Author's Note: I am really so sorry guys. I took forever to put this up. I wanted it to be longer as well, but I decided to just give it you guys because I don't want you to wait enough month. I went through a period of writer's block where I just didn't know what to write. Well I knew what I wanted to happen...I just couldn't put it into the right words. I hope you all are still with me, and I promise not to do anything like THAT, again :) So basically this, and chapter 18 are 2 parts originally meant to be one chapter...
Story Notes: there's definitely some fluff in this chapter! I almost put a kiss in, then decided I'm saving that until (possibly) the next chapter so it can be showcased properly. (this is the longest chapter yet, btw). Chapter 18 will be shorter but hopefully more happening - if you know what I mean ;)
Announcement! I have created an Avatar Slash website (free), so go over there and write my pretties! the link is on my profile at the top.
Tsu'tey had expected Jake to be in good spirits for the rest of the evening, but his painted face did not even bother to fake a grin. Instead, the Dreamwalker stares off into space often, his mind no doubt filled with things to think about. This bothers Tsu'tey, not only because the other male asks him to repeat himself because he wasn't listening, but also the way Jake looks so grim with his lips thinned and downturned, his eyes underlined with a somber expression.
"Kava?" Tsu'tey asks simply, his four-fingered hand wrapping around a clay cup of the drink and offering it to Jake. It's an attempt to lighten the mood around the ceremonial fire, where the new Tsahìk has sat for the last few minutes, once again wordless and his face shadowed with bad emotions.
Jake shakes his head.
Tsu'tey scoffs softly at him, tilting his head back and pouring the rejected beverage into his mouth. The spiciness of it tickles his throat on the way down, and the rush of intoxication makes his nerves tingle. "Laxoa and Omoru coming soon, Jake. They will wonder why you are so...serious," he says, for lack of a better term in English.
"Preoccupied," Jake mutters. "Worried, afraid, scared, quiet...sad." The high he had felt from the ceremony had worn off soon after it, replaced with the hard facts of the future. A future that was coming all too quick.
"Yes, and that." Tsu'tey moves to sit closer to him, stretching his legs out and leaning back on the palms of his hands, allowing the heat to seep into his feet. He curls his toes for a moment and sighs contentedly. "You do not face the future alone, Jakesully. You should know this."
"I know all too well," Jake says sarcastically, but silently appreciating Tsu'tey's subtle but endearing attempts to make him feel better. Knowing that the warrior would rather call anyone acting like him a sxkawng, it cheers him up to think about how close they've become over the last few months. He tries to remember if the person in the vision had been him-he's pretty sure it was-but it's faded now, the details slipping away from his memory just like the remnants of an old dream.
Jake's yellow eyes meet his and he smiles lightly, wordlessly telling him that the other male is fine and is glad for the companionship.
Tsu'tey smiles back, the fierce set of his face softening. The intoxication from the Kava and the warm feeling spreading across his chest makes him reach out his hand and clasp Jake's. The Dreamwalker starts, but then raises a playful eyebrow at him.
"Too much Kava Tsu'tey?" Since it's very early in the morning-Jake would estimate around one o'clock-the touch doesn't activate any embarrassing jolts. He exhales slowly and rubs his thumb along the side of Tsu'tey's index finger, feeling the calluses from years of using a bow and arrow.
"Not too much," Tsu'tey simply disagrees, looking down at their joined hands and examining Jake's extra finger. Though their hands are different, they fit together nicely, like puzzle pieces. Tsu'tey's tail swishes against the ground in happiness, aware that a sound is starting to rumble in his chest but he doesn't try to stop it.
Jake becomes aware that Tsu'tey's hand is vibrating just as he hears it as well. He looks up in confusion before he realizes, "Is that..? Are you purring?" Just because the sound reminds him so much of his cat when he was younger.
Tsu'tey doesn't look up but seems to accept Jake's English word for it. The sound thickens until the individual sounds are spaced further apart, rather than the fast paced humming. Jake snorts softly, but secretly likes the way it sounds; soothing and calming.
He finds himself trying to do it as well, but just ends up coughing from trying to make the elusive noise. "I can't do it." He should've expected that.
"Dreamwalkers do not have the parts to," Tsu'tey explains, the purr tingeing his voice and making the words vibrate in strange places. He hasn't been so happy in a long time.
Another fifteen minutes pass with little activity; Tsu'tey goes off to assist with something, and a few other Na'vi join Jake by the fire. He quietly converses with them, secretly wishing they could speak English as he has a hard time following the fast speech and keeps having them repeat things.
Something begins rumbling beneath his legs, a deep bass beat that shakes little pieces of white dirt, causing them to vibrate. Jake stills and then he can hear it as well, the telltale sound of drums from somewhere to the East. "Tsa lu olo' Laxoa," one of the Na'vi says on his left, his amber eyes widening as he looks towards the noise.
"Tìngay plltxe srak?" Jake asks, already getting up to go find Tsu'tey, who always seems to disappear at important times.
"Sran, sran!"
The Na'vi around him disperse with excitement, and the olo'eyktan himself finds Jake through the crowd, dressed again in feathers. "Jake, must come now, we are going to meet Laxoa."
"Yeah, 'm coming," Jake drops the cup of Kava carelessly on the ground and obediently follows Tsu'tey through the forest, other warriors tagging along with them. The drumbeats get louder as they get closer, until Jake folds his ears down tightly against the noise.
"Do they have to be so loud!" Jake yells at Tsu'tey, who's walking right next to him. The beat nearly makes his bones throb.
Tsu'tey yells something back and it's lost in the noise, but it sounds nearly like, "quit whining," to Jake.
Small fires from what Jake can assume are torches shine flame through the bioluminescent trees, making eerie reflections. And eventually, the members of both clans can see each other clearly.
Jake, Tsu'tey, and the other members of the Omaticaya stop, as does Laxoa. The drumming comes to a halt as well; the two Na'vi at the front of the clan with drums attached to their waists fold their sticks into one hand in a fluid motion, their earring-clad ears unfolding.
In the orange light of the torches, Jake can see that the Laxoa clan's clothing borders on barbaric; short, jaggedly-cut red loincloths are tightly wrapped around their pelvises, fragments of bones dangling from strings on either side. Knee-length sheaths on either side hold knives as long as Jake's forearm and more weapons are on their backs.
Both the males and females are muscled heavily, with broad shoulders and lean hips. Their dark blue eyes and angular faces are set fiercely, up to the tattered points of their ears.
Each has a black tattoo of a bow and arrow on their stomachs, with the bow to the left of their navels and the arrow itself slashing through it. Their black hair is long and loose, neither braided nor beaded but pulled back from their faces with twigs.
Bronze neckbraces match nicely with the piercings on their lips, nose, and ears that glimmer almost dangerously with the rise and fall of the torch's flame.
Tsu'tey steps forward with a nod to Jake, who follows suit. Pairs of blue eyes dart to him and he resists the urge to lower his eyes. The clan before them emits a sheer...presence, a charisma not unlike Tsu'tey himself. It makes the air crackle and sting, and Jake's mouth goes dry.
As the olo'eyktan and Tsahìk of the Omaticaya step forward, so does the pair from Laxoa.
The clan leader, when he walks forward, looks a little older than Tsu'tey. He is dressed as the others, but with a longer loincloth and his piercings are gold colored. His azure eyes regard them both for a moment before his mate joins him at his side, then they turn to her.
She possesses much beauty in her noble face, from her high cheekbones to her shapely pierced lips. A thick necklace made of leaves is wrapped around her small and slim waist, and when she walks the sway of her hips makes the leaves flutter.
"Oel ngati kameie, Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan," Laxoa's clan leader says. "Ulte ngenga nìteng, Jakesully. Tstxo lu Rimanan te Mataki Nabayitan, ulte fipo lu muntxate Lorkeya te Zapayo Xalibi'iti."
"Oel ayngenga kameie," Tsu'tey says, then thinks of Jake. "Plltxe 'Ìnglìsì?"
"We do," Lorkeya says. "I have learned from songs through Eywa, and I taught the clan as well." Her voice is strangely melodic, as if she were singing her sentences and not talking. Her large eyes look to Jake and she nods almost imperceptibly in respect.
"We have come to rest in atxkxe ay Eywa, if you will let us. We are tired from the travel," Rimanan says, blue eyes roaming over the members of the Omaticaya in front of him, no doubt making assumptions and judgments.
Jake frowns slightly, unable to stop his initial dislike from blooming; he knew this type. Straight up assholes. "You can stay here, and get some rack, but you better not cause any trouble with us." He tries not to put too much emphasis on the warning but his voice drops into a threatening pitch anyway.
Tsu'tey shakes his head at Jake even as Rimanan looks affronted at the warning.
"Nga tusti munge tìtxur io nga?" He murmurs at Tsu'tey, and some of his clan members chuckle under their breath. Lorkeya looks reproachfully at her mate, her gaze darkening.
"Fnu," Tsu'tey growls at him with his elongated canines flashing, his ears flattening and his face turning dark purple. "Rä'ä plltxe tsafya."
Jake watches the exchange of glares between them silently, wondering what had been said. Lorkeya laughs uneasily, trying to diffuse the tension, "Let us continue then?"
Tsu'tey sends one last lingering glare at the other clan leader before turning. "We will show you where you stay."
"What'd that guy say?" Jake asks under his breath on their way back to the caves.
Tsu'tey's tail twitches in irritation. "He spoke badly of you," he mutters after a moment, quickening his pace as the clan's clearing comes into sight.
Jake decides not to ask what exactly Rimanan said, figuring either it didn't have an English equivalent or Tsu'tey didn't know how to translate it. "He seems like a real jackass," he offers instead.
Tsu'tey chuckles. "He is...imma-ture, though he is older. But I agree that he is, like you say, a jackass."
The mild English swear word coming from a Na'vi's lips and accent sounds strange, and to Jake, downright funny. "You said a bad word," he snickers in a good natured way.
"The Sky People say them a lot," Tsu'tey justifies himself, the skin rising above his eyes in imitation of a brow-raise. "I am surprised they were not taught at school."
"So where'd you pick up cuss words from?"
"Grace." He smiles for a moment, then it fades as wistfulness hardens his face.
"Jesus, they are all fucking jackasses!" Grace says under her breath as she plops herself into her seat at her desk, angry again at the RDA soldiers poking around outside, guns raised and patrolling the area. Apparently, a student had lit a fire at their camp, and it had burnt through several months worth of rations and a few valuable pieces of equipment.
Grace had her own ideas about who it had been, but kept them to herself. Unfortunately, the men outside had taken it as a challenge, and were determined to track down the rebellious student. The guns made the children uneasy, and no matter how much she asked, and even begged them to go away, they disregarded her.
"Sa'nu," a soft voice asks from somewhere to her left.
Grace knows the voice, for the person who has it is the only child in class to call her sa'nu instead of sa'nok. She had chewed that thought over on many occasions, and had guessed it was because the boy lacked a mother himself and therefor she was his substitute. The idea tore at her heart.
"Yes, Tsu'tey?" She asks gently, taking a deep breath and willing her anger to subside.
The boy emerges from around her desk into her sight, his tail high and twitching in curiosity. "What is jackass?"
Grace laughs so loudly that Tsu'tey jumps. She doesn't know what to be more amused at; that Tsu'tey finally figured out plurals or the sheer innocence abound in the question.
Tsu'tey's green eyes narrow and his ears lower. "No laugh," he says, slightly angry at his teacher thinking the question was funny. The loud sound of tail 'thwipping' against the wooden desk stops her laughter.
"I'm sorry kalinyìp, it's just that...well...that word is a bad English word, like wiya or pxasìk. Young children are not supposed to say it."
"Oh. I will say it when old enough, then," the end of the sentence nearly rises in question, and to Grace it sounds like he's trying to make a deal with her. He continues, "I will say it when old enough...and you will not tell txopatute..."
"Tell them about what?" But Grace already knew, she had known who it was the moment she had heard. Though the children were young at around eight years old, they was knowledgeable enough to realize what was going on around them. But Tsu'tey, unlike the other students, albeit Slywanin, was brave enough to actually do something about it.
"Txep," Tsu'tey murmurs in Na'vi and looks around, afraid of the men outside overhearing.
Grace rubs her face, blowing out a puff of air through her nose. "Tsu'tey, you know how dangerous that is. You could've been killed. I don't like them either, but...sometimes you have to...you can't just...when..." She trails off, unable to come up with words.
"T'hasa says Sky People are demons," Tsu'tey says lowly. "That they kill trees and us. Why they no leave? Why they no leave us alone?"
"Oh Tsu'tey," Grace whispers sadly, and leans down from her chair to pick the young Na'vi up, setting him on her desk in front of her. "You're too young to understand."
Years later, when Slywanin and him had organized a few Na'vi together to burn down some machinery, and T'hasa and his father were both dead, he had thought he would die that day. Die the way he wanted; protecting his clan, die fighting the Sky People. He had even hoped for it, in the dark recesses of his mind. His life was empty.
But Eywa had dealt him a cruel card, and Slywanin was shot brutally in front of him. He had knelt over her, and an unspoken communication was sent between their eyes, her telling him that she had died happily, and not to remorse. He had gripped her hand a few moments after she had died, when the grip was no longer returned and burning copies of Dr. Suess books were all around them.
He had wanted to stay, to be shot as she had. A bullet sounded loud near his head, deafening him, but he still had felt the pain as the projectile cleanly took off a portion of his ear. The pain seemed to wake him from the daze.
That day, an unheard and unseen but very much felt force made him get to his feet, to sneak out of the school in the midst of the murder. He had turned around, once, to see Grace being held at gunpoint against her desk, her hands handcuffed to one of the legs and tears running in torrents down her face while she screamed.
His war paint ruined with tears, Tsu'tey had turned from it all and ran.
Then, at sixteen, he still did not understand.
Jake finds himself drinking more Kava later that night, with a few members of Laxoa. Their attitudes are a little different than most of the Omaticaya, more like Jake's own. In addition to speaking far better English than most of the blue-flute tribe, they are louder and more easy-going. He easily makes a few friends just talking about combat alone, nevermind opinions on the war between the Na'vi and Sky People.
To pass the time waiting for Omoru, Tsu'tey joins him some minutes later.
"Ah, Tsu'tey! It is good to see you alive and well," one of Jake's new friends says when the Omaticayan chief sits down.
"You two know each other?" Jake asks, confused. Indeed, the whole clan seems familiar with Tsu'tey. Jake had figured it was just because of scouts or messengers between the clans. But this seemed beyond mere reconnaissance.
"Of course! Omaticaya and Laxoa history goes back long time. Indeed, we used to have same Hometree before...some differences between the clans made us go our own ways."
"That was long ago, Atanyìp," Tsu'tey chuckles. "I was only five in Earth Time. Rimanan was not clan leader then."
"Yes, Nabayo was. It was better times." The last part is said under his breath and then he laughs slightly. "The last time I saw you was at your Iknimaya."
"What happened there?" Jake asks, trying not to seem too curious. He didn't really know all that much about the olo'eyktan, but he wanted to learn more.
Atanyìp snorts, "I am surprised your mate has not told you! He is a holder of many tales, yes."
Jake tries not to show he is uncomfortable with being called Tsu'tey's mate, and pretends to cough as subterfuge. Thankfully Atanyìp starts the story before it can be made awkward.
"Well, truth is, Tsu'tey was nearly killed! The ikran that had chosen him was one of the biggest I'd seen, with a matching temperament. I had thought he was doomed to die by this beast," he says, articulating with his hands. Jake listens with amusement, sending Tsu'tey a smirk.
"It was a challenge," Tsu'tey murmurs, trying to be humble.
"By Eywa, he had nearly been made the ikran's lunch. The connection was made just before Duri'sen's jaws could close on him. Then finally he was calm as all ikrans are after being bonded with their rider. The clans talked about that event for a long while after," Atanyìp laughs.
"So that was the start of Tsu'tey becoming the great warrior," Jake says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. The guy who had laughed at him and called him a moron when Jake had been trying to tame his own ikran.
Tsu'tey seems to recognize his own hypocrisy, "I did not try to kill myself by falling off a cliff, Jake."
"The only reason that happened was because you were telling me to "not be afraid", when I should've been! I shouldn't have jumped on Txur's back like a damn cowboy."
"Oh, so it is all my fault then?" Tsu'tey says with false indignation, smirking slightly.
"Of course it is," Jake says, lying on the ground and looking up at the stars, trying to stop himself from smiling at their bickering. "I could've had that done in ten seconds if it wasn't for you."
Tsu'tey scoffs, resisting the urge to pour what was left of his Kava over Jake's upturned face.
A few more minutes tick by in quietness, only broken when Tsu'tey and Atanyìp converse about the years before. Jake nearly falls asleep after he gets bored at finding shapes in the stars, the day's events catching up with him.
He's on the edge between dreams and reality when a piercing whistling cracks through the air, causing his ears to fold over in protection. He groans before opening his eyes and rolling himself into a sitting position.
"Omoru," Tsu'tey mutters, his lip twitching at the sound that stabs through his head, getting to his feet. Jake and Atanyìp follow.
Some time later, when the whistle fades to a low tone of some kind of instrument, the clan Omoru comes into sight.
The first thing Jake notices is that the clan is small, around seventy or so members. Something shimmers on each of them, and when he is close enough he realizes that a metal of some kind is used for their knife sheaths that dangle at their hips.
Fancy.
Jake's eyebrow quirks as he takes in the rest; neatly braided hair strewn with white beads and feathers, clean and well-cut loincloths untattered and unstained held with immaculate animal teeth, and bows and arrows on their backs that looked like they had been made by the finest bowyers and the keenest fletchers. The jewelry dangling off their loincloths makes Tsu'tey's beads and Jake's shells look like quartz next to diamonds.
Jake felt the most surprise when he looked at their faces.
They were all astoundingly beautiful.
Of course, Jake had always felt a sense of artistic appreciation when he looked at the members of his own clan, even the males, but each face of the members of Omoru looked to have been carved by Eywa's hands, immaculately symmetrical with big beautiful eyes and high cheekbones.
He heard a few of the males behind him chuckle and slap each other on the shoulder, commenting softly about a few of the females on the side.
Somethings never change.
"Kaltxì! Oeng ultxa si ulte set oel ayngenga kameie," Omoru's olo'eyktan says, stepping forwards, a smile on his face. A real, genuine smile. Jake can't remember the last time he's seen one of those. It's such a contrast to Laxoa's clan leader that he smiles himself. "Tstxo lu Ayersi te Sardi Fwekitan."
Ayersi is perfectly handsome, just as the rest. Even though he is likely ten years older than Jake and Tsu'tey, his face has a certain young look to it, like a wide-eyed child. His eyes are dark gold and his stripes frame his face like they were painted by an artist.
"Kaltxì," Tsu'tey replies, touching his fingers to his forehead. "Plltxe 'Ìnglìsì?"
"Oe si. One of the few, I think. Maybe the Dreamwalker will start giving lessons," he smiles kindly at Jake.
"Where is your mate?" Jake asks, looking around the rows of Na'vi before him, seeing no female about to step forward and tell her name as well.
"She is with Eywa now," Ayersi says, his eyes momentarily filled with the grief of a death long passed. "She has been for many years, in Earth Time."
"Ngaytxoa," Tsu'tey murmurs, bowing his head for a moment. "She is with Her now, in peace, at least."
"We have come to you, the Omaticaya, to have refuge," Ayersi says after a moment. "We were lucky to escape from the Sky People and knew that the only safe place left was atxkxe ay Eywa."
"You are welcome to stay here," Jake says. "Sooner or later we'll bring the fight to the Sky People."
"Thank you, Jakesully. I have faith that one day our planet will be free of them."
Tsu'tey and Ayersi nod at each other, and both the clans precede to go back to camp.
"Ayersi seems nice," Jake says as he sets out his lew'ewll in the fading light of the fire. Tsu'tey is already resting on his, his arms crossed over his head. "But that asshole Rimanan? Makes me want to punch him everytime I see him. He's just lucky the clans have separate caves."
"Ah, yes, would not want him to put a knife to your throat in sleep," Tsu'tey mutters sleepily before he yawns the third time that night, his long incisors displaying. He stretches too, lengthening until his fingertips touch the cave wall. Jake watches his bare abdominals flex for a moment before he looks away, finally placing the lew'ewll in the right spot.
If Jake had to admit it, he had been secretly putting his plant blanket nearer to Tsu'tey's the last month. He didn't really know why he did it. But it seemed the closer Tsu'tey was to him, the better he felt. The bond between them wasn't so stretched and just having Tsu'tey there, breathing and powerful even in sleep, made him feel more at ease.
Jake removes the blue sash and folds it, knowing he'll need help putting it on tomorrow. He takes off all the necklaces and places them on top of the sash. Having washed his face and neck of ceremonial paint in a stream an hour before, he rubs his face to ease some of the tiredness he feels before finally laying down.
Whereas there used to be a good foot of space between them, Jake and Tsu'tey were now a mere half an inch apart. If Tsu'tey had ever noticed that Jake had been getting progressively closer as the month wore on, he didn't mention it.
Jake yawns before rolling over onto his side so he can look at Tsu'tey, whose bright green eyes are half-lidded, his eyelashes casting streaky shadows on his cheekbones as the fire flickers out its dying breath.
"You should purr for the next hour," Jake says cheekily, blowing on Tsu'tey's face, knowing the felines he had owned had never liked it when he did that.
Sure, enough, Tsu'tey's face scrunches up. "Do not do that again. And why should I?"
"It'll make me fall asleep," Jake explains half-heartedly, smiling as Tsu'tey shakes his head and rolls his eyes.
A silence permeates before the familiar vibrating sound starts, softer than the last time he heard but equally, if not more so, soothing. Jake sighs in content, laying his head down in his arms. Right then, he would've started purring too if he could.
Glossary:
Tsa lu olo' Laxoa - that was clan Laxoa
Tìngay plltxe srak? - lit. "truth speak" meant to be "are you serious?" or "really?"
Sran, sran! - yes, yes!
Ulte ngenga nìteng, Jakesully. Tstxo lu Rimanan te Mataki Nabayitan, ulte fipo lu muntxate Lorkeya te Zapayo Xalibi'iti - and you as well, Jakesully. My name is Rimanan te Mataki Nabayitan, and this is my mate, Lorkeya te Zapayo Xalibi'iti.
Rimanan te Mataki Nabayitan - Rimanan of the Mataki (family name), son of Nabayo.
Lorkeya te Zapayo Xalibi'iti - Lorkeya of the Zapayo, daughter of Xalibi
Plltxe 'Ìnglìsì - do you speak English?
Nga tusti munge tìtxur io nga - does your bitch hold power over you? Tusti is made up, combination of words "sti" - angry, and "tuté" - female = angry female = bitch.
Fnu - be quiet
Rä'ä plltxe tsafya - do not speak like that.
Sa'nu - mommy.
sa'nok - mother.
kalinyìp - lit. "little sweet", sweetie.
txopatute - lit. "fear people", scary people.
Txep - fire
Atanyìp - name means "small light"
Kaltxì! Oeng ultxa si ulte set oel ayngenga kameie - hello! You and I meet and now I see you two.
Oe si - I do.
Ngaytxoa - I'm sorry.