Chapter Text
The Tulkun arrived earlier than usual in Awa’atlu, much earlier. The normally happy and joyful whistles gave way to urgent and scared whines. Their matriarch was missing. The Tsahik’s spiritual sister was being hunted with her calf. Quickly the warriors got ready and mounted their Tsurak. Ronal in her marui knew that something bad was looming, she just didn’t know what yet. She just hoped the bad omen wasn’t about her baby. He caressed her belly lovingly when she heard the commotion outside. She was trying to find out in the ancient tales of the olden days how a forced bond could result in the death of one of the Na’vi. She had been shocked to hear the story of Neteyam’s forced bond to Maa’tay from Ao’nung. And to top it all, Neteyam felt responsible for the girl’s death. She thought it was a noble act to reject Ao’nung’s love but it was as well an act of love. Ronal knew her son, he would be heartbroken until his very last breath and wouldn’t accept anyone except Neteyam.
“Mother!” Tsireya barged in.
“Ma’ite, I’m busy, jus‒”
“It’s the Tulkun! It’s about Ro’a!” she cried.
Ronal turned around and left the marui without listening to what her daughter was telling. She dove as soon as she got out of the marui. Outside it was chaotic, many Tulkun took refuge near the village, afraid of the Sky People’s weapon. Her heartbeat was frantic as her eyes search for her spiritual sister. She grew desperate when she heard about a ship pursuing the pod and singling out Ro’a, probably because the Sky People knew a mother would never abandon her calf.
Then finally, a joyful whistle, one she would recognise anywhere. Her spiritual sister was there with a calf by her side. She had something ugly attached to one of her fins but she seemed fine. The warrior got ready to respond to an attack, excepting to see the boat pursuing the female Tulkun until their village.
“If they are intelligent, they will stay away from the village,” one of the hunters said.
As Ronal dove, she didn’t hear the echo of the Navi’ka’s scream. She reunited with her spiritual sister but her happiness was short-lived, as Ro’a confessed that she only managed to escape the Sky People thanks to a brave forest Na’vi who rode a teal blue and brown Ikran. It couldn’t be.
“SULLY!” she screamed as she breached the water.
Jake was gone with Tonowari to fish this morning but Neytiri, Kiri with Tuk in her arms and Lo’ak were there.
“Neytiri!” she shouted as she mounted her Tsurak.
Neytiri approached rapidly the pier, she knew something was amiss.
“Your son, Neteyam, is at sea fighting the Sky People!” just as she explained, Keya came to the village shrieking madly.
The Ikran landed on a marui, almost crashing into it. Keya was injured and bloodied but she didn’t stop shrieking. She was sounding the alarm for the other Ikran. The danger also came from the sky.
“We ride!” Neytiri yelled.
She ran to her marui to take her gear and her bow.
“Mum!” Tuk came in crying followed by Kiri and Lo’ak.
“You three stay here!” she ordered.
“But I can he‒” Lo’ak tried.
“STAY HERE!” she repeated. "And protect your sisters!” she hissed as she tossed him his bow.
As she got out, her Ikran, one of Seze’s offspring, appeared. The other Ikran came but they stayed near Keya to licked her wound and tried to reassure her. She jumped on her Ikran making the bond as she was already high in the sky.
“Follow her!” Ronal ordered as she led the warriors to the ocean.
*
Neteyam let his arrow go as he breathed out. The aim prefect as it killed instantly the shooter. His next arrow lodged itself in the yellow buoyant, piercing it. Neteyam jumped on the Tulkun’s back ready to fire his next arrow.
“DIVE!” he screamed to the Tulkun, hoping she would understand Na’vi language, and not only the sign language used by the sea clans.
He fired his next arrow as he dove as well, avoiding bullets shot in burst. The boat was small, yet it contained several humans running around chaotically. They weren’t trained military, they acted way too in disarray for that. The forest Na’vi swam near the boat ready to board it when he heard his Ikran shriek. When he poked his head out, he saw that Keya was fighting with another Ikran. It couldn’t be. On the horizon, an enormous ship arrived. It was still far away but it was heading in their general direction. He cursed at being distracted because when he turned around, he saw that a Sky Person had their rifle aimed at his head but their eyes were strangely glassy behind the mask they wore. The stillness was unnatural and unnerving for Neteyam. He decided to climb stealthily on the small boat but nothing could prepare him for the vision of horror he got. The human with the rifle was held in place by one of Hik’ki’s kuru while the other was planted in another Sky Person. She was feeding and she was voracious. Neteyam gulped, he had never seen her eat like that, like a real Navi’ka, without restriction, without care. Her gaze was turned to the sky where Keya was still bravely standing her ground, but soon the other ship would be there and their small victory would be rapidly forgotten.
The thud of the dead body falling to the ground made Neteyam start. Hik’ki had grown again and her wing was almost completely healed. The forest Na’vi marvelled at the fast regeneration of the muscle and skin tissue. She made a special call for Keya to flee. Neteyam hid himself on the boat, he knew what was about to come. He rapidly took out his device that Norm had given him before their departure. They two small circle he needed to press to his ears and he should always have on him at all time. He carried it on a small pouch attached to his loincloth. He knew that even if the scream wasn’t directed at him the damage could still be great. He learnt it from the story told through generations by the elders. Most of the noise around him was cancelled yet he heard his heartbeat soared franticly. He still heard her scream. He thought it would last forever. There was no way the village didn’t hear it, actually he wouldn’t be surprised if the whole archipelago did. He slowly opened his eyes that he had closed on his instinct. Hik’ki was in front of him, she was probably cooing at him to let him know that she was done here. He put the device back on his pouch and followed her. He thought they would go back to the village before the arrival of the huge ship but Hik’ki pointed something out in the opposite direction. Totally against it at first, Neteyam saw that the enormous ship had stopped moving forward. Still nervous, he indicated to Hik’ki that they would go quickly and go back to the village directly after. In the sea it was weirdly empty, just like in the jungle when a predator hunts. Neteyam sighed in relief when he noticed that the female Tulkun and her calf were gone. What the Sky People had on that small boat was no light gear, he could only imagine what disastrous wound it could do to an animal.
Neteyam suddenly recoiled and swallowed some water. He breached the surface and coughed it out. He was so absorbed by the fight that just occurred that he didn’t see where Hik’ki had led him. Near him, a dead Ikran was floating. The animal must have taken the full force of the destructive wave from the Navi’ka’s scream, which meant that its rider must still be alive somewhere. His nervousness shifted into horror as he watched Hik’ki climbing on the dead animal and hissed. He swam around to have a better look at the scene even if all his primal instinct told him to flee. There, with a foot stuck in a synthetic saddle, a barely conscious Avatar looked at that Navi’ka with fear in his eyes. Suddenly, Neteyam got a flash back from the forest, from the attack, when he had disobeyed his parents, when he had saved his mother in extremis, when he got shot. That Avatar was the one who had shot him. The Avatar opened his mouth but only a silent scream came out as Hik’ki’s kuru dug painfully into him. Neteyam watched in morbid fascination as the life got drained from the Avatar. He saw how fear switch into terror then death. He closed his eyes and put one hand on his gunshot scar on his torso. It was like a weight got lifted from his shoulder. He needed closure on that accident and Hik’ki had brought it to him. The distinct crack of bones made him snap his eyes open only to see Hik’ki munching on the arm of the Avatar. Her black teeth now sharp and solid were crunching bones as if they were twigs.
“Eww! Hik’ki! Why do you even do that? You don’t eat with your mouth like me,” he complained.
What Neteyam didn’t know was that she linked her kuru to the Avatar’s to get the knowledge of the enemy.
*
Neytiri flew high in the sky, her eyes searching franticly the sea below her. When Neytiri finally spotted her son, he was near a fallen Ikran, swimming. Her heartbeat slowed down when she noticed Hik’ki there as well. The Navi’ka seemed better. That only meant one thing, she ate. The remaining of the small white boat with Sky People bodies scattered around only confirmed her theory. She knew rejoicing about death was not supposed to feel good, yet she couldn’t help the feeling of happiness to grow in her heart.
“Ma’Neteyam!” she shouted to catch the attention but also to warn Hik’ki about her approach.
“Mom, over here!” Neteyam smiled and waved.
Neytiri managed to hover long enough for her son to jump behind her. Hik’ki was on his back already. She made a grimace when she saw the state of the Avatar, but she didn’t comment. After making sure the large ship was not anywhere near them, they turned around, leaving the wreck of the small boat behind. The fish made a quick meal out of the human bodies in the water, but the Avatar body was strangely left untouched, maybe because it had been a Navi’ka’s meal. Landing on the beach near the village was easy. Facing a panic Olo’eyktan and Jake was not easy. Still Neteyam and Hik’ki were left alone for the time being. The Navi’ka, upon feeding from the Avatar and his Ikran without restrain had grown bigger, her wing almost completely healed now. After climbing up and down the mangrove tree roots several times, as if Hik’ki wanted to assess her new strength, she came back on the sand where Neteyam was brooding. Meeting again the Avatar who shot him, who almost killed him, didn’t sit well with him. But more importantly, that Avatar had an Ikran… how it was possible was beyond his comprehension. He knew his mother saw the flying animal too. The Iknimaya, the Pathway to Heaven, was part of one of their most sacred rites. No one in the forest would think about guiding Avatars, especially enemies, all the way up to the nests of the Ikran. He let out a breath when he felt a headache coming. Hik’ki was looking at him unblinkingly. Her serious expression changed to a sad one as if she knew what he was thinking. Then she took one of her kuru in her hands to present it to Neteyam. Her hand was still smaller than his but not tiny anymore. He had been so used to see her small that watching her grow almost twice her size in not even a day was difficult for him to process.
“Do you want to feed again? Didn't you have your fill already?” he teased and poked at her stomach which made her hiss playfully, but she insisted so he brought his own braid to the front.
He didn’t know what he was expecting but seeing Spider in the jungle was not on his list of probabilities. He gasped as he understood that Hik’ki made him see what the Avatar had seen, some of his most recent memories. Spider seemed free to move so why was he staying near them? Maybe they were holding something against him? Neteyam heard his father saying more than once that Quaritch was extremely good at convincing someone. If the colonel knew someone’s weak spot, then it was over. He felt Hik’ki nudging him, a signal for him to pay attention.
“Once this is over you won’t need that,” one of the Avatar told Spider, mentioning his mask.
Spider hissed at him and swatted his hand away from his head.
“Be careful Colonel, that one is half savage like the rest of these stupid blue monkeys,” a female Avatar said, chuckling when the other Avatar close to Spider tried again to ruffle his hair.
‘So, this is the colonel’, Neteyam thought. He could feel a low angry rumble near him, probably Hik’ki.
“Miles is not savage, Soldier. He will be very useful for our next victory,” the colonel replied as he moved closer, letting Spider go away to the small river nearby them.
“I can’t believe soon we will be flying… do you really think he will guide us to where the monkeys get their banshee?” their Avatar asked.
It was definitely a strange sensation, to see through someone’s else eyes and to hear them talk.
“No way,” Neteyam gasped to recoiled, breaking the bond with Hik’ki.
The Navi’ka didn’t seem fazed by the sudden move. She even presented her kuru again as if to ask him if he wanted to see some more, but he declined. He had seen and heard enough. Spider had always been a part of their life. He didn’t spend much time with him personally but he knew he was a dear friend to Kiri and like a brother to Lo’ak. No matter what Quaritch had over him, it didn’t justify what he did. With a heavy sigh, he got up, he needed to talk to his parents and probably to the Olo’eyktan and Tsahík.
“You coming?” he asked Hik’ki.
The Navi’ka just shook her head and started to bat her wings, probably to train her muscles.
“Great, leaving me alone to the big talk, I see,” he groaned, but he wasn’t angry.