Eywa'itan

3 | Jakesully

A/N: This is my first concept for Kanu, Neyn's first and best friend. For those who are patrons (thanks a bunch, love you), the little difference you might notice is that I redid her ear.

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Jake spent his first week with the Omaticaya scared out of his mind.

During the day, he was taught by Neytiri. It was hard getting used to the early rise and clothes. But worse than that, everyone's eyes were on him. It was like he was a piece of meat brought to the slaughter. There was suspicion, anger, and fear. But that wasn't what made him scared. He'd been in the military most of his life, fighting wars. That wasn't something new.

It was the dead eyes watching him from the distance that scared the ever-living shit out of him. Riding the damn horse, shooting the bow, running through the forest, learning the language, even as he got ready to rest, there was no cease-fire to the impending dread he felt. They had him at gunpoint, or in this case arrow point, with every intent to aim true should he make so much as one slip up.

The kid no older than five or six was doing this to him, can you believe it? Well he surely could, as the minute he was within earshot he was almost maimed by him. The warrior that took him down in two seconds had to wrestle with this kid to get him away. That spoke volumes about how much danger he'd been in.

While the Na'vi had been more on the wild side than any other people he'd ever seen, this kid took the cake. But when he asked about him, nothing. No one would say anything about him. So he got jumpscared every day by an arrow whizzing past his ankles, the culprit none other than the nameless kid he nicknamed "devil spawn."

But the more heart-stopping encounters he had, the more he learned about the kid on his own. Unlike the other children he'd seen, small and playing around, this kid was quiet. He had scars, prominent around his eyes, and white strands of hair that made him stand out more than his slightly darker skin. Where the Na'vi he'd met were more blue, he was closer to purple.

By the second week, he realized that while this kid was more than willing to put an arrow between his eyes, he wouldn't. Neytiri seemed to know exactly where he was and hissed at him before he could do anything. He could hear distinctly that he hissed back though, a stubborn gremlin he was.

As he trained with Neytiri, you know, 'learn fast or die' style, he tried to keep track of the kid, too. He thought, "Hey, if she could do it, maybe I could do it, too?" But that kid was a damn Na'vi ninja. A blind, very skilled, very scary Na'vi ninja.

Well, for him, anyway. For Neytiri, he was sure the kid was someone different. There was a look in her eyes and a sag in her figure whenever she tried to get closer to him, only for the kid to bolt moments later. Ever since he'd been brought into the picture, it seems something was up between the two.

"Ngaytxoa, ma'itan..."

Because every time he'd appear, she'd whisper this to the wind. He wished he knew what it meant.

For now, the third week was starting, and already it was a bitch.

"This is the fifth time I've fallen off this damned horse and it hasn't even been twenty minutes." Jake sighed out on this particularly dreadful morning. Sun's barely up at 0400 and he's already getting his ass kicked by daily Na'vi life. Great start he's making.

He had to ignore the exasperated glances he got and the outright giggles from the kids riding their horses with their parent's guidance. He was training at a child's starting line. Basic things. And he was doing fantastic. Don't worry about his bruised everything, they'll just get hit a thousand more times when he messes up at arrow shooting next.