Meet and Greet (Finished)

[fuzzydude]

"You've got to be kidding."

Clearly, Dr. Robert Jacobs, an older, straight-backed, sharply dressed, dreadfully serious, no-nonsense individual with no sense of humor whatsoever, was not kidding.

"The reason they assigned you to this was because you're the expert, not me!" Nia protested. "I work with machines. I don't even like talking that much to my own species!"

"Yes, and it's my expert opinion that you're necessary for this assignment. Nobody else has managed to establish contact with the indigenous. You're the only one that's likely to get a response again."

"I suppose, but even so, she vanished the instant Corbin came along. Just like that. Poof! Having me with you isn't going to change that."

"That's why you're going alone."

"Besides, I've got other responsib- WHAT?!"

"You'll be driving your avatar. The risk to your person should be minimal and I can arrange an escort to the area. I realize you have other tasks, but this comes from high up. You'll have to make the time. Replacements, of course, can be found for your primary duties."

"Replacements, of course, are not going to be found! Nobody," she said, jabbing him sharply in the chest with a finger for emphasis, causing him to briefly lose his composure, "is laying a finger on anything in sector C. Those clowns you guys sent last time couldn't tell a bifilar coil from their lunch, and that's only because they can't even put together a sandwich properly. They set me back for months! Things are barely running as they are, and I can't afford the setback."

"Then I suggest you expedite this process by arguing less. Your only mission will be to get the Na'vi to talk to me. Then, I'll take it from there and you can get back to your other responsibilities."

Nia clenched and unclenched her jaw before huffing. "Fine. Whatever."

"Excellent."
_____________

"Oe, moe, pxoe, ayoe, oeng, pxoeng, ayoeng, nga...ga.... ga ga gooo!" Nia made a face, then, sighed. Despite her complains, it was exciting possibly getting to meet the Na'vi again. She hoped she could somehow find Ni'awtu. Somehow. Meeting her had been the most exciting thing that'd happened in years and, even if she didn't like it, this certainly did make her feel important. Ambassador to the Na'vi. Ha. Right. She'd settle for Ambassador Without Arrow in Head.

Unfortunately, despite the excitement, there was still an awful lot to complain about. Having to trek out to the middle of nowhere through dense jungle, for instance. Risking her avatar was no small thing, either. Sure she wouldn't die - at least probably not - but those things were expensive and she was sure she'd somehow be the one paying for it. Not to mention that even if she didn't die, it didn't mean she wouldn't feel everything up to that point. Oh yeah, and she had to try to learn at least some of their language. She wasn't a linguist, but in her opinion, their entire language was nuts. Who modified words by putting stuff directly in the MIDDLE of a word, anyway? Were they trying to confuse her?

Still, she stuck with it, more out of a desire to say more than "technology" the next time she met Ni'awtu. Then, after her shift repairing a dozen broken things, she'd hit the 3-inch book on Na'vi culture that Dr. Jacobs had left. She really hoped that it just had really big font sizes. Seriously, and who used books anymore? The guy needed to catch up with the century.

Nia sneezed.

Oh yeah, and she was still sick. Perfect.
_____________

Nia leaned against a tree, trying to stop the world from spinning. The last couple of days had not been kind to her and she'd never felt very comfortable in an avatar even on the best of days.

"Miss, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks," she waved the soldier away.

"Well, this is your stop. My orders are to leave you here. Will you be alright?"

Nia shrugged.

"Well, just have 'er back by 11," the soldier said, grinning.

Nia smiled weakly. She was so nervous about this she could barely stand. She wouldn't be staying long and she had a working radio this time, but even the tough types got hurt frequently here. The medical personnel always had their hands full. She was not nearly as trained. Just sitting here, unarmed, hoping to be seen by a Na'vi that might bother to talk to her instead of some hungry creature or another. This was such a stupid idea.

"Here."

She looked up. He was holding out his sidearm. She knew how to use a gun, of course. That was pretty much mandatory these days. How to aim a gun, however, was another matter. Still, she took it. Not that it'd have any effect on half the animals in this place. She might as well be armed with a straw and some spit wads. Still, it made her feel just a little better.

She listened to the fading, heavy footsteps of her escort before sighing and sitting on a rock, hugging her legs to her chest. She looked around nervously. The place looked pretty much the same as it did when she'd met Ni'awtu. This time, of course, she was a safe distance away from that thorn bush thing. Supposedly, the Na'vi would already know she was here by now. Maybe watching her. She just hoped that either the right one was doing the watching, or they'd at least tell Ni'awtu she was here.

Well, nothing to do but wait, with just her thumping heart to keep the time.

OOC: Apologies about the length!

[Jai'byrd]

((OOC: What's to apologize about? ))

"And so that's everything that happened," Ni'awtu heaved a sigh after completing the long, arduous tale of how she met the Dreamwalker.

She pursed her lips as she awaited the answer from them, anxiously looking over their face for any little sign of what might come forth...

"Awurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr?"

Atan'eko, her Ikran partner cocked his giant head to one side so that his scarred side faced her as he looked at her closely with his one good eye on that left side. The two somewhat mirrored each other from the Toruk attack, both having scars covering their faces and necks, although Atan'eko had taken more of the brunt of the attack, losing the smaller secondary eye on that side and scars running down his neck. While Ni'awtu had been struck unconscious, Atan'eko actually fought back, trying to save them both. It was only the providence of Eywa that somehow saved both their lives that day, it being only a young Toruk, the jungle being so dense it couldn't follow them when they fell and a hunting party that had seen it all so they could come to the rescue...

"So what do you think?" she asked, still waiting for an answer.

The Ikran rolled his eye some, as if he was trying to point out how futile it was to tell this all to an Ikran, even though their bond was a strong one, whether they were linked or not. He then pushed his giant head into her chest as he rumbled something of an odd purr, wanting to be scratched along the ridges of his face, he liked that.

Ni'awtu knowing what he wanted she indulged him with as a slight smile eclipsed her lips.

"Should I tell the Elders about this? Eh? What say you partner?"

Atan'eko whined again as Ni'awtu sighed, the Elders wouldn't understand, they'd forbid her to go anywhere near the Dreamwalker base again and send patrols of armed Warrior parties instead most likely. Briefly she wondered if Nia would go back to where they met... Naw, probably not... but maybe...

An hour later, Ni'awtu and Atan'eko were riding the winds toward the Dreamwalker base as Ni'awtu scanned the canopy below wondering what she was doing. An image of a fish popped up in her mind via the link with her Ikran as she chuckled, "Yes, Atan'eko, we will go get some fish for you in a moment..."

But first she wanted to land... she directed him to dive into the trees and cling to a large one so she could inspect the forest floor better. There her eyes went wide as Nia was there sitting on a rock.

Atan'eko grumped as he pointed out that that was not a fish and he was promised fish.

I will get you fish, but first I need to speak with Nia, she projected into his mind, Stay here and watch for dangers...

With that she unhooked herself from him and started to slowly slide down the tree, still being very cautious, stopping dead in her tracks when something made her ear twitch. Finally she was near enough to Nia to be in view.

"Nia...?" she whispered...

[fuzzydude]

OOC: Heh, loved the last post.

BIC: It couldn't have been that long, but already it seemed like hours had passed. Her nerves felt strung out like bowstrings.

In this body, her senses were that much more acute and every single sound, every shift of a shadow or twitch of a leaf signaled yet another life-threatening danger. She didn't even know if what she was hearing was just the wind or some creature wondering if she'd go well with fries.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Nia?"

The whisper was soft, delicately carried by the wind. Even so, it caused Nia's entire body to jump. She nearly tipped over backwards before pushing herself to her feet and looking around frantically in the same way she might if she'd suddenly found herself surrounded by thanators. One hand was still fumbling with the gun when she finally picked the Na'vi out from the branches of a nearby tree.

A burst of relief, then hesitation.

"Ni'awtu?" she asked uncertainly. She pronounced it almost right this time. Then, she seemed to get a better look at her face.

"Ni'awtu!" she exclaimed happily. "You're here!"

She relaxed visibly, then held up one hand as a look of concentration crossed her features.

"Kaltxì, Ni'awtu. Ngaru lu fpom srak?" she said slowly, carefully as if feeling out the alien words. She smiled, clearly looking pleased with herself.
____________

Kaltxì, Ni'awtu. Ngaru lu fpom srak? - Hello, Nia'awtu. Are you well?

[Jai'byrd]

The Na'vi's head jerked back as the Dreamwalker sure was jumpy, but then these creatures were not the children of Eywa, so it was kind of understandable. Doubly so when Ni'awtu reminded herself that she had save Nia from a bush that any Na'vi child knew not to play with. They were truly aliens here, aliens that looked quite a bit like Na'vi, but everything about them was alien, their mannerisms, their clothes, everything - something Ni'awtu had almost forgotten until she saw Nia again.

Ni'awtu seemed not to be looking at Nia as she looked around, sniffing the wind, as her one good ear swiveled a bit listening. There were more Dreamwalkers about, as the Na'vi could see the tracks they left in dropping off Nia at this spot. Shoot. Of course Nia would tell the others about this meeting, thus there had to be more in the area, somewhere. If Ni'awtu left now they probably couldn't follow her back home... Maybe she should really muddle her tracks and sleep in the jungle with Atan'eko tonight...

About to withdraw, Ni'awtu almost turned to leave, that was until Nia spoke in her language!

She turned back, some of the beads in her hair clicking together, wide-eyed and alarmed.

"You speak my tongue now?*" What devilry was this?

((* = In Na'vi))

[fuzzydude]

It wasn't quite the reaction Nia had expected. Then again, it was easy to forget she was dealing with an alien here. How they thought could be completely different, and she hadn't gotten quite that far into that Na'vi book to know for sure. "Human-like" she'd read, but the "-like" could mean anything. They hadn't exactly given her much time before sending her out again for fear of missing the opportunity and the time she was supposed to have had to cram everything Na'vi into her brain had been instead been partially usurped by some critical equipment failure.

Nia furrowed her brows, trying to place the stream of words that Ni'awtu had spoken. The language sounded much different in her head when she was reading the letters. Faster, more fluid, more natural, and much harder to break apart into the comprehensible pieces. She'd practiced a greeting given the certainty of having to give it should she meet the Na'vi again, but her grasp of the rest of the language was... wanting.

<No understand. To learn speak still. Know very small,> she said, self-consciously trying to piece together what she'd learned. She knew a lot of this was in her head somewhere, but it was like all the words were swooping around, chaotic and elusive. She wasn't quite used to being this awkward and in the unfamiliar body, it showed. She looked confused and embarassed, like a child finding herself in front of the board in a classroom.

She looked at Ni'awtu for a moment, a bit helpless. Like most Na'vi, she looked strange, but beautiful in her own way, she supposed. She wouldn't mind having a face more like that instead of... well, her own. Minus those scars, of course. Not that such things mattered. Looks were for the shallow, right? She did wonder what the story was behind them was, but... well, it didn't exactly seem like a great idea to bring up. Not that she could even if she wanted to. "How did your face get mutilated?" wasn't exactly one of the useful Na'vi phrases in the appendix.

"Oh," she suddenly said to herself. Her ears twitched upwards comically. She seemed to over-project every single emotion through her avatar unconsciously. Nia swung her bag in front of her and began rooting through it.

<I wanted to give you a gift,> she said. It was pretty easy to tell the phrases she'd practiced ahead of time.

She produced a pad, much like the one she'd had before. She hadn't exactly gotten approval for this, but she figured nobody would miss just one of these that had mostly been sitting under her desk for a year and besides, Ni'awtu had seemed so interested the first time! It was pretty much the only immediate connection she'd had with the Na'vi. She'd taken care to lock down anything that could be dangerous to the colony, of course and the system was the kind usually used by children in school. Theoretically, it could be used for a lot more, but seriously, what were the chances someone running around the jungle in a loincloth, carrying around bows and arrows would even completely understand a computer, much less figure out how to hack their systems?

At the moment, it was just set to a screen saver with pretty, watery colours that would react to touch.

She held it out in Ni'awtu's direction with both hands.

[Jai'byrd]

The Na'vi was still sniffing around as her good ear twitched along with her tail. She was very nervous and mentally kicking herself for putting herself in this situation. Damn! She shouldn't have come! She should not have come!

Nia looked completely defeated after Ni'awtu spat what she did and Ni'awtu felt a bit bad for reacting the way she did. Especially since Nia looked like a baby about to cry after getting fussed at for something it didn't understand. The other female responded in extremely broken Na'vi that she didn't exactly know the language magically, but it was obvious someone had been teaching her something. Ni'awtu wondered who among the uniltìrantokx knew their language... but then again the Na'vi had to recall the history songs of her people, about how the Sky People taught the Na'vi their language and ways as they thought themselves superior. And in teaching the Na'vi, the Na'vi also taught them theirs... but it all ended in tragedy... Thus, just like there were a few Elders left who remembered the Sky People's language, there had to be those among the Sky People who knew Na'vi.

"Ah," she said non-committedly at first as she was still figuring things out in her head, then deciding she should speak slower, as just as their babble sounded exactly like that to her, then Na'vi must sound just as confusing to Nia.

Then Nia produced something familiar as she spoke again in more coherent Na'vi. Still skiddish, Ni'awtu backed up a bit as Nia offered here some of their Tek'nolog to her. However, the temptation proved too strong as Ni'awtu stepped forward and gently and slowly took the plate of colors from her Dreamwalker acquaintance. She held it loosely in one hand as she held it upside-down and raised it up to look at it, but then since nothing happened in holding it, she finally grasped it with both hands and started to poke it.

"Lor," Ni'awtu finally said, "Lor," she said again, slowly, enunciating it for Nia.

With that said, Ni'awtu tried to hand it back as she didn't know Nia was actually giving it to her...

---

lor = beautiful

[fuzzydude]

Lor... lor... "Far?" No, that wasn't it. That wouldn't even make sense. All the words she'd learned seemed to be a big blur to her from all the studying she'd done earlier. This was why she was not a linguist. Regardless of what the word meant, it at least Ni'awtu sounded a little more friendly now.

And then she handed the pad back, thoroughly confusing Nia.

Was something wrong with it? Did she not like it anymore? Was this some cultural thing? Did she just flub her line? She fretted a little. She could have sworn she got it right. She'd been practicing that one. Maybe she'd gotten some of those weird clicking sounds wrong. With her luck, she'd just told Ni'awtu that her hovercraft was full of eels. As much as she sort of liked being the first to do this kind of thing, as much as it really did make her feel special, she was clearly out of her element here.

Great, now what?

"No, gift," she said helplessly, slowing down the words this time. "Gift... stxeli." She explained, trying her best to look friendly while she offered it once more.
_____________

stxeli - Gift

[Jai'byrd]

"Gift... stxeli."

Nia looked so pitiful, Ni'awtu felt rather uncomfortable for a bit as she finally understood the Dreamwalker was giving the thing to her...

"G-i-ffff-t." Ni'awtu tried to pronounce the word that seemed to be the equivalent of her version - Stxeli.

However it didn't feel right to the Na'vi to take such a valuable gift - or at least it seemed like a valuable gift to her anyway - such a beautiful and amazing piece of Sky People technology. She wondered what they used it for mostly other than making whirling colors and sound? Eh, she'd figure it out later... back at home.

As she thought about those last words she looked the thing over with sad eyes again as she couldn't hide this from her Clan mates. Sooner or later someone would find this and know what she had been up to. Damn! Her ears laid back on her head as her face scrunched up in fleeting annoyance. She was going to have to go to the Elder with what she had done, there was no two ways about it now, things were getting over her head here. What if this Dreamwalker was being used to try and make good with the Na'vi by the other Sky People? What if this gift meant something bigger than just a gift? It was well known the last time they were here they did just that, offering their 'superior' gifts in exchange for destroying the land - as if giving gifts gave them the right.

"Wiya!" she yelped and stamped her foot as she turned away from Nia.

This was not what she wanted, why her? Why did she have to get too curious? Well, that was then, this was now. One has to own up to their mistakes and correct them. Maybe... maybe she could bring Nia to the Tsahìk... She was more open than most in the Clan and knew how to speak the Sky People tongue... Yes, that might be the best option.

She turned back to Nia and nodded to her, then pulled one of her beaded bracelets off and handed it to Nia, "Giiiiiifffffffft," she said as she handed it over.

"Gift Nia," then she searched for something simple to say to her, maybe to try and get her to come with Ni'awtu...

"Ultxa si hu Tsahìk?" She said, then said it again and again, way slower as if she was talking to a baby, "Ultxa si hu Tsahìk?"

---

Wiya - Damn!
Ultxa si hu Tsahìk - Meet with the Tsahìk

[fuzzydude]

Nia was clearly startled by the sudden exclamation, and she backed up, looking even more confused and uncertain than before. Had she done something wrong? Damn! She wished she'd paid more attention to that book! You'd think with something this different and obviously important, they'd actually mention it right away! Maybe in big, bold letters on the first page saying:

"WARNING: Gifts are considered acts of war among the Na'vi and may result in diplomatic encounters that fail to reach full potential, and also death."

And it'd all seemed to be going so well when Ni'awtu had started trying to learn what was, Nia suddenly realized, perhaps her first new English word.

Nia fretted, completely unsure of what to do now. Probably run for her life the way things were going. She was the worst ambassador-substitute ever. On the bright side, they probably wouldn't ever send her out again to do something like this.

And, just as quickly, Ni'awtu seemed to calm down, instead removing one of her bracelets and holding it out to her.

"Giiiffffft," she said slowly, carefully.

Nia looked uncertain. Either Ni'awtu was bipolar and everything was perfectly fine now, or she was returning the declaration of war. Maybe the Na'vi, instead of being a mysterious sentient force of the planet, were all just crazy. No wonder they and the RDA ended up killing each other. Someone probably offered them a candy bar.

"Gift Nia," Ni'awtu said, looking concerned but no longer angry as she insistently held out the bracelet.

She was obviously missing something, but assuming the Na'vi were all actually nuts, maybe the whole thing earlier had been something else. She didn't want to upset Ni'awtu again by refusing her gift.

Uncertainly, she took the bracelet, then looked at it more closely. It was actually quite beautiful. Hand crafted, carefully made, made of beads and strung together by an interesting patterned array that had a certain exotic quality.

"Irayo," Nia said, sincerely. "Thank you," she said as well before carefully putting on her wrist. She rather liked it.

"Ultxa si hu Tsahik?" asked Niawtu.

Nia frowned, trying to piece the phrase together while Ni'awtu considerately repeated the phrase slowly. Meet... with... something, something... Her ears flicked back nervously. She was having enough trouble with just one. If Ni'awtu wanted to have her meet someone else... she wasn't sure she could handle that. And this was where they would be expecting her afterwards. Then again... maybe this meant she was making progress. She chewed on her lower lip, then tapped on her wrist computer, having it mark her location and begin tracking her.

<Meet... yes,> she said. It wasn't hard to tell how nervous she was with her still unconsciously projecting every emotion through her tail and ears.

[Jai'byrd]

Nia looked so nervous, as she fiddled with something on her wrist and Ni'awtu felt rather bad, she wished she could speak to her better so that she could communicate that the Na'vi hadn't been mad at her... just her stupid choices in this whole situation - like running into Nia in the first place. Again, she had to remind herself, that was then, this was now and she needed to focus on the now.

Thus she nodded as Nia put the bracelet on and set out on foot to where she hoped the Omaticaya Tsahìk would be, a large reflection pool nearby where she'd meditate. However she had forgotten something...

A huge crashing noise was made as something big plummeted down from the trees in front of the duo as the hulking creature rose up and...

Whined.

"Atan'eko!" Ni'awtu barked after she had calmed down from getting startled from his grand entrance as her tail was snaking about wildly.

"Urrrrrrrrrrr?" The Ikran responded by slapping her in the face with his neural queue repeatedly trying to get her to make the bond with him, which she did and got...

Fish, Fish, FISH! Images of them and being hungry rushed through her mind as she rolled her eyes and glared at her Ikran.

I am trying to bring a friend to the Tsahìk!

FISH!

She sighed, Yes, fish, we go get fish. This way.

Ni'awtu then broke the tsaheylu with him as she looked back to check on Nia.

"Kehe tìsraw seyki," she said slowly and tried to show Atan'eko was just being a silly Ikran as she grabbed his chin fin and shook his huge head around some which made him make the funniest protest whine.

"Ikran... Atan'eko," Ni'awtu desperately tried to explain, "Atan'eko kawng. Atan'eko kehe tìsraw seyki."

---

Kehe tìsraw seyki - No hurt
kawng - bad

[fuzzydude]

It started with a rustling of leaves. The crescendo happened so fast Nia barely had time to look up. There was a sound of shaking branches and then explosion of leaves. A shadow formed above them before rapidly solidifying into something horribly there. Nia yelped, trying to jump backwards only to trip over her own legs and land hard on her tail. Which, in this case, wasn't a figure of speech. Landing on your tail, it turned out, hurt. She barely registered the pain. All her senses seemed to be capable of picking up was the hammering of her heart in her chest. We're going to die, was her first thought. We're going to get eaten by a giant dinosaur.

The pterodactyl-thing was the biggest she'd ever seen - or, it felt like it up close. It dropped on the ground next to them, sending a thump through the ground that she felt even from there. It's attention was locked on Ni'awtu and it rotated its head to one side, opened its mouth, and made the strangest whining sound.

Nia expected Ni'awtu to run, or fight, or at least show alarm, but instead she just stood there, giving the... banshee - that was what it was called - a more human "the look" than Nia expected was possible. She reached forward, grabbing one of the flailing about... things and connected her queue with it.

What the hell was going on?

She found herself staring stupidly as the the Na'vi and the creature just looked at each other. Then, Ni'awtu grabbed one of its fins and shook its head, almost playfully.

"You've got to be kidding me," she breathed, disbelieving. Was that thing a pet?!

"Kehe tisraw seyki," said Ni'awtu reassuringly while Nia worked to pick herself up, still staring disbelievingly at the giant creature.

"Ikran... Atan'eko," Ni'awtu said calmingly. "Atan'eko kawng. Atan'eko kehe tisraw seyki." None of it made the least bit of sense, not in a small part because she was too busy staring to translate most of it. She was guessing Atan'eko was whatever that creature was. Either that or it meant "Fido." Whatever was going on, Ni'awtu seemed to be trying to tell her that the threatening giant dinosaur with a big head-crushing beak was a-okay. Well, OK, so it didn't really look that threatening anymore. Actually, in a weird, alien sort of way, it almost looked cute as it bumped its head urgently against one of Ni'awtu's shoulders.

Really, Nia didn't even like most Earth animals, but as she studied it, with those weird breathing... floppy things and the odd eyes and aeodynamic wings... it was actually kind of cool. It reminded her of a car. Only... flying. And dinosaur-like. A pterodactyl car.

With some effort, Nia pushed herself away from the tree she'd been pressing her back against. Here eyes were still wide, but she started to look just a little curious rather than frightened.

"Atan'eko?" she said uncertainly, looking from the banshee to Ni'awtu with nervous curiosity. "Uh... nice Atan'eko," she said, holding one hand tentatively in its front of her while inching forwards.

[Jai'byrd]

Atan'eko wasn't like most Ikran, as he was a rather curious creature, something that his bonded indulged him in often. Thus when the huge male sighted Nia he had to go investigate and did. She kept murmuring something as she held a hand out which Atan'eko looked like he was about to sniff it, but Ikran didn't have noses per say so...

His big purplish tongue came out as he slobbered all over Nia's hand and arm to a horrified Ni'awtu. The Na'vi grabbed his chin fin again and drug his huge head back to face her.

"Atan'eko! What do you think you are doing!?" she snarled at her Ikran partner who looked at her rather sheepishly for such a huge and fearsome creature.

"Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr?" he moaned a bit as he slapped her in the face with his neural queues again to get her to bond, but she brushed them aside.

"No, bad Atan'eko!" she sighed as she rubbed the left side of her head where all her scars were, when she got upset they'd pull tighter on her scalp, "Be good and just follow. Fish soon."

With that she turned to Nia and motioned for her to follow as Ni'awtu set out once more, with Atan'eko following behind her crashing through the forest. At least with him along nothing would try to hunt them without thinking twice about tangling with a mountain banshee. A wacky mountain banshee, but a big one with large teeth to be sure.

Ni'awtu traveled like most Na'vi, barely leaving a mark on the ground as she moved, lithe and beautiful and with a purpose. The sooner they got to the Tsahik, the better as she headed deeper into the jungle to one of the elder Na'vi's favorite spots to listen to Eywa as she once explained it to Ni'awtu...

---

When one was blind, it actually took some effort to remember to close one's eyes when one meditated as Kilvan'mawey sat open-eyed and motionless next to a beautiful waterfall. The spray from the water would occasionally fly off and hit her cheek and dampen her cloth shawl, but the sound... The sound helped her drift off mentally to the place where she could mediate and listen to the world around her. The whole world had a rhythm, one she would start to sway to as she just let herself merge. She could feel the trees growing, the animals breathing, moving...

Her ears twitched as something huge was crashing through the forest coming toward her. She sniffed the air and caught scent of a Na'vi and her Ikran? Why weren't they flying? And then a new scent drifted her way... By Eywa, was as that? It smelled a little like a Na'vi...?

[fuzzydude]

The banshee looked at her curiously, then suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a fearsome maw. Nia eeped as its tongue shot out, dragging down her entire arm, leaving her half-covered in slimy banshee drool before Ni'awtu could pull Atan'eko away. She stood there for a second, just staring in shock while slobber dripped of her while Ni'awtu reprimanded the creature in rapid-fire Na'vi. Then, laughter erupted from her until she was giggling like a little girl. That was awesome! Well, mostly gross, actually. Gross and awesome. She'd actually touched that huge banshee. Or rather, gotten licked by it. And now she was covered in genuine dangerous-Pandora-creature drool! And the way it was looking now was just like a dog, only actually cute rather than small, loud, annoying, and smelly. The others would never believe this back at the colony! She felt a little like she'd just had brunch with a dragon. A slobbery dragon.

She was still grinning when she began following being the Na'vi. Before her, Ni'awtu was leaping from place to place with a delicate soundless gait, slipping through the jungle with the fluid effortlessness of a deer, moving with a grace and purity of intent that a human could only aspire towards. Especially this particular human, who, in direct contrast, was fighting her way through the vegetation trying to keep up, somehow smacking into every small, low branch there was and getting tripped up with every single root, even in the path largely cleared by the large banshee ahead. Ni'awtu was explaining something to her, but it was all lost on Nia as she just worked at keeping up, trusting that somehow, this would all work out in the end. And if not, well, her computer was at least recording now, so that was something.

[Jai'byrd]

As they entered the clearing, Ni'awtu let out a silent prayer of thanks to Eywa as there sat the Omaticaya Tsahik, next to the waterfall that fed a large stream in the area. She caught the Tsahik's ears flick toward them as she knew the old Na'vi female was probably well aware they were there.

"Oel ngati kameie nawm sa'nok," Ni'awtu called out to Kilvan'mawey addressing the aged Elder with honorifics that made the blind one chuckle some.

"Ah, Ni'awtu Turok'ampi!" the Tsahik called out, using a type of honorific of her own to chide the younger female some for speaking such useless flattery in the first place.

Ni'awtu flushed some as Atan'eko came up behind her and trumpeted in happiness as he crashed into the large stream to go fishing. He was gonna go get him a fish dammit! Thus the large Ikran moved downstream, splashing all the way after the fish he sent a-leaping. Ni'awtu had to sigh some at that as she wondering how anyone could hear over that, but after what sounded like the a watery earthquake was going on, it settled down as Atan'eko came back with a large fish in his mouth and looked utterly blissful. He then flopped down and dug into his prize.

<<Kikikikikikikiki! I hear someone is very happy!>> Kilvan'mawey laughed and clapped as she then somehow zeroed in on where Nia was standing with those dead-white eyes of hers.

<<Who is your other friend Ni'awtu? Eh?>> She chuckled again, <<Fallen from the sky yes?>>

How'd she know that? The younger female didn't gape, but sometimes the Tsahik kept reminding her how in touch with Eywa she was as it would slip her mind. Ni'awtu, looked back at Nia and gestured for the Dreamwalker to come closer.

<<This is Nia, she is a Dreamwalker of the new Sky People. I met her earlier and I cannot speak their language, so I...>>

<<You did well daughter of Turok, I shall speak with her then, yes? Let us see how these new Sky People are...>>

The female that looked like a shriveled blueberry seemed to search for words in the air as a hand came up and passed over her head some like the light was bothering her - which it wasn't as she couldn't see it.

Finally she spoke slowly and heavily accented, but it was some semblance of English, "Well-come Nia. I is Kilvan'mawey. Tsahik of Omaticaya, yes? You speak me your words, yes? Good, speak now."

---

Oel ngati kameie nawm sa'nok = I see you Great Mother
Turok'ampi = Turok-touched or touched by Turok - something the Clan calls Ni'awtu thanks to her 'accident'

[fuzzydude]

Nia continued following Ni'awtu. Ahead, she could hear the sound of a waterfall and a stream.

Her mom used to have a tiny rock fountain on a table near the door to their home that sounded a lot like that - only much softer. It was made out of cold stone and filled with smooth rocks of white and black and every shade of brown. She'd hated that thing because she kept forgetting it was there and putting her coat on top of it when she was coming in and out.

Right now, though, she'd give anything now to have to be shaking dry her coat thanks to that stupid fountain again, trying to hurry so she could head outside sooner into the dense streets full of life and comforting familiar sounds and the ever moving colourful sky where she could hang out with her friends. The guys would be working on that beautiful retro Minaki Z4000 bike and she'd spend hours helping them with the finer parts and arguing with them over her improvements that she claimed would make the bike faster or the reactor less likely to explode in a blazing ball of blue fire, and they claimed made it less authentic. Did the guys ever finish that thing before they had to abandon Earth? She hoped so.

And if they did, they'd better have repainted the thing with flames like she'd wanted, dammit.

But instead of her little fountain and wet coat and Z4000, she was treking through some jungle and had yet another gigantic, moist leaf creepily clinging to her - one of those ones with those slightly stiff and pokey fuzzy things sticking out that made her skin crawl for a minute after. She was starting to really hate fuzzy things.

She brushed aside another big fuzzy leaf, then halted at the edge of a small clearing. Ahead of them sat a Na'vi, wrinkled and frail, staring forwards with milky white eyes. Was she blind? She looked ancient, like a shriveled up piece of fruit. Or a blueberry. Nia had always imagined the Na'vi to all be like Ni'awtu. It'd never occurred to her that they grew old and frail, just like humans. Especially not this old, from the looks of it. How long did Na'vi live, anyway?

She had a feeling that Ni'awtu was showing a great deal of trust bringing her to whoever this was. Nia was, after all, still armed even, not that she'd ever dream of trying to shoot this Na'vi any more than she'd run by and kick some random granny in the shins. Something about her just commanded respect. Even if she was old and smelled a funny.

Ni'awtu greeted the other Na'vi in that fluid language of theirs. Nia caught the traditional greeting, but soon lost the conversation as it ping-ponged back and forth, too fast for her to follow. She shifted from one foot to the other, staying silent and waiting, trying not to feel too out of place.

Thankfully, Echo the Banshee provided enough distraction as he rushed past them into the stream and began jumping around, biting into the water and sending great splashes all over the place with his wings. Nia covered her mouth, trying not to giggle.

Something about the conversation pulled her back. Both Ni'awtu and the old Na'vi were looking in her direction. Well, "looking," she supposed. Nia approached slowly, waiting as they spoke a few more sentences to each other. Then, something she did not ever expect happened.

"Well-come Nia," said the old Na'vi in heavily accented English. Nia's eyes grew a little wider. She didn't have a clue what a Kilvan...thingy was, or what Tsahh-choo or Omicron stuff were, of course, but...

"You speak English?" she asked in dumb surprise before catching herself and looking a little embarrassed. Well, obviously she spoke English. "Uh... I mean, thank you, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

This was great!

"How'd you learn to speak our language?" she asked, astonished.