I see you, Tsu'tey

Chapter 10

She never told anyone what Quaritch did to her. She should have told someone when it begun, the sneaking touched and harsh words, the manipulation he tried. She should have told someone when it escalated, when the sneaking touches turned into grabs and the harsh words into emotional abuse. But she never did. She never told anyone except for Grace about Atxa either, it remained her best kept secret.

She tried not to think too much of it and just keep on going, taking one day at a time. Atxa was one of the only positive things in her life and with each passing day she could feel herself getting further and further away from the things that made her human. The norms, traditions, values, it was like those weren't as important anymore. With that distancing she also found herself distancing from Grace, one of her best friends. The higher ups had decided not to let Grace take her out for any more trips until she told them where she kept disappearing to so Grace had to go alone. This fact made it all the more difficult for the women to actually spend time together, Awa spent her time training and Grace spent hers in her lab or doing whatever is required of her in the forest.

Atxa had decided that it was time for her to meet his clan today and that he had the Olo'eyktan's permission to do so. Awa was surprised that he had discussed her with his people, she figured that he would keep it lowkey because of all the hate between the species and the ongoing conflict. She would be lying if she said that the fact that he did discuss her didn't make her feel warm and happy inside.

"How much further to the hometree?" Awa asked out of breath as they climbed yet another long tree. She very much doubted this was the way to their hometree and that he was taking a detour. She could swear that they had walked past that big formation of stones twice already.

"You'll see when we get there, patience is a virtue" He replied with a thoughtful look on his face as he swaggered on the branch. He was debating in his head whether or not it was a good idea to bring her to the hometree yet, her language skills were almost on point but she still stood out. He also wasn't sure how the natives would react to her being a dreamwalker, the relationship between the species got worse with each passing day.

"Are you sure they're going to like me? I'm not like you guys plus I'm a sky person" Awa retorted with a self doubting smile, she wasn't sure if she wanted to experience the inevitable rejection that the Na'vi would hand to her. A big fat no and a get out of here. Atxa had been super nice but there was no guarantee that they would even be a small bit as nice as he had been.

"It's going to be fine, just don't take it to heart if they're a little bit rude." He tried to comfort her but it didn't work. If anything it made her feel worse, it meant that he didn't think they would be nice to her either.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better, Atxa" She whined with a slump of her shoulders and a shake of her tired head. It felt like the whole world was against her and the weight on her shoulders grew with each passing that, and with the growing weight her spirit sunk and her exhaustion grew.

"Awa stay positive! At worst they'll murmur some bad comments when you walk by but that's it, it's not like someone is going to attack you!"

                                                                                            ...

He was lying. As soon as she had been introduced someone jumped her and tackled her to the ground. All she saw before she found herself squished under a mountain of blue was the scowling face of a male Na'vi and the flash of blue and black that jumped at her. All the air in her lungs left her when they finally met the hard ground, he squished her with his much heavier frame.

"What is the meaning of this, Atxa? You know they can't be here" The male above her snarled with a decorated knife held tight to her vulnerable neck. Her hands had instinctually went up to grab his arm in an attempt to stop him from closer to her neck but he was much stronger than her and pressed down as if her resistance was nothing.

"I have permission. Now let my student go!" Atxa barked as he dropped down into a challenging crouch. His tail swinging dangerously from side to side as he bared his teeth in a thinly veiled threat.

"You're teaching a dreamwalker?! After all that they've done to us? To you?!" The Na'vi on top of her snarled and pressed his knife harder against her neck, drawing a thin line of blood. This situation was escalating far beyond what she could take.

"Get off me" Awa muttered with a deep scowl on her face, this male was not going to move until she did something about it. "Get off me!" She repeated louder when he didn't move a muscle.

"You don't speak here, human" He spat and for the first time looked directly at her.

He was fuming, she realised, his tail was swinging even more aggressively than Atxa in long sharp movements. He had a deep scowl on his face and his upper lip was pulled up, showing the sharp elongated canines. The Na'vi was growling deep in his chest, a sound that shook her to the core. He had a muscled build with broad strong shoulders and strong thighs. She had no doubt that he was restraining himself.

"Tsu'tey!" Atxa snarled the name with narrowed eyes and his eyebrows were drawn together. His body tensed as he readied himself to attack his clan member. "Release her now!"

The Na'vi that was still staring at her with narrowed eyes and bared teeth hissed one last time, pushed the knife a little deeper and then stood up. "Fine. Don't blame me when she doesn't learn, humans can not see and they can not learn"

"Speak for yourself, I've learnt plenty!" Awa rose to her feet in anger and without thinking she pushed the Na'vi that was walking away from her. Didn't he know better than to now turn his back on his enemy, and right now she was his enemy. She didn't know what the sudden burst of confidence or anger came from but she supposed that it came from all her suppressed emotions.

"Awa no!" Atxa yelled at her with a scared look on his face. He was sure that his challenge would be enough to make Tsu'tey leave but now that Awa put her hands on him he would not walk away. Atxa was scared for Awa.

Tsu'tey stilled, the muscles in his back tensing and his hands balling up into fists. He turned around with a tight-lipped smile as he puffed out his chest before opening his mouth, baring his teeth and snarling at her. "You dare put your dirty hands on me?"

Awa jutted her chin up and crossed her hands across her chest to hide how badly she was shaking. She was terrified of him and she knew that she had made a mistake that she was going to pay dearly for.

She was about to open her mouth to reply when he interrupted her with a harsh low-pitched laugh. "You think you can speak here? You? A human? No" He shook his head as he continued to laugh at her with pulsing veins in his neck. "I give you one more chance to walk away, take it"

"No"