If Neteyam had felt small next to Dr. Spellman, that was nothing compared to how tiny he felt looking up at his father. It wasn't even that Dad was taller – he was not – it was that Neteyam was... ashamed . Ashamed of how tiny he was, of the stupid clothes he was wearing, and of the fact that he hadn't shaved in a couple of days. More than that, even, he was ashamed of all the dumb things he'd done. He'd put his friends and his brother in danger of their lives, and for what? So that he could avoid this specific moment, having to confront his father in the body the Sky People had given him. Lo'ak and Prisha could have died, and he had still ended up right here.
He felt very, very... human .
There was nothing Neteyam could do about it now, though. So he raised his head and tried to look his father in the eye as Dad knelt down in front of him. Jake put his hands on Neteyam's shoulders and stared at him for a moment without speaking.
"Oh, my god," he said finally. "You... you look so much like Tommy..."
"He looks like you ," said Dr. Spellman.
Jake looked up at him, startled, and Norm gave him a gentle smile, as if this were some kind of joke between the two of them. If it were, Neteyam didn't understand it.
"What... what the hell were you thinking?" Jake managed, giving Neteyam a gentle shake – very gentle, as if he were afraid of breaking him. "I was right outside. All you had to do was wait... was wait for me..." he swallowed.
"I'm sorry, Sir," said Neteyam... although Dad didn't sound angry. Neteyam couldn't tell what Jake was feeling.
"But no, you ran off and... you... you're supposed to be the..." Jake swallowed hard, and then pulled Neteyam in for a hug. He was still very gentle about it, and only used one arm, holding the other out for Lo'ak. Lo'ak, joined in the embrace, and Dad's fingers twined into both their hair. Neteyam shut his eyes and leaned his head on his father's chest, feeling the frantic beating of Jake's heart. Something wet landed on his cheek and he reached up to wipe it away, only to realize it was warm...
"Are you crying?" he asked, surprised. Dad never cried.
"I'm happy to see you," said Jake, and when he held his sons out at arm's length again, his eyes were brimming. "You two," he managed, "are in so much trouble..."
"It's my fault," said Neteyam, suddenly remembering what he needed Dad to understand. He stepped back and stood up straight. "It was all my idea. I thought Prisha and I could make me a new body. I made Lo'ak come with me because we..."
"He did not!" Lo'ak interrupted. "I wanted to go! Sullys stick together."
"Yes, I did !" Neteyam insisted, glaring at Lo'ak. "But it doesn't matter, because I'm..." and there he stopped, the words stuck in the back of his throat. He'd thought he understood what his purpose really was, but when it came to saying it, he still wasn't ready. The moment was here, though. There was no putting it off. Maybe it would make Dad less upset. "Lo'ak said my spirit is with Eywa," he said. "So I'm... so I'm not Neteyam. I don't even have all my memories. There's holes, and I don't remember anything at all after the night the kids got captured. I'm just a copy the Sky People made, and you can't be mad at Lo'ak or Neteyam for the things I did."
There. It was said.
Again, Neteyam forced himself to look into Dad's eyes, waiting for the reaction... but this time, he didn't get one. Jake just crouched there, staring back at him in shock. Maybe he hadn't thought about that yet. Maybe he just didn't know how to respond.
Dr. Spellman cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry," he said. "It's just that this woman really needs a doctor..."
Dad blinked, as if waking from meditation, then wiped his eyes on one arm and stood up. "Yeah. She does. Sorry, we'd better head back to High Camp."
"We can't," said Lo'ak. "Not right away. We can't take Pa'ay there."
"What?" asked Dad. He looked around, as if expecting to see her step out, but then his eyes fell on the deformed human child Dr. Spellman was holding. Comprehension flickered across his face, followed by horror.
"We promised we'd take her to the Tree of Souls and let her die there," Neteyam explained. "She doesn't want Tarsem to see her like this."
"Please, Jake Sully," Pa'ay said.
Jake nodded slowly. "All right," he said. "Lo'ak, can you take the wounded to High Camp by air? Norm and Prisha can take the land route and meet you there."
"Yes, Sir," said Lo'ak."
"Her name is Captain Emily Bohan," said Neteyam.
"I'll take N... I'll take Neteyam and Pa'ay to the Tree of Souls," said Jake.
Dr. Spellman passed Pa'ay to Jake, and then he and Lo'ak helped Bohan onto Tìtstew's back. Dad mounted his own banshee, cradling Pa'ay with one arm, and offered the other to help Neteyam up. He didn't ask if Neteyam could hang on – he'd seen him do it a few minutes ago. He just got him settled sitting in front of him with Pa'ay, and the two banshees flew off in different directions. Tìtstew circled once before turning towards High Camp, with Ukyom following him. Dad headed for Vitrautral, and on the ground below, Neteyam managed to catch a glimpse of Dr. Spellman lifting Prisha onto the direhorse's back before the trees closed over them.
It was harder to hold on than it had been with Tìtstew. The saddle they'd taken off Maverick had been designed to carry a human in front of the rider if necessary – Omataikaya saddles were not, and with Pa'ay in his lap Neteyam only had one arm free to hold on to the strap. He was determined not to need help, though. Dad already knew he'd done a lot of stupid things. He didn't need to add falling off a banshee to that list.
The magnetic field made the air feel crackly as they circled down towards in the hollow among the arching rocks where the Tree of Souls – the oldest and most sacred of its species in all the Omatikaya territories – grew. By daylight it was hard to pick out, as its white tendrils didn't glow brightly enough to compete with the sunshine. It was only where the shadows of the stone rings fell across it that the blue-purple light really showed. Dad's banshee landed on one of the arches for a moment, then flapped down the final few metres to the mossy ground.
"Pa'ay," said Neteyam. "We're here."
She opened her eyes and looked up at the shimmering branches. "Good," she murmured.
"How do you feel?" he asked her.
"Bones hurt," she replied. "Heart won't stop racing."
Jake dismounted and reached up to help Neteyam down. They did not talk about it, but both knew they needed to put Pa'ay in a place worthy of a leader's mate, even if she did not have the skills to have become a Tsahìk. Neteyam carried her right up to the foot of the massive trunk, and laid her down among the roots there to start removing her clothing.
"You have to tell us where the explosives are," he reminded her. "We have to destroy Site Nine."
Pa'ay grimaced as she struggled out of the shirt and trousers the Sky People had dressed her in. These were too big for one side of her body, too small for the other. "There is a narrow passageway that only a child can enter. It leads out into a sinkhole beneath mangrove roots. We divided the explosive into small packages and wrapped them in leaves to keep them dry, and put them down there."
That description was familiar. "You mean it's in Tuk's tunnel?" he asked.
"Tuk's tunnel?" Jake echoed.
"She and Spider used to squeeze in there, where nobody could get to them, when we'd play hide and seek," Neteyam explained.
"I see," said Jake, and Neteyam realized both his sister and Spider were going to hear about their dangerous hideout later. He would owe them an apology, assuming he ever saw them again. It made sense as a place to put the stolen explosive, though. The People knew about the recoms, so they'd hidden their contraband in a place those could not fit, and where humans wouldn't go for fear of getting stuck and running out of air. What would have happened, he wondered, if Neteyam had managed to find his way there when he'd been with Quaritch, O'Donnell, and Bohan? Would he have escaped, but led them right to what they were looking for?
"Now, give me peace," said Pa'ay.
Dad took out his thorn knife. Neteyam put out a hand, asking for it, but Dad balked.
"You don't need to do that," Jake said.
"I think I do," Neteyam told him. "I promised."
Dad was indecisive for a moment longer, but then gave it to him.
Like the obsidian knife Neteyam taken from the village ruins, it was awkwardly large in his hand, but he gripped it as best he could as he knelt next to Pa'ay. He'd seen this done, when warriors fell in battle – when they didn't want to be taken prisoner, or were too badly injured to live and did not want to linger in pain. Neteyam had know he'd probably have to do it himself someday, especially if he were Dad's heir... but it was going to be hard when Pa'ay looked like a child.
The doctor had said she wouldn't live long anyway. It was better for her not to suffer. A swift death was a mercy.
The human aorta was in a different place than in Na'vi, but Neteyam knew where to find it. Pa'ay did not make a sound as the blade went in. " I release your soul to return to Eywa ," Neteyam recited. " Join her and be at peace, leaving your pain behind ."
The blood flowed, and the breath slowed. Dad and Neteyam each held one of Pa'ay's tiny hands, until her grip relaxed.
Usually it took a few days for the ghost lichen to grow over a body, but now there was a rustling sound, and the glowing filaments emerged from the moss at once. Dad and Neteyam both moved back as they snaked over her body like a luminescent cobweb. Within minutes, Pa'ay was barely visible beneath layers of cilia. Neteyam was no Tsahìk, but the meaning could not have been more clear: Eywa was claiming back what the Sky People had tried to take from her.
Would that happen to Neteyam when this body died? Or... no, it wouldn't. It didn't need to. Eywa already had the real one.
Dad could tell what was going on, too. He moved to make tsaheylu with the dangling branches and contact Pa'ay's spirit, but then he changed his mind. He let his queue drop, and sat down on a root to be at Neteyam's eye level.
Neteyam stood up straight, hands behind his back. Here it came – Dad had tried to lecture him earlier, but had been too emotional to do so. Now he'd recovered from that, and Neteyam was going to hear about how stupid he'd been.
But Jake did not shout. He just sat.
"Okay," he said at last. "I'm going to tell you off later, you and your brother both, I promise I am. But right now... right now just tell me everything. I talked to Tarsem, I talked to Margo, I talked to Reet, but I need to hear it from you ."
"Yes, Sir," said Neteyam.
When Dad said everything he meant it, so Neteyam started from the beginning. He described how he'd woken up, how Quaritch had taunted him, how Bush had tried to bond and Nguyen had tried to help. He told Dad about Bohan and about how he'd escaped, how he'd realized he was missing memories, and how he couldn't do any of the things he used to be able to do. He talked about arriving at High Camp and Leaving again, about Lo'ak and the plan and what he'd seen in the bottom of Site Nine, and the conclusion it had led him to.
"That's when I realized," he said, "why Eywa let this happen. Somebody's gotta destroy that place and it's going to have to be me."
"You don't know that," said Dad.
"Yes, I do!" Neteyam insisted. "I'm certain of it." A lump of fear took shape in the bottom of his stomach. What if Dad wouldn't let him try? What would he do then? This was the only purpose Neteyam had anymore...
"God damn it, I'm not going to watch you die on me again!" said Dad, but then he stopped himself and took a deep breath. "You don't know what Eywa wants. We'll run it by your grandmother and see what she says."
"Tarsem and Pa'ay said we couldn't tell her. They said..."
"Yeah, they did," Dad interrupted, "and you should have heard her go off on Tarsem when she found out about it. Let's head back. You... you need to be somewhere you can breathe." He looked up at the tree as he got to his feet. "And Tarsem will want to know he can come here now."
Neteyam wondered what Tarsem would learn when he did. Could the dead keep secrets? He had no idea.
They arrived back at High Camp to find the place a hive of activity once more. People and banshees had been injured in the dogfight with the recoms – they needed treatment. Lo'ak, now wearing his own tewng again, was urgently describing Neteyam's plan for destroying Site Nine to a group of adults who were mostly ignoring him as they repaired saddles and weapons. Prisha was sitting on the metal steps to the main airlock, bouncing one knee impatiently. When Jake's banshee landed, she jumped up and ran to greet them.
Neteyam let himself down to the ground and gave her a hug. "I hope you're not in too much trouble," he said.
"I'm in a heap of trouble," she replied, sounding like she didn't care. "How about you?"
"Dad says I'm gonna be in trouble later."
Two figures came out of the avatar storage then. One was Dr. Spellman, now in his human body and wearing a mask. The other was Reet Singh, with blood on her medic's smock.
Neteyam stepped back from Prisha. "How is Bohan?" He asked. Lo'ak came over to join them.
Reet gave him a sour look. "You're lucky we've got a medical emergency, or I would have a lot to say to you, young man," she said. "Captain Bohan has a splintered rib and a lacerated liver. We got the bullet out and sewed her up, but she's lost a lot of blood. Fortunately, the recoms are based on the same genetic template as the avatars, so she's got the same blood type. Norm's going to give her some."
"Just let me change," said Dr. Spellman. "I don't want to lie in a link bed all afternoon with blood on my clothes."
"Do it fast," Reet told him.
He hurried up the steps and into the habitats.
"Is she going to be all right, though?" Neteyam asked.
Reet's expression softened. "Yes. As long as she gets the blood, she should recover."
"When can we talk to her?" asked Prisha.
"When I say so," her mother replied.
Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Spellman was settled in his avatar next to Bohan's bed, with a line between them for the transfusion. Reet had instructed him to stay linked so they'd be able to tell if there were any side effects, so he'd brought alone a tablet and was sitting doing crossword puzzles. Bohan's ears and nose looked pale and there were stitches in her abdomen, but she was still breathing, and the heart monitor's beep was reassuringly steady.
Lo'ak and Prisha had both eaten when they'd arrived back at High Camp. Neteyam had not, and he was hungry. Reet took him inside and made him a couple of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, which were an interesting thing to eat – they were salty and sweet, crunchy and soft, all at the same time.
Dad came in with him, but didn't say much. He just sat cross-legged on the floor across from where Neteyam was eating, and watched him. It was uncomfortable, but Neteyam kept that to himself. He figured Dad was still trying to think what they were going to do with him – and what they were going to say to Mother.
Reet did not watch. She was right there, inspecting him for more injuries, and took out a bottle of peroxide to swab the dozens of little cuts and nicks on his face and arms.
"How did you get all these?" she asked.
"Window broke," he replied between bites.
"What window?"
Neteyam's mouth was full, so Prisha answered. "On the Kestrel. Captain Bohan and I were already out."
"Who was flying?" asked Dad with a frown.
Neteyam chewed and swallowed. "I was," he admitted. "Badly. Bohan had told me how to do it, but it was harder than I thought."
"No shit," said Dad. "I took lessons when I was in the marines. Those things are tricky."
He sounded impressed. Neteyam dared a look up, and saw Dad shaking his head with a smile on his face.
"You really did that?" Jake asked. "With her just talking you through it?"
"She didn't tell me how hard it was," said Neteyam. If she had... "I would have tried it anyway. We had to get out."
Dad reached out to grip Neteyam's shoulder, although again he was very gentle, as if touching a delicate plant rather than a living person. "I'm proud of you," he said. "I... I feel like I never told you that often enough. You or your brother. Or your sisters, even. I'm gonna do that more often, I promise."
Neteyam thought that was an odd thing to say. What did Dad think was going to happen next? Was he going to just take him and Lo'ak back out to the islands? He of all people must understand why that wasn't possible.
By the time Neteyam was done eating, the next bodily need was catching up with him – he was exhausted. He tried not to yawn, because he had more things to do. Dad had said they needed to talk to Grandmother, and Reet would want to lecture Neteyam for his behaviour, and he hadn't said hello to Viraj yet, and Bohan might wake up... but his head was drooping, and Dad could tell.
"You got somewhere to sleep?" Jake asked.
"I'm fine," said Neteyam, knowing he probably didn't. The Patel family wasn't going to let him back into their quarters after what he'd done to Prisha.
But it was actually Max Patel, who'd been working on something at the other end of the table, who stood up and approached them. "We have room. We've got an extra habitat we've been using as storage – you've been in there," he told Neteyam. "It's where we keep the clothes Spider never bothered wearing. Reet and I cleared off one of the beds in case you came back."
"Aren't you angry with me, though?" asked Neteyam.
"Absolutely," Max said, "but you still need a place to stay." He came and patted Neteyam's back. His touch was much firmer than Dad's tentative one. "We'll look after him, Jake."
"I know you will," said Dad. He got to his feet as if very tired, himself, bending down so his head wouldn't brush the ceiling. "Sleep tight," he added, and then crouched to kiss Neteyam's forehead.
That made Neteyam feel suddenly very much like he was a small child again, and he stood up a little taller to compensate. "Good night, Sir."
Max and Reet had indeed cleared off a bed for him and put fresh sheets on it – but the rest of the room was still full of the entire small community's junk. That was a depressing thought. This was where they put all the things they didn't need or weren't using. Was that all Neteyam was now? Something of no use to anyone?
Probably, and he was going to have to get used to that, because when he thought about it, that was how Nguyen had described Neteyam and Pa'ay. Like the recoms, they were weapons, not people, things that would be thrown away when their creators were done with them. Bohan had said it didn't matter what happened to her anymore once she made sure the young people were okay, and now Neteyam knew what his version of that was. Eywa had allowed this to happen because she needed him to destroy Site Nine and once that was done... he was probably going to die.
And he had to be okay with that, because in a way it had already happened. As he'd observed in the lab, Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan was dead. The human boy who called himself by that name might feel like he was a real person, but like the recoms, he was just a tool for a task. Would he join Eywa after that? Or would his spirit just be lost, like the humans were? Did he even have a spirit?
It made Neteyam wonder what had gone through the mind of that other self, the real Neteyam, as he'd been dying. He'd always felt pretty secure in his future. He'd grown up thinking he would be a warrior of the Omatikaya like his father, and inherit his position as Olo'eyktan. Having that snatched away when the family left would have been awful, but from what Lo'ak said it sounded like he'd started to find a place for himself again among the people of Awa'atlu. Had he known he'd lost everything again? Had he realized he was dying, or had it all been over too quickly? Lo'ak hadn't wanted to go into detail.
The future had felt like a scary thing before. When Neteyam had tried to contemplate the idea of living an entire life as a human who wasn't any good at anything, it had felt like falling into a bottomless dark hole It had made his head spin and his chest hurt. But the alternative of living only a couple of weeks and then dying, even dying doing what he knew Eywa wanted him to do... no, that was worse. Neteyam had always thought of himself as being at the beginning of his life. He wasn't ready to suddenly arrive at the end of it.
Although he did sleep, his dreams were restless and distressing. He dreamed that Mother and the girls had arrived, but it turned out they had the original Neteyam with them. He hadn't died – it had been a misunderstanding. The Sky People should not have created his replacement in the first place, according to their own rules. Dad and Lo'ak agreed that they didn't need a fake Neteyam when the real one was still here, and Prisha got into her new avatar and left with him on Pawk's back.
He woke up in tears, which did nothing at all for the lingering feeling of being a child. Neteyam curled up and buried his face in a pillow, and kept control of himself as best he could because he was the oldest and he had to act like it. Big brother doesn't cry, not even alone in a room where nobody can see him. He comforts his siblings when they're upset, but he never cries, himself. His tail hurt.
The second time Neteyam woke up, he thankfully didn't remember any more bad dreams. His head was muddled and his eyes didn't want to open all the way, but Viraj Patel was standing over him, shaking his shoulder.
"Neteyam! Hey, wake up!" he insisted.
" Oe tìtxen si, tìtxen si ," Neteyam mumbled. "I'm awake. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Viraj said. "Prisha sent me to get you. Captain Bohan is awake and Mom says you can talk to her."
That was enough to wake Neteyam up properly. "I'm coming," he said, and sat up.
He was now wearing Spider's pajamas instead of Dr. Spellmans'. They fit better, though they were still a bit long in the arms and legs, and were red and blue with, appropriately enough, a spiderweb pattern on them. Neteyam thought about changing, but changing clothes was a lot of work when humans wore so many of them, and Bohan wasn't somebody he needed to impress. So he just put a mask on and went out to the avatar shed in his bare feet.
The entrance to avatar storage was almost entirely blocked by Ukyom, who had stuck his head through the door. The rest of his body would surely have followed if it could have fit. Somebody had put a proper bridle on his mekuru , and Margo Oladele was there in her avatar, holding on to it to keep Ukyom from getting in the way. She kept him back as Neteyam went in.
Inside, Bohan was in one of the beds, not exactly sitting up but propped with several pillows behind her back and shoulders. Lo'ak and Prisha were already there sitting beside her. She looked very tired, with shadows under her eyes, and a collection of machines were monitoring her breathing, her heartbeat, and other things Neteyam didn't understand. But she looked over at him, and smiled.
"How you doing, kiddo?" she asked.
"I'm all right," said Neteyam. He sat down in one of the human-sized chairs. "How are you?"
"Dr. Singh tells me I'm going to live," Bohan replied. "She doesn't sound very happy about it."
"Mom never sounds happy," Prisha told her. She looked over her shoulder at Neteyam with a smile, and the image from his dream, of her climbing on Pawk with his other self and flying away, floated in front of him. Neteyam wished he remembered what her avatar had looked like... earlier he'd tried to picture it and hadn't been able to, and all he recalled from the dream was a blue blur.
"You two hush," said Reet herself, standing up from the far side of the bed, where she'd been kneeling to check on one of the medical machines. "I'm always happy when I can save somebody. My last patient did absolutely everything I told him not to, and I'm amazed he's still alive. You're going to do better and rest for at least a week. No getting out of this bed except to use the facilities, and then I want somebody with you in case you keel over."
"Oh, expectations ," said Bohan with a weak laugh. "I used to be good at those. Then Nguyen told me I have to think of myself as a new person now, and it turns out Emily two-point-oh is awful at them." She looked at Neteyam and winked.
Despite his own worries, he couldn't help returning her smile. If Bohan were making jokes, then she was going to be all right. No way she would be able to stay in bed for a week, though... and he knew perfectly well that himself, Prisha, and Lo'ak would be the ones helping her break the rules.
Ukyom started putting up a fuss again, which announced the arrival of Jake and Dr. Spellman, the latter using his human body while his avatar recovered from donating blood. Bohan struggled to sit up a little more as they walked in, and Reet had to tell her to lie down again.
"They understand you're hurt," the medic said firmly.
"How are you feeling?" asked Norm.
"Much better," Bohan replied. "Apparently I owe you some blood."
"Don't worry about it," he told her. "I've got lots."
"I'll just keep in mind that thing Neteyam says, about repaying a life someday," she said.
Lo'ak and Neteyam moved aside to make room for their father, who came and crouched by the bedside. "I'll be keeping that in mind, too," Jake said. "My sons tell me you saved them both."
Bohan chuckled again, then winced as it hurt her ribs. "So you're Jake Sully, eh?"
"Disappointed?" he asked.
"You look a lot scarier in the pictures when you've got all the war paint on. Without it, you just look like some guy. Your boys are dumb as hell," she added fondly. "I love them."
"They are – and so do we," said Dad. "Bohan, was it?"
"Emily. Emily Hagenbeck," she decided. "Maiden name. Randy's made it pretty clear I'm not a Bohan anymore." She heaved a very slow sigh, trying to keep from putting pressure on her ribs. "It's probably time to deal with that."
"Emily." Jake nodded. "What are you planning to do now?"
"She's planning on keeping her backside in bed like I told her to," said Reet sharply. Prisha had to smother a giggle.
Jake smiled, too. "Okay, then. After that."
"I have no idea," Emily admitted. "I was... kind of expecting to be dead by now."
"We'll figure something out, then," Jake decided. He turned to Norm, who nodded.
"You can stay here at least a while," Norm said. "We've got room. The rest is up to the Omatikaya."
"I won't be mad if they don't want me," Emily told him, and stared off at the ceiling for a minute. "Nguyen said that just because it was never going to be the same again didn't mean it wasn't going to be okay. God. I hate that woman twice as much when shes right."
Jake patted her hand, and then stood up. "Boys," he said to Neteyam and Lo'ak. "Your grandmother wants to talk to you."
"Yes, Sir," said Lo'ak.
Neteyam swallowed hard. "Yes, Sir," he echoed.
Emily pouted. "Leaving me all alone in pain?"
"I'll stay a while," Norm offered. "I already sat with you half the night during the transfusion." He looked over his shoulder at the next bunk, where his avatar was resting.
"I'll stay, too," said Prisha. "I can call Mom if anything happens."
Jake shooed his sons outside, past Margo and Ukyom – seeing them come out, Ukyom tried again to stick his head and shoulders into the building, and Margo had to yank on his halter.
"Sorry, Jake," she said, and pulled the banshee's head down to her eye level. "You need to learn some patience." Margo shook a finger at the animal as if he were a misbehaving horse. "She'll be better when she's better."
"She took right to it, huh?" said Jake. "Emily with the banshees. Like a duck to... like a Metkayina to the water."
"Lo'ak taught her," Neteyam said. His brother deserved the credit for that.
"Did you?" asked Jake, startled.
"I'm obviously the expert. I had to do iknimaya twice," said Lo'ak, "so clearly I have more experience than Neteyam."
Dad did not laugh, but that was because Grandmother had appeared. She was standing a few metres away, just in front of Tarsem, and watching them silently. Tarsem was clearly uncomfortable with the situation, and was focused on watching Margo attempt to wrangle Ukyom. Neteyam, too, wanted to look away, ashamed of himself once again. Why hadn't he thought to shave? He kept his eyes on Lo'ak, next to him, and Lo'ak looked at his feet. Both of them expected to be lectured for their conduct.
But Mo'at did not do that, any more than Dad had. Instead, she shot a fierce glare at Tarsem, and then opened her arms. "Come here," she said to her grandsons, and the two of them went up to embrace her.