【 CHAPTER FIVE 】

THE Omaticaya believe that if something is done right the first time, there will never be a need to do it again. A clan that celebrates and hones its artistry and songs. This philosophy was relevant in their textiles and weaving skills, particularly the giant 'mother loom' that was given a place of honor in the common area of Hometree. Along with the totem of Toruk Makto, the giant skull of the Great Leonoptryx loomed in the dancing light of a torch's flame, ominously watching over the clan. 

It was early morning, shortly before the Omaticaya that did not have predetermined duties or plans would be rising for the day to make the clan's home buzz with activity, mostly children and elderly Ruth had to guess. Tsu'tey had quietly woken her to follow him down the column of the tree to the common area to begin her first day. She'd been sluggish and remained bleary eyed the entire time, but eventually found her wakefulness.

Ruth looked up at the loom as she waited for Tsu'tey, the future Olo'eyktan having gone off to fetch a training bow for her, something she would likely be lugging around for the duration of her training. She marveled at the attention to detail of the weaving, the tightness of the craftsmanship. 

For a moment, she wasn't a doctor analyzing an object to learn more and build theories for a scientific thesis. Instead, she was able to appreciate something for what it was and nothing more. Something she'd perhaps rarely had in her life and was heavily lacking. Humans could benefit from such a belief, she thought. There was much to be learned from the Na'vi. Much of humankind would likely struggle with.

Tsu'tey eventually appeared from his search, a simple bow in his hand that would become Ruth's during the duration of her training. A fact she was still trying to grasp. Unlike the weapons of the rest of those in the clan that had earned their place among the people, the one he'd brought for her was as plain as could be; little more than a child's bow. Reasonable, considering she had a long way to go to earn her place among them. 

He handed it to her, the object feeling quite foreign in her grip, the wood smooth and light. She'd never had much at all to do with weapons. This would be an interesting experience, especially for a scientist. Jake had the advantage of being a marine prior to his Pandoran adventures. Ruth would be learning from the very basics. 

"I have not the slightest idea how to use this correctly," she told him as she began to follow him away from the loom. She didn't mean the most basic function of a bow that anyone knew: pull back the string and let loose. No, Na'vi skills were unparalleled. 

She wasn't sure she'd ever find herself rivaling such a technique that was entirely fantastic in itself. Shooting on horseback could be learned, considering the historic humans of earth had done as such on the plains that used to fill much of the continental US. She had a hard time imagining learning to shoot from the back of an ikran and be accurate. Or having an ikran of her own in the first place. Perhaps a dire horse would be more suitable, but the doctor still had her doubts despite the desire to fly.

Tsu'tey grinned slightly, a flash of the short fangs all Na'vi shared. The beaded strands of his hair swayed. "That is why you are here, is it not? To learn."

Ruth shrugged as she followed behind. "I suppose so. I am no warrior, though." She murmured with a hint of doubt for herself in her tone. A few moments later, her curiosity spurred her to ask, "Why did you choose to teach me? I know nothing. You owe nothing to me."

"You are different than the other sky people," he stated simply and nothing more, not turning to look at her, leaving the woman to look at his swaying braid as they walked. She remained quiet as she followed, slightly confused by his somewhat cryptic reply but continued to follow, tail flicking as she contemplated what he meant. 

Sure, she wasn't like the military grunts or other humans on Pandora that had proven a threat to the Omaticaya in the past. But still, Tsu'tey didn't have to offer her the same opportunity Jake had been presented. The clan had wished to study Jake for their own reasons, but her? She wasn't quite sure what she could offer to the table.

Not far outside the enormous base of Hometree, Tsu'tey led them to an area near the river that provided enough open space for almost any training that the warrior could teach her. The entire walk from the base of the tree she'd kept her yellow eyes trained on his toned back, noticing the obvious differences between the Na'vi and the avatar's physical attributes. 

The Na'vi were naturally lithe, their muscles not bulky but still toned from a life in the jungle. The avatars, with their lingering human DNA, tended to show more muscle. Tsu'tey was a prime example of what she presumed was a Na'vi man at his peak. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been enjoying the view from behind.

With the practice bow clasped in her her, Ruth assumed archery would be first. It was one of the core factors of Na'vi culture, after all. Despite being the age equivalent of twenty in her avatar body, the scientist knew she was far behind any of the children within the clan when it came to training. She was no better than a baby. She may be a woman with a doctorate and a long history of life back on her own dying planet, but she would allow herself to start from a blank slate. In a way, it was almost calming to forget the weight she carried as one of Grace's leading team members. Here, she was allowed to learn.

"When we train," Tsu'tey said once they'd stopped at an area near the wood line, his accent returning with the thickness of his mother tongue. He faced her, hands resting on his hips. "You will speak Na'vi."

Ruth let loose an airy laugh. "It's good that I am fluent then," she replied in his language, the switch from English not very hard at all but still strange on her tongue. She'd studied the language for years before her tour to Pandora, an obvious prerequisite to coming to the moon to join the avatar team. She had that advantage on her side, at least. Unlike Jake. She wondered if he was perhaps better off with his integration into the Omaticaya considering his disposition for militaristic-related skills. Or whatever it was he knew.

"You will have the form of this bow mastered by eclipse," Tsu'tey continued with his lesson. He crossed his arms across his broad chest, looking her up and down with his yellow eyes. "Yes?"

"Mastered?" Ruth exclaimed in disbelief. She hadn't the slightest idea of how her form should be, let alone if she would have it down by the time the sun "set". Yet, he did say form. It didn't matter if she could hit a damn thing or not. Left hand gripped the wood, right pulled back on the string. What else would there be that she couldn't figure out?

The future Olo'eyktan smirked, presenting a more playful, easygoing side of himself. Something she hadn't seen since they'd last been around each other at the schoolhouse. Before Sylwanin was killed. "I only tease you, Ruth." He pulled his personal bow from his back where it rested against his spine, the string over his sternum. 

Notching an arrow on the bowstring, he presented the ideal form for her, demonstrating the position of his arms, chest, and abdomen. Only, his right hand rested against the wood, his left hand pulling on the string. The Na'vi were naturally left-handed.

Ruth looked over at him a moment to try and his form. Taking the bow, she notched an arrow as well, placing it in front of her and pulling back. Her ears perked and her tail raised as she tried to focus on an imaginary target ahead while mimicking his form the best she could. 

She focused for a long moment before her attention turned back to him to ensure she was at least mirroring his stance in the slightest. Because of their opposite use of their hands, they faced each other, chest to chest. She realized how close they were, not even a foot between them. Tsu'tey was still maintaining his form, likely holding back well over a hundred pounds of force on the string. She was struggling to maintain the weight her own bow provided.

Ears pinning back in embarrassment, Ruth's arm lowered as she guided the arrow forward into its stationary position and allowed the string to relax, muscles no longer screaming at her. Her gaze adverted to the forest floor as Tsu'tey followed suit, lowering his bow. With a click of his tongue, he jerked his head in the direction they'd been aiming, beaded strands of hair swaying.

"Again."

Ruth spent far longer working on her form with the bow than she'd wanted to. It was well into late morning once Tsu'tey had allowed her to finish for the day after she'd miraculously mastered the form enough to his approval and well before the eclipse. After that, they'd had a quick lunch before beginning another area of study, or so she'd begun to refer to it as. There was no need to teach her of their culture or language from its bare bones; she was a scientist and had studied them since arriving to Pandora. Her focus would be on those of a warrior, of a hunter. All the while she marveled at the opportunity to experience Pandora almost every waking moment she had.

The introduction to the dire horse a day later was quite an experience for her after she'd linked the neural bond between her and the beast. Her mind had been filled with senses she hadn't known were possible as she could feel the animal's heartbeat, its breath, the movement of every muscle and tendon and fiber of its body as if she had the entire domain of its every move, which she did. She managed to calm herself down as well as the animal before she looked down to Tsu'tey, who had been watching the entire spectacle from nearby, supervising. He gave a nod of approval as she smiled and adjusted herself on the bareback of the dire horse.

She could do this. She'd already witnessed the mistake Jake had made, not using clear enough instructions to the animal it seemed. She didn't want a rough fall and a face full of mud too. Not far off from them, Neytiri was instructing Jake as he was beginning to finally get riding down, albeit covered in mud residue.

"Do not make the mistake of jakesully," Tsu'tey instructed her, a hint of amusement on his features as he looked across the way at the marine. The clan members seemed to meld his first and last time into a new word of its own. "Command him, inside. Words are not necessary. Thoughts alone." He tapped his temple as a way of helping her understand.

Ruth nodded. She'd seen the way that he had been toward Jake any opportunity he got to call him a moron, to belittle his efforts to learn from Neytiri. It was very obvious he disliked her avatar counterpart. Perhaps it was an innate rivalry between men, or simply the fact he was far more a stranger than Ruth. But her? He was understanding, and patient, for a reason she still could not entirely place. She was still of the skypeople. She was still human.

With a gentle nudge from her mind, the direhorse transitioned into a walk. Once she felt comfortable with that, that she would not slide off the mud, she urged him into a trot. Letting loose a huff, the animal obeyed and Ruth smiled. She could do this. Riding wasn't so hard it seemed.

When she looked to Tsu'tey for approval, he nodded and offered a smirk. Leading her mount toward where Jake was trying to learn the ways of his dire horse nearby, Ruth stopped at his side. Mud covered his back, even getting into his straight black hair. She couldn't stop the grin of amusement that made its way to her lips.

•••

TSU'TEY had found that Ruth was not nearly close to being versed in the ways of a warrior or hunter, but the one redeeming quality he'd come to realize would benefit the woman was her desire to learn. She'd been horrible at shooting her practice bow the first time they'd tried, the day after she first rode the Pa'li. 

With little coordination and holding the bow very foreignly, left hand gripping the wood instead of the bowstring, Ruth was proving to be tough to teach. Yet, her persistence was admirable to Tsu'tey. She was the first skyperson other than jakesully that the clan agreed to train, but in a way, her cup was still half empty as the Tsahik had said to the skxqwng. On a few occasions, he'd heard her mutters of how her home world could not compare.

She was unlike the women of the clan. With the obvious differences in her body, including her extra fingers and toes, her smaller eyes, and straighter hair, the doctor, or so that was what she called herself, held a different sort of beauty than the Na'vi. The only other woman he'd acknowledged in such a way had been Silwanin. 

Tsu'tey would be lying to himself if he didn't find her unnatural features pleasing to look upon, but anytime the thought came over his mind while he was instructing the woman, he had to remind himself that Neytiri was his intended mate. She was to be the next Tsahik and him, Olo'eyktan. But that was not what he wanted.

Something deep inside him already resented the pairing, as he had wanted Neytiri's sister and not her. As much as he wanted to either ignore his duty to mate with Neytiri or dabble on the thought of another, he knew the ways of the clan. He had a duty and he had to perform it, but the reality of his situation did not change the fact that he didn't want to take Silwanin's sister as his mate or how unfair the situation seemed. 

But Dr. Ruth Carson was forcing him to consider alternatives he could never follow through with. Would never follow through with it.

He watched her tail flicking irritably as she pulled back the string of her bow, ears pinned back as her frustration manifested itself. The last two arrows she'd shot hadn't come close to the target he'd provided her today. Yet, she'd persisted on. Letting loose the arrow, it managed to land at the lowest portion of the woven reed target with a dull thump.

The excitement in her eyes as she turned to look to Tsu'tey for approval was enough to cause a smirk on his lips despite the stoic disposition he'd been masking himself with for days now. Perhaps if she was making an effort to be a difficult student, it would be easier for him to not think about things he shouldn't. "You are learning quickly. Faster than I had expected."

Ruth's ears pinned back in what he assumed was flattery as she smiled. "This has been quite an effort, but with time I think I could become a good hunter."

Tsu'tey nodded as he crossed his arms, imagining her eventually becoming one of the people. At one point, Ruth had taught him. Just a few years before she was working with the skyperson known as Grace, who would come to the forest and teach those of the clan their strange tongue and culture. That was their last encounter, leaving them nothing more than acquaintances. Now, it was as if they were forgetting everything they knew about each other and starting from nothing. It was perhaps best to leave the past behind.

"Yes," he agreed in truthfulness."You are willing, more than I expected of you."

Ruth cocked her head and raised a brow. "You think I'm different," she stated.

He nodded. "Yes. We will see what your future holds, Doctor Carson." Her grin was enough to cause him to finally admit to himself that he liked this woman, skyperson or not.