Chapter Text
2152 — MAY
They were meant to be safe.
The School House bridged the first beginnings of peace between Na'vi and Humans after the scientist Grace Augustine and the Tsahìk, Mo'at of the Omatikaya, worked together to find a cure that would wash out the sickness that began to plague both Na'vi and Dreamwalkers, the Avatars, humans in false bodies.
With the surprise teamwork, the school would be accepted and the scientist would learn that Na'vi learned faster than their teachers when taught education and English. A remarkable study, fascinating beginnings, and sharing of cultures as they would say and document.
But sharing didn't mean understanding.
Neytiri often followed her eldest sister around, Sylwanin, stayed by her side and listened to her rants when her band of friends were away to do chores or work.
"They break the grounds Neytiri, they take the metals." Sylwanin frowned, angrily weaving a pattern in her newest project, the sisters sat in the canopy of their Hometree.
"They break the laws, they are hypocrites." Sylwanin stopped weaving with a huff, she tossed the project aside, looking down at the forests below them.
"Hypocrites?" Neytiri repeats, wanting to hear her sister's inner thoughts. Sylwanin turned her head away, caught, Neytiri is patient with her.
"The humans all follow laws and rules of their own. They have these..schedules, and deadlines." Neytiri hummed in understanding, during their lessons at school, it seemed like they were always rushing to the next thing. As one lesson would end, then another would begin.
"We follow their schedules, we listen to their rules, but when we give them knowledge of our home, our lands, our rules, they do not listen. They cut and cut away."
Silence passes. "I am not going back."
"But sister–"
"I do not care for mother's concern." Neytiri gently grasps Sylwanin by the arm, urging, "But you are tsakarem, it is important towards learning." Her sister pulls her arm free and stands.
"What I am learning, is that humans think they have the right to take without consequence." Neytiri watched her sister head back inside, she calls over her shoulder with a final, "I will not return to that school," and left Neytiri behind at the canopy.
She was a shy girl, Neytiri, she was more brave when she had Sylwanin to walk with her to school.
She would hold onto her arm, sometimes wrap their tails together before finding the courage to separate and attend their lessons. But after the conversation the night before, and watching her sister be scolded by her parents, Neytiri could not stay around or else she would be late.
Walking the familiar trails alone now was daunting. Although she took great joy to have walks amongst the forest grounds, the further she neared the metal base, the further Eywa's beauty would be stripped away.
That, and being the second born daughter of the Chieftain of her clan, it often meant the children around her were cautious. Not in the ways to be mean, they did not bully her, they simply were perhaps too careful with her. Sometimes, she would think it is because she is shy, for when Sylwanin is around, the children speak casually with her, because Sylwanin is kind, she is brave.
"Neytiri, dear. Your sister did not arrive?" Grace Augustine approaches her slowly, the scientist's Na'vi becomes smoother everyday, but the accent of her own still slips through. Neytiri shakes her, having been sitting alone at one of the tables for the arts and crafts time, must've gave her away.
"Sylwanin does not wish to return." Grace perks up in surprise and maybe even in concern. After all, Sylwanin is kind, and brave, but also responsible. Grace probably noticed these traits in her sister.
"Was there any reason?" Neytiri frowns, looking down at her painting that was mashed with an abstract of colors of some purples and reds.
"She says that humans are hypocrites. We listen to your rules, but you do not listen to ours." A small peel of anger flashes across her face and Grace tilts her head in an apology.
"Yes, you are right, both of you. I wish with all my heart that I could change things, but I don't have that control." Neytiri looked at Grace then as she said, "I don't have that power."
Neytiri had meant to ask her a question next, about why Grace didn't have this control, this power? But the answer came for her when the door slammed open and a group of Na'vi children came rushing inside. Neytiri stood, she recognized some of their paintings, saw their bows and arrows.
"Sa'nok! Make them leave!" A boy shouts, pointing to the windows, Grace moved to assess the commotion as the door opened again, another group comes rushing in and Neytiri spots her.
"Sylwanin! Why are you–" a big crack of thunder sounded, bursting through the door and the walls. Neytiri remembered being shoved to the ground, heard screaming before a heavy silence.
Her ears were ringing. She saw Grace above her, shouting and waving her hands. "Hold your fire!"
Neytiri looked around, found holes in the walls, saw crafts and shelves shattered into pieces, some of the children unmoving, like Sylwanin at the doorway, faced down where she was. Neytiri saw the blood pooling around her on the floor first before she saw the bullet holes in her next.
Neytiri felt her mouth moving, saw her arms reaching but then Grace is there, dragging her, pulling her to her feet.
"Neytiri, you must leave! Now!" She didn't have time to comprehend her feelings when Grace shoved her out the school house with the others, but she did run and cried all the way home for it.
Typically, there would have been war.
It had almost come to it, but one of the boys who wore paintings had survived the tragedy, Tsu'tey. He confessed that the humans did not attack without reason. It had been him and his friends, and Sylwanin, involved at attacking the human machines.
He argued that they had only wanted to protect the lands, bravely he stated that the People had been sitting idle for too long, that the humans continue to break The Three Laws. But Neytiri's father, Olo'eyktan, Clan Leader, Eytukan, did not agree to this.
"By attacking first, you showed aggression and hate, that is not the ways of the Omatikaya. We are protectors before warriors, we protect–"
"But we were protectors, we stopped the machine–"
"We protect together, by communicating! You did not communicate this event, you did not trust in your family, in our power!" Tsu'tey falls silent as Eytukan steps near, anger brewing in his eyes, but also a great sadness, "You did not trust us and now the children are gone." Eytukan finished, and Tsu'tey fell to his knees as Mo'at openly cried, as the clan around him all cried, he looked past them and into Neytiri's eyes.
When he met her gaze, he fully began to understand the mistake he made.
Later, Neytiri would ask her father a question as the clan ushered away towards a communal gathering to grieve together. She walked by her father's side, tears streaking her face.
"Will we retrieve Sylwanin?" Eytukan shook his head, knowing of the dangers of drawing too close to enemy territory so soon. "We cannot. It is too dangerous."
"But father!" Eytukan shushed her and they step aside to be descreet, "My daughter, it is much too soon, we must wait before approaching."
"Surely they will let us collect our fallen!"
"We trusted them to listen to our rules before Neytiri, trusting them now would be a fools dream." Eytukan caressed her cheek in apology and then continued them towards the gathering. Neytiri sat by her mother's side while her father occupied the opposite side. Neytiri listened to her mother begin singing, but she didn't have the strength to join, she only stared into the pit of fire and told herself that she was a fool.
Neytiri was often shy, but she was also kind and smart, she learned faster than others and it allowed her to become skillful. She snuck away from the clan easily, she slipped through the familiar routes and crested at the edge of the school grounds.
All she wanted, was to get her sister home, to return her properly by the roots of Hometree. She just couldn't bear for Sylwanin to think she left her behind, she couldn't! But when Neytiri had been ready to move forward, the school house door opened and a group of humans walked out, dressed in white uniforms with a red cross on their helmets and shoulders, masks strapped to their faces.
They carried several black bags that were much too large for them, and Neytiri realized that the humans were taking the fallen. She stood up from her spot in the trees, surprised and torn between shouting and running. She wants to stop them, she wants to run and scream, but she is afraid.
She is afraid of the power of thunder the humans have in their hands, she had never seen such a weapon kill so dangerously, never, not until she saw the way Sylwanin immediately lost the light in her eyes and fell.
Neytiri stared at the black bags, watched as the humans walked further and further away until at last, night had completely fallen and no one else was on the school grounds but herself.
She crept forward silently, breached through the back entrance slowly. The wood groaned at her push, and she finally stepped back into the room that fell into ruins. The arts and crafts from before had been smashed and scattered everywhere, shelves and other crafts were also broken and bended. The scent, iron and smoke. The blood, stained and dry. Neytiri kneeled at the doorway, traced her hand across the ground to where she last saw Sylwanin lay. She was too late.
Days passed.
The People mourned, and there was no war. Only a stand off with a message to the humans that they were not permitted any closer. Neytiri was angry at this flimsy of a message, because they had warned the humans before not to get close, now they warn them again? And hope they listen?
"Neytiri, pay attention, now, bind the strings this way." Mo'at slipped the strings around the wood, and watched as Neytiri gave a deep frown before making the attempt, but the strings snapped and the girl threw the project away with a huff.
"Neytiri."
"I am trying mother."
"I know.." After the death of her eldest, Neytiri had no choice but to take on the duties of tsakarem. She spends every hour learning all she can to close the gap of knowledge before being thrust into doing certain chores around the clan as well. It is normal to all contribute together, but now it seems like she never gets a break, she may as well have been Tsahìk already with the amount of workload being put on her.
She would have complained to her mother, but she would feel guilty and disrespectful because Sylwanin had been her apprentice for years, her sister never complained, so Neytiri wouldn't either.
"Calm. Go join Tsu'tey at the grounds for today." As if that would be better than weaving, Neytiri just nods and stalks off without a word.
Tsu'tey was not bad, he was respectful and he readily followed her sister, you could say they were truly meant to be, the perfect bond, the perfect team. But when their plan failed, and Tsu'tey lost Sylwanin, he had completely reviewed his ways and now listens closely to Eytukan's teachings. He is like the son he never had.
It's a miracle that his mistake did not cost him his title to be the next successor, but he did undergo rigorous lessons to remind him of his place, the purpose of the clan and to review his ways. And that was to think critically first, of all possible factors, before acting next.
He applies this new critical thinking skill to everything now, and that includes on how to treat Sylwanin's younger sister, the new tsakarem, Neytiri.
It's awkward, meeting him at the grounds, just to listen to him talk, and talk about everything and anything, but her sister and Neytiri's new title and what that means for the both of them. Tsu'tey had loved Sylwanin deeply, and Neytiri knows that when he looks at her, he sees a glimpse of Sylwanin before realizing it's Neytiri and it hurts.
To see someone catch a glimpse of her in her features and pretend she's Sylwanin before they pull away because it's not Sylwanin, it's Neytiri, the shy one, the small one. Because Neytiri doesn't live up to Sylwanin's charm and bravery, she can't honor her sister for her friends and family and it hurts. It hurts because she can't love and cherish her sister's lover either.
She can't preserve anything for Sylwanin.
She's Neytiri, the shy one, the one afraid. So she doesn't complain about her training, she holds her tongue when her mother scolds her for getting the herbs wrong, again, for not being able to sing a note, again, for not being able to pull the bow taunt, again, for not being able to land the shot, again and again and again.
She does not complain. She's passed the rite of passage, she is a hunter, but that doesn't mean she is now some mighty warrior like Sylwanin was, she'll need to train even harder. So she learns to sharpen her knives, she fixes the bows, she tightens the strings. Neytiri practices and memorizes the names of herbs and the floral around them. When she sits in council meetings, she begins to speak when provided opportunity.
Neytiri begins to crawl out from her shell with aggression.
She trains with Tsu'tey when her father cuts her lessons shorter, she tells the boy to not dismiss her, to promise that she would be strong like her sister.
"You are strong, Neytiri." Tsu'tey compliments awkwardly, but also truthfully, he rips off the arrows from the practice targets. Neytiri is already approaching with a frown, snatching the arrows back. She had been just shy of the bullseye.
"I will try again." She takes aim once Tsu'tey has stepped safely away.
He sighs, "Neytiri." An arrow flies, hit near middle, bottom left.
"Sylwanin could hit three targets once, down the centers." She frowns, trying to focus when she says it. Another arrow flies, hits the same target, upper right.
"She could harvest the correct medicines with scent alone." Another arrow flies, next to the top right mark.
"She didn't stand by to let those Sky People ruin the land, she wasn't afraid." Another arrow, center at last.
"Not good enough." Neytiri whispered and Tsu'tey placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, and listen well." He turned her fully, eyes searching her own. "You will never be Sylwanin." Neytiri folded her ears back, and frowned. "You are Neytiri, just Neytiri–"
"Not just Neytiri! I'm the tsakarem, I mustn't fall behind, Sylwanin would–"
"Sylwanin is gone. This does not mean you replace her, to be her. You are, Neytiri, her sister." She pushed him away and threw the bow down, scattered the arrows, Tsu'tey called after her but she continued to run. She folded her hand and brought the curve of her fingers to her lips, whistling for her Ikran, Seze.
The Ikran burst through the trees, Neytiri hops on and directs her to fly them far away.
She's not sure how long she flew, but she flew far enough that she passed over the Tree of Souls, passed the Hallelujah Mountains and eventually crested above smaller mountains and descended down into its valleys. She only smiled when Seze chirped and caught a fish when they glided across the surface of the river. At last, Neytiri gave Seze rest and they settled down to ground.
"Tam, go up, I know you get nervous on the ground here." Neytiri smoothed the underside of Seze's jaw, the Ikran snapped it's teeth before shaking their head and lifting off, screeching out at their departure.
Neytiri listened to the forest and closed her eyes. Tsu'tey's words still rang in her ears, her tail flicked with her annoyance.
"Oh, Great Mother..." Neytiri walked forward to gaze down at herself in the river, "Why couldn't I be stronger, I should have known Sylwanin was brave to pull such a stunt. But she didn't ask for me." Tears fell into the water, "Sylwanin didn't ask for my help. Why didn't my sister ask for me? Why did she have to fall?"
"I could have...I could have done something, could I? It was a machine they destroyed, a machine, maybe the scout didn't do their job, maybe I could have warned them, and protected them better?" Neytiri wiped her eyes, she knew it didn't matter, Sylwanin didn't tell her the plan, and Neytiri didn't bother to ask her about her feelings more. The signs were there, Sylwanin loved the People so much, she would do anything to keep them safe and happy, but she loved too much, too strongly.
Now Neytiri has to fill in the gap that her love left behind. The People miss Sylwanin, the sweetheart of the People, not Neytiri, the shy and afraid one. The child that Sylwanin would save.
"You will never be Sylwanin." She snarled and slapped the water's surface, distorting her reflection. "You are Neytiri, her sister."
She pressed the palm of her hands into her eyes with frustration, because another thought had also been plaguing her.
"Why didn't you help her, Eywa? Why did you let these humans trample all over you? You made my sister fight for you, to protect you, and you...you did nothing!" Neytiri screamed out at the water, and was quickly ashamed at her statement, it goes against her training as the tsakarem.
A twig snaps, Neytiri's ear flicks up, alerted. She lifts her face from her eyes, blinking away her tears to look across the river. There, in the shadows of the giant roots, a piercing stare of golden eyes stare back at her. Neytiri hissed, bringing her knife out.
"Show yourself! It is rude to stand silent!" Neytiri would have felt embarrassed for someone to have listened to her most vulnerable thoughts, but now she is angry.
The figure tilts their head, and Neytiri's ears track a low feminine laugh. She stalks forward, out of the shadows. Her attire isn't as different from Neytiri's, only that their colors are more dark toned and leathery as it drapes over her breasts, and the loincloth rests over her thighs as it wraps around her waist. With a full set of hair, braided back, a style similar to Neytiri's own.
The only difference truly, is how pale and thin the girl is, that, and her fierce stare, she had never seen someone so confident while so young, she looks to be around her age.
"Who are you?" Neytiri bristles under the girl's gaze, the girl does not falter her approach, she speaks as she begins to cross through the waters.
"Quiet Forest Girl, you whine too much." Neytiri folds her ears back at the comment, much too embarrassed, she hissed.
"I'm not a child!"
"You were praying?" She ignores her comment, Neytiri frowns, cautious as the girl steps out of the water, now standing infront of her. Neytiri just raises her knife, the girl narrows her eyes and lifts a hand of surrender.
"I am merely asking a simple question."
"You were merely watching me, which is rude and questionable." The girl smirks, and steps forward into her space. She takes the knife in Neytiri's hand and motions the edge close to her neck. Neytiri jerks back, but the girl does not let her go.
"What did you pray for?" Neytiri snarls and finally presses forward, leaning her weight and rests the blade on the skin.
"Why ask these questions when you already have the answers!" The girl smiles at Neytiri, allowing her to push her enough to take a step back into the water, changing the height so she has to look up.
"It's not everyday when you find someone questioning the will of Eywa. It's a process that earns respect, because you are finally understanding." Neytiri doesn't understand a thing she says, she looks down at the girl again, taking in her attire. Something about her is familiar, it's unsettling, her tail flicks behind her.
"Who are you?" The girl lifts her chin to offer her neck more, "You might have heard of the fallen before, outcasts." Neytiri hisses. "Mangkwan!"
The girl moves, bending backward, still gripping Neytiri's wrist, she pulls her arm forward, past her head, making Neytiri lose her footing. The two go tumbling into the river. Bursting to the surface, Neytiri immediately swings her knife, the girl slams her forearm against her wrist, forcing her to drop the knife, losing it in the stream.
Neytiri feels a grip in her hair and an arm sling around her front that moves and locks around her neck. Her back presses into the girl's front, and Neytiri struggles in their hold, they wrestle, kicking up water and crashing against the sides, slipping into the mud. As they roll around, Neytiri frees an arm, elbows the girl in her side, loosening her grip on her neck.
Neytiri slips free, leaping back and away, hissing at the girl, who gives a bigger and meaner, hiss back.
They have a standoff, neither moving until the girl bursts out laughing. She pushes herself up to her feet, wiped off some of the mud from her face.
"I lost my sister, too." She pants out, shaking her head, mud fell off, Neytiri slowly gets to her feet, watching the girl. "She could not handle the responsibility of tsakarem, so I had to step in, show the People that I could be better. For that...I lost her." Neytiri widened her eyes, then lowered them when the girl stepped forward.
All she could think about, was she wasn't handling the responsibility well either, while this girl, this Mangkwan, had displaced her elder sister. When she comes close enough by Neytiri's feet, she hisses, warning her not to come any closer, but she is caught off guard when the girl holds out a hand.
"How did you lose her?" Neytiri asks, lifted her hand, reaching.
"Exile." She pulled Neytiri up, "she may not have died, but even some nights..." she let go of Neytiri's hand, shaking her head like she shouldn't think of it at all, whatever it was. She flicked her forehead, Neytiri hissed at the action.
"You are strong, with time, you will be stronger. There is..an anger that brews in you, use it." She pushed at Neytiri's shoulders, "Lift your chin, stand taller, I want to see you bite." Neytiri had enough of this girl touching her and roughly pushed her away. The girl shook her head as she stumbled backwards.
"Not enough, you are still not using enough! Eywa always fosters weak children, stop listening to her!"
"Why do you speak that way about the Great Mother?! Shut up!" Neytiri yells the words in English, something she learned from the guards.
"Yet you questioned her Will, Forest Girl, you dared to stray off the righteous path she sets for you to follow!"
"I have done no such thing!" Neytiri bristles with anger, tail flicking, ears folded, teething barring. She perks up when the girl turns away, moving to leave. "Stay! We are not done here!" Neytiri calls out, but the girl simply twists out of the way when Neytiri lunged for her. She goes sliding back into the mud before finding a dark blade pointed at her sternum and the girl crouched over her.
She tilts her head, pressing the tip against skin, making Neytiri realize that during their entire brawl, she could have killed her at anytime.
Neytiri, embarrassed, angry and tired, finally yields.
The girl stands up, and steps away, she flips her kuru over her shoulder.
"In the next season, arrive here again, I want to see how you fester with this anger, Forest Girl."
Neytiri sits up from the mud, shakes her head, "What you'll see is your own defeat!" The girl tilts her head back with laughter, she points her knife at Neytiri again.
"Making promises to me are dangerous, Forest Girl." She lowers her knife, smirked, "I like that." She steps back to the water, gathering a pool into her hands and dousing herself a couple times, getting rid of the mud of their fight. She shakes her head, flicks her tail that scatters water at Neytiri, the girl smirks down at her as she walks away, practically slithering with the way her hips swayed.
Neytiri looked away from the motion, meeting the fierce gaze as she steps back into the shadows, vanishing.
Neytiri remained there in the mud, stunned at what just occurred. Embarrassed that she had been bested by someone of the Mangkwan, a clan of outcasts, people that were shunned for their crimes. Neytiri doesn't know to what extreme would get someone shunned, the clan was mostly known through whispers from the elders, and they warned those to stay clear of those people, dangerous people.
When she eventually pushed herself to her feet, and cleaned herself in the water, she wondered again, if maybe outcasts are murderers, wouldn't the girl have just killed her then? Neytiri reaches into the water after searching for awhile, she picks out her knife.
The girl said she wanted to see how Neytiri festers with her anger. She doesn't really get it, but what she does know is that if this...Savage, can displace her elder sister from sheer will to be better, than Neytiri can too. She will be better than Sylwanin, and she can't do that if she is trying to be Sylwanin, she must be Neytiri, the fierce one, like the Savage.
"I'll show her, next season..." Neytiri whistled for Seze, mind made up, spirit lifted, determined. She takes to the skies, ready to return home, for now she had a new goal in mind.
To kick that Savage's ass.