Avatar: {Hybrid and Alien]

{59}

Layontsin was surprised to see the skypeople out from their metal village at this time.

More when he saw the youngest of the group, Lily, rush over to her quickly and call out her name from the slope once she spotted her. Behind her, to Layontsin's surprise and relief, was Asim, awake and alright. Lily slowed down as she approached the anthro thanator and immediately latched onto one of Layontsin's legs, looking up to her and beaming brightly as she giggled. "Layontsin! I am so happy you are here!" Lily said happily in her skyperson language, Layonstin understanding completely what Lily meant due to her equally pleased emotions. She kneeled down a percentage and picked the young one up with one of her two pairs of hands while she gave a smile. Lily didn't mind it, as she wasn't scared of her presence nor her immense size. On the contrary, Lily was just as pleased to see her like the na'vi children in the Anurai clan village. This made Layontsin smile more brightly and lean the young skyperson closer to her face, to which she reached out with her small five-fingered hands towards her snout and touch it. Lily giggled and hugged Layontsin's snout, causing her to give out her pleased rumbling noise.

Later she let go of Lily to set her down and looked up, seeing Asim near the two with a small smile while watching them. Behind him, Kentaro, Mikhail, Emeralda, and Shaka were approaching them as they walked down the slope, having noticed her arrival due to Lily giving out her presence. Layontsin later brought her focus back to Asim and went over to him, kneeling down again and reaching to his shoulders and face. Asim let her, his head moving back a little but not prohibiting her from touching him. "Asim...are you alright?" Layontsin asked as she examined him from head to feet. "Yes. I am alright." Asim replied to her in a calm manner. The anthro thanator sighed in relief and nodded, glad that he was alright as she let go of him. "He sure was. It took him a lot of time to wake up from his slumber." Shaka said to her, stepping closer to them. "Did anything else happen to him?" Layonstin asked, looking now at Kentaro as he was the healer of the entire group.

Kentaro shook his head and then did his best to speak in the na'vi language. "Asim remembers...his memories returned." Kentaro explained to her, making Layonstin's eyes widen and turn back to Asim. "Is this true? You remembered? Because...I also saw your memories." Layonstin said, recalling how she used her queue on him. This seemed to surprise Asim as he looked at her with a confused face. "You...saw my memories? How?" Asim asked. "I formed the bond with you. I latched onto your hand, and I could see your mind and memories with it." Layonstin explained, reaching back with one of her hands and bringing fourth her braid queue to show it to Asim. He looked at the end of the braid that the anthro thanator showed him, eyeing the small pink tendrils that swayed slowly from out of it with puzzlement. Mikhail also was curious and asked what she said, Shaka explaining it in the skyperson language. "How is this possible?" Mikhail said, trying his best to speak na'vi. "I don't know, but it happened. And...I saw what happened to you all. I truly feel sorry." Layonstin said to them, bowing her head to emphasize her condolences. Shaka translated what she said to everyone, making them look at each other in surprise. Then them looked back at Layonstin and smiled, nodding in acknowledgment to her words. "Thank you" some of them said to her. Layonstin felt relief course through her body now that she knew that Asim and the rest were alright.

Then she looked at each of them again and noticed that they were carrying bags. "Are you all going back to the Anurai clan village?" Layontsin asked curiously. "We are. Have gifts for the clan" Lily said, in the best of na'vi tongue she could manage. "You do? What are they?" Layontsin asked, turning her head to the little girl. Lily smiled and went over to Shaka, asking him something in the skyperson language before he let her pick something from inside the bag. Once it was obtained, Lily came back to Layontsin to show what was in the bag. "Here" she said, moving her hands up while holding a sort of small figure or totem. It was made of wood, looking like a sort of animal Layontsin had never seen before. The shape of the animal consisted of four legs, a robust body, large ears on the sides of its head, a long and large vine-looking nose, and a small tail. The anthro thanator was fascinated by the shape of the creature, looking back at Lily and pointing at the totem. "Is this...a sort of animal?" Layontsin asked Lily, to which the small girl nodded vigorously and happily. "Yes. Shaka made them for all of the clan." Lily said, Shaka nodding. "Well, then let's go early. The trip is a long one." Layontsin said with a smile before she straightened up once more and began to turn around.

She got a few steps away to enter the forest until Shaka spoke. "We will take our flying beast to travel there." Shaka said, making Layontsin turn back to face him. The anthro thanator's tail lashed a bit, but in worry instead of anger or disbelief. "Your flying beast made out of metal? No, I can't go in there. I am not like you skypeople who know how to ride one." Layontsin said to them. "Not to worry. Emeralda and Kentaro will be the ones to ride it. While the rest hang on to its...belly. Yes. It's belly." Shaka explained to her in the best he could describe, stepping towards the anthro thanator. Layontsin was skeptical about the prospect of riding a metal beast with the group, more so because she didn't know what to expect or if she could survive the trip like the skypeople that usually rode on them. "I am unsure if I can ride it the same way you skypeople do" Layontsin told them. "Calm, Layontsin. You do not need to ride it. Kentaro and Emeralda will do that." Asim said, gesturing to the two others that were with them. It gave her a sort of relief, but it still didn't calm her down because of what to expect when riding a flying metal beast. "You only have to hold on. That is it." Shaka said to her. "Only if she can actually fit. We don't know because it seems like we will take up the entire space." Mikhail presumably said as he made hand gestures of size. "Only one way to find out. Come on." Emeralda said, waving a hand to everyone as she went the same path everyone was walking before. They all went to follow her up the mountain slope, towards another mountain. Lily remained with Layontsin, as well as Asim near them, and then reached out with a small hand to her arm, tugging it as she was prepared to go with them. "No fear. Safe." Lily said to Layontsin with a reassuring smile. The words of the small skyperson actually worked, because she saw in her eyes that she was telling the truth. "Alright. I shall go. But only this time." Layontsin said to Lily, to which the young one smiled and squealed as she jumped up and down excitedly. Lily let go of the anthro thanator's arm and went with Asim, who led Layontsin up the slope of the mountain.

The climb up was not difficult in any way as they reached the place, where the flying metal beast resided. This one seemed much more larger than previous ones she had seen, and was currently dormant. Layontsin stopped a distance away to watch, while the skypeople walked towards it with no doubt. Emeralda and Kentaro went to the front of it, and reached with their hands to open the beast up and get inside. The rest of them climbed up to the empty middle section, its belly, and then sat down in different parts. "Come on in." Shaka said to Layontsin, gesturing with a hand. The anthro thanator's tail and quills twitched in hesitation as she stepped slowly towards them. "Come on. It's not going to bite. You should be careful for those instead." Mikhail said, pointing a finger at the circular wings above Layonstin's head. She looked up at them, noticing that some obstructions were blocking the way through. Then she looked back at them and approached, lowering down to fit inside and reach out with all four hands gingerly. Once she felt that it was stable, hands brushing against the metal edges of the opening, Layontsin heaved herself forwards into the beast's belly.

The other three skypeople inside of it moved to the side a bit as they made room for the anthro thanator to fit inside. The interior creaked and heaved to the side as her weight was added to it. "Let's hope she isn't too heavy." Emeralda said, sitting beside Kentaro as they were in front at the inside of the beasts's head. Layontsin faced her and snarled, showing her teeth in fury. "Okay! I take it back." Emeralda said quickly, the others that were with the anthro thanator reprimanding her for her words in their language. Even Asim defended her as he expressed his disdain for Emeralda, then afterwards moving to help Layontsin inside of the beast's interior fully. "Hold on tight" he said to her, guiding her hands so they latched onto some sort of handles above. Kentaro and Emeralda started to move some things in front, clicking sounds being heard before everything started to hum to life. The beast came alive as the sound of air started to whistle by, and the small things on the wings stated to spin slowly before they picked up speed. Wind blew all around as the wings inside the circular cage began to spin rapidly until Layontsin saw that they were gradually lifting off the ground. However, before they could exit out from the place, the beast then dropped down abruptly, which made Layontsin tense up. "Sorry!" Emeralda called out in apology as the flying metal beast began to lift from the ground once again. This time it didn't drop down abruptly, and now it started to lift off from the ground completely. Soon they began to fly up from the mountain and towards the forest, Layontsin hanging on tighter as they began to move forwards.

"Eywa, please protect and forgive me..." Layontsin pleaded to herself as they all started their voyage back to the Anurai clan territory.