Heart & Soul - An Avatar Fanfiction

↞ Training continues ↠

"The days are starting to blur together, but I'm learning so much."

Neytiri had been livid when the two finally woken up barely half an hour ago. The two were incredibly late after all.

"You are late!" Neytiri had hissed at her students as they woke in their hammocks, flicking their foreheads, "I intended to start training you three hours ago!"

"I'm so sorry Tiri," Rune apologised, rubbing her noggin as she used her old pet name on Neytiri, "We got caught up with some... work... with Grace and some others."

"Yeah, we didn't mean to be late, we're really sorry Neytiri." Jake pleaded.

"Not to mention it was his fault. This one always gets in trouble, I would know." Rune jabbed.

"Heyyy!" Jake whined at his old friend.

"Enough talk you two, you're like child!" snapped the young Na'vi, leading them away, wearing purple riding leggings, "You skypeople! You dreamwalkers, you want to learn, yet you cannot even wake up on time. Rude! So ignorant!"

Neytiri now decided to delay the two's horseback riding lesson that morning in substitution for something else she deemed more important. What she deemed more important, the two Avatars had yet to discover. Rune wondered if she was going to punish them somehow, after all, they had made her angry. The two followed after the woman, leaping from branch to branch in the spiralling inner circle of the Home Tree. Rune brought up the back of the group, staring up at Jake and Neytiri, the Na'vi woman striding and jumping with grace that came naturally to her. Rune was jealous and hoped that one day she'd be able to carry out her movements with maybe a quarter of Neytiri's poise.

Rune had changed out her chest covering today, swapping it for a feathery top made of yellow, lime and cobalt feathers that connected to a choker. It covered more and made her feel more comfortable.

"So, hey ah, Tiri and everything?" Jake called out from behind his teacher, "Where'd you get a nickname like that and can I call you it?"

Neytiri snorted, "Rune gave me it... and no. You cannot call me 'Tiri'. I am your teacher, not your friend...yet."

"Oh, so there's a possibility?"

Neytiri glanced over her shoulder at Jake, raising a brow.

"Don't push it." Rune hissed.

Eventually the group reached the utmost top of the tree and ran across a thicker moss covered branch and out onto the exterior branches of Home Tree. Jakes braided queue slapped Rune in the face as he ducked underneath a low hanging stick, and she slapped him on the back in response.

"Watch where you're going!" she informed him.

His arms flew out into a 'What?' motion, an annoyed look on his face.

"Agghk!" Neytiri barked at them, "Shut your mouths and follow me!"

The two shut up and followed her out into the sunlight, walking across a ginormous branch which stretched out quite far and was full of foliage, with vines hanging off of it, mushroom-like plants, moss and other Pandoran plants growing on it. Sun reached every corner of the space, stretching across the wood.

Jake scoffed and laughed with a puff as he looked over the edge of the branch, seeing the vast distance below him. As did Rune, who dropped to a squat to peer over the edge, worried about falling off the tree, despite her enhanced strength and agility. The landscape below was gorgeous, as was the view, and both were glad that they looked.

Rune stood as she heard Neytiri yelp. Well, it wasn't entirely a yelp. It was a call, a sort of bark mixed with a trill. She continued to call out, adding in clicks and pitches. Rune knew it was one of the vast skills that the Na'vi biology was capable of doing, their vocal chords being shaped in a way that allowed them to produce these natural sounds. Humans could mimic it, but it wasn't the same.