The Omaticaya's Chosen

We ran across large root across a mirror-like pool at the base of a waterfall. I followed the man as I climbed a sloped root-trunk, "What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Tsu'Tey," he said.

Just then, I heard two whooshing sounds and felt something wrap tightly around my legs and I fell off the root, falling into the foliage at the bottom. I ripped the rope thing off my legs and was about to run when several Na'vi riders thundered towards me on six-legged, gilled and armor skinned Direhorses.

The riders aimed arrows and spears at me as they approached. I turned to run, but more Na'vi seemingly came out of thin air, heavily armed. Oh, crap.

The man, Tsu'Tey dropped to the ground next to me and confronted the lead rider in a powerful voice.

"Calm, people, calm! Kintri, what are you doing?" he hissed.

Kintri mounted off his Direhorse with grace and yelled back at him. "These demons are forbidden here!"

"You will not harm her! She is under my protection! There has been a sign! This is a matter for the Tsahik!" Tsu'Tey growled.

Kintri looked displeased, but backed off. "Bring her," he said.

Before I could protest, they grabbed me by my hands and my long braid, and started dragging me off to the biggest tree I'd ever seen. To my surprise, we actually went inside the tree. It was like a cathedral with the long spires and beauty.

The villagers' number was beyond counting and they kept chatting and gently poking me as I was led to the center of the tree and three important-looking Na'vi. Two were old-looking and the third was a female and looked about my age. Tsu'Tey bowed slightly before he spoke in Na'vi.

"Father, I See you," he said.

The one I assumed was Tsu'Tey's father walked around me before turning back to his son. "This creature, why do you bring her here?"

"I was going to kill her, but there was a sign from Eywa," said Tsu'Tey.

"You do not interpret the signs of the Mother Goddess," said his father, sharply. "That is for Neytiri and your mother. I have said that no Dreamwalker will come here. Her alien smell fills my nose."

Great, he was deciding if he was going to kill me or not. Just great. I tried to speak in Na'vi. "Your Highness, I mean you no harm. I—"

"Silence!" shouted several Na'vi as they grabbed me. They let me go when the older female, probably Tsu'Tey's mother walked towards me.

"Stop!" she ordered. "I will look at this alien."

"That is Mother, Mo'at." said Tsu'Tey, softly. "She is Tsahik, the one who interprets the will of Eywa."

I wondered who 'Eywa' was, but I didn't ask. Mo'at walked around me. She fingered my braid and flipped my tail as she narrowed her eyes at me. In perfect English, she said, "What are you called?"

"Dawn Light," I replied.

She took out a sharp thing and quickly swiped a bit of my blood. I didn't flinch or wince, having learned never to show pain to anyone. It was a sign of weakness in the eyes of many.

"Why did you come to us?" Mo'at demanded.

"I came to learn."

"We have tried to teach other Sky People. It's hard to fill a cup that is already full," said Mo'at.

"My cup is empty," I replied. "I am no scientist."

"What are you?" Mo'at asked.

"I was a marine. A warrior of the Jarhead Clan." Jarhead Clan was part of a game my sister and I used to play, when we would be members of two different Clans, Jarhead and Egghead. It was a tiny white lie, but it seemed to work.

"A warrior!" said Kintri, scornfully. "I could kill her easily!"

"No!" said Tsu'Tey's father. "This is the first warrior Dreamwalker we have seen, and a female at that! We need to learn more about her."

"There is more," said Tsu'Tey. "She possesses a great power. I saw her play music that sent the vipewolves away. She can also call them to her in the same manner."

Everyone gasped at this and Mo'at narrowed her eyes. "Is what my son says true?"

"Yes," I replied. "It's true."

"Show us," she ordered.

"As you wish." I pulled out my flute and played a summoning tune. Moments later, a large blue and purple bird flew into and landed near me, making them all gasp and their eyes widen in shock. The bird caused no harm and bowed its head slightly before I played the tune that sent it away.

"How is this done?" Mo'at demanded. "How do you possess so great a power?"

"As I told your son before, I don't know," I said, my patience starting to wear thin. "I've always been able to do this. My mother used to say it was my gift."

"Can it be passed down or taught?" asked Tsu'Tey's father.

"I don't know. No one's ever asked me to teach them."

"Then it seems that there is more to this female warrior Dreamwalker than we first thought," said Mo'at. "My son, you will teach her our ways, to walk and act like we do."

Tsu'Tey looked annoyed. "Why me? It's not fair. I only—"

Mo'at held up her hand to stop Tsu'Tey's protests and Tsu'Tey hissed in annoyance as she said, "It is decided. My son will teach you our ways. Learn well, Dawnlight. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured. Neytiri, get her a Na'vi garb and then Tsu'Tey will take her out."

"Thank you," I said. "You've been very gracious and generous."

Mo'at nodded and then the younger female, Neytiri led me away. She got me fitted into a Na'vi female dress which was lovely. To my surprise, Neytiri and I were able to converse easily. Like the others, she was somewhat wary but she was more welcoming than the rest of them.

Later, Tsu'Tey showed me around some of the place. He said it was called Hometree. When my exhaustion began to claim me, Tsu'Tey shook me.

"Do not fall asleep yet," he said. "Come. I will take you to where you will rest."

I barely took one step forward when I slipped and he caught me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling the goosebumps on my skin when I realized how close we were.

"You will learn to not be so clumsy," he said, in a tone both stern and gentle. He then scooped me into his arms before I could protest and carried me to my hammock. He placed me inside and closed it up.

"Tsu'Tey?" I called, before he left.

"Yes, Dawnlight?" he asked.

"Thank you."

He didn't reply. He just went into his own hammock and closed it up. I wrapped my arms around myself as I felt my exhaustion claim me.

I woke up to a bright light, several faces and excruciating pain.

"Dawn?" said Grace. "Dawn! Dawn, wake up! Come on back kid. Come on, that's it. You're okay. You're okay."

I shook my head and blinked a few times as Grace held my face in her hands. She looked concerned when I winced and inhaled sharply. I hadn't taken my meds lately, but it shouldn't have been this bad. I could barely move without making the pain worse.

"Dawn, what's wrong?" Grace asked.

"Grace, I need my medicine," I said, hoarsely. The pain was becoming too much to bear and a tear fell out of my left eye. Everything in my body was throbbing with pain, from the follicles of my hair to the pores on my skin.

"Medicine?" she repeated, looking confused and alarmed. "What medicine?"

"It's in a black case, under my wheelchair," I said, wincing at the pain. It'd never been this bad before. "Get it, please."

Max looked and got my case. He opened it and injected the syringe into my arm. I let out a soft sigh of relief as the pain medicine did its work. The pain went away and I could breathe easier now.

"Thanks," I said, as I took the case and shut it.

"No problem," said Max, looking concern. "Strange. I didn't get anything about you being on meds."

"That's because my personal doctor classified the information on a need-to-know basis," I explained. "You didn't need to know."

"Well, can I ask what kind of medicine that is?" asked Max.

"It's pain medication for my joints," I lied, letting out a soft groan as they helped me sit up. "Grace, can you help me into my chair? I still feel a bit out of it."

"Sure," said Grace, as she helped me. "Man, Dawn, you were dug in there like a tick. Are you feeling okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry if I freaked you out. The pain's never gotten that bad before," I said, apologetically.

Grace shook her head. "Don't apologize. Just try and watch yourself so it doesn't get that bad again. Is the Avatar safe?"

"Yes, the Avatar's safe. But you're not going to believe where I am," I said, I put my medicine case away.

"Try me," said Grace.

I told her and Max and they both looked stunned.

They took me to breakfast and told the entire table of what had happened.

"The last thing we see is this Marine's butt disappearing into the brush with this angry Thanator coming after her," said Grace.

"It's not something you can teach," I said, as I took a bite out of my yogurt.

"You know, for reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you," said Grace. "Heaven help us all."

Everyone laughed, but I could see Norm didn't look so happy. I couldn't blame him. He'd worked so hard to get here for a long time, and I'd just waltzed in and stolen his spotlight. Well, I would do what I could.

Later, I reported to Quaritch, who also found my story amusing. "'Jarhead Clan'?" he repeated, laughing. "And it worked?"

I nodded. "Hey, I'm practically family. They're going to study me. I have to learn to be one of them."

Quaritch looked pleased and patted my shoulder. "That's called taking the initiative, girl. I wish I had ten more like you."

Selfridge approached me. "Look, Light, Light, just find out what the blue monkeys want. You know, I mean we try to give them medicine, education, roads. But no, no, they like mud. And that wouldn't bother me, it's just that their village happens to be resting on the richest deposit of unobtanium within two hundred clicks in any direction. I mean, look at all that cheddar!"

I felt a sick feeling in the pit of stomach. They wanted to drive the Na'vi out for some stupid rock? That didn't seem right.

"Well, who gets them to move?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Guess," said Quaritch.

"What if they won't go?"

"Oh, I'm betting that they will," said Quaritch.

"Look, Light, killing the indigenous looks bad," said Selfridge. "But there's one thing that the shareholders hate more than bad press and that's a bad quarterly statement. I didn't make up the rules. So, find me a carrot to get them to move, or its going to have to be all stick."

"You've got three months. That's when the dozers get there," Quaritch said.

"Well, we're wasting time," I said, softly.

Selfridge smiled and patted my shoulder. "I like this girl."

I nodded and smiled, but my smile didn't reach my eyes. For some reason, my heart wasn't really into this and I couldn't explain why.

I wheeled into the Link Room with Grace and Norm. Grace had decided to be a little more helpful and got me to brush up on the name of the natives I knew. "Okay, let's run through them again," she said, as she held up a picture.

"Mo'at. Dragon Lady," I said. The next one was Tsu'Tey's father. "Eytukan. He's the Clan leader, right?"

"Yes, he is," said Grace. She flicked back to Mo'at. "But Mo'at is the spiritual leader, like a shaman." She flicked to another picture. "This is Neytiri, her protégé. She'll be the next Tsahik." She flicked to Tsu'Tey's and my heart skipped a beat.

"Tsu'Tey," I murmured.

"He'll be the next Clan leader," said Grace. "He and Neytiri are to become a mated pair one day."

For some reason, I didn't like the idea of Tsu'Tey being promised to another, but there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't let my feelings show and instead I asked, "So, who's Eywa?"

"'Who's Eywa'?" said Norm, in mock-shock. "Only their deity. The Great Mother. Their goddess made up of all living things. You'd know that if you had any training whatsoever."

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have cared what people said or thought about me, but I was really losing my temper here with Norm's crap. I held up Tsu'Tey's image. "Norm, two things. One, jealousy doesn't become you. Two, who's got a date with the next Clan leader?" I smirked at the look on Norm's face, like he'd just been told he had an IQ of nothing.

"Okay, knock it off, you two," said Grace, before Norm could speak. "Let's go. Village life starts early. And Dawn, don't do anything unusually stupid."

"Okay, doc," I said, as I got linked up.

I woke up in my hammock. Tsu'Tey was shaking me.

"It's time to begin your training, Dawnlight," he said. "Come."

He helped me gain my balance on the slippery branches and led me to the ground where several Direhorses were.

"You will learn how to ride like us," he said. "This is Pale, a Direhorse mare."

"Okay," I said. Slowly I approached her. "Easy, girl. Shh."

"I am surprised you are not using your gift to make her obey you," said Tsu'Tey.

"I've never used it like that before," I said, as I tried to get up onto the Direhorse. "And I don't intend to start now, not unless it's necessary."

"Fine," said Tsu'Tey.

I managed to get on and connect the Direhorse's queue with mine, making it whinny in protest as Tsu'Tey and I tried to calm it down.

"That is tsaheylu, the bond," he explained. "Feel her heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong legs. You may tell her what to do, inside. For now, say where to go."

I took a deep breath and tried. "Go forward."

The Direhorse obeyed only too well. It went forward so fast that I slid off and landed in the mud, making Tsu'Tey chuckle as he retrieved the Direhorse and then helped me to stand.

"Not bad for a first try," he said. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Just then, Kintri and another rider came and glared at us both.

"You should go away," he snarled.

"I'm not going anywhere. Not yet," I snarled back. "Besides, you'd miss me. I knew you could speak English."

He scoffed at the sight of the mud on me as I brushed it off. "This alien will learn nothing. A rock Sees more! Look at her!"

Tsu'Tey just let out an angry hiss. "Be off with you before I punish you for interfering with the training!"

Kintri and the other rider rode off, and the Tsu'Tey turned to me and said, "Again."

I nodded and kept trying. I was a horrible rider and kept falling in the mud, but after a while, I managed to ride more smoothly. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than before. Tsu'Tey seemed pleased.

"Now, you will learn how to fish and identify what we eat here," he said.

I proved to be better at fishing and identifying berries and fruit than I was at riding. Tsu'Tey actually had a bit of fun when we fished. We splashed each other a bit before returning to the Hometree with a full basket of food.

By the end of the day, I was tired and ready for sleep, but I felt a little pleased with myself. It had all been worth it.