"Brother!" A shrill voice tinged with a loud childish rage made my ears tear up, as a small boy crashed into me like a rugby player, both of us falling hard to the ground, as laughter from nearby members complemented the scene.
The moment hit me hard, as the distant but familiar face was recognized by me thanks to memories of my former self, Ro'a, my younger brother, ten years old and younger than me by four years, did not get up from me even being on the ground, but hugged me tightly, "I was worried! You were never gone for many hours, our parents told me not to worry, but they were scared, I saw them," the troublemaker spoke very fast, so much to make a fool of many rappers in my world.
But still, it seemed I was already trained enough to understand him, Ro'a held his right index and middle finger under his eyes, "I saw them, daddy was scared, and yet he told me not to be scared, why does he keep it all to himself, couldn't I feel scared for my lost brother too?"
I was pleasantly surprised by the outburst. In my past life, I had lived my childhood in foster care, my parents had died in a car accident, leaving me in a home full of strangers until I came of age and could inherit the trust my parents left me.
And though I made friends with some of the children in the home, I never really formed a big enough bond to call any of them a brother or sister, but now, I had one, a very rambunctious and intelligent one by the looks of it.
Letting a sweet smile show, I carefully removed him from on top of me, as I gently placed him to my right, as I sat up, and looked at him carefully and as earnestly as I could muster; "our parents are both the leader of the tribe, and the spiritual leader," I looked him in the eye, and seeing that he understood me, I continued.
"They cannot show themselves weak before the clan, they are the pillar of our people, they are our leaders, our parents, they have to show themselves strong before you, so that you don't have to worry, that is their job, do you understand me?"
Ro'a nodded, acting strong, but I could see his playing with his fingers, so I took his left hand and kissed his on the knuckles, "and you don't have to worry, your brother won't leave your side, I promise." I assured his, with a strange but strong feeling growing inside me,
After a few seconds, Ro'a seemed to react, and quickly getting up from the ground, he urged me to stand up as well, "I forgot, you have a Palulukan! That's great, introduce him to me," the boy seemed not to run out of energy, pulling me over to where Fang was sitting quietly, but attentive to me.
"Ro'a, meet Fang, Fang; this is my little brother; Ro'a," Fang cocked his big head rising and reaching out to us, "hello buddy," I petted him, and surprisingly, Fang purred like a kitten and not a killing machine.
"Hold out your hand, carefully, don't look him in the eyes, let him come closer to you." Ro'a did as I explained; he held out his right hand carefully and averted his gaze. Fang at first didn't move, but after looking at me, he tilted his head and pressed his muzzle against Ro'a's hand. "Hahaha, it's cold," Ro'a's words made me smile, just in time to see Fang give Ro'a a hard lick on the face, "Noooo, gross, wipe me." The little rascal dared to wipe himself on me, which earned him a soft smack on the head, "Aleyx, Ro'a."
A voice loud but full of affection made us look in his direction, where Sukai; our father, was standing with our mother, at his sides were his kin, on my father's right side walked with a lethal grace a Palulukan, more aged and lethal looking than Fang, and on my father's left side, walked a Selìk, a seawater and beige colored creature, with four limbs instead of the six of the other land creatures of Pandora.
(Image)
The Selìk had large claws and four long fangs in its mouth, not only that, but its body was covered with plates of bone, no less strong than the shells of the 'Angtsìk, two neural tails at its rear, and a large tail ending in a large pointed spur.
The Selìk, named Me'ra, was more than a mount; she was a relative of my mother's, with enormous intelligence, so much so that even I had been able to have conversations with her; she was my mother's spirit guide. And every Tsahìk before her in the tribe had her own, direct sources to Eywa, and the most direct channel, along with the tree of souls, the conduit for my mother as Tsahìk to communicate with Eywa, so it was not unreasonable to say that Me'ra was the most sacred and protected clan member of the clan.
"Mother, father! Look, I just petted Fang, he's a sweet boy," yes, definitely only he could call someone like Fang sweet, mother smiled, reaching up to me and placing her two palms on my cheeks, the sudden approach took me by surprise, but the mother-son bond we shared was enough to make me feel safe and loved.
"I am proud, your father is proud too, Eywa has touched you, I have seen it, and I can't be happier to know that the future of our clan is beautiful", the words hit me like a freight train, the sentimental charge was accentuated in me and I couldn't help but shed some tears, the love I felt from her, her affection for me, was more than enough to be thankful for arriving here.
Because nothing in my former life could compare to having a mother, a father, a family.
"Your rite of passage will have to be accelerated, son. You will need to learn from the other Palulukan Makto about the bond you now share with Fang, the responsibility, and the duty you now have to the clan as a budding Rizak warrior," my father spoke to me firmly, but his proud tone and soft expression was clear to know that he was happy too, only he didn't want to show it. "Now go and rest, it's late, tomorrow your training will be reinforced."
Bidding them both farewell, I walked along with Ro'a to our beds or hammocks in the Kelutral, with Ro'a bombarding me with questions about Fang and what the bonding experience had been like, and it wasn't until several minutes later, exhaustion taking him in his arms, that he fell asleep, giving me a brief respite.
As for me, I prayed to all the deities I knew, including Eywa, that when I awoke, I would still be here, and not wake up in my bed at home.
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The Ayram alusìng; the huge floating mountains, were in front of me, nothing seen before compared to this, they were floating islands, huge, like sleeping giants in the sky, thick roots hung from them like ferns, and several had waterfalls falling from above, like dews of life.
After a week of my arrival, this place was my favorite after the clan home, the giant and extensive rocky circle of floating rocks that created a wall around the tribe and the kelutral tree, it was only about two hours away from the Ayram alusìk, and no doubt, whatever made these huge islands float, also made the clan wall float as well.
Perhaps due to some electromagnetic phenomenon, or the nature of this strange but unique ecosystem, but whatever it was, it was something fantastic to investigate, from what I remembered of Pandora, or what had been some simple movies, had been the two final battles, or something like that.
Videos on YouTube show a large battle in the jungle, led by a Na'vi named Jake, and another happening many years later, but this time at sea, involving Jake's sons and men hunting large creatures similar to Selìk, as far as importance to the Na'vi was concerned.
Beyond that, I knew nothing else, and all I knew was due to my fourteen years as a Na'vi, which was a lot of knowledge about Pandora, its flora and fauna, and the important balance, but as for the events that led to a confrontation between the Na'vi and humans, and how the humans were on Pandora, it was a mystery.
But just knowing that, I understood that we were now enemies.
"Aleyx, look," Ro'a's cheerful voice reminded me of why my former race and I would be enemies, and what I would defend tooth and claw if threatened. Ro'a had become very important to me; the boy would stick close to me unless one of us was busy in our training.
I didn't know much about the other jungle tribes and clans close to us, which were the Omaticaya, the Anurai, the Kekunan, and the clan closest to us after the Omaticaya; the Aryna.
But as for my clan; the Subaiya clan, it was a clan of warriors, herders and fierce hunters, so much so that even in the clan, many were in charge of taking care and watching over the talioang of the tribe, large animals similar to buffaloes, only with a large horn over their eyes.
In addition to the talioang, the clan also had a herd of 'angtsìk, which, unlike the talioang that served for milk, skin and meat, the 'angtsìk were used by the tribe as large buses to carry several members of the clan on a single animal when it was time to go to distant places.
"It shrinks when I touch it," Ro'a was playing with a plant that shrunk its leaves every time he touched it, reminding me of the mimosa pudica, or sleepyhead, as he used to call it, because of their resemblance, Ro'a was more than happy playing with the plant, and besides him. Fang was also with us, the big Palulukan was rolling around on the growing grass, very happily.
Turning my gaze back to the mountains, I let myself be filled with the tranquility of the place, Occasionally another mountain passed over us, brushing us with drops from the waterfalls overhanging its cliffs that filled the air with a light mist.
Perhaps the place filled me with great peace because it was said that the spirits of Pandora dwelled here; it was not something I could explain in words, but had to be felt, to experience the strange sensation of tingling in the skin or the feeling of being watched by the trees themselves. Which translated into something magical.
But that feeling of peace and tranquility vanished when a loud and annoying noise was heard, the ikran flew off, resentful of the disturbance, with other aerial species getting as far away from the noise as they could.
"Sky people," was Ro'a's warning. I immediately grabbed my bow, ready to defend my brother from whatever it was, with Fang getting up and coming to me, making Tsaheylu, and thus being able to see the source of the noise.
What sounded like an airship or helicopter was coming right up to us, and they were very close, so, avoiding any conflict with humans who would undoubtedly have weapons, I urged Ro'a to climb up behind me on Fang, ready to go.
But at that moment, the airship we could see it, it was flying very close, less than sixty meters away, a man with a transparent mask and military uniform, was operating a machine gun on the airship, a woman was piloting the craft, but what I found most strange was that four Na'vi were also on the craft.
At the closest point, one of the Na'vi looked in our direction, a woman, dressed in a camouflaged uniform, and holding what I assumed was a tablet or something similar. "Aleyx, let's go!" Ro'a's shout caused the gaze between the Na'vi woman and me to cut off, only to urge Fang to run back to the tribe.
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