THE BEST SINGER
Itoyo and Ree'ahn took Tsu'tey's tackle on the Dreamwalker as their cue to reveal themselves from their hiding places. Ree'ahn's bloodthirsty screeches and Itoyo's protective cries resounded as one before they sprang to their feet, positioned their aim and tugged on their bows to shoot and kill.
Only the kenten moved, filling the air with crickee!s. The two fidgeted impatiently while keeping their sights on the tresspassers.
"Mawey, mawey, mawey," Tsu'tey murmured to Itoyo and Ree'ahn at the same time that he stored away his knife and approached them calmly.
Itoyo's eyes cooled and he lowered his hands and looked at Tsu'tey for the first time, his mouth parting in an almost-question.
"Find Piral and the others and tell them to return to their posts. Txi." Tsu'tey was replied to with a fast nod from Itoyo before the warrior jogged into the forest.
Tsu'tey steel-eyed Ree'ahn and slapped down the bow that Ree'ahn refused to relax, causing Ree'ahn to hiss. Ree'ahn snatched his weapon from the ground and squinted his eyes. Tsu'tey rolled his eyes from him and turned to face the Dreamwalkers.
The Dreamwalkers helped the woman, the veterinarian head, Sky, to her feet from the dirt. While her colleagues patted her back, Sky coughed.
Tsu'tey addressed the aliens in English. "You are forbidden if Jake did not say for you to come here. No one else is allowed."
"We were just-"
"Fnu!" Ree'ahn woofed. The Dreamwalker male jumped. "We will decide what to do with you, and then you will speak!" Ree'ahn couldn't tell if the aliens understood him or not, but he was sure his tone was sharp enough to keep them in their place.
"You're not going to let us explain? We got lost!" Sky blurted. She looked to Tsu'tey and then the other Na'vi warrior. Even in her Avatar body, she had to lift her head to look the men in the eye.
Tsu'tey dragged his eyes over her form and he began to circle her. Sky's head followed as far as she could turn it. Her tail licked with suprise when he held the end of its shaft and felt the silk at its tip. He let her tsaheylu slip through his hand and swing limply at her legs. He returned to her front looking unimpressed at her and the rest of the three. Sky waited for whatever he might do next.
"Ree'ahn!" Tsu'tey called. His nose wrinkled like something stank. "Fwew ayfol!"
"Yes, I am looking at them." Ree'ahn answered distastefully with dead eyes on all of the aliens just like Tsu'tey.
"How would they feel if we traded with their bodies to parade on their lands like wild animals, like we own the place?"
"Pxasik!" Screw it!, the Na'vi shouted with a jab of the bow in his grip. "Let us kill them and be done with it! You hold them and I will punch them until their flesh squishes between my fingers!"
Ree'ahn was so spirited that sometimes it could be amusing. Tsu'tey had to always remember to be careful when he chose to rile him. "Pey," He snickered to Ree'ahn. Wait.
The Dreamwalkers and Sky were very far from the alien village. He could let them find their way back on their own, but he didn't want Sky to be hurt. And, the air was growing heavy from a coming shower. It would be hard for the aliens to find their way in the rain if they didn't have the landmarks memorized by heart.
"You stay here and we will say what we do with you!" Tsu'tey boomed to the Dreamwalkers and to his coworker. He turned briefly with his chin in one hand and Ree'ahn's shoulder in the other.
The aliens started to murmur quickly in English behind them. Ree'ahn used both of his hands to shake Tsu'tey's crazily.
"Tsu'tey'eylan, kempe sin nga?!" He whispered hotly.
"Use your brain, skxawng! We can't kill them!"
"Why not?!"
"Do you want to give the Skypeople another reason to come after us?!"
"Fine! Then what do you want to do?!"
"We should take them to our camp until the rain passes, and guide them back." The trip would only be longer if they waited to gather direhorses, so it would be better to lead them on foot, Tsu'tey thought as he calculated something in his head. Their village wasn't far, but he wasn't sure how much the aliens could fare, so they might need something to eat first. He lifted his eyes from the ground and met Ree'ahn's pouting face. "Ree'ahn, you make them hametsi kalin like you do for our lunch."
"What the fuck?!" Ree'ahn striked Tsu'tey's chest. "I am not making sweet bread for demons!"
They both glanced at the four Dreamwalkers watching them banter.
"I know what I am doing." Tsu'tey said calmly. He felt water stinging his skin. The rain was already falling in fat droplets. "Now, tell them and let's go." Tsu'tey walked ahead to the warriors' camp.
Ree'ahn searched and failed to find the Tsu'tey he used to know that was never so soft like the dung that came out of a baby's txim. Ree'ahn took hold of his bow. He called over his shoulder to the Dreamwalkers, "follow and keep up!"
"Ma olo'eyktan, you cannot be the bad voice. It is un-heard of." Mi'nat, the most skilled singer of all in the clan, whispered to the clan leader sitting cross legged beside her and holding her petite hand in his.
It was another cheery day in the village and the light from outside made the space inside the olo'eyktan's coven glow yellow from the skins that covered the openings of the tree roots. Neytiri and other Omatikaya women who all sat in a circle were willing to help Jake learn their traditional songs for as long as it would take, yet there were only fifty-two verses to this one and the olo'eyktan was still having trouble.
"I promise I won't let you down. Let's do it again." Jake replied to a child, Mi'nat, who had worried, almond-shaped eyes. He cleared his throat.
Everyone, with their eyes closed, started on the tones of their long voweled notes after Jake called out the opening to the old song.
The music vibrated through them until Jake's note entered and shook the air. Neytiri popped one of her eyes open, noticing that most of the other women had done the same. Mi'nat showed the tight-lipped Tshaik a wince that at any moment would burst into laughter.
The chorale started to close and Jake grinned from ear-to-ear. He leaned down to Mi'nat and said to her: "I'm getting the hang of this! So... what do we sing next?"
Min'at's chest fluttered when Jakesully squeezed her hand with his fingers and gazed at her in the feathers and trinkets that Eytukan used to wear. His eyes were alive with curiousity to learn even more about the culture that he was now apart of forever.
Min'at didn't feel as intimidated to sing with the Toruk Makto as she had been with Neytiri's father. Eytukan had a rumbling voice that used to make Min'at feel small whenever she had sang beside him. Although the best warrior, Tsu'tey, had perfect skill even in the singing arts, Jakesully's charm and handsome teeth could distract Min'at from judging him too harshly. Jakesully would only look to her if only for a few hours in practice, but Mi'nat never forgot to remain coy about it in front Neytiri.
The markings on Mi'nat's cheeks twinkled brightly at the ground as she mustered, "Perhaps my eyktan would like to sing another holy song?"
"Yes. But first may I...uh..." Jake tossed his gaze around the circle. "...take a breather?"
The women looked at each other to see which one knew what the new riddle meant.
"He has spoken; he will rest alone for a while until he calls you." The Tshaik stood and the singers followed her.
They were left alone. Neytiri sat with him and gave him a bowl of water. Jake gulped it dry, dribbling it over his chin.
"I know that look on your face, and I dont like it. Jake, what is it?"
"This is gonna be so much harder than I thought."
"But you have said it just now, you are...'getting the hang' of it? Be still." Neytiri fixed the leaf in the middle of his head. Neytiri remembered the miniscule lift of her father's lips that only she would notice when she used to do the same thing for him.
"Hell, if it's gonna to take all day for me to learn how to sing, it'll take years for me to learn everything else! What am I gonna do? And then there's the, the, the, the history... and the politics...and-maybe I'm not cut out for this!"
His mate's hands gently pushed his cheeks together and wiggled his head. "You still make so much noise...like a bay-bee." His eyes were big like one, too. He was so cute, her Jake. She lost her smile when Jake didn't get any happier.
"I'm just a...dropout who joined the Marines because I still wanted to be somebody. And if Tommy hadn't died I wouldn't even be on this moon. Neytiri, I just feel like I don't deserve this; I don't understand why she chose me."
"You talk like you never saved our clan from the Tsawtute and God never heard your prayers. Jake, you are not the Skypeople anymore. You are Omatikaya, now, and this is where you are meant to be, for all time." Neytiri traced the dots under his eyes. "If the Great Mother believes in you, why is it so hard for you to believe in yourself?"
Some life showed in his eyes that let Neytiri know he was thinking about what she said.
"Come. Mi'nat still has much to teach you." Her hands smoothed over the feathers that hung to his broad shoulders.
Words: 1776 Next chapter: The Circle of Warriors