25. Almost a talk
"Norm, I'm going to need a new radio," Jake said as they sat outside, their backs against the wall of the large building.
"Great time to ask, Jake," Norm muttered. "I'll see what I can do once the happy shooters out there ran out of arrows."
Neytiri got up and said: "I will run and fly out. When I find them they will meet their Toruk."
"Neytiri, wait!" Jake called after her, but she had already gone, finding shelter behind things that were scattered everywhere. "Good thing it's a mess here, Norm."
Puvomun heard another arrow hit somewhere, around the corner of the building. Maybe the person who was shooting had not seen Neytiri run off. Or perhaps, he considered, they did not dare to shoot at her; after all she was the daughter of the Tsahik.
It was difficult for the three to sit and wait while Neytiri was away. Time crawled. And during that crawling, Puvomun noticed, they did not hear another arrow fly or hit.
Curious, Puvomun looked around the corner. Everything was silent. Very silent. From the wall of the building an arrow protruded, and that was all.
"Puvomun, get down! Do you want to get shot?" Jake urged him.
"I think they are gone, Jake." Puvomun calmly walked around the corner, pulled the arrow from the wall and examined the tail end. It had the same mark as the arrow that had followed them inside the building. "They must have seen Neytiri run, and then they disappeared."
Jake came out and had a look also, if only to be interested.
"Are you sure it's safe? These arrows are kind of large for people like me," Norm wanted to make sure.
"Yes, it's safe," Jake assured him.
"Good. I'll see if I can find you a new radio." Norm started walking towards the building. "Oh, can you pick it up at the door? They're kind of heavy as they're your size."
"Sure, Norm." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jake had to laugh.
A familiar outcry made them look back and they saw Neytiri and Seze touch down near the building. Mo'at's daughter jumped from it. "They were gone."
"We know."
"I saw them fly off to the south," Neytiri pointed, "I don't know why there."
"Maybe they want to return to the clan," Puvomun said, although he was not convinced of that.
"After shooting at clan members?" Neytiri shook her head.
"Jake, I got one!" Norm called out from an opening.
Jake went over to the man to collect the radio.
"You didn't by any chance bring the empty one, did you?" Norm asked. "I mean, I could recharge it for you. And didn't I get you two of them?"
"Yes, you did. I think I lost one somewhere."
"You lost it. Yes. Great. Do you know what these things cost?" Norm waved his hands in a kind of despair. "Better go and catch these guys who were shooting at us."
"I think it is better if we locate these avatars, Norm. They are more of a concern," Jake reminded him.
"Yeah, sure. Of course." For a moment Norm looked as if he felt dumb. "We'll keep in touch. If anything happens."
"We do, Norm. Take care."
"You guys too, okay?" said Jake.
Puvomun noticed, as they walked off, that Norm still stood outside, watching them go.
When they were coming close to the tree where their ikrans rested, he said: "Jake, could it be that Norm is jealous of you?"
The clan leader looked at the teacher and wanted to quickly blurt out an answer, but held himself back. For some time the man's eyes seemed to drift away. "He may have been. Why do you ask?"
"It is the way he kept looking as we left just now. And other times, when he was in the village as Dreamwalker."
As they went up into the tree, Jake said: "Perhaps we should talk about that later. When we're home."
"Srane. We will, ma Jake," Puvomun said.
Kilvan again had no problems keeping up with Jake and Neytiri, so they were approaching their large home quickly. After dismounting, Kilvan jumped away from the big branch again. Puvomun knew that she would be hunting for food.
"You fly well, ma Puvomun," Jake said, clapping the teacher singer on his shoulder. "I would never have expected that from you."
"I had not either, ma Jake."
"Of course he flies well," Neytiri said in her semi Dragon Lady voice. "Po lu Na'vi. He is Na'vi. Na'vi know how to do this."
"Hey, I didn't do that badly either," Jake laughed, attempting to strike at her tail.
Neytiri jumped out of his reach, laughing, her eyes lighting up for a moment.
Puvomun knew she did not always want to be seen how she was, and that he was the reason that her real side came out only so shortly. To give the two as much time together as possible, he walked back over the branch and said he'd be down soon. Using the excuse to want to enjoy the view in the oncoming sunset, he waited until the two were gone, and only then he walked down himself, as he pondered the strangeness of the situation that had unfolded.
Amhul sat by the fire, surrounded by several children. They were singing a song Puvomun had never heard before, and he carefully listened as he sat down with them.
"We are friends of the forest, and the forest is a friend to all,
The forest lets us live and play, it gives us all our food,
Nantang, 'angtsik, palulukan, they live and play here too,
And when they are hungry, the forest gives them food.
The yerik, the syaksyuk, the hellfire wasp, the forest is for all,
For all there is a place to live, and all have food to eat,
So take care of the forest, friend, so that we all may live."
As the song ended, each child made the sound of a different animal while getting up and then they started running around.
"It's a song I made with them while you were gone," Amhul said, her face happy and shining. Then she wanted to know what had happened. She was not very happy knowing that the stray clan members had used arrows on them.
"The situation is difficult," Puvomun said.
Amhul nodded. "I understand. What is Jake going to do?"
"I am not sure if he knows that himself."
They went to get something to eat and joined the group again. There was a lot of talking, most of it was about the two hunters who had had the audacity to draw their bows at the Olo'eyktan. This was seen as something unforgivable.
Darkness had set in, and the forest was beginning its natural glowing. the sounds of the day were replaced by the sounds of the night, the yapping of the nantangs in the distance and the calling of many species of nighbirds everywhere.
A tired chattering syaksyuk tried to make a point somewhere but none of his family replied, so that sound disappeared.
Amhul and Puvomun sat a bit away from the others, near the edge of darkness where the fire just could not reach.
"I wonder if I am still a teacher singer," Puvomun mused.
"Of course you are," Amhul said, not taking her eyes off the brilliance that the forest had to offer.
"I am gone so often," Puvomun reminded her, "flying around like a hunter or a warrior."
"So am I, and I don't feel less a teacher. It actually makes me a better one since I know more. And you should feel that way too. Nobody had ever seen any ayseylu akerusey and you have, and you saw what it does. And those plants that killed the uniltìrantokx of the woman."
Puvomun had not yet had time to consider things from that view, and he agreed with her that they had gained a lot of new knowledge lately.
"And now you should empty your mind, ma yawne," Amhul decided for him. "You have seen too many things, which is the bad side of gaining new knowledge. I want you here with me, and you must relax." Gently she pushed his chest, until he was lying on his back. Amhul lay down next to him, inside his arm. Her tail curled over one of Puvomun's legs, claiming him as hers.
They looked up at the sky where the stars blinked.
"It is strange to know that Jake came from there," Amhul whispered.
"It is, yes. Very strange. And it is also strange that he belongs to us as if he was meant to."
Amhul nodded, her head resting against Puvomun's shoulder. "Will you be flying out again tomorrow?" she asked.
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we both fly." The singer felt her silent nod. "I want to fly with you, ma Amhul, just to go somewhere, on our ikrans, to be up in the air with you alone."
"Srane, oel omum, I know," she said, her voice a mere whisper.
Puvomun heard some commotion far away, near the fire. He did not want to be part of it. It was probably Rakan, making a fool of either himself or someone else. This moment was for Amhul and for him.
"I wonder when life will be normal again," he said, enjoying Amhul's presence.
"Will it ever be that, with Jake here as Olo'eyktan?" Amhul asked, without lifting her head from his shoulder.
That was a good question. The clan had never seen a leader like him, so a lot that had been the Omatikaya way of life probably belonged to the past.
"Indeed. Normal will get a new meaning."
The noise from near the fire became more oppressive, and Puvomun was nearly tempted to sit up and have a look when a loud Inglisi outburst made that temptation unnecessary. He and Amhul shot up and made their way to the fire, where Jake was talking in the radio that now worked.
The talking was still going on, in rapid Inglisi, and Puvomun looked at Neytiri who tried to catch most of what was being said. She had more experience with the language, because of her relationship with Jake.
The expression on her face showed him that she had a hard time as well.
"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Norm. I'll let everyone here know and we'll talk more about this in the morning."
Jake switched off the radio and looked at Neytiri. "They have Natasha."
Na'vi - English.
'Angtsìk - hammerhead
Atokirina - seeds of the Sacred Tree
At'sha - "Archer" (name of the man, chapter 14)
Ayewan - young ones
Ayfkio - many tetrapteron, four-winged flying animals
Ayfo lu tstunwi - They are kind
Ayfo makto nìwin - They ride too fast
Ayikran - plural of ikran
Aynivi - plural of nivi
Ayoeyä atxkxe - our land
Aysa'nok - mothers
Aysaronyu - plural of taronyu (also 'saronyu')
Aysawtute/sawtute - Sky people, the humans
Aysko / sko - bows
Ayuniltìranyu - plural of uniltìranyu, dreamwalkers
'Eveng - a child
Eveng - children
'Ewantu - young one
'Ewll - plant
'Eylan - friend
Eylan - plural of 'eylan
Eywa - the Goddess, nature, Gaia
Eywa ayoehu - Eywa be with us
Eywa ngahu - Eywa be with you
Fa'li/ayfa'li - plural of pa'li - horses
Fngap - metal
Fngapä ta'leng - metal skin, AMP suits
Hayalovay - See you!
Hetuwong - plural of ketuwong - aliens
Heyn - to sit
Hì'i - small
Hì'pa'li - small horses
Ikran - mountain banshee
Ikran makto - ikran rider
Ikranay - forest banshee
Irayo - thank you
'Ite - daughter
Kaltxì - hello
Karyu - teacher
Kava - alcoholic drink
Kämakto - go ride
Ke nìltsan - not well
Kefyak? - right?
Kehe - no
Kelutral - Hometree, where the Na'vi clan lives
Kelku lefngap - house of metal
Ketuwong - alien
Kìyevame - May we see each other again
Koaka karyu - old teacher
Kxam - middle
Kxawm - maybe, perhaps
Kxetse - tail
Kxi'txah - Na'vi phonetics for guitar
Lu - is, to be
Ma yawne - (my) love
Makto zong - travel safely
Mawey - calm down
Mesawtute - two Sky people
Meveng - two children
Mllte - to agree
Nantang - six-legged direwolf
Nga - you
Nga yawne lu oer - You are my beloved
Ngeyä - your (ngeyä sa'nok - your mother)
Nìltsan - well
Nìprrte - you're welcome
Nivi - hammock
Numeyu - Student
Oe 'efu pa'li - I feel the horse
Oe irayo si Eywaru - My thanks to Eywa
Oe ke lu - I am not
Oel omum - I know
Oe tsleram - I understand
Oeyä koaka 'eylan - my old friend
Olo'eyktan - clan leader
Pa'li - six-legged direhorse
Palulukan - giant six-legged feline predator
Po lu - he is
Pxasìk - very bad curse-word
Pxora'pam - explosion
Rewon lefpom - good morning (lit. morning good)
Riti - stingbat
Rolyu - singer
Rolun - Na'vi equivalent of "Eureka", I got it!
'Rrta - Earth
Sa'nok - mother
Saronyu - hunters
Sempul - father
Set - now
Sì - and (used in listing things)
Sìltsan - good
Skxawng - moron, idiot
Sran, srane - yes
Srung - help (n)
Srung si - to help
Swizaw - arrow
Syaksyuk - Prolemuris
Tam - Good, okay
Taronyu - hunter
Taw - sky
Tawsìp - Airship, flying machine
Tawtute - Sky person, one human
Teylu akerusey - larvae of death
Tokx - body
Tsa'u lu sìltsan - that is good
Tsaheylu - a mental bond, made by tendrils in a Na'vi braid to other living organisms on Pandora
Tsahik - spiritual leader, shaman
Tsamsiyu - warrior
Tsko - bow
Tsmuk - sibling
Tsmukan - brother
Tsmuke - sister
Tswin - queue, braid
Tokx - body
Txon lefpom - good night (lit. night good)
Txonam - last evening
Txumtsä'wll - poison squirting plant
Ulte - and (used to combine sentences)
Uniltìrantokx - Avatar (dreamwalker) body
Uniltìranyu - Dreamwalker, a human in an Avatar body
Utral Aymokriyä - the Tree of Voices
Vitra - soul
Vitrautral - the Tree of Souls
Yawne - loved one
Yerik - six-legged kind of deer