Author's Note: Sorry about the wait!
Warnings: Violence and the death of a child.
Tsyeyk carefully inspects the wares in front of him. He looks at all the stones and plants and moss. There were so many things of all colors and shapes and sizes. And Tsyeyk wanted all of them, but Mo'at said he couldn't. That he had to be considerate of everyone else. He finds a stone, beautiful red just like Tsu'tey's favorite necklace and he snatches it up, staring with wide golden eyes as his tail swipes back and forth excitedly. He leans into Uvay, who was knelt at his side and holds the stone out for her to see it.
"Oh!" She says, smiling brightly. "It's pretty!"
"Yes!" Tsyeyk agrees, giddy. "Pretty! For Tsu'tey!"
Uvay nods. "He's going to love it!"
"Yes! Love it!"
Mo'at, who was quietly following Tsyeyk and Uvay around, with Umrr, gestures for Tsyeyk to take his prize. He giggles excitedly, twisting a bit on the pads of his feet to hold up the stone so that Father, ever pressed against his back, could see it. "Father! For Tsu'tey! Pretty? Yes? Yes?"
Unimpressed wintery eyes lower to the rock before he lets out a little chuff, blinking slowly. Then he looks at the Na'vi overseeing the wares, his face drained of all color as he stares back, with his form rigid and his eyes wide. Father tilts his head slightly, in challenge when the Na'vi blinks and looks down, bowing his head respectfully. Father's lip curls but he does nothing else.
Tsyeyk bounces up, missing the interaction and maneuvers around Father, who follows diligently on one side while Uvay presses into his other side. She holds his hand as he excitedly stares at the stone, tail swirling. The new Na'vi - members from one of the clans deeper into the forest, like the people that hurt him the day before - got quiet whenever he came close. Whenever he would look over his shoulder, Father's face always hovering close, it would be with a curled lip that Tsyeyk doesn't understand. And as he looks with Uvay at his side for all the cool things for them to find, going from one blanket to the next, he can hear them whispering. They talk a lot about Father. A white palulukan. And they call him 'Dreamwalker', yet he doesn't know what that means, and when the Omatikaya hear this word, they get angry.
"Tsyeyk is Na'vi," they say. "Tsyeyk is Omatikaya."
He heard it so much; he began to repeat it too whenever he would get to a new blanket. He lowers to a sit next to Uvay as she excited looks over some neatly woven bracelets, and one of the cooks for the Omatikaya that he recognizes. Tsyeyk holds out the stone for the unfamiliar older male to see on the other side of the blanket to see. "Tsyeyk is Na'vi," he informs the male. "Tsyeyk is Omatikaya."
The older male blinks, perplexed at that. Then he looks at him, then over his shoulder at Father, and his face pales a bit.
"Palulukan..." the male mutters, golden eyes wide.
Tsyeyk frowns. "Not that. Father! Father!" He reaches back to touch Father's face, petting quivering fans. "No, Father! Nice to Tsyeyk and... and Omatikaya." He blinks a few times, trying to figure out what he was saying. The trader's eyes follow Tsyeyk's hand as it gently moves across Father's face, not at all bothered by the snarl forming there, looking intently at his fingers.
The Omatikaya male next to Tsyeyk flicks his hand respectfully to Father, offering a pleasant greeting. Father's icy blue eyes flicker to him, nod slightly, before turning to the other male, carefully lowering down behind Tsyeyk, protectively. Tsyeyk admires his new red stone, grinning brightly. He leans back into Father, holding the stone close to his face so that he can see it.
"Father, it's pretty. For Tsu'tey. Father," he holds it closer, looking between the white palulukan and the stone. "Father, look."
Father's face fans flutter a bit. He turns his head and runs a tongue up Tsyeyk's cheek. Tsyeyk scoots back until he's pressed into Father's side, wiping off his cheek as he turns onto his side, still admiring the stone with an excited giggle, inspecting it close to his face.
"Pretty, pretty, pretty," he sings softly.
"Tsyeyk," Uvay says softly, touching his knee. He looks over his shoulder, curiously as she holds up a knife and sheath. She pulls out the knife and it's a soft blue river crystal sharpened into a curved point. "Look! It's the same color as Father's eyes!"
Tsyeyk leans forward, excited as he carefully takes the knife from the little girl's hands, not wanting to cut her. He inspects the blade, eyes wide, to see that it wasn't exactly Father's eye color, but it was still pretty close. His tail sways excitedly. He takes the sheath and slides it into it, then out, then back in, giggling. He points to himself. "For Tsyeyk?"
Uvay's eyes brighten. "Oh! Yes! Let me see." She turns to the male still wearily watching Father. "Um, what can I trade for this knife?"
The male looks at the little girl, then Tsyeyk, then to Father. With creases between his eyes, he looks over at the little girl. "Take it," he decides. "As an apology from the Tayri clan to..." his eyes flickers over to Tsyeyk. "...to Tsyeyk of the Omatikaya."
Tsyeyk's ears press back as he grins, tail twirling. "Tsyeyk is Omatikaya!"
Uvay smiles brightly, going up onto her knees and placing her hands onto Tsyeyk's knee. "That was so nice, Tsyeyk! You have to say thank you!"
Tsyeyk bounces, cheesing at the males. "Yes! Have to say it! Thank you, okay?" He looks over at the cook, holding out the knife for him to see. "See? It is for Tsyeyk!"
The male smiles, admiring it but not taking it from Tsyeyk. "I see it, Tsyeyk. Has Tsu'tey taught you how to use one yet?"
Tsyeyk nods. "Yes! Good! Tsu'tey make Tsyeyk good!"
The cook smiles, turning back to keep looking through the wares before him, like Uvay was. Umrr kneels down next to his daughter, softly whispering to her as he points out some things for her to look at. Tsyeyk feels Father tense for just a moment before relaxing and Tsyeyk looks up to see Tsu'tey walking over to him.
He jerks up into a sit, eyes wide as he throws his hands out towards the slightly older male. "Tsu'tey!" He moves up onto his knees, holding out his findings for Tsu'tey to see. "Look! Look for Tsyeyk!"
"Tsyeyk!" Uvay says, patting his ankle. "Don't show him the stone yet!"
Umrr chuckles as Tsyeyk quickly whips the stone at him, catching it easily and sending Tsu'tey a look. Despite Tsyeyk's obvious floundering with exasperated, "No! Look here! Not there. Here, Tsu'tey! Not at gift, okay?" He waves his hands furiously around, trying to block any attempts Tsu'tey might have made to look around him. Tsu'tey smiles knowingly, holding his arms out for Tsyeyk to scramble into. Tsyeyk hugs the taller male tighter, snuggling into the arm wrapping around his waist and the hand threading into his wild black mane. Tsu'tey comfortably sinks down to his knees to be at Tsyeyk's level, pulling the hand from his waist to properly greet thought around him before nuzzling into the side of Tsyeyk's head.
"Were you looking around for things to trade?" Tsu'tey asks, pulling back enough to look at Tsyeyk's grinning face.
Tsyeyk holds up the knife and sheath. "For Tsyeyk!" He pulls the knife out to show the blade. "Father's eyes!"
Tsu'tey nods, admiring the knife that Tsyeyk keeps pointed away from his face. "Oh yeah. It does look pretty close to Father's eyes, doesn't it?"
Excitedly, the younger teen sheaths the knife once more and gestures to his tewng. "Tsu'tey? Help Tsyeyk?"
Tsu'tey nods. "Yeah, I'm sure I have something back in my family hut that we can use to tie that off onto your tewng, okay? I'll be right back." He presses a kiss into Tsyeyk's hairline before pulling back and making his way off towards his family hut. Tsyeyk takes this time to take the stone from Umrr and turns to the sweet-faced Sylwanin making her way over to him as well, holding out the stone for her to see.
Her golden eyes widen at it, taking the stone to admire it. "Oh! Is this for Tsu'tey?" Tsyeyk nods, excitedly, waving at Neytiri, who waves back, on her way to her mom. Mo'at was still at the other vendor, talking to the older woman there. Sylwanin pulls his attention back to her when she says, "So then you can finish your gift then, can't you?"
Tsyeyk's eyes brighten, nodding. "Yes!"
After Tsu'tey returned, they tie off the sheath onto Tsyeyk's side. First on the left but gestured to the other side. He was like them, he always led with his right hand. Tsu'tey seemed a little confused but helped him tie the knot on the other side so that it rested with easily access by his right hand. It took a little convincing, but Tsyeyk managed to sneak away with Sylwanin and Uvay while Tsu'tey looked at some of the wares brought by the other clan. Tsu'tey told Tsyeyk that he wanted to take him somewhere, which was exciting for Tsyeyk, but now that he had the final piece to his gift, Tsyeyk wanted to finish it before they went anywhere. And maybe Tsyeyk wasn't doing a good job hiding it, but Tsu'tey just smiled and said that he wanted to look around a little first if Tsyeyk didn't mind.
Tsyeyk excitedly went up to Sylwanin's family hut with the girls following him and going inside to where his own personal chest was located. With Uvay acting as lookout, Sylwanin helped Tsyeyk finish his gift. As he works, Sylwanin sits by his side, watching with a gentle smile on her face. Father had bounded up after them but stayed out of the hut with Uvay. Tsyeyk could hear the little girl singing a hymn to him.
Tsyeyk is pulled from his concentration when Sylwanin calls his name softly. He perks up, tilting his head a bit as his eyes meets her own. "Sylly?"
"I'm glad that you're here," Sylwanin says, that sweet smile never leaving her face. "You belong here with the Omatikaya. With us. I'm so glad that the Great Mother brought you here to us and not another. Is that selfish?"
Tsyeyk blinks, shrugging his shoulders. "No?"
Sylwanin laughs, her pretty face crinkling a bit in her mirth. "You make us happy, Tsyeyk. Us in the Omatikaya, myself, my family. And Tsu'tey, you know?"
Tsyeyk perks up. "Tsu'tey? Happy?"
Sylwanin nods. "He and I have always been close. All our lives we thought that we were to be. And we loved each other. Not in the way that he loves you, but in our own way. We would have been a good pair. We would have made each other happy. But we wouldn't have been great. We wouldn't have fulfilled one another in the way that I know the two of you would enrich each other's lives. Tsu'tey is noble and strong and stalwart. But he needs someone who is just as strong - if not stronger - to stand at his side as well. Many clans in the forest look to the Omatikaya to set an example, and being the Olo'eykan will not be easy on Tsu'tey, especially following in the footsteps of my father."
Tsyeyk stares at the slightly older girl for a long time, trying to make sense of her words. His fingers delicately thread the bracelet together between glances before he finally asks, "Be hard? Be hard for Tsu'tey?"
Sylwanin folds her hands neatly onto her lap, casting a look over at Uvay, who was still singing to Father at the entrance to the hut. She smiles sweetly before looking back over at Tsyeyk. "Yes. My father is well respected amongst the clans. And Tsu'tey is too, but he is young and headstrong. But he tries, Tsyeyk. He always tries to do what is right. You know this, don't you?" Tsyeyk nods. She smiles more. "He will need you at his side as his mate and partner in all things."
"Tsyeyk and Tsu'tey," Tsyeyk says, holding up his hand and crossing his pointer and middle finger together. "Ephemies ta lor Haootra nire."
Sylwanin shivers, her eyes wide as skin prickles. "What does it mean, Tsyeyk? I've heard Haootra before. Is it like mated pairs? Like my parents?"
Tsyeyk nods. "Yes. Haootra. Fated be." He twines his fingers on both hands together. "Ephemies ta, recognized. Seen as."
Sylwanin nods, tucking her legs underneath herself as she sits on them, tail twirling behind herself. "I get it. You are saying that... that you are recognized as being linked together. Fated to be with one another."
Tsyeyk smiles. He leans in close, pressing his forehead against Sylwanin's. She shivers as he says, "Oban ephemies ta lor Haootra Vhemetrodira nire."
Sylwanin looks faint, her limbs shaking as her eyes nearly bulge from her face. "Vhe- I... is that..?"
"The command of the Great Mother is to recognize this pair fated," Tsyeyk whispers, his markings flickering across his body. "Vhemetrodira, your Great Mother."
"Vhemetro..." she swallows, the word too much. Her skin feels like it's flushed. Like static clings to it just inches below the outermost layer of flesh. His words are power and not meant to be spoken so easily. But this word, this word she cannot say, it evokes her. The Great Mother. Sylwanin can feel her presence like the gentle breeze washing over her, stealing away her fears, her uncertainty. "She's here, Tsyeyk, isn't she?"
Tsyeyk nods, smiling. "Yes. Here." He reaches out and presses the palm of his hand to her chest. "And here."
Something in her shifts. Something solidifies. Something resolute takes the place of anxiety, of fear, of uncertainty. She places her hand over Tsyeyk's own, keeping it there, pressing into the thumping of her wild heart, and she smiles, like a great weight has been lifted from her. "She's always here. She's always with me."
Tsyeyk smiles, tail curling in happiness. "Yes, Mother's daughter."
Running across high up branches a few hours later, hand-in-hand, Tsyeyk's eyes take to the forest floor watching as the chalky figure of Father moving through the underbrush. They move to a new branch as Father breaks off and heads in a different direction, feeling secure enough to leave Tsyeyk in Tsu'tey's care. The forest boy waves his hand at the back of Father's head as he disappears into the foliage.
"Bye, Father! Bye!"
They follow a massive root down to the ground and off to a steep cliff, where an absolutely beautiful creature waited for them. He's mostly this light blue color with purple ghosting over his back and wing tips and at the end of his chin. The black spots commonly found on these beasts stand out against his lighter coloring. Big golden eyes blink at Tsyeyk, tilting his head back and forth. He squawks.
"This is Ayyip, my friend."
"Pretty!" Tsyeyk gasps, eyes wide. He meets the eyes of the beast before him. He's seen them before, flying up in the sky, but Tsyeyk hasn't seen any of them this closely before.
"He's my ikran," Tsu'tey says, guiding Tsyeyk a bit closer, reaching out to run a hand over the side of his friend's head. He takes off the satchel that he was wearing to attach it to Ayyip's harness as well as his bow that he never goes without. "Be kind, Ayyip. This is Tsyeyk."
Tsyeyk moves forward before Tsu'tey can stop him and wraps his arms lovingly around the ikran's head, hugging him. Ayyip rumbles, more of a purr than a growl, and nuzzles closer, spreading massive wings wide, flapping them a bit before leaning back into Tsyeyk as he pets the ariel predator lovingly like a housepet.
"Ayyip is ikran, Tsyeyk..." Tsu'tey says slowly, eyeing them closely. "Ikran."
Tsyeyak nuzzles the
The slight tension in Tsu'tey relaxes as he shakes his head, affectionately muttering, "I should have known." His eyes are warm as he moves to the side of his ikran, petting his long neck when a squawk can be heard.
Tsyeyk pulls away from Ayyip to look around the magnificent beast to see another ikran brushing against the trees from beyond the cliff. Her wings coast over the top of the green, rustling them a bit as she alters her path and soars upward towards them. Her colors are darker blues with patches of yellow across her wings. Those familiar black spots are mostly hidden in the darker color of her back but can be seen easier near the tips of her wings where there is more yellow. She pulls up onto the cliff, flapping her wings before lowering down next to Ayyip.
"This is Katir," Tsu'tey says, offering a little smile. "She is mate to Ayyip."
Tsyeyk moves to her, and true to his nature as the son of the Great Mother, the temperamental female ikran lets the feral teen wrap around her face without fuss. She nuzzles into him as his tail whips back and forth in his excitement. He pulls back enough to look into her golden eyes, smiling brightly as he tilts his head back and forth. Her eyes trail to the side, welcoming him to come with her. He squeals in excitement and joy before he moves over to her side and Tsu'tey starts moving closer as Tsyeyk crawls up onto her back. Katir chirps, turning and diving off the side with Tsyeyk holding tightly to her antennae. He treats it like Father, pressing low onto her back and keeping a firm grip on her to keep them together.
"Tsyeyk!" Tsu'tey calls, jumping onto Ayyip's back, forming tsahaylu and chasing after him.
Tsyeyk squeals in joy, feeling the air rush past his skin, pulling at his hair and his tswain, both whipping out behind him. As they go, she teaches him. She shifts one way or the other showing him how to move his body to match her own. How to keep himself steady. How to show her where he wanted to go. He feels her strong body beneath her, soaring and banking left and right, down towards the lower level of trees then up high in the sky. He can feel her breathe against his legs and he matches her breaths, slow and even. She levels out enough for Tsyeyk to sit back against her, resting as the air just pulls at him. His hair, his skin, his shawl, his tswain. He tilts his head up to let the sun soak into his skin, closing his eyes to just feel weightless. He spreads his arms out, letting the wind blow through his fingers, as if he also had wings to fly with.
"Tsyeyk!"
The jubilant teen lowers his hands and chin, opening his eyes to see Tsu'tey flying beside him, eyes wide. He smiles and waves. "Look, Tsu'tey! Fly!"
The other teen, face a mixture of shock, worry and surprise, looks across him and Katir, eyes bright. He gestures to his tswain, linked up with one of the antennae on Ayyip. "Tsyeyk, don't you need tsahaylu?"
Tsyeyk tilts his head, frowning at that. He looks at his tswain still flapping behind him in confusion. He shakes his head. "No, Tsu'tey. Not Tsyeyk. Tsahaylu for Tsu'tey. Not ikran."
Tsu'tey's eyes widen. His face goes through a myriad of emotions. Confusion, surprise, understanding and awe. He looks over them, full lips spreading more and more into a smile. Tsyeyk grins back at him, loving the sparkling in Tsu'tey's eyes. He seems completely charmed by Tsyeyk, which makes the feral boy laugh at him. How silly for Tsu'tey to be so impressed by something he too was doing. The craziest things seem to draw such strong reactions from the other teen, it always makes him laugh whenever he does.
They fly together for a time, looping around, going high up into the sky, then down low to the ground. They would skim the tops of trees or run the tips of wings over water letting out waves. Tsyeyk just surrenders to Katir, letting her guide them. Letting her play with her mate. After enough time, Tsyeyk begins to anticipate her moves. He can tell by the tilt of her wings or the ripple of her muscles what she's going to do next.
They fly throughout the day and as the sun dips towards the horizon, turning the sky pretty shades of red, yellow and orange, Tsu'tey motions for Tsyeyk to follow him down to the ground. He pats the side of Katir's neck, and she obeys, following Tsu'tey and Ayyip down to the forest floor. The two teens hop off of the ikran and with a parting pat from Tsu'tey and a cheerful wave from Tsyeyk, they both take off, back into the sky. Then, hand-in-hand, the two teens move into the forest. Tsyeyk faithfully follows the older teen, stopping only to draw some swirls onto a few of the glowing tree fronds as they pass.
Tsu'tey holds his other hand, giving it a squeeze before gently tugging him along. By the time that the sky darkened, and the forest filled with light, Tsu'tey pulled Tsyeyk through some underbrush into a sea of bright purple. Tsyeyk pulls from Tsu'tey and went rushing up to the trees. "Mother!" He cries out in joy, running his fingers along the hanging tendrils, his skin lighting up into intricate swirls, the purple of the trees brightening more. "Mother! Mother! Mother!" He sings, joyfully. He looks over at Tsu'tey, eyes bright. "Look! Mother, Tsu'tey! Mother!"
Tsu'tey pulls off the small satchel that he's been wearing all day, pulling out a small collection of fruits and dried meats for them to share. They move to the base of one of Mother's trees and lowers down to a sit, motioning for Tsyeyk to join him. The patterns across Tsyeyk's skin dims as he rests, pressing into the older teen's side as they eat. He purrs, resting his cheek against Tsu'tey's shoulder. While chewing on some dried meat, he reaches into the small pouch on his side and pulls out the bracelet that he made for him.
"For Tsu'tey!"
Tsu'tey smiles, taking the bracelet and holding it out to look at it. It's pretty simple, multiple-colored threads of rope all twined together with the pretty red stone woven into it. He presses a kiss into Tsyeyk's cheek while the younger teen helps to put it onto his wrist. He admires it while they eat, smiling and kissing at Tsyeyk every couple of minutes while they just enjoy each other's company. Once they are finished eating, they curl up together underneath Mother's purple, holding one another and just talking quietly into the night.
"Thank you, my Tsyeyk, for the bracelet," Tsu'tey says softly, kissing Tsyeyk's forehead as he snuggles up into the older teen's arms. Tsyeyk buries his nose into Tsu'tey's chest, drifting off to sleep, peacefully beneath Mother's watchful gaze, listening to the forest singing around them.
Tsyeyk awakens with a jolt, feeling sick.
He pulls from Tsu'tey's arms, hard enough to wake the other boy, to vomit onto the ground a few feet away. Mouth and eyes watering, stomach churning, Tsyeyk shakes as Tsu'tey pets at his back, pulling his hair away from his face. Tsyeyk rasps for breath, feeling an intense burning across his skin. He rips his shawl off of his chest and throws it away, heaving for breath and praying to keep anything that could remain in his stomach down. He doesn't want to go back there. To the time when he couldn't keep food down. He doesn't want that.
But... but that's not it. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
"Come, Tsyeyk," Tsu'tey says softly, his voice rough from sleep. "Let us go back to Hometree."
He couldn't. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He could feel it like a gnawing at his stomach. His skin burned, his limbs trembled and something... something was horribly wrong. Tsyeyk pulls from Tsu'tey, moving towards the forest, feeling Mother guiding him. Tsu'tey doesn't hesitate to follow, curling a hand around Tsyeyk's wrist but not pulling him away or trying to alter his path. They go from the darkness of the trees into the bright light of the early day. It's definitely a lot earlier than Tsyeyk would normally be up, but not Tsu'tey. He would usually be off on his way to school by now.
"Mother..." Tsyeyk rasps, throat aching and stomach clenching.
"What? What is wrong?" Tsu'tey asks, softly.
"Mother calls..." Tsyeyk clears his throat, flinching a bit when it hurt. "Tsyeyk... Tsyeyk..."
They move through the forest and the longer they go, the more anxious Tsu'tey seems to become. It takes a moment for Tsyeyk to realize that he's heading towards the area that he isn't allowed to go. That the Omatikaya don't want him to go to yet because it's not safe. But it's at a different angle than he's used to, they are approaching it from a different side. As they draw closer and closer to the thing that Mother beckons him to, a strange sound starts to grow louder. It's the roar of a mighty beast, yet nothing that Tsyeyk has ever heard before. He glances over at the older teen, yet Tsu'tey also seems unable to place it.
When they pull through the underbrush and step just past the line of trees to see...
Nothing.
A stretch of land, impossibly far, brought down to the dirt. Everything is gone. The trees. The foliage. The flowers. The animals. Everything is gone. Only upturned dirt remains.
Horrified, Tsyeyk stops, eyes wide as he takes in the true breadth of the wound across Mother. He can feel it now, how much pain she is in. How this hurts her.
Tsyeyk falls to his knees, sobbing in agony at what has befallen his mother. He would throw up again if anything was still in his stomach. Pained wails rip from him as Tsu'tey drops next to him, hugging him tightly. Tears blur Tsyeyk vision as he leans into the other teen, unable to comprehend what could have done something so horrible. Who could have done something so horrible. Why would anything want to hurt Mother? Why would anyone?
The roaring of the beasts pulls watery eyes across the swath of death to where they chew through the forest. Like parasites eating up and spitting out everything in their path. A neat line of at least a dozen of them, moving forward unnaturally in sync with one another. Something not naturally found. The beasts are massive, as tall as trees and they cough up smoke, like from a fire, into the air around them. Whatever manner of beast they are, Tsyeyk has never seen one before. Yet here they are, hurting his mother.
"Mother! Mother!" Tsyeyk sobs, folding in half as he cries. He can feel tears hitting his shoulder from Tsu'tey as the older teen desperately tries to comfort him while sharing in his pain. "Mother! Please! Please don't hurt Mother! Please don't hurt my mother!"
"Sky People!" Tsu'tey snarls, curling protectively around Tsyeyk. "Why? Why would they do this?"
Before Tsyeyk can answer, his world is rocked by an explosion that nearly sends his heart careening out of his chest. He and Tsu'tey fall backwards looking at one of the beasts gets engulfed in the smoke that it should be coughing out. The fire warps around it, coating the beast and cooking it alive. There is a screaming sound, and all the beasts slow to a stop. It's then that Tsyeyk realizes that small parasites, some microscopic, and other, larger ones, could be seen dotting around the beasts, walking the path cleared by them. The parasites move, frantically.
"Sylwanin?" Tsu'tey whispers, confused.
Tsyeyk turns, following the older teen's gaze to see three figures, one definitely Sylwanin, racing for the forest. But one of the parasites spots them and gives chase. And more follow.
"Sylly?" Tsyeyk rasps, looking around, wondering where she went.
"That's..." Tsu'tey straightens up a bit, looking at the direction she and the others headed in. "No, that's not towards Hometree. Where..? Where is she going?" Tsyeyk sniffles, having no idea. Then Tsu'tey tenses in realization. "The school! Come, Tsyeyk!"
Tsyeyk doesn't argue. Tsu'tey pulls him to his feet and along with him, to which the other boy is thankful. His limbs feel numb and he's having trouble breathing. He doesn't understand. What happened? Why did it happen? What was Sylwanin doing there? What did she do to the beast that was hurting Mother? Did she kill it? How did she even know about it?
They move so fast, barely stopping as they vault over and slide under branches and roots and through the foliage, desperate to push themselves as fast as they can go. Tsyeyk doesn't ask what the panic was. He didn't have to. Somewhere in his heart he knew why they were running. Why they had to be fast.
Sylwanin was in danger. He didn't need to understand anything more than that. At least not right now.
A blast of sounds. Sharp, unnatural, yet somehow familiar in the deepest depths of Tsyeyk's mind pulls them to a stop. Tsyeyk and Tsu'tey are panting, their chests heaving as they struggle to fill their lungs. Tsyeyk's kind of glad that he left his shawl behind as he's sweating like crazy right now. And while Tsu'tey left the satchel behind, in a white knuckled grip is his bow.
That same blast of sound and then screams. Many screams. Many young screams, followed by wails of fear and pain.
Heart pounding erratically in his chest, Tsyeyk follows Tsu'tey out of the bushes and into a small break in the trees where a strange... almost fort-like little Hometree sits. It's not like Hometree, but it is made of trees and seems to be large enough for people to be inside of it.
Building, his mind tells him, it's a building.
They move around the building to the other side and Tsyeyk gets his first look at the parasites. They look like Na'vi, but are shorter, skin not blue or striped like their own, and they have strange face coverings. They carry strange things in their arms, all pointed in the direction of the front of the building - school, Tsu'tey had called it. A school. The same school that he and some of the other kids go to.
There had to be at least a dozen of the parasites, moving closer.
"Please..." A small voice whimpers, making Tsyeyk's ears swivel forward to hear better. "Please don't kill me."
Tsu'tey's sweaty palm flexes his fingers painfully tight around Tsyeyk's and it only takes a moment for Tsyeyk to realize why. Sitting at what appears to be an entrance into the building is a teen boy around their age, covered in face paint like the warriors do when they go out to meet with unfriendly clans in the forest. Except he's half fallen over where he sits, hand pressing into his side as red spills between his fingers and out of his mouth. His eyes are wide and tears stream down his cheeks. He gurgles, spitting up blood, before his eyes roll up into his head and he slumps over.
The screaming and crying from within the building blurs into white noise as Tsu'tey rasps out in disbelief the same realization that Tsyeyk has come to. "Dead... he's... he's dead... they killed him."
The parasites move closer, like nantang encircling prey, but that's not right. These are parasites, not nantang. And inside the building isn't prey, they are Na'vi. They are Omatikaya. They are Tsyeyk's as he is theirs. Because Tsyeyk is Na'vi. Because Tsyeyk is Omatikaya.
His body moves as red floods his vision. He pulls his hand from Tsu'tey's grip, grabbing the older teen's bow from his grasp. He moves down the path slow and graceful, like the predator that he is, parallel to the parasites that threaten his family, knocking an arrow and pulling the string taut. The bow creaks as he pulls it. His heaving breaths slow as his rage reigns in his focus. Kill them. He will kill them all for hurting his family.
One of the parasites turn, looking right at him. His eyes widen and his lips spread out. Fear lurks in those brown depths and the malicious anger in Tsyeyk's gut relishes in it. He shifts, body moving to point in his direction, raising the thing in his hand that screams danger in Tsyeyk's mind. Without a second thought, Tsyeyk releases the arrow, and it soars perfectly through the air, puncturing the strange clear mask that he wears and into is eye. He is thrown back several feet with the force of the arrow before falling over dead.
