Avatar: Pandora's Moonlight

By Andrea L. (NenaLozara)

CHAPTER 4: "Be a Na'vi"


An'ara shrinked as she walked besides Jake. Her tail wrapped her left arm and her chin pointed to her own chest, making her look down. She moved her eyes from time to time to look at the others like her, watching her. She was still having trouble to understand their facial expressions, and she couldn't understand what they said as she walked by. She gently turned her head to Jake, but without watching him or the others.
"What are they saying? Are they talking about me?" As she asked, her eyes turned for a second to see the curious Na'vi around them.
"Yes, they are. What they say is not important. Some of them know your body as Otay'nit's. Some of them know it's not her, since you look very different. Others mention, in fact, how different you are from the rest." Jake answered with a smile.
"Different? But... we look the same. How can I be different?"
"No, An'ara. You do look a little different. You are very short. Na'vi people, even women, are very tall. At least, taller than you are. And your eyes."
An'ara turned her head up, to look at Jake.
Jake smiled to her as they kept walking. "Your eyes have a different color. Na'vi eyes are usually yellow, or yellow with green. Yours are... dark. Brown with dark green. No other Na'vi has those eyes."
An'ara made a face and she turned to see the others around them. They seemed to be walking in circles, around the center of the big tree they were in. She did notice everyone else seemed taller. Her tail kept wrapping her left arm, as she listened carefully to what everybody said, even if she couldn't understand.
"We live in a huge tree that we call Hometree, or Kelutrel. It is the home of all of the Omaticaya."
"What are the Omaticaya?" asked An'ara, as she followed Jake's steps up the natural stairs.
"It is us. This clan, living in Kelutrel." Jake answered as he helped An'ara up a difficult and almost destroyed-like part of the stairs.
"I thought we were Na'vi." she said as she grabbed Jake's arm, forcing herself up.
"We are. Na'vi is our species, our race. But Na'vi are all around Pandora, and depending of where they live, they join and make clans. So, the Na'vi living in this forest are part of the Omaticaya, but if you travel away from here, into the coast for example, you will find another clan, such as the Ikran Clan of the Coast. They are Na'vi too, but they are part of another clan." Jake lead An'ara up to one of Kelutrel's big branches, where he invited her to sit.
An'ara sited at that moment, looking at everything around her with a smile, noticing that the branch they were sitting in wasn't very far from the ground, but far enough for her to be able to see the ceiling of the forest.
"I understand, so we are all Na'vi, but the group of the Na'vi living here, in the forest, we are Omaticaya."
"Exactly! So, I will teach you only the basics to be a Na'vi and an Omaticaya, but I won't be able to teach you much of the language, since I'm still learning it myself." said Jake as he sitted in front of her.
An'ara laughed. "What do you mean? You are important here, aren't you?"
"Well, yes. I am the warrior clan leader." Jake smiled as he heard her laugh. "You have a beautiful smile and a sweet laugh, you should do it more often."
An'ara's smile changed into a timid one, as her head moved into her shoulders. "Thank you, but... how come you are still learning the language if you are the Omaticayan leader?"
Jake made a face gesture, as if he were looking for the right words to answer.
"Well, I guess we can start with history lessons. And in them, I shall explain to you how can I be a Na'vi even if I was not born one..." he finally answered, as he looked into her eyes.
An'ara stared back at him as her mind filled itself with curiosity, trying to answer her own questions.
Jake started to talk about Eywa, how she made possible that Pandora could start growing life in it. Her will to create life and her powerful ways to connect everything in the moon to her. She would share her energy with a living thing in Pandora, but when the time came, she would claim it back, so that another living thing could be born. He told An'ara how the first Na'vi were born, how they were part of nature and they talked to the trees. How they started singing songs to tell each other stories, and to transmit what they knew to the next generations. He got to the present, and started talking about the Tawtute, the Sky People, and how they invaded Pandora, destroying trees and killing without a reason.
"I was part of the Sky People. The Humans. They brought me here only because I could replace my twin brother in the Avatar program. This body you see... it used to be an Avatar. It was created by the Tawtute for a Human to use, to win the trust of the Omaticaya, just for them to have an easier way to destroy them..."
"So, it was just a puppet? Just for the Na'vi to trust you?" asked An'ara.
Jake gave a small nod. "Yes, so that they could believe me and do what I said."
An'ara looked at him with a serious expression. There were too many feelings inside of her. She still didn't know a lot of things, but she was definetely already growing fond to her body, her species and specially to the beautiful Kelutrel.
"Jake..."
Jake gave a small sigh as he turned his eyes to see where they were sitting. He took a hand towards it, with which he caressed the wood.
"I was supposed to convince them to leave Hometree. If I was one of them and they trusted me, they would leave peacefully. But that didn't happen. They hated me and started a war against the Sky People. Kelutrel used to be the tallest tree around. It was huge. It used to stand, but now, it is laying on the ground. The Tawtute attacked him violently with their technology, and Kelutrel fell. But after a year, Kelutrel is already growing new life in its roots and branches. Though it will never stand again, it will continue to be the home of thousands of Na'vi."
An'ara formed a small smile. "It looks beautiful, I didn't even notice it was on the floor... Was the war long? What happened?"
The war story continued, from the exile of Jake to his evolution into Toruk Makto. The clan gathering, the strategy of attack, the intervention of Eywa and the salvation in the Tree of Souls. He finally explained about how he changed bodies with Eywa's power, which made An'ara react.
"Is that what happened to me?"
"We don't know yet... we are still trying to figure out what happened to you exactly. We don't know everything that Eywa does."
"So what am I? Am I a human or a Na'vi?" An'ara asked as she looked at her hands, opening them, watching her palms and her long fingers.
Jake smiled gently and moved towards her, touching one of her shoulders. "Be a Na'vi, An'ara. Be a Na'vi."

Thanks! And sorry if it took me too long to upload. Here it is. Enjoy and remember to review!