Eywa'itan

7 | Kavuk

There was a restless feeling in the air. To Neyn, it was like prickles felt across his skin, a sign something was amiss. He connected his queue to the roots of the tallest trees around Hometree, hearing the heartbeat. It drummed a rhythm of stillness, like when Big Bad was on the prowl.

But not everything centered on that sense of foreboding. Things had gotten better between him and Grace. He would sit a bit away from her as she told the other children stories. Sometimes, she would speak about how she'd met the Oaretirea.

They helped her in a time of crisis, as one of her avatar students had fallen ill. From there, they welcomed her with open arms, teaching her the ways of their medicine and practices.

"I love their music." She said. Grace even sang their songs, finding the tunes soothing. She compared their instruments to her world's "guitars" and "harps", but Neyn didn't know what those were.

"It was like every melody took you to a different place in the world. The Oaretirea liked to travel just as much as other clans liked to visit them. From the reefs to the mountains, from the plains to the caverns, their music reflected all of the places they'd seen and the people they'd met."

He enjoyed listening to her stories, to his surprise. As days passed by, he wasn't as wary of her anymore. She wasn't the reason for the wariness he felt in the air. Unlike the stupid Moron, Grace was smart. She was very nice, and seemed to hate the humans almost as much as they did. A least the humans here who were harming everything.

When she spoke to the adults about the faults she'd seen in their machines, he listened closely.

"The AMP Suits have energy packs on their backs. They produce a lot of heat due to providing power to the suits, along with their air supply. If they come near here again, hit that with anything and they'll be forced to retreat."

Neyn filed that information away carefully. He had a special way of sensing heat, the same as he did vibrations. His eyes 'saw' aura and heat in the same way. And he was great at aiming.

Really, really great.

Days later, arrows flew, hitting their marks with ease. Tsu'tey marveled at his adopted son's prowess with the bow. How did he know where each target was? He was the best hunter, but this little one was on his heels!

Thus, he decided he'd challenge the child in a playful bout. "Neyn, want to compete with me in a test of skills?"

The boy's ears flicked as his tail swung as he readily tilted his head to Tsu'tey. "Really? Yes!" He eagerly gathered his arrows. The warrior laughed at his energy, picking him up and leading him to one of the more advanced training grounds they had.

"Here is where young warriors test their skills against others." He explained, placing him down when they got there. "I will give you colored arrows to shoot, and there are targets all through these woods. If you can hit them all and beat me to the end, you win, and I will give you your favorite sweet for dinner."

"Really?!" Neyn was sold. He was going to destroy his sempu in this contest.

"Mind you, you must shoot better than me." Tsu'tey smirked, "Do you think you can?"

"Yep." Neyn didn't know that his smirk looked very similar to Tsu'tey's. The moment he gave the signal to go, Neyn sped off.

He knew the scent of the targets, and how their subtle movements through the trees sounded. He could tell how many there were, and it was like this that he put all of his skills to use. He was going to get that sweet.

Tsu'tey did not slack, running through the trees and hitting the targets accurately. He'd done this competition before with other hunters for sport. But his momentum paused the moment he spotted his son.