Iza glared at the back of his head as they rode past the forest at high speed. The many tall and mighty trees with dark brown trunks, vibrant green crowns and splotches of bioluminescent pinks, greens, purples and blues blurred together until all she could see was one colorful streak that never seemed to end.
The pa'li that they rode on grunted softly every now and then and under her strong legs she could feel its heavy, strong breaths and how it tensed just before jumping over fallen branches, rocks and other obstacles. Iza had never been atop a pa'li but she had watched them from a distance and even then she could see the sheer strength in the six legs the horse-like creature held, and once she had seen a pa'li almost stomp a grown Na'vi's head in when the Na'vi had accidentally snuck up on it.
"Why are you quiet?" Tsu'tey asked her, glancing back at her once.
"I have nothing to say to you," she bit back with a nasty smile that showed her elongated canines.
He hummed, "after all this time?"
"I have nothing to say to you," Iza repeated. She balled her bound hands into tight fists.
Tsu'tey shared a glance with his fellow hunters and they all shrugged at his silent plea. The Na'vi hunter closest to them was a rather short one with a wicked scar running down the middle of his face and when it met the edge of his chin it curved right up to the base of his ears. His hair had been kept long and out of braids, a mane full of unruly curls that at certain points looked matted and dead. Iza noted the low ranking of his clothes and appearance and spared him no more mind.
"You can't force her to talk to you, Tsu'tey," the one to the left shot at him with a loop-sided grin. His voice sounded smooth, deep and charming. His hair had been shaved in a style similar to Tsu'tey's, only he carried no feather or beads in his. His face was spotless and Iza thought he was rather handsome. The Na'vi looked tall, taller than Tsu'tey even, but was nowhere close to how muscular or strong Tsu'tey looked. Instead he was lanky and thin. "Eywa knows I wouldn't if I were her," he narrowly avoided the stone that Tsu'tey threw in his general direction.
Tsu'tey grumbled under his breath but made no further attempt at speaking to the still glaring Iza. if only he knew the many ways she fantasized about killing him and escaping, then maybe he'd let her go and she wouldn't be forced to confront a past, present or future that had never been hers. The humans had taken that from her and then left her in these very woods to die.
Ay'ri, a young soon-to-be hunter rode behind them. Iza had seen her before, only a glimpse but it was enough to recognize the scarred Na'vi behind her. Ay'ri was still wearing that same smirk and her arrogant posture hadn't changed a bit.
The closer they got to the hometree the more nervous she got. Her palms started sweating and chills ran down her spine in tune with the turmoil in her stomach. To go from being totally alone to being thrown into everyday Na'vi life wasn't something she ever envisioned happening. She was dead set on living a short but comfortable life in her part of the forest before being returned to Eywa. Only Tsu'tey didn't allow it and instead was kidnapping her to go see the tsahìk.
The group of hunters continued their ride with Tsu'tey scowling at the front, Iza pouting in the back and the others neutral.
Iza was thrown back into focus when the pa'li suddenly lurched forward and sprinted through the forest. Bioluminescent colors flashed by along with the yips and shouts of the natives around her, spears and bows raised to Eywa as the wind swept through their hair.
Someone threw a bolo at a figure up on a thicker branch, it tangled around their legs and the figure fell to the ground with a heavy thud. There was another figure in front of the fallen one, a female Na'vi. The fallen figure untangles the bolo from around their legs and turned to run when they realised that they're surrounded by the warriors. Their chest was heaving and while their head was turned to the ground they showed no signs of submission, rather the opposite.
The female Na'vi drop down, standing in front of the fallen, dreamwalker - Iza sharply inhales at the realisation. No Na'vi wore human clothes, nor had they braided their hair in such a fashion, or moved so clumsily and ignorantly in the forest. How could she not have noticed the childlike stumbling before, the flailing arms or the english curse he shouted when he fell.
"Tsu'tey, what are you doing? He is my prisoner!" the female shouts sharply, pointing at said Tsu'tey while she did so.
In one fluid motion Tsu'tey dismounts the direhorse, letting Iza hop forward and connect her tswin. He walks towards the other Na'vi , snarling at her as he did so:
"These demons are forbidden here. I will kill this one as a lesson to the others!" he drew his bow but the other native leapt between the dreamwalker and the warrior, ears drawn back and tail flickering behind her.
She pointedly tells him, "Stop! There has been a sign. This is a matter for the Tsahìk."
Ever the hothead Tsu'tey clenched his jaw but knew he couldn't defy her on this. If the Na'vi woman told him there was a sign he had no choice but to listen- she was the daughter of the Olo'eyktan after all, and he had never been one to doubt the will of Eywa, strange as it was at times. He remounted the pa'li, this time sitting behind Iza who refused to give up her seat at the front.
"Bring him." Tsu'tey commanded the band of hunters, and the hunters did as commanded. They pointed spears and their bows at him, grabbing him by the tswin as they forced him along.
Iza stroked the pa'li's neck as it slowly brought them forward in a smooth galopp.
-:-
Jake is forced into an open hollow of the hometree, Iza having already been "guided" reluctantly by Tsu'tey as soon as they touched Omoticayan soil. They stood at the front, by the Olo'eyktan who was looking none too pleased with what the hunter had told him- though a shred of joy filled the great leader at the prospect of one of their own being returned, even if the woman in question didn't share their vision of solidarity and community.
All of the village had come to see the strange dreamwalker be put on trial, the rumor of him spreading faster than the wind. Old people, young people, women with babies, hunters, students alike stood around the hollow, some sitting on branches above, some clinging to the supporting beams.
The skull of a Toruk - the one the last Toruk makto rode, dominated the space with the heavy embellishment around it and the great fires that made the hollows of what used to be eyes glimmer. The last shadow, now put on display with shadows dancing on the old bones.
The Olo'eyktan had a stern face, but a deep frown marred it, and the palulukan claws that hung around his neck seemed more threatening than ever. He had the most elaborate clothes in the room, apart from the white claws he had shoulder pieces of what looked like feather or some kind of leaves, a bone piece that rested on his forehead that connected to the braided headpiece. He stood tall and dominating, all eyes were on him until the dreamwalker walked in.
Immediately his features are clouded by thinly-veiled anger.
"Why do you bring this creature here?" he asked his daughter, who Iza could now clearly see as a young hunter, lithe and strong as they all were, with hair braided into small braids, and simple coverings.
"I was going to kill him," she confessed to her father, "but there was a sign from Eywa," she continued.
The Olo'eyktan sneered, "I have said no dreamwalker will come here, to offend our home! His alien smell fills my nose," he mocked, sharing a smirk with Tsu'tey.
All the while the dreamwalker looked between the pair, confused at what was going on.
The woman doesn't back down but neither does she defy her father, "Father," she began, "many atokirina came to this alien."
The dreamwalker butted in, "what's going on?"
The female Na'vi looked back at the man she brought home and explained, "My father is deciding whether to kill you."
"Your father?!" the man exclaimed, lunging forward with his hand stretched out in greeting, only to recoil as all the natives around him jump to restrain him while shouting.
Everyone in the room freezes as a female voice fills the hollow. Just like the leader next to her this voice was powerful and commanding, wise beyond their years.
"Step back!"
The female Na'vi that walked down the spiralling stairs didn't look friendly but Iza knew that appearances often are deceiving, and that the Pandorian life was harsh but beautiful all the same. Just like the clan leader her outfit is elaborate, with a sharp knife in a sheath hung by her collarbones, held together by red strings that hung from a thin headpiece. Like the younger native this woman also had thin braids, except for the thicker one that came together with the piece holding the knife. This was the tsahìk.
She cast Iza a look as she walked up to the dreamwalker, saying "I will take a look at this alien."
The younger female native whispered to the dreamwalker but Iza heard her words. "That is mother," she explained and if it was possible the eyes of the dreamwalker widened even more at the revelation, "She is Tsahìk, the one who interprets the will of Eywa ."
"Who's Eywa?" the dreamwalker asked, looking around at the people around him, shifting nervously as the 'Tsahìk' came closer to him.
The Tsahìk circles the dreamwalker, pinching him, bringing up his tswin before letting it fall limply behind him.
In a thick accent she asked him, "what are you called?"
"Jake Sully," the dreamwalker responded.
She pulls out the knife that turned out to be more like a thorn, and pricks Jake on the chest. Blood slowly trickles out of the thin wound and Jake flinches. The Tsahìk brings the thorn up to her mouth and tastes the blood.
Sharp as a viper she turned her large eyes to Jake Sully, "why did you come to us?"
"I came to learn."
"We have tried to teach other skypeople," pain filled her voice," it is hard to fill a cup that is already full."
Jake grins, "my cup is empty, trust me. Just ask doctor Augustine. I'm no scientist."
If Iza had not been standing next to Tsu'tey she would have missed the flinch he let out at the mention of Grace. Just like the Tsahìk, pain filled his eyes. Old pain.
But the Tsahìk wasn't satisfied with his vague answers. "What are you?"
"I don't know," he responded before continuing, "I was a marine- uh, a warrior. Of the Jarhead clan."
Riled up by the presence of a dreamwalker and the mention of Grace, Tsu'tey loudly exclaims, "a warrior!" he smirked, "I could kill him easily!"
Surprisingly it was the Olo'eyktan that put a stop to Tsu'tey.
"No! This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have seen. We need to learn more about him."
Jake turned to the native next to him, "what's going on? What are they saying?"
The woman ignores him as the Tsahìk speaks again. "Daughter. You will teach him our way, to speak and walk as we do."
Neytiri, the daughter of both the clan leader and the Tsahìk turned to her mother, anger clouding her beautiful face. "Why me?" she snarled, "that's not fair! I only-"
"It is decided," the Tsahìk told Neytiri who let out one last snarl before glaring petulantly at Jake. She turned to Jake. "My daughter will teach you our ways. Learn well, JakeSully. We will see if your insanity can be cured," she sharply told him. "He is your responsibility," the tsahìk told Neytiri.
As Neytiri drags Jake away from the natives, the tsahìk turns to Iza.
"Iza," she began, "I see that Tsu'tey brought you back."
There wasn't many things Iza hated more than being the centre of attention, even more so now that all the villagers stared at her and her pale skin. "Sran," Iza responded shakily. "He did," she cleared her throat.
"Come, we must talk," the older native told Iza and walked off.
Iza threw a look to Tsu'tey who conveniently enough was looking the opposite way, and didn't see the pleading in her eyes or the flush to her cheeks as she was forced to walk through the mass.