Titania Blake

Chapter 10

As soon as my Avatar 'woke up', Tsu'tey was standing above my hammock staring down at me. "I need breakfast." I told him immediately, carefully climbing out from under Zasha so as not to disturb her.

"Come, the morning meal is almost ready." I took the hand he held out to me and let him pull me up to the branch. "Did you sleep well, Titania?"

"As well as can be expected before such a special day. I'm so excited to find my ikran. I wonder what she'll look like." I gushed, barely containing the giddy glee that was overflowing in me.

"She will be beautiful, just like her rider." I tripped over my feet in my surprise at his words, falling sideways into him. 'What? He couldn't possibly be into me. He's promised to Neytiri.' "You should be careful, Titania. If you are injured, you cannot go to the rookery." Tsu'tey teased me. I came back to myself with a start and pushed out of his arms that had wrapped around my middle to catch me.

"We should get down to the morning meal before it starts." I finally said, not wanting to voice my questions about what he was saying. My tail twitched nervously behind me.

"Yes, let's go before we are missed." With those simple words, we were climbing down the trunk of Hometree and joining the rest of the tribe for the morning meal.

When everyone was ready to go, Tsu'tey rounded us up and put us on pa'le to begin the journey to the rookery. As soon as we left Hometree, I knew we were going to the mountains. 'I'll finally get to see them for myself. And I'll get to fly around them with my ikran. This is going to be an amazing day.' In all of my excitement, I had unconsciously formed a bond with Te'jah, the pa'le I was riding. "I am sorry, Te'jah. I do not mean to offend you. I am just very excited to meet my ikran." I apologized to the sour direhorse. "Yes, I do enjoy riding you, as well. I am just excited for a new adventure." I ignored the awed looks of the other soon-to-be taronyu in favor of patting Te'jah's neck affectionately. We climbed up the cliffs and most of the mountainside before we had to continue on foot. "Return to Hometree with the others, Te'jah. Where I am going now, you cannot follow." Te'jah grunted at me. "Go, Te'jah. You cannot travel any farther up the mountain. And I cannot fall behind the others. I want to make The People proud of me. I cannot do that if I do not become taronyu. Please, go, and I will see both you and Zasha at Hometree tonight." Finally, Te'jah did as I asked and left with the other direhorses.

"Titania, there is no time to waste. Come!" Tsu'tey called to me from a higher rockface in the cliff.

"I'm coming, Tsu'tey. Jeez, I had to convince Te'jah to go home!" I yelled back at him, climbing up the cliff face to join him and the others. Tsu'tey took the lead, followed closely by me. Three others separated me and Jake, who was at the back of the line dawdling. As we climbed further up the mountain, I took in all of the ones floating around us. Tsu'tey jumped onto a vine hanging from a mountain above us and began to climb. I jumped on the next, following close behind him to keep up. 'This is both terrifying and exhilarating. But I wonder how much longer it will take until we get there?' We continued to travel higher once we'd climbed the vines until finally we came to a tunnel we had to crouch in to go through, and came out under a waterfall at the rookery. 'This is amazing.' Ikrans covered nearly every bare surface in sight. Just a moment after we got there, Neytiri flew in with her ikran, Seze. After a moment, Tsu'tey spoke up.

"JakeSully will go first." He decided with a smirk.

"Jake," I pulled him to face me, "show them what you're made of. Go get your ikran." I knocked our foreheads together softly in a show of solidarity - something my former squad had done before and after missions.