Tsawke|Tsu'tey/Oc

12-Tìtaron fya'o

I was excited for the ceremony but a storm was rolling in and so was Grace's anxiety.

"I simply cannot allow it." She paced while Jake and I looked out the window, "neither of you are strong enough."

"It's the last door, you can help me or get out of the way." Jake wheeled himself to his link bed.

"Will you listen to me?" Grace was exasperated and desperate, "sometimes the Na'vi themselves die in these vision quests. The venom takes you to the edge of death and we don't even know what the worm does in a human brain."

I stop and turn to meet Grace.

"Grace... this world is more than I could have ever hoped to see in my life. They have taught me everything I thought I knew already. I owe it to them to at least show up."

I slipped into my precalibrated link bed.
——————
I woke up to a seemingly grumpy Tsu'tey.

"Come, we have preparing to do." He helped me out of my hammock with a surprising amount of tenderness.

"Why so different today? You usually yank me out of bed." He turned around just a little bit so that his gaze hovered on me.

"Aren't you sore?" He saw that I was clueless, "the smell gives it away. It's like the smell of rain, you know it's coming. The cycle." He explains, "I'm sorry, I'm not very good about talking about it, my mother is the only female in our family, so all I know about women is from her." He gave an apologetic look.

"Oh, no, I'm just shocked that men here aren't grossed out by it. Human men... there's a barrier between men and cycles. They used to use it to put women down and feel ashamed for it." Tsu'tey looked shocked before he furrowed his brows.

"We have to prepare you for the ceremony. I'm sorry if you felt that I treated you different. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable." He apologized again.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, you have good intentions." He lead me down to the ground level of Hometree so we could find some white paint.

"White is a dream color. It should only be worn in ceremony." He explained. I took off any clothes that didn't fit into the ceremony. Armbands, joint protection, calf guards, necklaces, and the top I was wearing too. I wasn't phased by this because what I have been wearing barely covers what it needs to cover anyway. It's not like it's a sex organ anyway.

"I promise when painting you, I will not do anything you are uncomfortable with. Don't be afraid to stop me if you end up feeling uncomfortable." He said with a look of sincerity. He began with my neck at the back, starting from my queue, down to my shoulder blades. It split into two spirals that went over my shoulders it curled up to my collar bone and he began painting the stripes only on the muscles above and just under the my breasts. He knows that some females are uncomfortable with their breasts being touched and he knew that I wasn't a big fan of it either. So he avoided them while painting the marks. He dipped his fingers into the paint bowl again and painted symmetrical strips which outlined my abdomen. He made another set of symmetrical strips which cascaded down my shoulders like a waterfall.

He began working on my face, he started at my forehead. It moves down over my brows, back close together at the bridge of my nose, and it reaches below my cheek bone and back up again. He traces my lower eyelids, the shape of my nose, my cheeks and finally, my lips.

It's a nearly intimate moment but the itching of the drying paint is beginning to be frustrating.

"Your paint is done... Mo'at and the elders wait for you below." He said in a slow and meaningful tone. This is a big step for me, I should revel in every moment.

Tsu'tey, on tired legs, pushed up off of the ground and stood up slowly. His hand reached down to mine, and I let him pull me up onto my feet, and down the spiral to the meditation circle. The dark cave-like space was humid but cool, like standing not too far from the bottom of a waterfall. It reminded me of the time my grandparents took me to one of the last waterfalls in Michigan. The name is faded from my mind but we went over the old bridge to the north and we stopped a lot to get fudge and souvenirs. It's a warm memory from early fall.

I was shaken from my memories by the sound of a ceremonial flute and the glowing water drum. They saw us coming. The glowing drum, when it was beaten, would illuminate the wooden and stone walls of the small cave and it would make a distant sound despite it being right next to us. The flute was like any wooden flute. In the center of the cavern, where Tsu'tey was leading me, the elders, eykyu's, and all spiritual leaders in the clan where seated in a circle. Including the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik.

As I sat down with Jake in the center of the circle, Mo'at stood up with the incense stick, wood of Hometree, healing herbs which represented rebirth and fertility, the small wooden effigies of which family tribe we would be joining. Jake had been chosen by Ka'ani's family meaning, his full name would be Tsyak Te Hì'aw Kamunga'itan. Rìni welcomed me to her family as a sister. I would be called Kxohane te Pasu' Hahaw'ite. I didn't know the effigy for Jake's new adopted tribe, but mine, it was a berry, a really simple effigy, but it makes sense to me. It's a way of life for this family.

We bathed thin the dry and familiar scent of the smoke blown into our space by Mo'at.

"Ma txantslusama ngawng..."(oh wise worm,) she picked up the wood taken from one of the sacred trees, she took out a wriggling worm, gave one to Jake, and another to me to eat, "a swoka utralti yom. Fìtaronyur apxan teswotivìng äiet angay."(grant this worthy warrior true vision) She finished. The elders began chanting the last few words as Eytukan stood up, reached into a basket, and pulled out the angry little scorpion looking bug. It had two stingers. It crawled astound his arm and hand before he reached us. It stung Jake once, and it stung me twice. The pain was overwhelming, and I immediately felt dizzy and sick.

I saw the worried expressions from Mo'at and Tsu'tey. The elders began bathing in the smoke from the incense, everything was speeding up and slowing down. The drum's hypnotic sound was lulling me to sleep, but the hissed from the elders closing in was keeping me awake and fearful. Tsu'tey's face was close to mine. I saw his distress while he was seeing my own. I tried to pull away from his gaze. I felt like I was falling.

The world around me opened up into a brilliant display of light and colors, leading up the spiral of Hometree. I walked along it to the top of it. But this whole time, I was going down. And I was met with a beautiful great eye. The eye of Eywa. I breathed in the beauty and I felt my most alive. Suddenly, the cries of a baby pulled me out of the bliss. Large handprints of a Na'vi or something was in the mud. I followed the tracks, only to hear the chuffing growl of a large predator. Their eyes were huge and full of deceit and yet something I understood as pain. I saw through it, a world of soot, ash and fire. I felt like I was on fire. The ash was in my lungs and I can't breathe! I feel myself choking on dry air.

"It is finished!" Mo'at's worried voice brought me back to consciousness. I was splayed put on the floor, Jake, Tsu'tey, Mo'at and Yuney the healer where all above me.

"Is she okay?" Jake asked Yuney.

"She is waking. She took too much venom, she could have died. The grace of Eywa has kept her alive." Yuney looked between Mo'at and Jake. Tsu'tey had his eyes trained on mine.

"I am glad you are okay. Take your time getting up, it is morning now." Tsu'tey spoke softly.