up for the others is fine, but picking up the fights purposelly just to "show them" isn't, Lo'ak. Besides, as the sons of Olo'eyktan, MY sons, you're supposed to be the prime example to the people and to the other children. Especially you, Neteyam." Jake said as he turned back to his eldest sone.
"Not just me and your mother, but also the whole people have a high expectations of you, as you are one day to lead these people. And the people need someone who they can rely on to lead them. You understand?" Jake said.
Neteyam nodded to his father humbly. "Yes, dad."
"And one thing more." Jake continued, as he gestured at Spider with his hand. "I really don't like it when you two bring Spider into the fights with other kids of the clan. His involvement will do no good at all to the relationships between of the clan and the Hell's Gate's humans."
Neteyam was going to say something about that, and so was Lo'ak: Neteyam was probably going to tell his father that he'd been trying to keep Spider out of the fights between Na'vi for the very same reason why Jake was scolding them for, while Lo'ak was about to say in Spider's defense that he'd brought Spider along despite Neteyam's objections. However, neither got a chance to explain until Spider decided to speak in defense of both Lo'ak and Neteyam.
"Mr. Sully. It wasn't Lo'ak's nor Neteyam's fault. They didn't bring me into it. I myself decided to participate in the fight alongside them." Spider said, making Jake and the boys to turn to him. Both Lo'ak and Neteyam looked at their human friend with mild surprise while Jake had a neutral look on his face.
In the background, Neytiri too turned to Spider, though instead of wearing the neutral look like her mate or surprised like her sons, she rather silently scowled at Spider.
Jake then turned to Spider to confront him face-to-face. "Spider, you really shouldn't get involved in the fights with the other children of Omaticaya. It gives no good picture of either side to one another. And I mean it!" he told him.
Seeing Jake using English instead of Na'vi when talking to him, Spider was left frustrated, but fought hard to resist the urge to roll his eyes at this out of respect he held towards the patriarch of the Sully Family and the Olo'eyktan of Omaticaya, though he still snorted at this in frustration.
"Oh, please, Mr. Sully. I really cannot see reason how one person, like me, getting involved to something like this can affect to the relations between Na'vi and the humans." Spider protested.
"That's because you cannot see how deep into our hears and souls the Sky People's actions have reached, boy. We won't forget them so easily." Neytiri said with soft yet serious and hardly controlled harsh tone. "And if you have any respect towards the people, you should know this."
"I do, Mrs. Sully." Spider said, turning slightly towards Neytiri but avoiding much of the eye-contact with her. "And I do respect the people, unlike what Punkun and his friends did for her, one of your own." Spider added, gesturing towards Kaeyla.
Neytiri was about to say something back, until Jake held his arm up to silence her.
"I got this, Neytiri. There's no need to disturb Tuk with this." Jake advised, reminding Neytiri that she was still holding little Tuk in her arms.
Neytiri turned her gaze away from Spider and back down to Tuktirey in her arms. The little baby girl squirmed around in her arms and looked around, both curious and confused by all the commotion in the Marui. Thankfully she wasn't upset by it, and neither she needed to be. So Neytiri looked up at Jake and gave her mate a nod in affirmation. Jake noded back to her, before he turned back to Spider.
"I'm serious about this, kid." Jake said, switching back to Na'vi in hopes of making him to listen to him better, as Spider felt more comfortable to speak Na'vi amongst them instead of English. "It took me years to build up a better relationships between our peoples after the Great War, so that there won't be anymore quarrels between Na'vi and the humans. Participating in fights with the Na'vi not only puts your own life at risk, which you can see from your cracked mask, but it also disrupts the relationships between the Na'vi and the remaining humans, which I must then restore before the strained relationships escalates to the point where everything gets out of the hands."
"Well, how hard can that be, Mr. Sully?" Spider questioned. "Last I knew, you're on good terms with their leader, Katherine Hale, who, along with Norm Spellman, helps you maintain peaceful relations between the two peoples."
"It's not that simple, Spider." Jake said. "The negotation with Katherine is a lot of easier due to our mutual respect, but the same thing cannot be said about your father... or your foster father, McCosker. He's the only one here who needs more persuasion than Katherina"
This time, Spider really could help himself as he rolled his eyes in frustration at the mention of his foster father.
"You really had to bring him up to this, didn't you?" Spider said with mild annoyance.
"Yes. He is responsible for you as your foster guardian, yet he is not very attached to the people of Omatikaya. And because of that, this incident could lead him to jump to impulsive conclusions that can only make things turn to worse." Jake said.
Spider, unable to control his frustrations over the situation anymore, threw his arms up in the air and vent his frustrations to Jake.
"Ugh! Who even cares about what that old skxawng thinks about?! He's not in charge out there, so his opinions matter nothing! And he is definitely not in charge of me! All he can think about is all the boring Sky-People stuff he tries to force into my head. I decide myself what kind of stuff I put into my head, and it's only all Omatikaya and Na'vi stuff! So that old dipshit can keep his precious Sky People stuff with himself." Spider said proudly.
"Yeah! You said it, Spider!" Lo'ak cheered at his friend, until Neteyam silenced him by putting his hand over Lo'ak's left shoulder to get his attention before shaking his head.
Though somewhat impressed Spider's devotion towards Omatikaya people's and Na'vi culture instead of Sky People's, but knowing that the boy's devotion still won't do any good for the relationships between two peoples because of this incident and due to McCosker's stubborn attitude and the lack of respect towards their people, Jake held his finger up and pointed it at Spider's face while looking at the boy with the warning stern look to silence him.
"Watch your mouth, son!" Jake said sternly in English. "Otherwise I have to consider of discussing with McCosker about grounding you for a week."
Though reluctantly but still showing respect to his friends' authoritative father, Spider shut his mouth and wainted for Jake to speak to him again.
And when Jake opened his mouth again, his voice was softer yet serious.
"Spider, it's not only your foster father I'm worried about. Despite the hard work of building peaceful and mostly friendly relations between our peoples, there are still those among the humans who, along with McCosker, do not fully respect the ways of our people, but keeping things positive between us is the only way to keep them under control and from doing something unpredictable that could destroy the relationships beyond repair...again. Do you understand this?" Jake explained.
Spider let out the sigh, knowing that Jake was telling the truth. "I do, Mr. Sully. For my friends' sake, I do not wish to make the mess of things around."
Spider's response allowed Jake to smile at the boy in satisfaction.
"Now, off you go." Jake said as he put his hand to Spider's back and gently pushed him towards the branch leading out of the Marui and to the forest floor. "You better go back and get a new mask to replace the broken one before it gets any worse."
"But what about her?" Spider questioned as he pointed his hand at still unconscious Kaeyla. "She's still hurt."
"Don't worry, Spider. Me and Lo'ak will take care of her until Kiri arrives with grandmother and her brother with their parents." Neteyam said assuredly while sitting next to Kaeyla's head.
"She will be in good hands, Spider. You can come later to check her up if you wish." Jake told her.
Behind them, hearing what Jake had just told Spider, Neytiri couldn't help but snort silently in disapproval of Spider's presence.
"I will definitely, Mr. Sully." Spider said, before he turned to Lo'ak and Neteyam. "Later guys! Tell Kiri that I will not be gone for long."
Spider was then about to step out of the Sully Family's Marui and onto the branch to head back to Hell's Gate to get a new mask to replace his brorken one, but before he could leave, a Na'vi male appeared out of nowhere and immediately held him back with his big finger that he had pressed against the boy's chest, preventing him from leaving.
"Not so fast, boy!" the male Na'vi snarled down at Spider.
Jake, Neytiri, Lo'ak, Neteyam and Spider immediately looked up to see a very slender yet broad-shouldered Na'vi male with th stone-hard face, huge chunk of his left ear missing while his other ear was pierced with the bone spike. He was wearing the beaded collar necklace with the fiery feathers hanging from the edges and the shin-guards that wrapped around his legs like snakes. He wore the beld over his torso, in which he was carrying the nasty-looking curved knive that had two sharp tips and the rounded notch in the base of the blade, that formed the hook-like spike. This Na'vi had also tied his long braided hair behind into a large Earth's palm-tree-like ponytail, from which was hanging a number of beaded braids.
Beside him was a female Na'vi, who had tied her own braided hair into more ball-like ponytail behind her head, save for several long braids that were tied together as they fell over her shoulders. She was wearing a turquoise leather collar that fell over her shoulders and which was decorated with the bone-white bead strings.
Neither of these two Na'vi, who were possibly mates, had a very pleased looking expressions on their faces.
The Na'vi female had her hands rested in a comforting manner over the shoulders of - none other than - Punkun himself, heavily bruised from the earlier fight with Sully boys and Spider, with his head hung low on his shoulders, and his gaze turned downward. Punkun was standing next to the Na'vi woman, who was most likely his mother, thus making the Na'vi male his father.
Confused of what was going on here, Spider backed away back to the Sullys' Marui as the male Na'vi roughly pushed him back with his finger while moving forward himself and leaving his mate and son to wait on the branch just outside of the Sullys' Marui. He didn't take his angry and narrowed gaze from the human boy until he himself had stepped to the edge of the hammock floor of Sullys' home and then stepped inside. Only then he pushed Spider away from him before turning to Jake, who immediately got up from the floor to face their unexpected visitor.
"Olo'eyktan. Jakesully. I see you." he said with rather impatient and hardly controlled angry voice, making Na'vi greeting to Jake.
"Tha'non. I see you." Jake said, returning to the male Na'vi's, whose name was Tha'non, greeting with his own, before he repeated the same to his mate who was still waiting outside on the branch.
"Athera. I see you." Jake greeted.
"I see you, Jakesully." the Na'vi woman, named Athera, said with more calmer yet serious voice as she returned to Jake's greeting,
Jake then turned back to Tha'non. "Tha'non. What gives me this honor?" he asked, as Neytiri walked to his side while still holding Tuktirey in her arms.
Tha'non went straight down to business with his reason to be here with his family.
"Me and my mate came to talk with you about the incident that happened just recently outside of the village, in which your sons were involved, as well as this human vermin." Tha'non said, giving the sideways glare down at Spider in disgust, earning an offended frown from Spider for being called "vermin".
"Yes, I know. I heard about what had happened from my sons and Spider." Jake said with understanding. "Is there something else I don't know about it yet?"
"Yes! Just see it yourself, then you'll know what." Tha'non said before he turned to his family and gestured them to enter Sullys' Marui so that he could show his son to Jake.
Walking before his mother, Punkun kept his gaze turned downward all of time until he stepped to the edge of the Sullys' Marui before his mother entered herself. Afterwards he lifted his head slowly up and turned his gaze at Lo'ak, Neteyam and Spider... especially Spider, before narrowing angrily his seemingly teary eyes as he glared at the human boy.
Spider glared back at him, until his frown slowly turned into confusion after taking a closer look of the bully.
When Jake and Neytiri took a closer look at Punkun, along with Neteyam and Lo'ak, the whole Sully family was left shocked by Tha'non's boy's condition.
Aside from having a number of bruises all over his body and face, his lip split and his eye left blackened and swollen, Punkun's body: his torso, his back and his arms were covered with the countless bleeding knife-wounds. They were not the stab wounds but merely the superficial slashes and cuts, from which the bleeding lines of blood stained his blue skin from all over. He even had a small slash in his throat, three in his cheeks, one of which was just beneath his right eye. There was two even nastier looking wounds in his forehead and one of his ears was missing.
"What is this?!" Neytiri demanded to know. "How did this happened?"
"As you might know already, your sons and that vermin attacked Punkun and his friends when they were hanging out outside of the village and left them severely beaten." Tha'non hissed, before he turned to point an accusing finger towards Spider "And if that wasn't enough, this... this... Demon child... severely wounded my son with a knife!"
Entire Sully family gasped in shock, while Spider couldn't only watch the scene before him in total shock and confusion.
To be continued...
NEXT PART: BLOOD IN THE KNIFE, P1.