Disclaimer: Don't own, never will, sadly.
Authors note: So, she came back in the last chapter. And they're friends now, border lining to become something more. But who will cross that line first?
Enjoy,
Lunatic
Chapter 9 – Wounds of Palulukan
Two weeks after Sarah had decided to not take another teacher than Tsu'tey, they had begun to warm up a bit more to each other, at least on Tsu'tey's side. He began to see her as a friend, whom he could rely on and slowly, he began to learn more about her. Maybe there was one more of the Sky People that could be trusted.
She was already accepted by the clan in general, truly showing an interest to learn their ways and to follow through with the tasks given to her.
Tsu'tey had given her the task of knowing about the different trades in the clan, such as weaving, weapon's making, food gathering and all other things that was normal for an Omaticaya to know. So, when she had not been training with Tsu'tey, she had been with La'ri, Neytiri and a few others, who taught her bits and pieces that was valuable to know for a hunter/warrior.
Now she was able to make a loincloth of leaves and vines found in the jungle, if her own broke when hunting. She also knew how to repair her bow and arrows, stringing the bow if the bowstring had broken, thanks to Ra'tsik, the bow-maker. And La'ri had shown her what fruit and different plants that she could eat, if she ever happened to get lost in the jungle.
Sarah had been surprised that Mo'at had wanted her to learn the most common plants for making a wound stop bleeding and leaves that worked as morphine if placed on the wound. But that should be good to know, when a healer was far away.
Tsu'tey had made her show him one thing she had learnt every time they were out in the jungle. They had begun to go out in the jungle for several hours, him teaching her how to climb, jump and crawl while running and while carrying her bow on her back. She had done that before, but every time they were out, she always got stuck at least one time in the branches sticking out. It was really frustrating, both for him and her. She almost had a permanent mark on her chest from her bowstring, running diagonally from her left shoulder to her right hip.
The first times she had gotten stuck, Tsu'tey had shown her how to have her bow in a good position, so she wouldn't get stuck. Even if she followed his advice, she got stuck anyway. The first five times she gasped whenever she got stuck, that's how Tsu'tey knew when he had to turn back. After that, she tried to not make a sound, as he had told her it could alert wild animals or enemies to her position. So she learnt after a while to keep her surprised/strangled gasp to herself, even if it was really hard to know when she would get stuck.
When Tsu'tey had heard her gasp the first times, he had stopped instantly, turned around and sighed deeply when he saw her do mistakes the very young children did when they began to practice with a bow on their backs. He had thought she had lost her balance or stepped on a sharp splinter. He helped her down; not saying anything, as she knew what he would say if he would have berated her about her clumsiness.
After about a week with these mishaps, he just stopped turning around when he didn't hear her following him through the jungle. Sometimes she did get loose on her own and caught up with him, but when she was truly stuck, he would hear her grumble and begin to say ugly words in ìnglìsì, then he knew he had to turn back and help her get down, or help her get her bow down from whatever it had gotten stuck in. She had already managed to pull loose the bowstring from the bow twice in her attempts to get it free.
On these outings, Tsu'tey found an opportunity to ask her about the world she had come from, he had not gotten any real answers from Jakesully or Normspellman, only that the world they came from was dark, cold and most importantly; no Eywa to watch over them.
He usually asked questions she had to think really hard to answer, just to explain it in words he would understand. Other times, he asked questions that were easier to explain.
"Why do your people cover up in fabrics so much?" He had asked, though he already knew the answer, he wanted to hear what she thought.
"Clothes are like the Na'vi wearing feathers and beads in their hair, or having claws around your neck. It's a display of who you are and which status you have among the people." They had stopped so she could repair her bow; the bowstring had come loose again. "And also to protect against the weather, the rain and the cold. It serves many purposes." Sighing, she looked at her beat up bow.
"I need to see Ra'tsik when we get back. He will glare at me again." She rose and checked her bow again before pulling it over her head and fastening it over her chest.
"I thought you were used to the glares from me?" He jumped up in a tree and heard her follow.
"I am, but now Ra'tsik's glares are more dangerous, especially when I come to him with my tattered bow. He treats them like his children, but that is what makes him a master bow-maker."
Tsu'tey snorted and thought he had to improve his glares towards her, if she were to learn something. If he wasn't intimidating, she wouldn't learn and only do mistakes, unless he glared at her when she did something wrong.
He stopped to look which way to take, which way that was most suitable for teaching her something she didn't know.
Sarah waited behind him, looking around at the scenery, seeing some of all the beauty of Pandora. Seeing a few colorful feathers left by a bird in a nest, she wanted to bring them back, as a gift to Neytiri for all help the female had given her. Luckily for her, it was a branch reaching towards the abandoned nest and she stepped out on it, moving to get her gift.
Tsu'tey saw what she was after, and didn't think much of it, until he saw the condition of the branch she had stepped out on.
"Wait." He hissed at her and pulled her back, but too late. The branch she had stepped on was old and murky, he had seen it, but didn't think she would actually step on it, after everything he had taught her.
The branch gave way to her weight, her hand flew out to hold on to him, but she pulled him along with her, downwards. Falling and hitting mostly the big leaves that grows beneath the tree, their fall was slowing down, but they still landed in a heap on the moss covered ground, she on top of him, over his stomach, laying halfway in his lap.
After catching their breaths and feeling that they have all limbs attached, she begins to laugh softly, at her stupidity to step on a rotten branch and that they made it down in one piece.
"You okay?" She asks chuckling, as she pushed herself up and away from him, sitting back on her knees next to his outstretched body.
"I would be much better, if you hadn't landed on me." He touched his stomach to feel if he had an imprint of her there. He grinned slightly and began to sit up, but felt how something held him down by the long braids. Wincing, he reached up his hand and felt something sticky on the ends of his braids.
"Wait, I'll help you loose from that." Taking off her bow she had on her back, she placed it next to him and shifted closer to his head and the small bush he had landed in with his head.
She saw the yellow goo on at least ten of his braids, but not on his queue, but it was close to be dipped in the sticky mess unless she moved it.
"I must pull away your queue from the sticky goo, may I?" She asked, looking down at him.
Tsu'tey nodded and shifted slightly, but she laid her hand on his shoulder pushing him down somewhat.
"Don't move, please." She grabbed hold of his queue down in the end, pulling it gently away from the mess. She saw how the pink tendrils in the end withered and moved excitingly, trying to make her come closer somehow. She knew not to touch them, so she quickly pulled it over his shoulder and laid it over his chest.
"I'm going to get some leaves and wrap around your braids, so they won't mess up the other clean ones." She said, rising to take a few steps to a nearby bush, took out her knife and cut of a branch with plenty of leaves on. She returned to Tsu'tey's side and ripped off leaves from the branch.
She grabbed hold of one braid at a time, slowly pulling them out from the yellow goo, and when it was free, she wrapped a leaf around each one, making sure they hopefully didn't have anything that could get stuck to his back when he rose from the ground.
When she was done and he rose to sit up, she snickered at his appearance. He turned his eyes on her, frowning and glaring, almost pouting at her.
"What are you laughing about, female?" He growled, but he felt the leaves touch his back, and could almost vision how he must look like.
"I wish I had a picture box. This is a very good black-mail material that will go to waste when I wash it off." She took her bow, rose and grabbed his hand to get him up from the ground. She then headed to where she had seen a smaller river before.
"Black-mail?" Tsu'tey questioned and followed her through the jungle.
"Yes, is it okay if I explain in 'ìnglìsì?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "If you had known something about me that no one else did, and said to me that you would tell the whole clan about it, I could tell you if you did so I would show the clan pictures of you with the leaves in your hair." She smiled and pushed away some big leaves in her path and jumping over a fallen tree with practiced ease.
"So if I wanted to keep those pictures unseen, I wouldn't tell the clan what I knew about you?"
"Exactly, unless your male pride could take some laughs from the clan when they saw those pictures." Dodging under a low branch, she heard the water nearby and smiled. She was getting the hang of this now. "Find a good place to sit, near the water." She handed him her bow and walked over to a big tree, whose branches hung over the water, dipping its most outer leaves in the fluid. Under that kind of tree it usually grew hand-sized, cupped, yellow flowers, filled with a sweet smelling greenish liquid, called syulang'yur or flower-wash. It was very good for removing dirt from the body and hair, exactly what Tsu'tey needed now.
Finding the flowers growing under the tree, she saw that she had to get up in the tree first and then she could reach the flowers with ease when she had passed the closest branch. Going around the tree wouldn't help; it rested against a rock, which had no good climbing surface.
Tsu'tey found a place to sit, near the water, as she had asked him to, he saw her climb with relatively ease up on the branch closest to the shore, disappearing for a short moment and returning the same way she had come, carrying a big yellow flower in her hand gently over the branch, careful to not tip it over, spilling its contents.
Sitting down behind him on a rock, she sat down the flower in a hole in the ground, making it stand up and then she began to remove all the braids that was not covered in goo and had leaves on them. Throwing them over his shoulders, she got them out of her way.
Dipping her fingers in the cupped flower, she moved her hand quickly to a braid with leaf and let the greenish liquid coat the goo before she began to rub the leaf between her fingers, making the 'shampoo/soap' get to all stickiness.
Repeating this procedure more than ten times, she had got them all, just a few sticky spots on his upper back to coat with the soap, which the braids had left there.
Tsu'tey felt his back burn slightly when her fingers moved softly over his back, trying to get rid of the stickiness. It felt really good to be taken care of, if he had been by himself, this most probably hadn't happened, but if it had, he would probably have gotten the disgusting gooey all smeared up all over his hair, forcing him to visit the females who braided his hair and they would probably figure out what he had done, as they were very good with hair and seeing what had happened with it. No, this solution was much better.
The female was very gentle, being careful with him, almost treating him like a fragile child and he had no problem with that. No male could resist being taken care of by a female, even if they were just friends.
Sarah saw a few circular scars on his lower back, remembering that Norm had told her Tsu'tey had been shot several times, while trying to take down the big Valkyrie ship and saving The Tree of Souls. She softly traced a round scar and then she felt with both her palms if any stickiness was left, and she couldn't find any. Giving Tsu'tey a gentle nudge with her hands, she told him to get in the river and rinse his hair and back.
Jumping in directly, he dove under the surface and swam a few strokes, feeling the gooey disappear with the stream. Staying under the water for a moment, he saw her through the surface, still sitting on the bank washing her hands with the soap to get rid of the specks of goo she had gotten on her. Breaking the surface, he swam up to her and sat down next to her on the stone she sat on.
Sarah couldn't help but blush when he came up from the smaller river, water running down over his chest and abs, his arms glittering with droplets, making him look even more otherworldly than he already was in her eyes. When he sat down, she rose and crouched down by the shoreline, splashing water over her arms, getting rid of the goo and lather. And also, she splashed her face with the cool water, hoping he wouldn't see her blush.
Unexpectedly, Sarah felt how a strong hand pushed her in the back, making her fall into the river. Coming up for air, she turned towards the shore and was about to yell at him for behaving like a child. What she saw made her turn pale in fear.
Tsu'tey stood with his back turned to her, looking at something big twenty meters away from them. She didn't see what it was at first, until a loud roar echoed in the jungle and she shifted a bit so she could see around Tsu'tey. She had never met or seen one before, but it was truly terrifying to see the large thanator look in their direction and considering them for a snack.
"Stay in the water." Tsu'tey hissed. "They are not good swimmers." He stood perfectly still, thinking how he could lure the beast away from her and then escape himself. Luckily, this palulukan was just a youngling, and he had hopefully not learnt every trick in the book when it came to hunting Na'vi.
Sarah was scared, not for her sake as much as she was for Tsu'tey's. He was the best warrior, but what could one warrior do against a strong, fast thanator?
The young thanator had no patience yet, the hunger he felt was greater and suddenly he charged, going for the big blue snack in front of him.
Tsu'tey had no choice; he had to run away from the big beast, hoping he could climb up in a tree that was too difficult for the thanator to climb in. Heading down the river, he tried to find such a tree.
When the thanator had its back turned to Sarah, she sneaked closer to the shore to grab her bow and arrows that had been left behind. Seeing how the grey animal ran down the river, she hurriedly climbed up in a tree and rushed after it on the branched above, keeping her eyes on the blue figure running in front of the killing machine. Stumbling to a halt in a high tree when she saw Tsu'tey climb up in one, but he wasn't fast enough. The young palulukan had caught up with him and scratched his long curved claws over the warrior's back, leaving four long bleeding cuts. They didn't seem deep enough from the distance she was at, but she saw the pain it caused and it made her angry to see her teacher be mauled by a beast.
Tsu'tey felt the pain across his back, much like the pain he had suffered in the war, by the Sky People's metal pebbles. In his try to get higher up, the palulukan slashed again, but this time he only got hold of the bow he held in his hands. It got ripped away from him and now he only had his knife, but it would do no good against the thick armor the beast had.
Climbing as high as he could with his injured back, he found a kind of platform in the tree and took his chances to glance down, only to see the beast prowl underneath the tree, hoping the blue snack would eventually fall down. The young palulukan could not climb this high tree, which had a smooth bark, and only vines hanging down to climb on, which Tsu'tey had used to drag himself up with. Falling down on his knees, he drew a deep breath, at least his numeyu was safe from this and hopefully she had returned to Hometree, getting help.
Sarah fretted in the tree she sat in. She saw Tsu'tey relax somewhat where he sat, but as he only had his knife to protect himself with, he was doomed if the palulukan would try to get up in the tree. The big beast paced back and forth, occasionally looking up to see if his prey had given up yet. He wouldn't as long as the delicious scent of blood hung in the air.
Weighing her options, Sarah leaned back against the trunk of the tree to think. To get down on the ground was out of the question. To try and shoot it also, too thick skin. Getting help was one idea, but it could take too long to get back and return with more warriors. The only option to get Tsu'tey out of there alive, and her too, was to kill the stupid animal.
Looking down at the palulukan, it had sat down, looking up at Tsu'tey as he would fall down from the tree any minute now. She tried to figure out where to shoot the animal, to either scare it off, or kill it. One place on the animal she could think of that was not protected by the thick armor was its eyes. But that meant she had to hit a spot similar to the bulls eye on the practice board back home. And she hadn't done that yet, she was still an inch or so away from making it.
After realizing she had to get down to a lower branch, a branch that the palulukan might reach, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and asked Eywa to guide her arrow straight, so she could save her friend. Then she silently slid down the branch she was standing on, to the branch she had beneath her. Lifting her bow to the correct position, she placed the arrow on and drew the string back slowly, carefully aiming at the beast. When seeing the eye with her eye, she let go.
Tsu'tey heard the low whizzing of an arrow, thinking that she must have been really fast to get help and he looked up to see how an arrow embedded itself in the left eye of the palulukan, making the animal cry out in pain and rage. It turned to where he thought the arrow had come from and drew in a deep breath and Tsu'tey saw with horror who the person was that had shot the arrow.
She was standing too low for safeness, notching another arrow on her bow and aimed it at the enraged beast, true fear showing in her eyes. She had to blind the beast completely to be safe, and she had been lucky with the first shot, but the second could not have the same luck.
He didn't dare to shout at her, even in her fear, her eyes and stance spoke of absolute focus. She was waiting until the very last moment to shoot. It could save them, or kill her.
Her heart thundered in her ears, adrenaline flowed viciously through her veins and she had never been more scared or determined in her whole life. The half-blinded animal roared and spotted her standing on a branch, ready to shoot again. Knowing this shot would be so much more difficult to make, as the palulukan moved, she had to vision where her target would be and not where it currently was. Praying to Eywa, she let her arrow fly, and she it the other eye miraculously, but it didn't stop the animal running to its destination. He still had the sense of smell to rely on and it told him the other blue snack was close.
Hurriedly, she notched a third arrow, but had no chance to let it go, the palulukan jumped and hit the branch she was standing on, taking down her, the branch and himself.
Tsu'tey could only witness the horrible scene. The female had been foolish, trying to be a hero and save him from the animal and not thinking to return to the Hometree and get help. When the palulukan had landed, it sighed and then lay still, not moving one bit, it looked like it was dead. There was neither sound nor any movement coming from the fallen beast, and neither came from the female.
It all had happened so fast. The animal had jumped at her, pushing the bow from her hands with one of its four front legs, two of them had landed on the branch and its weight had made the branch snap, making them both fall down. Somehow, she had gotten out her knife from its sheath on her hip and pushed it up against the palulukan's neck, hitting a soft spot just under its jaw and pushed it in, making the animal cry out in true pain.
She felt it stagger over her and then fall down, pinning her to the ground. Not wanting to open her eyes, she didn't dare to find out if she was alive or dead.
Something dribbled down on her face, and she had to look what it was, only to close her eyes again, when she saw the wound her knife had caused. Getting a bit sick, she took a deep breath and then opened her eyes to see that she really was alive. Her whole body hurt, but she was alive. Beginning to cry of relief, she then whispered a prayer she had learnt when she was going to make a kill.
"Rest in peace, my brother. May Eywa give you a long life with her and may you never go hungry again."
Shifting underneath the animal, she felt that she would be able to get free, if she wiggled enough. The palulukan's head had landed on the branch, making a small cavity between it and the ground, and she had had the fortune to be pushed into that small space.
Groaning, she began to push on the head, trying to get some fresh air and to tell Tsu'tey she was alive.
He was grieving; the female was probably crushed under the animal, most likely having broken her neck in the fall. A small tickle on his shoulder made him glance over and see two atokirina dancing next to him.
"Have you come to take her to Eywa?" He asked the small spirits. "Guide her safely."
The small white seeds began to move up and down, almost excitingly and floated down in a hurry towards the fallen palulukan.
Tsu'tey looked at them, wondering if Eywa was happy to have gotten the female to her and letting him be by himself.
Then, the palulukan began to shift, its head moved up, showing the two arrows in each eye, showing him that she had hit the small target in time, but she hadn't gotten away in time.
Several more atokirina began to float down from the trees, all excited and floating above the fallen animal. Deciding to investigate, Tsu'tey slowly moved down the tree, even if his back was still bleeding and causing him pain, very cautious if the wounded animal would attack him. Knife at the ready, he slowly walked around the beast, ready to help it on its journey to Eywa. No beast should suffer, friend or foe.
When he got close to the head, he almost fell backwards of surprise. She was alive, some few cuts and bruises and covered in blood from the big animal, but she was alive. She was struggling to get out between the palulukan's head and the branch, her legs trapped beneath the heavy body of the animal. He had been prepared to find her dead, neck snapped or worse. He had also been prepared to carry her back to Hometree and face the sadness that would follow. Now he didn't have to.
"Tsu'tey!" She was glad when she saw him, and gave him a tired smile. "Give me a hand? I'm stuck."
Coming around to her side, he laid his hands on the side of the palulukan and pushed with all his might, slowly lifting the beast as much so she could slide out. Before he let go, she reached down under the jaw and pulled out her knife, covered with the dark blood.
Hissing when she stood up finally, she saw a long, shallow gash on her upper thigh, probably from the animal.
"How in the name of Eywa did you survive?" Tsu'tey pointed to the palulukan and still couldn't believe it. Most times when a Na'vi met the animal, he or she ended up as dinner.
"With Eywa's help." She said and shrugged, she didn't want to think about it more, it would only make her think 'what if'. She was grateful for having survived the whole ordeal, and wanted to move on. Walking up to Tsu'tey, she slunk behind him, carefully touching his back.
"What are you doing?" He hissed and turned to face her.
"What Mo'at taught me." She said simply and began to look around on the different jungle plants. Finding the one she wanted she got four big leaves, each as big as two hands, from a bush and walking back to Tsu'tey, she pulled down a vine that hung from a tree and brought it along.
"Sit." She pointed to a rock next to him, her tone made it clear that she wanted no argument from him, but she got a glare as he sat down.
Pushing him forward, she looked closely at the wounds and picked out some larger twigs and leafs, before she gently placed the leaves she had gotten over his back and bound them to him with the vine.
"I won't carry you back, you're too fat." She smiled as she secured the vine with a few knots.
Grunting at her, he rose and gave her a murderous glare before he began to search for his bow, and he found it, by the tree he had been up in.
"Let's go back, before the nantang comes to eat the palulukan." He made the hand sign for 'move' and began to walk in the direction of the Hometree, although his gait showed Sarah that he was in more pain than he wanted to show.
When they had almost made it back to Hometree, Tsu'tey staggered and fell to lean against a nearby tree. Sarah rushed up to him, looking at him worriedly.
"I'm fine." He said lowly, though his eyes showed exhaustion and drowsiness.
"You're not." She said and took his arm and placed it over her shoulders, making him lean on her. He was heavy, but she was in far better condition than he was.
In a low voice she said. "It is okay to be tired; it doesn't make you less strong in my eyes." She laid her other arm under his wounds, just over his behind and grabbed hold of his hip with her hand, to support him. Then she made him move in a slow pace, to exhausting him further.
A short while later, they were spotted by one of the scouts watching over their defense perimeter of the Hometree, who called out to get help for the exhausted pair and a couple of warriors on pa'li came riding to their aide. They helped Tsu'tey sit up behind on one of the warriors, and then assisted Sarah up also, before riding to find Mo'at.
As they got closer, several Na'vi saw the wounded Tsu'tey and spread the word. Jake and Neytiri came running to see what had happened. Norm came stumbling down the tree with Mo'at, both worried.
"What happened?" Jake asked, looking at the wounded Tsu'tey and also seeing the gash on Sarah's thigh.
"Palulukan." Sarah said as she slid down to the ground from the pa'li.
Neytiri gasped, and Mo'at shook her head, knowing she had to treat Tsu'tey at once, so his wounds would not be infected.
Bringing them to Mo'at's healing nest, Jake and Norm placed Tsu'tey on a woven mat, covered with soft skins and leaves. Sarah sat down on a pile of skins, just a bit from Tsu'tey.
Mo'at cut off the vines Sarah had used and pulled off the leaves gently to reveal the four gashes. The blood had already begun to harden, but she needed to clean the wounds carefully, or it would leave very large scars.
"Neytiri, tend to Sarah, she can then help us with Tsu'tey." Mo'at ordered, and began to pluck down herbs and other things needed to make a healing paste for Tsu'tey.
Neytiri helped Sarah to clean her superficial wound and cover it with a bandage, while Mo'at hacked and grounded the herbs to a paste.
"Make sure it covers his whole back." Mo'at instructed and began to slowly cover the warriors back with a green paste.
Sarah and Neytiri did the same, slowly covering the wounds.
Halfway through, Mo'at told Neytiri that she needed help with getting a few more herbs, and told Sarah to continue covering the wounds and said they would be back soon.
When they all had been covering his back with the paste, it didn't feel strange, but when she now was alone doing that, it felt more intimate somehow.
Glancing down, she saw that he had closed his eyes, but a crease on his forehead told her he was in pain.
"For the best warrior, you were quite stupid today." She said softly, without any venom in her voice.
He opened his eyes, was she really that ungrateful to his attempts to save her?
"You were the one who was stupid; you could have gone back and got some help." He hissed lowly, glaring at her.
"Maybe, but you could have jumped into the water with me. You said palulukan couldn't swim well, didn't you? We could have floated downstream and gotten away safely."
Tsu'tey fell silent; he hadn't thought of that actually, he had just wanted her to be safe.
"Thank you, Tsu'tey. You were still brave, even though it was stupid to do what you did." She smiled at him, continuing to put the paste on his wounds.
"You made me surprised and proud today." He said after a while, glancing at her and seeing her blush at his praise. "It was good of you to blind the palulukan, but if you had missed, we might both be dead."
"I know, and I will try to make you proud when I go through Iknimaya too." She grinned a bit.
"You better. But first I want you to kill your first real prey, and then you might be ready to go through Iknimaya with the others. When I have recovered, we shall go out and find a hexapede."
Sarah smiled at her teacher, hoping she would soon go through with the final ritual to become an Omaticaya.
Authors note: No cliffhanger this time, I felt nice today.
My muse is getting a bit tired, could you help her out a bit? Tell her what you would like to see happen between Sarah and Tsu'tey, is there any 'special' you want to happen between them?
Question: How would you imagine their first kiss to happen? Who would start it? Would they run away from it? Who would go for seconds?
