Galina lingered around the place of the blue ones, the clan she now knew was called the Omaticaya. Despite her resolve, she could not pull away from her daughter. The feeling of loss inside her spirit was ripping her apart. Her spirit was darker than the night sky above her.
'Rrno whimpered softly. He wanted to be gone, gone far from this place. Holding close to a nest of the blue ones was unwise, he was telling her. Kizlun did not make a noise, although Galina could feel the desire to be far from this place blazing from the viperwolf.
"I see you, Galina Stefanova Uluta," said a female voice, speaking in perfect unaccented English.
Galina whirled around, snatching at her knife, while her brother and sister bristled at the intruder. "Who are you?" she demanded.
The woman was of middle age – tall, strong and confident. She carried no weapon other than a sheathed knife. She said quietly, "You are wondering how I managed to surprise you. It was not easy." The woman tilted her head to one side, ignoring the tension in the viperwolves, observing her quarry. "My name is Kalinkey, healer of the Omaticaya."
Galina forced herself to relax. If this woman had wished her dead, then Galina would not be breathing.
Kalinkey continued, "You are wondering why I wish to have words with you."
There was only one possible answer. "Yes."
"Come then," said the strange woman. "I will take you to a place where we will not be disturbed, and your brother and sister will not feel uncomfortable."
The woman kept her word. Their destination was the top of a hill with commanding views of the forest around them. There was little chance of being surprised, even from those riding on ikran back.
"This is not the first time we have met," said Kalinkey.
Galina frowned, "I have no memory of this." It was true, although she doubted her own memory of many things. Galina knew that she had forgotten who she was, after the breaking of her exopack. It seemed more than possible there had been other things she had forgotten.
"As I was First, so you are Last," said the woman. "There will be no more."
Kalinkey's words mystified Galina. She had no idea what the woman was saying.
"I see you are puzzled," observed Kalinkey with a smile. "Perhaps some explanation is due, as you were too young to remember our last meeting. On the other hand, I remember it very well."
"Why do you speak in riddles?" demanded Galina hotly. Her hand fell to 'Rrno's shoulder, caressing it without thought.
"Eywa asked me to give you a message," said the mysterious woman. "It is a simple message, although it has great meaning." She sighed, her eyes growing warm and gentle, before she confided, "Your mother and father loved you."
"No!" screamed Galina, backing away from the woman. "They left me! They left me to him."
"It was not their choice, Galina," replied Kalinkey. "They gave their lives for you, protecting you from the blast of the bomb, at Kiev. This is why your father Stefan Uluta, and your mother Irina Kydora could not be with you." She saw the distress on Galina's face. "It is not their fault your life became hard, but mine."
The anguish and confusion on Galina's face was palpable. "How is it your fault?"
"I took you from your mother's arms," stated Kalinkey, "From where she lay in the rubble of Kiev."
Galina exclaimed, "That's impossible!" She pointed to Kalinkey's four fingered hands with one of her own.
"I was born human," said Kalinkey. "Before they made me Na'vi, on 'Rrta. Those who came after me had five fingers, not four as I did. But Eywa made you last, made you true, as the tawtute made me first."
The woman called Nantangte was silent, considering the words of the healer, trying to absorb them. Kizlun snorted with what might have been the viperwolf version of derision.
The healer woman spoke again. "This is not the only message I carry, although it is not from Eywa. This other message is from the women of the Omaticaya."
Galina had been riding an emotional rollercoaster for many days, ever since she decided to give up Irina , and wondered what shock she was about to receive. "What is this message?"
Kalinkey said, "Your daughter needs a mother and a father, not one or the other." Her steady gaze drilled into Galina's eyes. "Think upon this."
Irina was a quiet child.
She had not complained, or whined, screamed or thrown a tantrum. These were character traits for which Fingers was supremely grateful.
In some ways the quiet was worse, far worse.
Fingers knew that Na'vi families almost always slept touching, parents protectively sleeping. He could do nothing other than hold Irina in his arms as she fell asleep. To do otherwise would have been wrong, to be a stain against his sense of honour. He knew Irina was his. All he had to do was look at her face to see the truth.
Irina was his child.
This fact kept Fingers from sleep – that and the unfamiliar sense of feeling a small body clutch at his for warmth and protection against the dangers of the night.
She murmured something in her sleep, wriggling deeper into his embrace.
"Sempu."
He was lost.
"You look tired, my son," said Änsit.
Fingers glanced up at his former father-in-law. The bugger was smiling. He almost never smiled.
"I did not sleep well," answered Fingers. Somehow, he managed to suppress a yawn that otherwise might have split his face in two.
Änsit chuckled. "Everything changes when one becomes a father."
They watched Irina playing with the children of the Omaticaya. It surprised Fingers how easily they accepted a stranger into their games, making her a part of them without hesitation. It would not have played quite like the same way for human children.
"What do I do, my father?" asked Fingers. "I know nothing of children, of how to care for them, or how to teach them to grow right."
"It will be my honour to teach you," answered Änsit, a hint of sadness in his voice.
Fingers felt his eyes moisten, and knew what Änsit was thinking. He reached out to grip him on the forearm, assuring Änsit he understood his pain.
They both still grieved for Se'ayl.
The silence was broken by Änsit saying, "Irina is a beautiful child."
"She takes after her mother," said Fingers, thinking it was a good thing. He was no picture postcard – either as a human or as an Avatar.
Änsit cocked a brow in surprise. "Is that so?" he asked. "The children who have seen Nantangte have all said she is pretty, so perhaps it is no wonder." The tone of affection in Fingers' voice had been unmistakeable. Though Änsit had seen the pain and anger in his face during the telling of his story, it was clear that Ayzekwä had chosen Nantangte, and had chosen for love. He imagined it would just take him a little while to realise it himself.
Sometimes life could be very complicated.