The Hunter

The Thanator

Lo'ak's point of view:
  (One month later)

     I yawned and stretched before looking around. The hammocks around me were empty. I expected my brother's hammock to be empty as he was staying with Ahurewa, but my sister's and Hunter's absence surprised me. I stifled a yawn as I sat up. I did my best not to fall out of my hammock, which wasn't the easiest when I was tired, before I pulled myself onto the tree branch. I hurriedly collected my bow before looking around the area to see if I could find the girls.

    I didn't have to look very far as Kiri and Hunter were crouched on a branch looking now far from me, looking around at the gathering na'vi. They watched the different levels as Kiri explained the various uses to Hunter. 

Kiri's slight, know-it-all tone could just be heard over the constant noise of the clan. I heard her saying to Hunter, "The lowest levels are a gathering area for trading and relaxing with others. The loom is also there for weaving large objects. The next level up is cooking and food storage. The weapons and crafting. The healing area is the highest up, along with the mother's area. There are what my father refers to as youth classes which are kinda like human schools but for more specific subjects. Those range on various levels depending on the day. The final area near the very top were rooms for contact with Eywa, and at the very top near the branches is where the Ikrans live."

I sneaked slowly up behind them, guessing they couldn't hear me. I was about to grab Hunter and Kiri to startle them, but a blur of blue movement. I felt the surprise freeze my movements as a knife was held to my chest. There was a slight quiver of fear and something else as I blinked at her in surprise. Hunter gave me a cheeky grin before she lowered her blade, saying, "Careful there, warrior. You wouldn't want to get nicked by sneaking up on someone." My sister smiled and said, "She's promised to teach me that trick. You and Neteyam should be careful." I rolled my eyes and responded to her confidence by saying, "I doubt you could be focused and or coordinated enough to learn that move successfully." I ducked as Kiri tried to smack me on the back of my head. Her tail whipped back and forth in annoyance. 

An amused chuckle surprised me, and while I was aware of who it was, I had never heard her laugh before. Though I'd seen Hunter smile, I hadn't heard her laugh. She was always so serious, very much like my mother or brother, especially while she was learning. But her laugh was bright and sweet sounding. Her laughter made me smile despite myself. My sister rolled her eyes when our expression locked. I gave her a questioning look, but she only stood and said in an impatient voice, "Alright, enough of this. Let's go riding."

     Hunter stood excitedly as we walked down the center spiral of the tree. Kiri led the way and weaved in and out of other na'vi's path. Some yelled at Kiri as she passed, and Kiri only waved them off. Hunter did her best to blend in with the crowds as she followed Kiri. Even a month later, Hunter was still greeted with stares. The stares I was used to. Even though I am our Eyktan's son, I still looked alien compared to Neteyam and was treated differently because of it. I tried to blend in with the crowds like Hunter. I wanted to be seen as everyone else. Kiri, however, never accepted that she was any different than the clan and proudly made herself seen and a nuisance when she wanted to. 

    We followed Kiri's impatient form out of Hometree, its large size looming above us. I still saw Hunter admiring it as we walked after Kiri. When I caught up to her side, she nodded to me, her eyes still skyward, before she focused and ran after Kiri. I hurried to catch up to her as we crossed over a root bridge. Kiri was walking downstream towards where the direhorses were corralled. 

I saw some of the prolemurs pause their swinging to watch Hunter as we made our way through the trees. They gave her a few friendly calls, which Hunter stopped to process. Over the course of the time training Hunter, we truly learned so much about her. Despite her having a lack of memories before arriving on Pandora, she possessed skills we could learn much from. One of the most obvious was her connection to animals. Viperwolves acted tame, prolemurs would call to her and climb the trees with her, and even stingbats which are foul-tempered on a good day, will hang from her arms and fly around her. I've even seen one bring her a fruit it had found which I had never seen. I heard some of the elders say that stingbats can be trained to be pets, but this was different. Everywhere Hunter went, it seemed animals found company in her. I nudged Hunter in the arm with mine to tell her to keep going, and she met my gaze as if surprised. She knew what I meant and immediately made her towards the direhorse pen.