A Skxawng and his Gaia are soon Parted

by cpnelson

Tomitxe, young and impressionable daughter of Jake and Neytiri narrates life on Pandora and the events of their climactic clash of cultures and destiny with the people of Earth.

1. A Skxawn and his Gaia are soon Parted01

FAN FIC – AVATAR: The Skxawng and his Gaia are soon parted.

By Christopher Paul "Txur`itan" Nelson

*** learn Na'vi at learnnavi DOT ORG - Dictionary - mwf-data DOT clonk2c DOT ch SLASH dvi SLASH attach SLASH NaviDictionary DOT pdf

Chapter 1 – A primal Scream from across the cosmos.

Oel zene pivlltxe Eywaru sì fizayuru fa Utral Aymokriyä, fpi fpìyeve' ayupxare fraporu sì frapoyä 'evengur sì frapoyä 'evengä 'evengur. ~ I give these memories to Eywa for our children and our children's children.

Kaltxì. Ngaru lu fpom srak? ~ Hello, how are you?

After my story, you may ask yourself this a different way. As always, I hope the answer is… good, well and at peace.

I now have a new place among the Na'vi, the voice of Eywa. We are also called the keeper of the stories, real and not, good and not. I am not the first, but what I learn and what I teach is not like before. It is my duty to share my story with Eywa, and her stories with the people.

They must know what has happened in the war with the sky people; they must know why it happened, and a lesson to think how it must never happen again.

My father told me he came from the world of the Aysawtute ~ the sky people. He showed me his old metal bones so that I knew his story was true. He, with the help of Mo'at, my grandmother, had me pass through the eye of Eywa to meet with Augustine. He wanted me to know the ways of the Sky People, some good, some selfish, and some curious; I was taught there are those who are unbalanced, and have a bad mix of each and more.

I was shown these ways of the Sky People, to teach a lesson of the way to Eywa, so that we do not walk the path of the sky people. A people too curious to help their own people to thrive, so selfish they start killing their mother, too trusting causing troubles like in the time of great sorrow.

I have learned from my father and mother that sharing stories saved our people. It is the most important thing we can do. It is a great honor that Mo'at and Neytiri has taught me so much, but what I do is different, more difficult, it is a new way to interpret the will of Eywa. It is a way of ensuring that all people know the will of Eywa, and that Eywa knows the will of her children.

My father calls the ritual, the "heads-up" in the language of the Sky People; it means warnings of bad things. Words like this that come from the Toruk Mokto ~ Rider of Last Shadow, they are likely to cause Na'viyä ayevneg ~ the Na'vi children, to hide. Because of this I try never use these words for lrrtok lì'u ~ smile words, for humor mostly.

A First story I must share, the story of the before times, few years after Rider of Last Shadow first united the clans against the Sky People Warriors. It is a strange and terrible story, but a lesson all must know, much can be learned from it.

To understand my story, you must first think like the Sky People do, you must first hate Eywa or forget her, and this is hard, and sad, it would frighten us all, but this is what the Sky People did, and it is how they came to be like they are.

Their mother, they called her Gaia or Earth, and she was once so very mighty. Gaia was born of fire, long ago, before the sky people learned to fly amongst the stars. She spilled forth the land and the trees, breathed life into the sky people, and made for them a home in her bosom. They once only hunted for food, and for warmth. Eventually, the home of the sky people became so very cold; I think this is what froze many of their hearts.

They learned how to build machines, to move them, to help them, to control Gaia and her infinite bounty. Some machines made life easier for a few and harder for many, some made life easier for many and harder for few, it was not always clear why they made them at all.

They were not content with the round shape a home tree took, so they made it a square. They were not satisfied with hunting for food; they hunted for play, for games, for decorations in their home trees. They were not satisfied with a bow and a tent; they wanted a home tree to themselves, and more beyond that. They were not satisfied with a pa'li ~ Dire horse; they gave it the wheel, and made pa'li pull bigger things. And when that was not fast enough, they made a machine to replace the pa'li, and when the machine was not fast enough, they made a faster machine. These machines were made by sky people, until the sky people where not good enough, strong enough, or fast enough in the menari ~ eyes of their leaders. With contempt for each other, they made machines to make machines, and made each other live in the kllte apay ~ wet ground ~ mud, and on the flat tskxe ~ rock, without cloth for trade they could not trade for a home tree.

They called this progress; they called this evolution; as the machines grew, Gaia's whispers faded from the ears of her people. Their tree of voices rejected the Sky People, if any remembered where to find it at all. They filled their hearts with a lust for shiny rocks, fed their machines with Gaia's blood. Pieces of cloth they traded for square home trees, and glowing machines that told them false stories or showed memories of Sky People fighting Sky People, replacing play with war. All of these things and more, made them forget that they had lost their way. The sky people words for this were "Hate" to be separate and carry ice in ones heart for people, "Sloth" to be asleep on your feet or awake in your bed, and "Greed" to worship the cloth or to be alone in a home tree.

One of the Sky People I must tell you of, a man of much cloth, the Iroquois man, Onatah.

The Iroquois man was the last Voice of Gaia, and chose not to listen. He was at first a simple man, then was twisted into the ways of the Sky People by the forces of his time, and always knew not to speak to Gaia and to not hear her. In his escapes from the greater cities of Earth, he frequently walked amongst the last trees of his people, and found a place to let himself wander into the dreaming, not to talk to Gaia, but to punish himself for hating his people, hating his life, hating his past and his future.

One day, the drink he called peyote was his, it made his body fall asleep and his mind float away from him. Through the eye of Gaia there was always aungia ~ omen, but he would forget, chose not to believe. He embraced death, and fought against the every day of his life. But in pieces, in fragments, his mind was flooded, until Gaia showed him a vision like none he had seen before, not until the day he watched the stories on his glowing box, was it then that everything became real.

When he went to his home tree, he saw in the glowing box, a story of war, a fight like no other, I recite the words that he heard; "This video feed is from satellite imaging and data feeds from mounted cameras on the battle copters. The entirety of the latest conflict only lasted for one day; many of the prior battles were quick and violent. The recent defeat was said to be caused by the indigenous Na'vi, and was primarily led by former Marine, Lt Jake Sully, and subsequently into direct opposition to RDA corporate security forces. We will keep you updated on the coverage as events unfold. Due to signaling delays, the details are currently incomplete. We only have formal statements from RDA executives on their justifications for a stronger military force presence. RDA, in response to these attacks, is amassing increasing numbers of opposition forces to contain the alleged insurgency, and resume mining operations on Pandora."

Gaia was screaming, right into his heart, tormented, in pain. A dire state of fear and dread entered the heart of Gaia, and then entered him. She pleaded with him, begged of him; save her Gaia shouted at him, for she was dying, and she wanted to live.

He was no believer, he was seeing visions he believed were wrong, believed were false. When he awoke from the dreaming, so many times before, he dusted them off his skin like the leaves that fell upon him. This time should have been no different, but his mind, his heart, and his visions were at last one within him, and he finally one with the voice of Gaia. He wept silently for hours with his hands on his favored tree. A tree whose last leaves had just fallen to the ground, a tree he watched slowly die and rot over the years, he had come to finally die himself at its base, but Gaia had something for him to do.

He saw images of the fight on the box again, and remembered his vision; the call of Gaia was clear as roar, and loud as a water fall… "TAKE ME TO EYWA, PLEASE!"

Reading the history of his people, he remembered the stories of the killing, the invasion of the Africa and the America. His heart filled with fire, the ice in him melted then boiled away. Palulukan ~ Thanator would have run shrieking like the Ikran ~ Banshee from the monster that had awakened in him. This monster was fueled by rage, by anger, by sadness and grief, not his own, but that of his ancestors. It was as if their voices rose up and declared in unison, "SAVE THEM!"

Gaia, and his ancestors were within him now, and they were pulling him to Pandora, to the Na'vi, to Eywa. To refuse was impossible for him now.

On his world, he was given the cloth of trade for the work of changing life, the sky people called this work "genetic surgery". This work helped some people, but others used it to reject what they were and become someone else, or became something else. This work is what my father said made his life as Na'vi possible. Dr Augustine was the best at this work for plants, it is said she was the first Sky People Friend to the Na'vi. This man was different, colder, broken, filled with a hidden madness, driven by an ancient vow that so few on his world knew, and he was only just now beginning to understand it differently, or so he thought he understood it.

He traded his cloth, and he wandered his Earth. He met with the last of the ancient tribes, those who would listen to the call of Gaia, those who would believe him. Thousands, millions, like the stars they came on to him, and heard his message, so he showed them the visions. They felt it in their bones, they felt it in their Hearts; the fire of one became the fire of all.

On the day of black blood, they struck at the heart of the enemy on Earth. My father called this a "Civil War", a war between two kinds, two beliefs, those who worshiped the Cloth, and those who worshiped the Gaia.

The war raged for three years, and tore at Gaia, it tore at her soul. The word of its beginnings reached the worshipers of the Cloth, and their forces of Earth chose to leave for Pandora. To stop this madness, to strike at the heart of it, would it grow, or fall silent? Questions became ideas, and ideas became strategies, and strategies became law.

The followers of Gaia would not let the Flame die, they wanted revenge, they wanted more blood, and they believed that this war had to be won by them. A fighting like no other before it had begun…

Earth was broken, dying, savaged by hatred, but her spirit, Gaia, lived on in one man. A vessel, the people came to him for prayer and he knew that his mission was theirs.

All of what they had, what they thought they needed, they sold it, traded it, left it behind. They took with them guns, bows and arrows, the science and machines of the Sky People, and the fastest of ships. More than this, they took the heart of fire, and they carried it off to Pandora. The last tribes of man were going to fight a war of three worlds on the Shores of Pandora, and there was nothing the Na'vi could do to stop the coming storm.

In his mind, Onatah, he knew the ways to change humans, and he thought of different ways, faster ways, and the people gave themselves to his learning. Many were sacrificed, many were killed, all in the name of his war, and they gave themselves to him willingly. The journey to Pandora was a long one, and he was not going to sleep on the way. Faster ships meant a shorter trip, and he was going to beat his enemies here by a full year's time.

Death was his woman, his consort; he bedded her down, and loved her in the morning. His twisting mind was a weave of the old ways of the Sky People, and his reborn life of a free People of Gaia and Eywa, he would have the coffee and the beer as he tended his Lophophora flowers and eating a hamburger, then sing the songs of prayers to Gaia while working on his studies of the DNA, listen to Sky People music while doing the Ghost Dance. A tool of salvation, or the bringer of ruin, few could question his reasons, but many would come to question his actions. He feared that he would be viewed in a bad light by the Na'vi, and pleaded with his people to not discuss his darkness. He said to his people, to be free, all must only seek the light, and victory over the worshipers of the cloth. The people listened, and vowed to do as he asked.

In the time when this happened, at the home of my people, I was very young, I was sometimes called Toruk Mokto 'ite ~ daughter of Toruk Mokto. The name remained with me for years, and Oeyä sempu ~ my father was so very proud of it. He would call me that in strange ways, "tomo 'ite" which he said almost meant something in another language of the sky people… He told me it meant "the friendly archer". This he said was my mother's little name.

Father did not want to teach me his language, but I learned it anyway. It was filled with so many words, some that described things I never saw before, except in Sky People books. It had some words that were a different way to describe my home. I was so excited to learn these things. I never knew how much pain some of these words could cause my family, they reminded them of a story they wanted to forget. I would not have been curious, except my father still had a bad accent more strange than the Na'vi from far away, and I once heard him use words that no one else knew. He spent years teaching me, with help from other Sky People, and a school at the home of the Sky People; a few of my friends went with me to learn. Curiosity was so strong in us, we had to know about so much, and we could not hold it back. It made us see our home with colder eyes, but with wider eyes, they had tools from their world that show us the way the Sky People see our world, the reason the Sky People came. They taught us the things that would change our lives for the better, and the things that could harm us, but my father knew better than to leave a lesson alone, he taught me more than what the Sky People here on Pandora wanted to say.

My father told me stories of the Wars of Earth, the power of their weapons, the machines they created to help them to kill. We knew we were the same; we were not as far down the path, but many of the same things we were already starting. We lived in peace compared to the Sky People, but there was conflict between the clans, and Greed would surface for simpler things, clans would go to war, but not like the Sky People. The Sky People would destroy an entire clan, if that clan had what they wanted. They have done it before so many times to their own people. We were not even their own kind, what sort of war would they bring to us, would the peace we had end someday? We knew they worshiped the cloth, the owning of land and of people, did they want to own us, to trade us, what would they do with us?

The day came when the questions would end, and the knowing brought more fear and more sorrow than the Na'vi had known. In some way, this had to happen, but we still prayed to Eywa that it hadn't. It was the end of daylight on this day, and the forest was waking up, the thoughts of our people was to rest, and to sleep, and to think about the next day's tayaron ~ hunting, the tsaheylu ikranhu ~ bonding with banshee, a celebration of a muntxa si ~ mating that brought a new child to the Omatikaya clan. Oeyä sa'nok ~ My mother wanted me to watch as she guided the prayers, she said it would be my duty to do the same, so I needed my rest as we would begin at first light of the rising sun.

On the day that the Iroquois man, Onatah came, the wind was slow. I keep my thoughts quiet, and my desires closed, and find a place to lie down for the night. Just then the sound came, my father was keen to it and ready for it always, but he did not want to hear it, not ever again. The sounds of the flying machines of the Sky People, they were here, they had returned, but my father said that their ships must not come, they should not come, but I have known him to be wrong about many things, and my mother to be right about many things. The Sky People wanted the cloth, and what they could take from Eywa'eveng ~ Pandora would give it to them. What we found out later was much worse.

He was on the bridge of the ship that came from Earth, his head was covered and hiding his hair. He was looking out at our home from the deep blackness, with the look of a deepening suffering. Something was stirring in him that no one could know, no one could see, his people were gone, his world was gone. Gaia was with him, and his new nation was ready to die for what they believed. He announces to his people, and all ships hear him, "It is time for the prayer! May our brothers and sisters accept us or lay us low; I bring Earth Mother with me to avenge the breaking of the spiral, to restore the balance, to close the eyes of our ancestors for a much needed sleep and give them a peaceful return to the dreaming."

He did not practice the old ways of his ancestors before, he was not like them, he lived in the tall houses, and used the Sky People machines; but, he believed he had changed, that he must be different than he was. All these years that had passed without a complacent thought, and now he had come here, to my home, to do what? Was he here to save us? His people were killing us. Was he here to help us? His people were taking our land, killing Eywa'eveng. Was he so different from the other Sky People? He was, but not in the way we were led to believe.

His ship was small, between the size of Ikran and Toruk, and floated in ever so slowly. It came through the Iknimaya ~ the path of the flying mountains, past the great river canyon, over the ashen waste land of Kerusey Kelutral ~ Dead Hometree, then finally landed near the Swotu Ayutral Aymokriyä ~ Sacred Trees of Voices where we were preparing our recent dead for the joining with Eywa. This must not be, but it happened anyway, and the Na'vi people were ready for war again! Bows were drawn quickly, and everyone drew blades; even the children were ready, barely able to walk without stomping, and they were prepared to die fighting this enemy. The top of his ship opened, and two empty hands were shown first. A mask was on his dark face, a man the same size as the other Sky People, a strong healthy body my father told me.

He smiled a very temporary smile, and then spoke in the Na'vi language, the most formal I heard, words from many tribes, he was easy to understand, and strong within his voice. There was such passion in him, I could feel him crying inside, the sadness on his face pulled upon my heart, I wanted to reach for him, and comfort him, I could not understand why, but it was always there when he spoke.

Oel aynengaru kuyameie, Kaltxì ma Na'viyä sute… ~ "Hello, Na'vi people, I see you. I bring you a message of grave and most dire importance. The Sky People are coming, and not just we, those I have brought with me. We are fighting a terrible war, one like no other, and have at last seen the horror of what we have let happen. We have come to serve the Na'vi people, to help you, to fight for you. Please, let us. We call ourselves the People of Gaia. Accept us as such and no other, welcome us as such and no other, tell us to die as such and no other. The People who serve the RDA fight with cold hearts, we fight with hot hearts. The fire that burns within us is hotter than your suns, and we give this fire to you. If you reject us, we will go, but they will come anyway."

My mother was not easily convinced by these words, she had been tricked by her own kind before, and so had my father, there is something unclear about the way he speaks, not solid in the way he chooses to talk to us. Like he is afraid we will see him, even though we must. My mother speaks to my father in the Language of the Sky People, I only heard her do this once before, I knew that she could, but she never did.

"What do you think he wants? Does he think we believe him? If he knows so much about us, why did he not know to never to come here?"

"I'll talk to him."

"What if he is dangerous?"

"Then I'll kick his ass."

My father was often a skxawng ~ moron but tsteu ~ brave, more skxawng my mother would say 'eveng leskxawng akewong lolu ~ moronic alien child, even though he was not anymore.

I wanted to listen, so I followed my father. I wanted to know what kicking ass would be like. I read about the ass, it was a strange furry pa'li, this man did not look like one, and kicking one would likely get you takuk ~ struk in the ontu ~ nose. This man, he had the look of one who could takuk like pa'li, but the sadness in his eyes, it was stronger than his arms, his chest, this sadness pulled him to the ground as he stood away from his ship.

"Who are you?"

"You can call me nothing, no one, call me sword or axe, call me spear, for the Na'vi… that is what I am."

"Cut the shit man, I wasn't born yesterday, speak plainly to me."

"You must be Jake Sully, I didn't get a good look at you from the news."

"News?"

"Your fight, it made you a planetary hero back home on earth, doing what no one could before you."

"Why?"

"My ancestors suffered; the people I brought with me suffered. I showed them, I gave them the Voice of Gaia, we all finally heard it, because of you. And it was almost too late."

"What?"

"I thought you might be like us, able to see what I spoke of, but I did not know you as a human. What tribe are you?"

"Omatikaya."

"No! From earth?"

"None, I am a working class grunt, no tribe."

"We are all from tribes if we look deep within us, mine was Iroquois."

"Mine was probably Scandinavian, but I don't really care. I am Omatikaya now."

"We have learned to connect with Earth Mother, because of you, you showed us, and it was fate. We had to come."

"Now you have to go back."

"I understand your words, but you must understand mine. RDA is coming; they are bringing a full assault army, marines, navy, air force. They are coming here to shut you down forever. Without advanced weapons or tactics, Pandora is lost. They will drop a terra forming facility into the ocean so that you cannot get at it, and dig in near there. If you attack, they will use nukes here."

"What about the laws and regulations?"

"They are done, they are no more. The people of earth wandered down a self destructive path, and I followed with them. But, before I let myself die, Gaia pleaded with me to take her here. When I knew what was coming, what fate awaited the Na'vi, I started a war, and the Earth is destroyed."

He showed an image like the ones at the home of our Sky People friends, only it was a round ball, and my father knew it's name. The ball was red, and on fire, it was cracked and broken, like and Ikran egg.

"Earth?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We had to stop it, there could not be anymore. The fighting escalated, and this happened."

"Who did this?"

"I did. Not by my hand, or the people I brought with me, but by my actions, by my will, this happened. This is my fault, but I would rather die, than let this happen again here."

Fighting humans was not something my father wanted the Na'vi people to face again; they lost so many before, this was not a happy evening.

Through the night, my father and this man spoke, two olo'eyktan ~ clan leaders from different worlds yet the same, different pasts yet the same, different hearts yet the same, making preparations for a new war. He was also like my mother, and like Mo'at, and like Toruk Mokto in one person, a strange mix of all three. He knew things like my mother and Mo'at new them, you could feel it as he praised atokirina' ~ wood sprites without hesitation, the way we would gently speak in Na'vi whispers to them. I watched them speak until I fell asleep, and later woke up held by my mother away from them, and closer to grandmother.

When my father and mother spoke, it was in looks, in single words, the simplest of touches. I could not understand them, but they always understood each other. The way they spoke now was different; it was cold, ordered, not like I was familiar with. Overnight they became strangers to me.

"Neytiri, the humans are bringing many ships and many troops, they were not discouraged by our fight, and they simply decided to wipe us out, not just Omatikaya, the whole damned planet."

"How?"

"They can change a world, they did it with a world we called Mars a long time ago. If they do it here, it will kill us all, not just the people, but everything that breathes."

Mo'at listening simply lifts her head and looks at my father "What will you do?"

My mother looks at me and smiles "What will you do?"

"Me?" I thought she wanted me to answer the question, I was so sure that I had the answer, so I spoke it in English. "I will Kick their Ass in the face!"

My father laughed with such a strong laugh, it carried all around us, deep and strong like him. My mother looked at my father, and very shortly his laugh stopped.

"Right, not funny." My father seemed to think it was not a good time to laugh, but only after my mother fìkehe poru tìng nari ~ gave him this no-no look.

"You see what you are teaching her! I am going to keep her with the other children; you have your war party over there."

"tslolam! tìmuntxa nantanghu…"

"Pxasik, Ma lestia Skxawng, pehemìri poanìl nìapxapam lesan larmu!"

I won't translate; it isn't all that nice what they said.

The children are good at games, they like to play with the floating rocks, because they do not listen, no one can break the rules of the rocks. This game we play, we find our own rock, and stand on it, trying to balance so that we do not fall, tied onto ropes of vine so that we do not fly away. Then, we must catch the ikran, the first one is Munemun'I, his name means two cuts, a good name for a boy. If we fall of the rocks, we must catch the ikran, if we stay on the rocks we are ikran and must fly. There is one more challenge, to catch the ikran, we must engage the bond; queue and antenna cannot touch, so we just grab the tail and the queue with our hands only. My mother played this game, and so did her mother, but she always tells me not to play it, because she is afraid for me to fall. The other children play it, even now they play it, and I can understand why; so many children wish to grow up, but they are too small to climb the thundering mountains, too young to make the journey, too weak to hold the ikran and form tsaheylu ~ the bond. But as a child, you know one day you will do this, and the game is so much fun, it brings letxura lelrrtoka te'lan ~ strong smiling hearts.

I am good at this game, I find a way to hold on to the rocks with my feet, to jump from my rocks to others, my balance is always good, and I can find my way to catch ikran before anyone, I am fast, I am smart like my mother, strong like my father, and so I jump.

I awoke to so many looking at me, my mother and father crying, I never saw father cry, and they grabbed me so hard they squeezed me, I knew they loved me, but what made them be this way? And then I felt it, the pain on my head. I did not remember, but they told me I hit two cuts, then a rock hit me, and then the ground hit me harder as the rocks betrayed me.

"Tsakemìri a Poet Tìtxen säpi! Lu Eywa awngahu!" ~ She is Awake! Eywa is with us!

My parents, family, cousins were saying over and over, she's awake. There were Sky People here, more now, a few from the old home, a few from the Iroquois man. My parents were so scared, they called everyone to help, I woke up to sweet fruit, and the comfort of the softest bed. So many people, was I so far gone, was I lost to them? They had the look of strain, stress, worry, I knew there was much to be done, much to be worried about, but they were here to see me. I felt shame for making them worry?

"toktor Mari'ann, ohe, sempu tswayon tskxe si, fte sa'nok, tsap'alute, txoa, zamunge txopu, tswayon tskxe, ohe lu skxawng… käaaa" I could barely speak; my words were a tiny scrambled mess, like the eggs my father would make. "tìsrawìri" ~ pain, it entered my mind the closest way to describe how I felt right then.

"You hit your head, rest a bit kiddo. Try not to think… It'll give you headaches…" The Doctor Maryann was kind, she was pretty for human. She had hair like the sun, yet I knew her only as Uniltìrontokx ~ dream walk body or AVATAR as the humans would say. She would help teach the Na'vi 'eveng like me, but I knew her face, as human it was the same as her Uniltìrontokx. She was one of the ones who stayed, the ones who helped us. She loved my people, and I always saw it her eyes, today she knew like my father did what the Iroquois man brought aungia letsam ~ omen of war, and this was not good. "Jake, let's talk in the conference room."

My father and mother started wearing masks like the Sky People, and the sky people removed their masks, they had ways to change what was in the air, and they used them in different ways for different people. They left my room, and so did everyone else, all of their worry was gone, and I was alone in a white room. I tried to hear what they were discussing, to know what it is that they would discuss, but I was a child, and they never would talk of such things in front of me. It was years before my father told me what they said.

"Jake this is an impossible fight. Even with the reinforcements of Tecumseh here, we are dead. Out gunned, out armed, out manned fifty to one."

"So if we do not fight it, we just let everyone die? Screw that Doc, there has to be something we can do, and I am going to figure it out."

"Like call on Eywa? What is she going to do, have the Banshee and the Leonoptyrix shit on them, get serious; the air force will blast those over grown birds out of the sky without breaking a sweat. You know it. We need submarines, tanks, fighters. We're dead."

"We lost hope before, had no chance of winning before, and we still did win. I have to believe there is a way."

"That was different, and none of those animals are going to be of help in the eastern sea."

Mo'at was always filled with wisdom of the ancient stories, and she thought about what Eywa had done before, and what surprises she had seen at the shores. "I know Eywa has told me that she is strong in the sea, same as in the Jungle, I did not know why she would tell me this, but now I know. I must speak with Eywa, and ask of her what to do."

"You see Doc, something is going good for us already."

"I hope she's right Jake, because this is a big gamble; all in."

"All in."

The next week, several of the People of Gaia and the People of Eywa were standing on the beaches. The Ikran people stayed away when Mo'at was speaking with Eywa. And on the beach she spoke with her, in a way that she had for years, drawing on years of training, recital, prayer, she spoke to Eywa, prayed for her help. The dances, the prayers, the songs, they went on for hours. The sea washed the foot prints away as they always did, the suns moved away as they always did, and the people grew tired as they always did. Eywa was silent, she did not hear us, and she did not answer us, for now she would not save us.

"Mo'at, why is this taking so long?"

"Eywa is tired, she is not speaking."

"I don't understand, I thought she never got tired?"

"Jakesooly, be calm, and wait, as we all must wait."

My father bows to her, and sits next to my mother watching the waves.

The Iroquois man, he was in his laboratory at the base, he was injecting himself with something, and then having his machines do things to him with light, and blades, and other things that did not look as they were meant for healing. Everything was recorded, everything was saved, for him to do these things, hiyìka ioang ~ strange animal, for certain. He wanted something new, something different, he was not going to wait. He was filled with plans, with ideas, a cold intellect, was he really here to help us, or did he have something planned for himself? When sunrise came, he had flown his little ship to the sea, where my family was waking up, and they were seeing nothing has changed.

My father was impatient, and had his own game, he found round flat tskxe ~ rock, and made them dance on the water. The humans started doing the same, they all knew this game, all the rest of the Na'vi watched and looked at each other, and they did not approve of this. Na'vi did not like this game, they thought that the sea creatures could be hurt, the humans either did not know, or did not care. My father noticing the Na'vi peoples' reaction quickly dropped the tskxe in his hands and started yelling at the humans to stop also. My father remembered; good for him; like my mother says, more skxawng than anything, but he means well.

The Iroquois man walked out onto the beach, he had his mask on, the mask that makes him breathe the air of his own home, the mask that reminded him more than any of us, that this was not his home. My father greeted him.

"Where have you been hiding?"

"I was trying to complete something."

"Did you?"

"It is not finished."

"The sea will not help us, Eywa is silent." Mo'at was very final in this, she could not say why, but she felt it within her. Softly she continued, "The will of Eywa is not clear to me now, I must return to Utral Aymokriyä ~ The Tree of Voices. The answers will have to come later."

My father watched as Mo'at flew her Ikran away, many of the other Na'vi followed with her, only a few stayed. My mother and my father kissed, and held each other in silence again, a silence they had not had for some days.

The People of Gaia spoke with the Iroquois man, and for the first time we heard his name spoken aloud. "ONATAH!" it sounded familiar, yet alien, same as Na'vi and not, "Mon-ka'-ta, Wash-kon'-hi, Sha-thu', E-di'-ton." I wish I understood what they were saying to each other, but there was too much of it, too little of it, a language not spoken on earth anymore, let alone here. Names, places, tools they had with them, but I heard the Iroquois man's name again, and then I knew him, "Onatah, did it work?"

"We shall see." He came to speak with my father.

"What are we going to do? Even with what you have brought, we are out gunned, out matched, outnumbered, and now we no longer have Eywa on our side." Oeyä sempu looked concerned that things may not be as he hoped.

"I am not surprised, Eywa needs to rest, she must prepare for something else, and this fight is for us and for us alone."

"Mr. Onatah, for someone who just got here, you are pretty sure you know the will of Eywa."

"Yes Jake, from the moment I came here, Eywa and Gaia have been speaking. There is much for them to discuss. I have carried Gaia here, and now my old Job is done; now we prepare to fight."

"How? Wait, WHAT? Gaia, what the hell?"

"You spoke with Eywa during the recent time of great sorrow, told her of Gaia, and Eywa called her here. I brought her."

"What?"

"Gaia is here, on Pandora, speaking with Eywa."

"What?"

"A new dawn waits for humans, I have brought that also."

"How is this possible?"

The Iroquois man looked out at the sea, his frown was deeper, his sadness stronger, there was much pain in him. My father was familiar with men from his people; he knew this sadness, one that is deep, sadness that is like stones in their hearts. My father had this sadness the day he told my mother that he betrayed her. To this day, my father thinks that she is still very angry with him for this, but she forgives him with each kiss, and each touch, a forgiveness he must continue to earn each day.

I remember my father forgot my mother's shell-leaf when preparing for a hunt, it was important to her, she had found it with Tsu'Tey, a warrior and former Olo'eyktan ~ clan leader. When Tsu'Tey and Neytiri were young they found it, and she remembers him with it. Because father forgot, she would not let him back into the tree with us for two days. He needs to learn, my mother told me. My father looked so sad, hunched into the corner three branches down from us. My mother had a gift for ignoring him where ever he would place himself, it made him love her so much more. He knew she was playing a game with him, even if was not a nice game. He would bring her lots of Sweet fruits before returning to her; to be sure she was in a good mood, and made a pitiful face like nantang 'evi ~ a viper wolf pup, which made her laugh at him sometimes.

Even with the passage of time, I know my fathers and mothers love for each other so very well, and I would never forget it. I could not know how different they were, I did not know him when he was in his old metal bones, I did not know her when she was supposed to be muntxa ~ mated with Tsu'Tey, I did not know how hard they had to fight, how they suffered through the time of great sorrow, how they came to be together. I did not know how he could have felt so much love to become one of us, I do not know how she could have felt so much love to let him, but here they were, and here I was, and that was good enough for each of us.

The Na'vi believed that Eywa called him to us, we said as much to him every day. If Eywa called a sister spirit from so far away, why not a man, a warrior. This was the first time he truly believed it. And now, my father was beginning to wonder something ugly, something that would hurt us all. What if Eywa tricked him? What if Eywa hurt his brother to bring him here? What if Eywa was not good to him anymore? My father may have been skxawng in the ways of the Omatikaya, but to the ways of being cheated and deceived, he had done this himself, what if Eywa cheated him, not to save his clan, not to save life on Eywa'eveng but to save herself. He did not know that this was not the way of Eywa, and I do not think he remembered everything that happened detail for detail before becoming one of the people, but he felt these things all the same.

A few days had passed; the Iroquois man was speaking to Mo'at very much. Mo'at found tenga tirea ~ same spirit, with him. They were talking in Na'vi all of the time, never once changing to speak English. They stayed by the Utral Aymokriyä, and he showed her his flower, it lived well in our air, I do not know why, but he had changed it he said, and Mo'at understood why.

His flower was so small it was quiet as a plant. Could this have been Gaia? I do not think I ever knew then if it was Gaia or not, but the way he spoke of it, it had to be. At night he and Mo'at would practice the songs, he was being so strange, he was drawn to the songs and would sing them well. He would speak in the way of the spirits, and he would talk to Eywa and then to Gaia, and then Mo'at would speak to Gaia, and then they would close their eyes, and hold hands, sitting quietly. Utral Aymokriyä would touch them both, and would touch his plant, and they would talk some more. It was not like anything I had ever seen, a ritual not taught, a practice not learned. What were they doing? Others watched them, curious but respectful, they came to know him to be like Mo'at, and I was thinking he was. Why else would he speak to both, why else would Mo'at speak to both? They knew something, knew something I must know, knew something mother must know. So I went to mother and insisted that we find out.

"Ma Sa'nok, Mo'at sì hiyìka ìri'koi ro Aymokriyä Utralit tsakem satsi? Ulte, Eywar patslltxe fa Gaiar. moel kasyä tsaseng srak?" ~ O Mother, Mo'at and strange Iriquois at Tree of Voices are doing what? And, Eywa might be speaking to Gaia. We go there yes/no?

"Fyape Ma Tomitxe?" ~ How O Tomitxe?

"Moel patsawm san peyfa sìk molaheru ko?" ~ We ask them how?

My mother was not liking having me tell her new things, she was supposed to teach me, show me, before I saw, before I knew, she did not like this. Mo'at did not show her this, how was it known, how was it done, and why? Mother speaking to Mo'at as I would to my mother when I was supposed to be respectful, it was the right thing to do, even though my mother was much older now, it was a good thing to do.

"Ma Sa'nok, kempe suyi ngegngal poanhu sì poanä Ngayat?" ~ What are you doing with him, and his Gaia?

"I am doing what Eywa has asked me to do, what Gaia has begged her to do; that is what I must do." Mo'at looks at Onotah while speaking.

"I don't understand. What are you doing?" My mother is becoming worried, because of how distant her mother's answers are from being clear to her.

"Gaia has passed through the eye of Eywa, and is now a part of him."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I am no longer only Onatah, I am now, also, Gaia." The Iroquois man stands and faces my mother when answering.

The sadness in him was gone; there was another face, something very different. The plant he brought was black and very dead. He looked through me, into me, there was something gone, something missing in his face. I had not seen his look before, it was frightening to me, it was certain, and now I was somehow very angry. How could a sister spirit like Eywa, be angry, can this happen, does this happen, was Eywa angry when she fought the Sky People? I thought on this for short while, but the answers would come again, I did not have to ask, I would be told.

"Listen Neytiri, listen Tomo 'ite. Gaia is like Eywa, but she has been silent and separate from the Sky People, she does not know the love of Eywa, it is new to her. She has been given such pain by those she loved, and harmed by those she cared about for so long. Eywa knew these things before Jakesooly came; she knew these things from the humans she took, and the plants they tried to grow here. Gaia's world is ash now, and she is alone. Onatah was the last of his people who are like me, the only one left. Gaia screamed at him for years, but he would not listen. Now he suffers with madness, because the will of Gaia came rushing at him too soon, too quickly after learning the truth. He has brought with him his own army, and it is an army fueled by the anger, and the rage of Gaia. If we do not let them fight, Gaia will not find peace, if we do not let them help us, then they will not find peace. If we do not fight, we will die. Gaia knows this, Eywa knows this, Jakesooly knows this, Augustine knows this, and now you now know this."

"This is frightening to me ma Sa'nok." I said to my mother hoping Eywa would not become angry, for how do we stand against an angry deity, how does anyone.

She looked at me with a look I had seen when her uncle had died. I thought I could understand, I thought I could place myself in front of Eywa and present her will to the people, but how do you understand the will of Eywa, especially if you have betrayed her. This is what Onatah felt since he left Earth. He felt had betrayed Gaia, as so many had. Because of this, centuries of great sorrow poured into the People of Gaia in a matter of moments, all when they joined with him. How anyone could feel all of that and live, how could anyone connect with that and live? This was more than madness, it was darkness, and they walked into it willingly without looking backwards.

Later, Doctor Maryann, she said that she had words for this, but they were not for children to hear. My father would say them anyway.

"Ma Sempu, pelun ngengal patslltxe faylì'u letxopu?" ~ O Daddy, why do you speak these scary words?

"I am so sorry… Tomo 'ite, I just am feeling a bit weird about everything. I don't want to upset you. Please forget it okay?"

"Yeah, okay, ma Sempu."

Later, oeyä sempul ~ my father went to speak with oeyä sa'nok ~ my mother about his suspicions, and they started to argue, very loud. I heard many new words that day, some in Na'vi, some in three languages from Earth. My father would tree me later for repeating them; then again for teaching them to my friends; and then again for sharing them with human children on the base. The expression on my father's face each time, was curious to me; a blend of love and frustration; I could laugh, if the spankings did not sting.

I exaggerate, the spankings did not sting, they were very light, but when I want to get my way, that is how I tell it to him.