Direhorses of indigo bucked their beautiful slender heads as they carried their fair riders down a jungle path. Leading the party was Mo'at, who wore an ornate burgundy shawl. Neytiri was just behind, similarly dressed and maintaining a straight posture despite the bumpiness of the terrain. Kiri was lagging in the back with a heavy heart and lowered head.
Neytiri could not ignore the unhappiness of her daughter and slowed down to ride abreast of her. |"Cheer up, Kiri. Just think, you will be spending days in the fresh, open air again."|
Kiri weakly exhaled and bobbed her head.
|"Who knows, maybe you and Mother will learn new healing concoctions, and when you come back, you can teach me,"| she coaxed her with a shoulder nudge. |"You will like being with them. The Tawkami are a fine people. Your mother admired them greatly. They saved her life once, you know?"|
Kiri perked up in surprise.
|"It was back when I was a child. One day, a terrible consumption sickness befell all us children. And because your mother's Dreamwalker body was as young as a child, she caught the sickness too. All our symptoms pointed to syekalin flower poisoning, but it was not in season. So, unable to find a cure, Grandmother Mo'at travelled with Mother Grace to the Tawkami clan for aid. It was there the medicine women suspected the illness was because we were not inhaling enough of the syekalin."|
Being very familiar with the dangers of that infamous flower, the little botanist cocked her ears.
|"I was told, later on, that we were actually being afflicted by a different poison caused by the Skypeople, and the effects of the syekalin countered it. When Mother was training me to be tsahìk, she told me this full story to teach me how poisons don't have cures, but rather… Hmm..."| As Neytiri tried recalling the exact wording, Kiri tapped her hand.
"Opposites?"
|"Yes. She's been teaching you well, I see."|
She nodded proudly. "How did the Tawkami learn the flower was the antidote?"
|"By submerging your mother in a whole field of them. It was very risky, but it worked."|
"She sounds so brave to have done that."
Neytiri chuckled. |"Actually, my daughter, she was unconscious the whole time."| When the mother noticed the levity did not lighten the mood, she studied her daughter more intently. |"Do you not feel brave, Kiri?"|
She shook her head. "I run from danger."
|"Mmm. There were times when I've run away too."|
Kiri pointed at her. "You?"
|"Yes. I once ran away from your father when he needed me most. It fills me with shame to think about. I told myself I would never let fear stop me again, but to face my dangers with a strong heart."|
"I thought you never suffered fear. That is why I always wanted to be like you."
|"Me? I thought you wanted to be like your mother?"|
"But that is you."
Neytiri's brows slowly raised like the corners of her mouth.
|"I see the village ahead,"| Mo'at declared. |"Wear smiles, my children. Let the Tawkami see we are courteous guests."|
Kiri inhaled in preparation for the grin she had not the heart to make. They wound their way down into a clearing where they stood before the village entrance. A row of thin trees had a vine net threaded between them to form a protective wall against predators. As Mo'at stood in wait, a mesh curtain was drawn back by two Na'vi wielding long shepherd hooks. A golden ray of sunshine poured through the gap and fell upon the travellers. A Na'vi sentry stepped through the light. He wore a long grass skirt, and his hair was decorated with pointed flowers. Equipped on his belt were the Tawkami's weapons of choice: blades, poison darts, and green orbs that Kiri identified as blinding bombs. Despite his formidable trappings, he also wore an inviting smile and waved them on in before Mo'at had a chance to explain their coming. Surprised and delighted by this inexplicable welcome, she led her procession through the illuminated gate.
The Tawkami village was built on several elevated stories. High in the trees, planks were tied together to create large, interconnected decks, and on these decks, they built their huts of straw and clay. From their doorways hung cornucopias of different herbal plants, and over the homes were fruit-bearing branches that families would steward over. Nuts, herbs, melons, berries and citruses: it was an open greenhouse of cultivated plant life.
The three trotted down the gallery of huts, where Na'vi steadily emerged from their doorways. The moment the Tawkami sighted the Omatikaya princess, they smiled without inhibition. A woman carrying a basket of hewnesyulang petals grabbed a handful to cast them down, then more elated villagers began doing the same. In mimicry, children rushed to pluck up scattered leaves and giggled at the rapid twirl of their descent. The rain of flora slid off the sleek braids of Neytiri and Mo'at but were caught in the wild tufts of Kiri's hair. A man snapped a bough from his kxatwan tree and laid it on their path, followed by others who amplified the gesture. To the Tawkami, to sacrifice a limb from a fruit tree and set it before a visiting person was considered the highest form of greeting.
Mother, daughter and granddaughter continued on the path, now coated in petals, boughs and leaves, with no end in sight to the botanical shower. Villagers on the ground collected behind them as they made their way to the heart of the village, waving and signing greetings to Kiri. The maiden no longer had to force a smile, for her heart was now so light that it was impossible to stop.
They reached the center of the village and yielded before a conical-roofed hut built on the exposed roots of a great tree. Out stepped the Tawkami olo'eyktan. He wore a long collar of green straw that fanned down his chest and a crown of wavy maroon leaves. Tucked behind his ear was a pronounced red flower that drew your attention. When Kiri saw the young man, her stomach fluttered, for he was undeniably handsome. She blushed and looked away as the leader addressed her grandmother.
|"I see you, Mo'at te Tskaha ìtsu'ite,"| he greeted from his deck.
|"I see you, Syotxa' te Kìm Sre'itan. We thank you for this abundant greeting."|
|"We are most happy to have you among us. This morning our garden of tsom flowers all bloomed at once, and we are days before their florescence."|
|"That is an auspicious event, Olo'eyktan. Do you connect that with our arrival?"|
|"I would be a fool to ignore it,"| he laughed as he stepped down the roots to be at eye-level with his guests.
|"This is my family,"| Mo'at introduced. |"My daughter, Neytiri. And her daughter, Kiri."|
Syotxa' bowed to both; the latter hastily bowed back and hid her eyes. |"Why do you come to us, my friends?"|
|"I request a temporary stay for me and my granddaughter here. I am training her in the ways of tsahìk and wish to improve her understanding of botany. We, of course, come with tribute."| With her hand, Mo'at directed his sight to the rug strapped to her direhorse. Though rolled up, the leader could see the intricate floral patterns made of amber beads.
|"You flatter us, Tsahìk Mo'at, but even without your kind gift, I would grant you your request. Welcome to our village, Kiri."|
The girl looked nervously up at him and could practically feel her bioluminescence increase in shine.
|"Kiri is silent in the mouth,"| Mo'at explained. |"I will serve as her translator, of course."|
|"Sign language is not unknown to us. But I'm sure you are more proficient speakers. You may set up your tent beside that of my cousin, Pimwal. He speaks mostly through finger-talk."|
|"This is fortunate, then. Kiri will have one she can converse with. My daughter will ride back to let my clan know we arrived safely."|
|"Would you not stay with us one night, Neytiri, and join a banquet in honour of your coming?"|
|"Thank you, Olo'eyktan, but I—"| Neytiri stopped when she felt Kiri grab her hand. She stared into her beckoning eyes and relented. |"For a night, then."|
The Omatikaya teepees were set up quickly, thanks to the many Tawkami ready to help, and the trio were free to tour the village. Mo'at was keen on paying a visit to an old friend, so her family followed suit as she sought her out. During their walk, Neytiri observed how each florid Na'vi dressed like a walking garden. They wore either leis or hats of leaves, straw anklets or sashes of bark; though, what caught her eye the most was the special attention they paid her daughter.
|"Why do they take such an interest in her?"| Neytiri quietly observed to her mother.
|"The people value plants as much as she does. Perhaps they sense they are kindred?"|
Kiri entered a trellis tunnel where the resplendent sunlight passed through the thin leaves and dotted her skin with sun and shade. Dainty hands glided over the foliage, and it almost seemed to grow towards her. Light feet immersed into the loose dirt and excited the humicolous. Spores germinated by the dozen, and the eager sprouts sparkled all around her. The princess was feeling more and more at home in the Tawkami's enchanted kingdom, where even the greenery was congenial.
Mo'at brought Neytiri to the hut of her old friend. She stood outside the door of nets that pulled away to reveal an elderly Na'vi woman of strong vitality.
"Mireya!" Mo'at beamed.
|"Mo'at! I see you, old friend."|
Neytiri watched as the two took one another's hand in an embrace. Mo'at introduced her daughter and was ready to do the same for Kiri, but she was absent. |"It seems my granddaughter has taken off,"| she mused with disappointment.
|"Let her explore the village. I'll anticipate meeting her. Come in, come in."| She guided the two inside and began pouring tea for her guests. Mireya was a medicinal woman, and her home was filled with odoriferous herbs. Many were grown inside, fed by the skylight above, while others hung as sprigs drying over a low fire.
|"Will you be staying long with us, Mo'at?"| the delighted hostess asked, handing the two women their tea.
|"For a few days. I cannot afford to leave my people for an extensive amount of time."|
|"Are you still tsahìk?"| she quizzed, studying Neytiri curiously, who fidgeted under the gaze.
|"That is my role, still. It will go to Kiri."|
|"Ah, so that is why you bring her. The whole village is abuzz with talk of her."|
|"Why is this?"|
|"I cannot explain it. The mood of my clan has never been so elated before. It is like the sun finally came out after years of overcast."|
Mo'at rubbed her chin in contemplation.
|"And your tsom flowers?"| Neytiri asked after sipping her drink.
Mireya nodded. |"That was truly a miracle. We are eight sunrises away from their blossoming, and never do they do so all at once. When it happened, we all gathered, but none of us could solve the mystery. Then we heard of your arrival through the earth. It excited everyone."|
The tsahìk hummed. |"How peculiar."|
|"Tell me about this third member of yours, Kiri."|
|"She is my daughter,"| Neytiri explained, |"but not of my womb."|
|"Her birth mother?"|
|"You remember GraceOgusteen?"|
Mireya gaped at Mo'at. |"Do not tell me this Kiri is her daughter?"|
|"Born of her Dreamwalker body? Yes, but I regret to say GraceOgusteen passed away."|
The healer of many sunrises voiced a moan of pity. |"That is sad. GraceOgusteen may have been a Dreamwalker, but she was still a friend. I will never forget your devotion in helping her when she took ill. I always thought you were strange, Mo'at, for taking to the Skypeople like you do."|
|"It seems to be the trait of the Tskaha family,"| she replied, casting a knowing glance at her daughter, who flinched again.
|"Is Kiri's father also a Skyperson?"|
|"GraceOgusteen had no mate,"| Mo'at explained.
|"A woman does not conceive by herself. How could Kiri come about?"|
Neytiri shrugged. |"It is still a mystery to us."|
|"Their whole race is a mystery,"| Mireya jeered.
|"Do not forget my son is Rider of Last Shadow. And he is a former Dreamwalker."|
The princess pressed her mother's knee. She appreciated her defence but said, |"No, Mother, she is right. They are a mystery."|
Mo'at relented. |"By the way, I want to ask, Mireya, if you have recipes that help increase fertility."|
|"Mother!"|
The medicine woman blinked at the mate of Toruk Makto. |"Ah? Difficulty there?"|
Neytiri made a face and scowled at Mo'at, who told her daughter through her eyes that if she did not want it slipping out, she should not have reacted. The noblewoman blushed and looked away. |"My body closed off. I have been unable to conceive again after the birth of my only son."|
|"Do you stop receiving your menses?"|
|"No."|
Mireya did not understand what the issue was and looked to her friend, who concurred. |"I am sorry, Neytiri. My concoctions cannot aid what is not afflicted."|
|"That is what I keep telling you,"| Mo'at reminded quietly.
|"Mother, please, it is not Jake's fault,"| she whispered back.
Embarrassed by the argument going on, the tactful hostess politely interjected. |"Dreamwalkers are slightly different than Na'vi, but… I do have medicines that could help."|
After deliberating for a short while, Neytiri sighed, then said, |"What do you have?"|
Neytiri quibbled with her mother upon leaving the hut while occasionally looking around for her daughter, but it wasn't long before the topic of Kiri took precedence. |"She's been absent too long. I would like to find her."|
|"She would not have gone far, I think. Come, let us ask a villager. I'm sure they've been keeping an eye on her."|
The pair searched the village and asked around for Kiri's whereabouts, but all inquiries turned up nothing. When the mother began panicking, Mo'at calmly pressed the anxious forearm, theorizing that she might have simply gotten distracted while admiring the sights.
|"Is there trouble, visitors?"|
|"Olo'eyktan Syotxa', my granddaughter has not been spotted for some time, and we look for her."|
|"I have not seen her, either."|
Neytiri breathed hard and cupped her throat, trying to think, when an idea came to her. |"Where do you grow your syekalin?"|
The searching party sought out a clearing far away from the village. The field of tall grass was filled with white blooms, similar in appearance to Earth succulents with their small, overlapping leaves. They stood at the edge and discovered Kiri asleep among the hazardous flowers. Neytiri gasped and called her name, but the silent girl did not wake. She was about to run to her daughter when Syotxa' intervened, offering to go instead. He mounted a direhorse and braved the dangerous field, but when Syotxa' came up to Kiri's side and looked down, what he saw astounded him. He dismounted and carefully picked up the slumbering maiden, manoeuvring back to his direhorse with her riding in front.
Returning Kiri to her concerned family, Syotxa's attentions did not cease when he gently propped her against a tree. Neytiri patted the face of her daughter as she softly spoke her name. Kiri stirred, and when her eyes were fully opened, she gaped at the people surrounding her.
"Kiri!" Neytiri sang, stroking the untamed hair in relief. |"How do you feel? Do you feel sick? Woozy? Nauseous?"|
She was confused by their manner and shook her head.
|"What were you doing in the syekalin field?"|
Kiri perked up in shock and took in her surroundings. "Was I in there?"
|"You mean you didn't know?"|
"I was walking. I felt sleepy, so I lay down to rest. I didn't notice the flowers… Strange."
|"Strange indeed. Do you not feel ill in any way?"|
The teenager shook her head twice.
|"With how much pollen she inhaled, the syekalin's effects would show by now. Perhaps she is immune?"| Syotxa' spoke, and Kiri looked up in awe after he came to a stand.
|"The olo'eyktan had to carry you out of the field, you silly atokirina'. Don't you scare me like that again."|
"I'm sorry, Mother."
|"Perhaps I should have you sit out the banquet tonight and rest in case the effects are latent."|
Kiri bolted up. "But I want to go, Mother—please let me. I feel fine."
Neytiri looked to her own mother for answers, who said, |"She seems…unaffected. Perhaps Syotxa' is correct, and Kiri is immune. We will monitor her to be sure, but denying her the feast may be too drastic."|
Kiri thanked her grandmother with her eyes, and her mother relented, bringing her daughter in once more for a hug before escorting her back to the village. As the two women left, Syotxa' stepped up to Mo'at. |"Tsahìk Mo'at, when I beheld your granddaughter sleeping, I witnessed something unusual. Her kuru formed a bond with the earth, and the ground itself moved. She went up and down with it like a baby on a mother's chest."|
The spiritual elder took in every word of the mystifying account. |"Syotxa', may I request you keep this a secret?"|
|"Of course. I noticed the girl is shy, so I will ask my people not to crowd her."|
|"You are very kind, Syotxa'. Thank you."|
The star retired for the day, and the sky was a delightful pink, setting the mood for a merry evening. The Tskaha family were ushered to a clearing in the forest where all the Tawkami sat at flat log tables. Each group had their own fire they maintained as Na'vi roasted their bounty on skewers. Kiri, a fussy eater her whole life, enjoyed the variety and laced her skewer with vegetables, for the girl disliked the texture of meat. There was roasted ayapana and candied pxorna'lor seeds, mounds of delectable sliced fyonlor and whole pots of stewed fwampop. Mead extracted from the pa'liwll, a plant whose nectar was rich enough to nourish direhorses, was passed around in flower cups that Kiri accepted with a blush.
Then came the feast for the eyes. To Kiri's right and left, beautiful grass-skirted dancers emerged from the crowd, making their way to the front to begin their performance. It was a dance of slow, graceful movements, achieved by balancing strictly on their toes, and so unlike the wild Omatikaya dances Kiri performed. Moreover, she envied their silky hair and supple hands, their poise and charm, and overall comeliness. For all the Tawkami had to offer, the highlight of Kiri's evening was when Syotxa' and his men excited the audience with an acrobatic fire dance. Watching them twirl flaming staffs while wearing headdresses and anklets of dried straw was both terrifying and exhilarating. When the show ended, the guest of honour clapped harder than all the rest.
The festivities went on late into the night, and it wasn't until the last gourd was emptied before the Na'vi began to retire. Neytiri shared a teepee with her daughter, who was a little light-headed from all the mead.
"I like it here," she signed woozily, succeeded by a hiccup.
|"I am glad."|
"I like the totem."
|"Totem? What totem?"| Neytiri had difficulty understanding her daughter's drunken fingers. With a chuckle, she mimicked her inebriated signing while voicing, |"You drank too much."|
Kiri sloppily pushed down her mother's hand. "No. I like"—she hiccuped—"the olo'eyktan."
The mother beamed in delight. She pulled the blanket over Kiri's shoulder as she got into bed with her daughter, expressing, |"Finally, it's not a syaksyuk."|
Village life began before the sun finished getting up when the world was lit by the calm blues of early dawn. Shades were pinned back, and fires, relit. The gatherers waved goodbye to their families before heading out, and the greenskeepers went to work plucking grubs from their crops.
The sun was hardly peeking over the canopy when Neytiri, adorned in a shawl of warm purples, was ready to set out. She could only kiss her groggy daughter goodbye, for she was still sleeping off the hangover, then left to bid her own mother farewell.
Neytiri respectfully entered Mo'at's accommodations and discovered her absorbed in the activity of reminiscing.
|"Ah, I see you, my daughter. Will you be leaving early?"| Mo'at inquired, putting away her waytelem before Neytiri could apologize for the interruption.
|"Soon. I am loath to leave this beautiful village for a cave, but I am glad I stayed the extra night. I see from my own eyes that Kiri will be well off here. It will distract her mind from Spider."|
|"True. In fact, I have not seen her this jovial since the days before her Dream Hunt. The caves of High Camp have not given her enough room to grow. She is like a plant. She needs more sunlight."|
|"Maybe that's why the people love her so much,"| Neytiri mused, but her mood shifted into something more serious. |"Actually, Mother, I have been wanting to ask you about Kiri. You say it is to increase her training, but I suspect you brought her here for another reason. I know there is something unusual about her, and you know what that is. I'm convinced."|
Mo'at looked at Neytiri and deliberated on whether or not to speak up.
|"Please, Mother, tell me the truth about my daughter."|
|"You should hear this now,"| the elder sighed.
Neytiri's breathing became tense.
|"You remember the ceremony we performed for GraceOgusteen to transfer her animating force into her Dreamwalker body?"|
|"Yes,"| she mournfully recollected. |"She was too weak and died before we could complete it. It did not work."|
|"It did work."|
Neytiri's mouth drifted open as Mo'at continued in full seriousness.
|"I asked Eywa to preserve all that she was in her Dreamwalker body. I thought she would possess it, but Eywa had a different plan. She did go into the body but as someone who could one day walk among us—as one of The People."|
Her breath fluctuated. |"Mother…"|
|"I often think of my old friend and how sad the Skypeople made her. I cannot think of a better fate for her than to be reborn as a Na'vi. I'm sure it is what she would've wanted."| Mo'at smiled.
Neytiri bolted up. |"Are you thinking clearly, Mother? You mean to tell me Kiri…is…is—"|
|"Is all that GraceOgusteen was? Yes. You have been a mother to your mother."|
The woman weakly dropped to her knees and focused on her tsahìk. |"Are you certain of this?"|
|"You can always recognize an old friend if you knew them well enough."|
|"Why have you not spoken of this before?"|
|"Because Kiri must choose who she wants to be. Tell her she is GraceOgusteen, and you deny her the freedom to be Kiri. Do not share this with her. If she is meant to learn it, Eywa will make it known to her."|
Neytiri swallowed hard and palmed her hair. |"How is such a conception possible? Eywa has never—this is impossible."|
|"Not for our Great Mother. I, at first, thought this was the only mystery regarding Kiri, but I now think there is much more to this child than I first thought."|
|"Such as what?"|
|"I am not sure yet, but something exceptional is happening with Eywa's Child (Pandora), and your daughter is at the heart of it."|