Kiri skipped down the petal-covered lane under swaying boughs beginning to flower and up the spiralling roots into an elevated cavity surrounded by ancient trees, where she met with the Tawkami elders; among them was Mireya. Kiri was nervous but bowed her head to the seven.

|"We are glad to have you with us, young Kiri,"| an imposing woman spoke. |"Since we have no tsahìk to teach you, we, seven, of the ways of healing shall remember our friend, Mo'at, and pass on to you our knowledge. Come, sit."|

She signed her thank you and obeyed.

|"The place you are now in is one of the oldest groves in the world. The memory of these trees extends far, far back. They were saplings during the Time of The First Songs."|

Kiri gazed around the still meadow of pxayzìsìt with new, adoring eyes. Their stocky blue trunks were pimpled and withered with age, tapering into boughs that curled without restraint. Its maroon leaves could be mistaken for ribbons, draping over the branches in scant places like the hair of a balding elder.

|"To ensure their survival, we, Tawkami, have always trained the next generation on how to care for this grove. We feed the trees. We water the trees. We scribe their wounds and prune the death. But the most crucial task of all…is that we sing to them."|

Kiri swayed her head curiously.

|"To sing to them is an integral part of this caregiving. The same reason a mother would sing to her baby. We nurture our charge by speaking life into them through song. We shall teach it to you."|

Kiri waved her arm no and bunched her hand before her mouth, reminding them of her disability.

|"We will still have you learn the hymn so it is not forgotten. Listen well."|

The seven closed their eyes and calmly breathed themselves into a deep meditation. Their relaxed bodies—not resistant but flowing—synchronized with the energy seeping into the cavity, letting themselves be as the branches and their ears, as the leaves. Kiri awaited with building excitement for the song that had already begun. It crept from the bottom of their throats in a hum so subtle she mistook it for the wind, and just when she thought she understood what was happening, their rolling voices dug even deeper, and her whole body trembled. All seven maintained the same resonating note until one began the first psalm. The visitor could not decipher the words or determine if they were words at all as they rose up and married the whistling breeze. When the sweetly spoken verse concluded, the singer returned to humming, and their neighbour succeeded them with the next verse.

Kiri could physically feel the energy move within her as they sang. Chancing to look upon her arms, she discovered her bioluminescence was pulsating; the light of her freckles were dimming and increasing in waves—a miracle not of her doing. She was so fixated upon this phenomenon that she did not register right away when her glowing limbs began to levitate. By no mental command, her opening palms were pulled, like the heliotropic sunflower, towards the morning star when, all of a sudden, they dropped, and she was once again in control of herself.

The elders had finished.

"It was strange, Grandmother!" Kiri was sitting before Mo'at in the village centre for the day's midmeal. "My arms began lifting—like this. The glow of my aysanhì kept changing—like it was breathing! Has this happened to others?"

|"Not to my knowledge,"| Mo'at answered, handing her the spartan fruit Kiri pointed to. |"Have you ever experienced other strange sensations before?"|

Kiri took a large bite out of the messy delicacy that exploded with juice, then wiped her mouth. Her answer was a default shake of the head but stopped the motion when thinking it over. Setting down the fruit, she signed, "Yes, once. When the clans went out to fight the ground eater—when we were praying."

|"What happened?"|

Kiri pursed her lips, trying to think. "I do not know. I felt weird as I prayed—like I was not in my body."

Mo'at rested her head on her fist. For every piece she got to the puzzle of Kiri, the picture only got bigger. |"Not in your body… You mean, like a Dreamwalker?"|

She raised and dropped her shoulders.

|"If you felt like your animating force was not in your body, where was it?"|

"I do not know. I only know I could not move."

|"What about when we found you in the syekalin field?"|

Kiri had taken another bite and was munching on the pulp as she signed, "I don't know how that happened. I was walking. I felt very calm, and then you were there, waking me up. I must have fallen asleep."

|"When Syotxa' found you sleeping, he said the ground was moving beneath you."|

Kiri's eyes bugged out.

|"You were not aware of this?"|

"No!" She waved her hand. "What else did he say?"

|"That you formed a bond with the earth itself. Do you have no memory of this?"|

Again, Kiri shook her head.

|"Did you dream at all during this nap?"|

The question welcomingly sent Kiri into a pleasant memory. "Yes. I was with my mother, Grace. We were… We were walking in that same field—hand-in-hand. I was very happy."

Syotxa' joined their party with a polite bow to Kiri and Mo'at. "Oel ngati kameie."

"Oel nagti kameie, Syotxa'. Ngaru lu fpom srak?"

"Srane," he answered and was offered to sit next to them.

Kiri was very nervous when the man's eyes creased in happiness as they met with hers. "How is your stay with us?" he signed to Kiri.

When the women saw him using finger-talk, they exchanged looks of surprise.

"It has been very good," Kiri signed back with elation.

|"Syotxa', I did not know you, too, used sign,"| Mo'at observed.

|"I know a little,"| he replied, still using finger-talk. |"My cousin was born with bad ears."|

Kiri tapped his knee to bring his attention to her and signed, "Then I will go slowly for you."

"Irayo." He smiled, and Kiri's heart fluttered. Mo'at read the body language with approval and knew what to do. |"Kiri, I wish to go and speak with Mireya. Will you be comfortable with being on your own for a while?"|

She didn't look sure. "I suppose."

|"I will show you around my village,"| Syotxa' offered.

Kiri insisted frantically that he needn't trouble himself, but he chuckled that it was hardly an issue; however, it was the reassuring nod from her grandmother that allowed Syotxa' to bring Kiri to her feet and escort her away. Mo'at was pleased; the olo'eyktan was not abrupt with her granddaughter but very attentive and could rest easy knowing that she would be in good hands.

Syotxa' led Kiri to where their herd of ayfa'li (direhorses) drank. It was a muddy clearing with many running streams that sparkled like diamonds, and the breeze carried the scent of rich soil. Kiri's toes sunk into the clay as she and the olo'eyktan strolled along one stream. The animals ahead were tucking their elongated tongues down pa'liwll flowers to drink the rich nectar. Syotxa' stopped by the edge of a puddle and whistled thrice. A direhorse trotted over and bowed its head for him to rub; Kiri stroked the chitinous blue crest of the graceful equine. |"This is Tamen. I raised her since a foal after a palulukan killed her mother."| The adopted orphan gazed into the yellow eyes to offer her empathy when a green head snuck in to groom Tamen. Syotxa' let out a faint laugh. |"That one is Fwäkì—her mate. He is very jealous but very tame."| After giving the beast a few pats, he looked at Kiri. |"Do you wish to ride with me?"| Her smile was as unpreventable as the shine of her freckles, and she bobbed her fist, but before she could make the tsaheylu with Fwäkì, one of dark blue came cantering into the glade. The herd, directed by the aggressive whinnys, moved back, and Syotxa' immediately pulled Kiri out of the way. With full command of the stage, the stallion lifted its powerful knees high and ran about in circles, furiously kicking the air.

|"That is Vawmpin,"| Syotxa' explained with an irritated sigh. |"He is the alpha stallion. Keep away. He's very annoyed, again..."|

Vawmpin bucked his head and rammed into other direhorses to force them away from the outsider.

|"He is a bully,"| Syotxa' continued before noticing that Kiri was no longer by his side but making her way towards the alpha. The alarmed olo'eyktan steered to make a move, but his hands were tied—she was already in the danger zone. Doing his best not to startle the animal, he tried calling her back through whispers, but the princess of a wild kingdom raised her hand—she knew what she was doing.

When Vawmpin made eye contact with Kiri, he went perfectly still and then moved to face her head-on.

|"Kiri, come back!"| Syotxa' strained in a low voice.

Rather than heed his warnings, she held out her palm to Vawmpin, whose spiracles vibrated from his powerful exhales as he contemplated the sphinx. A hoof went before a hoof, and the animal approached. Syotxa' was on pins and needles. She was engulfed in the shadow of the burly chest when the unpredictable creature reared high and brought down its bludgeoning hooves.

Syotxa' was struck dumb, not even believing his own eyes that had just witnessed their alpha stallion submit its head into the girl's palm.

Before the olo'eyktan could learn what sorcery she used to tame the creature, she was already forming the bond and signed at Syotxa' to hurry up and mount Tamen, for she was eager to fly. The alpha's wild start galvanized the entire herd to break rank and follow suit. Thrown riders wiped the mud from their eyes to only see the back end of their shrinking mounts and a bouncing blue tail.

Embracing her request, Syotxa' lept onto Tamen and galloped behind the princess, who was riding through the jungle with a herd of nearly a dozen trailing behind. They crashed through a river and followed the watercourse, innocently startling a flock of austrapedes. The flightless orange birds kicked up their gangly stilts and flapped their featherless wings to escape the oncoming herd as the thunder of hooves continued to roll downriver, warning every animal to fly, for there was no stopping a pa'li once filled with the passion to run. The direhorse was the truest symbol of freedom; they had not wings, but when their powerful legs sent them into a gallop, it didn't matter.

Lost in the fun, the girl's beating lungs worked their hardest to stay ahead of the others, and her six mighty legs pounded the earth to propel her forward. River silt splashed against the pixie's face, and she whipped her hair around to shake it off, leaving behind streaks of mud on her smiling cheeks. They neared a set of rapids, and Kiri bravely leapt Vawmpin through the gauze. His armoured feet found and skipped down levels of gushing water, hurdling a rainbow in splashing victory. Behind her, was Syotxa', trying to keep up. His eyes widened at the obstacle, but without time to decide, he arched forward and shouted, "Sivako!" In one jump, Tamen cleared the rapids. They landed in the river, still running, barely escaping the storm of others about to do the same.

In the distance, vein pods, dislodged by the tremor, floated away from their branches, reaching the sky, to then explode like a firework. Their bursting claps joined the roar of racing, and all of the jungle shouted with joy.

While Vawmpin and his herd settled down to rest on a quiet shore, their riders departed for a hill overlooking the Tawkami village—an outlook which granted a spectacular view of the floating mountains in the distance. The pair sat among a sloped field of Angel Bell flowers. Their bluish bulbs were transparent like fogged glass, letting one view the coiling stamens inside that bounced like wind chimes in a breeze.

Syotxa' proudly pointed out all the areas of his village and explained the facets of their simple but idyllic life. |"Over there is where we refine the nectar. We set it in pots, sealed with wax, then bury it in the ground to let it ferment. The result is some of the sweetest mead you've ever tasted."|

"I know. I had some at the big feast." She blushed, remembering how much her head hurt the morning after. "I really liked your dancing."

|"The fire-twirling? Oh, I was not as good as Lua'kem,"| he downplayed.

Kiri protested. "No. You were amazing."

He took her compliment to heart. |"Thank you. You are a great dancer, yourself."|

Kiri was puzzled; she didn't remember being that drunk at the banquet.

|"I was there at the big celebration after our clans defeated the ground eater. Remember?"|

She flushed with embarrassment upon realizing he had seen her and bobbed her head once.

|"You moved like the wind. I thought you were one of the best dancers I had ever seen."|

In a nervous tick, her hand reached to stroke a lock of hair as she shyly listened to the young leader's praise. She waved her other hand nervously as she did not want to hear more despite wanting to at the same time.

|"I have never met anyone quite like you, to say nothing of how easily you tamed Vawmpin."|

She shook her head. "I did not tame him. I asked him to be my friend."

|"You asked him to be your friend?"|

"Yes. I always have to ask. Otherwise, I do not know if I am friends with someone or not."

"Do you want to be friends with me?" Syotxa' signed.

The maiden smiled her absolute widest. "Yes. I would like that."

The man laughed gently at her straightforward nature. |"It is unacceptable of me to have not heard of you before."|

"No, no. It is not your fault. I am simply not as heroic as my older brother."

|"Still, you are the daughter of Rider of Last Shadow."|

"Adopted."

|"Does your family see it that way?"|

Immediately, Kiri quivered her hands. "No! They treat me as if I am related by blood."

|"So why the anonymity?"|

"I…" Kiri stalled. "Do not go out often." She grimaced upon realizing how pathetic that sounded.

|"I understand. I am the middle of two brothers. I am not as well known as them or as skilled."|

"But you are olo'eyktan."

|"Our previous leader selected me to succeed him, for he thought I was the most balanced. I take pride in my role, but I do not always feel like I am the best at it."|

Kiri snickered. "My father is same way."

"Toruk Makto?" Syotxa' gasped.

Kiri shut her hands and ducked them into her lap, thinking, perhaps, she should not have expressed that.

|"So, even he has doubts? Do not be embarrassed, Kiri. This won't leave our circle. It actually makes me feel better."|

After hearing that, Kiri felt it was safe to bring up her hands again. "I would not be thinking you had doubts."

|"Why not?"|

"You seem so confident."

Not hiding his smile, he leaned in and uttered, |"I will let you in on a secret. It's all in the hat."|

She snorted and tried to suppress it, making Syotxa' laugh with her.

|"But it is true. You dress with confidence, people see you with confidence. It is all in how you carry yourself."|

"Then I will wear a squid fruit."

|"You would have to be very confident to stick that on your head."|

Kiri relaxed the more they had fun when suddenly it reminded her of being with Spider. Syotxa' immediately noticed the change in her face. |"What is wrong, Kiri?"|

"I miss my friend," she admitted. "He was captured by the Skypeople."

|"I am sorry for your friend. May Eywa watch over him."|

"Thank you. It makes me sad to have him gone. He was my world. He would use finger-talk and called me—" She tapped her two fingers to her mouth to finish her sentence.

Syotxa' copied the gesture so as to remember it. "May the paths of Kiri and friend cross again."

His silent words touched her. In return, Kiri allowed more of herself by tucking back her hair, then looked into Syotxa's comforting eyes. "May I give you a sign name?"

He bumped his fists together for a cordial yes.

Kiri raised her right fist near the side of her head to fan out all her fingers, letting her hand bloom like the flower behind his ear. She then transitioned to pinched fingers before her brow, sweeping them his way.

He tapped his lips twice and returned the gesture.

Back at the Tawkami village, Mireya had completed tending to a child and was exiting the home when her attention shifted to an approaching friend.

|"I see you, Mireya."|

|"I see you, Mo'at. Is there anything you need?"|

|"I have a request. The cavity you brought my granddaughter to— may I see it?"|

|"You may. It is a sacred site, but as we have allowed Kiri, I see no reason to not allow you."|

The two elders traipsed into the dark woods located east of the village. The environment was rich with ancient songs that manifested in the way the winds howled and birds pealed, in the branches creaking and the leaves rustling. They walked up the corkscrew of roots and stepped onto a natural platform blanketed by long, flattened grass.

|"This is where we brought her to teach her our healing hymn."|

|"The Tawkami mantra of rejuvenation? To a girl who is mute? That is curious, Mireya."|

|"You asked us to teach her, so we are. Even if she cannot sing it herself—to know it, is to continue its legacy. We will repeat the lesson again tomorrow."|

|"Did you notice anything unusual when you performed it?"|

Mireya shook her head. |"Our eyes were closed and minds focused. However, I do remember feeling"—Mo'at stepped towards her—"that the sensation was stronger than usual. It felt more…present."|

Mo'at hummed in contemplation. |"Where did my granddaughter sit exactly?"|

Mireya pointed to the spot, and Mo'at knelt to scrutinize the unassuming clump of grass. She brushed aside the matted blades and unveiled one of the tree roots. Mireya gasped in shock. |"Mo'at! The root is—"|

|"Glowing."| She nodded in acknowledgement. |"And they do not do so normally?"|

|"Our ancestors used to connect to this grove, but the trees have petrified with age. Our weavings speak of when they last glowed, and that was during the life of Tiamtokx, the third rider of Last Shadow."| The medicine woman looked again at the coruscating, young and supple roots from trees older than two thousand years. With trepidation, she brought up her queue and offered it to the root. The pink strands of her kuru latched around it and ignited a golden shine.

Mo'at watched intently as her friend surrendered her mind and departed into the spirit realm. Long moments passed before Mireya came to. With a tear in her eye, she turned to the tsahìk.

|"You must hear this…"|

Nagata pushed his rolling chair down another section of his messy cabin, where his computers were at work analyzing blood samples. His den was filled with disorganized papers that threatened to crash onto the floor and join the many sticky notes that had fluttered down long ago. Several jugs of fermented malts, some unopened and others tipped over, sat on his cluttered desk along with stacks of drinking bowls. He took out a fibreglass cloth, one he borrowed from Max, as he didn't need it anymore, and wiped both sides of his transparent monitor. The pirate had millions of dollars worth of stolen company property, but since the RDA were defeated in battle, the computers were simply the spoils of war and, therefore, fair game. In truth, Nagata didn't care either way how his colleagues justified it; the accomplished mind just wanted a station to do his research, regardless of whose team he was playing for. While living at High Camp, the xenogenomicist was utilized as a doctor, but his previous employment involved observing avatars for possible congenital diseases. Avatars were machines, and he was the repairman: that's how he'd described his job, so when Patel offered him a chance to study the blood of a natural-born chimaera offspring, he accepted immediately. He didn't show his enthusiasm, of course, but Nagata was tired of stitching wounds and wanted to tax his brain with something more substantial.

He leaned back in his chair before his computer as test results flickered across the screen. He languidly downed more of his special homebrew, processing every bit of information that passed by without missing any of it; he was as brilliant as his countenance was dull. When one particular piece of information popped on screen—a mess of digits and letters to your average layman—his mood shifted, and he became all at once absorbed; he even set down his drinking bowl.

"Aaah?"

Incessant mad rattling on Max Patel's door forced him to set aside his supper and let in his unwanted visitor, not expecting a frenzied Nagata.

"Hideaki, what's going on? Why are you all flustered?" Max's eyes tried to keep up with the scientist as he ran about his cabin.

"Maxwell, that girl— That girl is not normal! I did the hereditary test, like you asked. During Na'vi conception, a father departs sixty chromosomes in a cell that latches onto the mother's egg. It fuses with the nucleus by way of a biogamic pulse—likely triggered by their mental link—very similar to reproductive cloning—it's why avatars are so easy to make. Okay, so I look up the blood's chromosomes to tell me if father is Na'vi or avatar, yes? Problem—father is neither."

A dent formed in the brown cheek where Max had let his finger rest too long, still not understanding what Nagata was building up to. "What— What do you mean father is neither?"

Nagata whipped out his hand as he deducted each candidate with a finger. "I mean, father is not chimaera, not human, not Na'vi. Max, she only received one chromosome from whoever contributed."

"One? One?! Hideaki, that's impossible!"

"You're telling me."

"Who gave her that one chromosome?"

The man faltered, trying to think of an explanation, but gave up and answered, "I don't know."

"How could you not know? You're a genomicist!"

He lowered his head. "I am ashamed."

"Well, didn't the readouts tell you anything?"

"Maxwell, I cannot read the sequencing! It is like being an English speaker and trying to read aloud a book written in Greek, and I don't know it's Greek!"

The technician was at a loss trying to understand the obtuse analogy. Nagata united his hands by his lips and then lowered them calmly as he readied to explain. "As you know, the Na'vi do not use DNA but sRNA—a single stellating strand with intersecting base quintets. I'm looking at the sequencing of her unknown chromosome, and it doesn't use base quintets. It doesn't even use base pairs like our DNA. This thing uses base decets—that's twice as many! It's a great stellated strand!"

"That's…a lot."

"I know. It is beyond even me," Nagata chuffed in agreement, flapping out his lab coat pockets while Max contorted his face as he attempted to wrap his head around the science of a different field.

"I still don't understand how she can even exist with just sixty-one chromosomes."

"No. Not sixty-one, and this is the most baffling of all. She has ninety-four, like a typical avatar, plus one extra."

The Indian scientist stared at him, mouth agape, until he suddenly swung his head back in a mix of relief and annoyance. "So Kiri has a trisomy! Dammit, Hideaki, you know that happens in humans naturally! An extra chromosome causes irregularities in development. That's probably why Kiri can't talk. This extra one is just deformed. Oh my word. All this for—agh! Well, at least you learned something." He then noticed his colleague staring at him so intensely that his eyes looked ready to pop out.

"Are you the genomicist here? Are you the one who spent their entire life studying the complex sequencing of an alien species' sRNA that you see strands of curling information in your sleep? If I say that girl is not normal, then that girl is not normal!" Nagata finally stepped back from his victim, having been in his face the whole rant. "If this girl were a hybrid, she would have inherited sixty chromosomes from her father and sixty chromosomes from her mother. Fact. It doesn't matter that Dr. Augustine's avatar only had ninety-four, unlike your typical Na'vi's one-hundred and twenty. But that ninety-four is the result of splicing human DNA with Na'vi sRNA. It can only occur artificially in a lab."

Max's mouth lowered as his understanding elevated. "But… Kiri was a natural birth…of sorts."

"Yes. Now, do you understand the conundrum? Back to the reproductive cloning I was telling you about for a reason. For this Kiri to have been conceived, Dr. Augustine's avatar had an egg that was stripped of its nucleus and fused via an electric pulse with the cells of another avatar, but not just any avatar… And you know who."

Max didn't bother picking up his jaw. "Oh my god… Kiri is Grace's clone?"

"More than a clone. One that was somehow recombined with something very, very different."

"A recombinant…" he breathed. "My god, Hideaki. Kiri may have been the prototype Jake was theorizing about!—the first attempt at creating recombinants. I don't believe it. I— Wow. Wow…" Max let out a paced exhale as he prepared for the next mental train stop. "So the good doctor really was involved with Quaritch's return…?" His face pinched upon delivery, not even able to swallow his own theory. His eyes then fell to the floor until Nagata prompted them back up.

"I would say that and more."

"What do you mean?"

"I—agh—I need to do more research."

Before Max could ask what kind of research, Nagata departed as swiftly as he came, leaving the perplexed man alone with his now-cold supper.