Avatar Tails!
Avatar Tails => The Day the Planet Went Dark => Topic started by: Random the Navigator on July 09, 2018, 12:08:03 AM
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We're publishing this chapter and the next "out of order". I put that in quotes because when these two chapters were written, it was as the last two in a long string of chapters set at the shack complex where Rick, Brenda, Enya's family, and the Lorekeeper Tsanten and his "staff" ( ;) ) stayed behind after Ash and Ni'ka left for Hometree. In effect, Chapters 41 and 42 were meant as a "Meanwhile, let's check in on Ni'ka and Ash, shall we?" But it's unrolled a little differently on this Board, with the Hometree chapters coming first...and it might very well be time for a "Meanwhile, let's check in on the Shack Crew, shall we?", especially as Ash and Ni'ka have been wondering about how things are going with Enya-pen & Company themselves.
Dramatis Personae, before anybody gets really confused:
- Rick, former SecOps, Samson pilot, Ash's lover, and Enya's "uncle"
- Enya, awakened Avatar, orphaned by the death of her driver and adopted into the Clan
- 'Iheyu, Enya's adoptive mom, a healer of the Tompa'tanhi Aeromedical Corps
- Tali, her ten-year-old son, already a promising scout, and a relentless teaser of "Dreamwalkers" who happen to be his not-so-little sister
- Tangek, another Ikran Healer, 'Iheyu's beloved and Enya's adoptive dad
- Silronsem, a young and rather quiet healer of the less adventurous sort
- Brenda, astronomer, Avatar driver, guerilla, and Enya's "den mother" at the longhouse way back when
- Tsanten, Lorekeeper, Changed Na'vi, currently bedridden, and mute except when tapping on his "Morse board"
- Kenten, hunter of Ni'ka's (Atreyu's) pongu, camp counselor, cook and horsemaster
(Kiye, am I forgetting anybody?) ;D
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::: [ Harmonic Divergence ] :::
[Ash and Ni'ka have just flown off...]
"And awaaaayy they go," Brenda murmured.
Kenten nodded. "We really, really hope this will do it," he said quietly.
"Do what?" asked Enya.
"Help her learn when she needs her anger and when to put it away," Brenda replied.
Enya hadn't really talked to Ash except last night at the fire and the night before when they'd discussed this trip in the cabin. In her recent experience, Ash had been the soul of reason and compromise since the last time she'd returned from Hometree. The Avatar had been on her way napward when Ash had gone off on her family; so now she was left trying to remember the last time she'd seen Ash angry.
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"I simply hope that she won't be haunted anymore by any remains of that fucking demon," Rick muttered, his face now showing the worry he hadn't let out while Ash was still around. "I'm glad Ni'ka's going along, at least until they're at Hometree."
Brenda let the swear-word go; she could be a little profane herself at times, but she tried to keep it down around the kiddos. "I hear ya," she responded. "You work that hard, you risk that much, you think you're getting somewhere--and the problem just sits back and laughs at you, and any good you've done already gets yanked out from under your feet..."
"Yeah...that's exactly how I feel," Rick nodded. "And it sucks..." He straightened his shoulders. "Well, now it's not in my hands to change anything, and I have full trust in the Tsahiks and even more in Na'vie. And we do have some things to take care of here as well."
"Like, umm, making these shacks look like they grew here?" Brenda smirked, remembering the task Enya had assigned - yes, assigned - her the day before.
"Yep." Rick grinned back. "I see you've been informed. The shacks, my poor fuel-less Samson, all that stuff. I know, it's gonna take time, especially the 'growing' part, but if we don't start it will never get done."
Brenda quirked a smile. "I've got the camo netting for my shack in there," she offered. "So I've got you at least partially covered; we just have to decide which part."
Kenten remembered the firewood and the weakened tree-branch Rick had shot down the day before. "And I dare say we can disguise the roofs of your dwellings with enough bark and wood-chips; that'd keep them from being spotted from above for the time being..."
"Be lots of leaves on ground in forest," Enya chimed in. "Is what we can gather today; can put those on top with wood-chips."
"Camo net, wood chips and leaves." Rick counted at his fingers. "That's a good start. And maybe we can add a few vines to keep it all together - from what I know that stuff grows on literally everything; they were actually a problem at a few of the remote stations."
"Grew, Rick," Kenten said tersely, eyes smoldering for a moment. "The cold has killed all but the thickest ones." He sighed. "But dead vines will serve the purpose here as well as live ones, I suppose..."
"I wouldn't put it past them to adjust," Rick mused. "I mean, I hope and pray it won't be necessary, but a plant that can tear apart massive concrete with just enough patience to grow through it... nope, definitely wouldn't put it past them. But for now you're right, Kenten. Dead ones will do the job quite as well."
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'Iheyu peered out the window of Tsanten's module. Was someone coming to relieve her? At the moment it didn't look like it; neither Tangek nor Silronsem were at the fire. She'd heard Lor's screech and figured it was Ni'ka and Ash leaving for Hometree; and Brenda was in the courtyard in her human form, so her Dreamwalker's eyes must still be bothering her.
And Tali...? He was here, on the other end of the module in Sprout's and Enya's old bunk; and she didn't have the heart to nudge him awake to fetch their breakfast.
-:- -:-
Brenda considered. "Let's use the net on the Samson, then," she said. "One, it's too irregularly-shaped to try to hide with leaves and twigs alone; you could do it, sure, but it would take all week! And Two...that's the number-one thing you do not want the RDA to know you still have, especially now that you can't move its hiding-spot from time to time."
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Rick eyed the Samson, half hidden beneath the trees, but the front still peeked out. "And yeah, let's start with the bird first - you're right, even without fuel I don't want to expose her too much."
Everyone nodded; then Brenda crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Rick expectantly. "How much you want to pay for that net?" she said wryly. "Coin and currency are invalid here, but the interstellar exchange is still accepting coffee..."
Rick laughed. "Alright - I think I can afford that," he replied. "You won't find me bargaining hard there...so how about a first down payment before we start to work? You haven't had breakfast yet, at least not the human part of you."
"Oh, good - saves me the trouble of finding and growing a substitute!" Brenda exclaimed.
"That not be hard," Enya remarked her. "You just let Kilvanä sniff it, she find it for you!"
This brought smiles and chuckles all around; then everyone who hadn't had an Angtsik 'tostada' yet put one together now. Brenda finally got hers; Enya made some for the people in the module; and the others took their seats on the logs and made small talk over breakfast.
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True to his word, Rick prepared a big thermos of coffee - including the touch of cinnamon, of course - for Brenda, handing it to the driver. "Enjoy," he said with a smile while picking up his own breakfast. "You want some company? I can take that with me..."
"Don't mind if you do!" Brenda nodded. "And let's take it in your shack instead of mine; that way we can do your link-monitoring lesson at the same time. I call it 'rocking the cradle'..." She grinned.
"Alright - breakfast and monitoring lessons, then." Rick nodded towards the Na'vi and Enya, then turned to his own shack, making his way through the airlock and then to the small room where Ash was lying peacefully in her link pod.
Brenda was only too glad to slip her mask off and spend several minutes in executive session with her Angtsik tostada and her mug of "Rick's Special". "Been a while since I could savor a meal slowly and in peace," she explained. "And that warm shower last night--MMMMMmmmm!!!" She closed her eyes in bliss for a moment. "There are a lot of little luxuries you don't need to get by--and in a life like this, if you can do without 'em, you probably should. But that makes it sooo much sweeter when you get the chance to enjoy them in safety and with all the time you need..."
She finished up, insisting on doing the dishes herself and taking in the sensations much the way Tall Brenda might: hands in hot water; steam up her airways; the scent of soap... It was a habit of mind that had been deeply ingrained in her during her 'fugitive' years, and it had prepared her better than most to take full advantage of the Na'vi sensorium she'd acquired the first time she'd shared it with her Avatar.
"Ahh, better..." she murmured contentedly, and waited for Rick to tell her when he was ready to dive into the brainworks.
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Rick had nodded to Brenda's comment about the little luxuries. He had his own experiences with that, for example valuing a hot shower much more after a few weeks' mission with his unit... No matter if they came back in from the desert or some godforsaken muddy place up in the North, usually all of them had a nice layer of dirt and sweat on them and the smell to match with it.
So he had finished his breakfast and a second mug of coffee and, as he guessed from Brenda's face that she actually liked washing the dishes, enjoyed the fact that for a change neither he nor Ash had to do that. "So...now we have a look at the monitor before we do our outside work?"
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"You're on," said Brenda. "And I have a feeling it's gonna be a little easier to get you into the link room than it was to get Enya into it...and not just because of the size differential."
Rick laughed. "It's not as if I hadn't spent much time in it already...starting with the time Ash and me set that thing up. You should have seen our faces when we spotted the pod beneath a huge pile of crates and other stuff."
Brenda quirked a grin. "A little like mine when I was surveilling this place and spotted Ash in her Avatar? An Avatar means a driver; a driver means a link unit...and a link unit made this a viable place for me to visit, or even to run to if my outpost was discovered. I was so relieved I just about fell out of my tree! And with what happened to us with those Changed Na'vi, I think I can say with a certain degree of confidence that if we hadn't found this place beforehand, we'd both be dead." Anyone who was used to the way Brenda talked would have known that when she said "we" and "us" in that context, she meant herself and her Avatar.
"But back to Enya," she continued, her mouth going firm. "Rick...she was terrified to go in there. So scared that her ears disappeared into her hair. I don't know what Ash has been feeding her about this whole business, but she needs to stop scaring my girl like that...or better yet, leave the explaining to me."
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"That...well, it actually might have been both our mistake," Rick admitted, looking down. "See, Enya came in here one day to get something from the kitchen while neither Ash nor me was around, and you know how she is - curious without end. And of course the link pod caught her interest." He smiled. "As far as I understand, she even tried to lay down in it; she calls it a special bed."
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"Sounds like her," Brenda said with a chuckle. "You know she used to try to follow Solanda into the BioLab after they linked out? Of course Mey, Alice and the techs didn't think much of that idea, and they told Solanda so in no uncertain terms. Me, I think it'd've been much better for her if they had toured her around, but who knew she needed it? Nobody'd ever had to think about that before. And that's where the mindset breaks down. If it had occurred to them to try relating to her as a child and not as a balky piece of equipment, they'd've come a lot closer to anticipating her needs... Ahh, hell, it's not like I had a clue either at the time. People who know anything about kids don't generally end up on Pandora.
"But I think that's where the Na'vi are way better-equipped to handle her situation than we were. They don't see her as a First or an Only or a theoretical impossibility--just as a child, 'Iheyu's youngest, who happens to have bereavement and mobility issues. And this is something Ash needs to wrap her brain around pronto: From the way they talk about Sprout, the Na'vi who know Enya seem to regard all Avatars as the children of their drivers. You want to know why everyone got so upset about Ash not driving hers for days on end? --Bingo: They see it as child neglect. I don't know who told her she'd make a lousy mom, but that'd be why. Everything she does about Sprout, everything I do about Tall Brenda, is being weighed in terms of our fitness as parents."
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Rick's smile gave way to a sigh. "When we found out, we talked to her--tried to explain that she'd better stay away from this one item, cause if accidently something went wrong it could be dangerous for Ash and Sprout." He scratched his head. "What if she had hit the wrong button while Ash was linked in? That could have been real trouble."
"Comforting news: She wouldn't have broken anything," Brenda explained. "One, she couldn't have gotten into it with the canopy shut; two, it won't start at all with the canopy open. And three, the units we use in the field are designed to take a serious beating. Dunno if Ash knows that, but they'll take Enya's weight with nothing more to show for it than an error report."
"So we tried to explain - seems we didn't find the right words..."
Brenda's face went unexpectedly gentle, and she laid an empathetic hand on Rick's shoulder. "It's okay, Rick," she said softly. "None of us knew the right words and lessons either. They don't cover people like her in the manual..."
"Nope - definitely not in the manual," Rick agreed with a slightly sheepish nod. "So, if you go back to the children-and-parents thing, guess we messed up with explaining to our friend's youngest daughter why she shouldn't put her finger on the hot stove. And none of us figured out how afraid she really was."
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"I've got a sad story for you," Brenda said, "and I doubt you're gonna hear it from anybody else. Enya really hated it when Solanda would leave for the night. Well, Tangek said some things that made me realise - only now, after all this time - that the poor kid must've thought we died every night. Can you imagine?
"But that's not the story. The story is the lengths she would go to not have to see that. She was kinda famous for ending up in some unlikely spots overnight, and we knew she'd get a little nervous when the techs locked the gate...
"Well, one night Solanda got permission for Enya to spend the night in the Ambient Room. The thought was that maybe she wouldn't be so anxious if she could sleep as close to her mama as possible, where all she had to do to see her was peek through the window. It was a good idea, as ideas about Enya went, and she was all for it--all nods and smiles and tail-wags...
"She didn't last long. She hadn't been on that cot for more than twenty minutes before she had the most full-blown panic attack I've ever seen. She just about ripped the door off the hinges and took off at top speed... We found her curled up in the greenhouse the next morning, about the size of a medicine-ball and still trembling after eight hours. Needless to say she didn't go out that day, and she herself couldn't understand why she'd freaked. But that's when Solanda--when all of us--realised just how long she'd been aware of her environment...because the last time she'd been in that room was when she was born, and yet she'd formed a strong-enough impression of the place to be terrified. Shook us up good and proper for a long time, I'll tell ya."
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Rick leaned against the wall. "Guess I'd make a lousy dad as well - not that I'm ever gonna be in that situation." He looked down at himself. "That Change probably took care of that...I don't even wanna think about how my DNA has to look right now."
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"Ouch...didn't think about the DNA changes," Brenda mused. "But not being able to sire children is not the same as being a lousy dad. Me, I think you'd be a great dad; I've seen you with Enya and Tali, and you have the heart and the knack. You relate to them. You respect them; you don't talk down to them; you don't try to distract them with toys and activities and changing the subject. You just explain things as well as you can; and I'm sure they sense that, even if you make mistakes, you mean well and you're sincere. Sincerity is everything with people their age.
"The link-pod situation would have been awkward for anybody. I'm guessing Ash tried to explain the technology to Enya, which would've flown right over her head and pooped on her in passing. You've got a better grasp of the people-factor than Ash does. But kids don't come with instructions...and no one has ever had to figure out how to talk to an awakened Avatar. We're gonna screw it up sometimes, and Enya needs to understand that. And in a way I think it's healthier for everybody if she does. If we don't try to come off to her as all-knowing and infallible and perfectly well-behaved, she won't hate herself for not always being those things. Put more positively, if she sees us goof up, learn from it, and roll on, she'll learn to do the same."
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"Well, if it needs watching someone goof up to make Enya feel better and more sure of herself, you found the perfect person," Rick laughed. "That's something I've got a lot of expertise in." He had listened to Brenda's sad tale and flinched, imagining poor Enya frightened like that. "Speaking of her - let's start with my first lesson in monitoring, so we can get back out soon-ish and start that leaf-collecting outing."
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"On it," said Brenda, ducking into the link shack. "This actually isn't that hard once you know what you're looking at..."
She toured Rick through the readouts and visual displays, noting that Ash had yet to activate the camera that looked into the link pod itself: "There she is--our Sleeping Beauty! That ought to take a load off your mind..."
The biggest difference between the first link and any of the others, she pointed out, was that Sprout's brain was not shown; the Avatar had only worn the monitoring electrodes for the first linkup in the Ambient Room. "After that, you just have to trust that the activity you see in Ash's brain is the same as you would see in Sprout's if we had her hooked up, and vice versa. Well, hell, they wouldn't call it 'congruency' if it wasn't...unless your name is Solanda. I'd've died to be a link tech tracking those two." She grinned.
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A few of the things Brenda showed Rick were already familiar to him from what Ash had told him or from his trips with other drivers years before. Others were completely new, especially the camera. He looked at the picture and noticed how rapidly Ash's eyeballs moved beneath the lids, like someone having an intense dream - and after all, that's what she was doing: dreamwalking.
Brenda's last comment made him chuckle. "Oh yeah - must have looked quite different from what they were used to," he guessed.
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"Very," Brenda responded. "That's why everybody in the program had to be informed that she was special...and nobody else. Not even the other techs in the BioLab. Not even Ash. Ye gods, do you have any idea what the people at GenMod would've done to her if they'd known, or even suspected, that she was self-propelled? The only people who knew were the people who had to: the folks in the Link Room and the Avatar compound, or the ones who went with Solanda on missions. And you; you had to get her out of that tree, so we had to explain what was going on up there to begin with... As far as anyone else was concerned, Solanda 'drove' the kid to her doctor appointments, know what I mean?" She chuckled. "Which was just as well, because you couldn't have gotten her into the Ambient Room for an exam any other way!"
She gestured at the diagram of Ash/Sprout's brain activity. "By the way...Enya does not need to see this. She's been told enough to know what's going on here and to not be scared. She does not need to watch anybody taking over anybody's brain, 'k? There really *is* such a thing as too much information..."
"Definitely not!" Rick shuddered at the thought. "There's one thing in explaining to her that two people 'share' a mind, but taking over? --No way!"
"I mentioned it because Enya volunteered to babysit my link once, the first time I linked in after Tall Brenda got Changed," Brenda explained. "Needless to say, I turned her down; for all anyone knew, I might've exploded out of that cradle foaming at the mouth... And I told her that, and she understood. But she might ask again now that it's safe--and now that she and Ash are on friendly terms.
"If it's any comfort to you, it's not a complete takeover anyway; the driver gets the sensory input and directs the movements of the body, and of course brings her own knowledge and memories and emotions into the mix. I'd tell Enya that if I told her anything at all. But what would be the point? She'd just end up right back where she began--they're sharing. All any such lesson would give her is a head full of technical details she wouldn't understand. They're sharing. Not quite as even-steven as she and Solanda shared...but she's right. It's not a fairy-tale. They're really sharing."
Rick carefully watched the diagrams, trying to focus on the parts where peculiar signs would show up.
Helpfully, Brenda had fetched her old scans before she'd joined him in the shack. She showed him the areas of her brain that had been flooded at the Tree of Voices; interestingly, they were the areas responsible for emotion and instinct--the stimulus had bypassed the 'intellectual' areas entirely. "The difference between seeing"--she circled the visual cortex--"and Seeing." She gestured at the almost incandescent midbrain. "On the Avatar, that's where the queue begins. It's a whole hemisphere. If Ash lights up there, we're good."
Then she regarded poor Rick with a wry smile. "It has not escaped my notice that you are getting stir-crazy. Hey, I'm the outdoorsy type myself... All right; you know how to tell if your beloved's in trouble. Now let's go find us some plant debris!" She patted his shoulder twice and headed back into the habmod to don her mask.
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"Not only stir-crazy," Rick joked as he followed along after a last look at Ash's peaceful face. "Any more diagrams and I'd probably be cross-eyed. Ya know, there are two ways out of the slums - the Army, and studying hard for a scholarship. There's a reason I chose the Army. I just couldn't sit still long enough to make it through all those books."
He stopped briefly in the sleeping quarters to pick up his sidearm, hoping he wouldn't need it.
"That's why I didn't hand you a book," Brenda grinned. "Males are visually-oriented creatures. They're more wired for show-and-tell."
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The human pair emerged to find Silronsem up and having breakfast before relieving 'Iheyu for the day. "Kaltxi!" she greeted them.
"Jambo!" Brenda shot back in Swahili--not that she knew Swahili much, but it was something different than "Hello."
Kenten was standing by, half-smiling as if at some private joke...but, being Kenten, as soon as he had an audience he shared it: "Tangek's still sleeping like a stone; I do believe Enya's rubbing off on him!"
Rick laughed at that. "Alright - usually it's the other way 'round, parents rubbing off on their children...but, well, we're talking about Enya here." He looked over to the Na'vi longhouse. "And there's nothing wrong with sleeping in after a hard day."
Silronsem stood up and approached. "Closer to two days for him," she clarified. "He was up all day yesterday after minding Tsanten the whole night before; they were in there together when the Blessing came."
"And yet everybody wonders why he's been cranky!!" Kenten huffed. Then he smiled. "So that's Tangek accounted for. 'Iheyu's family is with Tsanten; they'll be out once Silronsem takes over... Have you visited Tsanten lately? 'Iheyu says he's becoming quite a handful!"
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"Then Tangek's more than overdue for catching up on his rest," Rick nodded, then shook his head at Kenten's question. "I know Ni'ka was visiting him yesterday and she said something similar. I'm glad for him. I guess we can all deal with someone becoming 'a handful' if that means he's getting better." He all too well remembered the ghost of a Na'vi they had flown out of the base, and later from Hometree to the camp. Both times he had admired Tsanten's inner strength, keeping him alive when his body was that weak.
"Enya disappeared in there with the family's breakfast," Kenten said. "She's not out yet and she's already eaten her own, so chances are she's helping Tsanten with his..."
"Or with his workout," Silronsem guessed. "She's got that arm...and he's getting used to his legs! But I'll tell her you're waiting." She bowed her head a little and left for the module, quite pleased within herself that anyone could speak of "Tsanten" and "workout" in the same context.
"That reminds me," said Brenda. "I was gonna offer him a nail-trim..." She fished the nail-clippers out of her pocket and followed after Silronsem.
Rick almost wondered why Tsanten should need a human nail-trim, then he realized...yeah, of course, keeping the claws short. "That module will get a serious case of overcrowding with everyone in there," he said. "So I'd better stick to a short 'good morning'".
He followed along with the group, intending to do exactly that - poke his head through the door, greet 'Iheyu and the Changed Na'vi and then leave again.
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The first thing to hit Rick through the airlock was Brenda's hearty voice: "Hot damn, Tsanten, you're lookin' GOOD!!"
And he was. He and Enya had just finished their respective rounds of physical therapy. But he was still sitting upright with 'Iheyu's help, and now he was eyeballing the nail-trimmers skeptically. He and Brenda dickered back and forth a little, he by deeds and gestures - tapping on his Morse-board; making little chopping motions over his tostada; picking up a bead-string and pretending to tie a knot.
Finally Enya giggled and set Brenda straight. "Think he like his hands just how they be!" she translated.
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Rick grinned at that last comment. "No nailcare today? Maybe you shouldn't have shown him the pink nail polish then..." he joked, then turned his head towards Tsanten. "But she's right - you're looking really great this morning, and it's good to see you this way. So a really good morning, Tsanten." He also gave a greeting to a tired-looking 'Iheyu.
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Enya gaped, then cut loose with a "Pink?? --EWWWWW...!!!"
Brenda grinned back over her shoulder. "I think she's more of an earth-tones kinda gal m'self," she vouched.
"Her and everybody else!" said Tali, wriggling into the already-choked space between Tsanten's and Enya's hanging-beds.
Enya turned traffic-cop again. "Okay, okay, people gotta come out so people can get in!" she ordered. "I done here; I go out first... Tali? Sa'nok? Silronsem here now, so you come too!"
The trio spilled out into the courtyard; Enya shot a last look back at the module. "You think he sassy 'bout his hands? --'Fore that, he chew me out for not sleeping in his house for two days!"
"The pink was a joke..." Rick smirked, diving out of the way as Enya's family left the module. "Um...sassy? Maybe, but to be honest, it's good to see him a bit more 'sassy'."
Brenda just shook her head, grinning. "Rick...you've got to understand Enya's brand of humor when she's feeling like herself. Your idea of a joke was to suggest painting this man's talons pink...and her idea of going along with the joke is to react to it in as exaggerated a way as possible!"
Tsanten, his sitting-up session over, finally returned Rick's greeting before settling back onto his hanging-mat with a contented sigh.
Silronsem smiled. "Seems everyone is feeling more like themselves today!" she said cheerily. "I have a feeling you're about to meet some new people...!"
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"Nothing wrong with that," Rick grinned back. "Okay, I'm gonna wait outside until you're done in here to give you some space." He waved Tsanten and Silronsem goodbye, then headed out to the courtyard.
When he rejoined the family there, he realized that it might be a good idea to inform 'Iheyu of the fact that they planned to do some foraging with Tali and Enya today. So he looked up to the tall healer. "'Iheyu - did you get that discussion about hiding our shacks and the chopper?"
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"Tali and Enya mentioned something about that, yes," said 'Iheyu. "Something Kenten cooked up when you returned from your expedition?" She regarded the buildings and the now closed-in space between them. "I have to say that making these look more like part of the forest will probably help things a great deal..." She knelt down to Rick's level and spoke quietly: "Or did you know that we've been talking about leaving this place?"
Enya and Tali, who'd only been aware of their parents' plans to visit Hometree more often, looked at each other, wide-eyed.
"You...what???" Rick's jaw dropped. "But...what...why?"
"Friction," 'Iheyu said simply. "Or perhaps what your People might call a...personality conflict? Tangek proposed it yesterday. He insists that Hometree is a better environment for the children to grow up in, with which I agree for the most part; and that they don't need the negativity of things like Ash's outbursts, about which I am maintaining neutrality until we see how she turns out.
"That is one of the questions we are leaving open. The other is what effect such a move might have on Enya. The rest of us are, let's face it, overworked; overcrowded; and cut off from all but the most basic elements of the life we've always known. Only Enya is really thriving here, very much so since Brenda came. And of course we will put up with just about anything if staying here for a while will help her make the transition from her old life to her new one. But, Rick..." She dabbed at one eye. "We are all homesick...and Enya is not going to learn how to be a Na'vi here...and the last thing anyone needs to be worrying about is how stressed people might be offending one another."
"Ash getting better..." said Enya half-plaintively.
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Rick needed some time to digest that - this was quite the bomb 'Iheyu had dropped there. He knew there had been tension, but going so far that Tangek actually wanted to leave? He rubbed his forehead. "Phew - that's something to digest, early in the morning," he admitted.
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"It only came up last night, and we did not think it would be a good thing to burden Ash with just before a journey," 'Iheyu explained. "Especially as it is far from a certain thing. Ni'ka and I talked him into 'wait and see', and that might be easier now with a few hours' sleep under him. I hope so; he will not leave if I don't, and until Ash has been back for a while I won't know enough to decide."
"You won't hear anything negative about Ash from me," Rick said. "First, she's...how do you call it? My mate?"
'Iheyu smiled a bit. "And you have been a most devoted mate," she said. "I have no experience with Tawtute pairs, but if you two are any indication? --They can't be much different from ours. The looks, the touches, the tones of voice; the affection; the urge to protect... You will find these under any Tree of Voices months or years before Tsaheylu comes into it."
"Second," Rick continued, "I seem to know a different Ash than you; and third, as a human I might see some things differently than you do."
'Iheyu stood up again and wrapped her arms around her torso, beginning to pace. "Aiee, and there's the trouble! You know a different person than we do, because she is an entirely different person with you than she is with anyone else."
She stopped and breathed deeply, seeming to draw up something from within herself, then settled back into a squat and regarded Rick with hurt in her eyes. "There are any number of reasons why a person might not show all of herself to others, most of them quite valid and many having to do with fear. Is she afraid of us, Rick? Can't she trust us? If not, then is it good for anyone that we are here?"
-
"I can't speak for Ash here - she's her own person. But I know she's full of love," said Rick. "For this world, for you all... And I'm pretty sure she's not afraid of you, not at all. It's just..." He raked his fingers through his longish hair. "She had to see her friend and mentor...heck, her cousin...get shot by said cousin's own mate, who then shot her as well. And still she stood up and yelled out the truth about what happened. You had to have been there to see how brave that was. Actually it was the last straw, the one that made me get away from the base too. And so much else has happened in the meantime, and all the time she still had that crystal shard in her arm." He sighed. "See, maybe she doesn't always find the right words, but I know she'd give her life for every single one of you."
-
"I don't doubt it," 'Iheyu said. "That has never been the question. The question is whether she can live with us, and we with her, in an anxious time. It's not just Ash, Rick. It's homelessness, rootlessness, dislocation and the troubled spirits it brings. We, with our troubles, are in no shape to deal gracefully with hers; we can scarcely handle each others'. And Ash, with hers, might be better off if she were not subjected to ours on a daily basis. We, including Ash, are brittle people right now, and it's not recommended to keep brittle things where they can bump and jostle and wear away each others' edges."
-
"Still...I have to agree with Enya; Ash will get better." Rick first smiled at the childlike Avatar, then looked back up to 'Iheyu. "But I can get that you all are homesick. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's how close the bond is between you and your home. Guess you all literally got your roots cut off... I have no idea what to do about that," he ended a little helplessly.
-
'Iheyu allowed herself a half-smile. "That's what I told Tangek," she said. "And she's been mending, I've seen that; we've seen that, and hoped that's what it is, and everyone I've ever spoken to about Ash agrees that we ought to just settle back and give her time to do it. Even Tangek."
The smile faded. "The difference with Tangek is that he doesn't think we should be here while she sorts herself out. The negativity again; the uncertainty of having to ask ourselves if this-or-that change of behavior is 'the real Ash', an anomaly, a reversion to type, or just the latest brave attempt to cover up."
Enya and Tali had been looking on quietly, sometimes glancing at each other and then back at the adults. But towards the end of this they'd leaned over and exchanged extended whispers once or twice; and now they had their heads cocked again, waiting politely and with innocent smiles for a suitable turn in the conversation.
-
"So all we can do now is wait," Rick mused, not feeling good about it. He knew that if anything came close he would try to protect this place as well as possible; he'd never stop the fight he and Ash had started. But he would miss the Na'vi he'd begun to call friends.
But then he noticed Tali and Enya whispering to each other and gave them a smile. "So - what do you think of all that?"
-
Both children beamed as if God had ordained them to be caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Tali spoke first. "We were thinking...okay, this is hard on everybody, and we can't fix that. And Sa'nok taught me that if you can't change what's happening, change yourself inside so it's not so hard on you. Make it so you think 'Hei, maybe this isn't so bad!' Or maybe even find things to like about it. We're doing that. But it's harder for Tangek; he's taking it worse than anybody else. And it being that hard for him makes it seem worse for everybody. So since we can't fix why we're here..."
"...we fix Tangek!" Enya jumped in. "Umm...or try to; think maybe if we make 'here' nicer for him, the nice stuff gonna make the strange stuff not so bad..."
'Iheyu gave them a puzzled look. "Sweeties, I think you both know that only Tangek can change himself...unless I'm misunderstanding something? What did you have in mind?"
Enya smiled. "Well, homesick is worse when we think of stuff we not got here that we liked at Hometree. Is stuff we do have same-same both places, maybe 'cause we bring it, maybe 'cause we find it...those make it not-so-bad. So...what stuff did Tangek like about Hometree? He got his hammock, his things, us, 'Iheyu... But he look around and see shacks--that not be like Hometree! And gotta use Sky People stuff--that not be like Hometree at all! And be on the ground all the time, 'cept when flying...
"So! We go out, find stuff to put on shacks; then he can look around and see green. O-kaayy, is green shacks...but is green. Help a little bit, no? And he liked my ledge; so we can build playplace with tower--me and Sprout need it anyway, and Tall Brenda too since now she scared to climb trees at night--and he can sit up there and look, and think...like on ledge at Hometree. And he like my swing--well, he already know where that is! And he like flying lots and lots...so maybe me and Tali take turns bugging him to fly us places? We make him laugh and run him ragged; he not gonna come home all mad then!"
It was evident that most of this was the Avatar's idea; Tali just nodded a lot and smiled.
-
Rick's eyes widened with every word the two were speaking and finally he started laughing at the 'bug him to fly one of the kids somewhere' part. "Alright, if that doesn't cheer him up at least a little, I don't know!" he grinned.
-
"Work on me pretty good," Enya replied. "Have nooks and wood places and floating blue and other Dreamwalkers...and gonna grow plants, like in garden at Sky-camp...and still get to fly--on Ikran now, is better than kunsip--and find old-animal rocks...and do still wear shorts!!" She tossed her head up and crossed her arms, proud, defiant; the Tawtute half of her clothing a memento of the Resistance, the most visible of the things that had survived her "Change" intact.
-
"And actually a part of your ideas is what I wanted to talk about before this whole conversation took such a somber direction," Rick stated. "Brenda and me were talking about heading out to collect some plants we can use to make the shacks look a little more natural and less like metal cubes. And...we wanted to take Enya and Tali along."
-
'Iheyu smiled. "I do believe there's some wisdom in Enya's idea... It won't mend everything; but you might be surprised what a seemingly small thing can do in someone's deeper places. And if Tangek is even a little more comfortable here, won't that make it easier for everyone, even Ash?"
She regarded her children, Tali practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation of an outing. "Go on, then," she laughed. "You get our best gatherer and our best scout..." She shot a glance towards the bonfire: "And a fine hunter and horseman. Kenten, you're going too--toktor's orders!!"
"Are orders really necessary?" Kenten chirped. "Very well; someone fetch Brenda, and I'll fetch the Pa'li!
-
"Best scout and gatherer - that's exactly what I had in mind with asking those two," Rick grinned. "And with Kenten as a hunter, that makes a well-rounded team. I'd better go and drag Brenda out of the module, then."
He turned around, walking back to the module and poking his head inside again. "Brenda? Are you ready?"
-
Brenda was sitting with Tsanten, completely absorbed in something he was doing with the wooden plank Rick had used to teach him the taps for Morse code. Now she looked up, her mask a little fogged with the warm tears that had gathered in her eyes. "Rick...you'd better get Ash in here the first moment you can," she said softly. "This man has been telling me some stories..."
Tsanten, his face radiating awe and something deeper than joy through his tears, paused in his taps and scratches...the "dots" and "dashes" that had--just now--finally released him from his silence.
-
Rick smiled at both of them. "To think that the old Morse alphabet could do such a miracle..." He could only try to imagine what getting a means of communication back would mean to a man who had spent his life telling stories. "And I'd definitely like to hear those stories too."
-
"They're not the old ones...not just yet," Brenda explained. "Those'll come... Wha--?" She turned at the Lorekeeper's insistent tug on her sleeve; listened to him "chatter" for a bit; then turned back to Rick. "Right now he's just telling me why he likes his hands... He's being real poetic about it, though!" She grinned.
Silronsem looked a little miffed. Like anyone, she was more than pleased to see him come back "online"...but he'd gone and done it in a language she didn't understand!
"And why does he like his hands?" Rick asked, curious now.
Brenda gave Tsanten one of her more tender looks. "You and me are probably the only people here who can translate him hot off the press, at least until Enya learns her ABCs and Ash learns Morse. And I'll have to write it down exactly the way he says it to give you the full flavor--isn't there some kind of touch interface for computers that saves the keystrokes? But he says...
"I don't remember what I did with my hands before.
The hands I had then are gone.
But *these* hands, the ones I have now
Have healed my healers
Given purpose to silver eyes
Raised the dead
And spoken to the stars."
She sniffed, then favored Rick with a watery smile.
-
He smirked at Silronsem. "Something tells me we're gonna have Morse lessons in the evenings."
"Before, during, or after Spanish and dance class?" Brenda laughed.
"Um..." Rick scratched his head. "I don't know - change it now and then?"
"Like in school? Spanish on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Morse on Mondays and Wednesdays, weekends are off?" Brenda grinned. "Imagine this little complex becoming a college campus! All we need is a stuffy name, a Latin motto and a football team... Heck, we even have a quad!"
Rick looked at Tsanten, really impressed. "Ni'ka should hear that too," he said. "I know she still isn't completely comfortable with her own hands - I think hearing it that way would help."
-
"Got it right here," Brenda said, showing what she'd jotted down. "He's gonna get his own section of my notebook..." She turned to Tsanten. "Hey, babe...what's 'given purpose to silver'? Is that about Enya's jewelry? Didn't know she had metal beads..."
The dark Na'vi made an Uh-uh cutoff gesture with one hand, then explained.
Brenda turned back to Rick. "He means Ni'ka," she informed him. "He calls her his Silver Lady. Says she was almost as lost as he was when she saved him...and that having him to fuss over helped her pull through."
-
"Ni'ka should definitely hear that!" Rick nodded to Tsanten. "I know it helped her, helping you. The way I see it, she acted strong to show a Changed one can heal, and then the strength got real. 'Silver Lady'...she'll love that, same as she was proud when Enya told her she's pretty in her new loincloth and feathers. She's still a young girl, after all."
-
Tsanten answered Rick's comment with a fond look and a wry smile that suggested he, too, might know something about the ego needs of young ladies. But his description of what silver meant to him--the silver thread of a river's waters; night's silver light reviving him through the longhouse window the night he'd been rescued; Ni'ka's silver eyes coming into focus above him as he'd regained consciousness at Hometree--left no doubt that it was the color of life to him.
"Looks like Enya's gonna have to find him some silver to put in his next bead-string.." Brenda said quietly. "And it looks like I've got my ancestral job back; I'm a scribe to a philosopher-king. Hey, it's a living..." The casual wording couldn't disguise the sense of fulfilled destiny in her eyes.
She quirked a grin, then patted Tsanten's hand goodbye and stood up. "Speaking of finding things--have we formed our posse yet? Because I have a special request for Enya too."
"Yeah...if anyone can find that it's Enya," Rick agreed. "And yeah, we're ready to head out. Actually that's why I came in in the first place, to get you." He smirked. "We're gonna be passengers today; Kenten is getting the Pa'li."
Brenda boggled a bit as they stepped back out into the courtyard. "Really!" she blurted. "And here I thought we were foraging on foot..."
But Enya was already on Kilvanä, waiting for Brenda; and Tali was already on Peke, waiting for Rick; and Kenten was standing next to his mount, waiting to help the humans up behind their respective riding partners.
-
Rick grinned at Brenda's reaction. "Nope, we're going easy on our feet today. On our rears...not so much."
He stepped up to Tali and Peke and let Kenten give him a boost to settle in behind the Na'vi boy, waiting for Brenda to get ready too. "There's one thing to be said about the whole growing thing," he commented. "I'm a tiny bit more comfortable now."
-
"If I've ever been on a horse, I must've got thrown, hit my head and forgotten all about it," Brenda said ruefully. Needing anyone's help to get on Kilvanä's back didn't do anything for her dignity either. Somehow this wasn't quite like scrambling up and over a rock formation; for one thing, cliff-faces didn't shift their weight when you began your ascent...
"Is okay," Enya reassured her. "We not gonna let you fall!"
"Girlfriend," Brenda smirked, "we all know I'm not much for asking permission..."
"Umm...if you fall and hit your head, can I share with Tall Brenda?" Enya teased.
"And fill her head with your nonsense? --HELL no!!" Brenda protested; then, the tension broken, she made her request. "Hey...you still know your rocks pretty good, right, babe?" At Enya's nod, she asked: "Do you know if any mica grows around here? The dark-colored kind?"
"Not here," Enya responded with scholarly dignity. "Is all old-animal rocks 'round here; come in layers... Mica be where mountains make smoke, or used to. Be lots of it on big floaty mountain. How come?"
"Something to fall back on in case my leaf idea doesn't work," said Brenda. "I want to make Tall Brenda some sunglasses."
"Guess we gonna have to fly you up to big floaty mountain, then, huh?"
Brenda sighed and pretended to slump her shoulders in defeat. "Well, hell, at least I've already ridden an Ikran..." she muttered.
-
"You're gonna enjoy it," Rick grinned from where he sat behind Tali. "That's the beauty of it, riding on a mount that is Bonded to the rider - as Enya said, they won't let you fall."
He wondered what this "mica" might be that Brenda was talking about - some kind of stone, obviously. And probably a dark, transparent one if she wanted to make shades out of it.
-
"He-LLO," Brenda smirked. "They won't let their riders fall. Brenda, poor chump, isn't Bonded, so how's that gonna help her?"
"I feel her feeling you," said Enya.
"Yeah, but I don't," Brenda pointed out. "I won't feel the corrections."
"Oh..." said Enya; then she brightened. "So you hug me good, and when Kilvanä fix me, she fix you!"
"I can go for that," Brenda answered with a smile.
Enya eyeballed Kenten, who was already starting towards the "hunter's path" between the main shacks and the longhouse. "Better go for something," she quipped, "or everybody go without us!!"
Brenda gave the Avatar a hug fit for a long-lost daughter and they set off.