Chapter Text
Aonung was tired. His legs ached, he was hungry, and he was anxious. and he was filthy, dirt becoming a second skin on him. He had given up on complaining to his father because Tonowari was having none of it, his patience drawing thinner the less certain he became in his decision as their journey dragged on.
They were left with no choice, the sky people had attacked and they had been unprepared. They had not come peacefully, burning everything and they were lucky to have made it out while so many of his tribe had not been as fortunate. Tonowari had dragged Aonung and Rotxo out from under their burning hut into the ocean. Rotxo was screaming out for his father but they had both seen the sky devil’s wrath pierce through his body when they were shoved by him into their hut. It did them no good when they were trapped under the collapsed building, the fire searing onto their backs and the pressure making it critical to breathe. Rotxo and Aonung were lucky Tonowari was able to hear their calls.
His mother and Tsireya had been underwater when the floating devils rained fire upon their home, managing to avoid the falling debris until the boys were able to meet up with them. The hugs did not last long until an explosion in the forest set off, trees that had been growing for generations falling back to the ground.
“We must go, call your ilus,” Aonung could only stare into the burning fires that was his home until Tonowari snarled and shoved Aonung’s shoulder harshly into the waves. “NOW, boy!”
Spurred into action, calls for them, sharply and is grateful to Eywa that they were alright. Rotxo is trying to call their ilu, he can tell, but Aonung can feel that they won’t be able to make it to them, something must have happened. The booming sound of bullets and death breath out behind him so he drags his friend onto his ilu as well and kicks off. His back burns but he can’t focus on that now. He just rides, breaching the water and following his father on his tsurak, riding until he could block out the smell of death behind him.
After two weeks of riding, his father managed to go on some occasional deep diving for bottom feeders to eat on while their ilu regained their energy. It wasn’t enough and his stomach was twisting on itself and the burns on his back still burn when the water flings itself upon him, he knows Rotxo must be feeling the stings worse. His father told them his goal to find the Toruk Makto of the forest navi and beg for safety. Tonowari told him, one night as they rode and the others slept, that he feared that since he didn’t accept the Toruk Makto’s offer to join their battle in the past that it might affect whether they accept their request for uturu but he was told to shove those doubts inside, to keep it to themselves. He hoped the infamous Jake Sully of the Omatikaya Clan was merciful with them. His mother’s cheering brings him back to the world and he finally feels hope in his chest again.
“We made it!” Tsitreya shouts to them and he is left awed and in trepidation when he sees just how massive the trees are here. They said their farewells to their ilus, his brother of the sea, and made their journey deeper into the greens. He doubts they will get the chance to reunite and he mourns their loss deeply.
Now, it has been another week of them wandering in what felt like circles to Aonung because every tree they see looks the same to him. They kept having to make detours when the forest floor seemed to open to gaping cliffs of interconnecting roots, none of them trusting their balance half starved to make it across.
His agitation must show more clearly than he thought because his mother brings her hand to his shoulder reassuringly. He shouldn’t have to worry her when she was making the same journey months pregnant so he instead goes to support her as they travel. The dirt on his skin made him miss his ocean more deeply but all thoughts of complaints vanish when a noise has his family come to alert.
They need to be more careful, having already had too many close encounters with the predators here, his sister’s spear broken when a viperwolf pup had been too daring and got too close. Thank Eywa, the pup left before its mother noticed them.
“We should settle for tonight, try and find food in the morning,” Tsitreya declares but their mother shakes her head, ears perked and listening.
“It's not safe here, daughter, we must keep going. When we reach the Omatikaya clan we will be able to rest,” Aonung clung to her words but truthfully, they had no idea if they were even going in the right direction. The forest coos at him as they continue on, his feet burning with each step. The bioluminescence of the forest gives them their only light. He looks up, meaning to implore Eywa to give them a sign, and spots blue halfway up one of the thick trees. He freezes, Rotxo running into his still healing back.
“AH, Aonung-!” He swings his tail at him as a means to silence them, reaching out to tap his father and gesture up. Tonowari does and he also freezes and after weeks, Aonung can almost see the end of their sudden journey. A Na’vi girl, child from what he could see, was perched on the edge of the tall tree, gazing down on them curiously. She was so small and her coloring dark enough that she basically blended into the tree’s shadow under the night sky.
“Hello, little one,” His father calls out gently. She seems shocked that they had noticed her but didn’t make any motions to leave. She must feel safe, so high away from their reach. Still, she grabs onto the vines more. “Would you be able to help us?” She cocks her head in confusion.
Aonung privately thinks she might be too young and stupid to answer their questions and that they might have a better chance of following her to her clan and hoping it is the one of Jake Sully.
“Help you with what?” The forest Na’vi asks finally. His sister sighs in relief gently beside him.
“We hope to meet with the Toruk Makto and his clan.” His father replies simply. “We mean no harm!” he raises his voice slightly when she seems to shrink back at his initial words.
“We aren’t supposed to bring strangers back home,” She replies, more cautiously this time. His father goes to his knees and Aonung has to look away. He shouldn’t watch his father, his chieftain, lowering himself for a child.
“Please, child, we seek Uturu!” The word does not seem to spur any recognition in her eyes but a sudden thump had their guards raised as another Na’vi dropped down onto the branch next to the girl. This one was older, still young, but clearly in charge of the conversation now as they stared his family down from above.
-
Lo'ak and Spider watched from their perch as the foreign Navi trampled through his forest carelessly. They’d been watching them travel for an hour now and none of them had even thought to look up once if it wasn’t at the far off suns. Even then, they didn’t notice them. He was tempted to leave them to their own devices soon, despite his curiosity and concern on why they were so far from their clan. Their odd coloring told him that they were very far. Spider and him had their fun making fun of their gaits and struggle but he was done with it. His mother also warned him off strangers, that the sky people came in under false pretenses too, so they would heed her words. That is, until he saw a rush of color out of the corner of his eye and reacted too late to reach out and strangle her.
Tuk climbed down the tree she was on quietly until she was low enough for them to see her but high enough that they could not reach her. He curses out loud, how had he not noticed her following him!
“How did she get here?!” He whispered harshly to Spider, who looked just as concerned. His mother was going to kill them if Neteyam did not find him first, if anything happened to Tuk she might take it out worse on Spider also. He watched them talk with fear rising within him, even knowing how pathetic and exhausted they seemed. His baby sister was still too close. He wills her to come back up to him until he hears their leader mention Uturu, a word he remembers his father teaching them. It was important that they upheld it, it was ancient.
Without thinking too deeply, he drops down to a branch near her, crouching and pulling her close to his body. He will scold her when they are in private, when these large eyes aren’t staring so hard at him. They seem to not know how to react to his presence and it reassures him that he was the one in control of this situation. He didn’t need Neteyam to guide him through this, he was fully capable.
“Uturu? Where do you come from?” He asks, even though he knows.
“We are of the Metkayina clan, I was Oleyektan and this is my family,” The leader rose to stand, more on guard than he was when speaking to Tuk. Lo'ak scoffs loudly, pointing down at them.
“Reef people, your skills won’t help you here,” He grins wickedly, hoping to convince them to leave. Their clan had enough problems and he knew his mother was against refugees. He should save them the time and rejection by sending them the wrong way.
“What right do you have to deny us a meeting with the Toruk Makto! Is his worth so overspoken that he allows others to speak for him?” The older woman, likely the mother, sneered at him. That only made him want to leave them now but his pride had him speaking without thinking again, baring his teeth at them.
“I speak as the second son of the Toruk Makto! Speak with caution when you say his name,” He clutches Tuk close as she murmurs her agreement. They seem cowed properly and their leader falls to his knees again, bringing his wife down with him. The kids follow soon after, heads staring either up at him pleadingly or at the ground in shame. He wasn’t used to being treated as this important.
“We can learn! Please, lead us to him. Our home was destroyed by the sky people,” The leader implored again, more desperately.
His eyes scan the group again and he sees the girl that had him gawk over to Spider with watery eyes. His heart lurches, maybe he was being too rash wanting to send them off. Tuk taps his chest and he looks down to see her determined face and he sighs heavily. He was making a mistake, he knew it.
“...I will take you to him but I make no guarantees my father will be able to help you,” Their happiness does not quench his discomfort at the situation. He glances up to see Spider still waiting and he wants to ask him to take Tuk home, it was already so dark and their parents were expecting them soon. But then he remembers how bad Spider’s vision is at night and that Tuk isn’t allowed to go out on her own too far and they were a ways away from first base. A blind Spider and a small Tuk would make for a poor journey. He waves his friend down as he gazes at the Metkayina Na’vi, daring them to raise a hand at his friend.
He watches the boy's tense and facial expressions turn sour but they are dependent on Lo'ak now, they can’t offend him more than they already have.
“We are going to bring them to my father, they are asking for us to harbor them,” Lo'ak relays to the human boy, ignoring the Na’vi’s piercing stares. Spider puffs his chest out.
“I can make it back tonight if it's important,” Spider probably could but he didn’t want to risk him or Tuk out without him around. He tells him such also, likely offending Spider at being called a child but whatever.
“It’s alright, Father and Mother aren’t even there right now but I will handle this, we will go together,” Lo'ak tells him, gently punching his shoulder. He turns back to their captive audience, telling his body to relax and not show stress as he lets Tukitrey introduce Spider to them. He calls for his ikran, Mataa, suddenly, staring up into the foliage. Mataa chuffs as she lands gracefully on the side of the tree he was still perched on. Ignoring the wary eyes of the reef navi, he makes the bond and glides down to them on the forest floor.
“Spider, Tuk come here,” Lo'ak’s tail gestured a hurry up motion from atop his ikran.
“You are going to leave us here,” The eldest woman states more so than questions. Lo'ak grimaces at her correct assumption.
“Yes, my ikran can only bear so many riders at once so I must return back to our clan and I will return with more riders,”
“Why must you leave? Can we not get there together?” The annoying boy, Aonung, questions him, his glare not stopping even when his sister’s tail smacks into his legs.
“By foot, the journey would take hours longer than by flight. Plus you would attract many predators with your noise,” Lo'ak sneers towards the end but tries to level his face out when he sees their offense. He tries to think of the calm way Neteyam would explain his decisions. “I will return within the half hour. I must return my siblings now or else I will be skinned but I swear to you, I will return,”
The metkayina’s anxiety seems to grow as they take this in, that they would be left alone in this unfamiliar forest- that was apparently full of predators- for even longer. Tonowari nods once, tired but firmly, seemingly ready for their journey to be over. Lo'ak returns the nod and takes off, Spider to his back and Tuk at his front.
Calling into their clan radio, he just prayed to Eywa that his father was not there when he returned.
-
Aonung was not having a good time. That was before he nearly fell off a flying banshee, having to trudge through this dirt and leaves was exhausting. The forest boy had not lied, he had returned with 4 clan warriors atop ikran.
“Theres no way I am getting on one of those beasts…” Aonung mutters to Rotxo. His friend shares his discomfort, crouching away from the incoming banshee’s. They both make sure to look down and avoid their wrath. Tsiyera is the bravest of them apparently and approaches Toruk Makto’s son, as he hops down to them.
“See? I told you all I would return. Let us hurry, my father will be returning soon,” Lo’ak extends his hand to his sister to help her onto his beast. Aonung wanted to protest but he couldn’t disrespect their saviors before they were truly safe so he bit his tongue.
Aonung had his eyes shut so tightly and he would never tell anyone how tightly he clung onto the warrior he flew with and prayed they never spoke of this once he touched the ground again. He must have blacked out vaguely because suddenly, he heard loud cries echo from below and forced his eyes to open.
They have arrived at the Omatikaya clan.
Their Hometree was huge, much larger than the tree’s Aonung was used to in Awatulu, and strong. He could see damage and unnatural marks but the tree withstood it all. He is brought back to the present when he hears Lo’ak’s voice and looks down to see a growing crowd in front of the entrance. He braced himself as best he could as the group landed.
He knew he must have looked ill but tried to puff his chest out when all of the navi began to circle his family. Tsiyera came closer to his side and he wrapped an arm around her to draw her in, shield her from their probing stares. These navi looked much different than him, darker skin, thinner frames, and bows ready to be aimed in hand. Tonowari raised his hands as a show of peace and so the rest of them followed.
His attention is drawn from the gossiping crowd and his father when he hears the beating of wings return, compelling his gaze up. A pair of ikran perched on the side of the home tree and allowed the navi to jump down into low crouches, a boy and a girl.
They must be important because the crowd seems to part for them as they approach slowly before coming to a stop. The boy stood with an air of nobility, bore the warrior’s cummerband, a flight visor, and had fine jewelry on his neck.
“I see you,” Aonung says quietly, doing the gesture along with Tsiyera and Rotxo to the teenagers. The odd girl’s head only tilted, looking curiously at them. The warrior boy also ignored the greeting, eyes probing at them, as his ears flicked towards Lo’ak who joined the pair.
“Brother, they-,” The warrior boy raised a hand to silence Lo’ak as he looked onto the reef navi. As gratifying as it was to see Lo’ak be put down, it worried him as he seemed to be on their side and being put down.
“They are brothers?” Tsiyera mutters under her breath, glancing between the two of them. Lo’ak being Toruk Makto’s son meant this new navi was as well. The girl might also be related. Aonung felt his anxiety rise even further, his back bracing with tension. He glances to his father to see him eyeing the children of Toruk Makto warily before addressing the crowd.
“We mean no harm! We seek uturu with the clan of Toruk Makto,” He says to them all. A few navi leave, hopefully to find their Oleyktan and be done with this embarrassing stare down. His fists tightened against his will with shame and turned back to Lo’ak’s group only to be face to face with the eldest brother. He manages to quell his instinctive hiss but his ears still fall back as he stares back- glowing yellow eyes- before his sister hits his side.
He drops his gaze and lets him observe up close. He feels his breath quicken as he is circled, and lets the boy observe his arm with quiet eyes. His judgement is halted with the quick approach of the Oleyktan and his mate. Before he could blink, the navi had left his side and rejoined with Lo’ak and their sister, now behind their parents.
“State your business here,” Toruk Makto greets after the Metkayina greet them properly.
“Toruk Makto, I am Tonowari te Tsika'u Arvak'itan and this is my family. We are of the Metkayina clan. Sky people attacked us, attacked our Tulkun brothers and sisters, and forced us from our reefs. We come seeking uturu with you, who have faced these aliens and survived.” His father spoke proudly, head bowed to the great JakeSully, whose face looked aggrieved.
“Reef people,” His mate, Neytiri he later learns, spits out and Aonung feels her words burn into him. “Your skills will not help you here,” Aonung feels his stomach drop, feeling its emptiness even more with the threat of it remaining that way.
Ronal hisses at her and Neytiri hisses back, ears flaring. Tonowari placates her with a large hand on her shoulder that does nothing to calm her, instead turning her glare to her husband.
“We can learn, we will learn,” Tonowari looks into Jake Sully’s eyes, one Oleyektan to another. He seems to be wavering slightly.
“Ma Jake, look at them!” Neytiri circles the group much like her eldest son did, grasping Tsiyera’s arm to show her hands. “Thick hands, hard to climb,” Rotxo’s tail is her next victim. “Heavy tails will throw them off balance, you should be with your water clans,” She finished strongly, glaring back at Ronal and Aonung who dared to glare back at her audacity.
“Our children found them, Neytiri. We must set a good example for them,” Jake Sully murmurs low to his agitated mate. Neytiri scowls but nods, looking away and to her children instead. “We will honor uturu, you all may stay,” Aonung feels like he is finally able to breathe again before he remembers that this would be where he lives now, in the forest. “Our children will teach you the way of the forest,” He gestures to them as he says this.
Lo’ak looks conflicted at this turn of events and the girl annoyed at being roped in, pulling her shawl closer to her body. The eldest looks to his mother before he inclines his head in acceptance before following her as she stalks away from the crowd, a slight frown on his face as he speaks quietly to her. Maybe he is trying to get out of this, he thinks privately.
“That went better than I thought it would! My brother Neteyam and sister Kiri were the ones you saw just now,” Lo’ak says, mainly to Tsireya and their parents. Ronal’s face tightens but Aonung does not know why. “Come, I will show you where you will stay and get you dinner,” Lo’ak turns quickly (hopefully before he hears Aonung’s stomach growl at the promise of food) and parts the dissipating crowd into Hometree.
“Lo’ak,” Toruk Makto’s voice pauses his son’s steps. “Come see me,” His tone was even but Lo’ak’s ear’s dropped as he nodded, his energy lowering. He was in for a lecture, Aonung guesses.
“Uh, I was going to show them where they would stay, sir,” Lo’ak protests quietly but Jake Sully shakes his head.
“Neteyam will show them, I need to speak to you about following orders,” His tone left no room for denial. Lo’ak glanced back at the Metkayina before following his father with his head lowered. Aonung wondered distantly at this family dynamic before the eldest, Neteyam, approaches the group.
Aonung scans over the boy again as he makes his way to them. He was taller and leaner than him, tightly corded muscles betraying his strength. The way he stood tall and proud said more about his position in the clan than his jewelry did, Neteyam must be the Oleyktan in training.
Like Aonung was.
Neteyam does not introduce himself besides the cursory nods to them all before he speaks, his voice strong and sure. “I will show you our home,” They are left to follow him up the Omatikayan hometree.
Climbing the tree’s spiral stairs up only made him miss his home. The further they climbed up into this tree, this new home, lengthened the distance from the sea. The living area is near the top middle as well, every night they will have to scale Hometree.
The living area consists of dozens of single hammocks attached by ropes to intertwining branches with some larger, open platforms that groups of people laid on.
He watches Neteyam drop into a hanging hammock off the branched off path and feels sick, not wanting to look down to see the drop. His family were all still on the spiral staircase, not daring to test their balance yet without sure direction.
“This is where most sleep, especially warriors once they break away from their family,” Neteyam said, as he reclined into the swinging hammock casually looking up at them. “This is your chance to speak up if you’d want to sleep by yourself, it is rare we have so many free ones,” Aonung glances at Rotxo who shares his lack of desire to risk his life like that.
His father saves him the embarrassment of admitting he’d rather stay with his family.
“If we could stick together, that would be great. Thank you, Toruk Makto’s son,” Tonowari says, his face slightly ashen as he watches the boy sway in the dangling hammock below them. Neteyam gracefully leaps back up to the branch connected to the inner spiral staircase where they stood, his head tilting slightly from where he was crouched.
“You may call me Neteyam,” he allows as he stands steadily. “We have the family maruis towards this side, I think one might be empty still. If not, I know there are some on the outers,” He speaks as though he is talking to himself, not explaining what these outers were. Aonung hangs back slightly from the group to where Tsiyera follows, warily watching each footstep.
“Are you alright?” His sister dares a glance up at him to smile that is more like a grimace.
“Yes, I will be better once we can finally rest,” She says. Aonung can only nod, they had been travelling for many eclipses. His attention is brought back to the present when they come to a stop. A wide strongly woven platform was floating with a secondary woven cloth coming over top as a privacy roof to make a triangle. It reminded him of his maruis back home, vaguely, if the air beneath them were water.
“If you all are alright here, I will go see if there is food still from dinner and return soon,” Neteyam says, making eye contact with both of his parents before he bowed his head respectfully to bid his leave.
Aonung tests the strength of the platform to see there isn’t much give and he has to credit the famed Omatikayan weaving techniques for its strength. This was much easier to stomach than the looser, swaying hammocks he’d shown them before. He finds a place to lay down, seeing that there weren’t any hammocks yet, and catch his breath.
“Kids, how are you feeling?” Tonowari finally addresses them, now that they are alone. Or, as alone as they can be within the close confines of Hometree. Tsireya answers for them, platitudes of adaptation or comfort that Aonung can not find it within himself to believe. He stares a hole into the floor of their new marui, the weaved pattern becoming more offensive the longer he stares at it.
“This is not the ocean,” He interrupts her to say. Silence grows in the marui but no one denies his claim. A hand rests on his shoulder and he leans into his mothers embrace.
“You are right my son, and these navi are unnatural,” Ronal addresses her concerns in a hushed whisper. Unnatural? What did his mother mean by that? His father’s sigh compelled him to lift his gaze to see his parent’s expressions now. His mother’s strict face and father’s tired acceptance.
“Ronal, we knew what Jake Sully was before we came here. He is still Toruk Makto, he deserves our respect.”
“They have humans here, you saw that boy from the forest. Not only do they have demon blood but they associate with those murderers!” Her whispering voice became strained as she said this, angry but not wanting to be overheard. She wasn’t wrong, Aonung thought.
“Toruk Makto’s son prioritized the human’s return with his sister’s, that human is important to the Sully family. We cannot risk offense,” Tonowari added quietly, though he wasn’t sure why the human had been granted that level of care.
“Demon blood?” Aonung asks. Ronal strokes his back now before she responds, her head swiveling towards the stairs to make sure their conversation is not interrupted.
“You know how Toruk Makto came from the stars, he passed that curse down with his children. Five fingers instead of four, ugly faces with hair,” His mother releases a frustrated small shout as she speaks this, her connection to Eywa filling Aonung with belief in her words. No wonder Lo’ak set so many warning signals off in his head, he had demon blood.
“We will treat them with respect, we are guests here. That is final.” Tonowari states strongly, leaving no room for argument from his family. Tsireya is threading her fingers through her hair nervously and Rotxo sat with his knees raised to his chest. Ronal did not look happy at the result of this conversation but turned her back to her husband regardless to signal its end.
They did not have to wait much longer for Neteyam’s return, a large leaf wrapped around their food.
“You are lucky we had a plentiful hunt today, arrow deer and banquet mushroom,” He says routinely while avoiding looking at them, placing it on the marui opening. Aonung caught a glimpse at his hands to try and see the fifth finger but his hands look normal. His face seemed normal also, not ugly at all. Aonung thought his face was pretty but he forcefully stopped his mind from following that train of thoughts
“Thank you, Neteyam,” Tonowari says for them, going to pass out the food to his family. Aonung wastes no time to start eating beyond ensuring everyone got a portion. Meat had never tasted as good as it did now and even the strange dark navi’s presence did not diminish it’s taste.
“Of course. Lo’ak or I will come get you tomorrow morning and begin your training after breakfast,” Neteyam says this to Aonung and it made his mushroom slightly difficult to swallow at the eye contact. He thinks this is the first time Neteyam had looked at any of them directly since their arrival. He manages to swallow it dryly though, the same way he managed to nod his understanding to Neteyam. “Sleep well,” and then the navi is gone.
They continued eating in silence, no one wanting to break the peace they finally had. Tomorrow would be a new challenge that Aonung wasn’t ready to take on.