I don't own any characters or anything but the story. Criticism is welcome but please don't be rude.
The next several days seemed to pass quickly for the trio as they got use to life in the Omaticaya clan. They were usually woken up quite early so that they could have the morning meal with their new parents before Aktamu went out hunting. They were then sent off with the other children of the clan so that Ku'el, who was a master weaver, could go work on the giant loom in the common area of the tree called the mother loom.
There was no real set schedule for young children for most of the day. They tended to spend a lot of time playing games, though it was usually broken up with lessons from various clan members throughout the day. There was almost never the same person teaching them twice and they all taught difference aspect of the clan, the variety of jobs within the clan and the histories of it. One of the most interesting aspects about their lessons is that the history was taught nearly entirely through music. The na'vi had no form of writing, so all important events of the past were recorded in song. All the of the people knew a great deal of these songs and would often sing or quietly hum them while they worked on various tasks for the clan.
However the ones that had the most proficient knowledge of these songs were the Storytellers. While most of the days teachings were randomly based on who had a little free time to teach them something, they were always at some point gathered together by the main Storyteller, Eita, to listen to the history of the Omaticaya and the na'vi in general. Har'ii found himself looking forward to these lessons as they gave him quite the insight of the world he was now living in. Though his own interest was nothing compared to Hirmi'ee. She was always one of the first there when Eita called them over and sometimes at the end of the lesson would stay behind to ask more about the stories told that day.
Har'ii could kind of understand why though. There was no library here for her to research whenever she didn't understand something or when she wanted to know more about a subject. Her only source of information were what other people could tell her, so of course she would be drawn to the the person who had the most knowledge. Both she and Ro'an had adapted well to life within the clan. Ro'an did have some issues with that the lack of coverage from clothing and the types of food available, but he otherwise enjoy the easy pace of life within the tribe.
As one of these lessons came to an end Ha'ii was idly thinking about how much more interesting History of magic might have been if it was done by song, though Professor Binn probably would still have made it boring. Har'ii stood up and stretched when they were dismissed, while he chatted to Tsu'tey about what they learned that day. His ears suddenly flicked at some kind of commotion at the entrance of the hometree. He turned to look, but didn't see anything unusual at first and then an unfamiliar na'vi walked through the small crowd. Some of the people around them called out greetings to her, while seemed slightly wary of her.
Har'ii quickly realized that this was no ordinary na'vi. The first thing he noticed was that her nose was not flattened, but instead looked quite human-like. Her eyes were smaller than was typical and as she came closer, Har'ii saw that she had five fingers on each hand instead of four. On top of all of that, she was wearing clothing that was normal for humans to wear, but not na'vi. Who the heck was she? Har'ii thought confused. He glanced over at Tsu'tey who seemed to tense up as she approach, while Neytiri standing next to him smiled and waved her over.
She walked over to them and smiled as she greeted them. She seemed to know most of the other children, but looked curiously at Har'ii and his siblings. "Hello little ones I heard there were some new faces in the clan, my name Grace and its a pleasure to meet you" she spoked kindly the trio. Har'ii took notice of her incredibly normal sounding name but responded as calmly as possible "I'm Har'ii, this is my brother Ro'an and my sister Hirmi'ee." "You must be the children that my students told me were found in the forest?" He nodded, but the questioned "Students?"
Grace smiled again and explained that she was the teacher of a small school built some distance into the forest that some of the older children attended. The older kids of the clan were not as required to have the same lessons and had more freedom to go into the woods but Har'ii had never really considered where they were going. Grace then went on to explain about being from a different world and how the school was to teach the na'vi about that world. Har'ii glanced around to see the other reactions and saw that Neytiri was smiling, Tsu'tey was scowling, and his siblings looked confused and wary. Hirmi'ee then hesitantly asked "What was it like?" "It is called earth and it so different from here it is kind of hard to describe."
She looked like she was trying to find the best way to explain, but Har'ii really didn't want to hear anymore. He had so many questions, but he couldn't figure out which ones he should ask and if he should voice any of them at. How was Grace here? Why did she look the way she did? Were there other? It seemed doubtful she was the only one. All these questions swirled in his mind and he just wanted to get away and think for awhile.
Then to his great relief he heard someone calling his name and he turned around to see find Ku'el beckoning him, Ro'an and Hirmi'ee over. Calling out a hasty goodbye he eagerly ran over to her with the other two right behind him. He greeted her happily and she smiled gently in response. "Come little ones, it about time you three had a bath." Har'ii couldn't disagree with that, so the three of them followed Ku'el.
Grace watched them walk away for a second before Neytiri tried to get her attention to ask her a question. She turned to answer her but her mind was still on the three siblings. She had been shocked when Sylwanin, Neytiri's older sister, had told her about th three young kids found alone but unharmed in the forest. Her other students had confirmed this and told her that they had been adopted by a couple in the clan. It had been a while since she had come visited the actual clan, being busy with the school and her own research, that she decided to stop by and introduce her self.
Now Grace couldn't help but think that there had been something odd about their interaction with her. While she was used to some of the na'vi being wary of her, they had seem unusually nervous around her. They had only grown more skittish as she spoke to them and then the oldest one had gotten the oddest look on his face when she had mentioned the name of the planet earth. It was just the briefest flash of what looked to be recognition and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Still she did feel bad that they seemed so uncomfortable around her and hoped that by spending some time around them, that maybe they would relax a little bit. For the time being however she found herself being pulled through the hometree by Neytiri and a few other children, while Tsu'tey and the rest of the kids wandered off.
Har'ii tried to take his mind off the meeting with Grace and all the unanswered questions it had left him with by focusing his thought on the trio's new parents instead. Just the idea of him having parents was still such a strange concept to him. It helped that both Aktamu and Ku'el were such kind and accepting people, that were just happy to have them there. They never pried to deeply about anything that the siblings didn't want to talk about and were fine with answering any question they had.
Aktamu tended to be a very cheerful person who almost invariably had a smile on his face and was quick to offer advice and assistance when needed. Ku'el also tended to be cheerful, but in a bit more subdued way than her mate. Her smiles usually were quite gentle compared to the broad ones of Aktamu and voice was calm and quite soothing. Har'ii had grown quite fond of them and while he hadn't yet called either of them by mother, father or anything like that, but he was starting to sometimes think of them like that.
They didn't spend as much time with the couple as the two might of liked, because they had work that still needed to be done, but the did spend at least some time together every afternoon looking for supplies for the hammock. They had almost got everything and then it would be time to make and that apparently wouldn't take very long. They would then have ceremony to honor the hard work put into the hammock and to burn the old one. Despite the limited time spent together the five of them had grown closer to one another and Har'ii was enjoying being a child again with an actual family this time.
He broke out of his internal musing to see Ku'el had led them to a river near the hometree, where Har'ii could see several na'vi were already bathing or relaxing on the shores drying off. He couldn't help but look away from them embarrassed. He gotten pretty much used to having to wear loincloth that only offered the barest amount of coverage, because at least it still covered the important parts. However so many people lounging around with not even that was completely different. He glanced out toward the water where he saw Aktamu was already there in the water and happily waving them over to join him. Ku'el stopped at the edge of the river and asked them strip the little bit of clothing they had.
Har'ii didn't dare look up until he had was mid-chest deep into the water. Ro'an had did the same as Har'ii by getting into the water as quickly as possible, while Hirmi'ee had to have a little extra urging. After everyone was in the water Ku'el and Aktamu helped the children wash of the dirt and grime that had built up from living in the woods. Each of their hair was taken down from its usual braids so it could be washed too. Ku'el hair of course took the most time, since it was so intricately done it took a while to take down. After they were clean the children were allowed to play while the adults washed themselves, while still keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't go to deep into the water.
Ku'el watched the three little ones play with a small smile, shaking her head fondly when Har'ii tackled his brother in the water and Ro'an splashed him in retaliation. She still had a hard believing this was real, after so much disappointment and heartbreak she had the family that she had always wanted. As she watched her daughter roll her eyes at her brothers's action she wondered, as she often did, who their original parents were.
The children seemed to be uncomfortable whenever the subject was brought up, so she had never pressed the subject. Despite knowing nothing about them, she was so grateful to whoever they were. It was because of them and Eywa that she and Aktamu had three beautiful children. She had prayed a couple times to Eywa in thanks and wished she could send a more personal prayer to the three's original family. She felt Aktamu come up beside her and loop an arm around her waist. She looked over at him and saw the soft look on his face and knew that he understood what was going through her head. He then kissed her on the cheek before going back over to the children and splashing them which caused all three of them to splash him back.
It dissolve into the a splashing war that went on for a bit before Ku'el called them all out of the water. The children quickly got their clothing back on, though the adults weren't as concerned to do so, preferring to dry off in the sun first. Ku'el knew her hair would take quite some time to put back the way she wanted, so she asked Aktamu to do the children's hair. He nodded and called Hirmi'ee over to sit in front of him.
As he worked on her hair he explained to the children "Now it is important to remember proper way to braid the hair around the queue so that none of it is exposed. As no one but mates and the parents of young children are allowed to touch each other queue, when you three get older you'll have to learn this yourself." Ku'el spoke up and added "If you have enough hair you can have separate braids outside the queue or if you wish you can keep rest your hair short or shaved and just have the main braid." The children listened carefully to this before nodding their understanding. Aktamu finished Hirmi'ee hair, then did Ro'an's and was now working on Har'ii.
As Aktamu carefully braided Har'ii hair the young boy fidgeted his tail flicking agitatedly. "Is something wrong little one?" he asked. Har'ii remained quiet for a second before speaking "We met Grace earlier and well.." he trailed off unsurely. "And you wished to know more about her?" He finished his question for him. He thought for second on how to answer him before stating "She and many others came by large vessels from the sky from somewhere very far away. These sky people are very different from us in both looks and their approach to life." He finished Har'ii hair, carefully tying off the end with a small piece of string and the child turned to look at him as listened. The other two focus was on him as well. He worked on his on hair while considered what to say next.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding the sky people and their presence on the planet, whether it was a good or bad thing. He didn't want to sway the children thoughts on them one way or the other, preferring they form their own opinions, so he continued carefully. "They have no connection to Eywa and some their actions are unnecessarily destructive, but their are those like Grace who try to learn about our world and teach us about theirs's. The older children often attend classes at Grace's school and some of the adults have gone there before as well." The seem to think about for a minute before Hirmi'ee spoke up "You said they look quite different from us, but Grace wasn't that different." "That is not her true form. Some of the sky people have managed to make false bodies that look like us, though not perfectly, and they some how are able to control them, while their actual bodies are elsewhere."
The trio had identical looks of surprise and confusion at this and he could understand it wasn't an easy to grasp concept. "It not that easy to explain and if you have more questions I'm sure that Grace would be more then happy to explain." Just then Ku'el finally had finished her tying of the last of her braids and stood up to grab her clothes. "That can wait for another time, as we need to head out if we are going be able to get any materials before dark." Aktamu quickly got dressed before they headed out into the forest.
He thought to him self, as they walked through the woods, that whatever happened with the sky people, he hoped it would not negatively effect the clan or his family. The mere thought of something bad happening to one of his children was painful to think about. He sent a quick prayer to Eywa for their future to continue to be bright as it was right now. He then pushed it out of his head determined for the time being to enjoy how thing were right now and he would worry about whatever was going to happen when it happened. So he continued walking focused on the fact that right now his life was perfect. He just hoped it stayed that way.