AN: I've edited the first 2 chapters of the book so you should all check that out because they are extremely different from how they used to be. You will be confused if you don't, so seriously, reread it.
"What are they?" He asked, trying his best not to flick them off him.
"Seeds from the sacred tree" Neytiri responded distracted, her eyes still focus on the plethora of Atokirina that were placing themselves on the male dreamwalker. This was a message directly from Eywa and she would not deny it, all her training from her mother, the tsahìk of the clan had taught her to never ignore signs from their goddess. "Very pure spirits"
"Uh huh" Jake muttered tensely, the woodsprite were all covering him by now. Neytiri was watching him fascinated, maybe this dreamwalker wasn't as bad as she originally thought. Still doesn't change that he technically isn't supposed to be there and that Tsu'tey would, as Awa puts it, flip out if he thought of Jake as a threat towards her. Not to mention the scolding she would receive from her parents.
But the atokirina are a sign from Eywa and she can't ignore that. She can't leave the dreamwalker here if he's sent from Eywa. Tsu'tey and all the others would simply have to come to understand.
The strange creatures floated away from Jake after a while of tense silence as the pair studied the phenomenon. "What was that all about?" It was just one of many strange things that had happened to him today, and he still hasn't found Awa or any clues on who she might be.
"Come" She responded, having made up her mind. She was going to do it, do what her training told her to. Jake had to be brought to her mother so she could tell Neytiri what needed to be done. "Come!" She repeated louder and grabbed his arm. It would be better if they could get to the hometree without running into Tsu'tey but it was unlikely.
"Where are we going?" He asked while the Na'vi before him started running down a small path surrounded by what he would call over grown mushrooms that glow in the dark. Jake touched several of the plants and watching in fascination as the parts he touched lit up in luminescent light. Jake noted that wherever his feet fell on the ground a small circle of blue would light up, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. "Are you taking me to see Awa?"
The two for some time in the strange forest. Depending on where Jake looked he could see different flora and as they made their way deeper into the forest the surrounding changed too. The color the plants and ground would lit up changed and the surrounding trees and plant life changed. He would never have found his way wherever they were going if Neytiri wasn't there guiding him. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was lost.
Suddenly he lost his footing as a strange rope twisted around his ankle and he fell off the high branches that Neytiri was guiding him on and down on the ground with a heavy thud and a throaty groan. Neytiri heard his fall and turned around to check what was happening when she saw the rope on his legs that could only have been thrown by one of her own. Her money was on one of Tsu'tey's band of hunters. The male dreamwalker quickly pulls of the rope that had small weights attached to it and pulled himself to his feet. He pulled out his knife when he heard the thundering hooves of something.
Jake watched stunned as 4 Na'vi galloped through the terrain on their way to him, their bows drawn and ready to fire. He knew he couldn't get out of this alive unless a miracle happened. He was outnumbered and severely outgunned. It wasn't until the Na'vi had gotten closer to him that he noticed another Na'vi, a female, riding on the strange horse lookalike with the leader of the group. Thinking that his only option to escape the na'vi he turned around but there he was met by more na'vi. He was surrounded! And they were closing in on him, now he understood what Neytiri meant with the 'Go back'. The sound of the Na'vi communicating were deafening to his ears and he couldn't focus on anything. No matter where he ran or where he turned a Na'vi was there to block his path.
Neytiri jumped down to where Jake was cornered by her people, she needed to bring him to her mother. She needed her to see what she had seen and guide her. That wouldn't be possible if Tsu'tey or the other hunters hurt him.
Jake watched as Neytiri barked out something to her people and every muscle in his body tensed as one of them dismounted. It was the one with a passenger. The male Na'vi easily towered over all the others there and he looked back to the female still sitting on the creature. Jake saw him whispering something to her and with a flick of his tail against hers he turned back towards Jake and Neytiri. The male dreamwalker looked towards Neytiri for guidance but she only looked at the male that was marching towards them. Neytiri spoke to the male all the while moving around in front of Jake, her tail was swishing angrily from side to side.
His eyes flew to the female Na'vi that had yet to dismount as she did just that. With practised movements she dismounted the horse creature and turned towards them. Her features were guarded and her tail was calmly swaying from side to side. He noticed that she had five fingers whereas the other Na'vi only had four. Jake's eyes widened to a comical size, this must be Awa!
"Awa!" Jake called out, testing his luck. It could go two ways, Awa recognizing his clothing from Hell's Gate and talking the Na'vi out of potentially killing him, or she is not Awa and the Na'vi would get defensive and kill him on the spot. If only he had paid more attention during the weeks of training Grace gave him before this expedition.
"Do not talk to her" Neytiri spun around and snarled at the male dreamwalker she was protecting. It was bad enough they had been caught but it would only aggravate the already aggressive and defensive Tsu'tey and Neytiri was not sure she would be able to stop him.
Awa's POV
Awa walked towards her mate with determined steps, her facial features set in stones as to not give away what she was feeling. This wasn't what she was expecting when she joined the hunters for one of their normal hunts. She was expecting vicious attacks from different creatures but never that her friend would bring a dreamwalker into their inner circle. She knew what was at stake, what those people had done. Neytiri had to have a good explanation for this, she knew her friend and this was not her normal behaviour.
She knew that if she didn't go calm Tsu'tey down he would do something rash and possibly be punished for it. Something was different about this one and she would hate for Tsu'tey to be punished for doing something he was ordered to do. No humans were allowed here for a reason but Neytiri had made an exception and the only one who could settle this was the Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan.
The male dreamwalker had called out her name but she gave him none of her attention, she didn't associate with the drivers unless Grace brought them to her. The older female knew how Awa felt about the program and the RDA and her reluctance to be around them. The thing that worried her about the male calling her name was her mate who was already feeling defensive.
"Tsu'tey, come here" She asked or more like demanded in order to defuse the situation. She hoped her presence could bring the male Na'vi back from his protective mindset so he could be persuaded to take the dreamwalker alive and back to the leaders.
"No, he is not supposed to be here" Tsu'tey barked back at her, his back still turned towards his mate. "Go back to Khan" The name for the pa'li had been her idea from her first days in the clan, it was a clever pun from one of her favorite antique fictional characters. It was fun to reenact the classical Star Trek scene when screaming Khan's name.
"Neytiri thinks he is special, he will go to the Olo'eyktan" She insisted, now standing behind her mate, gently touching his tense back with her hands. She made a bold move, entwining their tails together. It was a display of affection she was not sure he would appreciate while trying to protect her and his clan from potential threats. "You can ask Rezi to tug at his tswin if it pleases you"
"Are you Awa?" The skyperson forced out. He was so on edge he could barely speak, Awa noted with a satisfied smirk, her chest slightly puffing out in pride, her tail entwined with Tsu'tey's held high. "I'm Jake, from Hell's gate."
Tsu'tey snarled at him, taking a warning step forward with ears flattened to his head. He did not appreciate this dreamwalker talking to his mate. They were not the same and he had no right to speak. "Do not speak to her" He refused to talk in english even though he was more than capable of it. He hated speaking english and only did so on special occasions with Awa. More than that he hated the sky people, and because of that the insult the foreigner made was even more grave.
"He tells you to not speak to her" Neytiri translated and Awa sent her a thankful smile, happy that she did not have to speak to the dreamwalker herself.
But Jake was not going to give up that easily now that they confirmed that this was indeed Awa. The only dreamwalker to ever have been fully accepted by the Omaticaya clan. He was suddenly feeling a little nervous of her, she was staring at him with venom in her eyes. Not what he expected a fellow human to do when they finally met. He also noted the way her and this other Na'vi were pressing against each other, tails twisting together, were she sleeping with him? "Awa! I was on an expedition with Dr Augustine, I got chased away from her. I'm lost" He tried again but the woman gave no signs of listening to him.
Meanwhile Awa was whispering things in Tsu'tey's ears, trying to convince her mate to let them bring the dreamwalker back to the hometree. It wasn't easy but finally he went along with it, waving a hand towards Rezi who hurried over to the pair.
"Yes?" The hunter asked, waiting for his order.
"Bring the human, you know what to do" Tsu'tey growled at the hunter, frustrated that he had to relent and he would no doubt be teased by Awa for it later. She found his anger issues amusing but as soon as he directed it towards her she would hiss at him and retaliate with something 100 times worse.
Rezi didn't want to admit it but he was a bit confused on what exactly it was that Tsu'tey wanted him to do to the dreamwalker. He sent a look towards Awa who tugged at her tswin to show what to do. The hunter sent a thankful grin to the huntress but then schooled his face into a neutral state, not wanting to deal with the imposing human any longer than he had to.
...
The trial of Jake had been short, if you could even call it a trial. It was more like a questioning and barely that. The tsahìk had in the end decided that he was going to be allowed to stay with the clan so he could learn how to see and so that the Na'vi could learn from him. Him being a warrior had intrigued them enough to spare his life and there were more people unhappy with the news than happy. Despite being the one that brought him to the clan Neytiri was not happy that her mother had declared her responsible for training the dreamwalker. She acted like a baby, stomping her feet, flickering her tail defiantly from side to side, she even resorted to whining. Something the proud huntress had not done this publicly in years.
Awa had wanted to skip going to the trial but Tsu'tey convinced her to, saying that she 'owed' him for what happened in the forest. She could agree that she owed him but the questioning was pure torture for her, she was torn in all sorts of directions, did she want him to have the same chance as she did or did she want him to go back to Hell's Gate? She didn't know yet and she suspected she wouldn't know unless she got to know the dreamwalker.
A soft tapping on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts and back into the presence. The future would unravel the way it was all meant to be, Eywa would make sure of it.
"What troubles you?" Tsu'tey asked, his voice deep and slightly hoarse after the long day they've had. They finally had some time to relax together before it was time to go down for dinner. The cooks were most likely already preparing the dinner and Awa could feel her stomach growling in response.
"I have to go back to the base tomorrow" Awa muttered, her tail swishing around her in sadness. She really didn't want to go back but she was still employed by the RDA and they expected her to show up on a set schedule one a week to check in with them. It did pose some trouble in the beginning to actually perform tasks like paperwork after she was permanently bonded with her Na'vi body. It was a terrifying experience, until she passed through Eywa when it turned into an experience she would never forget. "Grace has asked me to help train some of the new dreamwalkers, Jake Sully was supposed to be one of them but now Neytiri will be responsible for his training" Awa would be lying if she said she wasn't even a bit pleased by how it turned out, she was glad that she wasn't going to be the one training the dreamwalker. She would gladly leave that to the older huntress.
"I wish you did not have to go back to those humans" Her mate spat out the last part, his face screwing up in disgust. His ear flickered backwards as he remembers when a human bullet had taken a piece of it off. The warrior had always despised the humans that invaded his planet but the incident with the school had only deepened the hate he felt. "You are one of us no, why do you still go to them?"
"Because of Grace, the blame for what I've done will land on her and I don't want to see her punished for my sins. She's my best friend Tsu'tey, I can't let them hurt her" Awa responded, her heart aching for the friend she didn't see as much anymore. The one that made all this possible, the one that led her to her mate. She owed everything to Grace and going to the base once every week was a small price to pay for the love she got out of it. " I can protect myself."
"I know you can but I can't stop worrying about you when you go there. They can't be trusted, I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you" Tsu'tey grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his warm embrace, her hair resting comfortably on his muscular chest.
"I love you" Awa told the Na'vi holding her with a sleepy grin on her face. "I want to sleep now, save some food for me"
"I love you too, Awa" Tsu'tey responded in english, stroking a hand tenderly down Awa's arm before leaving the hammock they shared.