Petrichor

Tuk

"How tall is he?" Lo'ak asked, his gaze intent on Jake's knife cutting into the wood at Neteyam's head. They were outside in one of the little balcony type areas that Jake and Tsu'tey had created, woven intricately to make a strong floor. Ilhia, Mo'at and Neytiri had claimed it as their own, and decorated as such.

"He's .. that tall," Jake said, sheathing the knife into its pocket.

"Wow!" his youngest son breathed, as Neteyam turned back to look at the marking in the wood. "He's tall!"

"Still taller than you!" Neteyam grinned widely, slapping a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"You're the tallest of us all!" Spider chimed in, leaning forward with his hand on the back of the wooden pole.

"Not taller than me!" Leypa said smugly, folding his arms across his chest.

At thirteen, he towered over his eight year old twin siblings and seven year old brother, as well as the nine year old human boy. Not that it took much. Lo'ak was bigger than Spider by at least a foot.

Jake often wondered how he had never laid eyes on Leypa's birth parents. It had been nine years since the battle, nine years since the fall of the original Hometree. And he still thought that he would have been able to remember seeing massive Na'vi folk. 

Because there was no doubt about it. Leypa's parents must have been huge. The boy stood five inches shorter than Jake, bigger even than Ilhia. Something that he liked to remind her of often just to tease her. Not that that took much either. Everyone was bigger than Ilhia. Even Neytiri had a couple of inches on her.

"We'll catch up to you eventually!" Lo'ak said, determination in his voice. Leypa just laughed. 

"I wait for the day, brother," he said with a cheeky grin on his face, ruffling Lo'ak's hair. Lo'ak just rolled his eyes, giving Leypa a little shove on the arm.

"You want me to see how tall you are?" Jake asked, tying his braids out of the way. 

He'd tried what Ilhia had called locks, but he wasn't particularly fond of them. He preferred his braids, and even though Ilhia complained at having to redo them every so often, he knew she secretly liked them better too. 

"Yeah!" The enthusiasm on Lo'ak's face made Jake grin.

"Come stand over here then." 

Lo'ak jumped into the spot that Neteyam had been, eagerness written all over him. 

Jake had taken up the habit when Leypa hit seven, absolutely perplexed at how fast his son was growing. So he'd nabbed a couple of pens from the base, and took to the wooden pole, writing who's line was who's on the wood. 

Lo'ak held still as Jake cut a line into the wood just above his head. When he was done, he whirled faster than Neteyam ever had to see how big he was. 

"That's you now," Jake said, pointing to the line. "And this was you last year." He pointed to the line about half a foot down, his own scrawly writing stating, Lo'ak, age 6. 

"That's crazy," the boy mumbled, feeling the indent on the wood with a fingertip. 

"Spider!" 

The voice had all of them turning to the open doorway, where his beautiful wife stood with his youngest daughter in her arms. She had a smile on her face, a hand on Tuktirey's head. Kiri ran to her, hugging her waist. 

"Hi Mom!" 

A chorus of "Hi Mom!" came from the kids. Spider just waved, and Jake beamed at her. 

God, she was so beautiful.