Worlds Apart: Volume I

Prologue

The forests of Pandora were as kind as they were cruel.

My mother and father taught me the lessons of my home early. It seemed like from my very first day, I was being molded for what Ewya had in store for me. I learned to be comfortable in the hum of the forest. The forest was only a danger when it was quiet. It meant that there was something truly deadly afoot.

The forest was never quiet in my youth. Every day, I could hear the screams of the banshees from the top of Home Tree. The laughter of children and the chatter of the village. The jokes of my siblings as we chased each other through our home. The hum of the insects and songs of the birds. There was always some pleasant noise.

Then, the Sky People returned and the forest was filled with a different noise.

It was foreign and harsh. My father said it was the sound of metal like the homes of the Avatar drivers. There were sounds of gunfire and my people crying over the loved ones they had lost in this world. Every time I heard one of those cries, I would curse the Sky People. They were the ones who were bringing such sorrow and destruction to my home.

But, despite the reality I live in now, the world was not always so bleak. I remember the days of laughter when the threat of war did not linger over us like a bad dream. I remember the days of running through the forest carefree but sure. I remember the days of learning to hunt. I remember the day I became a woman and part of the people.

That is where my story should begin. Too often these days, I hear tales start with sadness and despair. It does not seem like enough stories start with the happy days before the enemy came. It is like they do not want to remember the joy in case it never comes again: I want to remember the joy. I want to remember the feeling of hope I would feel as I raced through the trees. It is a disservice to not speak of those things; they shape everything that we are and hope to become.

I am Ney'ite te Suli Neytiri'ite, eldest daughter of Neytiri te Tshkaha Mo'at'ite and Toruk Makto, Jake Sully, or as he is known by our people, Tsyeyk Suli, twin sister to Neyetam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan.

This is the story that will be sung when people wish to remember me.