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[Random the Navigator]

Tangek had flown more widely and more recently than anyone else in the settlement; from what Kenten told him, he thought he might know the place where Ni'tingal was nesting.  Thus it wasn't long at all before Atan was barrelling through the forest, arrow-swift but hardly arrow-straight; she tilted and jinked in a way she never would have with a patient on board, threading herself between the trees like a forest-hawk after a sparrow and putting even 'Iheyu's heart in her throat.

In less time than it took to wonder about her, she blasted into view of the foraging party.  She popped up and over Rick and Brenda's heads and circled the rock, screaming furiously at Ni'tingal, who screamed furiously back while Enya cowered and covered her ears.  This didn't keep Atan from touching down where Tali was sitting, which brought more threats and challenges.  But she and Tangek remained where they were, Tangek looking on impassively; both knowing better than to stare Ni'tingal in the eye, but otherwise quite plainly unmoveable by any force short of continental drift.

The tension evaporated, however, when 'Iheyu stepped down.  She paused, taking in the scene the way Rick had: An Ikran mantling an Avatar who hunched over a bundle, which must contain the egg...  She couldn't help a smile.

Ni'tingal, for her part, cawed repeatedly at Atan, smirking and "trash-talking" because now she had 'Iheyu to back her up!  But even she calmed down as the healer walked up to the nest in her usual dignified way.  They had a quiet reunion, both speaking in coos, with the Ikran trading gentle nuzzles for long, firm, comforting strokes.

Once her mount had finally settled again, 'Iheyu crouched on the rim of the depression and eyed her youngest child.  "Is there something I can help you with, ma'ite?"

Enya uncurled.  "Yah, is baby-Ikran here..." came her shaky reply.

"So I've been told," her Sa'nok said benignly; apparently Ni's weren't the only set of nerves that needed settling.  "And what can you tell me about him?"

"Be just one, and he wee-small, and he not move much, and we not know if he got trouble hatching or if he just asleep."

"Maybe I'd better ask Ni'?  She's the only one who can tell me how long he's been trying," 'Iheyu suggested.  "But only one of us fits in that bowl."

"Ahh, okay--I leave moss and poncho and come out!" said Enya, only too glad to yield to someone who actually knew what she was doing.

"Moss, hmm?" the healer mused.  "Good choice; that's just the thing for keeping tender things warm and protecting them from going 'ka-bump'!"  She gave Enya's hair a tousle as they switched places, the Avatar joining her brother while 'Iheyu again soothed the amber-colored Ikran.


As it turned out ('Iheyu learned through Tsaheylu), Ni'tingal had flown to this spot the night of the Blessing and laid the retained egg the very next morning...yesterday morning.  Only the one; the rest had been resorbed into her body, returning their calcium and protein to their mother, who was still recovering from her long, hungry vigil on the floating mountain.  Because the surviving egg had been within her so long, it was almost ready to hatch when she laid it.  But she'd been sitting it all this time, and after the chick's initial breakthrough it had only managed a few short struggles and some feeble cheeps.  All told, it was a testament to Ni'tingal's rootedness, body heat, and somewhat better state of nutrition that the little creature had survived the night.

'Iheyu communed with her a little further.  What she proposed to the bird was hardly standard procedure and would require even more than the usual trust between mount and rider, deep as that was.  They spent quite a while refining the details to the Ikran's liking.  Even so, it went against almost all of Ni'tingal's instincts...except for her awareness of her inexperience and her sheer desperation.

The Ikran was still tutting and shifting nervously when 'Iheyu released the Bond.  "We have her permission," she announced to the group.  "We--Ni'tingal and I--are taking the little one back to the camp.  We will be better able to care for him there."

She turned to Tangek.  "Your patient pod, please...?  Or did you think she would let her baby ride with Atan?" she asked in a tone that showed the tension between them.

"Of course not," said Tangek, dismounting and busying himself with the straps of his saddle.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick couldn't help but feel relieved once the activities started.  So they really would do something, trying to save that little life that was still hidden inside the eggshell.

"It's good she'll let you help," he said to 'Iheyu, then turned to Tali and Enya.  "I don't know about you, but I'd like to go back to the camp as well."

It then hit him that his mount was still back there, no Kenten to be seen around.  "Um...yeah...especially as it will take some time."

[Random the Navigator]

"How come?" asked Enya as she worked her way carefully back down the rock-face.  "You come with Tali, Brenda come with me; can go back same way--both our Pa'li still here...  Unless you want to switch?  You ride with me this time?  Have seen Kilvanä know how to run..."  She smiled impishly, wrinkling her nose for good measure.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick stared at Enya, then back at the Pa'li, then at Enya again.  Then he finally shook his head.  "Jeez...something must have hit my head or something...  Of course you're right.  Thanks, Enya."

[Random the Navigator]

The Avatar just leaned down and gave Rick a hug.  "Is okay; nothing hit you 'cept worry-'bout-baby Ikran.  So we better get home while we still can sit straight on Pa'li!"

Her point was well-taken; for, while Atan's saddle only really fit Atan, Tangek and 'Iheyu were able to fasten it well-enough on Ni'tingal to be sure it wouldn't slip.  'Iheyu wasn't going to sit on it anyway.  She would crouch in front.  The only real weight in the patient pod would be the precious egg itself, now tucked away deep inside a pocket lined with Enya's moss.

Enya straightened up and smiled.  "So...you riding with me or with Tali?" she asked.

[Kiyevanie]

Remembering how tightly Brenda had clung to Enya on the first leg of their trip, Rick smiled.  "There's that saying - never change a winning team.  So I guess you, Brenda and Kilvanä are just fine, same as Tali, Peke and me."

[Random the Navigator]

"Are you suuuure?" Enya asked in a teasing voice.  "Tali not has told you 'bout crazy ride-home-on-Lor stunt yet, has he?  Maybe he gonna try it on Peke!"

[Kiyevanie]

"Huh - that sounds ominous," Rick joked back, eyeing the young Na'vi boy.  "What did you do?  Make a handstand on Lor's back?  I mean, at least a Pa'li can't do barrel rolls."

[Random the Navigator]

Tali whipped his head around and boggled at his sister; apparently it wasn't Pandora's best-kept secret: "Enya??  How did you--but--you were asleep the whole way back!!" he spluttered.

"Sa'nok wasn't," the Avatar smirked.

"Ohhh, all right..." the boy grumbled, then looked at Rick.  "It's easier to show that to explain...  Enya?  You wanna help?  It'll be good fighting practice..."

Of course she nodded enthusiastically, whereupon Tali took some time to pose her in a half-crouch with her arms out to the sides, now that she could use both of them.  Then he assumed the same position, both of them facing Rick.  Tali counted off: "Ready?  On three...  One, two, three, HIT IT!!"  And the two broke out in a Jan-and-Dean beach tune, their upper bodies rocking side to side in a credible imitation of a pair of surfers.  Enya, of course, had all she could do just to stay upright; but Tali's leg-muscles were bunching and relaxing to absorb the imaginary shocks.

"He do that on Lor's back while Ni'ka flying," Enya said helpfully.

[Kiyevanie]

Right off the bat Rick had to fight his laughter, the two of them being quite the sight.  But then he thought about doing that on the back of an Ikran - and remembered very well how he himself on his very few Ikran rides had clung to the respective rider.

"Oh dear," he muttered.  "And you're still alive?  I mean - not that you crashed down, but remembering my own mom, if she had seen me pull that kind of a stunt she'd ripped off my ears."

[Random the Navigator]

Now Enya did tip over, mostly from laughing so hard.  "Sa'nok's hands too busy just then, she not coulda taken Tali's ears; is why he reeeeal glad her arms were all fulla ME!"

"How come she always ends up carrying Dreamwalkers?" the boy smirked.  "When it isn't you, it's Sprout!  Nothing but trouble, I tell ya..."

Brenda, standing on a rock to make it easier for her to mount, was doubled over laughing too.  "Surf City, here we come!!" she sang.

Tali grinned.  "Surf City ain't coming to us, now, is it?  So we'd better go meet it," he said...and that was all the warning Rick got before he was suddenly boosted up onto Peke's back, while Enya and Brenda scrambled up to their respective places on Kilvanä's.

The fliers had long since left.  At first glance the little party might have seemed vulnerable; there were no hunters or healers with them.  But Tali knew what he was doing with a bow and a dagger, as did Brenda; both knew their way around a home-grown first-aid kit; and Rick was armed in his way.  Consequently, Enya didn't have a worry in the world as they made their way back to the shack.

[Kiyevanie]

Rick was still chuckling when he was sitting behind Tali on his mount.  "Surf City, eh?  Alright, when all this is over we better make a trip to the sea; let's see how you guys do on a surfboard..."  He was still worried about the little Ikran inside its egg, but the little play had definitely lightened up his mood.

[Random the Navigator]

Brenda grinned over from behind Enya.  "Ohh, I'm sure Tali won't have any trouble at all!  Me and Enya, however..."

"You?  How you gonna have trouble with surfing?" Enya wondered; it just didn't seem possible that any physical endeavor could be beyond her auntie's powers.

"Babe, back home our only beaches were along the shores of a really big lake," said Brenda ruefully.  "In other words, there's no surf in Armenia!"

"You wait'll Enya's all-the-way better," Tali mused.  "She'll make us all look bad!!"

  -:-  -:-  -:-

[Random the Navigator]

The journey back could have been slow, thanks to the Pa'lis' loads of camouflage material and whatever else the party had thought might be useful; but then again, they knew the way back now and they weren't stopping to forage every several hundred yards.  They made it back in decent time, arriving a couple of hours behind the flyers.

Tali's eyes swept the compound.  Ni'tingal was perched on the roof of the longhouse, wearing her own saddle again and occasionally bristling at Atan, who was also saddled and clinging awkwardly quite a ways up Ni'ka's watch-tree, panting like she'd just evaded a Toruk.

Tangek, who'd rather expected that his Ikran would be dispossessed, was standing by the B-shack musing on the proposed climbing-tower's possibilities as an Ikran nest.

The boy didn't see 'Iheyu; it was safe to assume she was inside one of the structures, and quite possibly asleep in the cabin.  Silronsem and Tsanten, of course, wouldn't have moved far from the module, he thought wryly...

As Kenten approached to help any riders down and take over the Pa'li, Enya got right to the point: "Where be baby-Ikran??"; while Tali, a little more collected, asked him:  "So...what'd we miss?"

"The little one's in the cabin, or will be once he hatches," said Kenten.  "Not that we didn't go a few rounds with Ni'tingal before she let us take the egg out of her sight!  I don't recommend interacting with her right now...  Anyway, the little fellow's in an herb-pouch in Brenda's stall; that's the most sheltered spot in the building, with its own firepot and shielded from the draft.  But we'd prefer him someplace where the roof is a bit closer to the floor--Tsanten's dwelling, perhaps?  That's small; it'll retain the heat, and he won't lack for company..."

"And Sa'nok?" asked Enya.

"Curled up around that herb-pouch, asleep," said the little hunter with an affectionate smile.

[Kiyevanie]

"I could take our blankets out of the shack," offered Rick.  "Bringing the little one in there wouldn't be the best of ideas, not with the different air.  So Tsanten's module would be a good idea."

[Random the Navigator]

Enya pondered.  "Even better if there be something like greenhouse, hmm?  Had tender plants there, baby ones, and did keep them in glass boxes with plenty steam and warm light...  Maybe be something like that in shacks?  Could put it under bunks in Tsanten's house--soft soil to lay on, moss to make nest-shape; already got heater and lamp in there..."  She turned to Rick.  "Heia, maybe where I gonna grow houseplants be good place for baby-Ikran too while he wee-small and weak?"

[Kiyevanie]

Rick peeked into the longhouse, just to see 'Iheyu curled up as mentioned, holding on tightly to the bundle with the egg.  "Once she's awake again, that is."  He scratched his head.  "What do you think - how long will it take for the little one to come out?  And...can we help him?  Maybe crack the eggshell a bit further?"

[Random the Navigator]

"We don't want to expose any part of him before he's ready," Kenten advised.  "He'll have to emerge bit by bit on his own.  What we can do, we're doing: warming the egg, softening the shell, and mostly giving the little fellow ample time to rest.  He's moving around in there now; 'Iheyu heard some little scratches...  He'll be a while gathering his strength; but when the time comes, he won't need quite so much of it."

[Kiyevanie]

"Okay, so no cracking open the shell. But a greenhouse..." the soldier mused, scratching his neck.  "I think I can find something like that in the lab section...and maybe even something like an infrared lamp.  Light that warms," he explained.  "I'll be back in a little."

Rick usually stayed clear of the lab section; there were too many fragile things there.  But he remembered from packing up things for the transport of the shack that there were several crates of glass in there - probably for greenhousing indeed, nursing young plants for food or for the scientists' experiments.  And he remembered someone on a former expedition say something about lights that emulated Alpha Centauri's light spectrum...

Of course, he had no idea if this lab had something along those lines.  So he rummaged through the cupboards and closets there until he finally found something that looked a bit like a kind of fish tank, including a lid, that was big enough for the egg plus padding to fit inside.  Just no lamp, so the glass cube would have to do.

He stepped out of the shack, holding the item out.  "One greenhouse for our egg," he stated.

[Random the Navigator]

Enya's eyes lit up.  "Ahhh, is perfect!!" she beamed.

"For the egg, absolutely!" mused Kenten.  "And we can spray some water in there once in a while to mist the shell.  Once he's out, we'll want to remove the lid so he can hear and see us going in and out.  He's not in this by himself, you know; our Ikran are part of a community...  Once we know that he's holding his own, we can put him in a warm area without the box.  The heater and the Tawtute lamps in Tsanten's house will keep him warm.  And as for the lighting? --I believe Enya's bladder-lamp will do nicely!"

Brenda's eyebrows went up.  So the designers of the amnio tanks were right?  That warm blue ambience, Enya's "floating blue", was thought to mimic the gentler end of Pandora's light-spectrum.  Supposedly this helped the Avatars' development.  She didn't doubt, now, that it must have helped their temperaments too; it'd certainly been critical to settling Enya's and Tall Brenda's nerves in even the most trying circumstances.  Apparently the Na'vi also thought it was a good thing...  "I wonder how many of the nurseries at Hometree are lit with those things?" she mused aloud.

"All of them, especially the midwives' chambers," said Kenten.

[Kiyevanie]

"Then the little guy there should like it too," Rick said.  "Okay, we better find a place where we can set up our makeshift incubator so it's ready once 'Iheyu wakes up.  What should we put in for padding?  More of that moss?"

[Random the Navigator]

Surprisingly, Brenda knew more than a little bit about this.  "Moss and the peat it comes in," she said, going on when Kenten nodded.  "They hold moisture and warmth very well, and the soil actually has nutrients in it from the decaying organic matter, which'll help when he starts pecking at it--you know how babies are, always putting things in their mouths!"  This drew a communal chuckle; then she continued.  "Should get some coarse sand in there too, if there's any to be had; dunno about Ikran, but Earth-birds use grit to help them digest their food.  And some decent-sized stones to put in the container; he's gonna start moving around in there, and if he's as weak as he might be he'll need something to push off against."

"Kinda like me at first?" said Enya, thinking back to both her recent injury and when she'd first had to learn how to move on her own at the Avatar compound.  "Push away to go, hang onto while I walk, pull up on when I fall?"

"Like that, babe," Brenda confirmed.  "And for the same set of reasons; even if he's vigorous, he still has to figure out his limbs!"

Kenten listened, bemused.  "You know, for someone who's never raised an Ikran, you seem to know a lot about this!" he declared.

"We didn't have Ikran on Earth, true," said Brenda.  "But we did have glass boxes called terrariums, and we raised creatures in them that needed to be kept warm.  Baby birds; lizards; even snakes, which were like long lizards without legs."

Tali had been taking all this in, and now he had a question.  "If he's living in a box inside Tsanten's house, when's he get to see his mama?  He's not gonna know he's an Ikran if he doesn't...and that could be big trouble when he's grown!!"

"We'll need to arrange something about that," Kenten concurred.  "It is asking a bit much of Ni'tingal to allow us to raise her baby sight unseen..."

[Kiyevanie]

Rick looked at his very mixed group of friends.  "I think at one point we'll have to take the risk and bring the box out.  I mean - Ni'tingal managed to keep the egg warm all night; she'll be able to keep her baby warm for some bonding."

[Random the Navigator]

"Ni'tingal's own inner fires are running lower than they should be," said Kenten.  "She is still recovering from her time on the mountain.  'Iheyu knows best, of course; but I think at least one way she could explain it to Ni' is that we want to keep the baby warm until she has the life-force to spare; that is, until she is strong enough to keep the youngling warm and fed herself."

Tali considered.  "That still leaves them needing to see each other a lot--especially early on," he pointed out.

"Well," said Brenda, "once he's off to a good start, I don't see a problem with bringing him to her for cuddles a few times a day.  He's gonna need exercise periods anyway as soon as he can stand up on his knuckles."

Kenten mulled it over.  "I suppose we'd just better keep an eye on both of them," he said.  "When she's better-fed; when he's stronger; when she's stronger...  And we want to return him to her full-time as soon as we can.  She doesn't have to hunt for him; we have plenty of meat-scraps.  But he must learn to be an Ikran, and no part of that involves confined spaces."

[Kiyevanie]

Rick agreed to that wholeheartedly.  Ikran were meant to be outside, to soar though the air, either free or together with their Na'vi companions.  Having one of them confined for longer than absolutely necessary was just wrong in his book.

"So it's gonna be a step-by-step approach," he mused.  "Maybe for a while just bring the little one out in the day, when it's a bit warmer.  And at the same time, we're pampering Ni'tingal so that she's stronger and warmer too."