DISCONTINUED | Zaëne ✵

✵ 5

Zaëne's POV

I groan.

My head hurts slightly, but not enough to bother me. I remember what happened. I was telling Jake about my ikran when I suddenly got this pounding headache. And I heard screaming, and pleading, not from the na'vi, but from nature, from the forest.

"Zaëne," Mo'at's voice says. "You've finally woken."

"How long has it been?" I ask, slowly sitting up.

"This is the third day since you passed out," Tsu'tey replies.

"Tsu'tey? What are you doing here?" I mumble.

"I came to check on you," he replies. "As a fellow Hunter, clan member and close friend, I was worried about you."

I smile slightly. "Thank you for your concern about my wellbeing, brother."

Tsu'tey gives me a smile and nod. "Neytiri and Jakesully will be happy you are awake. They went out for Jakesully to learn to move through the forest as we do."

"How do you feel?" Mo'at asks, kneeling beside me.

"I feel fine now," I reply. "When I passed out, the trees... They were screaming. Screaming in pain about the loss of their own."

Mo'at draws in a rather sharp breath. "Did you see anything in this... vision?"

I shake my head. "No, I didn't. I just heard the screams."

Slowly, Mo'at nods. "If this happens again, tell me. These visions must be important."

"Alright, I will."

"Thank you, Zaëne. If you're sure you feel fine, you may leave when you are ready."

Mo'at stands up and offers me her hand. I take it, and she helps me stand. I give her a grateful smile.

"I'll see you later, Mo'at," I say.

She nods and Tsu'tey and I head out of the room.

"This is the doing of the sky people," Tsu'tey mutters. "They are destroying our home, and yet we still let one of them into our home."

"He will learn," I say. "I know he will. He will learn to love it here."

"How can you be sure?" Tsu'tey argues, his voice getting louder. "He could be nothing more than a spy sent to infiltrate us."

I hesitate slightly. "I can feel it, like a twin intuition. It's... Hard to explain."

"You may believe he is good, but I don't!" Tsu'tey basically shouts. "He is a dreamwalker, a demon in a false body! How do we know what he is telling the other sky people about us?! How do we know he won't turn on us and use what we're teaching him against us?!"

"We just have to trust him!" I shout back. I sigh, "he's not a bad person, I trust him."

"It's been years since you last saw him," Tsu'tey growls. "He could be a complete different person. He might not be the brother you knew back then."

"He is," I reply. "I've seen enough to now he's still the same, or that he at least hasn't change very much... I'm going for a fly."

I turn and walk away, leaving Tsu'tey staring after me. Climbing up to the branch, I call Tirea. My ikran comes flying down to land on the branch in front of me.

"Hey girl," I say, patting her head and smiling.

I form the bond, mount her, and take off. Instead of diving down like we always do, we fly up, towards the clouds. We fly upwards until the air starts to grow cold and thin. Tirea and I fly well above the clouds, high up in the atmosphere.

I sigh and sit back. I feel frustrated, and stressed. Tirea lets out a loud roar, as if making a suggestion to me. I smile slightly, and open my mouth, letting out a loud scream. I stop when I run out of breath.

I take hold of the handle on the saddle again, and tell Tirea to dive. She does immediately, aiming for the clouds below us. I squint as the wind hits my face, whipping my hair and tail around behind me. We dive through the clouds, making a hole in one of them and getting wet in the process.

I look around. We're in the Hallelujah mountains. Tirea start to pull out of the dive and level out. I know where in the mountains we are; close to the mobile link, where Jake said he and Grace are staying, along with another scientist and a pilot.

"What do you say girl?" I whisper. "Should we go fly by?" Tirea lets out a small grumble, like a purr. "I'll take that as a yes."

We fly around one of the mountains, and the link comes into view, standing on the edge of the mountain. As we fly by, I spot Grace looking out the window, watching us. I smile and give a quick wave. Grace waves back, before something inside catches her attention. She looks back at the window before disappearing to another part of the link.

I continue to fly around for a while longer until the sun starts to set. Tirea is getting tired, and I don't think she'll be able to make the fly back to Hometree. I guess I should've thought of that before, but oh well, too late now.

I spot a cave on one of the mountains where Tirea and I can spend the night. We land and I hop off my ikran.

"You go rest, Tirea," I say softly. "I'll go look for something to eat."

Tirea heads into the cave while I start looking around the mountain for anything we can eat. It gets to be nightfall, and unfortunately, I don't manage to find anything for either of us.

"Guess we'll just have to eat in the forest tomorrow," I mutter, heading back to the cave.

While Tirea sleeps in the cave, I lie out on the grass, gazing up at the starry night sky.

It's been a long time since I last slept somewhere away from Hometree. It feels like I'm camping again. I remember when I was younger, my parents would take my brother's and I put for week-long camping trips in some of the few remaining campgrounds every summer. I loved them, spending time in nature, as far away from the destruction as we could get back then.

Eventually, I fall asleep, there under the stars.