Na'vi...A Tsu'tey FF

Log Entry: 8

Looking down the central shaft of Hometree, 80 meters to the ground. Villagers are ant-like.
Nyami tries to keep up with Tsu'tey as he leaps up the core trunk like a lemur. She climbs the last section, arriving slightly out of breath beside him. Tsu'tey leads her outside, onto a large branch. Through gaps in the foliage Nyami can see other Great Trees scattered across the landscape, like enormous umbrellas above the rainforest. Tsu'tey strides out across the branch toward some kind of structure, a web made of thick woven fiber. Dark shapes clinging to it stir with a leathery rustling sound.

Tsu'tey makes a series of trills and clicks. One of the shapes moves toward them, emerging into a shaft of sunlight. A huge blue mountain banshee. Much larger than the forest banshees, this thing is taller than a Na'vi with a 10 meter wingspan. A leathery fwoop, like the crack of sails, as it alights on the branch right in front of him.
"Holy shit." Nyami muttered under her breath, analyzing the creature.
"Do not look in his eye." Tsu'tey advises.
He feeds it a large scrap of meat, which it snatches and gulps down. He strokes its neck and hums to it. It lets out a signature shriek, and some of the others in the shadows nearby answer.

Tsu'tey flip-catches his queue and gently connects it to the Banshee's antenna. It shivers and stretches its wings as the neural connection is made.
"Ikran is not horse. Once shahaylu is made, ikran will fly with only one hunter in the whole life." He jumps smoothly onto the animal's back. "To become Taronyu, Hunter, you must choose your own ikran. And she must choose you."
"When?" Nyami asked quickly.
"Soon." He responded. The banshee shivers with anticipation. "Heeyaaahh!" Tsu'tey exclaims as the Nyami ducks as the great wings explode open and the banshee drops off the branch. It swoops down across the forest canopy, banks hard, lets out a cry and beats its wings in a power climb. Completing the bank, Tsu'tey directs the banshee into a close swooping flyby, and Nyami instinctively backs away.

Tsu'tey was flying in perfect fusion with his winged mount, the rainforest rolling beneath him. Nyami cheered as he flew onto the tree tops and came back up, doing a loop. Her smile was large, matching her excitement and newfound motivation to be a hunter. Tsu'tey came back and landed on the branch. Nyami approached quickly.
"That was awesome! You were like, whoosh, then bam-" Nyami continued her exclamations while Tsu'tey watched all her enthusiastic hand gestures. His lips lifted to a light smile, watching her try to find the words she was looking for.
"Beautiful..." he whispered in Na'vi, his eyes not leaving Nyami. He watched her mimic his banshee with her hands. Tsu'tey got off his banshee and threw meat at it. The banshee caught it and went back up the tree to settle. Tsu'tey started walking down the tree to continue their lessons as Nyami was still stuck on his banshee.
"Does he have a name? Is it even a he? When will I get one? Where do they live?" Her questions were endless.

Nyami linked back to her human body. She groaned, leaving the unit. Jake has just switched on his log camera. He looked tired.
"Do I have to do this? I need some rack." Jake asks Grace, who was behind him, looks up from her microscope, scowling.
"Yeah, and I don't need the noise of his stupid voice." Nyami said, yawning.
"Please, don't call me stupid, I get enough of that from Neytiri. I might start believing you." Jake pleaded.
"If you're miserable after what Neytiri says, you should hear Tsu'tey. He hates your guts."
"Stop it. Yes, now, when it's fresh." Grace said.
"Yeah, yeah." Jake yawned before talking to the camera. "The days are starting to blur together. The language is a bitch, but I figure it's like field-stripping a weapon. Repetition."