Calm Before The Storm, Jake Sully

064, Outcast.

♯┆calm before the storm  .ᐟ
━━━━━━━━━━

The distant screech from Toruk meant that he was coming. Denahi looked down at her children, holding Malhua within her arms. Her husband rode on the back of Toruk once again. "He is coming..." Denahi announced to the clans standing around her. Omatikaya and Metkayina they had collected to fight a battle that they needed to win.

Without warning, the large shadow began to soar within the air— blocking the sun and causing shade across the land. The gust of strong wind blinded their vision.

But, all Denahi could see was Jake. How he refused to bond with Toruk before because of the circumstances after bonding with the viscous animal. He watched as the clans kneeled to the ground, "No, no, no. Please. Stand. Stand up. Please."

Jake walked toward them before reaching Denahi, arm encasing around her back. He walked the two of them to Tonowari and Ronal, "Go now. To all the clans within the days ride and tell them... Tell them Toruk Makto calls to them. You tell them the day has come." Jake turned around.

He watched his children circle them. He was ready for this war with Toruk before. Now, Jake realised he had his children also. Before he was fighting for his world, Denahi.

Now he has this life he had created as well. Denahi climbed behind Jake on Toruk, the couple soaring in the air to gain warriors.

Clans to fight in this war. There were hundreds of them. Possibly thousands. But, below Jake knew it wasn't enough. Denahi knew that also. If the RDA was going to be troublesome, the furious clan that followed behind them were going to be deathly.

The two knew that they needed more than Na'vi and Toruk. Which lead them to be standing with the Tulkun council.

"Great Matriarch! Wise elders. The Sky-people are coming. Here, today. Right now. To kill our Tulkun families. I beg you. Fight with us!" Jake spoke as Tonowari translated through his hand and finger motions.

Denahi held onto Jake's arms. She needed them to fight with them. The Tulkun are very powerful, she had seen it in Payakan. Matriarch clicked before Tonowari repeated, "She says 'We respect Toruk Makto. But, our ways are ancient. We believe that killing will only bring more killing in an endless expanding spiral."

Denahi sighed at the response, it was going to take more than Toruk Makto. "Hear my words! The Sky-people will never stop. Not until the last of the Tulkun is hunted!" Jake exclaimed as he stood and Tonowari translated. But, the splashing of the Matriarch's thin was an unusual response.

Denahi turned around to find four children standing on their Tulkun. "Lo'ak..." Denahi whispered after seeing her son.

He was alive. Purple in skin from being sun burnt, but he was alive, "Stop! Stop!" Jake stepped forward once seeing Lo'ak call out to the council, "Lo'ak, what're you doing?"

"Dad, wait. I am brother of Tulkun. I have the right to speak," Lo'ak signed to them. "Lo'ak speaks the truth. You must listen..." Tsireya called out, desperate for the council and Matriarch to listen to them.

"Tsireya! She says his brother is outcast. You have no standing here," Tonowari exclaimed as he pointed out to Lo'ak and Payakan.

Denahi reached out to Tonowari, holding him back from shouting at her son.

"If he is outcast... then I am outcast!" Lo'ak announced, Denahi looked down at her son with a pleading expression.

"And I am outcast," Tsireya replied, setting off a chain reaction. Ronal looked out towards her daughter, "Daughter! Silence." Not believing the words she had spoke.

"No! You will never see me again!" Tsireya shouted out to Ronal. Denahi looked down at the ground, not knowing who to reach out towards first. Ronal who could soon lose her son and daughter, or Lo'ak.

"And I, and my brother, are outcast!" Aonung said as he pointed to his Tulkun.

"Aonung!" Tonowari shouted at him.

"And we... are also outcast!" Roxto said. Denahi looked around at the four children. How determined they are. How much they wanted to Matriarch to help with this war.

Denahi leaned toward Jake, holding onto his arm and pulling him back. The four of them needed to listen to the children— listen to what Payakan had to speak about because he had the right. He had fought harder than most within the Awa'atlu battle.

"You may speak..." Tonowari announced after the Matriarch spoke to them. "Hear my words. My brother returned to his birthplace clan to defend them. But, his clan was wiped out by the demon ships. Only Ta'nok survived because she fought back. Come forward," Lo'ak announced.

Denahi looked out into the sea to find Ta'nok swimming her way towards them. Her hand fell over her mouth as she gasped at the painful sight of the Tulkun. A beautiful creature ruined under the hands of human. She sounded her words, clicked— spreading what had happened to her.

"I speak for the dead mothers and the dead calves. I speak for my people and all our songs gone forever. She says I am the last. The blind witness to our end," Denahi began to tear up at the sight of Ta'nok.

It was disgusting. What the humans had done to her. How they had made her suffer. "Ta'nok says the Tulkun way must change. Payakan shows our path... We must fight," Tonowari announced Ta'nok's words.

Lo'ak nodded his head in agreement, "We must fight!" He repeated. The council began to sink deep beneath the surface.

Ronal told them that the council will decide on their actions within this war.

Denahi nodded her head, it was something compared to denying to fight. She looked over at Lo'ak and swam across the water, climbing atop Payakan's fin.

"You are brave," She told him before Lo'ak wrapped his arms around her. He was happy to see his mother once again. But, Denahi knew he would have returned to them. "You have the strength of our ancestors," Specifically the mindset of Mukata. He reminded her too much of her brother.