Tsa'helu
Chapter 1
By Methinks
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Pey'lal snarled as she released the tension on the bowstring, sending another arrow soaring straight through the one of the Sky People's 'scopes' and through the back of the soldier's eye. She immediately spun around. Despite her loathing for the pale vermin, she couldn't deny that they were well-trained. There was only a split second's hesitation as their brother's body collapsed before they tracked her shot and turned their fire in her direction. Even prepared, she almost didn't duck behind the tree in time.
As she braced her back against the tree, she could feel a line of fire scoring her cheek. She hadn't even been able to get away unscathed, though she wasn't sure if it was a bullet graze or just shrapnel from the tree that had hit her. Still, a little scratch was more than worth it to put down her twenty-first skxawng that day. They never should have threatened the Great Mother.
She took a deep breath before sprinting across the massive tree branch and diving into the underbrush below, careful to keep the massive tree trunk between her and the Sky People the whole time. Hit-and-run. It was how she'd managed to kill so many of the Sky People while her kinsfolk rode to their deaths all around her. She could have warned them, told them that their charge was futile. But they were Plainsfolk and they knew no other way. It was not her duty to change that.
It was her duty, however, to make sure their deaths were not in vain.
And she would do so the best way she knew how. By hunting. You do not kill the great Thanator by charging in head first. No you lay back and wait, watching it until that one moment when it drops its guard. Only then do you strike.
It just so happens that this particular Thanator has many, many lives.
She completed her circuit around the battalion of Sky People, liberating a handful of arrows off a Plainsfolk corpse on her way around. She reaches a cluster of ferns on the other side of the soldiers and stops, stringing her bow. The skxawng are still searching the tree where she had been for any sign of her presence. Perhaps if she were Plainsfolk, she would still be there.
But she is Omaticaya, and the slight sting as the bowstring slaps against her arm, propelling another arrow into the back of a soldier's head, is the best sensation she's felt in a long time. Twenty-two.
She was moving almost as soon as the arrow was released, leaping high into a nearby tree and quickly scaling it to the upper branches. She stopped before she went too high; even at this range the Sky People would be a difficult target. She wasn't worried however. She was Pey'lal of the Omaticaya, and she did not miss.
She stepped out onto the branch, nocking an arrow and firing it at the Sky People below in one smooth motion. A soldier falls, an arrow buried in his exposed neck. Quite possibly the best shot she has made in some time. A fitting death for number twenty-three.
Again, she jumped to another tree as soon as the shot was fired. This time as she landed she realized none of the Sky People had even noticed their brother's death, much less were trying to find her. She ducked behind a tree trunk anyways, her first instinct telling her they were just trying to trap her, to lull her into complacency. But as she peeked out, she realized they genuinely weren't paying attention to her. Instead the six remaining Sky People were advancing on something beyond her line of sight.
She sneered at them. Skxawng. What kind of fool forgets about the enemy picking you off? They couldn't actually believe they had killed her, could they? No matter. Their guard was dropped, their throats exposed. She would be a poor hunter to miss this shot.
She aims and the rearmost soldier collapses. The others are still oblivious, and as twenty-four's body falls, she sees why. It was the other dreamwalker, the not-warrior, bloody and kneeling on the ground.
She forced down her reflexive disgust at the sight of one of her People clothed in that vile human attire. He may be of the Sky People, but he was on the Na'vi's side, killing his own people to defend their home. Her jaw drops as she jumps closer for a better view and catches a glimpse of just how many Sky People bodies are lying around him. Even if they weren't all his kills, he'd still easily killed twice as many as she had.
The warrior in her couldn't help but admire the vicious weapon in his hands even as the Na'vi in her recoiled in disgust. It was an abomination, an offense to the natural order of things, to Eywa. But, so effective...
But even his weapon needed ammunition and it looked like he was out of it. Without it, there wasn't a chance he'd be able to survive against the remaining five soldiers surrounding him. Perhaps if he was the Tar'ruk'makto or a true Na'vi.
She smirked, an unpleasant expression that would have frightened the hardened soldiers ahead had they seen it. Perhaps if he were her.
She started running across the branch, balancing without thought as she drew her last arrow and nocked it in a single, practiced motion. The arrow flies true, burying itself in the back of her twenty-fifth kill. Only four soldiers left now.
And it appears that they'd finally remembered she was there.
It's too late. She pulled her bow over her shoulders and leapt off the end of the branch. It was nearly forty feet from the tree straight to the ground. Even for a Na'vi, the fall was going to hurt.
But the beautiful crunch as she land atop one of the Sky People made the pain more than worth it. Three left.
She started moving before the other soldiers could react, drawing her knife and whipping it across the throat of the nearest Sky Person before he could fire. The skxawng didn't even try to dodge, surprising freezing his limbs. No doubt, seeing a ten foot tall Na'vi suddenly land atop their brother was not something they had trained for.
As her latest victim started to collapse, the other two finally reacted, bringing up their guns and firing at her. She moved quickly, grabbing the falling body and bringing it up between her and the guns as a shield. A small part of her felt guilty – she was taught to respect the dead, after all – but it was easily squashed. He shouldn't have destroyed her home.
With her other hand, she flipped her grip on the knife and threw it. It was a rather unconventional skill, not one often practiced among the People, but one she had trained extensively at. It showed as the knife flew unerringly through the air to bury itself in second soldier's chest. One left.
She could smell the fear on the last one as he watched his brother's body collapse. She couldn't particularly blame him. He had just seen her kill three of his kin in almost as many seconds. She was a predator he simply wasn't capable of facing
The fear scent thickened as he began looking frantically around for some sort of escape, not even firing his weapon anymore. A Na'vi would face her death bravely, knowing she would soon be with Eywa. This skxawng was not Na'vi and instead turned and ran like a coward. She sneered at him in disgust as she tossed the body she'd been shielding herself with at his back. She wasn't about to let him run. He would face his death here and now, whether he wanted to or not.
He didn't even try to move as she began advancing on him, fear paralyzing his limbs. She took her time as she stalked towards him, reveling in his fear despite her instincts telling her to just go ahead and kill him. Every hunter knows better than to play with her prey – a cornered animal is always the most dangerous – but it was too hard to resist. The coward had destroyed her home, had killed dozens of her brothers and sisters, and would happily kill more if given the chance. He deserved to live his last few seconds in fear.
Then a rancid smell wafted to her nose as terror voided his bowels. Her face twisted in disgust, her fun ruined. She stopped taking her time and quicklly twisted her hands around his neck, ending his struggles.
She let out a quiet sigh and was standing up, relaxing slightly with the fall of her last enemy, when she heard a click from behind her. She froze, recognizing the sound, the sound of the Sky People's weapons. She had left one of the soldiers still alive, no doubt the one she had landed on. Apparently she hadn't struck him with enough force to kill him.
She'd let her guard down without making completely sure they were all dead. Stupid, stupid, stupid! It was one of the first rules she had learned as a hunter, you do not rest until you have confirmed your prey is dead. All it takes is one animal playing dead and it is the hunter instead that goes with Eywa.
She began saying her last rites to Eywa, knowing full well the Sky People weren't going to do it for her. And while it was normally the Tsahik's duty, she had no way of knowing whether the Tsahik still lived or even if they'd find her body after the battle. And while she didn't actually need them, she would go with Eywa regardless, it gave her a small measure of comfort as she braced herself for the gunshot.
But when it came, the agony she expected to follow did not come with it. After several seconds free from pain, she spun around just in time to witness the last soldier collapse to the ground as the dreamwalker lowered his gun. No doubt he'd scavenged it from one of the bodies nearby.
She couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief, one that she quickly sucked back in as the dreamwalker hit the ground right afterwards. She rushed over to him, rolling him over to see what was wrong. He was badly wounded, blood covering the entire right side of his chest. He'd been shot no doubt, most likely more than once. An injury topped off by the shard of bone jutting painfully from the skin of his left leg.
She couldn't help but be impressed. The fact that he could move at all with these injuries... Perhaps he wasn't as weak as she'd originally suspected.
But there was little she could do for him at this point, even if he had saved her life. The injuries were serious and he was beginning to bleed out. He might be able to survive with some extensive field treatment, but taking the time to do that would mean leaving the battle entirely. By the time she finished, it would have moved to far away for her to participate. She actually felt slightly guilty for leaving him but she wasn't about to abandon the Tree of Souls to the Sky People simply for the sake of one of theirs in a false body.
She could at least make his last moments comfortable though. But not until she was re-armed and prepared for another attack, if one came. She'd already made that mistake once that day, she wasn't about to do it again.
She walked back to the corpse with her knife jutting out of it and ripped it out none too gently. She wiped it on the soldier's sleeve before returning it to its sheath at her back. Then she removed her bow from her shoulders and scavenged a handful of arrows from one of the Plainsfolk bodies nearby. They weren't as high quality as Omaticaya arrows, and they didn't tip them with poison either, but they would do.
She loosely nocked an arrow to her bow as she walked back to the dreamwalker. He was lying motionless where she had left him, his breathing shallow. She grabbed him by the back of his shirt with her free hand and dragged him over to a nearby tree, propping him up against it. His half-lidded eyes popped open as the movement brought him back to full awareness. He smiled at her through bloodstained lips. "I did good, didn't I?" he asked in English, his voice quiet and raspy but surprisingly strong.
She nodded. "Yes. You did good," she answered in English. It was the least she could do for his sacrifice.
"Am I... I'm dying, aren't I?" She nodded again. It was strange, but she actually felt sad for him. He was not one of the Sky People responsible for her peoples' deaths after all. She couldn't help but think that this one would actually go with Eywa when he died, like Grace. Pey'lal thought the woman would like that.
"I thought so." His expression suddenly strengthened, eyes narrowing on hers as he reached up and grabbed her arms. "Why are you waiting here? Save the others, save the Tree. You can't let Eywa die!"
Her doubt disappeared. Yes, this one would go with Eywa. "I will. Rest... brother."
A wide smile crossed his face as he leaned back bonelessly against the tree. His breathing was coming slower now, shallower. It was time for her to leave.
She stood up right as something silver flashed across her vision, causing her to bring up her bow as she dropped into a crouch. She relaxed a moment later, it was just a Seed of the Sacred Tree. If a Seed was floating around then she was safe, at least for the time being.
She watched as the Seed slowly floated towards the dreamwalker, finally coming to rest over the wounds on his chest. Her breath caught in her throat as it hovered there, its desire clear even to one untrained in matters of the spirits such as her. She bit her lip as she looked back and forth between the wounded dreamwalker and the far-off battle, nearly drawing blood as she struggled with the decision.
When the Seed still hadn't left after nearly a minute, she threw down her bow in a childish fit of pique and knelt down beside the dreamwalker with a huff. She pulled him over to the side, laying him out straight across the muddy ground, before drawing her knife and cutting his strange 't-shirt' off his chest. She winced as she peeled the fabric back, fresh blood welling from the bullet wounds as she broke the few scabs that had formed.
He was actually rather fortunate, the Sky People weaponry hadn't damaged any vital organs. A part of her felt guilty for wishing they had. Then there would be nothing she could do and she could have left him there, returned to the battle. Unfortunately, it seemed the only battle still before her was the battle for his life. One, despite her disappointment, she was determined to win. If Eywa wanted him to live badly enough to pull her away from the real fight, she was going to make sure he survived.
She tore his shirt into shreds and began to tightly wind the makeshift bandages around his torso. When she ran out of fabric from his shirt, she stripped the clothes off one of the nearby corpses and cut them up as well. Not exactly sanitary but she had to work with what she had on hand. The Tsahik could deal with a possible infection later, right now all that was important was to stop the bleeding.
Once his chest wounds bounds as tightly as she could make them, she turned her attention to his leg fracture. She winced as she got a closer look at the injury. It took a great deal to break the bones of a Na'vi, and while she'd seen before, it didn't make the sight of the bone jutting from his shin any less painful. Nor was it going to make treatment any easier.
She gently straightened his leg out before grasping both sides of the break firmly. She took a deep breath and then she pushed, setting the bone. She could hear the shards grating against each other and had to suppress a shudder. Even for a huntress, that was a wholly disgusting sound.
Pey'lal quickly scoped out the surrounding area for some straight sticks, eventually finding two straight enough to serve, before binding them tightly against his leg as a brace. With that done, she stepped back and surveyed her handiwork. Terrible, but it should hold long enough to get him to the Tree of Souls and some real help.
She briefly considered fastening together a makeshift stretcher but dismissed the idea. She was strong enough to carry him and she'd be able to move much faster that way. She knelt down and slipped her hands underneath his shoulders, preparing to pick him up, just as she heard a crashing from behind her. She quickly dropped him picked up her bow, nocking an arrow as she stepped back into the cover of some ferns to await her attacker.
The creature that emerged from the brush was a Sky Person but one unarmored and obviously unused to carrying the weapon cradled in his arms. Her bow dipped slightly as she realized he looked oddly familiar as well. When he let out a choked sob and rushed over to the wounded dreamwalker, dropping the gun on the way, she realized he was the dreamwalker. This was the person behind the person.
It was an odd sensation. On the one hand, she was grateful for everything he'd done while in the false body, but on the other hand she was now faced with irrefutable proof he was a Sky Person. One of the very people she had come to despise over everything else.
Still, she couldn't let that change anything. Eywa had spoken. She let the arrow fall from the string and slung her bow over her shoulders as she stepped back into the clearing. The not-warrior was so caught up in his sorrow over his false body that he failed to notice her presence until she had crouched down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped up with a cry, fumbling blindly across the ground for his weapon until he realized she was a Na'vi and not one of their Sky People enemies.
"You! You're the one who saved me! I thought you left."
Pey'lal shook her head. "No. Eywa sent sign, wanted me to save you. I bandage your wounds. See." She pointed at her ragged fieldwork. "I get you to Tsahik. She save body."
He brightened as he noticed the shallow breathing of his avatar, letting out a wild cry as he fell to his knees beside the body and felt around for a pulse. He let out a shout of pure joy as he found it, throwing his arms around his body and turning to her with a blinding smile. "Oh god, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"No, thank me. Thank Eywa. I huntress, not healer. I leave you but Eywa want you alive so I stay."
He laughed, a slightly hysterical tinge to his voice. "Who cares! Thank you anyways. God, I was so afraid I was dead-"
Pey'lal cut him off. "You will if body not get help. I only give time. Body still need healer to save. We go to Tree of Souls, to Tsahik. She will help."
He sobered up quickly. "No, the mobile outpost is closer. We have medical supplies there we can use."
"I huntress, not healer. Body needs Tsahik, not more bandages."
He gave her a wry grin. "Well, I'm a healer, not a warrior. If we can get my body back to the outpost I can use the supplies to fix me up."
She shrugged. "Your body. I will carry you there but after I leave. Understand?"
He nodded quickly. "Understand. Come on, follow me." He waited until she had scooped up his avatar before taking off running. It was fortunate he'd already broken enough of a trail to make movement quick on his way to the clearing or she would have been tempted to simply leave him. As it was, she was still all but walking to allow him to keep up. But perhaps it was better that way, the body's injuries would not be jarred as badly.
They moved for the better part of ten minutes before Pey'lal caught the scent of metal and blood on the air and saw a glint of silver through the trees and took off, shifting the body on her shoulders and drawing her knife. Something had fought in that clearing, sometime after the not-warrior had left. She had to make sure it wasn't still there.
As she felt the body jounce on her shoulders, a part of her mused it was rather sad she felt the not-warrior's body was safer with her taking it into a possible battle zone than leaving it out in the woods with him.
She came to a skidding halt in the clearing with the Sky Person's strange metal box, fully alert as she noticed the motionless machine and the dead Thanator lying in the middle of the grove, the still body of her Tar'ruk'makto motionless in between them. She quickly dumped the not-warrior's body off her shoulders, rage rising up in her as she considered the corpse of her leader. It was unthinkable. He couldn't be dead!
Suddenly she dropped down into a crouch and snarled. Her instincts told her there was something still in the area. Whatever it was, was about to die. And Eywa help it, if it had killed Jakesully because she would make sure its death was not pleasant.
She waited quietly, all her senses alert. Suddenly the silence of the clearing was broken by a small thump from inside the metal box, almost too quiet for her to hear. It had to be in there. She slowly, silently began to make her way towards the building. As she drew closer, she could hear quiet breathing coming from within. No doubt whatever had killed her Tar'ruk'makto. She forced down a snarl of anger as she moved beneath the broken window to the box. She tensed, preparing herself, then sprang through the opening with a hiss, knife at the ready.
She barely parried the savage blow directed at her as soon as she sailed through the window, the force of the strike throwing her backwards into a roll. She reacted instinctively as she stopped moving, springing forward to grapple with her attacker. It wasn't until she had tackled the other to the hard metal ground and had raised her knife to strike that she realized she was attacking a fellow Na'vi.
The other reacted first. "Pey'lal? What are you doing here?"
Pey'lal's eyes widened and she nearly dropped her knife in surprise. "Neytiri?" the huntress responded in her native tongue. "What are you doing here? What about the battle? Where's the Tarruk'makto?" It was then she noticed the human taking shelter behind the future Tsahik. "Jakesully?!"
The pale-skinned human blushed but nodded. "I See you, Pey'lal."
The Na'vi could only nod dumbly, unable to comprehend that the Tarruk'makto was the crippled human in front of her. Neytiri saved her from having to come up with a reply. "What are you doing here, Pey'lal?"
Before the huntress could reply a shout echoed through the air outside. "Uh... huntress lady? Where are you? Are you here?"
Neytiri turned to look out the box's window, quickly taking in the shouting human and the injured body lying in the clearing beside the machine. "You are helping a dreamwalker?! Why?"
"Eywa commanded it," Pey'lal sniffed indignantly, somewhat offended Neytiri would believe her so heartless despite her well-known disdain for everything Sky People. "I came across him during the battle and saved his body but when I went to leave, a Seed came to rest over his wounds. I bandaged him up and was about to bring him to the Tree of Souls for healing when he came back as you see him now. He said if I got his body here, he could heal it."
Jake nodded, having clambered back up into his wheelchair while she talked. "He should be able to. That's Norm. He's a doctor, almost as good as Grace was." He pushed himself over to the broken window. "Norm! In here!"
"Jake? Oh god, Jake! You're alive! I just saw your body and was afraid..." The human trailed off into incoherence as he rushed over to the metal door to the box and came inside, pulling the Tar'ruk'makto into an undignified hug.
Pey'lal tuned out the two Sky People as she turned to Neytiri. "What of the battle? If you're here, did we win?"
A wide grin split the future Tsahik's face. "Yes. Eywa herself came to our aid. Eykan attacked the Sky People's birds and hammerheads and viper wolves attacked the Sky People and their machines on the ground." She pointed at the dead Thanator in the middle of the clearing. "The Thanator even let me ride it here."
Pey'lal grinned in turn and let out a raucous cheer, grabbing onto the unsuspecting Neytiri and swinging her around in an equally undignified dance. "We did it! We saved the Tree!"
It didn't take long before Neytiri joined her, the two women laughing and crying as they held tightly onto each other, all the fear and excitement they'd been suppressing coming together in a single swell of emotion. Pey'lal didn't care how foolish she was acting or that there were others there or that it was Neytiri of all people she was hugging. In that moment, all she knew was the her people were safe and she had survived.
A quiet cough snapped the two Na'vi completely out of it once they started calming down. Pey'lal's face burned with embarrassment as she turned her head to find the Tar'ruk'makto watching them with an insufferably amused smile on his face. Neytiri obviously felt no such shame, instead rushing forward to grab her mate and begin cuddling him. The two began looking at each other so adoringly she had to turn away.
A crash and a muffled curse brought the three back to the present. "Norm? You all right there, buddy?"
There was another curse before the human emerged from behind a pile of crates with a small case of medical supplies in his hands. "There's not enough!" he wailed. "I'd forgotten about Grace! We don't have enough to save my body."
Neytiri let go of Jake and grabbed the medkit from the human. "I future Tsahik, have trained in healing arts. You are doctor, yes?" Norm nodded. "Together we heal your body."
The two of them rushed out the door, Norm nearly sprinting over to his avatar body. Pey'lal couldn't really blame him. She wouldn't want to be stuck as a Sky Person either.
"It's Pey'lal, right?"
She turned around from the watching them through the window to find Jake sitting at her side. "Yes. It is honor, Tar'ruk'makto."
Jake smiled, embarrased. "Just call me Jake. Neytiri's said a lot of good things about you, you know."
Pey'lal blinked in surprise. "Really?"
The dreamwalker nodded. "Yeah. Says you're the best hunter the Omaticaya have. Did you really kill one of those Thanator things by yourself."
The Na'vi pulled herself up proudly. "Yes. I stalk for five nights, no food, no water. Wait for right moment to strike. I put arrow in both eyes, then throat. Not even great Thanator survive."
"That's damn impressive. I've only ran into one of those things once. Scared the shit out of me. Ended up jumping off a waterfall to get away."
Pey'lal laughed. "No surprise. Thanator strong predator. You strong as well to survive."
The two sobered up as thoughts of the ones who hadn't survived rushed through their minds. They sat in silence and watched as Neytiri and Norm operated on his fallen body. "I thank you, Tar'ruk... Jake. And I sorry."
"Sorry? Why are you sorry?"
She bowed her head. "I try to convince Eytukan to kill you. I hate you. Not trust you or the Sky People. For this, I sorry."
Jake waved off her apology. "Don't apologize to me, Pey'lal. You were right. If it weren't for me, you would still have a home. All your brothers and sisters out there would still be alive."
Pey'lal glared at him, surprising even herself with her vehemence. "They your brothers and sisters too. You Tar'ruk'makto. You Omaticaya. To say other is to dishonor our brothers and sisters who die today."
"But-"
"No. You save our People, not kill them. Sky People attack us soonor or later, Jake or no Jake. You save us. You make good Alu'eytan."
Jake's head snapped towards her so quickly she could hear his neck pop. "Wait, what?!"
Pey'lal grinned. "Oh? Neytiri no tell you? Mate of Tsahik always Alu'eytan. It is Omaticaya way. Why you think Tsu'tey so mad?"
The human's mouth worked speechlessly for a few moments. "But... I can't... I'm just a dreamwalker."
"No. You Tar'ruk'makto and lifemate of Neytiri. You lead many clans in battle. Now you say you cannot lead just one?"
Jake leaned back heavily in his wheelchair. "Wow... I... Just wow. This wasn't in the instruction manual. I don't think I can do this."
Pey'lal frowned. "You great warrior. You really not believe you can lead Omaticaya?"
"I'm a warrior, yes, not a chief. You want me to fight, just point me in the right direction. But you're talking about being responsible for the lives of a whole tribe! That's something entirely different."
"You not alone, you know." The huntress pointed out at Neytiri. "You have Tsahik. The not-warrior too. They know much, can help you lead."
This time Jake turned a calculating look on her. "And you? Will you help me as well?"
Pey'lal's eyes widened. "Me? I just huntress. What use am I?"
"No, you're the best huntress. The People will need food, will need protection in a new home. Who better to help than you?"
"But Tsu'tey-"
"Is dead," Jake said flatly, eliciting a gasp from Pey'lal. "He fell attacking the Sky People. He is with Eywa now. And with Eytukan dead, who is left to lead the warriors?"
"One of the men-"
"Are you or are you not the woman who slew a Thanator by herself?"
"But woman leading warriors is not done."
Jake shrugged. "I'm Tar'ruk'makto, right? So if I say that a woman will lead the warriors, they'll have to listen to me, no?"
"Yes, but..." Pey'lal sat down heavily on the damaged machine behind her.
Jake gave her an apologetic smile. "Listen, you don't have to say anything just yet. Just think it over, will you? Not for me, for the Omaticaya."
He wheeled himself out of the box, leaving her to sit and stare out the broken window as he joined the other two currently stitching up the not-warrior's injuries. Her lead the People's warriors? It was everything she'd ever wanted and yet exactly what she didn't at the same time.
Yes, she had wanted recognition for her abilities, had deliberately gone out and did stupid things like hunting a Thanator for it, but she was only looking for a... a pat on the back, not a chief position in the tribe. Jake was saying he would make her warchief! There had never been a woman warchief before.
All the sudden she caught a glint of silver out the corner of her eye and she turned to look, thinking it was another Seed. While it wasn't, just the light of the sun reflecting off Jake's wheelchair, it still reminded her. Jake wasn't just Alu'eytan or even Tar'ruk'makto, he was the chosen of Eywa. Who was she to deny him when Pandora herself had responded to his call for arms and had risen up against the Sky People?
It dawned on her that this must have been how Jake had felt when she suddenly sprang his new duties on him. And if he could react so calmly to the news, she could do no different.
Pey'lal stood up and leapt out the window of the box, careful to avoid the jagged shards of glass. The others were all gathered in the center of the clearing, the not-warrior repacking the medkit while Neytiri dragged Jake's body to lie beside his. Jake, unable to help while bound to his wheelchair, sat by and watched, engaging the other two in conversation.
Pey'lal strode proudly over to her new Alu'eytan and knelt down at his feet. "I sorry for... for..." She snarled quietly in frustration and switched back into her native tongue, unable to find the proper words in English. "I apologize for my hesitation. I See you and I follow you, Jakesully. If my Alu'etyan wishes me to lead the warriors, I will do as you command."
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Thank you, everybody. I just want to say wow. I cannot believe the response I got to this story. I was honestly expecting five, maybe six reviews for the first chapter, seeing how its such a minor fandom. But to get as many reviews as the first three chapters of my Naruto story in a little over a week is simply astounding. Thank ya'll very much.
I also want to take this chance to single out the 'unsigned' reviewers and those of you who've disabled the pm feature as well. I always like to personally thank each of my reviewers but seeing as how I can't reply to your review and there's so many of you, I'm forced to do it this way instead. I really appreciate it, guys. Left me with big time warm and fuzzies.
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Author's Note:
This is going to be a rather difficult story I think. At least as far as writing Pey'lal goes. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since she had her little epiphany regarding the unity of the People, so while she knows it with her head, this story will be partially about her internalizing it in her heart. Should be fun.
Jake'll be fun too. I've got the feeling he's likely going to be turning the Omaticaya on their heads in the very near future. I think he's going to be rather tricky to write as well. Of all the characters in this story, he's the one with the most to learn. Like he said, there's a difference between being responsible for men in battle and being responsible for the day to day lives of an entire tribe. He's going to have to learn to be not just a warrior, but a judge and administrator as well. Just a bit of a paradigm shift.
Writing this chapter also made me consider something else: language. I think perhaps for the next chapter or two, I will continue to use both Na'vi and English, but at some point – likely once Norm makes the transfer between bodies – I will switch entirely to Na'vi, in a manner of speaking. Really, I should probably just make the switch now but writing the halting English of Neytiri and Pey'lal is just too much fun.
Also, in case anyone was wondering the next chapter will be written from Norm's perspective. I've written a good number of stories, though I've only posted one other on this site so far, but this will be the first one where I make a concentrated effort to switch back and forth between viewpoints. Should be good interesting. I'm also planning on there being some overlap when I switch between perspectives but I don't think I'll write the same scene from both perspectives.
On a final note, I did receive one message asking about possible lemons. There will not be any. The Na'vi are a highly moral and reverent society, and the way they treat the bond between mates makes it obvious they consider love and sex to be something both sacred and closely intertwined. Far be it from me to desecrate that with a crude attempt at voyeurism.
And on that happy note, Happy New Year's ya'll.
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Published: 1.01.10 (binary anyone?)