I'll Put My Red Dress on Again

Chapter 7

It's only been a few days of being fully na'vi but Neytiri was excited to start helping me settle in.

Neytiri and I walked out to where the pa'li were. "Since you have your strength back, let's see if you remember how to ride a pa'li." Neytiri says while walking one out. "Hello there." I say while petting the pa'li.

I mount the pa'li. "I trust you, if you trust me." I whisper into the pa'li's ear. Her ear twitches in response. I gently connect our queues together. I feel my lungs get filled with air. "Feel her. The air entering her lungs, the ground beneath her feet." Neytiri says.

I take a breath. Instructing the pa'li to walk. She does so easily. After a few minutes of walking, we started to run. I run the pa'li as we run. "You're doing great, thank you." The pa'li makes a sort of neighing sound in response. I laugh and make our way back to Neytiri. "Good job." She says with a smile.

—

"You have already been able to ride a pa'li. You can hunt and already know our ways." Neytiri explains as I follow her around the hallelujah mountains. "Now you must bond with an ikran." My heart jumps at the sound of it. "You think I'm ready?" I ask with excitement in my tone. "You are." She says as we climb up. I follow Neytiri as she jumps onto a root of some sort hanging down. I jump and grab it, climbing up. We arrive at the best of ikran. "You will need this, wrap it around the mouth and make the bond quickly." Neytiri says while handing me a thick leave with two weights at the end.

"Remember, it will choose you." I nod, "How will I know if it chooses me?" I ask. "It will try to kill you." Neytiri says. I can't help but let out a nervous laugh. "Great." I sarcastically say. I take a deep breath before walking out. The ikrans look at me and some fly away. I make eye contact with a dark blue one with light blue accents.

The ikran quickly hisses at me, I hiss back. The ikran must take it as some invitation because it lunges at me. I duck under the mouth and tie the strap around its mouth. I quickly hop onto the back, grabbing its queue and grabbing mine. The ikran flails around. I jam my queue into the ikran's. My mind immediately rushes with the feeling of air flowing through me.

I remember what Neytiri said. I quickly jumped off the mountain. I trust you, please fly. I think as we stop falling and start soaring. I laugh as I realize that I did it. "We did it!" I say while rubbing the head of my ikran. My ikran leans into my touch. I look back and see Neytiri behind us.

She catches up and I give her a huge smile. "I knew you could do it!" She says with a smile.

We spend the rest of the day soaring around the mountains. I never wanted to get rid of this feeling. I was free. For once in my life.

While flying I tried to think of a name for my ikran. I'm not sure how I got to the name but I think it's perfect for her.

Kae.

—-

I was super energetic after we were done flying. "That was so much fun!" I say while grabbing Neytiri's hands and squeezing them. "It's nice to see you so happy." Neytiri says while she twirls me around. "When we get home, let's make you your bow." Neytiri says as we walk back hand in hand.

We make it back home and Neytiri brings me to a special spot. Wood was already taken from this place, "This is where we get the wood." Neytiri says while giving me a knife. "The bark is easy to scrape off, like this." She easily takes a chunk of bark from the tree.

I followed as she did, even after seeing her do it I was surprised by how easy it was. "Then you get wood like this." Neytiri says while carving into the tree. I once again do as she did. I lean my head against the tree, "Thank you Eywa." I whisper. Neytiri runs my lower back.

I smile and take the piece of wood. "Now we make the bow." Neytiri said while we walked into her room. I sat down in front of Neytiri. I grabbed a knife and followed Neytiri's instructions as we started to cut the wood. Once I got the rough shape of the bow I wanted, we walked to the bow person here.

"Ah, Myra, good to see you again." He says with a smile. "Good to see you too, Appius." I say while handing him the bow. "Oh yes, this will be a good one." He says with a smile. "I'll work on this and give it back to you once it's done." Appius says while grabbing some supplies. "See you then." I say while waving and walking away.

Neytiri and I eat dinner then go back to the hammocks. "This day was amazing." I say while playing with our entwined hands. "You did great Ma Myra." Neytiri says while leaning over and kissing my forehead. I squeeze Neytiri's hand. "Does your body hurt?" Neytiri asks. "No, I haven't been in pain since the ritual." I say. "Good." Neytiri says as she nessels into my body.

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