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[Random the Navigator]

Enya, napping in the module, was being paged by her nervous system.  She wasn't as comfortable as she had been when she'd plopped herself face-down on the bunk above the terrarium's heat-lamps.  In fact, her skin informed her, it was getting a little too warm...  "Nngghh!" she suddenly grunted.  A normal environment was one thing, but even she couldn't sleep through being roasted!

She sat up; it was still hot underneath her, so no, she hadn't been half-dreaming things.  She stumbled when she alit on the floor, but caught herself on the opposite wall, discovering that her newfound coordination did not extend to leaps...not even short ones.  She got on her hands and knees and pinpointed the problem; then, still not knowing how to regulate the lamps, she went outside in search of someone who did.

"Hei!" she called out towards the busy group in the bushes.  "Think lamps maybe way too strong; what they gonna do to baby-Ikran when they almost cook me??"

[Kiyevanie]

Rick was busy draping the net over the Samson's back when Enya stumbled out.  When she complained about the lamps getting too hot he frowned.  "I was almost afraid of that," he muttered.  "And those darn things can't be regulated - I better switch them off before someone gets fried."

[Random the Navigator]

   -:-

Enya's shout had not only gotten the mens' attention, but also roused 'Iheyu and Tali in the cabin.  'Iheyu, like any mother, always had one ear tuned to her childrens' voices, distress calls in particular; while Tali, of course, seldom slept deeply to begin with.

Their eyes opened at the same time; they startled; they smiled.  Tali patted the little bundle between them.  "We made somewhere to put him now," he said softly.  "But, umm...how do you know it's a 'him'?"

"Ni' knows, and I learned it through Tsaheylu," 'Iheyu smiled.  "The only thing more intimate than the Bond is carrying someone as a part of your body...  You had your name before you were born."

They made sure Ni'tingal's egg was secure in its gathering-pouch, then scooted out from beneath Tall Brenda's hammock and levered themselves up off the floor to see what the fuss was about, with Tali carrying the egg.

  -:-

[Kiyevanie]

Rick jogged back towards the module and checked the lamps - and the temperature of the bunk.  "Ow - yeah, that's definitely too much.  So there goes that idea."  Then a thought crossed his mind.  "But maybe we can use those lamps to reheat the stones once they get colder."

Enya considered.  "Do like that idea!  Maybe put lamps on floor, and put rack over lamps, and put stones on rack?  Then not gotta run out to the fire all the time...  Think maybe one lamp for stones and one for baby-Ikran?  Or both for stones?  Hmm..."  She put a finger on a lip and went into Ponder mode, one ear up and one ear back.

"Let's keep both for the stones," Rick suggested.  "I don't wanna risk him getting too hot.  After all he'll be just a baby, with very soft and sensitive skin."

[Random the Navigator]

They made this determination just in time, for it was right then that Tali entered with the egg.  "Umm, what happened to the lamps?" he asked.

"Got too hot!" Enya answered.

"Must have, if it woke you up," Tali teased; Enya just glowered.

Silronsem came over from Tsanten's bedside.  "Here, let me check it..." she said, moving her hands through the space beneath the bunk.  "Hmm...I think if we move his box right in front of the heater, that will keep him warm enough from above and behind, while Enya's stones will cover his needs at ground-level."

Tali, who'd appointed himself Terrarium Master, did as the healer suggested.  The group found the temperature in the new spot much more to their liking; Enya placed her stones, and her brother finally lowered the egg into the tank and replaced the lid.  "Now to find something to use as a rack," he said and went back outside.

"So who gonna sleep with him first?" asked Enya.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick rubbed his chin.  "Mhm...I'd say you or Tali."  He would have liked to keep an eye on the egg as well; but he had no idea if Ash would link out overnight, and he wanted to be there if she did.

[Random the Navigator]

"Gonna be me, you, Tali and Brenda," Enya said.  "Think I done sleeping, and you guys be putting stuff on shacks soon and I wanna help...  Tali?"

"Had my nap," her brother reported.  "Didn't really need one, but I saw Sa'nok crashed out under Tall Brenda's hammock and I felt sorry for her, so I kept her company...  But who says the person has to be asleep?  I'll mind him."

Silronsem smiled at them both.  "You know, it's not a long walk from Tsanten's end to this one," she said.  "And it's not noisy in here either.  You two go have a normal day; I think the healer on duty will know when the baby hatches.  We'll save bunk duty for nighttime."

"Irayo!!" Tali and Enya chirped together, then bounced and crawled, respectively, out through the airlock.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick smiled at Silronsem.  "Thanks...that's sure gonna help.  And now to get the kids up onto the roofs..."  He gave Silronsem a good-bye wave and ducked out of the module as well, strolling back towards the chopper where he guessed Kenten and Tangek would still be busy with the additional leaves.

[Random the Navigator]

Tangek spotted Rick first.  "Kaltxi again; how's our patient doing?" he asked, meaning Tsanten.

"Which one?" Tali grinned.  "The little Ikran's in there too now!"  This brought the biggest smile Tangek had given in two days.

Meanwhile, Kenten stood back and looked over their work.  "It's hidden, all right...  Of course we could add a lot to this over the next few days, but I do believe we've done the job for now!" he said, satisfied.

Enya's nose twitched; she knew the smell of Pa'li manure, but there was something familiar about what the men were doing with it...  "Ahh, is 'spreading', like John teach me in garden!!" she remembered.  "But, umm...why you doing that around kunsip?  Is not gonna grow!"

[Kiyevanie]

"Now wouldn't that be great?" Rick chuckled.  "Just take a small one, sprinkle some manure around it and water it, and then watch it grow."  He turned to Enya.  "So - nope, not for growing, but for masking the smell.  You know, the animals around don't like the smell of oil and fuel and grease and metal, so we hope the manure will make the place at least smell a bit less 'alien'.  We're gonna put some on top of the roofs too.  And there's the hope that maybe some of the seeds and vines might develop roots and the manure might help them with that."

Then he grinned at Tangek.  "And Tsanten's just fine - now that he found a way to 'talk' again he's already got Brenda wrapped around his fingers.  Literally - she wanted to do some manicure for him, and he made pretty clear that he likes his nails just the way they are."

[Random the Navigator]

Tangek did a double-take.  "He...what??  He's speaking again??  How--"  Then he excused himself and dashed over to the module.

Tali took off after him: "Wait up--let me explain!!"

'Iheyu lofted her eyebrows.  "I'd like to see that...or hear it," she said, smiling softly.  "But we don't *all* fit in there, and I'll have my turn tonight...  So: How did he do it?  We thought his voice was gone for keeps!"

[Kiyevanie]

"Whoops...  Well, guess Tsanten's gonna show him...or Tali will."  Rick gave a lopsided grin.  "He's using his hands for it, and that Morse code.  You remember the sounds - long ones and short ones, what we used to encrypt Brenda's info?  In a string, with beads and knots?  He uses the same method to 'talk' now.  And as Brenda knows the Morse code, she can understand it."

[Random the Navigator]

"I do remember about that code," 'Iheyu smiled.  "And now that I think about it, it shouldn't surprise me that he remembers it after using it just once...  It's what a Lorekeeper does: remember things and make symbols for them.  I suppose this is just a new set of symbols--and I suppose we'd all better learn them!"

She considered a bit further.  "Enya, you know it by sound if not by sight, don't you?"

The Avatar nodded tentatively.  "Can see, too, with knots in strings; knots mean taps, taps mean marks..."

"Let's teach you those marks, then," 'Iheyu suggested.  "I think they might be easier to make than a story-string."

Enya's nod became vigorous, and she broke into a smile: "Rick and Brenda can show me; then I can write what Tsanten say!"

"Yes, you can," her Sa'nok concurred.  "And once you do, I will present you by the fire as a symbol-maker and full member of the Clan.  Your code-string will be your armband."

"Olo'eyktan not gotta do it?" Enya queried; and "No Dreamhunt?" asked Kenten.

"We're not all  hunters and warriors," the healer reminded him.  "And we're not at Hometree.  I believe there is a thing among the Skyfolk called a 'field promotion'?  Her spirit animal will come to her soon enough."

Enya just stood there dumbstruck, her eyes gone wide in something deeper than joy.

[Kiyevanie]

"Yeah - there's such a thing," Rick confirmed.  "And I agree, Enya sure deserves it.  That's something important she came up with."  He was pretty sure the Na'vi wouldn't stick to writing down simple letters like humans did, but come up with something much more complex--especially as they didn't have any written language yet.

[Random the Navigator]

The ecstatic look slowly left Enya's face as her more typical uncertainty crept back in.  In all her conscious life, very few good things--certainly not the important ones--had come to her completely without stipulations.  There was always something she had to do or some way she had to be or some who-knew-how-long period of time she had to wait, and this had never been more so than in her time with the Na'vi.

"But...Sa'nok..." she began, "I not know nothing 'bout being Na'vi...I not know stories or hunting or how anybody do stuff or even much words..."

'Iheyu put her hands on the Avatar's shoulders and smiled.  "Oh, but you do know things...and you have done some very remarkable things," she said.  "Do you remember when you sorted the clothes and blankets Rick brought in his kunsip?"

Enya nodded.

"Or when you were upstairs that morning, singing in Solanda-talk to Tsanten?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Or being the first to notice his eyes had turned blue?"

Enya nodded again.

"And you certainly were Na'vi enough for Atreyu that night, and for the whole Clan when we came down the next morning..."

"Really?"

"Really," 'Iheyu assured her.  "And, Enya...after what happened to you and your Sky Person, choosing to Bond with Kilvanä was one of the bravest things I've ever seen--and I know all the warriors."

Enya bit her lip.

"Who's our best gatherer?  Who brought Brenda to us?  And who went completely out of herself and played with Eywa's first daughter?"

"Awwww...."  The Avatar looked down and blushed.

"And who rescued Ni'tingal's egg?" 'Iheyu asked softly.  "I will be forever grateful to you for that...and I thank Tali in my heart every day for bringing you to Hometree, and the Olo'eyktan for letting me keep you."

What could Enya say to that?  She didn't; she just melted into her Sa'nok's arms, her eyes moist and her tanhi absolutely glowing.

[Random the Navigator]

Rick stepped away a bit at that, wanting to give mother and daughter their little bit of privacy after such an intense and tender moment.  They'd be back to business soon enough.

"Sa'nok?" Enya asked eventually from somewhere over 'Iheyu's shoulder.

"Hmm...?" the healer said from somewhere over Enya's.

"What be symbol-maker?"

"Oh, my..."  'Iheyu stepped back.  "I suppose that was a bit rash of me to say you were going to be something when you don't really know what it is," she chided herself gently.

"Is okay," Enya responded to her mother's sheepish smile.  "'Rash' is same-same as 'all-sudden', yes?  I do lotsa all-sudden stuff...like get-on-Pa'li stunt, 'member?"

"How could I forget?  If I ever forget any of your stunts, it will only be because you've pulled so many of them that I lose track!"

They shared a hearty laugh; then 'Iheyu addressed the question.  "A symbol-maker is someone who speaks in ways other than words.  There are many kinds of symbol-makers.  Some make bead-strings that mean something--a highly skilled one might even make story-strings for the Lorekeepers.  Others, such as those in Tsanten's lands, paint on rock-walls or carve things into them.  Others carve certain objects from wood or stone, such as story-stones or objects used in rituals that stand for the Clan.  The Olo'eyktan has such an object.  It is made of a black stone dotted with white crystal growths.  We are the Tompa'tanhi, the Rain Star Clan, and this bowl symbolises the rain of stars that marked our founding."

"Rain of stars...?"  Enya had no idea what that might mean, but she knew one thing.  "Ooo, Brenda gonna like that story!" she said, bouncing a little bit.  "Stone sound like one called 'snowflake obsidian'..."

Now it was 'Iheyu's turn to look puzzled; but then, it could be hoped that no Na'vi would ever have to learn what a 'snowflake' was.

"Umm...so I be somebody who says by making?" Enya asked, returning to the subject.

"I think so," said 'Iheyu.  "You make things for a Lorekeeper, and before you even came to us you'd found a story-stone.  I believe Eywa let you find that stone for a reason...  And I think you are going to show us new ways of making."

Enya thought about this--thought about her code-band, the beads that meant pats that meant marks; about Tsanten's speech of hands, which only she could read with any skill; about the teaching she would do for those without words; and about the stories in old-animal rocks, which only she could tell.

[Kiyevanie]

"Brenda's definitely gonna like that story," Rick nodded at one point in the talk.  A rain of stars - that sounded very much like a meteorite shower.  It had probably made the already impressive night sky of Pandora even more fascinating.  The Na'vi, being close to their homeworld and Eywa as they were, might not have seen it as a divine sign the way so many former cultures on Earth might have, but it still must have made an impression.  There sure were worse ways to name a new Clan.

"Rick, what you think?" Enya asked, cocking her head at him.  "Brenda be symbol-maker too?  She draw, write, make maps, make code-talk...even knows story-dance!"

"In a way...maybe."  Rick tried to wrap his head around the whole concept.  "But I think she's more like a scholar who just uses the symbols."  He thought of Brenda's knowledge in guerilla fighting.  "And a warrior as well."

[Random the Navigator]

'Iheyu considered.  "People who tell stories by dancing are dancers," she clarified.  "A symbol-maker tells stories by making.  And not just any sort of making; Tali carves things, but the things he makes are for everyday use."

Enya cocked her head at Rick again.  "Brenda very fierce when she gotta be...but she a warrior?"  Apparently her barracks-mate had not told the young Avatar about her past as a resistance fighter...  But Enya wasn't done yet: "And how anybody gonna be warrior and dancer and symbol-maker all at once?"

[Kiyevanie]

"Not all at the same time," Rick smirked.  "But people change over time, learn new things, decide to pick up something else, but that doesn't mean they forget what they learned before.  And sometimes they want a break from what they're doing."  He looked up to the tall Avatar child.  "Back on Earth, the man who taught me to shoot a gun, he was a really good warrior.  But he also loved to play guitar and sing in a band - so at daytime he was a warrior and in the nights he was a singer.  Both things were part of him."

[Random the Navigator]

'Iheyu nodded in agreement.  "I don't think the People specialise quite the way the Skyfolk do," she added.  "If someone is a Lorekeeper, for example, that doesn't exclude him from dancing; indeed, he can make dancing part of how he tells stories.  Brenda might be a kind of Lorekeeper; she writes and paints to tell the stories of the sky.

"The way someone gives to the Clan is a calling that comes from the deepest parts of her being.  You cannot keep a dancer from moving her body in beautiful ways; you will know she is a dancer the first moment she can stand on her own feet.  And a born storyteller will play all kinds of pretend games with her toys and chat your ears off as soon as she can talk!  But while that is who she is, it is not *all* of who she is.  And it seems that among the Skyfolk, too, a person is permitted to do more than one thing.  If all we had was our work, it'd be a dreary world."

"What if I not like drawing or writing that much?" asked Enya.

'Iheyu smiled.  "You'd still like beads and codes.  It's not the act but the way of thinking that makes someone a symbol-maker.  And they are rare; it is a rare thing for one of us to consider not just what something is as it rests in our hand, but what it means and how we can pass that meaning on to people who will be born a very long time from now...maybe even 'millions'.  A symbol-maker is a preserver.  If all the Lorekeepers fell silent, we would still hear their voices in those carvings on the rocks."

"Wow..."  Enya looked like she'd been rocked back on her heels.  To think, to imagine, that anything from her hand might last as long as Tsanten's story-stone, or eventually become as ancient as old-animal rocks...  She felt a power rise up within her as she gazed at her hands.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick remembered something he had read as a boy - back in the days when he had tried to get his hands on all information about Pandora, he had also stumbled across a few pieces about ancient human cultures.  "Humans did it too," he said, almost hesitating as he tried to recall the information.  "There are paintings in caves...and they're old, very old."  He smiled at 'Iheyu.  "I guess you would say from the time of our First Songs.  They told stories about hunts, and other stuff I can't remember."

He peeked over to where the others were still working on the camouflage project.  "But I think I better go now and help with masking the chopper, or there'll be a very different hunt going on here!" he joked.

[Random the Navigator]

'Iheyu peered at the Samson.  "No, I think Kenten said they're done with the kunsip," she said; and, indeed, the little hunter had moved on to the large branch Rick had shot down--he was chipping part of it into shack debris.  "I know what I'd like to see," the healer continued.  "The place you've put Ni'tingal's egg!"

"Is in Tsanten's house," Enya told her.  "But I not all-the-way understand how it work...think maybe Rick can explain!"

Rick could get that - of course 'Iheyu would want to see where her companion's egg and later the baby would be.  "Okay - come along," he said.  "Tali should have put it in by now."

Enya led her two companions to the module and ventured a peek inside.  "Oo, got three big Na'vi and a little one," she tallied.  "Tsanten and Silronsem *gotta* be here, so, Sempul?  You gotta come out so Sa'nok can come in..."

There was an awkward silence on the healers' end of the module; then Tangek nodded, said "All right," and exited the module.

"What be that about?" Enya asked Tali.

"I dunno," her tsmukan replied.  "I know he and Sa'nok disagree about Hometree; but that's not the same as actually being mad at each other...is it?"

[Kiyevanie]

Outside, Tangek stepped aside so 'Iheyu could ascend the porch-steps.  He gave her a nod and a little go-on-in gesture; she nodded back; but no words passed between them.

Rick, standing literally in between the two healers, let out a breath.  "You know - you're gonna have to figure that out sooner or later," he said just loud enough that he couldn't be heard inside the module.  "If you ask me, I'd go for 'sooner'."  He looked up between the Na'vi.  "Times are bad enough already without us fighting with the ones we love."

He didn't stop to wait for any reaction but instead stepped inside the module.

[Random the Navigator]

Enya and Tali proudly escorted 'Iheyu to the glass case on the floor in front of the climate-control unit that kept the module warm.  "See?" said Enya.  "Got warm stones in there like for me and Tsanten at Hometree, and here be rack on top of heat-lamps to make cold stones warm again, and..."  She prattled on.

But 'Iheyu's eyes were only on the egg.  "We've put you through some trouble, haven't we?" she murmured to Rick.  "I feel responsible for this whole situation; I ask myself if Ni' mightn't have done better if she could have chosen any nest-site she wanted, in any territory that suited her.  But she will not stray far from either me or the Ikran of our Clan.  Our mounts are wild, yes.  But because of their loyalty, they are not free..."

[Kiyevanie]

"Oh no,"  Rick shook his head.  "Tell me, where could she have gone to?  Do wild Ikran really stray far from their rookery in the mountains?  And is there a place better than here for her now?  Would the other Ikran have hunted for her while she was breeding?  Or cared for the egg like we do now?"

He didn't really have answers to that; but something told him that the little guy inside his egg would only survive because they were all helping his mother - by feeding her as well as keeping the egg warm when Ni'tingal didn't have enough body warmth to spare.