Disclaimer

I am not the owner of the persons of this story met with in the movie and I never will be, I am not making any money whatsoever from this little story and I will never expect to do it either. If anyone feel like building further stories on persons, localities and events here created then they can feel free to do it – provided only that they try to stay in the given pre-histories, given personalities etc., and keep from turning their stories into adult stories. R&R's are welcome.

Author's Note:

I tried to denote a hardly intelligible dialect of Na'vi by twisting the English language. I sincerely hope it still is possible to understand it! Tip: Try to read letter by letter and pronounce them, one by one.

The 8th Toruk Makto

After the end of the 2nd Human – Na'vi War Jake put to action a plan he had hatched through many deep discussions with Neytiri, Mo'at, Norm and many others. It was time to build a permanent political structure for all of Pandora, so that neither RDA nor any other intruder ever again should be able to sneak in and profiteer on disunity between clans.

He had decided that one single confederacy, however loose and flexible, was still a political structure too ambitious to last. Rather a community of confederations should be better, meeting at some hallowed and neutral ground – how about the Tree of Souls? – to discuss controversies and mediate disagreements.

Jake sat down with his chartographer Kim Chae Tai and took a look at a map of Pandora. The continents were now a confederation each and every one, with islands off shore added to them. Two archipelagos were too widespread and they didn't naturally belong to any continent, so they were formed into confederations of their own. Each of the confederations sent a representative to the Tree of Souls, to take part in mediations, negotiations and most significantly, making ready for yet another human intrusion should one occur. Jake and some of his councillors were present at the founding meetings of most of them, he gave them good proposals but he didn't try to direct them, they were to be benevolent allies not subordinates of the Namana Land Network.

Even so the various confederations established structures for governance mostly similar to the Namana Land Network Jake headed – a head at the top of it with a vice head at his assistance, advisers to give the head good ideas, a permanent council with representatives from all member clans. The Network Discussion Ring could elect the vice head to succeed the head when he or she became unable to function, they might or they might not allow the vice head to take over. Everyday tasks for the council meetings were mediating border disputes between clan; transfer of clans from one tribe to another, the 22 tribes that made up the Namana Land Network had normally about 10 clans each but one had only three; with resolving conflicts concerning events like insults, ceremonial conflicts and the like. Most confederations established a military organization after the Namana Land model, not that Jake was always happy with their appointments but they were free to make their own choices.

Many of the clans had been little if anything at all known to the Ay'omatikaya before. Mostly the various clans had been happy with Jake's idea, some of them were less than happy with loosing their total independence but accepted that a new era had begun – and a few clans had resisted with force and had had to be subdued, but faced with Toruk Makto most of those were intimidated and many of them had enemies they could need help from, so none of the diplomatic conquests were anything problematic. At least not until they faced the Southern Land continent.

Jake had requests from the Ziniru clan, living at the island likewise named. They were facing a fierce clan living at Southern Land, the Funalzu clan. Jake flew to Ziniru Island and brought his experts along to study the problem.

"We are faced with a problem down here." Kim Chae said and pointed south. "Southern Land is a quite large continent, satellite photos has said that there are some fifty clans there and that is a lot given their far southern latitudes. The South Pole of Pandora is not far off its southern coast, the northern coastline is not too far off the southernmost group of islands of the Western Islands Confederation. This area is the only one left at Pandora absolutely not affected by the system of confederations established after the 2nd Human – Na'vi conflict."

Tsahik Neytiri and the Omatikaya master of history telling Atanzau both declared their ignorance about this land, he said: "That land has been absolutely unknown to most Na'vi, even the Ikran clan facing them on the other side of the Southern Ocean has only heard vague and inconsistent rumours. And the people at the land has been even more of a mystery, the few Ikran clan fishers who drifted ashore there long ago didn't report any inhabitants at all."

Norm functioned as a sort of Namana Land Confederation "minister of foreign affairs", he said: "The only clan known to me who have any sort of experience with them at all is the Ziniru Islander clan, they have a long-standing feud with them over a small islet where they go to find their ay'ikran. What they have said about them is uniformly hostile: A people of aggressive fighters and inveterate raiders. Records from RDA say that there never was any mining presence among them, not even at the neighbouring islands. Those people may in other words be totally ignorant about the struggle that has been going on elsewhere at the moon of Pandora, they are probably not even aware of that the name of this world as an entity is Pandora..." Jake had information about their warrior abilities too, they were weak in the air – not so many ikrans – but they had a good many canoes and the warriors were outstanding archers and vicious in hand-to-hand fighting.

Jake concluded: "No matter, we do need to bring them into our system of mediation and contact, we can't risk a chink in the armour around Pandora where an infiltrating probe from Earth can find entry. I will send a messenger to them to inquire."

The messenger came back a month later, after long flights. She was rather perplexed. "I never met such asocial and aggressive clans. They are not interested in peace agreements, the olo'eytkan I met said that peace is for themselves to create by the might of their arms, they are not interested in neutrals to mediate. The clans of the land trade among themselves and do not take any interest in trade outside the continent. They intermarry with others from the same continent, they never marry off their land. They even look and sound different: They have curly hair, no coloured stripes on their bodies but flowery blots instead, short and thick tails with a longer tuft of hair at the end, and they talk a dialect of Na'vi that is hard to understand. And get this: They say that their Eywa lives in a big, glowing rock in the inland so they don't know about the Tree of Souls and don't care much either; and they just laughed when I introduced myself as a representative from the sixth Toruk Makto. In the end they asked me to leave instantly, they even showed me the arrow they would shoot into my belly if I didn't…"

Norm commented: "In other words they sound much like the Omatikayas when you first ventured into the forest, Jake."

Neytiri gazed at Norm and burst out: "We have come to learn much since then, so that is no good way of comparing."

But Norm insisted: "But think about it, Neytiri: Selfridge and Quaritch were also faced with a sceptical, unwilling and aggressive people they didn't know much about, one that was very ignorant about them and not very interested either. So may be we should try a method like they intended to do with Jake, sending in a helpless one among them, let them train him or her up like one of their hunters and then use this one as a trust-building opening. For the infinitely more benevolent end than those two men had planned, of course."

Jake concluded the debate: "I might go for that one, Norm. But that way is risky – we can't assume that it will work out all right – for instance, how can we know that our agent will end up in a love story with someone in that clan? We should retain that option for use later on, if our first action is unsuccessful. I opt for a forceful demonstration, like we used to convince the humans at Gargoyle Fish Land to surrender at the end of the war. Let's see what the outcome of that one will be. Whether it be success or not, we will at least learn to know the people at the Southern Land better."

A messenger was sent to Southern Land a week before Jake and his entourage took to the air, with a message: "Jake Sully, the sixth Toruk Makto, olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya clan and the grand tsamshiu eyktan of the Namana Land Confederation, will be visiting You in peace in a week, and he is expecting to be received with a courteous welcome! He is coming to put an end to the strife between clans in the seas."

So the day came, some Omatikaya musicians arrived first of all riding on ikrans and landed in front of the clan hometree. A drummer took the drum he had brought and some trumpeters took up place in two rows with an alley in between. He drummed to catch the attention of the clanspeople and called out: "Jake Sully, the sixth Toruk Makto, the olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya clan and the head of the Namana Land Network, is now about to arrive to You, to visit You in peace!" And the trumpets gave a fanfare. Then he landed, followed by Neytiri, Norm and Derek Gill, and a olo'kumpongu of warriors. Jake marched up to the old man with a formal cape who stood and watched, obviously the olo'eytkan. Jake gave him his martial greeting, knife to his face and a little bow. And he said: "I see You, Itsihul, olo'eytkan of the Funalzu clan! We have come here to discuss peace with You!"

Itsihul calmly replied, with an unyielding gaze in his eyes: "Ai kan diskuss vitt ju butt ai nid tu hav a tak vitt auer oun toruk makto alsou. Kurulan te Wanata Ingifo'itan, te eit toruk makto."

Jake replied with astonishment: "Your own toruk makto?" If he had looked around he would have seen a similar bewilderment in the eyes of others visiting who also had heard what Itsihul had said.

Neytiri for one made eyes so huge that they almost rolled out of her eye-sockets: "The EIGHTH Toruk Makto?"

Norm whispered a reply to her confused question: "Jake is the sixth Toruk Makto all right – of the world known to most Na'vi. But remember that these are ay'na'vi who have been living in isolation for a long time, Kurulan is THEIR eighth toruk makto."

Jake had hardly time to ponder what he had heard, someone at the hometree called out: "Nao te eit Toruk Makto, Kurulan te Wanata Ingifo'itan, iss arraiving hier!"

And then a toruk landed and a big and muscle-bulging warrior jumped off. He walked straight to Jake, hostility glowing in his eyes and took a stand right in front of him. He put a hard index finger on Jake's chest and said: "Ai si ju, Omatikayan meil Jake Sully! Vi hier at dis land ar nott interested in meiking pis vitt ju, naider nao nor leiter. Vi teik auer pis bai viktori at var, vi du nott tak abaut it. Du ju understand? It iss ju hu iss asking for pis vitt os nott oposit, an vi si nou rison to meik pis vitt ju! Ter iss notting to tak abaut. If ju du nott vant to abus auer hospitaliti den ju liv os nao, at oans!"

Jake protested: "But we are not trying to conquer Your land, we have just fought a very dangerous enemy from the skies out of this world, we fear they will soon try to return by playing on Your lack of experience with them. This is why we hope You will agree to send a representative to the Omatikaya sacred tree to take part in a permanent forum for mediating, information and coordinating; Your warriors will receive training in very efficient ways of resisting those tawtutes. Would You be interested in that we leave an Omatikayan toddler among You as Your hostage, to guarantee our good intentions?"

Kurulan was intransigent: "Du dat an dat chaild vill dai te dai after ju hav left from hier! Vi ar nott interested in Jor gud intenshons, ounli in biing sou paoerfull dat vi alvais get vat vi vant, ven vi vant it."

Jake could feel his blood rising to his head: "Mind You, we regard it as so towering important to all Na'vi clans that all of this world must be united into one front against any new intrusions by Sky People that we will not budge. If You force us into allying with the Islanders to pull You into the great peace of our world we will, make no mistake about it! Think carefully if You want to declare war against all the rest of this world – You are very likely to loose!"

Kuluran's eyes flamed as he exploded: "Dis iss a var tret! Nao liv os, ju eilien! Si dis bou? Ai gott an arou too! Ju laik to fil hao shap it iss? LIV!"

Jake took a bow, turned and marched down to his toruk and mounted it, and so did his entourage. When all of them had mounted Kurulan shot his arrow in front of them. And they took to the air.

They flew to the Ziniru Islander clan hometree and told the olo'eyktan there that those at the Southern Land were hostile, even in the face of the rest of all of Pandora. The united front against new Sky People coming down was too important to allow some clans with narrow minds and horizons to leave a door open. To protect the Ziniru against attacks Jake promised them a guard, and there would be more to come shortly.

Jake took the intransigence of the Southerners as a personal affront. "It shouldn't be too hard to teach them a serious lesson! And is really all of Southern Land behind the Funalzu clan? All Na'vi versus only them… And since we know stratagems they can only be ignorant of victory should be assured…"

Norm interrupted his vengeful thoughts. "Do remember, Jake, it isn't very long time since we just ended a long and hard war. Many clans of many of the confederations are not really recuperated yet. So you will have trouble recruiting for a full assault force against Southern Land, and even those confederations who as of now are loyal with us may well jump off if the Namana Land confederation is heavily defeated. The Southern Land clans are feeling that they are fighting with their backs to the wall, they are likely to fight with a dogged bravery. Sending ashore some spies will be hard, we know even less about their traditions than RDA knew about other Na'vi before they launched the 2nd War, so they may well reveal our agents quite easily! And even if you manage to take control over a bridgehead at Southern Land, we will still be in the position of RDA at Namana Land: We may – Eywa forbid – become target of a guerrilla war! So do take care, Jake!"

Jake came to his senses again: "OK, we postpone heavy action for a new push in some time. We can wait. Until later we supply the Ziniru islanders with means to defend themselves: Experienced warriors – here they may have an excellent opportunity to hone their skills… "

Time passed. A station of resident warriors was put up at the Ikran Islet, at the canoe sheds and at the Ziniru hometree, Jake appointed his assistant Network head Tsailoni the Tipani to stay put at the Ziniru Island to manage the defence of the island including the Ikran Islet. Jake had asked the Network Council for a brave and smart candidate for the job as his own lieutenant and Tsailoni was given him. It was important to Jake that the clans didn't perceive him as biased to the Omatikaya clan or the Dreamwalkers so he accepted Tsailoni in the end.

After an initial wave the Funalzu – Ziniru conflict dwindled to a raid every now and then, seldom with any blood loss at all – in other words the conflict had more or less sunk down to the same level of hostility as had been going on for a long time between the Ziniru and Funalzu clans.

Then something happened that almost forced Jake's hand, about five years after the end of the 2nd War. A Valkyrie space ferry came down to Pandora, claiming an emergency case when they landed. They came up to the Western Islands region from south – they had in other words been passing over Southern Land. Afterwards the Funalzu warriors were suddenly making a more headstrong impression than ever before – had they been given some firearms by the crew at the Valkyrie? Jake knew better than to ask however – the Funalzu would never give any reliable answer to such a question.

The Valkyrie crew didn't do any funny business while down at Pandora, the confederates kept their eyes on them and having done their engine repairs they soon took off and left. But Jake's suspicion had been roused. He got more suspicious than ever when a Ziniru fisher came to him and reported that he had heard boom boom and boom from the inland of the continent once while he was fishing close to the Southern Land coastline late in the night. Sounds from a Funalzu shooting range? Or just plain thunder? Some time later a log was found floating in the sea close to Southern Land, a bullet was picked out of it. Norm protested that this log could have been floating around for a long time, the bullet might have been fired during the fight for some other island during the 2nd War. But Jake had by now so many indicia that there was merit to a closer investigation.

In the dead of night a canoe with infiltrating agents paddled ashore at Southern Land. They tip-toed through the night and hid well during days, they looked around and gathered information, but never found any evidence of human presence. But they saw clear signs of good cooperation between the various clans – people coming and going, sometimes with females in tow. The agents evacuated by night after some days stay on shore. After many expeditions a certain pattern stood out.

The Funalzu was clearly the most powerful clan, hardened after a long, long conflict with the Ziniru. Their rôle as the shield of Southern Land evidently gave them a preponderant part to play in the politics of the Land. But there were no visible formal structure to it, there seemed only to be a tacit understanding that the Funalzu took care of the defence and had the backing of the other clans in return for it, with volunteers all the time joining in and supplies of food and raw materials keeping them up to power. The spies gave the Funalzu a force of about a thousand men of arms-bearing ability – hardened fighters most of them… A very large clan in other words, the beyond comparision largest of the continent.

What the spies saw no trace of were firearms. Jake felt relief, it had all been a false alarm. Norm felt relieved too, the immediate danger for armed conflict had passed. It was still time to recuperate, still some time for the belligerent leaders of the Funalzu to pass into the embrace of Eywa. A couple of years after the incident with the Valkyrie Itsihul really did, but evidently Kurulan took over so they were still at stumbling point. This ever-lasting petty conflict was no more than a convenient advanced training ground for warriors of various confederations.

Then suddenly one day a whole fleet of Funalzu canoes appeared off the Ikran Islet. The islet was overrun and the warrior garrison was driven off the islet – but critically they managed to capture a Funalzu warrior and bring him back to Ziniru Island. Olo'tsamshiu eyktan Milizaman was roundly cursed by the Ziniru olo'eyktan Peyenge for loosing the islet, Tsailoni didn't look very happy with him either. But Jake calmed them down when he came with a powerful force to inspect the mess. "Easy now brothers, this may well be a blessing in disguise for now the enemy will have to divide his force to defend both the mainland AND the islet. And Milizaman brought back something very important – a war captive. We will interrogate him to find out what is really going on here."

Making the prisoner open his mouth showed to be very simple, a good meal serving was what it took. "Ai vas veri hongri, nao ai am fed, tank ju!"

Jake set his eyes on him: "So now you tell us what we want to know, OK? You can start with explaining us why the Funalzu all of a sudden are making an attack this big."

"It hass bin a bad jear for te frut tris. Mani Funalzu gou hongri. Som ar saiing tat Kurulan iss a bad olo'eytkan, dei sai tat hi iss nott garding Eywa's balans ov neitur. Den big skandal happend, sonn ov Kurulan meit vitt tu fimeils, vitt a Funalzu gerl an alsou vitt gerl fom anodder klan. Kurulan nided a big var to meik klans fogett hiss sonn's bad vais an tu stai olo'eytkan. Hi nao nid still mor big viktoris."

Jake made a sly grin and said: "Well, now Kurulan has got his big war and he has taken a 'big' victory, he has pulled his son off the hook for his bigamy and secured his rank – for the time being. Right now everything is glorious for him, I bet he is feeling top of the world. So let's give him a lesson that you shouldn't sell the bear's fur until you have shot it. Collect all kumpongu of warriors within a day's range and make them come here – ASAP! Also we need canoes, lots of them, go to other clans of the Western Islands confederation and ask for them. We have a golden opportunity right now!" Few Na'vi understood his allegory about bears and shooting but all understood that he had cooked up a plan, so they set about mustering a force.

The morning after Jake had ten kumpongu of warriors, i.e. about 500 warriors, plus about double as many hunters, scouts and other able with arms. "Now what, toruk makto?" asked Peyenge.

Jake: "We do NOT attack Ikran Islet, then we will just be back at square one, and we want to eliminate this threat once and for all. We aim for the mainland of Southern Land itself and we shall strike hard."

Peyenge protested: "But when you get over there the ikrans will be tired after so long a flight, there will not be much flight left in them."

Jake: "That is why I am mustering all the available canoes. We will build a floor on them, two by two. These double canoes can then serve as roosts for our ikran while we row over in the night. I will come over, riding on Shadow, my toruk, she is a stronger flyer than most ikran. When I have come over we attack at once, we are not going to face very heavy resistance for most of their small air force is probably located at Ikran Islet to defend it, and they imagine the sea between Ziniru Island and the mainland of Southern Land as too wide to launch an airborne attack over, like you did Peyenge. When they then come back intending to drive us away it will be us who are rested and ready for taking on them. Add to this that we have a little firearms left from the Great War, that we will make good use of to subdue them, they have very little experience fighting against such arms. The flying time over to Southern Land is about four hours, is that correct brother? And paddling time?"

"More or less, yes. It should take almost all the night to paddle over."

Derek Gill put in his word in support of his boss: "But bro'er, we're not goin' to paddle all the way o'er, we paddle just close enough to go at 'em from sea."

"I see, but how can so many boats be kept on the right course over open sea in the dark of the night?"

"The boats will be roped one to another, and do remember: I know 'ow to navigate by stars. I am a proud 'sea dog', ya see mate. They often do at Earth, still after so many years of sat-nav."

So in the dusk, some days later, the warriors laid down at the floor of the constructed double canoes and went to sleep below their roosting ikran, and the canoemen of Gill and his Islander colleague Toiki took care of the paddling job out to sea. They had had a quick meal with Gill standing in the bow of the leading ship to set the course, and paddled straight ahead until they glimpsed a torch erected and ignited by a spy to guide them ashore in the night. Those not going to fight were told to spread around in the forest at the Ziniru Island and a kumpongu of scouts was left to defend them, just in case.

The war party went airborne when they could see Jake above them in the early morning, the canoe fleet paddled in on the coastline to give a second attack wave. When the mainland came in full view the about hundred ikran riders flew low down, almost at the top of the sea surges, to let the horizon hide them for as long as possible. The effect at the Funalzu hometree was devastating, people ran in every direction. Only a few hunters were present and fired arrows, the rest of them were probably dispersed among the various clans or present at the Ikran Islet, so the occupation of the hometree went swiftly. All ikran-riders landed and allowed their winded ay'ikran to rest, they ran to the larders of the Funalzu and "confiscated" the meat they found there, to feed their mounts. Having done that the riders immediately walked to the main square and listened. Jake now said: "First phase of the attack is now finish. Now all of you must take up defence positions as you were told yesterday, to defend our conquest against the counterattack that soon will come."

So happened: A scout took up sentry at the top branch of the hometree. The ikrans were hid behind the tree. Then all the warriors took cover behind tree branches and wherever else they could hide. And everyone waited for the counterattack.

After about two hours the sentry blew his flute once, the arranged signal for "ikran sighted". Jake thought to himself: "They have no warlike experience with ay'tawtute soldiers so they are making a bad mistake, almost the same mistake as the Imperial Japanese Navy did at the battle at Midway: Allowing their air force to operate on its own and leaving the sea force alone, without mutual support that is."

Only about thirty ikrans landed, the Southern Land clans were not strong in the air. Once landed Jake gave signal to fire, bullets and arrows flew and ten minutes later only five of the Funalzu ikran riders still stood, they surrendered but Kurulan had already taken to the air unharmed and flown to the sea.

So Jake and his élite warriors sat down and waited for the arranged signal for "canoe sighted", two whistle blows, the main attempt at driving the invaders out. Then Jake and his warriors took to the air and headed for the Ikran Islet, they flew high and dived down, and dropped the bombs they were carrying at the Funalzu canoe fleet.

Suddenly the sea itself exploded around the canoes. Some canoes were flung high up in the air, others were broken and the watery shockwaves capsized many canoes. And some crews at floating canoes were decimated when after the bombardment they were strafed by gunners in the sky. Jake grinned to himself and thought: "My sincere thanks to Chester Nimitz!"

Only ten canoes came ashore, the crews looked dishevelled and distraught, and with guns and bows aiming at them – they didn't loose much time with surrendering. And finally Kurulan landed his toruk, unharmed but looking very cowed. Jake could afford to be magnanimous now, so he greeted his brave but vanquished foe:

"Oel ngati kameie, Kurulan te Wanata Ingifo'itan the eighth Toruk Makto and olo'eytkan of the Funalzu clan! I am Jake Sully, the sixth Toruk Makto, Weaver of the Namana Land Network and olo'eytkan of the Omatikaya clan. If You fear that Your whole clan, and the other clans of the land too, will be driven out of their homes then I have good news for You, we will not.

We only demand that You make peace with your Ziniru neighbours – we will send mediators. We demand that You send a representative or more from the network of clans of the Southern Land that You are the leader of to the meeting ground where all the networks of this world meet to discuss controversies and disagreements so that we can avoid wars between us. And we demand that You along with other clan networks of this world will take part in refusing the Sky People any opportunity to land and spread havoc among us.

This last condition is the most important one, we invite some of Your storytellers to come to us so our storytellers can explain for them just how important this is. We recognize that You have little if any experience with Sky People, so we hope to get an opportunity to explain this. The bravery of the Funalzu clan will make a welcome addition to our defence against them. To extend Your warlike ability even further our warriors will explain You some useful tricks. Welcome to our society of clan networks, Funalzu clan and other clans of Southern Land! Please inform me when your representatives can come calling at the Tree of Souls!"

Kurulan had never expected such magnanimity from a victorious enemy, and nobody had ever before talked to him like a lord over the whole of Southern Land – it tickled his ego mightily… He was used to being regarded as a mighty one and a great hero, lately even to be head of the clan – but being regarded as the top guy of all of the Land, now that was a new and very exhilarating feeling!

When Southern Land negotiators came to the Tree of Souls they were highly astonished at the welcome they were received with. Once they sat down with negotiators from the Western Island Network, Kim Chae Tai joined the discussion ring and she pointed out a group of small, barren islands northwest of Southern Land the clans they had never known about, these islets were far out at sea but they were nest sites of huge flocks of ikran, easily enough for all the clans at the Land. The Ziniru clan was gladly left with their Ikran Islet when a whole bunch of islands were left for the Southern Land clans alone.

Living in peace with their neighbours and learning to live in peace without intimidating opponents was a marked change in the outlook of the clans Kurulan now was the formal leader of. But they soon saw the benefits of it.