That night went by nicely. After last meal, a bit of singing, and some dancing between the females and children, Tsu'tey pulled me off aside with Mo'at. I was a bit worried. It could've been about earlier.
"Irisreaver" Mo'at said in her well-spoken english, "you are to earn your Ikran tomorrow. You could find any kind, Ikranay, Ikran, and then maybe you might not. But, I must warn you, there has been sightings of the elusive Hufwe Mucto. The Wind Rider. Be on the lookout for this rare breed."
I gave her a confident grin, but it was ruined three seconds in by a well-earned yawn. I hadn't been sleeping well, so I knew I'd be tired. I'd finally get rest knowing that I was to be one of them tomorrow. Tsu'tey smiled wide at me, a smile not only from a teacher. I was glad we had become friends, there's more to him than meets the eye.
We walked, slowly and side-by-side, up the spiral. It was a silence that I enjoyed. He'd taught me a lot. Maybe he was a little lenient towards the end, saying I got all of the dances down. I didn't. Oh well, I'll be fine.
We stop at the branch leading to the cocoon-like beds. We stop at the same time, and turn to each other. In an awkward moment, we begin laughing. As our small outburst dies down, we sit in that silence. I find myself looking into his eyes, deep, deeper, until I'm lost in the swirling shades of orange embedded deep into vibrant greens, like a wild swirl pulling me in. His arms go from his sides, to my forearms, to my upper arms. I keep mine to his, crossing over my chest to touch his hands wherever they roam. They stop shy of my shoulders, and I feel myself gradually heat up.
"I'm proud of you, even though you are a crazy skxwang," Tsu'tey says, half here and half lost in thought. "Iris, if I could- If there was- If I had to choose, I'd choose you."
With the last cryptic sentence, in all it's pieces, he rushes away, nearly sprinting to get to his bed on the other side of the spiral. I find myself dwelling on his statement. I shake my head, and slowly walk over to my bed. I sit on the branch, about to slip into my cocoon-like space, and I feel something collide with my head. I hit the bed sideways, and go toppling what must be three floors to a human, down and down. I scream, and hit the ground, and see nor hear nothing else.
When I hit the ground, I woke up. I hit my head, and began screaming. Trudy and Grace happened to be awake and close, so they came to my rescue. It hurt so bad. I couldn't hear, nor feel the back of my mind, my legs and lower arms were numb, and my whole scrambled head was pounding. It was like I'd watched 9000 hours of T.V., IF I could see, that is.
In the end, I ended up on Jake's lap, as soon as he was back, he was singing "You Are My Sunshine" in my ear. It does a lot, because he knows that was the song my dad would always sing to me. He knows a lot about my dad, and he'd only ever met him twice. He knew his favorite color, favorite food, and favorite shows, all because I told him. Jake was the only person I had to talk to back then. I'm glad I still have him, and now I have Grace, Mo'at, Neytiri, tsu'tey, Norm, Max, and many more.
About an hour after coming out of my link with a shock, I fell asleep. I had a pretty good sleep, considering I had the Christ scared out of me by something I don't know the cause of. Despite having that scare and waking up afraid, I told Grace to wake me up at four thirty, as always.
When she asked why, I used her favorite thing. Granted, she uses it against Jake, but the tone of her afterwards laugh was worth it. "Village life starts early," I said, causing her to laugh motherly. It had made me smile.
When I woke up, I tried to link in with Jake, but Grace pulled us both aside and made us eat. After some pretty good powdered eggs and substitute bacon, made by Trudy of course, we finally got in. Grace kissed my head before I went in, like a silent prayer.
When my Na'vi opened her eyes, I was laying in the all-too-familiar Medical Alcove, Mo'at's favorite place for me apparently. I felt two strong arms wrapped tightly around me, and in the early morning light, I saw Tsu'tey latched to me. Neytiri was hugging me sideways, and she'd apparently won the higher up spot at my side. Jake came in, and immediately began chuckling.
He slowly pulled me from their death grips and we went on our morning patrols. before we got far from Hometree, Mo'at wheeled us back in. She said that since I was getting my Ikran today, I had to stay at base. Jake was sent on his way with a barely awake Neytiri, and I was sent off to wake Tsu'tey from his spot on the alcove floor.
I stepped close to him and shook him lightly. He didn't wake. I shook him harder, and he pushed me away lightly.
"If you don't get up scoun, I'm going to lick you," I said as a threat. He just chuffed at me. So, I licked his face, and he shot up. With his ears pinned behind his head, he gave me a tired, annoyed, look. I giggled and reminded him that I was getting my Ikran today. He immediately shot awake and drug me to where we kept our things, then lead me out to the direhorse herd. I immediately mounted Txur, and tsu'tey hopped onto Ozoza. She looked happy today. Txur, on the other hand, looked POed. He grunted and followed Tsu'tey huffily. I smacked his antennae base and he licked my hand with his long tongue. I hissed at him playfully.
Above us, the riti swarmed, their purple colors and annoying screeches never ending. It's a wonder they aren't all gone after what Grace told me about flying into Hell's Gate.
Tsu'tey leads us up and up and up, until we can't go on direhorses anymore. We dismounted and met another young hunter there. We shared excited looks as we followed Tsu'tey up the mountain's edge. Then, we began going across a very long bridge made from vines which connected the Hallelujah mountains. Once my fear of heights died down, Tsu'tey told me about the last thing. A jump, in which we had to grab a vine, hope it hung strong, and climb all the way up, into a small crevice. Let's just say, it took me a minute once I was up there.
Tsu'tey went over everything I needed to know about choosing my Ikran. It'd try to kill me, so be careful. Others will fly away, be cautious. You have to make shahaylu, so don't waste time. the first flight seals the bond, so don't hesitate. Once I'd gotten it all down, I smiled and nodded. We decided that the other guy would go first. I watched worriedly as he fought with this beautiful sunset colored Ikran. It had a base color of orange. Then it had deep orange and bright yellow spots littering it's wings. Once he had it down and made the bond, he smiled at us. I waved him to go, and before Tsu'tey could get to him, he took off. Tsu'tey looked back at me with a 'oh-really-now' look and I gave him a cheeky smile.
Next, it was my turn. I gulped and pulled my meresh'ti cau'pla from my waist and began swinging it around threateningly. Many lovely Ikran flew off or hissed and frightfully crawled away. I had began walking around a ledge, and began walking up it. I didn't notice the cave right in front of me until the giant cyan and white Ikran popped out and scared the bejesus out of me. I fell and rolled back, hissing at the strangely large creature. It hissed and jumped forward.
"You wanna go big boy, huh, let's go baby," I yelled at the large Ikran. he jumped forward, and I slung the sticky-reed-like meresh'ti cau'pla around his mouth. His head hit the ground, and I threw myself onto his back. I grabbed his antennae, and connected our braids. I yelled out, at the top of my lungs, for it to 'STOP.' It did so religiously. Like it valued it's new found ownership. Good, it should.
"Iris," Tsu'tey yelled, running over happily. "Do you know the beast you've tamed?! It was just like Tsahik said, you tamed the Hufwe Mucto. A mix between the forest Ikran of the Kekunan Clan, and a mountain Ikran of the Eastern Sea Clan, which produces very light colors. You are so lucky!"
I smiled and looked at him. He stared at me with vivid orange eyes, which were the color of the sea reflecting a dream sunset. And then his wings were like the lightest colors of the waves on a shallow beach, with the white making it look like clouds hung above the waves. He was amazing.
"Come, let us fly," Tsu'tey said. He called out for his Ikran, and it landed not far away. I now saw, close up, the size and color comparison. My Ikran also had a few feathers placed on his head like a crest, and on his tail for steering. He really was amazing. Tsu'tey lead me, not to Hometree yet, but to the Tree of Souls. We were going to check on my garden.
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Heyo sweets! Another chapter for after this hiatus. I've decided to kick my other projects to the curb and work on this some more. I've got big plans, and I can't wait to write them. I hope you're all content with this and I hope you'll all like the next one! I know I said hiatus was inevitable, but I've found a few ways around any problems, so we're all good!