III: Of a Feather or Relativity Theory (It's all Relative!)
Jake's eyelids fluttered open; he dismissed their heaviness and set about trying to rise without disturbing Neytiri who lay besides him. He groaned inwardly at having to leave his warm and soft position beside her, but a thrill in his belly and the cold pre-morning air sent shivers of anticipation down his spine. He would wake up Yawne today. Home tree was silent, thick with the sleeping whispers of hundreds of bodies, and lit with a soft blue green glow of Bladder lamps. Jake made his way as soundlessly as possible, but as he passed more and more sleeping bodies his excitement grew to the point where, annoyingly, he got one of Yawne's supposed "sneaking songs" in his head. Jake stopped, ducking up to a long branch; if he remembered correctly Peyral and Yawne had an actual woven platform to themselves, partly because of his status but mainly because Yawne's storms sometimes troubled him in the dead of night and he would have to rise and deal or his constant rolling, tossing, and turning might have sent him spilling out onto the floor a few hundred feet below. Jake had no idea how Peyral could withstand sleeping beside someone who wiggled so much, even if he did feel a slight pang of sympathy for his friend.
Jake knew what it was like to have nightmares so bad you had no choice of toughing them out, waking to remind yourself it was only a dream; no, he'd woken screaming- drenched with sweat and tears- before, knowing Yawne had the same troubles more frequently somewhat dampened his excitement at having been so close to completing his revenge… but that soon picked up again once he convinced himself Yawne would enjoy the joke. Besides, Peyral was a good woman as well as a good hunter, she was the most tolerable of his 'storms', nightmares, and eccentricies. If that was even a word, heh, Jake had to think up new words to describe Yawne. A thought which put a bounce in his step as he began to relish the idea of him being the one this time, this time, who turned the tables or tide; however that expression went. Jake was a little groggy, but he still managed to find the next bend which led to Yawne's platform, this would also be his chance to see the huge Na'vi sleeping like a ragdoll.
Jake went into hunter mode, his steps became lighter, more thoughtful and his breathing shallow. Yawne probably slept like a log, but a log with ears and a supernatural sense of warning… like… like a spider sitting in the middle of a web. Maybe his silver, web-like hair picked up vibrations easier than most because it was so light and full bodied and always draped about… Jake then had to battle sudden mental images of Yawne one, sitting in the middle of a silver web of hair that was way larger than his body and two, doing a shampoo commercial. He managed to hide all but a smile, and his toes dug into home tree as he lowered himself to his haunches. Jake's ears swiveled, forward, backward and he scented the air. He was as cautious now as if he was tracking a Yerik with Agoraphobia. This was it. This was the place; Jake slowly lay down on his belly, this was how Yawne did it, slithering up to the edge and then peeking over. Jake warred with himself on whether or not he should let his 'dreads' hang down. True it would more mirror Yawne's actions, but then it was kind of silly and not Jake's style.
Rife with indecision, Jake at least decided to crawl forward on his palms, elbows, and toes. Using a mix of Na'vi and Marine training he made himself as soundless as possible as he slowly inched his way forward. Just a few slivers of wood and Jake's victory would be assured; he didn't set his fingers first, instead trying to push his eyes before him so he could see Yawne's reaction if he was awake. Jake paused only briefly to bite his bottom lip with his front teeth to repress his laugh when he heaved himself forward gently to look over the edge. He was greeted with an eyeful of sleeping Peyral flat on her belly with her tail twitching. Of course. Why would Yawne be sleeping in his bed where he was supposed to be? "Oh silly Jake," Jake heard him saying, "Tricks are for kids." Jake sighed to himself and then turned around slowly; expecting to see Yawne, somehow having snuck up on him, sitting there on his hauch-, no, Yawne would be hanging upside down, grinning at Jake like a Cheshire cat. At least, so Jake expected.
Empty path greeted him and Jake actually felt a strange pang of worry; Yawne must have had an episode during the night and decided to run or hike it out. Peyral usually went with him during this, except when he forced her to stay behind. Jake turned to look back down at her sleeping form and was met with two large golden eyes inches from his face. Jake jerked his head back but managed to stifle his 'whoa!' before he realized it was only Peyral peeking up at him peeking.
"Oh, it is you Jake. I heard a sigh." She whispered and then slowly lifted herself up to his level. Jake bowed his head in defeat. "He is not here you know." she added.
Jake smiled at her kindly, "Well could you at pinch his tail when he gets back? Let him know I was here?" he said, trying to gently bypass the issue of his 'storms' being so bad they would rip him away from Peyral's side.
"No." she said simply. Jake goggled at her.
"At least tickle 'em, I got up all special…" he began to whisper but her reaction was blank so he let it drift; it must have been a really bad one this time.
"Jake, you will see him before I do." She whispered back. Jake starred at her blankly for a moment, then his hand came up and hit him without warning! The small face-palm clapped a tad loudly in the silence of the den.
Yawne couldn't have… not, there. "…all night?" Jake sighed between his teeth.
Peyral shook her head slightly. "No, he slept some." The tone of her voice added 'but not as much as I'd like' without her having to say anything more, slowly Jake plopped down on his back, letting his belly bounce in silence laughter. Of course, of course Yawne would be too 'excited slash afraid slash giddy with little girl giggles' to sleep for long. He'd probably made the climb in the dark, at his own pace, and was sleeping up by the waterfall…. Afterall, this was the day he was supposed to finally get his own Ikran. Jake sighed;
"I'm going back to bed."
…
Jake slowly led the few novice hunters behind him as they finally reached the apex. The climb was easier then he remembered, and shorter, but the excitement from the two young hunters behind him left no allowance for jaded nostalgia. The sun was high, the air clear and cool as they neared the thundering rocks; they had already made the dangerous jump to the long hanging vines which had been used for the purpose of connecting one island to another, on top of supplementing the mountains with the water supply needed to keep the impossible waterfalls flowing… along with rainfall too, maybe; Norm had explained it to him once, but he hadn't really been listening. When they reached the last stop before the actual nest however, Jake was surprised to find –or rather, not to find- Yawne. The silver haired Na'vi was nowhere to be seen. Jake's frown of worry deepened as he suddenly took scope of the surrounding cave. There were signs, a silver hair here, a disturbance in the moss there… Yawne had been there… and there was also blood.
Jake immediately crouched; why would there be blood in the cave? This was the safest location to cross over to the Ikran hatchery, no one had been attacked or hurt here as far back as anyone could remember, and Jake had talked with quite a few people about it. Jake tried to follow the flow of the signs, he wasn't as proficient as Neytiri, but he could at least get the gist of what had happened. Yawne had slept here, curling into a ball after sitting for a while over near the edge. Jake guessed he had been contemplating the risks and memories, but then something rolled him or he rolled back to the wall here. Jake knelt; there were what looked like deep scratches on this side. Something had missed him, probably by inches, and Yawne's movements were confused, rolling here, and then there, always moving… Jake lost sigh of his trail until one of the others found a huge swath of scratches, so large, Jake had missed it from its sheer size. Something, something big, had made a big fuss over here.
The gouges in the rock only solidified the idea that perhaps Yawne had tangled with it, maybe on its back? That would explain why his tracks disappeared, was he trying to tame it? Or fight it? Jake narrowed his eyes, and by a Na'vi trick, gauged the depth and width of the groves by splaying his own finger- thumb to pointer, he counted out a measure of six… then seven… then… ten. Jake paused in his mind's eye. This beast was huge; maybe as big as a… Toruk? Jake's eyes brow knit, Toruk had never been brazen enough to attack the Ikran rookery, there were too many adults who would swarm it to protect their nests. Plus, Toruk hadn't been seen this high in ages, which is why the Ikran began nested here in the first place. Jake's lips tightened, this was where the blood came in… Yawne was knocked to the ground here, close to the edge, and there was a struggle. Was there more than one! Jake tried to read what happened further, but as far as he could tell… this was where it ended.
Again one of the others found something he had missed, but it was a minute detail, hidden in the shadow near the roof. More deep gouges, a rush… so, whatever it was that had interrupted him, took him to the edge and… Jake gasped, running over and laying flat he pushed himself as far over the side as he could, looking down. Oh Eywa, there was sign below, Yawne had fallen with whatever it was attacking him over the side to a very long drop. Jake stood and whistled with his fingers in between his teeth. The other Na'vi looked at him worriedly.
"Look guys I'm really sorry about this, but I have to find out what happened to Yawne." He said, however there was no argument from anyone, though this was their ceremonial moment.
"I shall lead them." Jake's second for security, and just such an emergency, said from behind them, "Please make sure he is alright." He added. Jake nodded even as his own Ikran landed heavily beside him. Jake bonded and was off; he instructed his Ikran to float downward, circling to give Jake an idea of what happened. It was difficult from the back of an Ikran, but he finally understood then that Yawne had not fallen to his death, thank goodness, the trail skidded on the face of the mountains a long way down but then stopped abruptly. So whatever it was he was fighting, Jake believed it to be an Ikran of unusual size now, had born him aloft. Perhaps Yawne had made the bond? Or maybe the animal was scared from the fall and broke away, taking Yawne with him? or maybe Yawne was hanging dead from it's jaws… no, Jake reasoned, if it had killed him it would have taken him back up to the flat cave to feed instead of carrying him a long distance, or landed near the ground. Jake thought the latter.
Jake was willing to bet anything Yawne had pulled through, like he always somehow does, and managed to bond or at the least, ride whatever it was that attacked him. Yawne was not the type to try and tame an Ikran on his own, not without the others; he would have stayed and even gone last just in case anyone needed his help and for the fact he was nervous about hurting his Ikran. Jake searched in a wide arch for a while yet, it was difficult to find further sign, especially if they were air born. However, Jake spotted a red flash below him- blood fallen on the leaves from above. It left a spotty, macabre story in its wake. Jake couldn't even imagine the twists and turns it took for the path to continue as it did, Yawne must have been fighting for his life for a good hour. Slowly the bleeding trail lessened and then stopped, thankfully, and Jake realized with a start that it was in the direction of Hometree. Jake hiked into full gear, letting loose a shout to power on his Ikran through the air back home. Maybe Yawne, made it, maybe he tamed an Ikran in mid air and took it home. Maybe he hadn't bled to death…
…
When Jake neared Hometree he was startled by the sight; Ikrans circled, jeering irritably, angrily cawing and hissing in annoyance where they usually roosted. Jake was nearly breaking his teeth they were clutched so hard, but the moment his own Ikran got close enough it too seemed to catch the scent of something and send a race of fearful and outraged thoughts back at Jake. Jake had to power through these thoughts and emotions and force his Ikran to land as close to the tree as possible, there was already a crowd standing in a circle and Jake could only guess who was at the center. The moment he was away from his Ikran it took off to join the others circling over head, the small crowd parted for Jake but the first thing he noticed was some of their faces. They were… holding back laughter? Jake jerked to a stop mid step; what was going on? Jake pushed past it and moved to the center where Peyral and Neytiri were sitting beside a very tired and worn out looking Yawne. His face was even more ashen then his normally pale blue grey complexion accounted for.
There were a great deal many cuts along his arms and back, but they weren't serve, just numerous. Neytiri stood as he came near, but Yawne didn't look up, he was… almost… ashamed? Peyral was comforting him with soft words. Neytiri pulled near to whisper to Jake.
"My Jake, there is a very serious problem here." She said, glaring at those behind them who again snickered slightly. Jake turned and scowled at the group, giving them his best Toruk Maktou stare, they in turn bowed their heads and quickly left in silence. Once they were alone Jake turned back to Neytiri, before he even asked Neytiri pulled him away slightly, keeping her voice low. "Yawne has done something… unprecedented… among our people." Jake's worried frown returned, he looked to both Yawne and Peyral as Yawne covered his face with his hands in anguish.
"Did he… kill his Ikran?" Jake whispered, but Neytiri shook her head.
"No," she said. "he did not hurt them." Jake sighed in relief, he didn't know how Yawne could have coped; the already tragic life of his, and his worry about hurting the one that chose him, had himself couldn't imagine the pain of killing his own Ikran accidentally, it would ha- "Whoa, wait. Them?" Jake's eyes doubled in size. Neytiri nodded stoically. Suddenly a high pitched peeping sound erupted from behind Jake and he was startled to see a very odd sight indeed. An Ikran chick came flying forward with a fish in it's mouth to land between the legs of Yawne and drop the fish in his lap… quickly followed by a second fussing Ikran that was much larger than a normal Ikran with another fish who also landed between his legs and dropped the fish into his lap, scolding its predecessor. The first was too small to be ridden but larger than a Tetrapteron, making it a formidable size with a wing span as wide as Yawne was tall. The second one was a good riding size, especially for Yawne's width, if not a little too big. They both huddled together, vying for his attention, oblivious to Peyral and chattering happily.
"I'm a filthy pedophile!" Yawne burst into tears, shoving his face into his hands. The little Ikran chick, nudged his fingers seeking attention and he suddenly reached out hugging the little beast to him sorrowfully, though they didn't shy away from his touch at all and seemed to enjoy the hug even as he wept between them. They were both practically identical, probably twins, and the brightest neon blue with dappled light blue markings and soft white undertones. Jake stared open mouthed, then looked back to Neytiri who looked, slightly angered.
"He... with both?" Jake nearly gaped. Neytiri nodded curtly, but did not share the sudden rush of mirth that lit up Jake's eyes. Jake couldn't hide the smile, though he turned from Yawne, and he tried to suffocate the sudden images of Yawne surfing on the little Ikran through the sky -because that would be the only way he flew on the little beast until it grew up- by reminded himself Yawne had been worried about bonding with an Ikran, it was for life, and you only got one. Jake turned then, his face steely. "How did this happen?"
Yawne sniffed pathetically, "Well when the second one jumped me in the cave I didn't really have a choice; she wouldn't let me escape, so I had to bond with her to keep from being eaten. Then just after I made the connection and was taking her to fly her little brother jumped me from behind, started clawing my back and biting into me- that was why she was attacking me, to protect her younger brother, but then I was being rolled in the sky while trying to seal the bond in first flight and the next thing I knew I was being chewed on. What was I suppose to do! He wouldn't let go, and I was now struggling on the back of an Ikran a few hundred feet in the air. I didn't want to hurt him, and I couldn't get them to leave me alone, so I broke contact and bonded with the one trying to bite through my neck, he stopped but then the other one dived bombed both of us in hitting me from the front. I-I I panicked! It was literally at my throat, so I, bonded with it too. I just wanted to calm them down! I didn't mean to, to, …!" but Yawne fell into huge sobs again, apologizing to the little chick profusely even as they both snuggled happily against him.
Jake turned to Neytiri in shock, "You can bond with more then one at a time?" he whispered.
"Not usually;" Neytiri frowned, "but he is very young Jake, he has shared the Imprint with him, like he was his parent." Jake sighed, doing a quick step away and back. This was terrible, none of the Omaticaya had two Ikran's at one time before, and especially not a chick but Yawne was technically blameless; they had technically chosen him, by attacking him. Could he keep two Ikran like this though? It had never been done so wh- "Whoa wait, I count… three?" Jake doubled-taked. As if on cue, a great rush of wind buffeted them all, making Jake and Neytiri turn. Jake nearly cried out as the single most largest, scariest, angriest, meanest looking Ikran he had ever seen landed not five feet from him. It fixed him with three eyes, a massive scar took out the other one, the left, giving it a dead white sphere. It was colored a deep black with grayed markings from ageing. It was obviously a very old adult, but well muscled and extremely vital. With a resounding plot it dropped a dead Dinicthoid on the ground and proceeded to hiss at Jake and Neytiri with a very guttural rumble.
Yawne came between them quickly, speaking in Na'vi to calm it, which oddly enough made it silence immediately and nudged him lovingly. Jake starred in open mouthed awe. The Ikran could have given Toruk second thoughts and, as the numerous scars upon its body suggest, it probably had. This beast was ancient compared to the rest of the Ikran and it looked weathered enough for several generations. "My Jake, we have never had a 'Cave Ikran' among the people, let alone a family." she said in a low voice. "But Yawne can not send the mother away, he has tried." Jake looked back at her blinking in confusion.
"Cave Ikran? Why would he want to send it away? It's almost as big as Toruk! He would bring great honor to the people, and would be damn useful in a hunt or a fight… wait, mother?" Jake said, loudly enough for Yawne to hear, but Neytiri pulled his attention to her.
"They are very rare, very solitary and too dangerous to approach, they do not get along well with regular Ikran. They take longer to raise a family, and stay with their children too long to be practical." she lowered her voice, "and they are very pushy." She said wearily looking at Yawne trying to keep his third Ikran calm.
"Pushy?" Jake narrowed his brow. Neytiri nodded.
"Treats Rider like family, not partner; if older Yawne is parent, if younger he is child. Very clingy, very protective… very… affectionate." she said with a hint of worry, Jake was mystified.
"So you're telling me, Yawne bonded with a whole family of Cave Ikran and she thinks he's her son now?" Jake was reeling, Neytiri nodded regretfully.
"Hometree will become their new nest. They will all try to sleep beside him, feed him, and bathe him until all are old enough to begin a cycle again. It will be very troublesome for him and Peyral." Jake's jaw just hung open.
"Bathe him?" he winced, unbelieving. Jake turned to see Peyral was also being 'snuggled' by the sibling Ikran's. "It won't be dangerous for them, or the People will it?" he asked quietly.
"Not unless one of her children is harmed. Cave Ikran is very loyal, and very intelligent; she will bring Yawne and Peyral food, littering for their nest, and make worry the other Ikran a long while, but she will not attack any of them or the Na'vi unless provoked." Neytiri sighed.
"But there is nothing we can do about it?" Jake said tepidly.
"Not unless we wish to kill them all my Jake, no." Neytiri said pointedly. Jake finally, after hearing it would only really just amount to an inconvenience for everybody but most of all Yawne and Peyral, slapped his hands to his thighs and burst out laughing; partly in relief and partly sheer absurdity at the situation and thought which just struck him. Neytiri, Peyral, and the Ikrans, fixed him with curious looks but Jake waved them off as if it was nothing and turned to Yawne who was still endearingly blaming himself for the whole ridiculous business with a guilt ridden expression.
"Oh man." Jake smiled brightly, "looks like the mother-in-law is moving in."