lo'ak's tulkun brother, payakan, had been banned from the territory that lo'ak had met him in about five moons ago. a lot had happened since then - they had fought a war against the RDA, they had won, and they had lost his older brother and best friend neteyam. a skyperson had shot him when they went back on lo'ak's order. he had killed his brother, that's what he felt. he was responsible. if he hadn't dragged him back on the ship to get their adoptive brother spider, he'd still be alive. the guilt ate away at the boy day and night, and the only time he could truly forget the horrors of the night he watched his best friend take his last breath, was when he was with payakan.

the tulkun was outcast by the others, perhaps that was why lo'ak felt so drawn to him - he could relate. payakan had helped the na'vi defend the RDA in the battle, an action that the people of their village honored with gratefulness; but the way of the tulkun is it, not to kill. killing leads to more killing, until it is an endless spiral of suffering and destruction

when lo'ak had heard that payakan was to be sent back to his birth clan and far, far away from these waters and him, he had protested. he had interrupted a sacred circle to speak his word and it hadn't helped. payakan was gone, and his father was angry, to say the least.

harsh words from jake were something that the boy was used to, and he'd just stood there and let his father yell at him before he had gotten dismissed. lo'ak was fed up, with the way his dad treated him so unnecessarily harsh, with the way nobody listened to him when he tried to explain that payakan had tried to help, and he had succeeded. they had all seen it, yet they still had sent him away. he didn't want to lose another one of his brothers, and so he saddled his ilu at dawn and was gone without anyone noticing.

the sea was rough at night, the waves high and dark, and for a omatikaya like lo'ak even harder to handle. his skin burned from the salt water hitting him like a whip, his eyelids were heavy from trying hard to focus in the dark, and his hands burned as they clung onto the reins of his ilu.

after countless hours of fighting the water, lo'ak was incredibly tired. he couldn't allow himself to sleep, but his brain was foggy and his body sore, he needed rest. his mind fought against the haze that settled over his brain, but eventually, he couldn't resist anymore and his head tilted forward against the neck of his ilu.

he was abruptly woken up by the loud sea, a wave as tall as his ikran came crashing down on him with a loud thunder. lo'ak had just managed to gasp for air before he was ripped off his ilu and pushed under by the black waters. the sea would not let him rest; he struggled until his mind went foggy, his muscles burned and his lungs were sore.

his mouth tasted of salt water when he awoke, and his entire body felt like an RDA rover had driven over it twice. but he wasn't in the water anymore; it felt like sand that he was lying on. lo'ak didn't open his eyes immediately, he just held still and made out where he might be. sand - a beach. the sun on his skin, the sound of the waves lapping on the shore. and, faintly, but there; breathing.

his eyes snapped open and he flinched slightly at the brightness of the sun and the sight of you. it was obvious now that he sea had washed him up at another clan's shore; your clan

you seemed to be just as startled as he was by his sudden stirring and retreated a bit, staying close enough for you to still be able to watch him.

"hey," lo'ak managed; he wasn't sure what to say in a situation like this one. it wasn't every day that one got into a storm and ended up on some other clan's beach. he wondered how that must look for you; you didn't know he was from the metkayina clan, for you it just looked like a forest na'vi had somehow appeared on the shore.

"d'you pull me out," lo'ak rasped and had to clear his throat as he noticed how ridiculous he sounded, before he pointed to the water, which - now - looked peaceful and inviting