Harmony and Dissonance

Chapter 1 - Beginnings

I'm leaving my memories to Eywa. For those of you that may hear my memories when you talk to Eywa, this is what happened over the course of my life. I certainly hope that the world finds you in a better situation than when I lived in it. A great many things happened and I've done a lot with this life. It saddens me that I will not live to see whether my work has paid off, but if someone is hearing this, then I guess that everything didn't turn out too badly.

The first thing you should know is that I was not originally a Na'vi, and, to some, I'm still not truly one. I am what you would call a uniltirantokx, a dream walker. I was originally born human, though I've always lived on Pandora.

I guess I should start at the beginning. This all truly started 60 years ago, when I was 17. That was when I first met her…


I quietly stare out the window of my high school as my Pandoran History teacher rambles on about Jake Sully, the now-defunct RDA, and the events of 200 years ago. I don't truly understand why I have to take this course. My parents are prominent historians who specialize in Pandoran History. In fact, I can flip to the front of my textbook and find my parents' names listed as major contributing authors. They literally wrote the book and Pandoran History. I grew up hearing stories of Jake Sully, Neytiri, the Toruk Makto, and the great battle of Vitraya Ramunong. I've had all this drilled into my head by my parents, and they make it sound so much more interesting than this horrid teacher.

"Zac!" the teacher shouts at me. She's became aware that I'm not paying attention, "Who was the scientist that accompanied Jake Sully to Pandora and played a pivotal role in establishing the coexistence between Na'vi and Humans on Pandora, almost 25 years later?"

"Norm Spellman." I answer indifferently, not even bothering to open my textbook.

"How do you know that?" the Teacher scoffs, "This isn't something taught in the lower grades."

"My parents, Tim and Sandy Landis, wrote the book on Pandoran History. We have a copy of this textbook in the bookcase of my house." I reply, "I grew up on this stuff."

I watch as my teacher opens her textbook and verifies that my parents did write the book. "How many Toruk Makto have their been since the time of the First Songs?"

"Seven." I answer, "Jake Sully was the sixth. Ey'tu, the great-great-grandfather of Neytiri, Jake's mate, was the fifth."

"Very good. I'll be expecting A's out of you in this course." the teacher says proudly. The rest of my classmates look at me with looks varying from awe to hatred. I really don't care.

"Show off." I hear my friend Josh say from behind me.

"Shut up." I whisper back as I turn my attention back to the alluring Pandoran landscape. It was the middle of the day, so the amazing scenery that occurred at night was not on display, but the dizzying height of some of the trees were impressive. I never really got tired of looking out at the jungle. I just wish I could go out there like my parents do. They have their own Avatars that they use to go out and talk to members of the local clans and to connect with the Tree of Voices. My eyesight trails down as I come across the fence and unmanned turrets that protect the "city" from Pandora's wildlife. Eventually, I'm looking at the metal constructs of Valkyria, the town that sprang up on the site of Hell's Gate.

I start thinking about the path that led to this "harmony" that we live in with the Na'vi. Soon after their tactics had been made public on Earth, the RDA was found in breach of contract and was sued by Earth's governments. That caused RDA's stock to drop at an unheard of rate and the company eventually went bankrupt only a decade after their defeat at the hands of Jake Sully and the Na'vi. Everything that allowed RDA to make the trip and survive on Pandora was taken by the United Nations, now the Earth Federation. Soon the U.N. were making expeditions to Pandora in order to try and find a peaceful solution to Earth's problems. After much deliberation with the Na'vi, the U.N. was allowed to start taking plants and animals back to Earth, they were creatures that could help clean up the mess that Humans had made of their home planet. However, agreements could never be reached on the mining of unobtanium, as the once-valuable rock was found in abundance only near sites that were sacred to the Na'vi. Just as tensions were rising and it seemed that the U.N. would begin taking more drastic measures to obtain the mineral, a team of scientists on Earth created a machine that could create enough pressure and heat to make artificial unobtanium that, while not as efficient as natural unobtanium, was good enough for the applications needed on Earth.

Just like that, all interest in Pandora was gone. It quickly turned to a popular, if dangerous, getaway for people who could afford to go. Some people even decided to relocate to Pandora permanently. Eventually, the current system evolved. Human cities, which pale in comparison to Earthly cities, are few and far between, and, in accordance with the agreements made with the Na'vi, there is no pollution. This means that there is nearly no industry on Pandora. Everything is powered by solar energy, which is very easily done considering that Pandora has three suns. The solar panels even make energy at night from the abundance of solar rays that bounce off of Polyphemus's surface.

That's how it went, human civilization came to Pandora and has been here for the last century and a half. Though we are said to live in "harmony" with the Na'vi, there's truly no interaction between the species. The Na'vi stay away from the cities and the Humans generally don't leave the walls that protect them. This school accepts Na'vi children that wish to enroll, but I rarely see any. You occasionally see a group in the hall, but not often. The simple fact is, Humans don't want their children learning beside "flea-bitten savages".

I snap back to reality as I hear the bell go off, signaling the end of the period and the end of the school day. I tug at and loosen the blue tie that marks me as a second year student of Valkyria High. I watch as the students quickly file out of the room. Josh and I stay seated and chill as the after school rush leaves.

"Easy class, eh?' Josh asked me as we both stared out the window.

"Yeah. My parents have told us these stories so many times that I could recite them in my sleep." I reply.

"Still, you shouldn't piss off the teacher." Josh says.

"Whatever." I answer, "I can ace this class with my eyes closed and all four limbs tied behind my back. I think the crowd's thinned enough, let's get out of here.

Josh nods and stands up alongside me. We're both about the same height, 5'11". Josh has brown hair pulled back in a long ponytail with brown eyes. I myself have extremely dirty blond hair, it's long but much shorter than Josh's, and brown-green eyes. We exit the classroom and immediately stop watching the scene taking place in the hallway.

Four third-year students, they're wearing red ties with their uniforms, have surrounded a first-year Na'vi girl, her uniform has green trim. I find the sight slightly comical as the four 6-foot seniors are trying to intimidate the 9-foot Na'vi sophomore. However, as comical as it is, it's working.

"We don't need you or your kind around here." The apparent leader of the group of thugs says menacingly at the poor blue girl.

"Please, I don't want any trouble." The Na'vi pleads. I must say I'm impressed, her English is very good. There's not a hint of the accent that commonly accompanies a Na'vi speaking in English.

"Shoulda thought about that before you showed your blue face around here." another of the thugs says.

I let out an exasperated sigh. These fools probably didn't even realize that this girl could wipe the floor with all four of them at once. However, even if she didn't start the fight, she would get expelled for it. It was the truth of the schools. One slight misstep by any Na'vi would usually spell expulsion for the student. It all goes back to the "flea-bitten savages" thing.

"You guys should leave her alone." I call out as a walk over to the scene, "You idiots obviously don't know much about Na'vi. She's easily four times stronger than any of you and probably twice as fast. She would dismantle you guys before you could even blink."

"Four third-years getting beat up by a single first-year? You guys would be the laughing stock of the whole school." Josh comments from behind me.

"Why are you trying to help her?" one of the third-years asks, "She's just another savage."

"You yet again prove that you're little more than an idiot." I remark. I would try to explain how the Na'vi are anything but savages, but these guys wouldn't understand it.

Typical to their nature, the thug that I just insulted charges at me, fist poised to punch me. I easily sidestep the guy's charge and trip him. He sprawls to the floor.

"Why you…" the ringleader says angrily, "Let's teach these savage-loving assholes a lesson."

The other three thugs rush at Josh and me as the fourth is getting back on his feet.

I hear Josh sigh as the seniors crash on top of us and the melee breaks out. Josh and I do nothing but evade and throw the older boys, using their momentum against them.

"Why do you always get us into these situations?" Josh asks as he catches a punch and flips one of the third years over his own arm. I spare a quick glance at the Na'vi girl. She's doing nothing but standing there watching. I can't say I blame her. As soon as she throws a punch she could kiss her school career goodbye.

I let a small smirk show on my face as I reply, "It makes life interesting." I dodge another punch from the ringleader, and another. Having played around enough, I grab his third punch and pull him into my knee as I bury it into his stomach. The older boy doubles over and falls to the ground in pain. All those years of training in Judo and Jujitsu with Josh's father paid off. These guys were little more than brawlers. If the Na'vi girl had even half the fighting skill of most Na'vi of her age, she would have easily disabled the whole group in a few seconds.

The seniors pull themselves together and begin to retreat down that hallway.

"We'll get you back for this, bastards." the leader shouts as they disappear around a corner.

"They'll probably come back with more people." Josh comments.

"Yeah." I agree, "Too late to do anything about it now." I turn to check on the Na'vi.

"Thank you." she says to us.

"No problem." I reply, "But, may I ask the name of the girl we saved?"

"Neytiri." she answers. This has just piqued my interest. She shares a name with one of the most influential Na'vi in recent history, and the name isn't exactly common.

"Omaticaya?" I ask. My curiosity has gotten the better of me. I extremely interested in knowing if she's part of the same clan as the Neytiri of old. The question startles her for a moment. At this point, I believe my assumption is correct.

"Yes." She answers, "But, who are you?"

"My name's Zac Landis." I reply, "And this is Josh Osborn."

Josh raises his hand, "Yo."

"I appreciate the help." Neytiri says as she makes to leave.

"Anytime, Neytiri. Kiyevame." I reply.

Again, my knowledge of Na'vi throws her off guard for a moment. She obviously wasn't expecting me to know a lick of her language.

"Kiyevame." she returns as she finally makes her exit. I smile at her and wave as she leaves.

"Show off." Josh laughs.

"Oh, shut the hell up, man." I reply.

Josh and I head off to our lockers to retrieve our exopacks and school bags. I depart for home, thinking that the day was only mildly more interesting than any other. Little did I know that meeting Neytiri would change my life forever.


A/N

Another Avatar Fanfiction from me. This came to me in a dream and it's been rolling around in my brain ever since. It's definitely cut of a different cloth than any other Avatar fan fiction I've read. I hope you find it as interesting as I do.