After the RDA

[Puvomun]

21. Trees of Stone

The Trees of Stone were very close when Neytiri said what Puvomun had already noticed: "The sounds of the jungle are gone."

There was indeed an eerie kind of silence over the area they flew. Everyone sensed a chilly dampness in the air, and there appeared to be a kind of fog around ayutral atskxe that was just too thin to really see.

The group circled the set of three trees twice. The centre tree was so enormous that it easily dwarfed their home tree, and the other two were at least as tall as their home. But grey. The bark, the branches and the leaves all appeared grey.

Jake told everyone to look for animals and people, but that was hardly rewarding. No one could see through the leaves of the trees surrounding these giants, and it would be strange to find one of the Dreamwalkers high up in one of these three.

They listened more than looked.

"This is not bringing us much," Jake then decided. "We have to find a way down and have a look there."

Rakan and Neytiri dropped their altitude like rocks, scanning the forest roof. Then Neytiri's special cry reached them, and they all followed to where the two were circling.

Puvomun thought the two had lost their mind when he saw the opening among the branches. A nantang would fit through that, but not an ikran with its rider!

"There is a lot of space behind it," Neytiri said, "just go in one by one and wait for a while. Rakan goes first."

The singer watched how Rakan turned his ikran, which then simply seemed to fall through the hole.

"Puvomun, you are next. Just let Kilvan go, tell her what to do, not how!"

He did as Neytiri said, and as the tiny opening rushed up to him he closed his eyes. There was a loud noise for a moment, as the leaves flew by, and moments later there was silence and a lack of movement. When he dared to look, Kilvan calmly sat on a branch, as if nothing special had happened.

Puvomun felt tremendous admiration for his ikran as he slipped off her back. He pushed against the sheath of the knife that sat uncomfortably against his chest and saw Jake fall through the hole. Neytiri was the last one to come through it.

"So how do we get down from here?" he asked as he peeked over the side of the branch they were on.

"We jump," said Rakan.

"Jump." Puvomun knew that hunters did that. Hunters, and warriors.

"If you don't jump, I will throw you," Rakan informed the singer teacher.

Puvomun knew that Rakan was serious.

"Wait, Rakan," said Jake. "Look, Puvomun, it's easy." He jumped.

Puvomun saw the man's descent, falling onto large leaves, crashing into small branches, until he was out of sight.

"I'm down!" Jake called up. "It's not even that far!"

Neytiri secured her bow and jumped, going down the same way.

"You're next," Rakan decided, "and I am not very patient today."

Puvomun now really worried. He made sure his bow was not in the way, pushed the sheath again and looked down.

"Look," Rakan whispered as if there was someone else who could hear him, "first aim for that enormous leaf over there. That's a good one."

Puvomon saw the leaf and prepared to jump when he felt two hands - and then he was falling. Rakan HAD thrown him, and he landed hard on the first big leaf.

"Spread your arms!" he heard someone yell, probably Rakan.

With trouble he spread his arms, felt how he got tangled in twigs and vines, fell onto another leaf, tumbled over, hit a few more things and then landed on the forest floor, which proved to be much softer than most things he had encountered on his journey down.

"Are you well, ma Puvomun?" Neytiri asked as she helped him to his feet.

He was, and even his bow had survived.

"He's fine, you can come!" she yelled up, and the sound of someone falling onto things followed. Neytiri pulled the teacher to the side, to give Rakan ample space to fall.

Rakan landed almost on his feet. "There, wasn't too bad, was it?" he grinned.

At that moment Puvomun needed his self control not to do something about that grin.

"Hey, if it weren't for me you would still be up there."

Puvomun knew that was true. "Yes. You are right. I should thank you. But I won't."

"See if I care," Rakan shrugged.

Jake then took charge and led the way to the nearest of the three giant grey trees, while Puvomun wondered if he would be thrown up as well. Rakan would try that, the teacher had no doubts about that.

"They were here alright," said Jake.

On the ground there were marks of aysawtute footwear and crushed plants. Neytiri found a scrap of fabric hanging from a thornbush. One of the Dreamwalkers had gone past that too closely, obviously.

Puvomun watched as the other three looked for tracks and traces. That was not his expertise. As he waited, he slowly recited one of the older songs about the Trees of Stone.

"To come in here, you rise up high,
to enter low means you will die.
There's danger in my feet my friend.
Don't reach for me, it is your end."

He had at times wondered about these lines, and now he was here. He walked around part of the enormous base of the first tree and looked at it carefully. Except for what looked like mostly dried out grass and some strange plants, he did not discover anything special.

"Puvomun!" Neytiri's voice.

"I am here. Going around the tree!"

"Be careful!"

The teacher kneeled down and looked more closely at the plants. It reminded him of something, but what... txumtsä'wll! The poison squirting plant! This little plant had the same small tentacles on its leaves as a txumtsä'wll had, which would trigger the poison to come out.

He jumped up and ran back, yelling.

"What is the matter?" Jake asked.

Puvomun pointed at the small plants. "These are the danger in the feet!"

"Uh - what?"

The teacher recited a part of the song and pointed at the small plant again. "Danger in my feet, my friend, it says. These plants are the danger."

"Did anyone touch those?" Jake immediately asked. It was crucial suddenly, as they all had no protection on their legs.

Nobody had, apparently.

"Good. Let's be careful."

They looked around a bit longer, but apart from more tawtute footprints there was nothing.

"Wasted trip," Jake muttered. "We just know now that they were here. Which we already knew."

Rakan, Puvomun noticed, was looking at the ground and slowly walked off. Not sure if he did the right thing, he went after the young man.

Rakan went further into the forest, then turned left. There was a large bush in their path. "That is not right," Rakan said.

"Why not?" Puvomun asked.

"This bush doesn't grow here. It grows there," Rakan pointed. He grabbed some twigs and pulled the bush aside.

"Pxasik..."

Normally Puvomun would have scolded Rakan for that, but not now.

They stood in front of a hole in the ground, many weeds and thornplants growing in and over it. And in the plants lay an uniltìrantokx, a Dreamwalker body. At least, most of it.

-=-=-

Jake stared at the remains. "That's... horrible." He looked at his companions. "Anyone a clue what did this?"

The body's head was severed and lay upside down next to the neck. The fingers and toes were gone,  and there was a large gaping hole in the lower abdomen.

"I think I know," said Puvomun as he bent down and picked up a long stick. "We may have to jump back, so be prepared." He pointed one end of the stick at the hole in the body and prodded the skin just over it. Nothing happened.

"Do you do that with all your-" Jake started to say.

Puvomun had prodded the body again, and this time something did happen. With a loud clicking sound, a black head came out of the body, followed by a long flexible body. It moved rapidly on dozens of black legs, the entire animal seemed to click and rattle with every movement.

The thing bit in the stick and tried to yank it from the teacher's hands. Several yellow-brown fangs sprung from the creature's jaws and drilled themselves effortlessly in the wood.

"Teylu akerusey. The larvae of death," Puvomun said.

"That is not a larvae, my friend," Jake commented as he pointed at the angry, arm-long thing that still wrestled the stick.

"It is, ma Jake. This is a small one. Do you see the yellow teeth? They contain a poison that makes a person unable to move their muscles in a second. And then the poison attacks the brain. It makes a person very very crazy for a short time, like a wildfire in the head."

Neytiri and Rakan stared at the animal in horror.

The stick broke and Puvomun pulled it back. "Look. There is something in the poison that also weakens the wood. Or the bone, or the flesh, that it touches."

"Something like an acid, I guess," Jake nodded.

"Maybe. If you are bitten by one, you can not survive. These animals mean death." Puvomun threw the stick away. "Even for 'angtsik, the large hammerhead."

"Maybe we should better head out then," Jake suggested.

Everyone agreed. Ayutral atskxe was not a good place to be.

Extra careful, they returned to where the ikrans were waiting, high up. Neytiri and Rakan surprised Puvomun again by going directly to a tree that was quite easy to climb. It took them hardly any time to get to the level where they had to be, and from there the ikrans were just a few jumps away.

Puvomun was very relieved to be high up again and climbed on Kilvan's back.

Neytiri was the first to fly up with Seze, Puvomun followed her, and then Rakan and Jake came through the small opening.

"Let's take the shortest route to the river," Jake said, "we'll head home from there."

[Puvomun]

22. Natasha Gorozny

As soon as they had gone a fair stretch from the Trees of Stone, the warmth and sound came back. The air felt nice again, and from below and also around them, animals were making their noises and sounds again.

"Puvomun," Rakan said. There was something peculiar in his voice. "How did you know about this teylu akerusey? I had never heard of them."

"Nor had I. But they are mentioned in the songs also."

"You and your songs are scary."

Puvomun grinned. "Not nearly as scary as hunters that throw other people down trees."

"Hey, not fair, I told you where to go, and I helped you with a pretty good start!" When Puvomun did not respond, Rakan laughed loudly.

The river was not far away, and as they reached it, they turned left to go back up north.

Puvomun gently sang along, for his own pleasure and for that of Kilvan. He had noticed that his ikran felt better in some inexplicable way when he was singing. He had to tell Amhul about that.

"Now what's that?" Jake suddenly said.

The reason for his surprise, and that of the others, there was a tawsyìp on the strip of land next to the river. With the airship, Puvomun recognised that it was a 'Samson' again, were several men.

"Let's go down there and see what they're all about," Jake said and immediately went down on his ikran.

The others followed.

Once on the ground, they saw that the same man, Randolph, was there. Puvomun recognised him, he had been at the spot where the Samson of the Dreamwalkers had crashed.

"Jake," Randolph said, "you're everywhere. Come look what we found."

The man led them to where the forest began. There, half buried in sand and partially covered with leaves, was an uniltìrantokx. It had been a woman.

"Not another one," Jake said.

"What do you mean, another one?"

Jake told the man about the gruesome discovery they had made deep in the forest.

"Christ, that sounds bad. Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure everyone knows better than to venture out there. If these larvae are already as long as your arm... that means they're as long as we are tall." Randolph's face showed genuine disgust. "And those are the small ones? Jesus."

Jake kneeled down with the body that was half visible. "Do you know who this is?"

Randolph nodded. "Yup. This is - uhm - was Natasha Gorozny. Exobiologist and artefact specialist."

"And how did she die?"

"We had no time to look yet, we only just got here, after a call from a boat team. They saw the blue skin among the trees and checked it out."

"Ma Jake, can we get her body out of the sand?" Puvomun asked.

"Sure. Randolph, get your people to the side, okay? We don't want to step on you."

Some aysawtute laughed, others grumbled behind their masks, but all moved away as Jake and the teacher dragged the body from the sand.

Puvomun noticed the woman had worn short trousers. He looked at her legs, from the knee down, and found many small dark marks. From some of them oozed a tiny amount of blood mixed with something else as he pushed the skin. The combination looked bad and smelled worse.

"She touched the plant that has the txumtsä'wll tentacles. It poisoned her. From the markings I think she even kneeled down in the plants to look at something. Look." The teacher pointed at the erratic pattern of marks on both lower legs. "Only one of these would have made her very sick, but she would have lived. This was too much."

"How come she all but sat down in poisonous plants?" Randolph asked. "All of them are in Grace's book, right?"

"Not these. Trust me. Not these." Jake stood up. "This means there is probably one scared woman in that link-up room now. Maybe alone, maybe one of the others is with her. Time to radio them and see if they already found her."

Radio contact confirmed that Natasha Gorozny was indeed heard in the link-up chamber. One of the men who was responsible for the real mess, nobody knew which one that was, was awake also and apparently held her at gunpoint.

The person who kept an eye on the door had heard screaming and slapping. When the guard had tried to open the door, a few bullets had been fired, piercing the door but luckily missing the man outside it.

"This is not going well," Randolph voiced most everyone's thoughts.

Puvomun thought that this was far worse than just 'not well'.

"Is there any way we can get into that room without putting someone in danger?" Jake asked.

"Hardly a chance," the leader of the Sky people said. "I pulled the file on Mankx and he's been in the safety business forever. He is a bomb expert, an adventurer. He's been on several worlds already, providing excellent protection for many expeditions. Never ever someone had anything against him, so it is a real puzzle why he flipped around so dramatically all of a sudden."

"Maybe there is a way to talk to the man," Puvomun suggested. "We have heard of their goal. They do not want to harm people, they want the material that is in the ground. If we can convince them that this is not a good thing, to take it... He was here when the fighting happened, srak?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, ma Puvomun," Jake said. "Sky people's minds work differently from... ours."

Puvomun noticed the slight hesitation all too clearly.

"Once they are out for profit, they are very hard to stop. And the problem is that they don't seem to want to talk, they think they're not making things hard on anyone."

"But they do, Jake. They are losing their own people, they are threatening. They must see that?"

"We all know that, ma Puvomun. I wish I could explain that, but I'm not a... shrink."

Puvomun wondered about that last word, and his face showed that clearly, because Jake said, in an attempt to elaborate: "Someone who knows what goes on in people's minds."

"Like Mo'at, or perhaps Nusumea Tirea?"

Jake laughed for a moment. "No. In another way. A way we don't need here. And I hope we can keep it that way..."

The clan leader looked at Randolph. "What's the next thing to do? Can we help with anything at the base?"

"Doubtful," the man replied. "At this point we have an impasse. We stand a better chance once we found the avatars,  I think. Most of the work for that will be yours, I'm afraid, you people are better equiped for that. And more their size, to take them on."

"We should bury her." Neytiri spoke calmly.

"That would be good, yes," Jake agreed. "Unless there is a way to fix the body up."

"No," Puvomun knew. "The poison of the small plant damages the body from the inside. Not so fast as the teylu akerusey's poison does, but it happens. It is best to bury the body."

Jake and Rakan offered to dig the grave, while Neytiri and Puvomun stripped the dead woman of her clothes. Tradition asked that a Na'vi body was buried the way it came to the world, naked.

The aysawtute watched from a distance, as the Na'vi worked in silence.

When the body was put into the grave, Jake asked the Sky people if any of them knew Natasha. "I know it is strange to bury someone who's not really dead, but..."

No one stepped forward.

In the end it were just Neytiri and Puvomun who sang one of the burial songs of the clan, while Rakan and Jake stood near the grave. The Sky people were there also, but kept a distance. Puvomun was still puzzled about their fear of death after the grave had been filled with sand.

The Sky people would go back to their base in their Samson and their boat. The people who were with Jake would go back to their village, to see if something had changed there. Randolph said that he would tell Natasha about the way that her avatar body had been treated. "If she makes it out of this alive."

Puvomun and his friends watched the Samson leave, and then they found their ikrans and started the journey back home. The teacher pondered the strange things they had seen and how they connected to the songs. The songs, he mused, were so very right. As were so many other songs, on different occasions.

When they reached Hometree, the change of pace was almost a shock to Puvomun. There were no dangers here, no poisonous plants, no ayseylu akerusey, the larvae of death. Instead there was a warm welcome, food, tender attention of Amhul, who wanted to know if he was well and if there was something she could do for him.

As they were eating, as that had slipped through again, the group told about the things they had seen and done.

Lolet looked admiringly at Rakan when she heard how he had discovered the pit with the body, and she made a face when she heard about the larvae.

Rakan did not brag about throwing the teacher down the tree. He didn't even mention it.

Puvomun smiled about this remarkable person.

All the hunters and warriors who had been away, looking for the dreamwalkers, had come back again. None of their searches had born fruit and several of them were rather upset about this. Jake told them they were not to blame, as the jungle was very wide and there were now only four of them remaining.

"Four people can hide easily out there," he said, "even if they don't know much about the jungle. Take two or three large leaves and there you have your shelter."

Nobody had seen or heard from Miktan or Tsu'wey, the two men who had left the village in anger over Jake's decision on how to handle the situation. These two remained an item of worry, but it was not Puvomun's problem at the moment.

[Puvomun]

23. Shooting lessons

After resting up a bit, during which Amhul talked about how she had been occupied teaching the children more numbers, Puvomun and she walked over to where a group of young ones was gathered around Eyamsiyu and Ninat. Such a crowd usually meant something interesting.

The man who had slowly developed himself to be a very good instrument maker, was showing the children how to use a log drum. The log drum consisted of a block of a specific kind of wood. It was made hollow in a special way, so the sound would be exactly right.

Puvomun knew a few things about making musical instruments, that was why he and Eyamsiyu sometimes worked together on them.

Eyamsiyu explained to the children that he had closed the sides of the log with the tough leaves of a plant that had a very sticky sap. "You use the sap to make the leave stick in place, and then you smear mud over it. The mud will make the sticky sap very hard."

He then showed them how to attach a vine to both sides of the drum. "And when the vine is in place and both leaves are dry, you just wipe off the mud and the drum is almost ready."

The vine was needed to carry the drum. You slung it around your neck and then the drum would be at hip height, a good height to play it while standing.

"Why almost?" a girl asked. She had a few sticks in her hand, the sticks used to play the drum.

"When the drum is like that, and you strike it," Eyamsiyu told her, "the sound cannot come out. So I have to make a few openings in the leaves. That way the sound comes out and you can hear it." He held up one side of the drum he had in his lap and showed them how he made the opening. "When I make the opening bigger, the sound is lower and louder."

The man finished his handiwork with the knife, while everyone, Ninat, children and the two teachers, watched him.

"And now it is finished." Eyamsiyu put the drum in front of the girl that held the stick. "Go on, play it."

The girl giggled, and all the other children cheered at her to hit the drum.

As the drumming went on, sticks going from child to child so ech could have a go at it, Puvomun felt something strange. Special. How good it was to be here again, with the people, going about life the way it should be.

Amhul held his hand, sitting close to him. That was another part Puvomun felt. And that was not strange, this was just special, and wonderful.

"Are you enjoying the noise?" Ekirä's voice barely made it over the sound of the drum.

"This is not noise," Amhul laughed, "this is children having fun."

"Not my fun," Ekirä grinned, "I prefer the flutes. And I am glad I found you."

"I will pretend that I don't know what you are talking about."

Amhul's words made Puvomun laugh. It was clear that Ekirä was ready for another archery lesson, and Amhul was not.

"I want to be here," Amhul told Ekirä.

"You just want to be with Puvomun," the tsko swizaw teacher growled, "and I am going to drag you away anyhow." To prove her point, Ekirä bent over and grabbed Amhul's kxetse. "So do you come by your own free will, or..." Gently she tugged the tail.

"It's all your fault," Amhul said to Puvomun. "I demand that you come with me."

Puvomun grinned. "Very well, I will come with you. Maybe there are some children who want to come along as well, to practice tsko swizaw."

Several kids were feeling up to that, so they said goodbye to Eyamsiyu and Ninat, wished them well with the music, and a group of about ten walked off, first in search of their bows and then to a place not far where they could practice their shooting.

Time flew by as they all had fun. Amhul really did what she could to shoot her arrows at the target, but most of the children were far better at it than she was.

"I will never learn this well," she said at one point, as yet another arrow had gone into a tree instead of the gourd.

As Ekirä and two children went to look for the stray arrows, Puvomun sat with Amhul. "You are doing much better already, ma yawne. Maybe I should look at how you are shooting."

"But you teach the children," Amhul said, "and Ekirä teaches and improves the grown-ups."

Ekirä, who returned with a handful of arrows, heard that. "Maybe it is a good idea though. I am not the only person who can teach things. We all have our own way of teaching and learning. Why don't you try it? I'll try and stay alive with the children." This of course invoked a lot of laughter from the children, who all promised that they would not shoot Ekirä.

So the teachers changed place for a while. Ekirä sometimes needed the teachers' help to maintain some kind of order, as occasionally the children were harder to control than a group of prolemuris.

"Next time I will teach aysyaksyuk," she said, shaking her head. "These children are not from our village!"

"We are! We are!" the children tried to convince her, very loudly.

Ekirä laughed. "Listen, do you hear the aysyaksyuk too?" she asked Puvomun and Amhul, which of course made the chattering even louder.

They went back to the shooting. Puvomun stood behind Amhul, holding her arms and hands, showing her by example the best way to stand and hold her aim.

"Do not hold the string pulled back too long," he said. "It will strain your arms and you start shaking."

"I am not holding it too long," Amhul argued, as her arms started shaking.

"You are," he said, touching her elbow. "I can feel it."

Amhul released the tension. "So how do I do it better?"

"Stand behind me and just watch what I do..." When his mate stood where he wanted her, he took his bow, notched an arrow and pulled the string back just far enough to see where the arrow would go.

"Now I do not look at the arrow, I look at my target," Puvomun said. He fixed his eyes on the gourd. "And now I know where I want the arrow to hit-" He pulled the arrow back and immediately let it go. It hit the gourd and stuck.

"Try to pull back the arrow in the direction where it already is aiming."

Amhul nodded and took her stance. Under Puvomun's watchful eyes she took an arrow, aimed, pulled back - and missed.

"I can't do it that way, ma Puvomun. I am sorry."

Puvomun frowned as he thought. "I have an idea, but..." He looked at Ekirä. "I will take Amhul to a different place for a while, maybe my idea works. But I want to do this alone with her. Do you think you can manage the little aysyaksyuk?"

The children all started to imitate the chatter of the prolemuris, making Ekirä laugh.

"We will be fine," she said, "do you come back here?"

"We'll come back here, yes, and back home when you already left."

"Sìltsan, that is good."

Puvomun and Amhul took their sko swizaw and found a place further away from Kelutral.

"What are you planning, ma yawne?" Amhul asked as they set up a target.

"You and I will shoot our arrows together, ma Amhul. Very much together."

"Are we?"

"Yes."

They both picked up their bow and an arrow.

Puvomun then took his tail and held it out. Amhul looked at him, then a smile spread out over her face. She took her tail and they connected, with their eyes closed. Tenderly they touched their foreheads for a while, as the joy of this intimate feeling spread through their bodies and spirits.

"Now," Puvomun said, very quietly, "we will stand here, next to each other, and we will shoot our arrows."

He had never heard of other couples doing something like this, but it seemed a good way to do this, to at least try this.

They both moved slowly, for tsaheylu was not something to rush now. When people were connected like this, they were both very vulnerable. That was why Puvomun had chosen a spot away from where they could be disturbed.

Calmly they lifted their bow and placed the arrows over their finger. He felt how Amhul shivered a bit as she followed his movements. Puvomun shivered as well, sharing the feeling. he then focussed on their target, looked along the arrow. His eyes moved to the target and he drew back.

An arrow flew and ended its flight in the wooden block.

Then Puvomun let his arrow go there as well.

Amhul stared at him, her eyes large and full of wonder and amazement. Slowly she reached for another arrow, so did Puvomun. And again, together, they laid the arrow, aimed, focussed, and this time they let the arrows go at the same time. And both hit the target.

Amhul dropped her bow and turned to Puvomun. For another reason to want privacy.

[Puvomun]

24. Who holds the detonator?

The teachers returned to the village alone. Ekirä and the children had already left, and Puvomun and Amhul had seen, from the punctured gourds, that they had done well with tsko swizaw.

Upon their return they saw Nusumea Tirea sitting with Eyamsiyu. They both were working on, or rather looking at something very strange. The thing clearly was going to consist of a small gourd with a hole in the side, a bent twig and several strings.

"Kaltxì, my friends," Puvomun said, "what is that?"

"We don't know yet," Eyamsiyu confessed, "so far it is only parts. But when Norm Spellman was here and he tried to make the kxi'txah, he gave me an idea. We are still not certain how to turn the idea into something that can make music."

An explanation of the idea followed, how the twig would be attached to two sides of the gourd, and the strings would be tied along the twig, while also being connected to the gourd through small holes.

The four hands of the two men proved not enough to keep everything in place for a more complete idea of the end product, so the two teacher singers were slightly more puzzled after that than before.

"You see, it is complicated," Nusumea said.

Yes, they had clearly seen that.

As they wanted to walk on, Amaya stopped them.

"I was looking for you," she said. "I've been up there again, looking at your ikrans. They both seem to be all fine now. I wanted to tell you that."

"Irayo, ma Amaya," said Amhul. "We appreciate your care for them."

"It is my pleasure. I also noticed that there are two ikrans missing. Those of Miktan and Tsu'wey. Weren't they the ones that left so angry?"

Puvomun nodded. This was not a good thing, he knew. No hunter would leave for long without their ikran. When the ikrans were gone, this meant the hunters were gone for a long time. Perhaps even forever.

"Have you told Jake yet?" Puvomun asked.

"Not yet. I saw you first, so I talked to you first," was the simple answer.

"We have to find him and let him know this," Puvomun said, taking charge and looking around for their clan leader.

They found him sitting near a fire. Neytiri and Mo'at were there with him, plus some of the older hunters.

Twunyo, one of the men who had led them towards the Trees of Stone, was there as well. He looked at Puvomun and the teacher thought he saw a moment of appreciation in the man's face.

The news of the two missing ikrans stirred the people up. They all understood what this meant, and it was something serious.

"So now we are not only looking for Dreamwalkers on the run, but also for two of our own who are against our ideas," Jake sighed. "Outstanding..."

The situation was very difficult now. Problems at the aysawtute camp, the Dreamwalkers, and the hunters who left.

There was one advantage, if one could call it that: the Dreamwalkers could not move around so fast anymore as their tiltrotor helicopter was damaged and not available. They just had the boat, so they were bound to stay close to water.

"Until their fuel runs out," Jake said on that. "Once their fuel reserves are gone, the boat will be useless to them. It's too big and heavy to row it, so then they are even slower."

"But we still have to find them," a hunter said. "We have done so much searching already and they still are somewhere."

Jake nodded. Puvomun saw how the man was trying to fight his way out of this load of problems and not making much progress.

"I'll get on the radio again and see what the situation is at the base," Jake said. As he left, the others talked among themselves until he came back. His face showed that he was not pleased.

In his hand he held the radio. "Did I mention the fuel of the boat? Well, the fuel of this radio ran out as I picked it up. I'll go to the base. I need a few people to come with me, just in case."

Neytiri stood as a matter of fact. She looked at Puvomun. "You come too."

"Why would I come?" he asked.

"The people know you and trust you. They see you as a gentle person, not a hunter or warrior."

Jake looked at his mate and shrugged. He knew that arguing with her would be useless, only time consuming. "Are you up for some more flying, Puvomun?" he just asked.

Puvomun looked at Amhul, who just nodded. "Go and help. And come back." She touched the leather strap on his wrist. "You still have to give this back to me."

Puvomun smiled and got up. "Will I need my tsko swizaw?"

Neytiri shook her head. "Leave it here. A gentle person should come without weapons."

Amhul said that she would take care of his bow and arrows.

Puvomun then followed Jake and Neytiri up to the crown of Kelutral. He was surprised how normal it was becoming to go there, call Kilvan and fly off. He also wondered how he would manage to keep up his teaching the children, with all these trips he was making now.

Jake and Neytiri were used to flying fast, he noticed, as the speed increased steadily. And Kilvan had no trouble at all keeping the pace. It occured to the teacher that he was probably the only one who had to pay attention to it, as the wind was pushing harder against him.

Watching Jake's and Neytiri's pose, he copied it and found that a big improvement.

At their high speed, they reached the aysawtute base very fast. Puvomun felt excited and thrilled, and he had the strong feeling that part of that thrill came from Kilvan.

They touched down in a spot where more ikrans were waiting, in the trees near the fence. The ikran aymaktoyu descended to the ground and walked towards the gate that was open, as usual. There was a man with a gun waiting at the gate though. And that was not normal anymore lately.

As the three approached the gate, the man raised his weapon, and only lowered it when he recognised Jake and Neytiri.

"Why the guns?" Jake asked the man.

"We don't want to take chances," the Sky person said, "we're afraid that these runaway avatars come barging in here, so we take turns at guarding the gate."

Even Puvomun knew that this was a senseless act, primarily geared towards making most of the people inside the base feel good. But it was a false sense of safety. Even only one Na'vi, or a Dreamwalker who knew what they were doing, would be able to take the man's gun away without too much of a problem.

Jake nodded only, and asked the man if he could warn Norm that they were there. the guard  immediately reached for his radio and did as Jake had asked. Then the three wished the man well, and proceeded onto the compound.

Puvomun never liked that place, as there was no honest soil under his feet in most places. The concrete, as it was called, was hard and even painful at times.

They met the small version of Norm Spellman near one of the buildings. First he wondered why Jake had not used the radio, but understood their coming over soon. He then told them that the situation in the link-up room so far had not changed.

"They smashed the cameras that were in their. We positively identified Mankx doing that. We also saw that this lady, Natasha Gorozny, was there. She looked fine but someone tied her up and gagged her. At one point we thought to stop getting them food, but they threatened to use their bombs, so we had to give in."

"Are you sure there are bombs?" Jake asked.

"Yup, we saw them alright. Louis, one of the men in there, told us where we can find two of them. They look real enough to worry us, and he said there are more."

"And no bomb disposal expert to take care of the things," Jake deduced, leaving Neytiri and Puvomun guessing about many words. It was obvious though that a lot of things did not look well.

"We also thought of using gas to knock them out," Norm continued, but there's nothing here that works fast enough to make sure they can't hit any of their switches. They've got us by the scruff, Jake. Even if we were to cut the power to their links, we still face their bombs."

Jake uttered another word Puvomun and Amhul always tried to keep away from the children.

Puvomun wondered from where Jake had learnt all those. Maybe he should have a word with Rakan, later.

Before anyone had thought of something intelligent to say, an arrow whizzed past Jake's head and smashed into the building they were sitting in front of. Everyone jumped up.

Norm yelled that they all should follow him, and soon they were in a high building. Before the door had completely closed, another arrow was shot at them, but this too did not make any victims.

"Who the hell is shooting at us?" Norm muttered, his back against the door as if that held it close better.

Puvomun had retrieved the arrow and looked at the feather. "Miktan or Tsu'wey," he said. "I think Miktan."

"How would you know?" Jake asked as he looked at the arrow as well.

Neytiri answered the question: "Everyone shoots in a different way. You often can tell who shot an arrow by seeing the end of it and how it was marked leaving the bow."

Norm looked up at the three and told them that they were scary. "Next step is how we get out of here, I hope? How many of your arrow-happy friends are out there? I thought we were in this together and going against the avatars, or did I miss something?"

Norm was updated on the two hunters who had left, and that they were responsible for this senseless attack.

Puvomun then heard that they were in the hall where, before the war, the aysawtute kept their AMP suits, the metal skin machines.

"It's the only place around here that's high enough for you guys," Norm added.

"Is there a backdoor out of here?" Jake asked. "I don't want to wait for them to leave."

"There is, but it's a human sized door, so you will have to squeeze through."

Norm went ahead and guided the three to a side door. It was indeed a small one and they had to crawl through it, but it worked.

"What's the next thing to do?" Norm asked. He seemed to have put all his trust in Jake.

"We're going to have to hurry locating the avatars," Jake said, "and convince them that they can't keep this up."

"Good luck. So far they are the ones that hold the detonators."

[Puvomun]

25. Almost a talk

"Norm, I'm going to need a new radio," Jake said as they sat outside, their backs against the wall of the large building.

"Great time to ask, Jake," Norm muttered. "I'll see what I can do once the happy shooters out there ran out of arrows."

Neytiri got up and said: "I will run and fly out. When I find them they will meet their Toruk."

"Neytiri, wait!" Jake called after her, but she had already gone, finding shelter behind things that were scattered everywhere. "Good thing it's a mess here, Norm."

Puvomun heard another arrow hit somewhere, around the corner of the building. Maybe the person who was shooting had not seen Neytiri run off. Or perhaps, he considered, they did not dare to shoot at her; after all she was the daughter of the Tsahik.

It was difficult for the three to sit and wait while Neytiri was away. Time crawled. And during that crawling, Puvomun noticed, they did not hear another arrow fly or hit.

Curious, Puvomun looked around the corner. Everything was silent. Very silent. From the wall of the building an arrow protruded, and that was all.

"Puvomun, get down! Do you want to get shot?" Jake urged him.

"I think they are gone, Jake." Puvomun calmly walked around the corner, pulled the arrow from the wall and examined the tail end. It had the same mark as the arrow that had followed them inside the building. "They must have seen Neytiri run, and then they disappeared."

Jake came out and had a look also, if only to be interested.

"Are you sure it's safe? These arrows are kind of large for people like me," Norm wanted to make sure.

"Yes, it's safe," Jake assured him.

"Good. I'll see if I can find you a new radio." Norm started walking towards the building. "Oh, can you pick it up at the door? They're kind of heavy."

"Sure Norm." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jake had to laugh.

A familiar outcry made them look back and they saw Neytiri and Seze touch down near the building. Mo'at's daughter jumped from it. "They were gone."

"We know."

"I saw them fly off to the south," Neytiri pointed, "I don't know why there."

"Maybe they want to return to the clan," Puvomun said, although he was not convinced of that.

"After shooting at clan members?" Neytiri shook her head.

"Jake, I got one!" Norm called out from an opening.

Jake went over to the man to collect the radio.

"You didn't by any chance bring the empty one, did you?" Norm asked. "I mean, I could recharge it for you. And didn't I get you two of them?"

"Yes, you did. I think I lost one somewhere."

"You lost it. Yes. Great. Do you know what these things cost?" Norm waved his hands in a kind of despair. "Better go and catch these guys who were shooting at us."

"I think it is better if we locate these avatars, Norm. They are more of a concern," Jake reminded him.

"Yeah, sure. Of course." For a moment Norm looked as if he felt dumb. "We'll keep in touch. If anything happens."

"We do, Norm. Take care."

"You guys too, okay?"

Puvomun noticed, as they walked off, that Norm still stood outside, watching them go.

When they were coming close to the tree where their ikrans rested, he said: "Jake, could it be that Norm is jealous of you?"

The clan leader looked at the teacher and wanted to quickly blurt out an answer, but held himself back. For some time the man's eyes seemed to drift away. "He may have been. Why do you ask?"

"It is the way he kept looking as we left just now. And other times, when he was in the village as Dreamwalker."

As they went up into the tree, Jake said: "Perhaps we should talk about that later. When we're home."

"Srane. We will, ma Jake," Puvomun said.

-=-=-

Kilvan again had no problems keeping up with Jake and Neytiri, so they were approaching their large home quickly. after dismounting, Kilvan jumped away from the big branch again. Puvomun knew that she would be hunting for food.

"You fly well, ma Puvomun," Jake said, clapping the teacher singer on his shoulder. "I would never have expected that from you."

"I had not either, ma Jake."

"Of course he flies well," Neytiri said in her semi Dragon Lady voice. "Po lu Na'vi. He is Na'vi. Na'vi know how to do this."

"Hey, I didn't do that badly either," Jake laughed, attempting to strike at her tail.

Neytiri jumped out of his reach, laughing, her eyes lighting up for a moment.

Puvomun knew she did not always want to be seen how she was, and that he was the reason that her real side came out only so shortly. To give them as much time together as possible, he walked back over the branch and said he'd be down soon. Using the excuse to want to enjoy the view in the oncoming sunset, he waited until the two were gone, and only then he walked down himself, as he pondered the strangeness of the situation that had unfolded.

Amhul sat by the fire, surrounded by several children. They were singing a song Puvomun had never heard before, and he carefully listened as he sat down with them.

"We are friends of the forest, and the forest is a friend to all,
The forest lets us live and play, it gives us all our food,
Nantang, 'angtsik, palulukan, they live and play here too,
And when they are hungry, the forest gives them food.
The yerik, the syaksyuk, the hellfire wasp, the forest is for all,
For all there is a place to live, and all have food to eat,
So take care of the forest, friend, so that we all may live."

As the song ended, each child made the sound of a different animal while getting up and then they started running around.

"It's a song I made with them while you were gone," Amhul said, her face happy and shining. Then she wanted to know what had happened. She was not very happy knowing that the stray clan members had used arrows on them.

"The situation is difficult," Puvomun said.

Amhul nodded. "I understand. What is Jake going to do?"

"I am not sure if he knows that himself."

They went to get something to eat and joined the group again. There was a lot of talking, most of it was about the two hunters who had had the audacity to draw their bows at the Olo'eyktan. This was seen as something unforgivable.

-=-=-

Darkness had set in, and the forest was beginning its natural glowing. the sounds of the day were replaced by the sounds of the night, the yapping of the nantangs in the distance and the calling of many species of nighbirds everywhere.

A tired chattering syaksyuk tried to make a point somewhere but none of his family replied, so that sound disappeared.

Amhul and Puvomun sat a bit away from the others, near the edge of darkness where the fire just could not reach.

"I wonder if I am still a teacher singer," Puvomun mused.

"Of course you are," Amhul said, not taking her eyes off the brilliance that the forest had to offer.

"I am gone so often," Puvomun reminded her, "flying around like a hunter or a warrior."

"So am I, and I don't feel less a teacher. It actually makes me a better one since I know more. And you should feel that way too. Nobody had ever seen any ayseylu akerusey and you have, and you saw what it does. And those plants that killed the uniltìrantokx of the woman."

Puvomun had not yet had time to consider things from that view, and he agreed with her that they had gained a lot of new knowledge lately.

"And now you should empty your mind, ma yawne," Amhul decided for him. "You have seen too many things, which is the bad side of gaining new knowledge. I want you here with me, and you must relax." Gently she pushed his chest, until he was lying on his back. Amhul lay down next to him, inside his arm. Her tail curled over one of Puvomun's legs, claiming him as hers.

They looked up at the sky where the stars blinked.

"It is strange to know that Jake came from there," Amhul whispered.

"It is, yes. Very strange. And it is also strange that he belongs to us as if he was meant to."

Amhul nodded, her head resting against Puvomun's shoulder. "Will you be flying out again tomorrow?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we both fly." The singer felt her silent nod. "I want to fly with you, ma Amhul, just to go somewhere, on our ikrans, to be up in the air with you alone."

"Srane, oel omum, I know," she said, her voice a mere whisper.

Puvomun heard some commotion far away, near the fire. He did not want to be part of it. It was probably Rakan, making a fool of either himself or someone else. This moment was for Amhul and for him.

"I wonder when life will be normal again," he said, enjoying Amhul's presence.

"Will it ever be that, with Jake here as Olo'eyktan?" Amhul asked, without lifting her head from his shoulder.

That was a good question. The clan had never seen a leader like him, so a lot that had been the Omatikaya way of life probably belonged to the past.

"Indeed. Normal will get a new meaning."

The noise from near the fire became more oppressive, and Puvomun was nearly tempted to sit up and have a look when a loud Inglisi outburst made that temptation unnecessary. He and Amhul shot up and made their way to the fire, where Jake was talking in the radio that now worked.

The talking was still going on, in rapid Inglisi, and Puvomun looked at Neytiri who tried to catch most of what was being said. She had more experience with the language, because of her relationship with Jake.

The expression on her face showed him that she had a hard time as well.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Norm. I'll let everyone here know and we'll talk more about this in the morning."

Jake switched off the radio and looked at Neytiri. "They have Natasha."

[Puvomun]

26. Natasha's story (1)

Jake looked around, at all the waiting and wondering faces. "Norm told me that someone let Natasha go." He explained who Natasha Gorozny was, for the ones who did not know that yet.

"Apparently whoever let her go thinks that she is no longer useful there, and also that she can't tell anyone about where these people are. The Sky people found Natasha's Dreamwalker body, her untiltìrantokx, half buried by the river, south of here, near the Hellfire Plateau."

Jake told how they had found the body, how Puvomun had discovered the injuries and how Neytiri and the teacher singer had performed a simple burial rite.

A few soft voices mumbled in agreement of how this was done, and nodded at the two in appreciation.

"Natasha is one of the scientists," Jake went on, "but without her uniltìrantokx there is not much she can do. Tomorrow I will go there again, with some of you, and then we will talk with her. Perhaps she knows something that the bad guys didn't think of."

"I will come with you," Tawtewng said. He had recovered quite well, although his wound still needed some wrapping.

"And I!" Rakan said, jumping up.

"You stay here," Lolet cautioned him. "I'm going."

"Let's fight over that tomorrow, people," Jake said, holding up a hand. "For now it looks like we have some kind of break, and that's more than we had so far. Maybe after talking with Natasha we finally can get ahead of those guys."

Rakan kept muttering about getting to miss all the fun, but when Lolet had whispered something to him, his face relaxed and a smile came on it.

Amhul and Puvomun looked at each other and grinned.

-=-=-

The next morning Jake announced that he wanted Nusumea, Puvomun and Tawtewng to come with him. Neytiri then said that she had to do some things in the village, by her mother's request.

"Maybe," Jake thought out loud, "it is good if Amhul comes with us then. I think it's important to have a woman along."

Lolet frowned as she heard that, Puvomun noticed, and Jake did not miss that.

"I know, ma Lolet, you are a woman as well, but Amhul is a teacher. She thinks different from a hunter. I need you and Rakan, together with a few others, to fly down the river once again, until you get to the Hellfire Plateau, and see if you can find traces of the Dreamwalkers. See how the people from the hill clan are doing, when you are there. They know you and Rakan, which is important now. Familiar faces. And if you can, go and see the forest clan also, maybe they have seen something and have not been able to let us know yet."

"Maybe I should go with them," Nusumea Tirea said. "They know me as well. I can take some medicin along and see if they need any of it."

Jake thought about that. "Yes, good thinking, Nusumea. Go with them, and we'll hear from you when we're all back."

Ateyo then said that he would accompany Lolet and the others as well. "Four pairs of eyes and ears see more."

Thus the two groups were made. One more group of warriors would make random sweeps over the area to the south, on both sides of the river. After all, there was something they felt they had to do. They would also keep a look-out for Miktan and Tsu'wey.

Five hunters, among whom Ekirä and Korun, would go out and provide fresh food for the clan.

Ninat and Eyamsiyu said they would keep an eye on the children if necessary, and wished them all a good journey.

Soon the groups were on their way again, with streams of ikrans leaving Hometree and flying off in several directions.

The speed of the flight to the aysawtute camp was quite high again. Kilvan and Taw were up to it. Puvomun had warned Amhul of this, and she was quick to pick up the right pose for this kind of travel. The land rushed along beneath them, and again Puvomun was enchanted by how it looked in the light of the morning.

Jake decided to land the ikrans near the buildings of the Sky people, as that was fastest. He did not fear another attack by the two hunters who still were invisible.

Norm Spellman and Max Patel came outside, both very surprised to see the people.

"I tried to get you on the radio," Norm complained, half an accusation in his voice, "and all I got was a few laughing children."

Puvomun was not disappointed: he expected the stupid grin on Jake's face and it appeared promptly.

"But it's good to see you all," the tawtute scientist then said.

Max told them that Natasha had been examined, and she was doing well. "Emotionally she is still very messed up, but as long as we treat her gently, she'll be fine. So please, don't raise your voices, will you? She's going to close up as a shell when you do."

"That's fine, Max, don't worry. We'll just wait until she's ready to come out and talk."

Max went back inside, and Norm told them about how Natasha had just been "literally flung out of the room" the evening before.

"The guard at the door wasn't prepared for that. Someone shoved the door into his back, Natasha was pushed out and the door was closed and locked again. They hadn't even bothered to untie her. She was close to hysteria."

All attention was momentarily drawn to the ikrans as they engaged in a squabbling contest, but there was nothing wrong.

Then the door of the building opened. Three people came out. Max was there and two women. One sat in a wheeled chair, the kind Jake had used before his transformation, and the other woman was behind it, pushing.

All the people sat down, to appear less large for the small woman in the chair.

"Hello Natasha," said Jake, "remember me?"

The woman, fear still evident on her face despite the breathing mask, nodded. "Hi, Jake," she all but whispered.

"These are Tawtewng, Puvomun and Amhul. We hope you can tell us what happened. How this all started."

Natasha looked at Max, who nodded as he rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. Then she started to talk.

It had all started with what was nothing more than a talk with Mendelson about the early origins of Pandora. Mendelson had wondered how life would have evolved here, if it was similar to Earth, and if there were species still to be found that were not listed in Grace's book.

"We arranged to go out a few times, using one of the Samsons, and saw some incredible places. Did you know that in the lower parts of the mines we found some amazingly huge fossiles? It was however very difficult to examine everything we wanted in our human bodies. We discovered that quite soon. This world just has things that are too big. So that's when Mendelson thought of using our avatar bodies for trips outside."

Louis and Baker, two of the men who were still out and missing, had been avatar drivers as well. They had been two of the people who supplied security for expeditions and such in the days of the RDA. Louis had heard of Mendelson's plans, and offered that he had an idea to go out and venture there for a longer time.

"We could take one of the Samsons, he said, take enough food and stuff with us, and Mendelson and I could then look around to our heart's content. Baker knew one of the Samson pilots, and he was certain he could get that man to fly us around."

Mendelson had then talked to Thorenson about the plan, and that man was game too, which was how everything was beginning to happen. Thorenson suggested they should hang a boat from the Samson to go down the rivers and creeks, and to cross lakes. Louis and Baker somehow had set up the hidden link chamber. And Mankx somehow had gotten into this too. Natasha was not certain how, but she suspected that he was a friend of Baker.

"Mankx told us that everything had been arranged, so we got our gear together and then linked up with our avatars. There was no one else in the shack at that time, so we simply walked out, picked up our stuff and left with the Samson that was already waiting for us."

"And nobody thought it was strange that you left? Nobody stopped you, or asked any questions?" Jake asked.

"No. We left very early in the morning," Natasha clarified, "so there was nobody who could ask us anything."

The first days had gone very well, she continued to tell. They travelled quite far, discovered the most wonderful things, located what had to be ancient sites, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves very much. Mankx and Baker often took off on their own, to look around. Louis always stayed with the three scientists, to make sure there would be no problems with animals.

"One day we were close to a village," Natasha said. "Mankx and Baker were away again and we were taking samples and getting readings, when suddenly there was an explosion. When Mankx and Baker returned, they told us they had been attacked by a hammerhead, and they had used a grenade to kill it."

"Olo'faypya," Puvomun said, remembering how the stream clan had found the dead 'angtsik.

Amhul and Jake nodded.

The group then had left quickly, because they were worried that the clan nearby would not take the killing very well.

"We knew it was wrong, but it had already happened. Thorenson and Mendelson shouted at Mankx for being such a murdering bastard, and then Mankx took a gun and pointed it at us, telling us that we were nothing but a comfortable excuse to get out here. He said that as long as we did our thing, they would do their thing and that would be that. Otherwise we would have to face the consequences."

The woman in the wheelchair fell silent. She was crying.

Puvomun felt very sorry for the tawtute after hearing all this. Jake's face stood hard and Amhul looked worried too. They gave Natasha time to get her emotions subdued.

"They told us that they were there to find more unobtanium," the woman continued. "They said they wanted to do it better this time. Not getting in the way of the natives- I mean Na'vi, and not getting into a fight with you. We had seen that this whole moon will fight back. Getting it from someplace where there are no people would be the best thing."

It had proven to be very difficult for the group to find a place where no Na'vi lived. After things had gone wrong near the stream clan, they had moved on to Hellfire Plateau. Mankx and Louis had blasted a hole in the rock to see if underneath that was unobtanium, but that had resulted in a lot of deaths. Natasha recounted how the men had cursed about the indigenous living everywhere. They had left, wanting to go back north, but Baker had gotten into a dispute with the pilot who wanted to return to the base.

"Baker opened a hatch to the pilot's area. Baker is a dangerous lunatic," Natasha said, tears welling up in her eyes again. "He told the pilot to turn around without thinking that the man could not breathe the air."

[Puvomun]

27. Natasha's story (2)

"The pilot had no time to find a breathing mask, as Baker was trying to hit him and the pilot also tried to keep the Samson in the air, but he did not succeed. Louis told everyone to jump out of the machine. There was nothing we could do." Natasha shivered as she relived the moments.

"That at least explains the strange crash path of the Samson," Jake commented. "And not only Baker is a lunatic from the sounds of it."

The six avatars had been strong enough to get the boat, that had been under the Samson, in the water. It was damaged, but still safe to use, so they had gone south again. First, Natasha said, they went around Hellfire Plateau, only to find that there was a clan living in the forest. Mankx's mood had gotten very foul and he had threatened to blow up the whole area "because slowly he was beginning to understand Quaritch".

Thorenson and Mendelson had tried to talk sense into Mankx, but since Mankx was the one behind the guns, that discussion was over before it really started.

"We then made back up the lake, to that place we had seen before, all grey and foggy. Baker and Louis figured that at least that place looked so pathetic that no people would live there."

"Ayutral atskxe." Amhul touched Puvomun's arm for a moment. He shivered at the memory.

"Well, we discovered that no people lived there, indeed." Natasha's voice now was becoming more silent, as the memory of what had happened there undoubtedly took over.

The group had gone through the dark and dense forest, while the air around them had grown colder and colder. Sounds had grown dim, and almost disappeared.

The scientists had been fascinated by this strange change in atmosphere, and were forgetting their unpleasant position as they had started taking samples and making measurements.

"That middle tree is so fascinating," Natasha said. Somehow there was fire back in her voice, as she talked about the things they had seen there. "It was petrified but in a very strange way. It was as if the stone itself was alive. I know that sounds stupid." She looked at Norm, who seemed sucked into what she was telling.

Mankx and the others had drilled holes and, after a while, decided that the place was of no use to them. Thorenson had wandered off a bit and found something he thought was interesting.

"Suddenly we heard him scream, so we all ran to where we had last seen him, and we found him in that hole, with three or four of these horrible black things all over him. He was dead already, and his body seemed to suffer from some kind of immediate rigor mortis. It was also the moment where I started to feel dizzy and noticed the dark spots on my legs."

Mankx and Baker had not dared to go close to the teylu akerusey. They had quickly ripped a bush from somewhere and pushed that over the hole, and then they had told the others to make a run for the boat.

"I kept falling," Natasha said, "and I felt weak. Louis and Mendelson dragged me part of the way, but I knew that something was wrong and I told them that I was unlinking. Louis still screamed something at me, but I had to get out of the body."

By the time Natasha had unlinked and gotten herself together, Mankx had unlinked as well and was already waiting for her in the link-up chamber. He had dragged her from the bed, tied her up and stuck her in the corner. He had rigged a hand grenade to her and told her that it would explode if she made an attempt to leave the room, or even get up. He had eaten some things that had been pushed through the hatch in the wall and went into the link again.

"That was after he had smashed the cameras," Norm added, to which the woman in the wheelchair nodded.

"And yesterday evening Louis unlinked to eat and threw me out into the corridor. He said that I was no use anymore, since I had no idea where they were now."

The whole story gave everyone a lot of food for thought, but before each of them could engage that, Natasha said: "What I don't understand is why Thorenson died. The real Thorenson, I mean. And why I am still alive."

Almost all eyes turned to Amhul and Puvomun. The teachers talked about what they knew from the songs.

"The ayseylu akerusey use a poison that is very fast," Amhul said.

"Srane. It will attack the brain before you can blink twice," Puvomun added. "If you need to do something in your brain to go back to your tawtute body, I think you can't do that when a teylu akerusey had bitten you."

"Sounds like it is a neurotoxin that paralyses you on the spot," Norm said. "And when you combine that with the shock of suddenly being attacked by strange things, I doubt your first thought is to abandon your avatar."

Max agreed. "If you can't unlink fast enough, your human body will suffer something like a second hand anaphylactic shock, and when there's nobody - uhm - 'inside', it is a matter of minutes before the brain will start dying."

Puvomun looked at Natasha. "You have been crawling around with the utral atskxe, haven't you?"

She nodded.

"You were stung by the poison plants. Their poison is not fast, but it is deadly as that of ayseylu akerusey." He then told Natasha how they had found her, and about the simple ceremony Neytiri and he had performed to bury her body.

"Irayo, ma Puvomun," Natasha said. She was crying again.

"You should go inside again and rest," Max said.

The woman behind the wheelchair did not wait, she turned the thing around and took Natasha inside.

Jake released one of the bad Na'vi words again, it made Amhul frown.

"You shouldn't say those words," she muttered.

"I think the situation warrants one," Jake retorted.

"How? Does it help? Does it undo something?" Amhul charged.

"Hey, hey, I have Neytiri to chew my ass, Amhul," Jake fell into defence. He glanced at Puvomun, who just grinned.

"I wonder why they did not put Thorenson's body out when they released Natasha," Norm pondered. "He's not much good to them now, and we know they switched off his link."

"Perhaps they put some more bombs or other unpleasantness in his link," Jake thought out loud.

"I don't like all that bomb talk, Jake," said Max.

Tawtewng grunted. "Aysawtute weapons are for weaklings."

Puvomun did not take the trouble to translate that for Max, Norm understood and that was enough.

"We moved everyone as far from the secret link chamber as we could," Norm said, "but we don't have many options."

"I know. We should find these guys and see how to make them understand that their situation is hopeless. They had a nice plan, but it fell apart. We can still save things if they stand down and give themselves up. Too many are dead already, I don't want this to get worse." Jake stood up. "See if you can have some more people out flying patrol. I suspect they're hiding somewhere south or south east, so let's focus on those areas."

"Got it," said Norm. "We do have to watch our fuel. Nobody's bringing in more, and our reserves are not eternal."

Jake nodded.

"Maybe it is time for you to learn how to live with this world, instead of in your small world of stone and metal," Amhul said. "You all chose to stay here when you were asked. You should embrace this world. If you do, Eywa will provide for you too. You do not have to do this alone. We can help you."

"Now there's some good thinking," Jake said, his face relaxing for a while. "Hold on to that woman, Puvomun, she's clever."

Puvomun grinned and Amhul turned her eyes to the ground for a moment, she was a bit shy suddenly, not used to getting such compliments in public.

Even Norm and Max had to laugh about that.

Jake then said that they'd fly back to their village and decide on their next move from there.

"Kìyevame, ma Norm si Max," Puvomun said.

Norm translated the 'see you again soon' for the dark-skinned man, who then waved a goodbye. "See you again!"

"Oh, Norm? Thanks for putting that guitar idea in Eyamsiyu's head. He's breaking his brain over making something," Jake laughed as they walked towards their waiting ikrans.

"Tell him to let me know if I can help!" Norm called back. "Not that I know much of it, but I can try!"

"You are always welcome," Jake let the scientist know, just before they flew off.

-=-=-

Once back home, Jake thanked the singer teachers for coming with him. "You were a big help. I told you you'd know things we wouldn't."

"Can we do more for you, Jake?" Puvomun asked.

"No. Not at the moment. Grab some food, make some toys, annoy the kids with songs, do what you feel. I'm going out with some others later, see if there's something we can discover."

As the faryu, teachers, were eating, Ekirä and Korun sat with them. "Did you learn something new?" they asked.

Together the two teachers told them what they had heard from the woman Natasha.

Ekirä and Korun both were appalled by the behaviour of the men who had started the quest for more material from their world, even when the aysawtute had said they would not do that.

"They are liars," Korun spat. "How do they expect us to trust them when they do things like that? To their own race even?"

"We know, ma Korun, you are not alone in your anger and lack of understanding. But they are not all like that," Puvomun calmed the young man down.

Korun said that he knew that, and then he and Ekirä talked about why they had joined the two teachers.

"We have thought that we should start making sure that Miktan and Tsu'wey are not close to the village when they are acting so strange. And with so many hunters gone, we want to ask you two if you can help us with that."

"And how do you want to do that?" Puvomun wondered.

"We want to make groups of two or three and go around. With tsko swizaw."

"From the air?" Amhul asked.

"No. On foot. We are no teachers with ikrans," Korun said with a little sneer.

"Oh." Amhul sounded a bit disappointed, but when Puvomun looked at her she grinned.

Puvomun and Amhul agreed, they would go along and make a few rounds with the others.

After eating, they went to get their bows and arrows. Just to be sure, Puvomun also took the knife again. If this was going to be done, he'd best do it as well as he could.

[Puvomun]

28. Foot patrol

Two groups of three started their round. Puvomun, Korun and a young woman called Neykal would follow a trail that moved with the sun, while Amhul, Ekirä and Ateyo would go the other way around.

They carefully picked their way, making as little sound as they could. Korun was in the lead, as he was very good at reading tracks. Puvomun had the feeling that this man could follow where a wasp had flown.

After walking for a while, they heard a few people whisper. Puvomun's first reaction was to hide, but Korun told them that they were close to Ekirä and the others. Soon they met the three who did the opposite round. They reported having found a small camp.

"It is abandoned now, but it was a camp for two people," Ekirä said. "Not even very far from Kelutral. I don't understand that."

The others were surprised as well, as the two men had been so angry when they left.

"Do you think they want to do something against the village?" Amhul asked. She looked around her nervously.

"I doubt that," said Ekirä, "they would have done that then."

"Still they shot at us at the aysawtute base," Puvomun reminded them. "I don't understand that."

"Maybe they were aiming at the sawtute who were there."

"That was only Norm Spellman," said Puvomun, "he was the only one. Why would they shoot at him while he has helped us?"

Nobody had an answer to that, so after some more moments they decided to continue on their round. When they did, they all were far more tensed as the first part of the round. They had solid proof now that Miktan and Tsu'wey were around.

Puvomun let out a relieved sigh when they had finished the round and entered the village again. The last half round had been terrible. He was certainly not the hunter or the warrior. Instead he had worried about one of the two men dropping onto him from a tree, or shooting arrows at him from an ambush, and he had beaten himself up that he had let Ekirä and Korun talk Amhul and himself into doing this. This in turn flared up his fear again, because Amhul and the others had not returned yet.

Neykal touched Puvomun's arm. "What is wrong, ma rolyu, dear singer?" she asked, and he told her about his thoughts of Amhul.

"Do not worry, ma Puvomun,  she is with Ekirä and Ateyo. She is safe." Neykal smiled a reassuring smile and then walked off.

The smile was meant well, but Puvomun did not feel very reassured still. And Jake and Neytiri had left as well, so there was not much for him to do than put away his bow and arrows, hang his knife from his rack of belongings, and look for the children.

They were well taken care of by their mothers, he found, a whole bunch of them swimming and having fun in the river.

Seeing that he had nothing to do there either, Puvomun returned to his corner under Kelutral where he kept his materials, put some in a carrying basket and took those to a silent spot outside, from where he had a good overview of the clearing and the village in and under the big tree.

There were some toy ikrans to make, a few bows to repair and as always there were arrows to make, so he sat down and started working on those. He started on the toys, as those were easy and the best way to get into the mood for working on these things. The first ikran he made looked like a reasonable ikran, like he had always made. But there were some things not right, he thought as he held it up and looked at it from all sides.

Soon he was fully focussed on the toy and changed things here and there. All of them were small alterations, but in the end he was satisfied. He grinned to himself. Never before had he managed to put so much detail in a toy. But now he was ikran maktoyu, a rider of ikran, and that made all the difference.

After making a few arrows, he turned his attention to the bow. The string had snapped. Almost out of habit he looked at the bow better, but it was not that of Jake. He grinned as he recalled how often he had to repair that man's bow when Neytiri had been teaching him.

"Ma Puvomun!"

The voice made him drop everything and jump up. It was Amhul, who had finally returned with the others. Forgetting about the things he was doing, he quickly went over to her.

"What took you so long?" he asked as he took her hands. He noticed that she was surprisingly dirty, as if she had been rolling through grass and sand.

Amhul shook her head. "There is nothing wrong, and there is a good reason, but I can't tell you. Ekirä will tell when Jake is here. Is he?"

"No. The Olo'eyktan has left with Neytiri and they are still gone. That is what I know."

"Ah, good. I will put away my things. What were you doing?"

He told her about his repairs and she said he should go back to those, she would join him later. Puvomun watched her walk off. Then he tried to locate Ekirä or Ateyo, but they were not to be found, so he wondered what all this was about as he went back to the broken bow.

He had not even picked up the bow, when Lolet, Rakan and Nusumea Tirea appeared. From where Puvomun sat he could see they looked tired but happy. Their first priority clearly was to find some food, and Mo'at walked over to the three to talk to them. Puvomun decided to let them have their peace, they probably needed it.

The bow was repaired before Amhul had returned, so he collected all the things he had repaired so far and took them back to his corner, where he put the arrows in a basket for who needed them, and the bow was placed against the side, so the owner would see it was in order again.

When he walked back, to where Lolet and the others were still sitting and talking, Amhul appeared. She was all cleaned up again and took his hand as they walked along.

From the small group who had flown to the hill clan, they learnt that no more accidents and cave-ins had happened. They had spent the day there though, taking care of the wounded people and looking, with the hill clan, for more and safe caves to inhabit.

"I am happy that I don't live there," Lolet said. "These caves are dark and cold and they don't make me feel good."

That was understandable. The Omatikaya lived under the sky and the treetops was their roof. They were not used to living in caves. As they were talking, Jake and Neytiri returned. The group grew with many people suddenly, as Ekirä and Ateyo also sat with them now.

Jake and Neytiri had been out looking. Unfortunately they had not found a trace of the four people who were still out there.

"So what else is new?" Jake asked.

Ekirä looked a bit uncertain. "We saw Miktan and Tsu'wey."

"What?" Jake voiced the reaction of everyone. "Where?"

"They asked us not to tell." Ekirä looked even more insecure now.

Amhul then said: "We went round the village and the tree, to see of there were dangers, Jake. And suddenly Miktan stepped in front of us, and he said he needed to talk with us."

Ekirä took over. "They are sorry that they reacted so badly and left the village and they want to return."

"Of course they can return. We all have a bad day once in a while." He scowled. "Even when shooting at us later isn't exactly a bad -day-."

"They wanted you to know they were there," Amhul explained that.

"Strange way to do that," Jake muttered, "they could've killed someone."

"They did not want that. They missed you on purpose." Ekirä looked at Jake. "They are very good hunters. They don't miss if they do not want to."

"Uhm. Right. Was that all they had to say?"

"No. They have been searching for the Dreamwalkers also, and found traces that they've been close to Kelutral. But the hunters believe that these men are further south now."

"Yes, that's what I think as well. Is there a way we can talk to Miktan and Tsu'wey? I'm willing to let them come back, provided they can control their tongues from now on," Jake asked Ekirä.

"They said they will know if they can come back."

"How?"

"They did not tell."

"Convenient," Jake said. "Right, if anyone here sees them, tell them they're welcome to return."

Everyone nodded.

-=-=-

The day was almost coming to an end when a very unexpected visitor arrived. It was a man who had ridden his small horse all the way from the forest clan. The man was dead tired, he had probably not stopped more than absolutely necessary to not kill himself or his hì'pa'li.

Puvomun and Amhul saw several people run towards the exhausted man and his animal. They helped him down and half carried him, while others went to take care of the small pa'li.

"Come," Puvomun said. He and Ateyo had been with these people, maybe the man would be someone he had seen before.

It was an unfamiliar face, though, that looked at him. "Are you the Olo'eyktan?"

"Kehe. I will find him-"

"I'm here, Puvomun. Welcome, my friend. I am Jake. The Olo'eyktan of this clan. What brought you here?"

Puvomun translated for the man until Neytiri arrived, as Jake's words were not yet always understandable.

The forest clan man clearly fought between wanting to eat and drink, and answer Jake.

"We think we have found the boat of the men you are looking for."

[Puvomun]

29. The guest and the teachers

The boat had been found. That was the kind of news that everyone had waited for, hoped for. For too long already there had not been a tangible trace of the Dreamwalkers who presented such a problem.

Puvomun observed the eating man, who had introduced himself as Potìray. His skin tone was slightly lighter than that of the Omatikaya. His eyes never seemed to stop moving from his food to the people around him and back, as if he felt chased or under pressure.

"You can relax, ma 'eylan," the teacher said to the man. "Nobody here wishes you harm. Why are you so nervous?"

"We usually do not venture this far from our forest," Potìray said. "Our clan stays to its own territory, so for me to be here among strange trees and people is... upsetting."

Nusumea looked at Potìra. "Do you need some herbs to make you feel better? We have those."

"No, no, our Tsahik is opposed to these ways," the forest clan man said. His eyes kept going about nervously in a way that Puvomun did not feel comfortable with.

Puvomun glanced at Ateyo and Neytiri, and then at Nusumea. Did they sense the same strange behaviour in this man? The singer teacher was convinced that Nusumea Tirea did.

Nusumea caught Puvomun's eye for a moment, and the singer teacher was convinced that they both had the same feeling about Potìray. The man was too nervous, too insecure. This was not the way a Na'vi should behave among kin.

"And there was the Medusa," Potiray blurted out. "It almost got me."

"Medusa? Did you see a lonataya near here?" Ateyo asked. These large floating animals were not spotted often in this area.

"Kehe, not near here, further to the south. But it was coming this way," Potìray said, "and I had to push my hì'pa'li to the limit to stay ahead of it."

That explained something, Puvomun thought. Medusas were dangerous, and terrifying to see. Once they got one of their long tentacles wrapped around a person, there was little chance they would survive.

Jake wondered about the possibility of the Medusa coming all the way to the village. "Perhaps we should have a few people keep watch tonight, just to be safe."

One of the warriors got to his feet and said he would arrange that. "I will also send out a few on ikran, to see if the lonataya is approaching."

Jake agreed with that. "Don't let them go out too long. Most of them were away today, I don't want them or their ikrans to fall from the sky. We all need rest."

Everyone watched the warrior as he walked off.

Then he turned to Potìray again. "Where did you find the boat? We've been looking in your area and did not find anything. And did you see any of the uniltrr..."

A scowl on Jake's face coincided with a frown on that of Potìray, and Puvomun as well as Neytiri said 'uniltìranyu' out of habit. It surprised their guest and seemed to relax him more than anything they had said so far.

Potìray actually smiled for a moment, before he replied. "A few of our children were making a float near the lake. They were looking for a good spot to put their float in the water when they saw the large boat. They then called a few of the elders. And so I was told to come here and let you know, as two of your people had been to our village."

"Yes, Puvomun and I were there," Ateyo nodded.

"We looked at the boat," Potìray then said. "There were many footmarks, but we did not find the people who had made them."

"We'll go to your clan tomorrow," Jake decided. "For now I want you to be our guest. We'll show you were you can sleep."

"Irayo, ma Jake." Potìray nodded gratefully. "I appreciate the kind welcome of the Omatikaya."

Amhul offered to show the man his sleeping place, and together they went up the great tree.

"Finally we have a break," said Jake. "Maybe tomorrow we can start putting an end to all this."

Puvomun just nodded. There was something on his mind that bothered him, but he could not point it out. Perhaps, he guessed, he was just tired. Following that feeling, he went to sleep.

-=-=-

The morning came with rain. All around, the sound of drops falling on leaves mixed with the complaining sounds of animals. Puvomun remained silent as he listened, enjoying the pure music of nature. This was also a song of Eywa.

"You are listening as well," Amhul's soft voice whispered.

"Yes."

Together they listened for a while longer.

"If there was a Medusa," Amhul said as they left their hammock, "it will be gone now. They don't like the rain."

Potìray was already awake and talking with some people when the two teacher singers came down the tree. A small fire had been made, away from the rain, where Lolet and Rakan were roasting small bits of meat.

"Rewon lefpom, good morning," said Potìray. He looked much better after a good night of sleep.

"Rewon lefpom, ma Potìray," said Puvomun. He sat down and picked up the plate with food that Lolet pushed towards him.

Ateyo, who was there also, sitting by himself, said: "The warriors who went to look for the Medusa did not find one." It almost sounded like an accusation directed at the man from the forest clan.

"Aylonataya do not like rain, Ateyo. They seem to sense when it comes. Maybe that is why they did not find one." Amhul looked at Ateyo, calm but stern.

The warrior looked at Amhul. He did not like to be put in his place like that, but Puvomun knew it was necessary. Ateyo grumbled something and left, taking his food outside, where the rain was reducing to a mere drizzle.

The sound of children's voices tearing up the calm morning made everyone look up. The teachers grinned as a small swarm ran past them, into the wet outside.

"Maybe we can take them to a waterhole," Amhul suggested, "and watch the animals there. The wet air will make it easy to come closer before they smell us."

"You are haryu?" Potìray asked. As the two confirmed that, he smiled. "My sister is a teacher too. I recognised her smile in how you look at the children."

"You noticed well, ma Potìray," said Puvomun. "Is your sister also rolyu, a singer?"

"No, she is not. But she is a very good teacher."

Amhul smiled as she heard how the guests quickly defended his sister's abilities.

Puvomun then said: "We could indeed do that, ma Amhul, if Jake does not want us to do something else."

"I think there are enough ikran aymaktoyu here now, he won't need us."

Potìray stared at them. "Ikran aymaktoyu? But you are teachers!"

Puvomun was surprised about Potìray stating this. His face probably betrayed that, because Potìray grinned and explained: "We keep much to ourselves, but we are not unknowing of many things, ma Puvomun. The people who ride ikrans are famous and well known. That is why I am so surprised."

Before the teachers were able to tell him how they had found their ikrans, Jake and Neytiri walked in and said they wanted to speak with their guest from the forest clan, so Potìray joined them.

Shortly after that, Lolet and Rakan were called to fly out with Jake and Neytiri. Ateyo was told to find a few more people and look around the area between Kelutral and Ayutral tskxe, the Trees of Stone.

Potìray had mounted his horse by then, after saying goodbye, and started his journey back home.

Puvomun and Amhul were not asked or told to do anything, so it was clear they had a day to be just teachers again.

-=-=-

The village looked empty with so many people gone. The mefaryu, the two teachers, called out asking for children who wanted to join them on a 'hunting trip' to the nearby water hole. Their calling was not in vain: within ten breaths they were surrounded by a small clan.

Just for safety, Amhul and Puvomun had their bows and arrows with them. Several of the older children had run to fetch theirs as well, so there was quite a well armed troupe going out into the forest.

Amhul had told Mo'at what they were going to do, and the Tsahik had said: "I heard you when you called the children, ma Amhul. I am old perhaps, but my ears are as good as yours." Then Mo'at had smiled one of her sparse smiles, and added: "Be careful, and have fun."

Trips to the water hole were always wonderful. There was something new to see every time. There were fresh tracks of animals everywhere, and the children did their best to identify them. There were special flowers blooming that only opened after hard rain, and the challenge was who discovered one first.

Amhul played a game with the youngest children to see how well they could move through the forest without leaving tracks, after which Puvomun and the older children tried to find the younger ones. The two of them had worked out this game together, and they had found that the children all enjoyed it, and it was a fantastic way to sharpen their senses and skills.

Another game was that one by one the children were to walk over a muddy path, making as little noise as they could. Everyone except the walker would stand with their back to the path as one of them walked the path. The older the children were, the better they had gotten at this, of course, but at times there was a very small child who moved so gracefully and silent that even the teachers could not hear him or her.

[Puvomun]

30. At the water hole

They had played most of the games already when they approached the water hole. This one was further from Kelutral than where they had previously lived, so Puvomun thought they were going to need more games, as there also was the way back home.

The children grew more silent as they got nearer to their goal. Amhul had warned them once, that they were getting there, and that was enough. Even the smaller ones fell silent as they noticed how the older children did not speak anymore.

Everyone moved as quietly as they could. At a certain point Puvomun and Amhul kneeled and crawled over the path. They were passing along a stretch that was open and clearly visible from the drinking area, and if a person would walk there, any animal would leave quickly. Except, perhaps, an 'angstik, but they never saw those at a water hole.

Puvomun watched as the children crawled by, silent as a yerik.

Most of the forest still dripped with rain. That was a benefit, as the splattering would hide many small sounds they might make, but it was also a challenge for some of the younger children as they were not used to ignoring the fat drops of water that fell on them.

One very young boy jerked up and just in time muffled a cry as a large blue and yellow water cup flower tilted and dropped most of its contents on his back. From several places the teachers heard children catching their breath as they noticed what happened, but no one made a loud sound. Everyone took a few moments to calm down again, and then the line of children and their mefaryu moved on again.

Once they has gone passed the open stretch, they all got up again and walked on, as silently as they could.

Before they reached the actual water hole, Puvomun stopped them all, and using only gestures he showed them how muddy they were, and how well the new colour of their bodies made them blend in with most of the trees and plants. The children grinned loudlessly and some held their arms next to a small tree to make sure.

The group walked on, and then crawled the last short distance. Crawling there was good. Staying low, to keep out of sight and behind the grassy bushes gave them the opportunity to come very close to some of the animals.

The first animals they saw, as Puvomun had expected, were a group of yerik. Six of them stood near the water, and they drank in their particularly careful way. At least three of them would always look around while the others drank from the water. The long, thin horns of the drinking ones were always very impressive to see, as they moved up high while the animals would drink.

The children looked at the yeriks quietly. They knew these animals supplied most of their meat, and here they were, in the wild and free, as free as the children were.

A loud chattering sound from overhead made all the yeriks raise their heads. Four of them made their disctinctive low hooting sound, to which there was more chattering. High up in the trees were syaksyuks, at least twelve, swinging from tree to tree, hanging from at least three arms as one arm would be either picking some of the high hanging fruit or holding it for eating.

Puvomun never knew if the animals saw them on the ground and warned the other animals, or if they made their noise just for fun. So far, no animal had ever run from the water while the aysyaksyuk were screaming. Only when these tree dwelling animals would start throwing down their half eaten fruit. Which almost always happened.

Amhul also knew that, and so they moved away from the yerik and the oncoming fruit-shower.

Puvomun let his mate lead the group, knowing that she was very good at finding the perfect spots to watch animals. Amhul suddenly stopped moving. She really froze, her eyes fixed on a certain spot where lots of twigs rose up from the stubby grass. All the children stopped also, as if they had rehearsed all this.

Only a few steps away from Amhul were four fan lizards, hanging on the twigs. The fenten hung on the twigs, their legs spread so they kept their balance, and their backs to the path that the group was sliding over, showing their large blueish spines. The children all knew these animals as well, as there were so many of them. In the evening, they often would chase the fan lizards from their resting places, as then they would unfurl their long spinal ribs into a large fan. The fenten could move the fanlike structure on their back very quickly, which made them lift off while they lit up like small stars.

Suddenly something fell on the ground, close to the fan lizards. Predictably, they all opened their fans and floated off. It looked amusing, but for the fenten it was the only way they could move away fast.

Puvomun suspected that one of the syalsyuk had landed one of its pieces of fruit, which had upset the fenten.

After this entertaining moment, Amhul went on again, the trail of children behind her, and Puvomun at the end.

Slowly Amhul gestured with a few fingers, to make the others go to the side and look over the grass. Everyone had already heard the yapping noise.

Behind the low grass, at less than a stone-throw away, they saw eight nantangs, two adults and six small ones. The small ones were playing, splashing in the shallow water and harrassing their father best they could, while the mother lay on her side and just watched the goings on.

This was a special treat. Not often could they see baby nantangs like that. Usually there would be one ferocious nantang parent between the small ones and anything else.

After watching the nantangs for a while, Amhul gestured that it was time to go back. The trip, Puvomun, had been long enough, and a great success as well. Further down the water were high ferns, and that is where the aylenai'ga could be found, the feared, poisonous slingers, with their dangerous heads. They did not want to engage any of those, certainly not with children around.

Slowly the group crawled back over the path. As the rain had been gone for a while and the warm air was abundant, the mud was growing thicker and more difficult to move over without making sounds, but no animal seemed to notice them.

When the group was on their feet again, far from the water hole, all the children talked, excitedly and with subdued voices. Puvomun felt as happy as he could be. This tour into the forest had been fantastic, the children were excited beyond measure.

Suddenly echoes of mournful cries bounced over the water to where the group was standing.

"Come, quick," said Puvomun as he pointed to a place from where they could see far over the water hole. Sixteen tetrapteron of ayfkio, long, thin, blue animals with four wings, large beaks and big eyes, lazily flew low over the water, uttering their sad cries.

"Stand very still," Amhul said, as the animals came closer. Nobody moved. The ayfkio left the water hole and flew directly towards the group, and as Puvomun hoped, they only changed course when they almost touched the trees with their large frontal wings. He was certain that all the children felt the fast moving air that was pushed their way by the multitude of wings that flew by.

"Wou," he said as the last fkio was far away. "Wasn't that amazing?"

Everyone agreed. After all, it was amazing. Ayfkio usually were closer to larger bodies of water, like lakes or places with waterfalls. This had been a very special thing they had witnessed.

The walk home did not require any new games. The children were talking continuously about all the wonders they had seen, and they sang several songs about the forest and the animals in it, so they reached their home very quickly. The first trip they made there was into the river, to get rid of all the mud they had gathered during their crawling.

That was just an extra bit of fun for everyone, where a lot of water was splashed, all the children were thrown up at least once, and then all the children ran off to various parents and other family members to tell about their forest discoveries all over again.

Amhul and Puvomun found a nice spot in the sunshine where they could sit and dry up without having to do anything for it.

"It was a wonderful walk," Amhul said, as they sat hand in hand, eyes closed.

"It was," Puvomun answered.

"It took quite a long time too," a third voice said, making two pairs of eyes open, blinking against the bright light. The third voice belonged to Norm Spellman.

"Kaltxi, ma Norm," said Puvomun.

"Ayoeä nawma sa'nok ayngahu," the scientist in the Dreamwalker body said as he sat down opposite the two. "May our great mother be with you."

Puvomun smiled. Norm would never lose this stiff way of speaking their language. 'Eywa cradles everyone, ma Norm," he politely replied, as he knew that Norm expected that. "What is it that brings you to us, my friend?"

In his best Na'vi, Norm said that he had come to talk to Jake, but the clan leader was not there. So he had waited for Puvomun to return.

"I saw you come back with the children. What on earth did you do to get that dirty?"

The teacher singers laughed and explained about the trip into the forest, to see the animals..

"Right, I got it. Sounds like a nice thing to do. Like taking kids to a uhm... place to watch animals," the man said.

"Yes, that is what we did," Amhul smiled.

"I gathered that. But where I come from we have places for that. And you don't have to get so muddy and all that."

Puvomun had heard not many things about 'Rrta, the home planet of the Sky people, and he was not very keen on hearing many more from there. These things were too depressing.

"Well, there's something else though. I want to talk to you about something," Norm said, picking a piece of grass from the ground and twiddling it between his fingers.

[Puvomun]

31. Talking with Norm

"What do you want to talk about, Norm? Speak about anything you want," said Puvomun.

Norm kept his eyes fixed on the grass in his hand. "You see, when you were at the base for Natasha, Amhul said something about building a village close to this place. Something about living closer to the nature here. Remember that?"

"Yes, we do."

"I've been giving that some serious thought. I like the idea, really, but... there are too many problems."

"I believe that, Norm," said Puvomun. "But problems are always looking for solutions."

"Yeah, true, but I mean, there's so much stuff at the old base that we need, you know. The oxygen masks, the life support systems for air and cooler air inside, the food."

"Your food supply cannot be there forever, Norm," Amhul reminded him. "There is a point where your people will have to start trusting what you can find here."

"But the air is the big problem. We can't live without that."

Puvomun noticed that the man was fixed on seeing the problems, and not looking at a way around those. Of course, the aysawtute needed their breathing machines and their masks. That would make life very difficult here, but that would be the same regardless of where they lived.

Amhul looked at Norm. "That is true. We know this, ma Norm. But now you are in that large home, and how many people are there? Are you not wasting much of your air in places that are not used?"

Norm pondered those questions. "Yeah, that's true. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you always have your machines. Your machines that provide, until they break."

Amhul had hit a sensitive spot, Puvomun noticed. The man who sat with them cringed at that last remark.

"Yeah. That's something that worries me. And not just me. It's something nobody really thought of when we were asked if we wanted to stay, but our lives do depend on a bunch of... things." Norm shrugged. "We have good things, though, they don't break down just like that."

This was not something Puvomun or Amhul could say much about, so they left the subject to what it was.

"Have your people ever looked at what food our world can supply for you?" Puvomun asked.

"I don't know. There never was a reason for that, I guess. But that might be something smart. We're trying to learn about this moon, so that would be a logical thing to do."

The teachers never found it easy to talk with this man, his mind seemed to work in a very strange manner, so they were very relieved when Jake and Neytiri returned and took Norm's attention away from them.

"You are back quickly, Jake," Puvomun remarked.

"There wasn't much to see," Jake said. "We found the boat, it was theirs alright, out of fuel. They have to be in the area down there, and it's unbelievable that neither the hill clan nor the forest clan have actually noticed them."

Norm's puzzled look was picked up by Neytiri, who quickly filled him in on where they had been.

"Yeah, that figures," said Norm. "It was a matter of time before they'd run out." He glanced at Amhul. Again something 'running out' came up.

"What's the news from the base, Norm?" Jake asked.

"Well, they, uhm, gave us Thorenson's body. I would gladly have missed that, Jake. The man's expression was..." Norm shook his head as he shivered. "I never saw something like that before, and I hope I will never have to again in my whole life."

This was a surprise even for the teachers. They'd had no idea that death by teylu akerusey would affect the tawtute body of a Dreamwalker that much.

"They are doing an autopsy on him now," Norm continued, "to see what is the actual cause of death."

As Jake explained what an 'ah'tap'si' was, Puvomun and Amhul were slightly horrified at what they heard. Why would people do this to a body that had served someone well? It felt like a desecration to them.

Neytiri also looked a bit disturbed when she learnt about this practice. "Do Sky people do that to all bodies after they died?" she wondered.

"No, just to the ones that died in a strange way," Norm replied.

It seemed strange. Dead was dead, and once a spirit had joined Eywa, there was only the body to thank and return to the soil.

"Is there something we can do for the clan, Jake?" Puvomun asked. The conversation was taking a turn that made him feel strange.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. You could make a flight out, just for safety, but that's all I can think of. If you have better things to do, then best that you do those."

"Sìltsan, ma Jake. Good," said Puvomun.

As Puvomun and Amhul sat to eat, Puvomun told her how he felt about Norm Spellman. "I think that he wanted to be what Jake is."

"Maybe," Amhul nodded, "but he could never be Olo'eyktan. Jake is Omatikaya, inside, in his heart, in his txe'lan. Norm is still tawtute, a Sky person, who walks in his Dreamwalker body. He does not understand the world."

"I think he does, but in a different way. Norm looks at our world and thinks about it. Jake is a part of the world, as we are."

"Srane. That is well put, ma Puvomun," Amhul agreed. "Norm is like Toktor Grace was."

Puvomun nodded. Memories of good and difficult times flooded his mind for a while, of the time that Grace had still lived. "And yet," he slowly said, "she now is a part of our world as well."

Amhul was silent, in her own thoughts as well, Puvomun assumed. She too had worked with Toktor Grace, in and around the school, and in the beginning Amhul had been the one who spent most time with her, teaching her the Na'vi language and learning Inglisi from her.

Suddenly she asked: "Will you fly with me?"

"Srane. Yes. I will fly with you." Puvomun did not ask why she suddenly wanted to do that. He knew she would tell him later. Other things were not important now. Nobody needed them, so they were free to go.

After fetching their eye protection, they went up the tree and called their ikrans. With a lot of wing-flapping and rustling of the leaves, Taw and Kilvan came down to the wide branch where Puvomun and Amhul jumped on their strong backs.

Puvomun smiled as he felt Kilvan's... what he interpreted as joy, as tsaheylu started flowing. Kilvan spread her strong wings and did not even wait for him to tell her. She leapt and they were in the air, wind rushing past them.

Amhul and Taw were right behind them, and soon they flew together, in silence, with Amhul deciding where they were going. They flew north for a while, and then they were over ayvitrayä ramunong, their most sacred place. The place also where the people had gathered after their previous home had been destroyed.

Puvomun had a feeling where they were heading.

Beneath them, the forest was gliding away. In many places they still saw the destruction that the short but fierce war had left, although the jungle was already working hard to cover these wounds and make things well again. The power of Eywa was endless.

In the distance Puvomun saw the remains of the immense fallen tree. How insane it all had been. And for what? For many deaths, for a lot of suffering and pain, because the aysawtute who had wanted something from the ground under their home had now gone.

But long before they were over the area, which still was grey and black, and barren because of the many fires that had been there, Amhul made them turn away west, toward the large lakes and the waterfalls. The sadness of their old behind them, they flew on, still in silence. The only times that the quiet was broken were when large animals on the surface roared or cried,  and once a small group of ikranay, forest banshees, flew up from the trees and seemed to escort them for a while.

Very close to the thundering falls, Amhul made Taw dive down. She made her ikran land in a low tree where it was comfortable for the animal. Puvomun told Kilvan to sit next to Taw, and once she had found a good spot in the tree as well, the two singer flyers jumped from branch to branch until they were on the ground.

Only when they were standing on the large, high rock that gave a magnificent view over the lower lake and the waterfall, Amhul said: "Grace loved it here. How often did we come here with the children, ma yawne, and she would go on and on about the plants and the flowers, and how she had to take so many more samples."

Puvomun nodded and could not suppress a chuckle. He felt how Amhul squeezed his hand, and heard her grin as well. "Srane. Toktor Grace was a very special person. The same kind of tawtute as Norm Spellman, yet so very different. She really wanted to belong to us, but something inside her stopped her from doing it."

"Yes. That was the part of Grace that wanted to take all the leaves and seeds."

Quietly they stood there, as the fine mist from the waterfalls billowed up as fake smoke from the thundering water down below.

[Puvomun]

32. Surprises

Puvomun noticed that Amhul was looking out for something that was far away. "What is it you are trying to see?"

"The school."

"That is behind the trees," he simply responded to that.

"Yes. I know. It is good that it is there. I am not sure if I really want to see it."

Puvomun understood that all too well. Amhul had been there when the aysawtute warriors had attacked the school, on that fateful day when Neytiri's older sister, Sylwanin, and some other children had been killed.

"I do not want to remember that day," Amhul said, as if she had read Puvomun's thoughts.

He looked at her face and saw her tears. Without words he wrapped her in his arms and held her, giving her a safe place to feel her sadness for as long as she needed one. Puvomun also cried, for the memories of what had happened were too strong, and too raw.

The tears left the way they came, and then Amhul lifted her head, her eyes meeting his.

"This was good," she whispered, and he agreed in silence. Then a grin came on her lips. She pushed herself free from Puvomun's arms, turned, ran forward and dove off the high rock, flying down towards the water in the lake.

Puvomun laughed and ran off the high cliff as well, following his mate down, hitting the water hard and loving the cool feeling of it against his skin. Slowly he let himself float upwards again, to the surface, and as he broke throught water, he saw Amhul swimming away from him as fast as she could. He took up the pursuit, but he knew she was too far away and a better swimmer than he was. Still, he gave it his best.

Amhul already sat on the flat piece of rock that hung just over the water as he reached it.

"You are a slow swimmer, ma yawne," she said, trying to look serious. "I may need to give you some lessons." Then she laughed as she rolled backwards, stretching out in the sunlight.

Puvomun climbed onto the rock and sat down next to her, enjoying the fact that they had left Hometree and were spending time by themselves.

The distant sound of the waterfall was pleasant here. It mixed with the sounds and smells of the jungle. Puvomun looked around and smiled. He leaned back, reached and picked a deep red flower that he gently tucked between Amhul's ear and her hair.

She opened her eyes in surprised, carefully took the flower and then she radiated happiness. "Such a beautiful flower," she said as she put it back.

"You make it look even more beautiful, ma yawne," he said as he lay next to her, touching her hand for a moment.

Her tail twitched a few times, brushing his leg. "I am happy, Puvomun."

"You should be, my love."

-=-=-

They spent a long time just lying there, holding hands, talking and singing. When the shadows started to grow longer, the two teacher singers decided to climb back up to the tree where they had left their ikrans. As they were above the waterfall, Amhul looked back over it one more time.

"We should come here more often. Just the two of us."

Puvomun took her hands. "Yes. It is a good place with good memories."

"And we can make more of them," Amhul said, as she leaned over. For a moment they touched foreheads, then slowly walked back, to where Kilvan and Taw were patiently sitting.

Amhul looked up at the two ikrans. "Sometimes I still cannot believe this," she said. "We are flying on ikrans. Isn't that amazing?"

"It is. And we all owe their lives to you, ma Amhul. If you had not gone into the jungle there..."

Amhul turned and put her fingers on Puvomun's lips. "It was Eywa guiding me," she whispered. "I know." Then she quickly climbed up and waited for her mate to join her before she mounted Taw.

Soon they were in the air again. They circled the large lake and the waterfall one more time and then told their ikrans they wanted to go home.

As they were not in a hurry, Amhul and Puvomun did not take the straight route back to Kelutral, their Hometree. They now had so much freedom to go to places quickly, there was plenty of time to visit some of the places they had not seen for a long time because on foot they were so far away. Now they could just soar over the treetops and go where they desired.

Suddenly Amhul called out to Puvomun and pointed. "Do you see that? Far away, over the trees!"

In the direction where Amhul was pointing, Puvomun noticed a pink blob that seemed to hang over the trees indecisively. It was not moving fast, and had what looked like a giant sail on its back.

"Lonataya," Puvomun called back to Amhul, "it is a medusa!"

Maybe this was the medusa that the man from the forest clan had seen. They directed their ikrans closer to the giant shape with its long tentacles hanging down to the forest floor, and circled around it when they were near enough. Yes, this definitely was a lonataya, and a large one as well.

After watching the animal hover for a while, the two teachers decided to return home. Darkness was setting in now.

They arrived to a village in commotion. Miktan and Tsu'wey had returned. The two men had spoken with Jake, Neytiri and even Mo'at.

It did not surprise Puvomun that neither of these three held a grudge against the hunters.

Apparently the two were in the village again since a while. Amhul and Puvomun greeted the two and welcomed them back. Miktan was still a bit edgy, not sure how he should behave, but the teachers, as all others, treated them friendly, the normal way.

Once the hunters felt comfortable around the two, they spoke of why they had come back to the village.

Tsu'wey told them: "We followed you when you went to the aysawtute base."

"Srane, I know. You shot arrows at us."

Tsu'wey nodded. "So you knew we were there."

Puvomun knew that they had not meant any harm; master hunters like these men would have had no problem hitting someone with their arrows.

"While we were... gone... we found the Dreamwalkers," Tsu'wey continued. "They were to the south of the village, and easy to spot. They are so stupid. I am amazed that they were not chased away by yeriks."

This was typically a hunter's remark. Nobody, not even the smallest children, needed to worry about yeriks.

"There was one of the Dreamwalkers they kept tied to a tree most of the time," Miktan then took over the telling. "He sometimes talked to the others, but they beat him often and in the end the man did not dare to talk anymore."

"That must have been Mendelson," Puvomun assumed. He asked if the two hunters had heard what had happened in the link room. They had.

"We stayed near their camp," Tsu'wey then said, "so we could easily track them. They took their boat, loaded everything they had in it, and went further south. We followed them to the Trees of Stone, we were surprised that they went there."

Miktan described how they had seen one of the men being attacked by the teylu akerusey, and the haste with which the Dreamwalkers then had left, and how they had left the woman near the water.

Amhul told the hunters about the poisonous plants she had kneeled in, which had killed her uniltìrantokx.

"It is sad," Miktan said, "how they go about and do not understand."

Tsu'wey then told how the boat had crossed the lake. "We followed them on ikran, but we stayed far away from their view. I think that they would not have seen us unless we had flown over their heads. These people are blind, ma Puvomun si Amhul, so blind."

The hunters had witnessed the blasting of the rock, and the death of the people from the hill clan, but they could not help them.

"We have no knowledge that could have done good," Miktan explained, "and the Dreamwalkers left again. We thought it better to follow them."

"Where did you hide when they were at the Hellfire Plateau?" Amhul wondered. "There are no trees to find cover. How did they not see you?"

"I said they are blind, ma Amhul," Tsu'wey repeated. "We were not far away, behind a few large boulders. Nobody noticed us, there was too much going on near the caves for someone to find two hidden hunters and their ikrans."

That was understandable, from what Nusumea, Lolet and Rakan had told. Amhul nodded. "I have seen what they have done."

Nusumea Tirea had by then joined the small group, silently sitting down with them.

"We flew off, over the hill top," Miktan went on. "The ayuniltìranyu took their boat to the south further, but they had a problem with it. It went very slow, and it took them a lot of effort to make it reach the land again."

Miktan suddenly looked guilty. "Then something happened that we are not proud of. There were a few children playing near the water, we think they were from the forest clan. They walked over to the Dreamwalkers and talked to them. The one man, who had been beaten so often, talked to them while the others watched him closely."

"Mendelson again," Puvomun said. "The aysawtute scientist people are the only ones that speak our language, more or less."

Miktan nodded. "Then one of the other Dreamwalkers held up a weapon and shouted something. The first man then took ropes and tied the children's hands together."

Puvomun and Amhul stared at Miktan. "They took the children?"

"Srane. They made them carry things, and then went into the forest. We followed them on foot, and saw the place where they made a camp."

Tsu'wey said: "We had hoped to free the children, but one of the uniltìranyu always stayed with them. The man you call Mendelson and one of the others then walked back to the boat, and from there they looked for the village of the forest clan."

"Why would they do that?" Amhul wondered.

"To let them know they had the children," Miktan clarified. "The forest clan found the men, of course. We think that the scientist man tried to make things hard for the other one with the weapon but it did not help. They talked to a few of the forest clan. The man with the weapon shot in the air and screamed a lot. We could not understand what he said, it was the man Mendelson who tried to calm the other one down, but the man with the weapon hit him a few times."

Jake and Neytiri now joined the small group too. "Here you are. I think a council talk is needed. Did you hear all that they had to tell yet?"

Puvomun glanced at Miktan and Tsu'wey, who shook their heads.

"The Dreamwalkers went back to their camp. Miktan followed them. I talked with one of the forest clan and told him that they should warn our clan," Tsu'wey said. "They did not want to at first, but I managed to convince them that without help they cannot fight these people. They don't know these fetuwong, these aliens, like we do."

"You did well with that, Tsu'wey," Neytiri said. "It also explains why Potìray was acting so strange. He feared for the lives of the children."

"So we have to come up with a few good plans to free these children, and make sure Mendelson gets out of this unhurt." Jake did not mention the well-being of the other three, and everyone silently agreed with that. These men had done enough wrong, they did not deserve any consideration.

"We do have to remember that there's still the bomb threat at the base. I don't want people to die there because of the things we do, so we will have to plan this carefully." Jake looked at the others. "Anyone have any suggestions now, before I get on the radio with the base?"

Everyone agreed that the children had to be saved. That was the most important thing. And yes, Mendelson had to be rescued too. The big problem of course was that the Dreamwalkers were in two places. Attacking them in one place, in whatever way, gave them time to act in the other place. Even going against the men in two places at once was not an insurance for a safe victory.

Jake decided to make a short call to the base, to inform the people there about what they had heard. In the morning, when brains were fresh and more awake, they would think about this further.

[Puvomun]

33. Messengers

The next morning, Amaya came looking for Puvomun.

"Ma Puvomun, Jake asked me to join the talk this morning. Why would he do that? I know nothing of these things of fighting, or catching Dreamwalkers."

"He probably wants to hear as many people as he can, before making a decision," Puvomun assumed. "A good leader does that. Eytukan was the same. Jake is only different as he has older and younger people to talk with. Remember that Nusumea is not a fighter either, and he is in the council as well."

"Oel omum, but Nusumea is a hunter at least."

They walked to where Jake already sat with Nusumea Tirea and Neytiri. Miktan and Tsu'wey were there are well, as they had the most recent information on the stray Dreamwalkers.

Jake had the radio lying in front of him. He looked at the last two to join the group and started talking. "I've tried to come up with a plan. It is far from perfect and it has many flaws I'm afraid, but it's best I can do, so I want to tell you about it and then you tell me what you think."

He started detailing his thoughts. Often he was interrupted by the ones listening, to elaborate on something, or with already some ideas and suggestions to do thing in a different way.

In the end they agreed on the rough outline that the group had composed. There were many unknown things, and a lot would depend on actions from the forest clan and also the aysawtute from the base.

"That bit of the plan that originally comes from Amhul worries me, Puvomun," said Jake. "Really. I hope they can pull that off, because that will come out quite essential."

"I am aware of that, Jake," the teacher singer said. "But it is needed."

"Yeah." Jake took his radio and made the call to the base. He did not look happy.

-=-=-

"We are needed for the plan," Puvomun told his mate. "And we will have to do a lot of flying."

Amhul nodded, her face serious as she understood the implications. "And we will be in danger."

"Yes."

"The first thing we will have to do now is go to the forest clan and tell them about the plan," Puvomun said. He was not looking forward to this, as he already suspected a lot of opposition to the plan. After all, there were children of that clan involved.

"Miktan and Lolet have already left to watch the ayuniltìranyu for a while, to make sure we know where they are, and that their prisoners are still well."

Amhul nodded. "And when do we go?"

"As soon as we can." Puvomun took her hand. "We'll be fine." He hoped his voice sounded more certain than he felt.

"Srane. We will," his mate nodded. "I am ready."

The two went to tell Jake they were leaving, then they went up and called their ikrans.

As they were on their way to the forest clan, the two singer teachers tried to enjoy the scenery, but the nature of their being here made that very hard. They knew that they were part of something difficult and uncertain, and lives depended on their involvement in it.

Puvomun noticed that Kilvan did not need much guidance once he had thought of where the journey would take them. It was as if she shared something deep inside him. Amhul and he tried to talk but every attempt failed. They were too concerned with what they were going to face to keep their minds on a topic.

Soon they had passed the bend in the river, and to their right the lake glistened as the sunlight danced over the shallow waves, but this time they did not feel like enjoying the view. Puvomun took the lead, as he had been to the forest clan before. They topped the hills and followed the border of the forest, until he recognised the place where Ateyo and he had turned away over the forest.

Kilvan seemed to remember this too, and their mutual memories found the tree where the ikrans could stay.

The two singer teachers descended from the tree and slowly walked along the barely visible trail, until they reached the tree where the forest clan had their home. As last time, there were three people, all men now, who kept watch.

"Kaltxì," Puvomun greeted them, "we are here to-"

"We know why you are here," one of the men interrupted him.

Puvomun frowned. "You do? Then why are we here?"

"To make problems for us. We don't want you here."

"Are you the Olo'eyktan of the clan?" Puvomun asked.

"Kehe, but he does not want to see you."

"Whose children were taken by the Dreamwalkers?" Amhul then asked the man. That changed everything.

"You know about that?" he whispered.

"Srane, we do. And together with others we have a plan that we need to tell your clan leader. Without the help of your clan the plan cannot succeed, but if you think you can order us to go back, then the children will not live." Amhul was angry.

The man who had tried to chase them off turned to one of the others. "Go and tell Txep'rea that two Omatikaya are here to see him." He turned to the two teachers. "I am sorry. I did not know."

"We understand that you are scared for their lives," Puvomun said to the man. "But it is better to ask what people want instead of thinking that you know."

He nodded stiffly and tried to avoid Puvomun's gaze until a man came walking towards them.

"I am Txep'rea, clan leader of the forest tribe."

The teachers told him who they were and who had sent them. "We have a message from our Olo'eyktan. A plan."

"Sìltsan, good. Come with me, we will talk."

They followed the man up in the tree and were treated to food and drink as they outlined the plan.

Txep'rea also noticed the many open ends of the plan, which Puvomun and Amhul acknowledged.

"But," they said, "if we have no plan at all, we can do nothing. And with a flexible plan we have the space to be free in the things we do." Jake of course had used different words, but they would not make any sense to Txep'rea. Most of them didn't make much sense to Puvomun, and he knew Jake for quite a while already.

Txep'rea was not entirely certain what this meant, Puvomun could tell that from the man's face, but he did not want to get into a question round he could not get out of, so he thanked Txep'rea for the time he had given them.

"We hope that this plan will work, ma Txep'rea. Jake asked Amhul and me to be your permanent contacts. We hope you can agree with this."

Txep'rea nodded once. "I can. But you do not strike me as warriors, so how is it that do you get to do this? You are no hunters either." The man questioningly looked at them.

Amhul explained as well as she could how they had become the first teacher singers with ikrans.

"Teacher singers??" Amazement poured from Txep'rea's face. "It is very difficult for me to believe this. But with a clan who has a leader that used to be tawtute... it should not surprise me. Tell your Olo'eyktan that our clan will do as he asks."

"Irayo, ma Txep'rea," said Puvomun, "Jake will be pleased to hear that." He and Amhul said their goodbyes and left the tree.

As they reached the floor, they saw a familiar face. It was Potìray, the man who had come to their village.

"Ma Amhul. ma Puvomun. What brings you here?" he asked, very surprised.

"We bring greetings from the clan, and our leader worked out a plan with us, which we detailed to your leader."

"I see. Your leader is... different," Potìray carefully said.

"Srane, he is," Puvomun smiled. "We all think so, and he is different."

They talked for a short while more and then the two teacher singers returned to their ikrans. Amhul asked how Puvomun felt about Txep'rea.

"I think he will work with us for a while. I also believe that at a certain point he may think the plan is crazy and do things on his own."

"Yes, indeed. And I can't even blame him. The plan is crazy." Puvomun felt so deep in his heart. "But he had other plans that were crazy, and they worked out as well."

"Hmm." Amhul clearly was not convinced either.

The two reached their ikrans, and started their journey back home.

-=-=-

"So he at least listened to you. That's something, I guess," Jake commented as the two had relayed Txep'rea's words. "We'll just have to hope for the best while we're unrolling the plan."

"As far as there is one," Amhul reminded him.

"Yeah." Jake nodded. "Thanks for all the flying, guys, I hope it's not too hard on you."

"We are fine, Jake. Are you also?" Puvomun asked.

"Srane, ma karyu rolyu," Jake gave it his best. "I'm good, thank you."

Then his attention was drawn away because of the radio that made its obnoxious sounds.

"Jake here," the clan leader said.

"Jake, it's Norm. Your flying brigade got here and they told me about that plan of yours. I relayed it to some of the technical guys here and they all want to get me in a straight jacket now. And you as well if they can find one your size. Oh - wait. What?" The last word was obviously spoken to someone else.

"Jake, you are going to love what they just told me."

[Puvomun]

34. The beginnings of a plan

"Talk to me, Norm," Jake said, his face showing wonder at this cryptic message.

"Some of the guys here came up with an idea to peek into the link room where Mankx smashed up the cameras. So they found a way to get to it over the ceiling and they stuck a miniature camera in it. The picture isn't great and there's no sound, but we can see what's happening in there again."

"Hey, that is good news, Norm," Jake said as he grinned and held up a thumb to Puvomun and Amhul. "That will do us a lot of good when we go on with the plan."

"You persist in calling it a plan, don't you?" Norm's feeling about it was more than obvious, even through the radio.

"Do you have something better? If so, tell me, Norm."

Norm did not tell. Instead he promised he'd go over the 'plan' one more time with the people who were there to tell him about it, and take it up with the 'technical guys' again.

"If they want me to talk until I'm blue in the face, I'll talk to them through my avatar," were the last words that came from the box.

Jake stared at it. "Wait up. Did Norm just crack a joke?"

Puvomun had heard nothing crack so he said he did not know.

"I do hope that Tsu'wey or Rakan come back from the base fast," Jake said. "They are not only there to convince the folks, they also have my shopping list."

Puvomun looked at Amhul. He knew that she was worrying and wondering as well. When Jake became enthusiastic he often started using these strange Inglìsì words.

Amhul shook her head and then she said that Jake should let them know if there was something more they could do for him, and for the plan. Their part, for now, was done.

"Sure, no problem. Go relax a bit," their clan leader told them.

"We'll go sing with some children then," Puvomun suggested.

"If that's relaxing for you," Jake commented, his grin appearing again.

"Maybe you should join us," Puvomun challenged him, "we will make a song about uniltìranyu for you."

"Oh no, you're not going to get me with that. I can do this just fine. Untiltarr... uniltirr..."

Amhul laughed. "Uniltìranyu," she said, very slowly, as if she was teaching a child.

Jake repeated the word, as slow as a child would, and this time he actually got it right. "See? I got this!" He tried again. And failed.

Laughing again, the two teachers walked off and then started singing a song which attracted several children.

The sun has passed its highest moment already when Lolet returned to the village. Everyone was surprised that she had returned alone, since her mission had been together with Miktan.

Puvomun and Amhul told the children to keep singing and joined Jake and Neytiri, to hear what news Lolet had brought.

"Why are you here?" Jake wanted to know.

"Miktan is still watching the aysawtute," Lolet said, "and he told me to come back here to let you know that we found them. The children are well, but they cry a lot and one of the men threatens to kill them if they are not quiet. We have to do something, Jake, Miktan thinks these men will not hold their temper with the children much longer."

"Look, they took these kids with a reason. They want to have some leverage on the forest clan, for whatever good. Perhaps food, or some insurance that the forest clan won't attack them. They're in the clan's territory after all."

"Jake!" Rakan's voice came from halfway up the tree, making everyone look up. "We're back, we have what you asked for." The man disappeared again inside the trunk, and emerged not much later again, loaded with things. Tsu'wey was righ behind him, also carrying many things.

The two started putting everything on the ground and Jake inspected it all.

Puvomun was not pleased when he recognised several Sky people weapons. Unfortunately he understood that they might be needed.

Among all the metal things there also was one remarkable object: a piece of woven cloth, all white.

To Puvomun's surprise, Jake picked that up and handed it to the teacher.

"This is for you. As well as... this."

Puvomun held the cloth, and a radio. "I do not recall these items to be part of the plan, Jake."

"True. I am improvising these into it. I want you to go with Lolet to where Miktan keeps watch. When you are there, you tie this white sheet to a stick and then you go to the ayunil...tìranyu. Make sure you make a lot of noise so they hear you coming. Tell them not to shoot, that you carry a white flag."

Puvomun stared at Jake and Amhul stepped in front of him. "No! You cannot make Puvomun do this. He is not a warrior."

Rakan agreed. "Mllte, ma Jake, I agree with Amhul. I should do this!"

"No. I picked Puvomun for a reason. Most people from the base know him as a teacher, so they know he is not the dangerous kind. Anyone can carry a white flag, which is a symbol for peace with the Sky people, Rakan, but your Inglìsì is by far not as good as Puvomun's. Mankx, Baker and Louis won't speak a lot of Na'vi. I guess that's why they left Mendelson alive for this long."

"Tam tam, ma yawne," Puvomun said to Amhul. "Calm, my love." And to Jake: "What do you want me to do there?"

Jake explained: "Tell them that you are bringing them a radio. I am convinced that they are in a tight spot at the moment, and near desperate for a way out. They are stuck in the jungle with two children and they probably feel cornered. Tell them that you want to see the children and speak with them. Make certain they are well. And try to talk with Mendelson. Perhaps he can tell you something important in Na'vi, so you can sneak out information with the other three knowing it."

Puvomun understood this move, it was a good one. Provided it worked.

"Still I think he is not the one that should do this," Rakan insisted. "I can speak Inglìsì too."

"Too bad for you that I am giving the orders here, Rakan," Jake said, his voice sharp.

"I will go, Jake," said Puvomun. He turned to Amhul. "Do not worry, my love. I will come back to you."

"I know," she whispered, but her face showed too much worry. Her hands were on his chest.

"Puvomun. Be careful," Neytiri said as she touched Puvomun's arm for a moment.

"I will," he said as he looked at Neytiri for a moment.

Lolet talked to Rakan, quietly but clearly in a way that he understood. He nodded a few times, his face as made of stone. Then Lolet turned to Puvomun. "Are you ready to fly?"

"Srane. I am."

The two went up to the ikrans.

"Are you certain your ikran can fly that far again?" Puvomun asked Lolet.

"Yes, that's no problem," she assured him, and then called out her ikran's name.

Puvomun hung the radio over his shoulder with the leather strap and rolled up the white cloth so he could hold it under his arm. Then he called Kilvan and soon they flew over the forest, Lolet leading the way.

"You fly well, singer," Lolet joked as they were on their way.

"Kilvan does most of the work," Puvomun replied.

"True, but she flies very calm. That means you have a good connection with her," Lolet told him.

Puvomun was not sure how to react to that. "Amaya told us that our tsaheylu with the ikrans is so well because we helped them to survive."

Lolet agreed with that. "The way you got your ikrans is strange."

"But it is good that Amhul found them." Puvomun thought back of the moment Amhul had told him about the three ikrans she had found. It was not even so long ago, and yet it felt as if he had been flying with Kilvan for ages.

Lolet made her ikran fly faster. Kilvan did not need any encouragement and picked up the speed as well. They went too fast to talk now, and the forest flew by below them.

After a while, Lolet waved at Puvomun and let her ikran fly low over the treetops. Puvomun understood that they were coming close to their goal.

The two ikran aymaktoyu reached the place where Miktan's ikran sat waiting. They found good spots and then Puvomun followed Lolet through the forest, keeping away from wider open paths. They found Miktan high up in a tree.

"Ma Puvomun," the hunter greeted the teacher. "They are still where they stopped to make their camp. Some of them scream at each other a lot, but I cannot understand them here." He pointed to where the Dreamwalkers were.

Puvomun saw the camp. It was hardly concealed, he could find it easily. The men had a small fire, from which smoke curled lazily up to the sky. These people really had no idea where they were and what they were doing.

Lolet explained why Puvomun had come with her.

Miktan frowned, he did not think it a good plan either, but since there was nothing he was able to do about it, he wished Puvomun good luck. "We are here, with our tsko swizaw, my friend. If they make a problem, we can hit them from here."

"Try not to shoot," Puvomun cautioned the two. "They have their other bodies in the building, in the metal boxes. If they feel threatened here, they will destroy many lives."

Lolet and Miktan nodded and watched how the teacher went down the tree again.

When he was on the forest floor, Puvomun first looked for a good stick and when he found one he tied the cloth to it. He turned towards the camp of the crazy men and slowly started walking. Each step he made brought a small bit of worry.

[Puvomun]

35. Meeting the ayuniltìranyu

Puvomun held up the stick with the cloth. He assumed it was best to keep it in front of him, so the people would see that first, and in case they started shooting their weapons, they'd hit the cloth first.

When he was close enough to the camp, he slowly and clearly said: "I am Puvomun, singer and teacher of the Omatikaya. I have no weapons. I am bringing a message!"

"Stop where you are!" a rough voice yelled, "and show us your hands!"

Puvomun saw how one of the four men in the camp crawled up behind a bush and peeked through it. He held out the white flag and his empty hand, showing as clearly as he could that he was not carrying his bow or arrows.

"What's that over your shoulder?!" the voice asked.

"It is a radio. Jake told me to bring it to you."

"Right. Toss it over and get the hell out of here!" The man rose to his feet and stepped on the path. He held a gun in his hand and kept it pointed at Puvomun.

Yes, perhaps this was something Rakan would be better at after all.

"I am here also to talk with the children that you took. You will not have the radio until I have seen that they are well," Puvomun said.

"Piss off then, I am not dealing with people who tell me what to do."

"Mankx, calm down. Let him see the kids, no harm in that," another voice said.

"Shut up, Louis," the man called Mankx said, flashing his glance to somewhere behind him for a moment.

"No, you shut up, Mankx," a third voice said. "This time Louis is actually right. A radio comes in handy and if that guy wants to make sure the kids are fine, let him. Hell, you can keep your gun on him if you're scared. And for God's sake man, you heard him say he is a teacher."

The man, Mankx, still stood there, silent and clearly in doubt of what to do. Puvomun decided to just wait, while being alert on anything that might happen. He had already spotted several places he could jump to, to disappear into the forest.

Mankx then reached a decision. "Okay. Come forward, you can see the kids. As soon as you're here, I get the radio." He already held out his hand.

Puvomun slowly took the radio from his shoulder and held that in front of him as he slowly walked towards the Dreamwalker. To be on the safe side, he also held on to the stick with the white cloth. Apparently it did mean something good, even to these men.

Mankx snatched the radio from Puvomun's hand as quickly as he could and stepped backwards, holding up the gun. "No funny tricks, you hear? We're three against one, and even you can't win that."

Puvomun was not so certain if they were indeed three against one. The third voice had not sounded very sympathetic towards the man who had spoken second, Louis.

"The kids are there. Move it." Mankx shoved Puvomun in the back.

That was not necessary, because the camp was quite small and open, and he had seen the children already. They sat against a tree, their hands behind their back and cloth over their mouths. They probably were tied to the tree. There was a fourth man, also an uniltìranyu, he lay on the ground next to the children. That had to be Mendelson, the scientist.

Puvomun walked to the two children who looked up at him. He read the fear in their big eyes and saw the bruises and blood smears on their skin. He kneeled down and put the stick to the side. Then he took the cloth from the children's mouths.

"Tam, tam," he said, hoping they would indeed remain calm, "calm now."

"Are you coming to save us?" the girl asked. "We are scared and we want to go to our parents."

Puvomun wanted to sigh. How much did he want to do just that. "I am very sorry," he said, as he looked them over, trying to find if they were hurt badly. "I am only here to see if you are well. Did they beat you?"

The girl started sobbing, trying to hold the sound down. The boy just nodded.

Something prodded hard in Puvomun's back. He tensed up for a moment and held himself in control. He looked back and saw Mankx there, holding the gun close to his face.

"No talking unless we understand it."

The man on the ground, Mendelson, barked a laugh. "These children don't speak English, Mankx. How else should he talk to them than in their own language?"

"Shut up, Mendelson," Mankx was short in words. He underlined that he was serious by stepping away and kicking the man who was bound as well.

Louis, the man whom Puvomun suspected to be cross with the other two, laughed. "He got you there, Mankx. You're not taking this well."

Puvomun saw how Louis put his hand on his gun. "And yes, I still have this, so you are not going to do anything foolish." The teacher knew that the words were directed at Mankx.

"When will they let us go?" the boy asked Puvomun. "They don't let us get our own food, we have to eat the yom aketuwong, the alien food."

"It is true," Mendelson said, als in Na'vi. "They are ruining themselves as well with that. Listen, they are fighting among themselves. Man three is unhappy with the situation."

Puvomun understood that Mendelson avoided using their names, to prevent the three from figuring out that they were the subject of the talking. "Tell me your names," he told the children, "and tell me why you were at the lake when these men came."

"I am Siltere, but why do you want to know that?" the girl asked.

"And I am Tey'ran. We were at the lake because we wanted to go fishing," the boy added.

"Sìltsan, good. We have a plan to free you, but you have to stay calm for it to work," Puvomun said. He looked at Mendelson only for a moment, to make sure the man had heard it.

"You have to be strong, ma eveng," Puvomun told the children, " strong as Na'vi. I will try to come back as soon as I can, but I cannot make a promise."

The children nodded, and Mendelson acted as if the words were none of his concern.

"My name is Puvomun," the teacher reminded the children. "I don't know if that will help sometime, but it is good if you know."

"Irayo, ma Puvomun," the girl said, trying to smile bravely. Also the boy thanked him.

With pain in his heart Puvomun ignored the scientist, touched the cheeks of the children and got up again. In a sudden bout of madness, he said: "I want to take the children with me. You have hurt them and they need attention of a healer."

Mankx had sat down, and Baker was now holding the large gun. He walked up to Puvomun and laughed. "Yeah, sure, and you think we are so stupid? Better make sure you get out of this camp unharmed, teacher. We'll let you guys know what we want, and then it's up to you how well the kids are when you get them back."

"If you get them back," Mankx added, a harsh grin following his words.

Baker pushed the metal end of the gun into Puvomun's ribs. "Now go, before we keep you here as well."

The teacher nodded, picked up the stick with the white cloth and walked a few steps. Then he turned to the children one more time. "Eywa pxengahu, ma eveng." Eywa be with the three of you, children. He saw the small sign of recognition by Mendelson, who he purposely had included in the wish.

"Sure, now you go," Baker said, indicating with the gun that time was up. "And don't let the shrubbery hit you in the butt on your way out."

These words triggered a barking laugh from Mankx.

Puvomun was tempted to take the gun from the man called Baker and do something drastic, but he knew that it would be foolish. Instead he looked at the children and Mendelson one more time and then walked out of the camp, carrying the white flag.

As he went along, he heard the footsteps of one of the men behind him. Clearly they wanted to know how he had gotten there, and if he was alone, so Puvomun calmly made his way into the deeper forest, taking a difficult path to negotiate, climbing up lower trees, balancing over branches and doing other things to make it hard on his pursuer.

He stopped his strange journey through the trees and picked a piece of fruit from a low branch. As he ate it, he had time to look around and then he was satisfied to find that the man who had come after him had given up following him.

From his position it was not hard to find a quick route back to where he had last seen Miktan and Lolet, and once he had joined them, he told them what he had seen and heard.

"The man with the weapon followed you for a while," Miktan then said. "You did well in taking the strange way, he did not feel like following you for a long time. All these people are ayskxawng."

"They are. I know. But they have the radio. The children are well, but hurt. I will go back now. I will first tell the people from the forest clan that the children are well and then I go back to Kelutral. I assume that Jake will send other people to watch here in a while, so you can come back also."

"Yes, that is the best thing, ma Puvomun," Lolet agree. Miktan only nodded.

"Fly well, karyu," Lolet said before Puvomun left. "And Jake was right. Rakan could not have done this. But don't tell Rakan."

"I am sure that Rakan knows already, ma Lolet," the teacher said. "Eywa megnahu."

"Eywa ngahu, Puvomun."

The teacher singer then left the tree they were sitting in and hurried back to Kilvan and from there to the village, where people were waiting for what he had to say.

[Puvomun]

36. More of the plan

The forest clan was relieved to hear about the children. Txep'rea, the clan leader, thanked Puvomun for what he had done, and the the teacher hurried back home.

Puvomun quickly descended the high circular branches inside Kelutral. Once on the forest floor he was almost attacked by Amhul, who had been waiting for him. She was relieved and the nerves that had been going through her finally unwound as he held her.

he looked for Jake, but the clan leader was not there. He asked Amaya and Nusumea Tirea, but they had no idea where Jake was. Nor Neytiri for that matter.

"I assume they left," said Amaya, "but they did not tell us where they went. Nor when."

That was uncommon. Even Jake would inform at least someone before running off.

Puvomun found his answer from Mo'at, who told him that Jake and Neytiri had flown to the aysawtute base after another talk with Norm Spellman.

"If you have something important to tell him, you can go there," Mo'at suggested, "but that is up to you."

Puvomun thanked her and went back to Nusumea Tirea, who was working on some bracelets, while Amhul sat with him, looking and trying to make a new song. He talked to both of them, wondering what he should do now.

Nusumea said it would be best to find Jake as soon as possible. "If he has gone to the base, it is for his... plan." The healer hunter also seemed to have his doubts about it all. "And this is part of the plan."

"It is." Puvomun considered the options. "Do you want to go with me?"

Both others nodded. Nusumea said he would like very much to go along, to fly with his friends, and Amhul did not have to say a word, except that she told him to eat first.

After that, Amhul had already notified Mo'at and Amaya that they were leaving, the three went to their ikrans and soon they were in flight, setting course for the base once more.

Puvomun spoke about the events in the camp of the Dreamwalkers some more, answered questions that his friend and his mate had. They both were shocked about the way that the children and also the scientist Mendelson were treated, and Nusumea stressed that it was not just good but very important that they were going to tell Jake about this.

As they were on their way, Amhul looked out if they would see the medusa again, but the animal had sailed on apparently.

As they were on what looked like an important mission, Puvomun decided they would go to the base directly, instead of leaving the ikrans in the forest. Amhul and Nusumea Tirea agreed with that.

From a distance they already saw that Jake and Neytiri had done that as well. After touching down, the three went towards the large grey buildings.

There was a lot of activity on one side of a huge building. Puvomun pointed it out to the others. "The aysawtute have not been so busy lately."

"Indeed. I wonder what they are doing," Amhul said.

Jake and Neytiri were talking with the small, real Norm Spellman and all three looked up in surprise when the teachers and the healer hunter arrived.

"This must be good," Jake said, "when you come with a committee."

Puvomun ignored the remark and explained what had been going on during his visit to the camp of the Dreamwalkers. He also told about what Mendelson had said, that there were problems between the Dreamwalkers, Louis on one side and Baker and Mankx on the other.

"Very good observation," Jake nodded, "we may be able to use this. So the radio is there. Now we have to wait for their next move."

"Not entirely," Norm said, "you should tell them about what we are doing."

Before Jake had a chance to start talking, Norm continued: "When I was talking to Amhul and Puvomun, some days ago, she mentioned that we had to try and build an easier place to live, do you remember? Well, I talked about that here and after being declared entirely insane a few times, some of the people here started thinking and then they came up with some options that we're trying out now. Come, look."

The man was obviously rather excited about it, as he was almost running ahead. The three messengers followed him closely, curious to see what Norm was so thrilled about. He took them around the large building where Puvomun had already noticed the activity.

"We, well, they are putting up a new, separate building," Norm said as he pointed at the collection of metal sheets and wooden beams and wires. "They are working on adjusting solar panels so they work better with the sunlight here, they are moving a few parts of the life support systems over to get that to work there, and then we'll see if it is a place to live in."

Puvomun had the strong impression that he caught the most important bits from this load of words. They were building a house away from the buildings and they would try to live in that.

Amhul appreciated that very much. After all it had been her suggestion.

"We hope that it is ready and working soon," Norm carried on, "as we may need it for part of the, uhm, plan." The look that Norm sent to Jake did not show much confidence yet.

Puvomun and Amhul wondered about that statement. Obviously Jake had devised another few things that suddenly became part of the plan. Nusumea Tirea also looked slightly surprised.

"We'll see how it comes together," Jake said. "I will ask a few people from Kelutral to come here and help you put up the building. We're a bit taller, that might help."

"Yeah, that's good," Norm agreed, "we have some avatar drivers here that would be able to help as well."

The talk drifted off to all kinds of things Jake understood. Amhul and Puvomun slowly walked off, Nusumea not far behind them. Even Neytiri joined them after a while.

"They are talking Sky people things," she muttered, "and there are more pressing things we have to think of."

Jake noticed that the others had left though, and soon enough he was with his people again. "Things will work out here," he said. "Puvomun, thank you for going to these people. I had forgotten that."

"It is good, ma Olo'eytkan," Puvomun simply said. "It needed to be done."

"True. But still. We should go back now. There's some stuff I have to take care of."

"Jake?"

"Puvomun?"

"Maybe we should send other people to watch the ayuntilìranyu. Miktan and Lolet have been there for a long time already."

"Yeah, we should indeed."

After telling Norm that they were leaving, they went to their ikrans and started their journey home. As they were on their way, Nusumea suddenly stated that he needed Amhul and Puvomun to come with him.

Jake and Neytiri were a bit surprised by that. Amhul and Puvomun were more than just a bit surprised.

"Sure, just don't get into trouble," the clan leader said. "Go if you have to, but don't stay away too long, I don't know when I will need you people again."

The small group split up. The teachers followed Nusumea Tirea, who made Rìk turn sharply away from their previous route. As the teachers asked why he did this he simply told them that they would see once they had arrived.

Their journey ended in a part of the forest where neither teacher had ever been. It was a place where not many people went, as there was nothing of interest, so why Nusumea took them there was quite the riddle.

To their surprise they came to a field where many small plants grew, plants that they knew of but had never seen in such abundance. And to make the surprise even larger, Amaya came walking along to them.

"Ah," Nusumea said with a smile. "You are already here."

"Srane. I have been waiting for you as you asked," the young woman said. "And I am curious why we are here."

"So are we," Puvomun pitched in, "we asked him and he did not say much."

"I will, soon," the healer hunter said with a calm smile. "Come with me." He led the three people through the field with plants, occasionally picking up something or other. In a certain spot he sat down and invited the others to do so as well.

"I took you here to tell you a few things about these plants," Nusumea said as he held up a few leaves. "They are not good to use in food, so nobody comes near them." He crushed one of the leaves and held out his hand. "And if you smell them..."

They all took a whiff in turn and made a face. The scent from the leaf was awful, and Amaya voiced her opinion about that so loudly that the teachers had to laugh. But they agreed, it was quite bad.

Nusumea let Amaya rant about the smell. When she was done, he said: "The trick is that when you put these leaves in boiling water, they make the water a very strong sleep medicin. And the smell of the leaves will not be in the water."

"You could have told us that without making us smell that," Amaya growled.

"Srane, I could have. But then you would have this problem..." Nusumea held up two more leaves. "Which one is the sleep medicin?"

Puvomun stared at the two leaves. They were identical. Well, almost. Or exactly?

"Uhm..." Amaya started to point to Nusumea's left hand. Then she changed her mind. And then she dropped her hand. "Both are?"

Nusumea looked at the teachers. "Do you know?"

Neither of them had an idea.

"That is why I broke the leaf. Then you can smell." He broke another leaf and let them smell that. It smelled sweet. "This one will just make the water taste sweet. For obvious reasons. Just remember the shape of these leaves."

Nusumea handed all of them a leaf.

"If you see it, you can be quite certain that both plants are together, the sweet one and the sleeper. You just need to smell which leaf you have."

"But do you fall asleep when you smell this foul one often?" Amhul asked.

"Kehe. No. You will just begin to hate the smell even more," the healer hunter grinned. "This is what I wanted you to know. I don't know why, but this knowledge might come in handy at times. The more since we are facing this strange situation now."

"Thank you, brother," said the teacher as he got up. "I hope we will not need this, but as you say, it is good to know."

Then Amaya asked: "Nusumea... can you tell these leaves apart without breaking them?"

"Srane. Why?"

"Because you broke the stinky one without hesitating. How did you know?"

"The leaves tell me," he said.

Amaya and also the teachers looked at Nusumea, and Amaya just was able to say: "Oh..."

Puvomun wondered about something. "Do you think Kilvan would be strong enough to carry me and Amaya home?"

Nusumea said that the ikran would certainly be strong enough. "But of course Amaya would have to want to fly with you, ma tsmukan."

"Could I really?" Amaya asked, her eyes big and her face wishing.

"You can. Come with us, and you will fly, the way I'awn and Txonway let us fly," Puvomun said.

[Puvomun]

37. All things ikran

"Are you sitting comfortably?" Puvomun asked.

"Uh... I am sitting." Amaya's voice said enough.

Puvomun remembered how uncomfortable he had been on the back of Txonway's ikran, but it had been worth it. "Hold on tight."

Nusumea had suggested that Kilvan would leave last, so she did not have to fly around and wait too long with two riders. He and Amhul had already left the tree, and now Kilvan jumped, extended her wings, and they were in the air as well.

Amaya shrieked as they went and Puvomun grinned. He imagined that Txonway had probably grinned as well, on that first flight.

Soon they were flying level, Kilvan amidst Taw and Rìk, and Amaya relaxed, allowing Puvomun to breathe again in a more normal way. She'd been holding on very tightly.

"We are flying!" Amaya yelled in his ear.

"I know, and I can hear you just fine," Puvomun told Amaya. He pointed out a few landmarks he knew. "And look over there. Vitrautral, the Tree of Souls."

They reached the sacred place soon, and took their time soaring over the immense stone arches and the huge tree. Amaya was very excited and kept telling Puvomun what she saw.

Then they turned and headed towards their home.

All too soon for Amaya the flight was over. As Puvomun helped her slide down Kilvan's shoulder and get onto the wide branch, she told him that she was trembling all over.

"I was really scared, ma Puvomun, but I loved it. I don't know how to thank you!"

Puvomun slid down to the branch also. He patted Kilvan's strong neck. "Irayo, ma Kilvan," he whispered, "for all the flying you did. Now you go and rest." He broke tsaheylu with his eyes closed, and as he and Amaya then stepped back, Kilvan flew up into the highest part of Kelutral.

"That was so wonderful to see," Amaya whispered. "How you and she are one, and how you talk with her."

"It's special, yes," Puvomun agreed.

On the way down they caught up with Amhul, who told them that Nusumea had already gone ahead.

"I think he was hungry," she grinned.

When they came down, all people were indeed around the fire.

"You are just in time," Ekirä grinned, "we are about to eat everything. Look there, Ikranari is our nantangtsyip!" She pointed at Ikranari, who was doing his best to stuff his mouth full with both hands.

The young boy looked up, surprised, as he heard his name. When he saw Puvomun, he grinned with all of his face. "Kaltxì, ma koaka tsmukan!"

"Kaltxì, ma 'ewana tsmukan," Puvomun said as he sat down with the young one. "Hello, little brother, do you think you can spare a few bites for Amhul and me?"

Everyone around them laughed, Ikranari loudest of all.

Ikranari was about to get up and fetch food for the teachers, but Puvomun held him back. "No, no, eat. We'll find something."

As they sat, they learnt that Jake had asked a few people to head over to where Lolet and Miktan were, to relieve them from their watch. "I wonder, could you lead them there? It's pretty difficult to find the spot when you've not been there, I assume."

Puvomun had to let that sink in for a moment. He had already been there once, he'd been to the base, and now another flight? He felt as if he would be more in the air than on the ground today. And also he wished he had not offered that flight to Amaya. Kilvan might be tired.

"Yes, I will take them there."

-=-=-

Puvomun, Lolet and Miktan returned to the village again when darkness was about to envelope the forest.

"No more flying today, ma Kilvan," he promised his ikran. They both were tired now.

"You will do nothing anymore," Amhul said, "you've been too busy today." She walked away after making sure Puvomun was sitting somewhere and returned with a cup of kava. There still was some left. "Here. You will drink this."

Puvomun was surprised. He hardly ever drank kava.

"It will help you relax, ma yawne," Amhul told him. "Nusumea and Eyamsiyu have been busy with the strange musical instrument again. They have something that makes sound now, but it needs work to become music. No, stay here!"

Amhul held Puvomun back as he wanted to get up and have a look at what the two had made so far. "You did enough for today, and they can do that themselves."

Jake laughed, as he had heard Amhul's words. He had been listening to Miktan and Lolet. "Just you keep him relaxed, Amhul," Jake commented, "he needs that."

Neytiri grinned and sat with the teachers for a while. "Amaya was really happy. You did take a risk, Puvomun, taking her to fly on Kilvan. When there is a strong wind and your ikran moves in a strange way, you know that because of tsaheylu and you can move accordingly, but your passenger will be in trouble."

Puvomun looked at Neytiri. "I had not thought of that." The sudden awareness left him feeling guilty.

Neytiri seemed to understand him. "Don't worry. It all went well. I just felt I had to tell you this, so you know for a next time. You made her very happy, and that is good." She smiled and then left them, to talk to a few other people.

Later that evening Amhul woke up Puvomun and told him that their hammock was a better place to sleep.

-=-=-

The next morning, Puvomun learnt that Lolet and Miktan had witnessed a lot of arguing and yelling in the camp of the Dreamwalkers. They had not understood what it had been about, but the men had not been of one mind. It was also surprising that they had not used the radio yet. Perhaps they could not agree on what they wanted in exchange for the children. That would be bad, because it would put the children, and also Mendelson, in more danger eventually.

He tried to put these worrying thoughts aside as he and Amhul took some of the older children for some shooting lessons. Ekirä joined the group and promised she would keep an eye on Amhul.

Amhul grinned and looked at Puvomun for a moment, and he grinned back. Ekirä would be surprised.

After the lesson, on the way back, Ekirä did indeed talk with Amhul. Puvomun did not hear what they said, as he was paying attention to the children. Especially Ikranari and Txetse, who had competed in shooting and ended in a draw, needed to be looked after, because now they tried to settle their match with words and shouting about how good their archery skills were.

The two boys were still arguing about it when they came into the village, and Puvomun warned them not to try their shooting alone. He knew Txetse would get funny ideas like that, and this particular one could end up with children or adults hurt.

The boys promised they would put away their tsko swizaw.

"Can we see your ikran then?" Ikranari asked.

Puvomun was slightly surprised by that request. The children usually did not ask hunters for that. But then, he and Amhul were no hunters.

"I will have to see about that," the teacher said. He felt he had to talk to Neytiri or another of the experienced ikran maktoyu before doing that.

"WOU!" the children cried as they ran to put away their bows.

"You played mean," Ekirä then surprised Puvomun. "I saw how she is shooting now, and she told me what you did. I can't teach her in a better way than that, ma Puvomun. It is a good thing you only do that with Amhul."

He laughed, remembering how they had made tsaheylu for the shooting lesson. "It worked well, though."

"It did." Ekirä grinned. "I will watch you then, and tell you how to shoot better, so you can teach Amhul again."

Amhul heard that and laughed also. "Maybe you can tell us both then, wouldn't that be easier?"

Puvomun had fun with that as well. Then he went to find Neytiri, who was sitting near Jake. Jake was talking in the radio, with Norm.

Puvomun asked her about the children seeing Kilvan, and perhaps Taw.

"You can do that, of course. But do not take too many children to see them at once. Three or four is good. And remember that they should not look into their eyes. Keep them far enough from the ikrans."

Puvomun asked her why that was, not looking in their eyes.

"An ikran will interpret that as a threat when its rider is there, and it will defend its rider," she explained.

The teacher understood the reason all too well. An ikran was a formidable opponent to fight, he was convinced of that.

"Irayo, ma Neytiri," he said and walked back to Amhul, who was surrounded by children again. The children cheered when he told them they could see the ikrans, in small groups.

In small groups, they took the children up. Txetse was one of the few who wanted to get closer to Taw. Too close. Taw snapped at the child, much to Amhul's shock, but Puvomun was there as well, and yanked the boy back.

"I told you not to be stupid, Txetse," he told the boy. "You know you should not go too close, we told you that the ikran will not like that, and what do you do? You try to get your head bitten off."

Txetse looked at the teacher, his eyes full of fear. He just nodded.

Ikranari put an arm around the his friend's shoulders. "Nga lu nìltsan, srak? You are well, aren't you?"

Txetse nodded and managed a grin. "Yes. I am fine."

The boy clearly had learnt a lesson in paying attention.

[Puvomun]

38. Things start blowing up

Jake did not look pleased.

Nusumea sat with the man and Neytiri and caught Puvomun's eye as the teacher and his mate came down with the last group of children, from ikran watching. It was obvious that there was need for a talk of the council, so Puvomun asked Amhul to deal with the children and walked to Nusumea.

"Is there a problem?"

Jake muttered something under his breath.

"There was a talk with one of the ayuniltìranyu," Nusumea explained in clearer language. "They told us what they want."

"And they know they can forget about that," Jake tossed in. "I think they are infected by brain worms or so."

Puvomun learnt that Mankx had done the talking on behalf of the stray Dreamwalkers. They demanded use of a large part of the base, which they wanted to use as a starting point to scan the moon for places where they could get unobtanium.

"They say they want to look for places where no people are living," Jake said. "They're weak in the head, if they have not figured out by now that there are clans everywhere. No way they will find a place to dig without getting in someone's way."

"And you told them this," Puvomun assumed.

"I did, several times, but Mankx did not listen. He just kept going on, saying that they did not want this all and that we can work out all the problems."

"Jake told him that taking away the bombs in the base would be a good start, but Mankx does not want that. He fears for their lives," Neytiri added.

"And while he fears for his life, he threatens that of all the others." Jake shook his head. "We're really having a situation here. At least Norm had good news, the work on that separate building is going well and they're installing some basic air generators in there now. Soon they will know if it works."

The radio beeped and then a voice screamed from it. It was the voice of Mankx, Puvomun recognised it.

"Sully, call off your goddamn savages!!"

A shock ran through all who were near and heard the words. Jake grabbed the radio.

"Mankx, what are you talking about?"

"Some of your guys launched an attack on our camp, damn you! I thought we had a deal or so, but this is making things hard. We've been benevolent, we only shot four of them, but next time the kids will face the consequences!"

A blip from the radio told them that the man had ended the talking.

Puvomun stared at Jake, not understanding. Jake did not understand either, obviously.

"We have to go over there and see what-"

Another blip from the radio.

"Jake. Are you there?" It was the voice of Norm Spellman.

"Yeah, what?"

"A bomb just went off here."

Silence, while another shock went through the people around.

"What? A bomb?"

There was some disturbance coming from the radio and some distant talking and shouting. Then Norm spoke again. "Yeah. We don't know why or what, but a few moments ago a hangar was blown up."

Jake closed his eyes for a moment. "Norm... I think this was a warning from the guys who are with Mankx. We just heard them and it seems that a clan attacked them in the forest. Are there people hurt over where you are? Can you handle what happened?"

"So far we got it here, Jake, there were no people near that hangar as far as we know. Some groups are going out to check the area, see if nothing vital's been hit or blasted. I think we're fine for now. Why the hell would they blast a bomb here when they're attacked over there?" Norm sounded stressed.

"To let us know that they can hit us in two places at the same time. Mankx said they shot four Na'vi. I want to go down there to see what's wrong, what happened, and kick the butt of the people who started this."

"Be careful, man, these people have lost their minds," Norm said. "We'll keep in touch."

"Good luck there, Norm." Jake put down the radio. "Damn. We need a plan, and fast." He looked around. "Neytiri. You come with me. Puvomun, you come too. And someone find Lolet and Rakan, and also Miktan and Tsu'wey we may need them as backup."

Puvomun did not understand what kind of backup Jake had in mind, but he just nodded. "I will tell Amhul-"

"I will do that, my friend," said Nusumea. "Just be careful. I will find the others for you, Jake." He ran off.

"Everyone, get your bows. We're leaving as fast as we can."

Rapidly everyone got ready to depart, and once Lolet and Rakan had joined the group, they were off.

They flew very fast and also quite low. The treetops raced along beneath them, sometimes they had to make quick adjustments to their flight path to avoid hitting a few of the higher ones.

Puvomun kept very low, in the stance he had seen before, which helped to remain somewhat relaxed. Was this how people felt when they went to fight, he wondered. If so, he did not envy them. This was not a way of flying that he liked, even while he understood the need for this high pace.

When they came closer to the area that held the Dreamwalker camp, Lolet took the lead, as she knew where to go.

Jake beckoned everyone to slow down, and then he called out what he expected everyone to do.

"Lolet, Rakan, Tsu'wey. You go to the forest clan and the hill clan. See if you can find out who is responsible for the attack and tell them that I will personally come deal with them once this mess is cleaned up. Miktan, Puvomun, lead to where our people are keeping watch."

The last leg of the trip was a short one, and soon the four people made their way to the hiding place of the two Omatikaya who kept an eye on the camp.

These two, Ateyo was one of them, were shocked by the brutal killing that had suddenly gone on.

"We did not see them coming, as we looked at the camp. They were suddenly there."

"Did you see what clan they were from?" Jake asked.

"Hill clan," the two men said, without a doubt.

Puvomun could not be surprised. The Dreamwalkers had killed so many of them with their bombs, the hill clan had a good reason to attack. The forest clan, he thought, had a good reason not to attack, as the two children were still in the camp.

"Puvomun, you and I go to talk to them. They know you and me." Jake looked determined.

"I come too," Neytiri decided.

"No. You stay. We don't want to crowd them. When we come in with too many, they will think it's another attack and they come out shooting. Trust me, I know the kind." Jake held Neytiri's arm and looked stern.

"Hrah," Neytiri said, shaking her head once. She looked displeased but accepted Jake's words. "Go. Don't get killed."

Puvomun started down the tree, followed by Jake. At the foot of the tree, Puvomun took off his bow and arrows.

"Why do you do that?"

"Last time they saw me unarmed. I want them to see me that way again. That way they know me."

"Oh, right. Good thinking. Now let's go."

As they walked along the narrow path, they came across three bodies of Na'vi. Puvomun recognised the markings of the hill clan and shook his head. He kneeled down with each of them and said a short wish for the soul to join with Eywa. It was all he had time for.

They had gone but a few more steps when they heard a shot.

Puvomun threw himself to the ground. Jake jumped among the trees.

"Not another step!" It was Baker's voice. "Haven't you had enough?!"

"Hold your fire!" Jake called out. "I'm Jake Sully, and with me is Puvomun!"

"What the hell do you want here?!"

"We want to know what happened. Mankx said we did this, but we had no idea. It was another clan!"

Baker was silent for a while. Then he called over: "Show yourselves. And come over slowly!"

Puvomun looked at Jake, who nodded. Slowly he got to his feet and together they walked over the path towards the camp that lay barely hidden behind a few bushes.

As they were near the camp, they saw Baker, holding a gun to Siltere's head. The girl was terrified.

"No funnies, or the kid's gone," Baker growled.

"I have no weapons," said Puvomun, spreading his arms.

"And I'm not here to hurt people," Jake stated, holding up his hands. "We just want to see how this happened."

"You should know," Baker said, yanking Siltere's head to the side before he pushed her away. "They're your people."

Siltere fell to the ground and did not move.

"As I said, they are from another clan, with a different leader." Jake tried to keep calm.

"They'll have to do better if they want their kids back alive," Mankx said as he came closer.

Puvomun noticed that the man limped. A bloody wound showed on his upper leg. He did not care about that. Calmly he moved to Siltere and kneeled with her. None of the Dreamwalkers paid him any attention.

"Siltere. Are you hurt?" the teacher asked as he helped her sit up.

"No. Yes." The girl was very confused. "Scared."

Puvomun saw that the number of marks on her body were many more than when he had first seen her. The men had beaten her again. He worried about Tey'ran, the boy. "Hold still," he said as he picked Siltere up from the ground and then he carried her to where Tey'ran sat. The boy looked unconscious, and also severely beaten.

As Puvomun put the girl down he noticed that Mendelson was not where he had been. He could not even locate the man.

Jake in the meantime was trying to explain that the attack had not been launched by the forest clan...

[Puvomun]

39. These guys are nuts

"Listen," Jake said, "we had no hand in this attack. You and we are trying to work this out in some civil way, right? Why would we then do something stupid like this while we know there are children here? I mean, you blew up a hangar on the base. We know about that. You have more bombs stashed away. Come on, guys, we're not crazy and nobody at the base has a death wish."

Puvomun had managed to calm down Siltere. He looked at Tey'ran whose body had been abused as well. The teacher suspected that boots had been used to inflict most of the injuries and had to bite away a surge of rage. Instead he looked back and asked if Siltere could have some water. She was clearly very thirsty.

"No way," Mankx barked.

Baker looked uncertain.

"Hey, catch!" Louis called to Puvomun, and threw a bottle of water.

"Irayo. Thank you."

As he let Siltere drink, Mankx started ranting at Louis for giving the water. Louis did not seem very impressed.

"If these kids die, there is one more clan that comes out to chew our asses, Mankx," he replied after the outburst. "We need them alive, remember? I told you a few times already but something's affected your brain I think."

Puvomun asked Siltere if she knew where the other man was, without mentioning his name.

"They tied him and put him behind the bushes on the other side of the camp," the girl whispered as she looked at the bottle, for some more water. "He was talking too much with us, they said."

Puvomun used some water to wake up Tey'ran, who moaned terribly when he tried to move.

"Calm, Tey'ran, tam tam, I have water for you to drink."

Mankx had finished cursing Louis and turned to Jake again. "Okay, you had your say, Sully. Now pack up your teacher and head out. We'll call you when we have our demands worked out."

"Worked out? I thought you had told Norm-" Jake started when Baker interrupted him.

"Yeah, we talked to him. But we may want some more, so don't think we're done yet. And call off your savages, we don't want to waste our ammo on them. All the noise frightens the kids, you know."

Barker and Mankx laughed, the sound raw and almost animal.

"Oh, and one more thing, Sully. Before you or Spellman get any funny plans about getting to us in the link-room... it's good if you all know that we all have a deadman's switch with us. Disturb one of us and the other will go back to his body and hit the detonator."

Jake remained silent. Puvomun heard the words and understood that there was another threat in them.

"Will they kill us?" Siltere asked.

"Kehe, they won't. We won't let them," Puvomun tried to reassure her.

"But you have to leave again," Siltere said, as tears started to form in her eyes. "How can you stop them when you are not here?"

"Hey! Enough blabbing there!" Louis, to Puvomun's surprise, came closer and pointed a gun at him. "Move back. Further. Further!"

As Puvomun stood far from the children, Louis made sure the two were tied to the tree securely. Tey'ran had passed out again. Pain tore through the teacher as he saw what happened, and he realised how helpless he was at that moment. The tree was near the middle of the camp, and there were fire pits around, so it would be impossible to cut the children free in the night without being seen.

"Puvomun? Come. We're leaving," Jake shook him back to reality. "We've said what we wanted to say."

"Sìltsan, ma Jake," Puvomun nodded. With difficulty he looked one more time at Siltere and felt a new wave of anger and rage rush through him. He clenched his fists and walked away, the girl's crying in his ears.

Walking back, Jake caught up with the teacher. "Man, I want to rip their throats out," the Olo'eyktan confessed. "I can't believe what they're doing. And irayo, for coming along and taking care of these children, Puvomun."

"I wish I could have done more, ma Jake."

Upon their return to the waiting people, Jake reported what they had seen, said and heard. "So who's going to stay and keep watch?" he then asked.

Ateyo and Miktan said they'd stay, so the others went to their ikrans and started the journey home, hoping that Lolet and the others would be there, with hopefully some good news.

-=-=-

They heard Rakan's loud voice as they came walking to the centre area of the village.

"They're here alright," Jake said.

The hill clan people had admitted to Lolet and the others that indeed they had taken up the weapons against the Dreamwalkers. They needed a revenge for the deaths these men had caused and they had gotten it.

"We asked if more dead Na'vi had made it better for them," Lolet said, "and if they knew there were two forest clan children in the aysawtute camp.They didn't."

"I think they were still proud of what they had done," Rakan said. "Their ideas towards Eywa are strange, ma Jake."

"I think this had nothing to do with Eywa, Rakan. This was senseless blood lust. I think it is time to talk with Norm again..."

Jake fetched the radio and waited for someone to get Norm.

"Jake. Norm here. What's new?"

After telling Norm what had happened, Jake asked how things were progressing at Norm's side. That sounded all promising: the building was closed and airtight, the air-systems were in place and the first test runs had looked good.

"I think we are making faster progress than we had thought, Jake," Norm said. "Do you think you can stall them for much longer?"

"I don't know, Norm. They said something about more things they want. Seems that their idea of getting part of the base for their own plans isn't enough."

"Jesus, these guys are nuts. Perhaps it is a plan that you come over here, Jake. If you have time. There are a few things some of us want to discuss with you."

Jake looked around, to the people who were his council, and the others that were there. "Someone here need me?" he asked. There were only shaking heads and the occasional "kehe". "Looks like I can take the rest of the day off, Norm. I'm coming over. And Neytiri will come along too, if she wants, is that okay?"

"I have no time," Neytiri snapped at him. "You go alone. You are good at going alone." She had not yet forgiven him that she had to stay and wait in the tree.

"Sure, Jake. I'll see you when you get here."

"See you, Norm." Jake put away the radio. "Right. I'm going there. If something comes up here, you know where to find me. Send someone fast in that case." He looked at Neytiri who still stared at the sand at her feet. "I'm going."

"I know. Go." Neytiri's dragon lady was showing again.

"Go with him, Neytiri," Amhul said, who was with the group as well. "Keep him out of trouble."

A shimmer of a grin played over Neytiri's features for a very short time. "Srane. I will have to." She veered up and looked at Jake. "Come, we go. And don't you tell me what to do. I know better than you."

As they walked off, grins spread through the group as Neytiri's comments became louder and Jake's responses more feeble.

Puvomun decided that he had the rest of the day off again, unless there was some sign that he had to go out again. Together with Amhul he spent some time singing songs with the children and then they went into the forest and sat together. There Puvomun talked with her about what he had seen at the camp of the Dreamwalkers.

He felt helpless and inadequate. Each time a memory of the two children came up it screamed at him, and it tore the man apart. Amhul held him and talked to him. He heard her voice, and that was the only thing that seemed to help him through the horror that he was facing.

When he finally had lived through the terrors, Puvomun felt exhausted. He lay on the ground, with Amhuls hands on his shoulder and arm as she sat with him, watching him, keeping him safe.

"You did many good things, ma yawne," she whispered to him. "Please, ma oeyä Puvomun, remember you are not a warrior who does this. You are a teacher and a singer who cares."

They were in the forest for a long time. When Puvomun finally sat up, he felt empty and in a strange kind of pain, but somehow the horror had been replaced by a form of peace, or acceptance.

Amhul and Puvomun walked back to Kelutral, hand in hand, silently. Before they left the trees, Puvomun pulled his mate into a tender hug.

"Thank you for being there for me, ma Amhul, when I need you."

"You need not say that, my love, ma yawne," she replied, "you do that for me as well."

"I may not need to say it, but it is good to say it. It leaves no doubt." Puvomun bent his head until their foreheads touched.

They emerged from the woods and walked to the fire that burnt. The sun was far gone already, and a crowd had gathered around the fire, while food was being prepared. Puvomun and Amhul found place to sit with Nusumea and Amaya.

"Some people wanted to go looking for you two," Amaya said. "We told them that you would be fine."

Nusumea Tirea nodded. "It was clear that this is very difficult for you both. You need time to deal with it."

"You know," Amaya said, "last night I had a very strange dream." She peeked over at Muzer, who sat on the other side of the fire, occupying himself with a piece of Yerik meat. Raising her voice just enough for him to hear, Amaya continued: "It was a very strange dream that happened at the waterfalls near our old home. I saw Muzer hanging from a cliff. Can you believe that?"

Muzer glared at her and pretended to throw something at her. "I don't go near these things. You know that."

[Puvomun]

40. Good news.

Amaya laughed, as did several others. Sometimes she just picked someone to tease, and this evening it had been Muzer. Then she became more serious again. "I heard what happened today. It made me sad."

"It made many people sad," Amhul replied for Puvomun.

"It is strange that Jake has not returned yet," Nusumea remarked.

That was indeed unusual, Puvomun agreed.

"There must be a good reason," Amaya voiced her thoughts on that.

"My daughter is with him," Mo'at said. She looked slightly puzzled when that remark caused many people to laugh. When she understood why, she added: "He will not get into any harm then."

"The way they were squabbling when they left, Jake does not need more harm," Rakan agreed, causing even more laughter.

From the crown of their Hometree the coarse cries of a few ikrans came down, and not much later Neytiri and Jake joined the others.

"Hey guys," Jake said, his usual greeting after spending too long with the Sky people. "We have some good news."

That made everyone listen up. In vain, unfortunately, because the Olo'eyktan and his mate first needed food, as if they had not eaten yet all day.

While Jake was eating, he told the good news, though, in blurts and occasionally a bit incoherent. It amounted to that the new building the Sky people had built, with the help of some of the villagers, had proven to be safe to live in for them.

"Of course, this does not mean it is an all perfect solution, but it proves that there are ways for the Sky people to live outside their large buildings," Jake said.

Amhul looked surprised. Did this mean that the aysawtute were really looking for a way to leave their horrible base?

Jake did not mention anything along those lines though. "Norm and some technicians are looking in a few more things, and when they are in the clear about that, we can put the next step of our plan into action."

Puvomun doubted that he knew what step that would be. The 'plan' had the uncanny habit of changing several times a day without notice.

"I just hope they get that all done," Jake said, still not making much sense.

As Rakan was about to ask Jake something, the radio crackled.

"Sully. You better be there." It was unmistakably the voice of Mankx, the man with the leg wound.

"Mankx. Yes, I am here."

There was a silence for a moment, then Mankx said: "We have new demands. Listen carefully, I am not going to say this again. We want someone to get in touch with Earth. I don't give a damn how you do it, just do it. They have to send a ship to pick us up."

Puvomun sat up and wondered about that. Dr. Grace and many others had told him that the journey from 'Rrta to their world took a very long time.

"We want to get off this bloody moon as fast as we can, so you better hurry in making the call. Just think of us as ETs that want to get home." The man laughed a coarse laugh. Apparently he had said something funny, but Jake did not laugh.

"Mankx, I can't get that done in a day, you realise that, right? I'll call the people at the base and tell them what you want. They have better equipment." Jake held up his hand, so nobody would say a word.

"You do that. Or we start shooting kids here."

A crack from the radio told Puvomun that the man had ended the talking.

Jake switched his radio off, looked at Neytiri and said: "He's crazy. He's gone off the bridge."

At least most of the villagers knew what 'crazy' meant, and they all agreed with that.

"You cannot ask the people on the base to call 'Rrta, ma Jake," Neytiri said.

"I know, but apparently Mankx has no idea anymore. I don't know why none of the others have told him that." Jake then used the radio to talk to someone on the Sky people base and informed them about the skxawnga request that the stray Dreamwalkers had made.

"They're definitely insane," the female voice from the base replied. "What do we do with this?"

"Nothing," Jake told her. "Just let everyone know about this, and if someone gets to talk to Mankx or so, tell them that the request is sent out and that a ship is on its way, or something like that. As long as we can keep them on a leash like that, we're buying time."

"Okay, Jake, thanks for letting us know. I'll go place that call to Earth now." The woman laughed a bit before the conversation ended.

"Damn, I wish I knew what's going on there," Jake then shared with the clan. "I guess we'll not find soon."

"I think they are becoming dangerous, Jake," Neytiri said.

"Yeah. Even more so," Jake agreed.

The clan talked some more about the strange events that were going on. Puvomun tried to coax Jake into telling more about what was going on at the Sky people base, with the separate building, but that got him nothing but another one of Jake's stupid grins and the promise that everyone would find out in due time.

-=-=-

The next morning, Jake was on the radio again, talking to a very annoyed Mankx. The man obviously had not slept well, if at all, and the talking from his side was strange, incoherent and emotional.

Puvomun and Amhul, who sat near when the bizarre conversation went on, were not sure what to think of it, the more when Jake started looking slightly worried about what turned into a monologue of the insane man on the other end.

Suddenly Mankx fell silent and everyone in earshot looked up. Then another voice talked. It was Baker.

"Baker here. I had to calm down Mankx, he's having a hard time with his leg. This thing with the call to Earth...How much of that's true?"

Jake thought fast. "I relayed the message to the base, Baker. That's all I can do from here."

"Do you think they can reach Earth from here? I mean, it's a f*** long stretch." Baker's voice was slightly wavering. "It took a long time to get here too."

Jake closed his eyes, thinking even faster, Puvomun was certain of that.

"Listen, Baker. There are some very powerful transmitters on the base, and these signals go really fast. I am convinced there are more ships around here, within lightyears, so they can get the message in a matter of days."

Puvomun saw that Jake was grasping for words, trying to weave a credible story together. If only there was a way to help the man...

"And once a ship gets the message, they will easily be able to get here soon as well."

"You're not bulls*** me, are you?" Baker asked. "We're close to two clans here and we have enough stuff with us to blow them up twice. And you know we will do that."

"Baker, listen. You have us by the throat with all your bombs everywhere, and we know that." Jake started pacing, as if that helped him come up with more words. "We are doing everything we can to get your demands worked out. You yourself said that you know how big space is, that it will take a while, to get ships and messages around. If you want I will go to the base myself and tell them to send the message again. Every hour even."

"Yeah, you do that, monkey boy," Baker laughed, "I love that idea, you jumping when we pull a string. You go to that base and tell them. And tell you what, you will walk there! No flying your dinosaur bird, you will walk up there and tell them. And then you will walk back. Got that?"

"I got that, Baker. I'll start walking after ending this talk."

"Good. I'm done talking. Have a nice walk, monkey boy." The radio fell silent.

"You are going to walk to the base?" someone asked.

"Not in your life, ma 'eylan," Jake grinned. "He can't check what I am doing. As long as he thinks I am walking, we have more time." He turned to Neytiri. "I'm not going near the radio for the coming day. If someone comes on over it, you will have to answer it. And give it to me when it's someone from the base."

Neytiri nodded.

Jake then looked at Puvomun and Nusumea. "And I have work for you two."

-=-=-

The two council members went up Kelutral, to call their ikrans.

"Do you think this is part of a real plan?" Puvomun asked Nusumea. "Or did he just think of that now?"

"Oe ke omum, ma tsmukan, I don't know. We can only go to the base and tell the people what he told us. And look at what he asked us to look at."

"Srane. But it all sounds very wild. I hope this goes well, ma Nusumea. Once this starts to go its course, there is not much anyone can do to stop it."

The healer hunter nodded. "Indeed. But when nothing happens, many people will die."

"Srane."

They called their ikrans and went on their way to the Sky people base.