Legal: All movie characters, locations, and names are the intellectual property of James Cameron and/or Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. I claim no ownership over anything but my original characters and original plot line.
Any lines spoken in Na'vi will be italicized in the quotes since I am terrible with translating it.
Sorry for the time between updates here, been busy and all that. I hope people are still reading and enjoying. Please leave me some reviews :) I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner rather than later.
VII. Search for a Home
It never ceased to amaze John just how beautiful Pandora could actually be. There was so much to the moon that he had not seen or experienced. They had been riding for three weeks and John had already seen several creatures that he had never noticed before. Every night they had stopped to let the Pa'li rest and to make camp for the evening. The first night Tirea had taken John to see a solitary Stingbat hunting. It was an ugly creature but hunted with deadly accuracy, stinging its prey with the deadly tail stinger and finally eating after the poison had taken its toll.
Tirea had explained that this was all part of the circle of energy that flowed between the creatures and Eywa. She had said that this life energy was given by Eywa to the plants, animals, and even the Na'vi when they are born. The energy eventually returns to Eywa when the creature dies. John had a hard time understanding this complex flow of energy from one creature to another. No such ideologies had existed on earth for generations and it was a difficult concept to relate to. He did have a vague memory of Jake saying something about all energy on Pandora being borrowed and eventually having to be returned. He had never really given that statement much thought until now.
Yesterday they had passed the ruins of the first Hometree. John had watched on the monitors as the missiles collided with the pillars. He still remembered the gut wrenching pain he had felt as the monitor showed Hometree fall and burn. John could tell from the look on both Tirea and Etani's faces that they still remembered the pain of the loss as well. It was amazing that the Omaticaya had even allowed anyone to stay on Pandora after such a tragic crime had been committed against them. Yet there he was, living his life among them, learning to truly be one of the people.
Eywa had already started to reclaim the land around the site of old Hometree. New trees and plants had grown up through the ash. Various animals had made their dens inside of the old fallen tree. Even though Hometree could no longer support the Omaticaya, it could still support the other life forms of Pandora. Tirea had laughed when John made a comment about the amazing things Eywa could accomplish. She had poked fun at him for just now realizing what every Na'vi knew from birth.
John was pulled from his reverie by the rough sound of Etani's voice. Etani had been out hunting for the night's meal while Tirea and John were left to ensure the Pa'li found food and water. He emerged from the brush with the corpse of a Yerik draped over his shoulder. He looked at John and put the kill down on the ground in front of him.
"You will clean and cook the meal tonight." Etani gave John a slight smirk as he spoke.
John merely looked at Etani with a smile and started working to prepare the animal for cooking fire. Etani had been very surprised the first time he had seen John clean and prepare a fresh kill. John's training as a surgeon allowed him to move quickly and skillfully as he broke the creature down. He had easily become one of the fastest in the clan at preparing a kill for cooking. John himself had been surprised at how easily this skill had come to him. Using his Na'vi sized bone knife was certainly not as precise as a scalpel would have been, but he was still able to make expert cuts so that almost none of the meat was wasted.
John finished cleaning the kill and stood up to hang the meat over the fire for roasting when he felt a hand lightly grab his arm. Tirea took the meat from him with a knowing smile and went about cooking the meal. Etani's face softened as he watched Tirea prepare the dinner. John may have been very good at breaking a kill down, but he was a terrible cook. Whenever Etani had John cook the meat always seemed to end up burned and completely unappetizing. It was obvious to John that Tirea did not wish to be treated to one of his famously bad meals and he was more than happy to allow her to do the cooking.
The next morning a rumbling sound caused John to wake. To John's sensitive Na'vi ears it sounded almost like rolling thunder that was still some distance away. Strangely John could also feel a slight vibration through the ground that seemed to be increasing in its intensity. He quietly got up, making sure that both Tirea and Etani were still sleeping and made his way out of their camp and into the forest. As he ran John could feel the dampness of the forest and could still smell the refreshing scents of the morning dew. John stopped running only to orient himself so that he was still running in the direction of thunder.
A strange feeling of curiosity was driving John to search out the cause of the loud noise. He silently ran along the forest floor quickly climbing a nearby tree so that he could continue running through the branches and hopefully have a good view of whatever it was creating such a stir. John began to notice the air grow dustier as the forest thinned out ahead of him causing him to slow his pace to a walk. As he parted a set of low hanging branches his breath was taken away by the scene that lay before him. A great herd of creatures was making its way along a game trail below where John crouched watching. The dust, the thunder, even the vibration John felt through the ground all made sense as he watched so many great creatures moving as single unit.
"Talioang." A soft feminine voice whispered in John's left ear. "Your people called them Sturmbeests."
"I'd heard Dr. Augustine talk about them, but I've never seen anything other than a photograph." John quietly replied, not taking his eyes of the large beasts moving below him. "They are really quite stunning."
"The movement of the herds is an important time for all Na'vi." Tirea said as she gripped John's shoulder lightly with her hand. "Once a herd is located a great hunt takes place where young hunters prove themselves worthy of being one of the people. Come, Etani waits."
The two Na'vi turned and ran back through the forest towards Etani and the waiting Pa'li. Etani scowled slightly as Tirea and John entered camp, then gave them each some meat that was left from the previous dinner before mounting his Pa'li. John ate quickly and formed Tsahaylu and sat comfortable on his own Pa'li, knowing they had a long way to ride. Tirea pointed out many more creatures as they traveled through the lush forest. John had never seen a forest Ikran before and was amazed at how much smaller they were than the mountain Ikran that the Na'vi rode. Tirea pointed out a flying creature that appeared to John like a floating Jellyfish that once thrived in the oceans of earth. John learned from Tirea that the tentacles hanging from the creature were extremely dangerous especially to the unsuspecting victim.
After running the entire day John could feel the exhaustion flooding over him from his Pa'li when Etani finally motioned for them to make camp for the night. John heard the sound of a creature walking through the forest not far from where the three Na'vi had stopped. His ears perked up as he listened intently to the almost silent footsteps of whatever might be walking around. Etani noticed John's curious behavior and listened carefully. He motioned for John to follow as he slipped off through the trees towards the sound.
John ran lightly keeping pace with Etani noticing that the ground was becoming increasingly wet as they ran further. He could also hear the sound of a river somewhere nearby, it sounded as if they were close to some rapids or maybe a waterfall. Etani's pace slowed and then he stopped running completely and crouched low to the ground, motioning for John to follow he began to crawl through the underbrush. John followed suit and crawled behind Etani, feeling his heart start to race at the unknown before him. In many ways John realized he was just like a child on Pandora, everything from the creatures to the plants was wondrous and amazing to him.
Through the trees John saw one of the strangest creatures he had ever encountered, even on Pandora. It had long head that almost looked like a spear tip attached to a strong neck and lower body. As John watched the neck cocked back and suddenly shot forward causing the spear like head to detach and fly at whatever it was hunting. John's ears picked up a squealing noise and the body ran towards it and out of sight. The name of this creature came to him suddenly, they had called them slingers.
"We call them Lenay'ga." Etani said. "The heads are often used as spear tips during the great hunt."
Etani turned around and started back through the brush towards camp as John followed behind him. The sound of rushing water was getting louder as they ran until they were running right along the riverbank. John increased his pace to keep up with Etani when suddenly his foot slipped on the wet rocks along the bank of the river. John slid head first into the raging rapids of the river and tried hard to kick up to the surface. The force of the water threw John left and right causing him to slam into rocks and underwater tree limbs. John could feel several cuts and scrapes already from the impacts he had suffered.
It took all of his strength to keep his head above the fast flowing water as it carried him downriver. Out of the corner of his eye John noticed Tirea and Etani running along the river bank; it looked to him like they were shouting but all he could hear was the rushing and crashing of the water as it pounded against him. John could feel the exhaustion start to overtake him as he fought hard to stay floating in the rough rapids. Not even the running he did daily compared to the physical exertion of trying to keep his head above such fast moving water. Movement along the bank caught John's eye and as he looked Tirea was pointing towards something downriver with a worried look on her face.
John looked downriver just in time to feel himself propelled over a large waterfall. As he started to freefall John quickly straightened his legs out under him and hit the water with surprising speed. The force of the rushing water forced John down until he hit the silt at the bottom of the waterfall. He struggled to swim back to the surface until finally the force of the water eased as he swam away from the base of the waterfall. John finally could feel the sand beneath him as he swam up to the river bank and crawled onto the beach, panting from exhaustion and coughing up water he had swallowed.
As John lay on his back looking at the sky all he could see was a thick cover of green leaves moving softly in the breeze. Strangely John did not see the trunks of any trees nearby so he stood up carefully on his aching legs and looked around. He was in a large valley surrounded on one side by a steep ridge with the waterfall pouring into the lake below. John could barely make out the other side of the valley but could tell the forest surrounded all sides. As his eyes panned over the scene before him he noticed that sitting in the middle of the valley was a giant tree. John had never seen the old Hometree of the Omaticaya but he imagined it was almost as big as this great tree.
As he stood there staring at the tree John was aware of two splashes behind him in the lake. Tirea and Etani climbed out of the water and stood next to him on the beach. Tirea looked at John with a worried look. Tirea's voice was filled with concern as she spoke to John. "Are you ok John?"
"What?" John answered his attention still on the giant tree before him. He finally looked away from the tree and at his own body. His arms and legs were covered in scratches from being slammed into rocks on his journey down the river. John quickly assessed the cuts to make sure none of them needed extra attention. He looked at Tirea and smiled before answering her, "I'm fine, they are just scrapes."
Tirea gave John a relieved look before turning her attention to the great tree standing before them. John could see her expression change to one of complete wonder at what they had found. She turned and hugged John tightly, then turned and hugged Etani as well.
"We found it." Tirea whispered as she turned back towards the impressive tree, a huge smile on her face.
From this distance it looked to John as if there were actually two trees that had grown very close to one another and their branches had intertwined to create a very dense canopy of leaves. As they walked closer John noticed that this was actually a single tree that had been split down the middle at some point. He could just make out scorch marks along one side of the tree and could tell that a great storm must have sundered the tree in two at one point but it had grown tall and strong despite that. The tree had an outer ring of strong columns just like the first Hometree, but standing under the tree in the center and looking up John could see the two separate trunks going towards the sky. In between the trunks many strong and thick branches had grown, creating a crisscrossed pattern along with many different platforms and levels the people could live on.
It was amazing to John that his sheer dumb luck had brought them to the perfect location for the Omaticaya's new home. Somehow the overjoyed look on Tirea's face made John feel even happier than knowing he had brought them to Hometree, even if it was thanks to his own stupidity.
**
Jake sat quietly across from Mo'at knowing that she had something important to discuss since it had been Mo'at who requested his presence. His mind and attention were being pulled in so many different directions with all the different concerns of the clan. None of the groups he had sent returned with news of a new Hometree and John, Tirea and Etani had still not come back at all. Sitting in front of Mo'at now he could not help but wonder what she wanted to speak to him about. Mo'at looked at Jake and smiled then spoke quietly, "JakeSully you have become a fine Olo'Eyktan."
"Thank you." Jake answered, not sure how to really respond.
"You have taken on all the duties expected, and have performed them with the strength Neytiri saw in you." Mo'at said. "I am proud you became my daughters mate JakeSully, I know you will love and care for her without fail."
Jake thought for a minute, remembering his life on Pandora so far and his experiences with the Na'vi princess. He had certainly proved his devotion when he abandoned a part of himself and bonded with Toruk to help unify and lead the Na'vi against Quaritch. He could not even imagine what his life would be like now, had he not come to Pandora and met Neytiri.
"She gave me something to fight for." Jake said softly. "All I had ever wanted was a purpose and it was only after meeting Neytiri that I found that purpose. I don't ever want to see her face in pain again."
"Yes, Eywa does not make mistakes JakeSully." Mo'at smiled as she spoke. "Your bond with Neytiri was tested and acknowledged by Eywa because it was meant to be. However, that is not the reason I called you here today. War with the skypeople has left the Omaticaya numbers diminished from what they once were. It is time for mated pairs to consider having children to keep the clan strong."
"Consider having children?" Jake asked slightly taken aback at Mo'at's straight forward suggestion. "You mean Neytiri and I? Have children?"
"Yes JakeSully, it is expected that you will have children so the leadership of the clan will be carried on according to tradition." Mo'at said. She looked at Jake and gave him a slight smile. "My daughter understands what is expected and the needs of the clan now must come first. Once a new home is found you must start thinking of a family with Neytiri."
Jake thought for a moment and as he was about to respond he heard several excited cries coming from the entrance to the village. Mo'at looked distracted by the cries as well and she motioned that Jake was free to leave her and investigate the source of the commotion. He stood and walked jogged in the direction of all the noise. As he approached Jake could make out three familiar faces standing in the middle of a large crowd of Omaticaya. John spotted Jake and started to run towards him, a huge grin spread across his face as he approached Jake.
"What is going on John?" Jake asked expectantly. "What did you find?"
"Jake, we found it!" John replied excitedly. "We found Hometree!"