DR. RUTH CARSON grew up hearing about Pandora as a kid, hearing of the alien moon that promised beauty and awe.
Coming from the lower class in the States, she fought tooth and nail to provide any opportunity to distance herself from the hard life s...
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TSU'TEY returned to the Tree of Voices on his own a few nights after bringing the woman with him, a veil of uncertainty and anticipation hovering over his mind. With every cluster of the glowing tendrils he passed while padding along the soft moss covered ground, he felt heavier, sluggish. It had been weeks since he'd last held communion to Sylwanin. To see her and perhaps ease the ever festering hold of grief that had often drove his anger, drove his desire to eradicate all the skypeople. He hadn't been here on his own to commune with her since he'd begun training Ruth.
A part of him held guilt over his lack of visitation since taking on the responsibility of teaching the skyperson woman, a decision he'd made out of a mixture of curiosity and kindness considering he knew her. Nevertheless, the man felt that speaking to his lost love would clear his conscious and perhaps give him direction. It was everything he needed now when he was questioning his honor and duty as the next Olo'eyktan, his duty to mating with Neytiri and leading a life he wasn't all too sure he wanted. All because of a woman with demon-blood that had begun to make him question his stance on the skypeople and their inherit evil.
With no visibility of the looming planet Pandora clung to in the sky, the night came with a promise of rain with the overcast of clouds. Stopping near a group of glowing tendrils, Tsu'tey looked toward the night sky as his ears pinned back and he sighed. Retrieving his braid from his back, he lifted the pink swirling tendrils to view as they pushed aside the hair that surrounded them, reaching and ready to grab the nearest object he put them to.
Closing his eyes and drawing a breath through his nose, Tsu'tey allowed his queue to connect to the tree. All at once his mind transferred to an entirely different place, like falling into a dream after a long day. Suddenly he was no longer under the cover and soft illumination of the Tree of Voices. He stood in the wake of the lush forest floor, the sun shining down through the holes of the canopy above as all the life of Pandora carried on in a symphony of gentle noises. Comforting, at least, as a dreamlike haze envelope all he saw.
"You are troubled," Sylwanin said, clear as day as if everything around him were truly real. Tsu'tey turned, a smile on his face as he was pleased to see her. He stepped forward, reaching to pull her into an embrace.
"You do not miss a thing," he replied as she met him and he held her close, savoring her touch and smell. By Eywa, what he would do for this all to be real despite how lifelike it felt at the moment.
She pulled back, looking up to him with a slight frown. "Tell me what it is," she murmured as they held each other by the forearms. Her features, so much like Neytiri but also entirely her own, made his heart ache. It felt like an eternity since the school house was attacked, when Tsu'tey had watched Sylwanin die in the door's threshold. He had come for clarity from her, as if she might have some grandeur answer for all the issues he faced at the moment. He felt as if he were betraying her by coming here for the reason he did.
