Niko is getting ready to go on the regular lookout to the earthers’ village, where Joe and Mitchel are. She first goes to alert Anu that she is heading out, dreading that conversation knowing he is going to try to stop her.
“Morning, Chief,” she says.
“Good morn— “ he starts, turning to look at her.
“Why are you ready to fly?” He asks, confused. She is wearing her black suit for when she wants to blend with Ash, her dragon.
“I came to tell you that I am going to the village I told you about,” she tries to say it all in one breath so she can leave before he can refuse.
“No, you're not going,” he declines, grabbing her shoulder to turn her back around.
“That's why I hid it from you in the first place,” she says, crossing her arms, annoyed as she huffs.
“Hey, watch it young lady,” Anu scolds Niko.
“Why are you going there?” He questions, “What if something happens? How will I get to you?” he says worried.
“Nothing will happen, I am just going to figure out why they're moving or where they're moving,” she says pleadingly, as Anu stands there silently contemplating letting her go.
“Fine, on one condition,” he continues, “You do this, FROM AFAR,” he says, emphasizing the last part.
“Okay! Bye!!” she says, running to Ash.
She is up in the trees now, looking at the earthers from a distance. She's trying not to get caught; who knows what might happen if they catch her? They are laughing and living life; how angry that scene made her! She spots Mitchel walking out with Joe from their office. She's trying to get closer so she can hear them better, when she almost falls and snaps a branch. Lucky for her, they got used to these sounds as they lived on Dregawa. They start to talk low, but she can still hear; she must thank the skills she got from the pranks Dhati and Ori did to her.
“Has the day been finalized?” Mitchel asks Joe.
“No, not yet. We're still researching, but this island has more than the one before,” Joe replies.
Niko's eyes widen as she hears these words. They are planning on attacking another island, these monsters. She needs to know where this island is; maybe she'll be able to help somehow. They are laughing and joking about homes burning to the ground, for a stupid tree.
“You know, nothing is going to beat that island we attacked ten years ago. When we were still rookies, the one that kickstarted all this glory,” Joe says, patting Mitchel on the shoulder as they both reminisced.
“By the way, I'll send a scout group to the forest. Maybe we'll catch any of them and get them to talk or use them as bait,” Mitchel informs Joe as he nods in approval.
The moment she hears these words, her blood boils with anger. They are talking about her island and her people, who are dead now because of them. She wants to kill them then and there, but she promised Anu she would not do anything stupid. She leaves before she can hear the location of the island they referred to, goes to where Ash is waiting for her.
“Hey buddy,” she says as she caresses his head.
“Let's go home,” she tells him.
As she is flying home, she hears laughter below her on the ground. When she looks down, she sees that it is the Potek kids, all four of them walking together, having fun as if nothing can go wrong, except for one thing. THEY ARE WALKING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE VILLAGE SHE JUST CAME FROM. The one with the earthers, they were releasing a five-man scout group to check the area; they might get caught. But she cannot fight them alone, not with their lives on the line. She rushes Ash back to her island, jumps off him to find Dhati and Ori, whom she finds by the beach.
“Dhati! Ori! Get your weapons NOW,” Niko says as she is getting hers as well.
“What's wrong? Are you okay?” Ori asks while getting his bow and arrows.
“I am, but the Poteks won’t be,” she continues, “They are taking a stroll in the forest in the direction of the earthers’ village, and they're about to be captured,” Niko says while heading to Ash.
“Shit,” Dhati says under her breath, while calling for her sea serpent, Ori does as well.
When they are both ready, they are on their way to the Poteks' destination. They can't warn them since they're so near. At that point, the scouts attack them, attempting to capture them. Teyluk, Akit, Nevan, and Nero try to fight back. The instant Ash descends on the ground and the serpents reach the shore. Niko, Dhati, and Ori begin sprinting towards them. When they come close, they decide to disperse and encircle the scouts, with each hiding behind a tree. Niko turns to Ori and signs for him to kill the scout carrying Teyluk, then to Dhati and instructs her to fire the one holding Nevan, and Niko will shoot the one holding Nero. That means there are just two scouts left: one keeping Akit and one leading them back to their village. So they all attack, launching their arrows. Niko shoots the first arrow. The others follow, killing everyone except the final two, one of whom is holding a knife to Akit's neck. He tightens his grasp on her as he notices Dhati and Ori charging forward while Niko remains behind.
“Okay! Okay! Easy,” Dhati tells the earther.
“Everybody, put your weapons down,” the scout holding Akit shouts at them.
Dhati and Ori begin to lay down their weapons; the others glance at them, bewildered, but eventually lay down their weapons as well. The earthers becomes overconfident, but when Niko runs at the person holding Akit from behind, Dhati grabs her bow and arrows and kills the other person in the head. The other one let go of Akit and focuses on Niko. They continue to struggle, and he slices her upper arm. While Dhati tries to acquire an accurate view, they keep moving too quickly. Niko then stabs the final scout in the abdomen before glaring at the Potek children as the lifeless body falls to the ground.
“What in the world were you thinking? Going to foreign island all alone?” Niko shouts firmly, “even our people don't come near here.” she continues.
“We were just taking a stroll, everything happened all of-” Nevan tries to explain.
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“And you chose here of all places, a place you don't know. ALMOST GETTING YOURSELVES KILLED” Niko interrupts him.
“You know what? I have had enough of you,” she adds.
“Hey, don't speak to them like that,” Teyluk says as he stands in front of his siblings.
“Really big guy,” she continues as she throws her bow on the ground, “You want to stand up for them now, after almost getting your siblings and mine killed.”
“You were reckless, flying to a land you know nothing about,” She shouts, Dhati trying to calm her down.
“Who would’ve known this place was dangerous ?” Nevan asks, as if stating the impossible.
Teyluk says “Plus we are all fine, nothing happened” he continues annoyed “I don't know why you are so bossy.”
“Because you don't know what it's like to lose a sibling” she screams the last part, as everyone goes silent.
At that same moment Akit notices Niko's arm is bleeding down to her wrists now, blood drenching a bracelet she is wearing.
Akit whispers “Niko, your arm.”
She looks down at her arm, sees that it is bleeding. She did not notice that until it was mentioned.
“You know what? Dhati! Ori!” Niko looks at them.
“Take them home and I will take care of this situation,” she says gesturing to the dead bodies lying there.
Dhati nods and starts heading them to the shore's direction, while Niko starts piling the dead scouts on Ash to drop them far away from their island, while taking their guns back with her. On the other side, Teyluk, Nevan, Akit and Nero are flying back on their horses silently, while Dhati, Ori, are on their serpents, when Nevan speaks.
“We're sorry,” he says on behalf of the others.
“It's not us who you should apologize to, you don't how worried she was when she came to get us,” Ori says firmly.
“Worried? Why would she worry about us? She does not even like us,” Akit says, folding her arms.
“Yes, worried,” Dhati continues “She was frantic, I didn't see her this panicked except when one of us got hurt,” she says pointing to herself and Ori.
“What did she mean by we don't know what it's like to lose a sibling?” Teyluk asks furrowing his eyebrows.
“That's not our story to tell,” Ori replies, turning his attention back their path.
“Thank you,” he says, averting his gaze, not wanting to admit it, “and we are sorry”.
“Just be careful next time and tell us if you want to explore that much,” Dhati replies.
They arrive back at the island and Dhati informs them that she must tell her dad, to take precautions. At that time Niko arrives at the island, Ash landing on the beach. She gets off him, takes the guns back to Anu, to keep them as weapons in case they might need them one day. She then goes back to the beach, to find Ash where she left him and just sits on the ground beside him, taking a deep breath and hating the way she felt that morning. The feeling where she gets flashbacks to what happened in the past. These people are growing on her, even though she does not intend for them to.
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