Chapter Text
She cupped her hands, collecting some of the water in her hands, bringing it to her lips to drink. Her eyes widen slightly, and a fanged smile spreads across her cheeks, so wide it almost hurts her cheeks. she couldn't remember the last time she smiled like that. She felt like a child, but in a good way.
It was all so wonderous to her, every bit of it. She did not care about the dangers Alma had told them about, the ones Mercer insisted they needed to be prepared for.
Seeing her beauty, Pandora had every right to defend herself. Let the danger come if it must, she was just thankful to see her beauty.
She let herself run through the water, making the occasional leap just to splash water up on herself as she followed the trail going alongside the creek, smiling the whole way as the creek steadily opened into a small lake, but her fun ended there. To the side, along the trail, there were wrecked AMP suits and dead RDA laying around. Some with arrows sticking out, some set ablaze, some seemingly ripped from the suits and killed after being pulled out.
Ka'lune crept her way along the trail, cautious of spotting even more RDA. However, she only found an overgrown facility, and, as she climbed over the foliage-covered metal, she spotted So'lek. Her ears pinned back and she rushed to him. "So'lek!" she called, catching his attention as he looked up, holding his injured shoulder.
"Now you see what they kept you from. Your true home," he says, looking out at the scenery around them, Ka'lune's gaze following his, before returning to meet his once more.
She nods, looking down, and then back up at him as she is kneeled at his side. "You saved me," she says, as he tried to move, only causing himself pain. "You can't keep fighting. Not like this." She takes his bow from his lap, examining it briefly. "I will help you this time," she says confidently.
"You'll need arrows," So'lek points out.
"Well, luckily for me you left plenty in some RDA soldiers on the way here," she says, smiling a bit.
"Let's see if you fire a bow as well as you make jokes," he says, a small smile on his face before it returns to a grimace of pain.
"What do you need to help your arm? Would there be anything left behind here?" she asks, glancing around briefly, her ears twitching. There's RDA nearby, and it won't take them long to find So'lek. They need to move, soon.
"By the water, you'll find a plant with pods along the sides, they will look like large seeds, collect some, I only need one, but it will be good to have others on you. They help for smaller injuries like this, but any larger wounds you would need to see an actual healer, or one of the medics- thankfully we seem to handle things far better than the Sky People," he says.
Ka'lune nods, rushing to the water's edge, quickly crouching when she reaches a ledge, looking down at the edge of the water. Soldiers, looking for any sign of the Resistance. She sneaks back to where So'lek killed the soldiers on his way to where he was resting, gathering some of the arrows, each of them covered in human blood. She supposed she was about to cover it in more.
She gets back to the ledge she had found herself at before, taking a deep breath as she readied the bow. As she held it, pulling the string back with the arrow readied, everything felt like it fell right into place. She aimed the bow at the nearest soldier, taking them out first, and the others fell shortly after as they turned to see their dead ally. That would be the last thing they got to see, though.
Her heart pounded, and she ran to grab a few of the little pods from the plant. She sniffed one out of curiosity, shrugging as she stuffed them in the pockets of the army pants that were part of her TAP uniform. She grabbed the arrows from the soldiers, and rushed back to So'lek, finding other soldiers found him first, one in an AMP suit.
"Dammit. So'lek won't let them take him alive, either. He isn't the kind to go without a fight," she mumbled, looking at each of them, watching the way each soldier moved- when her eyes locked onto the AMP suit. The back of them had the power source, and, once again, it felt like everything came together oh, so smoothly. Like one of those puzzles Alma might have had them do when they were younger.
She drew back the string once more, and the arrow penetrated the power source, the AMP bursting into flames, leaving her to just take out the other two soldiers before getting to So'lek's side again.
"I got it. With only a few inconveniences. They're handled, by the way," she comments, holding out the little pod she had gathered.
He took it, holding it up slightly. "This is one of the ways we heal," he says, taking a bite out of the pod. After a moment of letting it sink in, he sets his shoulder, only grunting in pain, which is a clear improvement given before he couldn't move without yelling out.
As he's getting up, he seems to look her up and down, frowning. "You have no songcord."
"We had my mother's… Mercer took it when he killed my sister," she explains, her voice cracking. She didn't mention Aha'ri often. Sometimes she felt like Nor resented her for it, even if it was just a little. It wasn't that she didn't care. She did. She always had. Aha'ri was her big sister, and never lost faith in their clan. Her murder was cold and unjustified and unfair. But talking about her did not bring her back. It did not remove her from Eywa's arms, and that was a hard truth she had forced herself to accept. So, at times, it almost seemed like the others were more angered and upset than she was- but really? She just knew she couldn't let that much grief out like she wanted, or nothing would survive it.
Nothing.
"We must amend that," So'lek says, like he's already thinking of… Something. He begins to walk away, but she stops him.
"What… What do I do now? I-" she looks around briefly, and the uncertainty becomes clear as he watches her.
Experiencing Pandora was a wonderful experience, but it was terrifying, too. Especially given the Sarentu clan's situation. The four of them were so young, and not only were they going to have to learn to be Na'vi, they were learning after years of training under humans, with their first experiences in Pandora being that of battle. That wasn't even touching on trying to revive their clan's traditions, everything that came with this, and finding their place within the clan as they did so.
He could understand how she, or any of them, could have no idea where to go from here. What do you do with no one to guide you? When the only ones of your clan are just as in the fog as you are?
There were times he felt he understood that feeling all too well, with only Eywa to turn to, and sometimes he felt as though he was tainting her somehow. But he pushed his own fog away, pushing through it in an attempt to guide this young one in front of him.
"Do?" he asks, fully turning back to Ka'lune. "You must discover your own way, young Sarentu. And until then, join the resistance, fight for Pandora. But hear me-" he says, stepping closer, his gaze keeping Ka'lune locked on his words, her ears perked slightly. "Those humans may have the same enemy… But we are not the same."
He wasn't wrong of course, but it still caught her off guard. Just slightly. 'We are not the same.' It was almost easy to forget she was even Na'vi… Sometimes she felt as though her appearance, her body, was where being Na'vi ended. But even this Na'vi, who was clearly a warrior, and clearly not fond of the humans, although cordial enough to work alongside them, included her when speaking about the Na'vi. It wasn't often she had heard that coming from any adults around them…
She opened her mouth to speak, when an RDA scorpion flew overhead, causing both of them to shift their gazes to the sky.
"No, no- They are too close!" So'lek exclaims. "I will draw them away, and I will meet you back at the base camp, it is by the waterfall!" He instructs her, rushing off.
She could not begin to imagine how he, alone, was going to distract them, but she didn't dare question him either.
"By the waterfall… Okay," she muttered. She went back to the small body of water. She spotted the smaller, more nimble creatures from before, so easily frightened the moment they even heard a twig snap. Then, there were larger creatures on the opposite edges of the forest- larger in every way compared to even the young Na'vi, their bodies having natural armor, a sturdy head and back.
She continued walking through, climbing a large vine that was as thick as the trunks of the trees, and as strong as them, too, winding and curving across the landscape. It went up the small waterfall, which she found was not the one So'lek was referring to, crossed the stream, and, at the end, seemed to flow back into the ground at the base of a larger, taller waterfall.
Looking around, she couldn't see the base. So, she looked up.
"Oh. That's what he meant by 'beside the waterfall…' Dammit," she said to herself. However, looking at the land, her mind practically played out the path for her. Crossing the stream, she got to climbing the rocks on the other side, walking along a grassy path with flowers and other small plants growing in little groups every couple of feet. She came across a hanging vine, looking up to see that was the rest of her way up the side of this waterfall. So, she grabs hold of the vine, using it to get up to the ledge, and finding the rest of her path.
It was up a small hill, going through a natural tunnel of sorts. The sun was starting to set, and nighttime was approaching. The rocks curved over the path, reflective light from the planet and other moons shining through, and the plants glowing beautifully, as her own glittering pattern was made visible in the night light as well. She adjusted the bow So'lek gave her on her back, moving forward and coming to a ledge, with a drop that was entirely too far, and with no way of getting back up or going around if she fell in. She looked at the ledge she had to reach, taking a deep breath and stepping back again.
It was far… But if she timed her jump right-
She sprinted forward, jumping and landing on the ledge, landing in a roll, just barely able to shift her weight to not crush the bow. She landed on her hands and knees, smiling and laughing softly since she made it, thankfully. Ka'lune carefully gazed over the ledge again, letting out a huff of a laugh.
"That was probably dumb," she muttered softly, albeit, still smiling, her tail swaying slightly as her nose picked up the scent of… Her head tilts, and she turns to the opening of the path again, to a small basin of water where another waterfall cascaded into, which flowed down into the one she had just climbed alongside. She sniffs the air again, smiling a bit. Someone was cooking something. Her ears also picked up the sound of people, Sky People.