Author's Note: here we are again my pretties! Happy to post this chapter, I mean...REALLY happy because i'm veryy happy with this chapter. and its the longest! woop! Sorry I made you wait so long, and I do leave it at a cliffhanger, so be prepared for that. But I've been watching the Collector's Edition like crazy and have been inspired (mostly by all the delected scenes...) you all REALLY need to watch the Festival Dance one. KAVAAA!
Story Note: long chapter, oh yes this is. just under 3500 words I think. I could've gone ahead with the next scene and made it 5000 but honestly you guys have waited long enough and I really wanted to throw you some scraps before we hit the big ceremony that's coming in the next chapter. avatarTingal the "hair" scene I said I wanted to do a one-shot on is included in here :) and it fits nicely.
well here u go guys! im off to drink more Kava.
Jake finds Tsu'tey eventually, after talking to various members of the clan and asking where they last saw him, and searching through the beginnings of the forest, he's just about to give up and just wait around when his ears pick up on a soft whispering voice.
Turning towards it and pushing aside a bit of shrubbery, he comes across the person he's been looking for the past ten minutes.
Tsu'tey is kneeling in front of the tree they usually pray at, his hands folded on his knees and his head bowed, causing his long braids to fall across his skull and dangle. His whole body is still and not even his tail moves from where it is curled around one of his legs.
Jake looks closer and sees the other male's lips moving, speaking Na'vi and no doubt praying. In the falling light, his spots glow and then dim with the rise and fall of the giant tree's bioluminescence.
The Dreamwalker watches him for a moment, trying to understand the feelings of warmth in his chest and the underlying fascination that are associated with Tsu'tey.
The beginning soul link between them buzzes slightly, a feeling of deep vibrations that stir in his chest. Tsu'tey opens his eyes, no doubt feeling it as well, and looks up at him, startled.
"Oh...uh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you," Jake says in a halted voice as he's thrown off by the ever-present intensity of Tsu'tey's eyes. "Just came to tell you we should be getting ready."
"Is it a Sky Person's duty to tell things others already know?" Tsu'tey says, but there is no bite to his voice as he leans up and looks at the great tree in front of him.
"Heh, I guess. Why are you praying?" Jake comes and sits by him.
"Is Na'vi's duty to pray before great things. Great...announcements," his voice thickens naturally over the last word, and to Jake, it sounds very nearly sarcastic.
"I can't believe you said "announcements" right!" Jake laughs softly. "And it is great, right? Future of the Omaticaya people and all that. Future of...us." Jake stops himself from stuttering. Barely.
A silence stretches between them, and Jake picks at one of the small bushes near his knee, pulling on the small leaves but not tearing them off.
After what feels like an hour he sneaks a peek at the other male to find him staring without seeing at the tree, obviously deep in thought, analyzing Jake's earlier words.
Jake directs his eyes downwards again at the bush, and pulls off one of the leaves.
Then, the words just pour out without thinking, "Tsu'tey...I think I need to tell you something." His own voice sounds loud in his ears, but at the same time, very far away.
He rips off another leaf in the two seconds of silence before the other male speaks, "You should pray."
"I—wait, what?"
"Pray. To Eywa. That you will be a good Tsahìk, and thank Her for all that She has done," Tsu'tey says softly, and meets his eyes for a moment before closing them to pray himself.
Jake stares at him for a few seconds, his lips parted and his eyebrows furrowed, completely aware that Tsu'tey had just changed the subject on purpose. Then he looks forwards again and clenches his teeth in a moment of anger, before sighing, folding his hands, and closing his eyes.
If this is a game, he can play it.
"Put on this," Tsu'tey says, handing him a long and wide threaded blue sash-type thing. Jake takes it and holds it up, looking at the sprawling decorations of yellow eyes and symbols that have no meaning to him. He turns it over and sees that the frayed ends are tied with a long glowing cord.
"Is this from the Tree of Voices?"
"Yes, but do not listen," he slaps away Jake's hand that's reaching back for his queue with another piece of decoration. "It is not time yet."
Jake shrugs and pulls the sash over his shoulders like he would a t-shirt, only to hear Tsu'tey make a noise of frustration and tug it off again, not exactly gently.
"Is worn around neck," the other male says, and puts the cord around Jake's neck. The rest of the sash hangs down his back and covers his tail. Jake's about to complain but stops when Tsu'tey just grabs the slack and threads it underneath the left tie of his loincloth, then ties it in a knot with the rest of it. "Oh."
A necklace goes around his neck, short with dark red and black feathers. Two fangs, not quite large enough to belong to a Thanator, hang down from either side. "Ikran teeth. This is a warrior's necklace," Tsu'tey explains, and Jake notices there's one around his neck as well, except one of the fangs is chipped.
Five more necklaces soon come, and Tsu'tey explains each one; a long one with bright green and yellow feathers, "This means you are blessed," another with orange feathers and black beads, "Hunter's necklace," then one that's just a plain striped string, "Means you were of another clan," after that, two necklaces with gold feathers, "One for heart, one for soul."
Now wearing eight necklaces including the glowing cord of the sash and his clan necklace, his whole front seems to be nothing but a mesh of color. Jake scratches at his chest, the itch from the feathers already beginning to drive him crazy, "Do I have to wear these everyday?"
"No, just for Tsahìk ceremony. You may take them off tomorrow. But," he touches the edge of the sash. "Must keep this on."
Jake sighs; he supposes he can live with that.
He just about flinches away though when Tsu'tey lifts a paintbrush dipped in suspiciously bright pink to his forehead. "What?" The other male says, exasperated at Jake's horrified expression.
"It's...it's pink," Jake says lamely, realizing how stupid he probably looks, shying away from a paint brush.
"Peenk," Tsu'tey enunciates, having not hearing the word before, pulling the brush back to look at the color. "This is 'ompin. It is made from berries. Why are you afraid of it?"
"Eh, it's just...you know what? Nevermind," Jake says, not about to try and explain the human male's tendency to avoid such a color. "As long as you're not gonna paint flowers or something on me."
Tsu'tey arches a brow, not fully comprehending that insult but realizing it is indeed, an insult. He lifts the brush back to Jake's face, painting steadily around his hairline in a thick band, down his temples, and then abruptly turns the brush inwards to paint curving swipes across either cheek, more or less tracing the pattern of his facial stripes.
Jake keeps his eyes upwards, absently counting the amount of sticks on the ceiling of the newly-built hut, sometimes looking forwards to see Tsu'tey's green eyes narrowed with concentration.
A few moments later and Tsu'tey finishes painting over the last stripe, dips the brush in the basin of water to wash the remnants of pink off, and then dips it again in a jar filled with yellow paint. He paints a thin 'v', more or less, on Jake's forehead, the stems going wide at the top and curving back into his hair on his temples, just skimming the hairs of his eyebrows.
"Are we done?" Jake grumbles, his forehead itching from the drying paint.
"One more," Tsu'tey says, dipping the brush into a bright, white paint, and dabs it along his jaw and then paints two rows of big dots down either side of his neck until he reaches the glowing cord and stops. The dots mimic the lines of his own spots.
Tsu'tey sets the brush down and steps back a little to observe his work, deciding that it looks all right. He smiles, "Sayrìp uniltìranyu keng hu nìwotx 'opin tseo, kefyak?"
"Ngenga nìteng," Jake says back and rolls his eyes, half-heartedly returning the compliment. Though the other male is, no doubt, strikingly good-looking. "How much more do you have to decorate me?"
"Must cut this...hair," Tsu'tey says with disparagement, his nose wrinkling slightly in disgust as he picks up a piece of Jake's tangled and leaf-strewn hair.
Jake scoffs even as the other male grabs a sharp dark yellow shell from the various sized woven baskets on the floor, its edges keen enough to cut glass. "What do Sky People use to cut hair?" He asks in curiosity before instructing Jake to sit down.
Jake sits carefully, moving the sash out of the way to make sure he doesn't sit on it. "Depends. For the hair on the head we usually use scissors, which are like two metal blades that you hold and press together to cut the hair. Humans grow hair on their faces so we use something different for that; it's called a razor. And that's like a...stick with metal at the top, and you run it over your face and it cuts the hair off."
Tsu'tey wrinkles his nose slightly as he moves to sit behind him, grabbing the basin of slightly murky water from the floor, "Humans grow hair all over though. Do you have to cut hair all over everyday?"
"No, you don't have to. Men usually only shave their faces, and chests maybe. Women only shave their armpits, legs...sometimes other places...," a wry chuckle. "But it depends on the person. Na'vi are lucky, you hardly have any hair to worry about."
Jake winces minutely as he feels slightly cold water splashed against his head. Thankfully none of it slides down his forehead to wash the paint away. "I gave you a compliment and you splash me with water? What gives?"
"Is easier to cut this way," Tsu'tey says after he chuckles under his breath, pulling on Jake's queue when the other male starts to shake his head like a wet dog. "Do not move."
Jake stills and sighs in defeat as he feels the sharp edge of the shell being dragged against the side of his head, just above his ears, which flinch forward as a defense mechanism. Thick strands of hair tumble and fall off his shoulder with the movement. "You're not gonna shave it all, right?"
Tsu'tey snorts as he drags it back, the sharp edge pressing, but not cutting, into his skin uncomfortably. "That would look ugly. To have no hair is to have no pride. Only exiled Na'vi have it like that."
"Exiled Na'vi?" Jake questions as Tsu'tey moves the shell further up the side of his head, black hair continually being shorn.
"Yes. Na'vi who have disrespected clan, or each other badly, are exiled, and are not welcomed among the Omaticaya. They usually look for another clan, or make a clan of their own kind. Txe'lanyom is nothing but a clan of exiles, those who have left the ways of Eywa, and have forgotten love of the forest."
Tsu'tey finishes with that side and splashes more water across the other side, and then the shell is applied to his head again. "The clan that shot me?" Jake barely remembers it.
"Yes. They are all around in this forest, as not many Na'vi are usually here. It is the biggest clan of exiles. Here, they go against Eywa in the strongest ways, as this is Her land."
"Isn't there anything you can do about them?" Jake asks, and Tsu'tey shaves the last of the hair off the right side of his head, leaving it in a mimicry of Tsu'tey's own hair.
"No, it is not for us to do. Eywa will protect the balance of life, and Na'vi do not make war unless war is brought to them, as the Sky People have done..."
Jake reaches up to feel the side of his partly shaved head, and is surprised no stubble presses back against his fingers. Tsu'tey bats his hand away with the blunt end of the shell. "Not finished."
More water on his head, no doubt to wash away the cut hair still sticking to his skull. It feels colder against the now shaved skin. Jake wishes he could see it. "How much did you shave?"
"Less than mine," Tsu'tey says, reaching into one of the nearby baskets and pulling out a tangled mess of beads and flowers, muttering angrily under his breath as he carefully untangles the Tsahìk decorations.
Though the Na'vi had left very quick from Hometree, most of their culture had been preserved by putting many of their decorations, paints, weapons, and clothing items into these baskets. Even many strands from the Tree of Souls had been taken out by their root and kept safe. An ikran rookery resided not far away, allowing young hunters to complete that Rite of Passage. All in all, not a total loss.
Jake rubs his fingers over the cord around his neck, which had been preserved and passed down for the past one hundred years, each male Tsahìk wearing it. He figures that there are not many of these left after the Tree of Voices had been mostly destroyed. In fact, this might be the only one left.
"When can I listen to this?" Jake asks, interrupting the silence that had started between them, Tsu'tey busy tying beads to his queue and braiding what's left of his hair.
"You will listen during the ceremony," Tsu'tey explains. "What you will hear is different than any other Tsahìk has heard. The strand's voices...give you an idea of your future."
Jake looks down at the softly glowing strand with renewed curiosity; future? This thing could tell him the future? "Can't wait," he says sarcastically, not imagining good things in his future. Probably dying in another war with the Sky People. Though that, he figures, would be the best way to go.
Tsu'tey grabs a piece of hair from the top of his head, tying a short strand of orange feathers to it that trail down the back of his hair, then braids the hair near his queue and then ties those braids around it, creating the same knot that Jake had seen in both Neytiri's and Tsu'tey's hair.
"Done," the Na'vi announces after running a piece of Viperwolf skin over Jake's head to dry off the remaining water droplets. "Here," he hands him a square...mirror?
"Grace gave us this," he says, his words somewhat heavy from loss.
Jake snorts softly; even cold-hearted Tsu'tey had found it hard not to like the scientist, apparently.
He holds up the mirror in front of his face and tilts his head at the colorful image displayed back at him, eyeing the perfect lines of paint around his forehead and jaw. His hair is shaved about three inches from the top of either ear, and the hair at the top of his head is braided neatly, the very middle braid just a line of orange beads.
"Looks good," he says, putting the mirror back in the basket, looking up at Tsu'tey's now standing form to his right. "Not as girly as I expected."
Tsu'tey scoffs good-naturedly, his tail flicking wide to hit Jake on the side of his head.
The last remnants of light are fading by the time Jake steps out of the hut with Tsu'tey, feeling like a beacon with the glow surrounding his neck and the faint lines of bioluminescence and reflection from the sash.
Jake looks at the Na'vi beside him, finding it strange to see him without bracers on his arms and legs, without his bow on his back. While he seems to have been dressed up, Tsu'tey looks comparatively dressed down except for a few necklaces and a red strand of feathers braided in the back of his hair.
It almost makes him seen vulnerable, in a way.
It's windy, and the other male's long tattered animal-skin loincloth flutters around his legs. Jake's own plain tan one whips around as well, the beads tied to it clanging together and making 'clinking' noises. As he presses the billowing sash to his chest, he wonders if the announcement and wind are somehow connected.
"How we gonna do this?" Jake asks as he follows Tsu'tey through the forest.
"I have already told the clan to gather around Tsawlutral," Tsu'tey answers as they walk deeper into the forest, referring to the tree in which he was praying in front of earlier, the tree that watches over them as they pray in a group. "You will stay hidden, I will say some words, and then I will announce you as the next Tsahìk, and then you will come out and the ceremony will begin."
"How does the ceremony work?" Jake asks before he accidentally steps on a mildly poisonous thorny branch and nearly trips when pain shoots up his foot. Tsu'tey's right hand whips out and catches his arm before he can fall, the male Na'vi rolling his eyes. "Now is not a good time to hurt yourself, Jakesully."
Jake straightens and leans down to pull the several thorns out of his foot. "It's dark and hard to see, give a Dreamwalker a break," he says as an excuse-a pretty lame one at that, as he can see just fine because of the Na'vi's clear and enhanced night vision.
Tsu'tey probably knows that because he snorts and starts walking again, Jake following him and trying not to limp as the venom makes his leg tingle weirdly. "How does it work?" He repeats when he catches up.
"It will all happen in front of Tsawlutral," Tsu'tey starts, jumping gracefully over a fallen tree. Jake merely hops over, the tingling now fading into soreness. "Then you will listen to Aungia'telem, like I said before. But you must not tell anyone what you see, hear, or feel."
"I can't? I can't even tell you? Isn't it your future too?"
"You must not tell anyone, Jake. Is called Äie ay Stxong for reason. You can not even tell me. What happens is for you, only."
"Okay, got it. Don't tell anyone. What do I do after that?"
The way they are walking starts to become familiar and Jake realizes they are close to the tree, and is surprised to feel slightly nervous. The feeling heightens with each step closer.
"After is...connection to Eywa. You may talk to Her inside, for the first time by yourself. After this, you can speak with Her whenever you wish, if She is listening. If not, you will hear sounds like water falling to the ground which means She has not decided to answer your question, and She will tell you when it is time for you to know."
Jake murmurs, "Wow," under his breath, his eyes wide in wonder. "And after that?"
Tsu'tey turns his head to look at him, "After is bonding ceremony, and then it is done."
"Bonding ceremony? You gonna tell me what that is?"
"There is no time for that," Tsu'tey says shortly, coming to a stop behind Tsawlutral. "You will find out when it is time."
Several meters away Jake can hear the clan; faint whispers slip easily through the cool evening air, betraying that there are hundreds of bodies with expectant faces gathered on the other side of the tree.
Tsu'tey pushes back the braids that were blown into his face before saying, "It is time. When I tell you to come out you may say some words, if you want to. Think about what you will say," Tsu'tey advises. "Make clan accepting you as Tsahìk easier."
"There is no going back from this, huh?" Jake says, trying to push down the feelings of nervousness and apprehension.
"There is not," Tsu'tey agrees, searching Jake's shadowed face for a moment with his slightly glowing green eyes, looking for signs of doubt and hesitation, but finds none. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Jake says earnestly, and is taken back years ago, standing in front of the Recruiter's office door with his hand poised to knock.
Tsu'tey meets his eyes and bows his head slightly in acknowledgement, before walking around the tree to meet the clan.
Jake hears him speaking, in Na'vi loudly, and with the charisma and power of a leader. He presses his back to the tree, inhaling deeply and looking up at the stars as he waits for his name to be said, the wind blowing his braids over his shoulders and causing the sash to flutter against his skin with the beat of his heart.
Glossary:
'ompin- pink/magenta
Sayrìp uniltìranyu keng hu nìwotx 'opin tseo, kefyak - handsome dreamwalker even with all this *paint, right? (color art)
Ngenga nìteng - you too
Tsawlutral - lit. tall tree. is the Na'vi's tree they pray in front of and were clan meetings are held.
Aungia'telem - lit. sign cord. The Tree of Voices queue that has been passed down to male tsahiks for generations. Offers an experience and signs of the future for that particular tsahik.
Äie ay Stxong - lit. "vision of unknown." the vision/experience a tsahik recieves when listening to Aungia'telem