Eywa'itan

6 | Grace

Months passed quickly, and the Omaticaya began to truly open up to Jakesully. He'd improved greatly in his bond with his Ikran, which he'd given the strange name "Bob", and his Na'vi speech. Jake was a natural to flying, taking to it much faster than any of the others that year.

Neytiri and he often flew playfully together, taking Neyn with them on their flights. The youth felt like he was in another world entirely when they took to the sky.

"Eywa is dancing." He whispered. "She is singing." The vibrations through the air told him stories, each scent he caught both new and familiar. The subtle light he could see made the world below a painting. It was nothing short of beautiful.

But there was an unease there, too, just beneath the beauty. An Oaretirea's senses were already better than the norm, according to his grandfather, but the exposure he'd had to the toxins on that day amplified his remaining senses. according to his grandmother. So, Eytukan and Tsu'tey had been capitalizing on those traits of his when they trained with him.

He was already good at sensing things. He had to be to survive the wilds of Pandora, but they helped him hone it more through little games. He'd even been learning to echolocate from Seze. How? A banshee can't speak. Well, they can bond, and his way of bonding was more in tune than any other.

Unlike a permanent bond, he made a temporary one with her by simply letting his queue connect to her body. The first time it happened was completely accidental, but Seze did not mind at all. Neyn thinks that was the moment she truly adopted him as her pup, but who knows?

The scent and small vibrations carrying through the sky to his always-listening ears created an image in his mind. Unlike Seze, who could still see, he depended on this image to get around. Before, it was just based on the undertone of light he could still, sort of, see. It widened his horizon, even if colors and defined shapes were still hard from a distance like this.

His ears could pick up more distant sounds if he concentrated. Sounds bouncing off of each other gave him a sense of what was below him, and it didn't have to be a sound most could hear. Neyn had no idea that of his ancestors, he was well on his way to being one of the strongest and most versatile.

Whenever he was in the air, he made sure to listen closely. The flights on Seze was gentle whenever he was there. Neyn loved Seze. The large banshee always flew carefully whenever he, her pup through Neytiri, was on her back. When he would climb to the canopy, she'd always find him and bring him to her nest. The other Ikran also liked him, as most times he came with tasty treats.

Great Mother's heartbeat sounded different from the air. There were other sounds mixed in, faint, but clear. Metal soldiers, humans, other dreamwalkers, and... other Na'vi kids? But that had to be wrong. The signs would falter in and out until he didn't know what to make of them.

It didn't make sense. That was a place no Pandoran life would willingly go if given an option. A place that reeked even from this far away. So why would Na'vi go there? His five-year-old mind couldn't understand. He did not like it at all.

Maybe he was hearing wrong.

There was a restlessness within the trees, the heartbeat only he could hear pacing a rhythm of worry. Great Mother was worried? Something was amiss, slowly building, coming from that place of darkness. It was dark to Neyn. The echoes of light his eyes picked up were... off.

Strange.

Alien.

He did not like it at all.

Sky people were mostly evil. Moron was different. It took time, but Neyn had grown to trust him. This was only possible because his mother accepted him unconsciously. He didn't understand it, and Moron was an idiot, but she liked him.