I don't own any characters or anything but the story. Criticism is welcome but please don't be rude.
Har'ii stomach was twisting into nervous knots as he followed his family into the depths of the forest. The night before his parents had informed him, Ro'an and Hirmi'ee about their plan to take them to visit the Tree of Souls. He knew from his lessons of the clan that the tree was there most sacred location and only na'vi was allowed anywhere near there.
Even the most trusted humans like Grace had to keep certain distance away from it. Har'ii couldn't help but wondered if they would still be allowed there if Aktamu and Ku'el knew who Har'ii and his siblings really were and that made his stomach turn so he tried to push that thought away as they traveled far deeper into the forest than he had ever been before.
They had left rather early that morning as according to Aktamu it would quite some time to get to the Tree of Souls and Har'ii couldn't help but think about how quiet the trip had been so far. Normally long trips into the woods were accompanied by some kind of chatter, but Har'ii couldn't think of anything to say and apparently no one else could either. The only sounds were the ones of the animals in the surrounding woods and it wasn't enough distract Har'ii from his thoughts.
Eventually Aktamu said they were almost there and Har'ii looked around and noticed that high above their heads there were giant rock structures like small islands floating in the air. "Where are we?" He asked in complete awe of what he was seeing. Next to him he heard both his siblings gasp when they realized what Har'ii was looking at. "The floating mountains. This is where the Tree of Souls is located." Aktamu answered easily, looking amused at his children's reaction.
Floating mountains? Har'ii thought to himself, amazed. While he had seen quite a few unusual things, both as a wizard and living with the na'vi, this was still quite incredible. He was so distracted by the sight above him, that he initially missed what was coming into view in front of him. A light nudge from Hirmi'ee is what caused him to look forward and he saw what he realized must be the Tree of Souls.
It was surrounded in giant rock arch like structures, making it look like it was incased in some sort of protective bubble. Once they got nearer to it, Har'ii could see that the trunk of the tree was twisted and curved and hanging from the branches of the tree were white vine like strands. As they continued to close the distance from the tree Har'ii felt a sudden shift in the air around them. He couldn't quite describe the sensation, but he could feel some kind of strong energy that seemed to get stronger the closer they got to the Tree of Souls.
A glance at Ro'an and Hirmi'ee's expressions, told him that they could feel it as well and he saw that their mom and dad were watching them to see their reactions. Once they reached the tree Har'ii curiously let one of his hands trail through the luminescent strands from the tree and felt a strange pulse when his fingers skimmed across them. He shivered slightly at the odd feeling before looking over at his parents.
Aktamu stepped closer to the trio of children before speaking in a quiet, serious voice "This tree is a direct way for us to connect to both Eywa and those that have passed on. When someone is truly unsure lost and they are seeking guidance, this is where they come." Har'ii, Ro'an and Hirmi'ee could do no more than nod at his words, as it was the most somber they had heard the usually cheerful man be.
Ku'el then moved to stand next to her mate before saying "I know you three are still struggling with whatever happened in your past, so we bought you here in hopes that it could help ease some of that burden." She then reached out and took hold of a few of hanging vines, while also grabbing her queue. The little pink strands of her queue wrapped around the strands and a calm, but entranced look came across her face.
After a couple minutes she disconnected, before encouraging the children to do what had done. Har'ii hesitantly took hold of his own queue and followed his mother's example of letting the small tendrils connect him to the tree. The feeling that he experienced from the connection was a much more intense version of the energy that he felt around the tree and everything around him faded into the background as he focused on the sensation.
He could also hear what sounded like many people speaking and while he had a hard time keeping up with what each voice was saying, he could tell some were male, some were female and they ranged from the tone of very young children to elderly sounding. He didn't know how long he was just standing there listening to the flow of voices, when one particular voice spoke over all of the other ones. Har'ii recognized it instantly despite having heard it only once before and he also realized it was speaking directly to him.
"Hello my child." said the kind voice of Eywa, sounding like it was being spoken right in Har'ii own mind. "Eywa" he greeted unsurely within his own thoughts. "I am glad to see that you three have adapted well to your new home." Har'ii couldn't stop himself from smiling as he answered "Yes, It has been wonderful and thank you for giving us this new life and family."
He then frowned, because while he was truly thankful to Eywa for giving the family he had, he couldn't stop his thoughts from drifting back to issue of them not knowing who their kids really were. "If it worries you so much, perhaps you should tell them." Eywa stated in answer to his thoughts. "Will they be okay with it?" Har'ii asked, thinking if anyone knew for sure it would be Eywa.
"Maybe they will, Maybe they won't." Har'ii sighed at the unhelpful answer before asking "You're not going to tell me whether to I should say anything, are you?" "No, that is a decision that you, Ro'an and Hirmi'ee must make." "You don't have any advice you can give me at all." He pleaded quietly. "All I can say is that you should do what feel like right to you, but delaying it will not make any better or worse."
Har'ii sighed again, realizing that Eywa had a point, they had to make one way or the other as dwelling on it anymore would not solve anything. He needed to speak to Ro'an and Hirmi'ee and the three of them would need to make the decision together. Suddenly another thought struck him and he couldn't help but ask "Eywa, would you be able to give me any kind of clue on whether we should be worried about humans that are here." "All I will say is that I will not allowed them to upset the balance of life here." Her voice was soothing, but still had a slight fierceness to it.
While that did make Har'ii feel better about the situation, it didn't completely erase his worries. However he knew it was pointless to push the subject so all he said instead was "Eywa, thank you for everything." It was time he disconnected and to speak to his siblings and maybe his parents. "You're welcome, my child. It very rare that I get to speak so directly to one of my children, so you are perfectly welcome to come to me with any worries you have in the future."
Har'ii agreed before removing his queue from the tree and ended up stumbling from the sudden lack of sensation. He felt a hand land on his shoulder to keep him from falling and looked up to see the concerned face of Aktamu. "Are you alright?" His father asked. Har'ii nodded and looked around to see that the rest of his family all had worried looks on their faces as well. He made him realize he had no idea how long he had been standing there talking to Eywa.
"I'm fine." He said trying to smile reassuringly at them though he wasn't sure how well he succeeded. His mind is too preoccupied on what he needs to do. "Mommy, Daddy can I speak to Ro'an and Hirmi'ee alone for a second." he asked somewhat hesitantly. Both of the adults look surprised by this, but Ku'el simply says "Of course" before they moved several feet away to give them some privacy.
Once they were far enough away, both of his siblings looked at him curiously. "What did you want to talk about?" Hirmi'ee asked. Har'ii took a deep breath before saying "We need to decide to either tell our parents where we came from or forever keep them in the dark."
They looked surprised by this and neither seemed to know what to say to this. before they could think of anything Har'ii decided to continue pressing his point "I love Aktamu and Ku'el, they are the only parents I can remember having and I know you two love them as well. They truly care for us like their own children and if they won't accept us now they never will. So do we take the risk of telling the truth or do we leave them in the dark, hiding a large part of ourselves forever."
There was silence following Har'ii little speech for few minutes before Hirmi'ee finally spoke up "I believe we should tell them. Hiding so much from my parents last time didn't work out so well and I feel guilty about keeping such a huge secret from such kind people." Har'ii nodded a this before saying "Ro'an?" His brother stayed quiet for a second, then said "I think we should tell them as well. They have been nothing but open and honest with us, so we should do the same." Har'ii nodded again before saying determinedly "We'll tell them then."
"Mommy, Daddy." he called out gesturing for them to come back over. Once they had, Har'ii glanced over at each of his siblings, who each nodded encouragingly and then looked at their parents and said "We have something we want to tell you." "We're listening." Aktamu stated. "It's about where we're from and how we actually ended up in that field." Har'ii watched as they perked up eagerly. knowing how curious the had been about their past.
Despite he resolve, it still took him a minute to search for the words to explain it. "The first thing you need to know is that.." Har'ii trailed off for a second before shaking himself and continuing "Is that we are not naturally born na'vi." "What?" Ku'el asked confused. "We are not originally from Pandora." He said using the name the skypeople had giving the planet, as the na'vi had no name for it. "We originally lived as humans on earth."
The adults exchanged a look before turning back to the children. "I don't understand." Aktamu admitted and at his side Ku'el was still just as confused. Bolstering every bit of courage he had, Har'ii launched in to an explanation on everything that the trio had been through up to Gaia"s offer. It took quite a while as more than once he had pause to figure out how to explain some things the two adults would have no knowledge of. Particularly certain concepts of magic and the wizarding world.
Ro'an and Hirmi'ee jumped in often to offer further clarification on certain things, but otherwise Har'ii was the one telling the entire tale. Aktamu and Ku'el on occasion asked questions, but for the most part they just listened. Finally he reached the end of the war and he told about the defeat of Voldemort and the reactions of everyone afterwards. When he talked about the rejection Hirmi'ee and Ro'an faced from their families, he noticed the adult looked rather angry. it was the same look the two had when Har'ii had been explaining his relationship to the Dursleys.
Finally he got to the part of their desire to leave and the offer the Mother of Earth Gaia. Aktamu broke in then. "I didn't know Earth had a Mother" He said with a frown. Har'ii shrugged "Neither did we, until she spoke to us." Aktamu nodded and Har'ii continued with his tale. There wasn't much left and finished his up by explaining their arrival on the planet, talking to Eywa and finally meeting the hunters of the Omaticaya clan.
"So, you know the rest, you guys found us, Eywa chose the two of you for our new family and we were accepted in to the Omaticaya." He was looking at ground as he finished speaking unsure if he wanted to see their reactions. What he didn't expect was for arms to wrap around his shoulders and pull him into a tight hug.
Ku'el was hugging him fiercely and Har'ii found himself returning the hug, then Aktamu pulled Ro'an and Hirmi'ee into the hug as well. The five of them just sat there holding each other for a couple minutes before Ku'el started whispering "My poor children, you have been through so much."
Ku'el felt such sorrow for the little ones in her arms. They had been hurt so badly both physically and emotionally, it was amazing how sweet and trusting they were. She also felt a tremendous amount of rage towards the trio's original families. She didn't understand how anyone could be given the gift of a child and mistreat and reject that child for any reason.
It was hard to wrap her head around all the information they had been given and she and Aktamu would need to talk later to truly process everything they had learn, but that could wait. While the truth about their past was truly shocking, it didn't change that fact she loved these three precious children and had from the first moment they had come into her life.
It did make her see how truly special her children actually were and made her feel happier than ever that she and Aktamu had been chosen as their parents. Har'ii pulled back a little to look at her and in quiet voice that was barely above a whisper asked "You are okay with this?" Aktamu spoke before she could "Of course little one, you are our children nothing will ever change that." There were tears in Har'ii eyes, but he was also smiling as he embraced them again.
They sat there for a little bit longer before someone's stomach growled. "Sorry'" Ro'an said sounding sheepish. Reluctantly they all separated from each other and Ku'el looked up at the sky to see that it was past the usual time of midday meal. "Alright, lets go find something to eat and then we will spend the rest of the day doing whatever you three wish to do." Ku'el said looking tenderly at her children. Everyone agreed with that plan and they headed out.
Har'ii was almost skipping as they headed away from the Tree of Souls, feeling like a great burden had been lifted off him. He felt so light, like he could float off the ground like the mountains above their heads. He had a smile on his face that remained the whole time they found and picked some fruit and located a clearing they could settle down and eat. Ku'el and Aktamu seemed to be trying to keep the conversation on light subjects and off the trio's horrible past, which was just fine by Har'ii.
Nothing could dampen the happiness Har'ii felt at his parents open acceptance not even his continual worry about the problems with the skypeople. The reassurance he got from Eywa kept it at the very back of his mind for the time being. For the time being he just sat there enjoying the warm feeling he got from just being around his family.