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"I wish I'd been there. The ocean blessed you with a gift, brother."

"Kiri shh-" I say trying to grasp the story that Lo'ak is telling us. We sit in a circle with the Metkayina children, listening. From Aonung and the other boys leading him outside of the reef, to him nearly meeting Eywa to him getting saved by a Tulkun.

"The tulkun have not returned yet. And anyway no tulkun is ever alone." Aonung states with a shrug, his tone clearly showed that he didn't belive Lo'ak.

"Well this one was," Lo'ak says, his voice tight. "He had a... missing fin. Like a stump on the left side."

"Payakan." Tsireya mutters, almost to herself.

I glance at Neteyam. He's just as confused as me, shaking his head, trying to figure out how this fits together.

"Who's Payakan?" Kiri asks.

"A young bull who went rogue. He's outcast. Alone." Rotxo finally says.

"They say he's a killer..." Tsireya warned, gripping Lo'ak's arm.

"No..no." He said, removing her hand.

"He killed Na'vi, and other tulkun." Aonung finishes.

"No. He's no killer..." Lo'ak shakes his head, his chest rising and falling with anger.

"Lo'ak, you're lucky to be alive." Tsireya says.

"I'm telling you guys. He saved my life." Lo'ak insists. But the look on everyones faces say otherwise, "He's my friend."

Neteyam finally stands up after staying silent a long moment. "My baby bro! The Mighty Warrior who faced the killer tulkun and lived to tell about it, huh?" he teases.

Lo'ak angrily shrugs him off, "You guys aren't listening."

Tuk softly says, "Lo'ak, I'm listening." But he just stormed off, legs moving fast over the sand.

"Lo'ak! Come back!" Kiri called

We all watch in silence as he walked away and toward the beach, calling an ilu and disappearing into the shimmering water.

They started talking about visiting the Metkayina's version of the Cove of Ancestors but I can't. It just doesn't feel right seeing my ancestors in someone else's land.

"If Payakan is such a killer why would he bring Lo'ak back into the reef barrier?" I ask Tsireya as we stand to leave.

"Y/n we, the Metkayina, were taught this. It was a tragedy in the south." Aonung warned walking away without looking back

I roll my eyes walking toward our mauri, "That's probably what other Na'vi told mom when meeting dad... but guess what? Eywa allowed it." I said to myself.

I enter the mauri and see sa'nok making lìngpay, food for dinner, humming a tune softly to herself.

She doesn't even look up when she asks, "Ma'ite, why are you not out there with the others?"

I shrug fiddling with the edge of my loincloth. "They're going to the cove of ancestors."

Finally she lifts her head, her eyes narrowing slightly. She gestures for me to come closer. "And you do not wish to see the ancestors?"

I shake my head. "Not here, not now," I sigh kneeling beside her, "Maybe once we go home."

She watches me for a moment, like she can see through all the things I'm not saying. "The ancestors are everywhere ma'ite," she says gently. "Even here."

"Maybe," I mutter, "but the ones who know me aren't in the water."

She pauses. Something flickers across her face, understanding? sadness? maybe even a hint of agreement. Sa'nok was forest first. I think she still is.

I start helping her pick scales off the fish she's preparing.

"Hypothetically," I say, trying to keep my voice casual. "What would you do if a whole clan doesn't trust someone for something you know they haven't done?"

I see her jaw tighten, ever so slightly. "People fear what they do not understand. Even I do."

"Yeah," I whisper. "That's what they said about dad too, right? When you first met him?"

She looks sharply at me, surprised. Then softens. "Eywa brought your father to me for a reason."

"And maybe..." I say thinking of Lo'ak's face, when he said that Payakan had saved him, "...maybe Eywa brought him to Lo'ak too." I whisper to myself.

She reaches for my songcord, a quiet gesture. "Who has Eywa brought into your brothers life Ma'ite?"

I shake my head, "He met this tulk--"

"Mom! Mom!" Neteyam bursts in, cutting me off.

"It's Kiri." he says, breathless.

The Sully household had been up early to in with Kiri. Dad had told us as a family not to go to the Cove of Ancestors because of what had happened to her.

"Because Sully's..."

"Stick together!" we all said in unison, holding Kiri's hand as she tries to weave a bead into Tuk's hair.

Suddnely, the sound of a conch blasts through the air. We all run outside to see what's happening.

"What's going on?" Dad asks.

The members of the clan rush toward the ocean, excitement making their movements sharp, precise.

"The tulkun have returned! Everybody our brothers and sisters have returned!"

I looked out over the water and see them. A massive herd of tulkuns, breaking the surface moving with power and grace toward the village.

I ran toward them, bouncing with each step.

The joyous sounds of the Metkayina fill the air, voices high with yips and cheers.

"I see you!"

"Sister!"

The yips rise, echoing across the waves as everyone swims toward their tulkuns.

In their endless cycle of migration, the tulkun had come home.

I turn to see my family making their way to the water, eyes wide with wonder and awe.

Even underwater, the tulkun are beautiful, bigger than I imagined moving like the ocean itself as clicks filled the air, ones that only translated to their respective Na'vi's.

We play. The Metkayina and the tulkun allow us, to interact with a part of them Eywa had chosen.

It was a time for stories, of their season apart. Of deaths, of births. Old friends, and new loves.

Silence. The waves crashing too loud.

Cries pierce the air.

"What is this Tonowari? What is this!"

"She was my Spirit sister!"

I spin around, looking for Lo'ak as the clan sails off to warn their tulkuns of the dangers ahead. Neteyam and Lo'ak stand near ilu's, faces tense. I walk over to them trying to stay out of the way but close enough to hear.

"No way you're rolling out of here baby brother." Neteyam says stepping toward him.

"I have to warn Payakan about the pingers."

"No. You've got to keep your skxwang ass here."

"He's outcast. Theres nobody to warn him but me!"

"Bro, why do you always have to make things so hard," Neteyam jokes, but Lo'ak isn't laughing.

Lo'ak shrugs off his hand. "You mean why can't I be the perfect son like you? The perfect little soldier. Well I'm not you!"

"Okay? I'm not you! He's my brother. I'm going."

"Oh, he's your brother? No! I'm your brother."

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the Metkayina kids gliding on their ilu's toward us. I wave my hand sharply for them to be quiet.

"Get off me!" Lo'ak shouts, shoving Neteyam before diving straight into the water. His ilu rushes under him.

"Lo'ak!"

"Come back!" Tsireya yelled.

"Come on, he's going to Payakan!"

Everyone scrambles for their mounts. I take a small running jump forward.

"Reya!" I shout.

Tsireya swimgs her ilu sideways so I can grab on behind her. My fingers latch onto her shoulders, and we take off after Lo'ak.

We swim across the water, and Kiri and Tuk suddenly ride in from somewhere on Kiri's ilu. "Kiri! Tuk! Come!" I call breath catching as we chase Lo'ak.

"Lo'ak come back!"

A deep and heavy wail shakes the waters.

Payakan.

We leap off the ilu and climb onto his massive side, fingers slipping on wet skin as we scramble to the pinger. It's jammed deep. Everyone pulls, grunts, strains.

A sharp, low mechanical hum reaches my ears. I snap my head up.

"Hurry! There's a ship coming!"

The words explode panic across all our faces. The pinger is wedged too far into him.

"Call it in. Hurry, tell dad." Neteyam orders Lo'ak.

Lo'ak fumbles with his earpiece. "Dad-- I mean devil dog do you read? We're with a tulkun that's under attack." he says into the ear piece. "Killer ships inbound we're about two klicks out."

A pause.

"It's all of us, Aonung, Rotxo and Tsireya too. We're at three brothers rocks." Lo'ak suddenly says.

"Yes sir." he said replying to something.

"It's getting closer!" I shout again.

I scramble back onto the ilu Tsireya and I came on, my heart pounding as they tied the pinger onto Neteyam's ilu and pulled on it.

Snap. The pinger finally rips out of Payakan.

"Go! Go! Everyone away from it now!"

We dive into the water. A boom rips the ocean behind us, shaking Tsireya's ilu underneath me. I cling to her arm desperately as we rush toward the others.

Everyone is hiding, everyone besides Neteyam who had taken the pinger and seperated from us.

Small dark shapes fall into the water from the ship.

Machines.

We swim through the kelp forest, the machines chasing us. The ilu moves so fast that I have to grip onto Tsireya even tighter, having nothing to hold onto but her.

A thunk knocks us off of the ilu, a flotation pinger.

Tsireya grabs my hand before I can get flung too far away from her as Lo'ak dives in on his ilu, dragging us away. But the weight of all three of us slowls the ilu down.

We slip off and hide in the kelp, watching as the ilu darts away. The machine following closely behind it.

My throat starts to close, panic washing over me. I tap my throat, struggling for airr. Tsireya quickly leads us to an air pocket inside of a plant.

"Tuk!" Lo'ak and I shout at the same time after surfacing.

"Are you alright? Where's Kiri?" I ask my voice echoing weirdly in the plant.

"I don't know.." Tuk gasps.

We all fall silent, listening.

"It is coming!" Tsireya whsipers, warning us.

"We gotta go." Lo'ak says, we all take a deep breathe in.

We dive back into the water, just in time to see two machines coming towards us.

Then

A net surrounds my vision, I look around frantically to see Tuk and Tsireya are caught too. Lo'ak slips out just before it closes.

We're yanked upward, the ocean below us as an ikran lifts us higher and higher. The dream walkers, the same forest ones, capturing us.

I let out a scream as I claw at the net. Tsireya and Tuk are yelling too, fightning tangled.

We're dropped onto the metal deck of the ship. Stumbling out of the net with the others.

"Drop the weapon!" a dream walker shouts at Lo'ak. He's holding his knife toward them.

A dream walker grabs my arm before I can reach for my tsal. He yanks me down, slamming me onto the cold metal. His boot crushing into my stomach.

"Let me go! You demon!" I thrash, trying to pry his boot off of me.

I watch as Tuk fights a dreamwalker too, her Metkayina knife knocked from her hand as she hits the floor. Tsireya is still tangled in the net, struggling like she's drowning in it as a dreamwalker tries to restrain her too. Lo'ak is pinned like me but on his back.

The sounds of sky people yelling grabs my attention.

"Hey! Hey what are you doing stop. Don't hurt them!" Spider yells.

He tries to move toward us but gets grabbed and shoved by two soldiers.

I clawed at the leg that was keeping me down, "Stop it you little shit!" He said grabbing my my arms and pinning them down, I hissed at him.

I look over to see Spider and Lo'ak talking hurridly as they're restrained.

Quaritch drops from his ikran, boots slamming onto the deck. "Keep him there." he orders his soldiers. Then turns to us.

The dream walker keeping Lo'ak down lifted him up, "Yeah. I remember you."

"Cuff em to the rail. All of 'em."

Hands grab me under the arms and sling me between Tuk and Tsireya. I growl but I can't break free.

"Be brave." Lo'ak says.

Yips and ululation echo from the water. I squint my eyes to see.

The Metkayina warriors.

"Na'vi inbound!"

"Spread out! Weapons up!"

"Dad!" Tuk screams. I looked at the clan and see dad in the front along side Tonowari and Ronal.

Quaritch rips off Lo'ak's earpiece. "Jake, tell your friends to stand down. You want your kids back, you come out alone!"

My stomach twists. I shake my head even through dad can't see.

"You know better than to test my resolve," Quaritch finishes.

Tsireya chokes out, "Lo'ak no."

I turn to see why. Quaritch is pressing a gun against Lo'ak's head.

I growled as I turned to look back at the Na'vi in the horizon, I didn't want to see what was happening.

"I took you under my wing Jake," he started, "You betrayed me. You killed your own people. Good men, good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."

Silence.

I looked at the Na'vi on the water.

They're weapons had lowered. I let out a breath. They won't fight, not now.

"What's it gonna be?" Quaritch demands.

Dad moves across the water, alone.

"Easy shot." a soldier mutters.

"You hit em now and they'll attack. Wait until he's on board."

Only the sounds of the ocean can be heard as we watch as my dad surrenders. The skimwing he was on slowly gliding up to the boat.

Suddenly, the sea explodes upward.

"Payakan!"

The whole ship violently shakes when Payakan slams down on it. The impact so hard it rattles in my bones. I lose my footing for a second barely catching onto my restraints that i wanted to remove oh so badly before.

"Hold on!" Lo'ak yells.

I don't need him to say it. My hands are already clenched so tightly they hurt. Everything around us is screaming, metal, peoples, guns as they started shooting at Payakan.

Bright blasts fly across the air, loud and sharp, too close, I duck my head even though there's no where to hide.

Payakan swings his tail across the deck, and bodies go with it. Sky people fly. Some hit the railing, some disappear over the edge. I see Lo'ak move out of the corner of my eye, he kicks one of them straight into Payakan's wing. I hear the sound when it hits. That must hurt.

I look away from him, everything's wrong.

I yank at my restraints, pulling hard, then harder, then using my teeth because my hands weren't strong enough. I growl at the restraints, my jaw aches. They won't break.

We need to move. We need to go.

The sounds around me gunfire, shouting, metal ripping make it worse, make my skin feel too tight. It hurts.

Then I hear it.

The ululating sound cuts through everything, close and loud, and my head snaps up before I even think about it.

Payakan dives back into the sea, and past the edge of the ship I see Dad and the Metkayina charging in. They move together, tast, and then they all dive under as bullets rip into the water where they just were.

As chaos erupted around us I tugged at my restraints, using my teeth to try and remove them. Growling in frustration at my attempts not working. The sounds of destruction adding to my want to be freed from the rail.

The sudden ululating creeping closer got me looking up from the work i was doing as Payakan finally dove into the see, I saw dad and the metkayina charging toward the ship.

They all suddenly dove into the water as the bullets from the weapons they had started blasting.

"Sully's inbound! I want eyes on!"

Looking up, my neck craning, and that's when I see Mom on her ikran.

She's already moving, already pulling her bow, and then a helicopter goes down under her arrows. It spins and crashes, fire blooming out of it.

"Mom!" I yell, my chest tight, and she ululates in reply, sharp and fierce, like she won.

Skimwings burst out of the water around the ship as Metkayina warriors attack, and my heart starts pounding harder. Everything feels close. Too close. I pull at my restraints again, harder now, because everyone else is moving and I'm not.

"Y/n! Relax!" Lo'ak shouts.

I huff at him, angry and breathless, and bite at the restraints again. Relaxing is stupid. Relaxing doesn't get me off the rail.

Then the ship suddenly lurches forward.

The ground tilts and my stomach drops, and for a second it feels like I'm floating.

I grab the railing without thinking, the same railing I wanted gone, and hold on as the ship surges ahead. I look around to everyone in the air, faces frozen as the ship lifts up.

"You okay?" Lo'ak asks, and we all start tugging at our restraints, fingers slipping, hands shaking.

All around us are groans and hisses as everyone fights to get free. My arms burn as i put all my focus into these orange restraints.

"Neteyam!" Tuk yells.

I look over just in time to see him crouch in front of us, calm like this is normal, like the ship isn't falling apart around us.

"Hey, baby brother, need some help?" he says, already cutting through the restraints with his knife.

"Shut up. Come on. Get us loose," Lo'ak snaps.

The restraints fall away and my arms feel light and free again as i nod appreciatively to Neteyam.

“Finally.” I mutter.

"Get Y/n and Tuk out of here," Neteyam says to Tsireya.

I don't wait. I grab Tuk's hand and run, my feet slipping as we bolt for the edge of the ship. The water hits us hard and cold, knocking the breath out of me, and when I come back up I see Kiri being carried back onto the ship by a dreamwalker's ikran.

"We've got to go back to her, Tuk says, already swimming toward the demon ship we barely barely managed to escape from two minutes ago.

My stomach twists. I don't want to go back. I don't want to climb that ship again. That place is full of demons.

"Tuk, wait!" Tsireya calls.

"Sully's stick together,” she says, still swimming toward the ship.

I hesitate, then follow Tuk. Tsireya follows after us, calling my name, and we climb back onto the ship, hands slipping on wet metal.

"Tuk, this is not a good idea," I whisper to her, but she's already moving.

We see Kiri restrained near the railing.

She looks up, surprised.

"Tuk!"

I pull out my hunting knife, my fingers shaking, and crouch beside her.

"Cut it here," she says, pointing, and l lean in close. The sun is sinking, eclipse is near, and everything feels slower, heavier.

Then something slams into me.

Tuk is suddenly yanked away, lifted off the ground, and Tsireya is thrown back into the water. I gasp and lunge for Kiri, sawing at the restraints as fast as I can, my hands slipping.

Before I can finish, two dreamwalkers grab me from behind. My knife gets knocked out of my hand and I watch it hit the water and sink, gone. They shove me and Tuk back against the railing and restrain us again.

"Not this again!" I hiss, staring at my wrists.

"I can't believe I'm tied up again." Tuk whines.

I lift my head. The dream walkers are forming up now, weapons ready. The sun fully disappears and the ship is swallowed by darkness, broken only by fires burning along the deck. Shadows jump and twist everywhere.

"Talk to me, Corporal. The ship's going down, and your girls with it."

Quaritch's voice slides through the ship, cold and calm. As he walks out of the shadows of the ship.

"The boy didn't have to-"

A heavy thud echoes above us. I look up, ears perked, then at Tuk and Kiri.

They don't react. I look back toward Quaritch and what he was saying.

"—you brought that on yourself.

"You thought you could keep your family safe, but you can't," Quaritch says, his voice bouncing off the walls. My throat tightens and I swallow hard. "Only one way to keep them safe."

"So let's get this over with before you lose another kid!"

The explosion hits before I can think.

Fire flashes bright, too bright, lighting everything for just a second. I see bodies thrown off the ship and into the dark water below. The blast knocks me backward but the restraints hold me in place, jerking me hard. Screams tear through the air.

Gunfire replaces them almost immediately. Sky people shout into their earpieces, frantic, following Quaritch's orders.

Then I see an arrow slam into a man's chest.

I gasp and turn to Kiri and Tuk.

"It's Mom!"

Quaritch stares at the feather, his face twisting. Kiri snarls at him.

"That's right. They're coming for you."

"Demon," I spit, and Quaritch hisses back. Tuk hisses too sharp.

He moves fast. He grabs Kiri, cuts her restraints, and drags her away.

"Kiri!" I scream, straining forward until she disappears into the dark.

Dad appears at my side and cuts Tuk's and my restraints. "Girls. Where's your sister?"

"She went that way," Tuk says, and we follow Dad, his arm out in front of us like a shield.

Quaritch steps out of the shadows with a knife pressed to Kiri's neck.

"Running out of time here, Corporal," he says. "You already lost one kid today.

You really wanna lose another?"

My chest tightens. I look around for Lo'ak. For Neteyam. I don't see them.

Dad moves forward.

"Do not test me!" Quaritch snaps, pressing the knife closer.

"Just kill him, Dad!" Kiri cries as Quaritch yanks her kuru and she groans.

"Weapons down," Quaritch orders.

"Don't, Dad. Don't," I whisper, clutching Tuk's hand.

Dad drops his weapons. Kicks them away.

Quaritch throws him restraints. "Cuff yourself."

Spider appears from behind a pillar.

"No! Don't hurt her!"

"Stand there!" Quaritch snaps.

Mom suddenly bursts from the shadows, grabbing Spider the same way Quaritch holds Kiri.

"Release," she warns. "Or I cut."

Quaritch scoffs. "You think I care about some kid?"

"A son, for a son," Mom says.

Silence.

She cuts Spiders chest. Gasps fill the space.

The sounds of pleas fill the air as I stare at my mom, speechless. Hatred filling her eyes as she glares at Spider.

"I cut," she warns again.

She raises the knife toward Spider.

"No! No!" Quaritch yells, releasing Kiri.

I grab Kiri as she stumbles.

Mom doesn't let go of Spider.

"Mom..." I whisper, stepping closer.

"You really gonna kill a kid, Mrs. Sully?" Quaritch asks.

"Mom.” Kiri says, and Mom hisses at us. We stumble back into dad’s arms, he puts his arms around us as if to protect us from our own mom.

The sound makes me stop.

"A son, for a son," she repeats.

Dad steps in, pulling her back, whispering fast mom’s face slowly morphing from anger to regret, slowly she lets him take the knife.

"Go. Go!" Dad tells Spider.

Mom stares at Quaritch. "You still owe me a death."

"Mama!" Tuk cries, pulling her arm. I pull her other arm toward the water and away from dad and Quaritch. She doesn’t react to us as she allows us to control her.

Quaritch's voice follows us. "I'm coming for you. And when I do, I'll kill your whole family."

We're already in the water when Dad charges him.

The explosion comes again.

"Back to the ship!" Spider yells.

Mom grabs Tuk's and I’s hands. "Stay close."

The ship tilts as we run, water rushes. Tuk screams as suction pulls her toward the opening.

"Mom! Don't let go!" I scream.

Tuk is dragged in. Mom dives after her, tearing her hand from mine.

“Mom!” I yell, lunging toward the suction hole, not willing to leave her and Tuk.

Spider yanks me away from the hole as Kiri grabs my hand. We run as the ship tilts more and more, crates sliding past us.

"Kiri!" I slip and she grabs my hand, hauling me up.

"We're rolling over!" Spider yells.

We ran as the ship fully rolled over, now with us being on the bottom of the ship, yet the top of the water.

"Don't stop, go go!" Spider motioned for me to keep running.

"I'm trying!"

"This way! This way!"

We ran until we reached the only place not fully submerged in the water.

"What do we do now!" I asked panicked looking at Kiri for answers scared.

"Stay together okay?" Kiri grabbed a hold of my hand,

"Y/n, together." I just nodded as she held onto Spiders hand.

The water swallows us.

We get pulled apart.

I break the surface, choking.

"Y/n!" Kiri and Spider shout.

Then I see Mom, Kiri, and Tuk coming out.

We swim up together.

I cough and gasp.

"Ma'Jake!"

"Dad!"

We're all holding onto Payakan's wing. My fingers hurt from how hard I'm gripping him. Everyone is breathing loud. The water keeps sloshing against us. The fire from the ship makes shadows move across everyone's faces.

For a few seconds... nobody says anything.

The waves rock us slowly.

Kiri is coughing next to me. Tuk is shaking so bad her teeth are clicking together. Mom is breathing fast and can't slow down. Dad is staring at the water, looking for something inside it.

I swallow.

My chest feels strange.

Heavy.

Too quiet.

Then, without meaning to, I start looking around.

Lo'ak is here. Spider is here. Kiri is here. Tuk is here. Mom. Dad.

I look again.

Slower this time.

I check every face. I look behind Payakan's fin. I lean forward a little. Maybe he's just hiding for a second.

My heart starts to beat faster.

Neteyam always stays by dad.

Always. Every time. He never leaves his side.

But he's not here.

I frown.

Maybe he's still in the water. Maybe he's just the last one to come up. He always waits to make sure everyone else is safe.

So I wait.

The water moves a little.

Nothing happens.

My throat starts to feel tight.

I tug on dad's arm, not hard, just a little. "Dad...?" My voice tiny. "Where's Neteyam?"

He doesn't look at me.

He doesn't answer.

Mom's body goes stiff.

Kiri looks around too, her eyes darting toward dad and mom, she opens up her mouth to say something but puts her head down on Payakans wing. Soft cries leaving her.

Tuk leans onto mom as tears stream down her face.

Lo'ak's face changes.

And that's when my stomach drops. Not at once, but slowly.

"Y/n..." Dad starts to say.

"Where is he?" I ask again. Louder. My voice shaking. "He's supposed to be here."

Nobody answers.

My hands start to shake, and I don't know why.

I look at Spider. "Where's my brother?" He just shakes his head and looks away.

I look at Lo'ak. "Did he go the other way?" His eyes get shiny with tears.

That's when my chest starts to really hurt.

"No." I whisper shaking my head. "He's probably just late. He's helping someone. He always helps."

Dad finally turns to look at me.

I don't even hear what he says,

Because I see his face.

And I just know.

Mom's face looks empty. Something is missing from it.

The sounds of the waves quietens down.

I shake my head really fast. "No. No, that's not true. He was on the ship. I saw him, he was there." My words start to come out messy, I look at Tuk, "He was there right?"

Dad suddenly pulls me into a hug.

It's too tight.

Too sudden.

I start pushing against him. "No, let me go! I have to go find him."

He doesn't let go.

"Where is he?" I cry into his chest. "Where's Neteyam?"

Nobody answers.

That's my answer.

[previous] [next part]

YESS WE'RE DONE FOR NOWWWWW YESS IM GETTING A SEW IN DONE SOOON YESSSSSSS YESSSSSS ANGST IS COME UP SORRY FOR NOT POSTING BLAHBLAH IDC or yahhh sorry for like cloffhanger im milking this series this chapter is soooo long

Taglist:

On missions she covers more and paint her skin with war paint