Hi again! Hope everyone had a good hidden chocolate day! Another little treat for you all, it's finally time for the party! I'm actually pretty proud of it, since I managed to wake a few more voices, I hope you all agree that they are true to themselves.

And this chapter actually comes close to that M rating, woohoo!

Brotherhood Chapter 12: Party Time!

Cathy smiled to herself as she headed back to the house to change. Antsu really was the most wonderful and amazing thing that had ever happened to her in her life. Somehow even without having ever made tsaheylu with her he could already read her mind. Well, or at least understand exactly when she needed cheering up and how best to do it.

"Where did your friend go?" Louise asked her as she walked past the table.

"He had stuff to do," she said. "He'll be back tonight and you can meet him then."

"Did he give you any idea of numbers?" Nala asked.

"A lot," she said, shrugging. "And he said probably Eytukan and Mo'at will be two of them.

"Holy shit!" Nala's eyes widened. "We aren't set up to receive heads of state!"

"Don't worry," Cathy stopped to pat Nala's shoulder, "they aren't that formal, just make sure you set aside two of the plates and that they get first pick of the food and it should be fine."

"If you say so," Nala nodded, but there was still a wary, worried tone in her voice.

"I do say so," Cathy said firmly as she continued on toward the house.

"What did your friend want?" Louise called after her.

"You'll see in a minute," Cathy laughed and closed the door behind her. Once she was inside, she ducked into the room that had been set aside for her and quickly changed into a tank top. Actually, she was very glad of the lack of sleeves. It was hot out and quite muggy, and the less clothing she had to deal with the better. Well, almost. She wasn't quite ready to do the full tribal thing and rely on nothing but necklaces on top just yet. At least not around the other ayuniltìranyu.

She modeled for herself in front of the mirror and decided she quite liked how the cuff looked. It completely covered her scar, while at the same time looking quite...well, fierce was the only word she could come up with.

As soon as she got back outside, the other two women pounced.

"Oh!" said Nala as she immediately noticed the new piece of jewelry, "Oh Cathy that's incredible!"

"Wow," Louise added, "you're one lucky bitch, you know? Why can't I have a guy who gives me awesome stuff like that? Did he make it himself?"

"Well, he helped with it," Cathy said, trying not to let the attention make her self-conscious, "his family made it. And since when did you even want a guy, Louise? I thought you said you'd sworn off men?"

"Only because all the men I ever went with were total bastards," Louise shook her head, "if they'd given me stuff like that and actually respected me I might be singing a different tune."

Nala laughed at that. "So you claim, but I still say you're just making yourself hard to win in hopes that one of the men will prove himself to you. You are plenty respected up here, girl."

"Maybe I should just go gay and you and I could get together," Louise grinned, leaning over to kiss Nala on the forehead.

"Well there would only be one little problem with that," Nala rolled her eyes, shaking her head, "seeing as how I have no desire at all to go gay along with you."

"Um, if you two are finished your little love-in, I think we'd better get back to working on the food prep," Cathy pointed out to them.

"Right, right," Nala nodded, "back to KP it is."

It was late afternoon when the first of the Na'vi drifted into the meadow around the house. They were hunters and brought the dressed carcases of two yerik, as well as three baskets of cleaned fish. They were soon followed by others, who brought things like plates (Nala celebrated) and prepared teylu, but the ones who brought the alcohol were the ones that made Louise happiest.

Tom was already there by that point, and he had to laugh when he saw her expression. "I thought you said linking up drunk was a bad idea," he said.

"That's on the human end. I'm quite willing to try it from the other side and see if it's any better," she grinned. "You too, I'd bet."

"It would be rude to refuse their generosity," Tom shrugged.

"Suuuuure, whatever you say," Louise laughed and danced away in the direction of the outdoor "kitchen" again to help.

Alone for a moment, Tom looked around to see if he could find anything to do. It didn't seem right sitting around, especially as he was technically one of the "hosts" of this event. He hauled himself to his feet and headed in the direction of the house, figuring that at least there he might be able to greet guests and show them around. He'd only made it a few steps, though, before Ninat grabbed him by the arm.

"Come," she said, pulling him in the direction of the far side of the meadow, away from the cooking fires, "Ka'tsi tsmuke will play and sing she says, we must help accompany her."

"Um...I don't think I know any of the songs well enough yet," Tom hesitated, "I don't want to be disruptive,"

"She sings tawtute songs," Ninat shook her head, "and don't worry, you need only drum tonight unless you feel ready for more."

Tom smiled with a small relieved sigh. "Thank you," he said, "I know you said I can be a singer but the actual singing is the part that still worries me."

"You have a good voice," Ninat frowned at him, "I know you have tried to explain this worry to me before but I still do not entirely understand. You show no worry when we practice together without an audience. Still, even if I do not understand, it worries you, so I must allow you time to become accustomed." She grinned at him, "Soon enough I will have you singing before all the clan without even thinking about what you do and who might hear you."

When they got to where Cathy was setting up, Tom was surprised to realize that she had a modern-looking instrument case with her.

"It's a sized-up violin," Cathy said, seeing where his gaze fell. "One of the few luxuries my parents deigned to send with me. Probably they were just glad to think I was getting out of their hair, and they didn't want to see all the money they spent on lessons go completely to waste," she shook her head.

"Ah," Tom nodded, knowing better than to say anything more than that. Cathy had confessed to him during one of their less-volatile discussions that she had been trained from a very early age in the violin with the expectation that she should follow her family's illustrious musical career. She, on the other hand, had been far more interested in studying languages. Her parents had been very much less than pleased with her academic choices, and had let her know in no uncertain terms that unless she did something extremely spectacular to justify them, she was cut off from the family funds and would have to make her own way. Which she had managed to do just fine, of course. She had always been a resourceful woman.

"You two should go warm up," Cathy nodded in the direction of the forest behind her, "Most of the rest of the singers and musicians are out there in various spots where they won't interfere with each other's practice."

"Come, Tom, we will make warm," Ninat nodded, pulling him on into the trees.

He really needed to correct some of her English usage, Tom noted to himself as he desperately tried to suppress the blush that had come to his face at her words which, taken the wrong way, could be considered slightly suggestive.

Not that he was thinking of her that way of course! It was just the curse of his male brain taking even the most innocent statements and putting other meaning to them!

"I thought you said I didn't have to sing," he pointed out as she pushed him to sit down, then arranged him so that his shoulders were back and his back straight and tall, the proper posture for singing.

"You do not have to, but if you choose to your voice should be ready," she pointed out. "Besides. If I am not to hear your voice in the chorus tonight I want to hear it now. Sing something to me. Not Na'vi, sing something tawtute."

Tom blinked. "Something tawtute? I'm...not sure I can think of something off the top of my head like that, I mean, I haven't sung anything properly since I was a kid."

"We will start with the beginning then," Ninat said, "We will start with scales, and when you find a note that sings to you of tawtute songs, then you will remember."

Start at the beginning with scales. Tom suppressed a groan. That made him think of a song, but he really really didn't want to sing it. It was obnoxious, for one thing, and it would be stuck in his head for weeks. Maybe if he did as she said and just sang scales with her first, something else would come to mind. He really hoped it did. He smiled and nodded to Ninat. "We will begin with scales," he agreed.

Back at the house, Jake and Neytiri had just arrived, and Jake grinned at the party atmosphere. The smells of food cooking and the sounds of people chatting in both English and Na'vi seemed...well, it just seemed good and right. Of course, not all the Omatikaya were here, and the ones who were also were those who were more inclined to like the avatars, but still, he figured stuff like this only helped in trying to get relations better again. He'd been taken aside for a long chat with Quaritch when he was back at Hell's Gate the week before, and he was really starting to wonder about the man's sanity. He seemed so rational until you actually thought about what he was saying and how it didn't line up with what it was actually like out here. Being stuck in the middle really sucked, though. He could already tell the chances of convincing the Omatikaya that they needed to leave so Parker and co. could tear down their ancestral home to get at the unobtanium it hid were pretty much slim to none.

He had his suspicions about that. He was no scientist, after all, but even a dumb grunt like him could put two and two together, given the right set of information, and between Grace's blathering on about how the roots of the trees were like some kinda brain, and Parker Selfish going on about how unobtanium was such an awesome superconductor, he was beginning to have the inkling of an idea. He couldn't quite figure out what it was, yet, but there was something at the back of his head that wanted to get out and make itself known. He only hoped whatever it was figured itself out in time for it to be of some kind of use to him, or to the Omatikaya.

Maybe he should try and take some time to sit down and really talk with Tom. They were both so insanely busy lately that even though both their avatars were living at Hometree, he still barely saw his twin for more than a few minutes a day. Even now, as he looked around, he didn't see Tom anywhere, although he knew he must be around. Maybe later on, when the party got going properly he could find Tom and drag him into a corner somewhere and pick his more scientific brain.

Up at Site 26, Norm rolled over and sat up with a small frown. "I guess I should get in," he said, "I kindof lost track of time, there."

Trudy laughed and pulled the sheets back up over her shoulders. "I dunno, I'm pretty sure I know where the time went," she grinned.

"I wish you could come," he said, running his fingers through her hair.

She made a face at him and shook her head. "I'd stick out like a sore thumb," she said, "besides which fact there's the problem that I can't eat any of the food and I'm so tiny everyone would trip over me."

"You aren't that short," he laughed.

"Compared to the ten-foot-tall blue folks? Come on, babe, I'm like the size of one of their babies."

"You'd make a gorgeous avatar," he said.

"And give up my baby? You're kidding, right? Besides, no offence but I'm no science geek."

"Neither is Jake," Norm smiled, "but you're right, we need you and your baby, and you're pretty damn cute just the way you are," he said, then blushed. "Sorry, that was corny."

"You are corny," she laughed, then pulled him down for one last kiss, "now get your ass into that link bed, you're gonna miss the whole party. Just keep your eyes where they're sposedta be, cause if I hear from Jake that you were flirting with any of those half-naked blue girls I'm gonna hafta spank your cute little ass."

"I'll be good," he grinned.

"And put some clothes on before you link up," she laughed, "cute little ass or not."

Norm, who'd been just about to hop up into the link bed, stopped dead and ran back to the room to grab some sweatpants and a t-shirt, his face a very un-becoming shade of fuchsia. The last thing he heard as he closed his eyes and entered link was Trudy's delighted laughter.

Back in his avatar body in the cabin he stretched, then headed out to see what was up. He slipped out the door just as Mo'at and Eytukan were arriving. Perfect timing! He hadn't missed dinner after all! He tried to blend into the crowd, but Jake had been waiting for him.

"Trudy keeping you busy?" Jake said, seeming to appear next to Norm out of nowhere.

"Um...no, I mean, well, um, actually yes," Norm blushed.

Jake laughed. "All good, man, all good, just as long as I don't have to get surprised with any more free shows, you got me?"

"Hey, that only happened once," Norm protested. And it was only going to happen once. He wasn't about to let anyone else ogle Trudy's...assets, unintentional or not. He sighed. He had fallen fast and hard for the spunky pilot, and he still wasn't sure where the relationship was going to end up.

"Girls are complicated," Jake agreed with that sigh. "C'mon man, they brought booze and everything, and now that everyone's here the feast can begin. Let's get ourselves something to eat. You can come sit with Neytiri and me, she won't mind I'm sure."

About the same time that Jake and Norm were chatting, Tom and Ninat had returned to the meadow and were settling themselves down with the rest of the singers.

"What will you start with?" Ninat asked Cathy, looking around, "and what type of accompaniment do you need?"

"I am going to start with only voice," Cathy smiled, "I have been working on a little something just for this occasion. I hope it will be enjoyed."

"Your singing is always enjoyed," Antsu smiled at her, rubbing her knee, "Is this to be the "old singing" you told me about?"

"It is Sean-nós, yes," she nodded, "I haven't had much call for it lately, but it seems to me it will suit this situation well."

"What's "sean-nós"?" Tom asked, "I've never heard of it."

"Well you don't have Irish roots, now do ye, boy?" Cathy laughed, putting on an accent playfully. "It's the very old, traditional way of singing in Irish. One of the things my parents wish they'd never taught me, seeing as how it was what made me want to learn languages."

"Okay, so what's it like?" Tom asked, curious now.

"You'll just have to hear it," she shook her head, "explanations pale before actually listening. It's a song of emigration that I've picked, about making your home where you are, and the welcome strangers are glad to have. I thought it would be appropriate." She smiled at him, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began to sing.

She didn't announce beforehand, but it didn't take long for the whole group to fall quiet. Nobody could understand a word of what she was saying, of course, since she was singing, Tom assumed, in Irish, but the plaintive tune struck right to the heart. When she reached the end of the first verse, though, she switched languages, sliding effortlessly into Na'vi.

For the third verse she changed again and was now singing in English, and looking around at the other avatars, Tom could see that they were greatly moved. He wasn't surprised. He was feeling more than a twinge of emotion himself, and he was one of the relative newbies.

He felt someone squeeze his hand and was surprised, when he glanced over, to see Ninat watching him with a sympathetic expression on her face. He hadn't thought he looked that sad.

Each verse, as she came to it, was the same. Sung in Irish, then Na'vi, then English. This meant the song took a little time, but there wasn't any sense of impatience among the audience at all. When the song ended, there was a silence and a stillness for a moment, which noone wanted to interrupt, and before the clapping could begin, Cathy nodded to Antsu, who picked up a drum at the same time she picked up her fiddle, and she began to play. The spell of words broken, everybody smiled and began to chat again and fill up their plates, although quietly, so they could still hear the music.

The feasting was a whirl of colours and impressions for Louise, and she was, quite frankly, completely and totally seduced by the party atmosphere. And the alcohol. Can't forget the alcohol. Definitely seduced by the alcohol! At some point in the evening she found herself dancing, one among many. There weren't any real steps to the dance, as far as she could tell, everyone was simply moving to the beat of the music. Cathy wasn't playing anymore, she was taking a rest and some of the other Na'vi singers had taken over, and something about that made Louise frown. Oh yeah, Cathy had said she was gonna introduce her guy to them, but they'd barely even gotten the guy's name before she'd said she had to go warm up, and Louise wanted to know more!

She looked around, but one blue-skinned and black-haired form was pretty much like any other right now, and as for counting fingers, well, things were getting...a little blurry. Damn that was some good moonshine the Na'vi brewed! She moved a little away from the dancing area and turned in a circle, thinking maybe she might have more of a chance of finding Cathy that way, but she quickly realized spinning around was just maybe a bad idea.

"Oops!" she heard a laughing voice and felt someone's hands come down on her shoulders as she lost her balance. "Careful there, you might just fall over," he...he? Yeah definitely a male voice, said.

Taking advantage of her much greater range of neck motion in this body, she looked over her shoulder to see who had caught her.

"Oh, hey Takakaka!" she giggled, "what's up? I'm lookin' for Cathy-smathy, you seen her anywhere?"

"No, I haven't seen her for at least an hour," he shook his head, laughing. "You really are rather gloriously drunk, aren't you?"

"Ohhhhyeah," she grinned, "these Na'vi really know how to brew it right!" She tried to turn and tripped over her tail which had somehow ended up between her legs, falling into him.

Taka laughed even harder. "You'd better sit down before you fall down," he said, pushing down on her shoulders and rather effortlessly rearranging her into a seated position on the soft moss.

The spot where they were was away from the main light of the fires, so the bioluminescence of the moss was visible where it was touched, and Louise was completely fascinated by it, poking it and rubbing it and lying back fully on it to roll around and make a "light angel" with her arms and legs.

Taka sat down next to her, frowning slightly, and she reached up to try to flick his ear (she couldn't quite reach it, even though she thought it ought to be close enough)

"Takakaka," she giggled, "you shouldn't frown, it makes your face look not-as-cute. Maybe you need to find someone to feed you some more drink. I'd feed you more drink 'cept I don't think I could hold it steady enough an' there's no point giving you an empty bowl I spilled all over you!" She cackled as she got lost in that mental image for a minute.

"I'm pretty sure you've drunk enough for both of us," he said, chuckling, "you're going to regret this in the morning, you know."

"Naw," she grinned, "won't be in this body in the mornin', I figure I'll just give it time to get over the hangover 'fore I link up again! Problem solved!" She looked up at him, "You're cute when you're all worried over me an' stuff." She could see (blurrily) that his face seemed to be getting brighter, and that made her giggle helplessly. "an' you're even cuter when you're all glowy!"

"I am not "all glowy", whatever that means," he said firmly, "and what do you mean cute?"

"I mean you're cute all the time but 'specially when you're worried or when you're glowy or, like, always," she rambled, reaching out and managing to catch his arm and pull him over, "really really cute. Didn't you know that?"

"As a matter of fact I had no idea you thought like that," he said, grinning as he caught himself with his other arm before he fell on her, "and you know, I think I'm just about drunk enough myself to have plas...plus...plausible deniability," he enunciated the big words very carefully, revealing that he was perhaps a bit less sober than he'd been letting on as well, "so we'll just forget this ever happened tomorrow, ne?" he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her, "cause you're still a bakemono, even if you are cute when you're drunk."

Meanwhile, some way away from the party, Antsu and Cathy were walking hand in hand. Well, more like he was leading and she was following, but the outcome was still the same, basically.

"Where are we going?" she asked, peering around and not entirely recognizing their location, although she knew they'd been walking in the direction of Hometree.

"You'll see when we get there," Antsu smiled secretively.

"Does this have to do with what you said earlier about having to talk about something?" she asked.

"Quite likely," he agreed noncommittally.

"Well you're no help!" she complained, but she had to laugh. He was being so secretive but his tail was twitching in that way that she'd learned early on meant he was excited about something, and that was making her excited as well.

He led her along a log across a stream, his pace picking up as they neared what must be their destination. There was a soft blue/white glow up ahead, and Cathy couldn't help but gasp in wonder. She knew where they were now, although she'd never actually been here before. Utral Aymokriyä, the tree of voices.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, looking around her, "but is it right for me to be here? I have not been formally brought into the tribe, and I haven't been through uniltaron yet."

"But you have been through your tribe's rites of adulthood, have you not?" he pointed out.

"Well, yes," she hesitated.

"It is not unknown for members of the tribe to bring outsiders here, given certain circumstances," he said, leaning in close to her, "I wish to make you one of the Omatikaya in a different way, just as acceptable. I have waited two years. Two years and three months since I completed uniltaron and Sempul confirmed my training was complete. I do not wish to wait any longer to chose my mate," he said and kissed her before she could answer.

She whimpered softly into the kiss and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I am sorry I made you wait so long," she said, smiling as he finally broke the kiss, "I wish for nothing more than to be the one you choose."

"You have always been my choice," he shook his head, his hands skimming up the back of her tank top, slowly lifting it from her body, "I have not wanted any other since we met."

She lifted her arms and let her top be stripped away, barely even noticing. She wasn't wearing anything under it, the combination of lower gravity and her avatar body's physiology negating the human need for support, but she didn't feel at all uncomfortable or ashamed to be standing out in the middle of a grove of trees with nothing on top. On the contrary, it felt right, and when Antsu brought his queue forward it felt almost like a dream. Her own hand seemed to move almost of its own volition as she brought the end of her queue up to his, and the sensation of tsahaylu, of bonding, was...indescribable.

She whispered his name against his lips as he leaned in to kiss her again, but words were not truly necessary. In fact, they seemed rather redundant when she could already feel all the love he felt for her echoing through her own heart. She reached out to him, physically but also mentally, and she melted into him as the two of them sank to the ground.

I tried to follow them a little further, but Antsu informed me quite firmly that no voyurism was allowed, at least not this time, and since I'm not keen on pissing my muses off I agreed. XD Taka and Louise, on the other hand, have no such qualms...

And now, vocab!

Na'vi vocab:
tsahaylu - the bond. Neural link between Na'vi and their mounts, or between mated pairs.
ayuniltìranyu - dreamwalkers, plural. Na'vi term for Avatars
yerik - hexapede, deer-like prey animal
teylu - edible grubs, a Na'vi delicacy
tsmuke - sister
tawtute - sky person, the Na'vi term for humans
Utral Aymokriyä - tree of voices, Na'vi sacred site where they are able to link with the tree and hear the uploaded voices of their ancesters
uniltaron - dream hunt, a Na'vi rite of passage into adulthood, works basically like a native spirit quest.
Sempul - father

Japanese vocab:
bakemono - monster/ghost/powerful spirit

Irish Gaelic vocab:
Sean-nós - old style

And to help you all understand it, an explanation of Sean-nós singing:

Taken from a very useful article linked to from the wiki (because I fail at explaining it any better myself)

1. A bare voice (not 'sweet', with a certain 'natural fierceness').

2. No vibrato.

3. No dynamic. (loud/soft)

4. Emotion is expressed through the use of vocal ornamentation, which varies from singer to singer.

5. Free, non-metronomic rhythm used by the singer.

6. The meaning of the words dictates singing from the heart, with 'soul'. (Without dynamic - see above).

7. Often there is an emphasis on the consonants l, m, n, r to facilitate the free rhythmic pulse and to create a drone effect.

8. Occasional nasalisation.

9. Music takes precedent over the lyric.

10. Often extra meaningless syllables are introduced, e.g., "Thug (a) me".

11. The use of the glottal stop/dramatic pause.

12. It's unaccompanied.

13. The melody varies from one verse to the next, and from one performance to the next. This is often referred to as the 'variation principle'.

14. And last but not least, the singing is in the Irish language.

All except for that last point, this sounds very similar to the Na'vi singing we have heard, so I'm making the intellectual leap that the styles would not be hard to move between.