I don't own any characters or anything but the story. Criticism is welcome but please don't be rude.
Grace looked around the classroom at all her students as she was teaching, with her eyes stopping on three particular children. Har'ii was sitting with Tsu'tey listening attentively to the lessons just like everyone else and on the other side of the classroom sat his siblings Ro'an and Hirmi'ee. She wasn't sure why, but these three had always stuck out to her amongst the other children.
At the beginning it was because they were unusually nervous around her and she had eventually attributed that to them not having met humans or avatars before. Then they started come to the school and she noticed other facts about them that were a little odd. One thing was that while all na'vi children were quite bright and pick new things up rather fast, there were certain concepts, particularly pertaining to earth, that they struggled to grasp.
There were some aspects about human culture that the na'vi in general seemed to have trouble comprehending, for example the idea of money or certain scientific concepts. The three siblings however never seemed to be confused about what she was teaching, no matter how foreign the concept should be to them. This was even more amazing considering all k more knowledgeable on the subject of life on earth then a lot of the students that had been her class from the start. She just didn't know what to make of their odd knowledge, but besides that there was just something different about them that she couldn't put her finger on.
It just felt like there was something off about them compared to the other na'vi children, but she couldn't really say what it was. She looked back around her eyes stopping on Hirmi'ee to see that she was appeared to be whispering something to her friend Iyo, who listened for a second for nodding his head, then they both turned back to her.
She started to wonder if she was just being paranoid about them, after all they were rather sweet and friendly children and they had never been anything less than polite to her. She shook away her thoughts as she dismissed the class for the calling cheerful goodbyes to the children.
As they left the schoolhouse Hirmi'ee and her friends were chatting happily together about their upcoming lessons from the storytellers. Hirmi'ee was especially excited because in her last session the head Storyteller, Eita, told her that she thought she was ready to start learning how to weave new songs about the na'vi life and history. This was a big step in her training as while making a new song sounded simple, it was actually more complicated than you would think.
For one you had to make sure the story was understandable and truly conveyed the image of whatever you were singing about. You also had to come up with the melody that would set the tone you are trying to set and decided whether to just sing or use instruments to help enhance the affect. While she was a little nervous, she was also quite eager for the challenge, as by this point she had learned and memorized an extensive amount of the songs that existed.
Just then two figures ran by her and she saw that they were Har'ii and Tsu'tey. They appeared to be racing each other back to the hometree, teasing each other as they ran, soon disappearing out of sight. She didn't have to wonder why they were so excited to get, as she knew she wasn't the only one advancing in their training that day.
Ever since his first kill almost a year ago her brother had been on a good number of successful hunting trips. That afternoon the young hunters that had managed to get decent number of clean kills were going to have their first lessons in riding a pa'li. Har'ii and his best friend had been talking excitedly that morning, before they started fidgeting and moving impatiently.
Hirmi'ee, while a little anxious for her own lesson, had finally got annoyed at them and had suggested that they all go to the school that day as a distraction. The two had reluctantly agreed and they headed off, pausing briefly to invite Ro'an to come as well. He had declined however, choosing instead to head to the healing chambers. From what Hirmi'ee could tell, Ro'an training was going just as well as his siblings.
Recently he had started being allowed help with the treatment of some patients, though mostly minor injuries and mild forms of sickness. Still he seemed quite happy to have a hand in making someone feel better even if was only a little bit and he often recounted the events of his day during the evening meals.
Ku'el and Aktamu was quite happy to listen to his stories and any accomplishment that their other children had achieved as well. Hirmi'ee was grateful to have parents that were so supportive of their children goals in life, regardless of what they were. While Aktamu did tend to spend a lot of time helping Har'ii training, it didn't mean he wasn't just as interested in what Hirmi'ee and Ro'an were doing.
Hirmi'ee knew her father and eldest brother had special bond because of their shared interest in hunting and she was fine with it. She was perfectly content with her chosen path and she knew her other brother was as well. She had grown quite close to the other Storytellers and had several friends within the group.
Speaking of which Iyo nudged her shoulder as they were entering the hometree in an effort to gain her attention. She looked over at him to see he was peering curiously at her. "What are thinking so hard about?" he asked. Hirmi'ee shook her head slightly to clear her thought before smiling at him and saying "Just pondering what exactly Eita has planned for us today."
Ninat on the other side of Hirmi'ee spoke up "Are you sure that was all? You were out of it for a little while." Hirmi'ee nodded while smiling reassuring as they finally reached the area where the Storytellers normally were. Sure enough, Eita was sitting with a few others and Hirmi'ee noticed they all had small drums in front of them. Eita waved them over when she saw them.
They settled down in front of them and each of the children was handed a drum before Eita spoke "Greetings, children. the first thing that we will be learning today is how different beats can express different emotions." She started to drumming a beat and while most of Hirmi'ee's focus was on the head Storyteller, a part of her was wondering how her brothers' lessons were going.
Meanwhile Har'ii was standing with a small group with five other young hunters, including Tsu'tey and Neytiri, chatting excitedly and somewhat anxiously, as they waited for the adult hunters to arrive. They were standing near the field the pa'li were normally left, when they weren't being used and Har'ii watched them, idly thinking about how different this would be compared to his normal hunting lessons.
While the majority of Har'ii's training had been with just his father and on occasion with Ateyo and Tsu'tey, his pa'li lessons would be done with the other hunters around his age and skill level. Aktamu had told him that it was because it was pretty common for someone to fall or be thrown in the first few riding attempts. By doing the children's lessons at one time, it would be easier to limit the number of injuries because they would have extra people on hand.
Har'ii had to admit he was a little nervous about the upcoming riding lesson. He had been on pa'li before, but only with someone else in command of the horse-like creature, but to day they would be learning to ride independently. he had ridden hippogriffs and Thestrals before, but neither required him to be mentally connected to the animal he was attempting to ride.
To distract himself he turned to speak to Tsu'tey, only to see him talking to Neytiri about what their best kills were. Har'ii stood there for second, unsure what to do, before Neytiri happily gestured for him join the conversation. she then asked him "So, Har'ii what's the most exciting thing that has happened on one of your hunts?"
Har'ii thought for a second, before saying "Well there was one time daddy and me evaded a pack of nantangs by climbing some trees." "Really, What happened?" Neytiri asked intrigued. Har'ii found himself forgetting about his worries as he explained how they had managed to wander just a little too close to the nantangs territory. When he finished Tsu'tey told a story of his own, before Neytiri took a turn.
Har'ii had never talked to much with the youngest daughter of clan chief before, as he usually spent his time with his family or Tsu'tey, but he found himself enjoying talking to her. Just as Neytiri finished her story, Har'ii saw his father coming towards them and with him were several other experienced hunters, most of whom Har'ii knew.
Besides Ateyo there was Epa, Tstawu, Oewzi, Niwe and a couple others and they all greeted the children when they got close. Ateyo stepped to the front of the group and spoke "Alright The first thing we are going to do before we try any actual riding is to have each of you feel what it is like to be bonded to another living thing."
There was a nervous murmur from the other children and could tell from what they were saying that it was because none of them had had bonded with anything before. Har'ii only experience was that one trip to the tree of souls, but tried to be confident as he and the others were each led one by one over to of the pa'li.
Har'ii found himself looking over the six-legged horse-like creature, that his father had brought him over to and in turn the large animal appeared to be examine them as we, his hooves shifting on the ground, while his head turned towards them. Aktamu took ahold of one of the long antennae carefully pulling it down towards Har'ii's level who understanding the hit grabbed his queue and guiding it to he end of the antennae.
Har'ii watched the little pink fiber from each intertwined with each other, causing the pa'li jolted from the sensation and Har'ii only vaguely noticed his father calming it. While the sensation wasn't quite as startling as the tree of souls had been, it was still was the strangest things he had ever experienced.
He could sense across the bond everything the creature was seeing, smelling and feeling. It was disorienting being to loo through the pa'li eyes as well as his own and it was giving him a slight headache. He felt each time the animals inhaled as if he was breathing in himself and he knew every movement of the pa'li's legs, tail or any other part without even looking at it.
Also coming across the bond was the animals emotions, which were mostly confused and agitated, as it processed Har'ii own thoughts and feelings. Har'ii stood there trying to used to the sensation of feeling of being connected to the pa'li like was and extension of himself. Once he finally felt settled about the bond and so was the pa'li, Har'ii looked at his father for instructions on what to do next.
Aktamu smiled before saying "Okay if you're feeling confident you should try mounting and mentally instructing him where you want to go." Harry nodded before, with a little help climbed on the back of the creature. He then tried to direct his mount forward only to be thrown off balance by the sudden movement.
The only thing stopping him from hitting the ground was his father had apparently anticipated this and had caught and steadied him, while also stopping the horse from moving. Har'ii smiled sheepishly and his father instructed "Try holding on right now. You'll eventually have to learn to keep your balance while keeping your hands free to use a bow, but you can worry about that later."
Har'ii wrapped his hands carefully around the pa'li neck, then took a moment to look around him before he mad another attempt. He saw the other young hunters being given various instructions and saw another child almost fall off as they tried to command the animal beneath them to move.
He turned back to his own mount and took a deep breath as he prepared to try again. The rest of the lesson went rather smoothly and while none the children had really had managed to ride more then a couple feet, they were still doing better than they had been and the adults had managed to stop any of the children from actually falling off.
Near the end of the lesson however, Har'ii was attempting to get his pa'li to turn when something startled his mount and Har'ii realized that neither his father, who had briefly moved from his side to help one of the others or anyone else was close enough to stop his sudden fall. A pain shot through his arm from his wrist when he hit the ground. He heard his name being shouted and then someone was helping him up while asking if he was okay.
He saw that it was his father and he tried to say he was alright, but found himself hissing instead when he accidently moved his wrist causing another bolt of pain to go through it. "Come on lets get you to the healers." his father said while putting a hand on his shoulder and guiding him away from the field.
They only gone a few paces when Tsu'tey ran up beside them, asking if he come too. Aktamu agrees and he three of them made their way up to the healing area. When they got there, they were greeted by the sight of Ro'an just inside the door talking to one of the healers.
They looked up as the three of them entered and Ro'an immediately zeroed in on Har'ii, who was holding his arm close to his chest, inquiring in a worried voice what happened. Their father explained to him and the healer that Ro'an had been talking to and the older healer nodded before turning to Har'ii's brother and saying "Why don't you take this one?"
Ro'an looked shocked as he asked "Me?" The man answered "I will of course monitor you, but I want you to do the examination and make your own determination of what is wrong and what the treatment will be. I will correct you if needed." Ro'an still seemed fairly surprised, but he led Har'ii over to where he could sit down and asked him to hold out his wrist.
His brother carefully examined the injury, while asking a few questions as he did so. Har'ii could tell Ro'an was trying to appear confident, but his eyes kept flickering over to the other healer as if waiting to be reprimanded. Har'ii tried to be as helpful as he could and finally his brother said while the injury wasn't to bad he would have to be careful how he move it for a few days.
He was also given a couple plants to eat for the pain and strict instructions to not even think about touching his bow or going riding again until he was healed. When Ro'an was done telling them all this he once again looked over at his mentor to see him nod in approval.
He could basically fell the pride from not only Ro'an, but their father, who had been watching the whole thing silently. While he hated the idea of being banned from using his bow, he couldn't be to sour about the instruction after seeing how happy his brother was. He left feeling glad about the day went, despite is injured wrist.