CHAPTER SIXTEEN. ✧˖*°࿐
❝ EMEA THE CHIEF'S DAUGHTER. ❞

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"Emea!"

Emea hurriedly stood up, watching as Tsireya, Ao'nung, and Rotxo followed after Lo'ak's retreating figure. She ran towards Neteyam who was waiting for her, the two immediately following after the teenagers.

"What happened?" She asked him, glancing at the side of his face. He was fuming.

"Lo'ak," Neteyam started, "he's going to Payakan to warn him about what's happening with the tulkuns."

After making sure that Kiri and Tuk were okay behind them (they came to see what was going on), they quickly followed behind Lo'ak who swam faster than them all.

As he finally stopped at coming to see his tulkun, both Emea and Neteyam headed towards him when they saw Lo'ak desperately trying to get rid of something on Payakan's skin.

"Hey, hey!" Emea yelled over the brothers worried yells as she got on top of Payakan to see the wound better. She only came to see the ship heading towards them. "The Sky People are coming. Everyone, try to help. If they get too close, I'll try to distract them."

Neteyam grabbed her hand, pulling her away from her gaze on the ship coming towards them. Everyone else tried to help Lo'ak.

"You are not going to distract them," Neteyam gave her a look. "It's not safe."

"I'm more worried about your safety," Emea sighed, helping her siblings and Neteyam's to get rid of the object embedded in the poor animal's skin. "You have to trust me."

Neteyam looked off before sighing, helping the others, too. He turned to look at his brother. "Call Dad. Call Dad! Just go, do it."

"Just continue pulling!" Emea ordered, taking the lead. Neteyam was next to her, putting all his strength on the object just like the others.

At remembering that Lo'ak brought things on his ilu, Emea quickly left to go retrieve them, knowing that Neteyam was right behind her.

"Be careful," Neteyam warned her, wrapping the end of the rope on the object injected into Payakan's skin. Emea nodded as he got on his ilu, swimming away.

Emea looked around at the Sky People nearing closer and then did she eye the animals swimming by her feet. Connecting with them, she looked at them listening to her demands as they headed towards the Sky People, distracting them.

"All at the same time!" Emea spoke loudly, helping them pull.

"Pull harder!" Tsireya yelled.

"Pull!"

To everyone's relief, the object finally came out and Emea swam towards Neteyam, she grabbed the object out of his hands.

"Go that way," she waved off, "I'll draw them out."

Everyone followed her lead but Neteyam didn't. All he could say was, "Emea, you're brave and I know where your heart is but, you're a bit slow. You are connected to the animals, make them take it instead of us."

Emea facepalmed. "We forget about this."

Neteyam chuckled before eyeing the way her arms stayed by her side. Animals started to swam her and then did they take away the object from her. She smiled before she got on the ilu behind Neteyam.

"I will bring this up!" Neteyam yelled before the two dove into the water. Emea shook her head, nudging his shoulder.

They headed towards the others, hiding behind reefs while they watched above. It didn't take long before submarines headed towards them all causing them all to disperse again.

Swimming away, Emea kept her gaze on the group behind her. She made sure her siblings were okay before checking on Lo'ak. He was also fine. She saw Kiri and Tuk, but she even noticed that Kiri was struggling to grab her sister.

At coming to see the sight of Tuk's hand leaving Kiri's hold, Emea swam towards the young girl, rescuing her from being hit by a submarine heading towards her.

Emea led her towards a plant nearby, hoping that it would allow the young girl to breathe. Thankfully, she was right. Tuk started to rapidly breathe, panicking, but she held onto Emea.

"You're okay," Emea reassured her, her hand placed by her head. "We're going to be okay, Tuk."

Much to their surprise, Tuk screamed at Lo'ak randomly appearing. Tsireya followed after, reassuring her older sister that she was okay.

"I'm okay," Tsireya spoke, furrowing her eyebrows.

"We need to be careful," Emea told them. "If you get hurt, let me know."

They all nodded before eyeing the glow surrounding them. Tsireya eyed it. "It is coming!"

"We have to go!"

Breathing in, they all left their hiding place before Emea eyed the animals close to them. In a blink of an eye, the animals started circling the submarine heading towards them, giving them more of a chance to hide.

But, it didn't go according to plan.

The four tried swimming away, but they were all captured with a net one of the Sky People aimed at them. Emea could only help Tuk, soothing the younger girl as best as she could. Lo'ak tried saving them, but he got pulled right along when a soldier came to get them.

"Hang on!" Lo'ak instructed the girls, raising a knife. "Look out! Move your hand!"

"Hurry!"

Unsuccessfully freeing them, they landing on the ship that they tried getting away from. Lo'ak stood his ground, aiming the knife towards the avatars surrounding them.

"Drop your weapon!" One yelled.

"Put it down!"

Being taken out, Emea tried fighting off the people grabbing at her sister and Tuk.

"Leave them alone!" Emea yelled, punching one on the face and slicing another with the knife Tuk had. She was quickly stopped, though, when an avatar stood behind her and took it away from her hands.

"Drop the knife! Drop it."

"Hey, hey!" Emea looked towards the voice yelling at them and she saw a boy. Maybe he was the one Neteyam spoke about. "What are you doing? Stop! Don't hurt them."

"Spider," Lo'ak called out towards the boy.

"Bro, are you okay?"

"Yeah, great, cuz," Lo'ak responded from his position on the ground, "never better."

"You will be killed by my people," Emea hissed at the woman containing her, her heart beating against her chest. "Let them go!"

"Yeah, I remember you," Emea huffed and eyed the man talking to Lo'ak. "Cuff them to the rail, all of them. Except her."

Tsireya's eyes went to her sister's frame fidgeting in a woman's hands. All eyes were on her as the man spoke and she wondered why her sister was needed.

"Leave her alone," Lo'ak tried to get away, noticing that the man got closer to Emea.

"I heard," the man stepped closer to her, "that you controlled the animals. Nature. Is that true?" Emea stayed silent, glaring at the man. "If you won't speak, I guess we'll kill one of your beloved animals. Will that make you feel like talking?"

Emea turned away, trying her best to maintain calm when she saw the man point his gun towards the water. She couldn't deal with more when she already lost her spirit sister and the rest of the tulkuns.

At hearing the gunshot, Emea could only wince at feeling the hit. She called herself stupid almost immediately, knowing that her actions let them know that they were in fact correct.

"You will stay with us."

At the end of his words, they heard a commotion not so far from them. Emea could only sigh in relief at coming to see it was her people. Hopefully, they would be able to get the others safe.

"Na'vi inbound!"

"Weapons up!"

The man in charge looked down at Emea, a sinister smile on his lips. "You're worthy to them, I bet. The chief's daughter. The one who can control the animals and nature in general. A trade."

Emea felt her heart drop, looking around the water to see Neteyam. She only wished to be with him.

"They got our kids," Jake spoke to Tonowari. "Your daughters, Tuk, Lo'ak..."

Emea watched her parents, the way her mother, her poor mother, held a concerned expression on her face. As the eldest, Emea only hoped to get her sister and the others to safety. Whatever happens to her, she could handle. She has been prepared for her entire life for something like this. For someone to find out the connections she had.

"They're going to kill her," Ronal whimpered to her husband, knowing that their eldest daughter will do anything to save her younger sister. They knew Tsireya would get out of it alive. But will Emea?

Tsireya, her parents, and her people, panicked at seeing a gun pointed to Emea's head, along with Lo'ak.

Jake inhaled and looked around. "Hold here."

Tonowari stopped him. "They are killers of Tulkun. They have our daughters. They must die. Here. Today."

"It's me that they want," Jake explained to him. "That's what all this has been about, right? The hunting of a tulkun. The taking of our kids."

"You brought this upon us!" Ronal glared at Jake. "You!"

Ronal could only look at her daughters. The one who was shaking out of fear for her sister and said sister being held at gunpoint.

Emea, on the other hand, wished to know beyond the sunrise and the sunset, to be in the presence of Neteyam as they talked about their lives.

She wished to be with peace and Neteyam was that.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

So... hi 🙂

I was gone for a while because
I started second semester of uni
so I got my schedule sorted and such
and it's 2:40 AM and I have to wake
up at 6 😖

If this chapter sucks... it's not my fault.
It's my disappointment from last chapter
because the comments... I expected better 🚪🚶🏻‍♀️

Pfft but goodnight 🙂