Annoyance - Txe'lan

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

Monty was not a native to Pandora, nor was she really all that used to it yet. One thing she did know though, was that it was absolutely beautiful. The whole place asounded her, shocked and made her in a constant state of awe. Sure, she’d seen a couple of the place’s more… Uh… Unfriendly and larger inhabitants from a far, but overall found it peaceful. Who couldn’t? Everything was so full of life, so much different than back home on Earth. There was no smog, no concrete, just wilderness. It was amazing and Monty considered herself very lucky to have been able to see it. Then again, it had only gotten more interesting since she’d gone through the experiments to become an Avatar. Her mother would have disapproved of course, but Monty had lost all her family and could be useful to the scientists, why not become one. She was a major in languages and cultures after all, who better to study and learn about another culture? So maybe the blue skin was a little odd to see in a mirror, and the tail was constantly knocking things over or gripping things as she passed, it had a mind of it’s own, she swore… But overall, she didn’t really mind the change. She wasn’t a perfect replica of one of the Na’vi, she hoped with passing time and some more adjustments perhaps one day she’d get those beautiful bioluminescent markings. Her eyes of course were not amber like the Na’vi, but retained their blue-grey color, something she didn’t mind so much. She’d always been rather fond of the color of her eyes.

Problem was, she was out in the field for the first time. She hadn’t actually gone out to speak or try and contact the Na’vi and was pretty sure she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere. She’d managed to find herself stuck in some big field. Well… Not technically yet. She was still at the tree line, sitting on the lowest branch of a nearby tree, watching the field quietly. She knew she could get back to the base, but at the moment was content to just relax and let herself be surrounded by what was Pandora. After all, this was the first time she’d been able to explore while not wearing those hunky breathing contraptions. However relaxed she looked, her mind was whirring with information. She didn’t know a lot about the Na’vi and knew even less of their language, she was supposed to learn on the job apparently. However she did know they had a type of hoofed creature that they used on flat land like this. They were like horses, or so she’d been told. Then they had the dragons… Not dragons. Ikran, that was the word right? The picture she’d seen reminded her of dragons though, back from the books she’d read as a child.

Her attention went from the day dream-like thoughts to snapping to attention. Her ears gave a small twitch as she sat there. She didn’t have full cat-like ears like the Na’vi either, a feature she’d have liked to acquired. She swore she heard something, and she’d been warned to stay on her toes. She’d seen some of the nastier creatures that lived on Pandora and had no inclination to meet one face to face. She rose to stand, keeping one hand on the tree and she let her eyes scan the grassland ahead of her. She didn’t see anything there, so she turned to search the trees behind her. Still, nothing. She assumed it must have just been her imagination. After all, she didn’t see anything and if it was something that wanted her for lunch, it would have caught her already, right?

“I don’t know why people complain about this place,”She murmured softly to herself, hopping down from the branch to stretch, grimacing as her tail smacked the back of her head. She glared over her shoulder at it, as if that would make her learn to use it.

----------------

[Txe'lan]

The weather was much nicer today than it had been all week. This was perfect hunting weather, and Txe'lan had chosen to take advantage of it. While ordinarily he would've taken to the skies with his Ikran, this day he was going to stay closer to the ground because he had neglected to bring his aerial monocle to protect his one good eye. So today he was going to be riding the Direhorse, grabbing his bow and knife and making the bond so that he wouldn't have to rely on his one eye to judge everything in front of him. Txe'lan never had any trouble firing his bow with only one eye, it was just that his field of vision was reduced quite a bit, so being lower to the ground would provide much better opportunities for getting a close kill.

Txe'lan galloped on his Direhorse all the way through the forest, his bow in-hand and an arrow on the string, looking for something to bring down. His search had brought nothing fruitful, that was, until he got to the plains. There were usually great creatures to bring down here, but something else caught his eye. It was another Na'vi, but what was she wearing? That was truly baffling, seeing as though it wasn't the usual loin cloth and chest coverings, so Txe'lan decided to investigate. Was this one of those Dreamwalkers? Only time and interaction would find out...

Bringing his Direhorse closer to the plains area of the forest border, Txe'lan eventually galloped right up alongside the stranger, slowing his Direhorse in the process so that he wouldn't fly right passed her, rounding about on her left side so that his right eye had her right in his field of vision.

"Pesu aynga, uniltìranyu?" asked Txe'lan, curious about who she was. He could tell she was a female, but her body looked incomplete, like it wasn't fully a Na'vi body. Needless to say, Txe'lan was curious, and he wanted to know more about her, just as Katelyn had introduced the Sky People writings to him. Recalling his bow to his body as well as the arrow, Txe'lan was no longer interested in hunting; he found someone new to sate his appetite for curiosity.

((Translation: "Who are you, Dreamwalker?"))

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

Galloping. Oh dear. Instantly Monty whipped around to look towards the noise, unsure of what it was. Her tension vanished a little when her azure eyes found the source. It was most defiantly one of the horse-like creatures she’d been told about and atop it was non other than a Na’vi. She watched his approach, shifting a little nervously. She’d agreed to this job, fully knowing the risks and what she’d have to do. But as the native drew closer she couldn’t help feel the tension that just left sneak back up her spine. For one, he was massive. She’d known they were taller than humans, but as he drew closer she realized how much larger they were… It was more than a little intimidating without adding the height of the horse to it. All in all? A lot more than she’d expected. Still, she didn’t want to shy away now… After all, she’d gone through all the hassle to try and look like them, why not try and meet them? She shifted a little, making a mental note to try and get something more like what he was wearing next time… With her human clothing she must have looked like quite the oddball. Despite the nervousness that had taken over her systems she couldn’t help but feel a tremor of excitement along with it.

As he came to a halt near her he spoke. The words were of course his tongue and Monty had to mentally review all the words she knew in Na’vi as well as push her brain to make sense of it. He wasn’t hostile and she was fairly certain his greeting was something along the lines of asking who she was. Then there was something in it… ‘Dream Walker?’. Monty assumed that he was referring to the Na’vi word for Avatar. She almost laughed to herself. Being taught a language and figuring it out were very different, this could be fun. She let her gaze take him in as she fumbled through her head for a response, shifting through her small mental dictionary. He was imposing yes, but as she grew accoustomed to his presence (and he lowered his weapon, giving the signal he wished to speak) she couldn’t help but feel awed once more. His skin was so much more unique than her own rather dull blue. She had faint stripes, barely seen unless one looked closely at her/ His coloration was almost harsh on her eyes, so she dragged her gaze upwards to his face. “Kaltxì, oe…” She paused, remembering the name she’d figured out for herself for the Na’vi “Kizcha” she finished, wondering idly how bad her grammar was. “Pesu ngenga?” She asked. She was certain she missed a word in the sentence, but knew she’d used a more honorific term for ‘you’, hoping to get on the Na’vi’s good side. She just hoped she didn’t seem to be too kissing up to him. In any case she kept her gaze lowered, shifting a little as her tail curled around the bottom of her leg, twitching a little.

“ìnglìsì?” She asked him, sounding curious. She didn’t expect him to speak English, but it was one of the words she knew, so he might as well use it, right? In any case he obviously would know she was a Avatar and know that she wasn’t a Na’vi, so she could at least hope he knew even a little. She could manage off the basics she knew of the language, but it would take more time to learn it to a level of fluency. It was going to be tougher than she’d origanolly thought, but she figured she could do this. She knew enough languages as it was, this one couldn’t be too much harder to get. She pulled her gaze away from the Na’vi to his mount, shifting back a little from it. Back on Earth she’d never been too fond of horses… And this one was much bigger than the horses she’d met. Her tail tightened around her leg, a normal behaviour when she was nervous, however it was slightly embarrassing so she reached down to pull it off, forcing it to move behind her like it should.

----------------

(Translation
-“Hello, I Kizcha”
-“Who you?”
-“English?”)

[Txe'lan]

Oh yeah, this Sky Person was a Dreamwalker, just like the last Toruk Makto had been before he became one of the Omaticaya for real. Txe'lan could already tell she wasn't a real Na'vi, but now her choppy understanding of the language, nervous tail habits, strange clothes, and an apparent lack of weaponry had only confirmed this. Just like Katelyn, this girl 'Kizcha' could probably speak English fluently. If it would at least break the ice, which Txe'lan was already feeling a little more comfortable now that he'd confirmed who this was, Txe'lan would return the favor and introduce himself.

"Oe lu Txe'lan," said Txe'lan, placing his left-hand on the center of his chest to show Kizcha that he was called Txe'lan.

As Txe'lan brought his Direhorse to a stop, he disengaged the bond and dismounted, letting himself stand before Kizcha in full view of each other. As expected, she was pretty short, leading him to believe she was a female. What else did he expect; this was the second female he'd seen from the Sky People, only this one had an incomplete Na'vi body. He sure hoped she took the time to learn the rest of the aspects of his culture if she was going to attain the body of a Na'vi.

She then asked him if he spoke English. Txe'lan wasn't sure how to respond. If Kizcha could speak Na'vi just fine, Txe'lan found no reason to speak English in front of her. On the other hand if English was her native language and less choppy than her understanding of Na'vi, then Txe'lan couldn't find any reason to turn her down. In the end he decided to be truthful, using what little he learned from Katelyn to try and speak to the best of his ability.

"I know... little inglisia. One of you... teaches inglisia to me."

Txe'lan wasn't going to outright say who it was among the Sky People that taught him to speak English, but he was learning, slowly but surely. Soon he'd be able to converse in both languages without problems and he would be able to tell Sky People what his intentions were if they ever did decide to cross his path.

Just then something crossed Txe'lan's mind. If this girl was a Dream Walker, where was her Tsaheylu? He didn't see any long black braid coming from her hair, or was it hidden? Now he was curious, curious enough to ask about it.

"Where's your Tsaheylu?" Txe'lan grabbed his own for comparison, taking hold of the black braid and showed it to Kizcha, revealing the pink nerves on the end and wondering if she had one of her own. If these Sky People were as good as their technology led them to seem, then surely their surgeries can manage to copy a Na'vi's nerve structure.

((Translation:
1. "I am Txe'lan."
2. "I know... little English. One of you... teaches English to me."
3. "Where's your neural bond?"))

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

Txe'lan. That was his name, she understood that much. This wasn’t going to be too hard, sure it might be harder than most languages she’d had to figure out, but she could definitely do it. She was confident in her talent and was sure it would hold out for the latest of trials. She was digging through her brain for a response when he got off his horse. She watched him, jealous of how willowy and lithe the Na’vi were. Heck, back on Earth her mother had her dance lessons and she was a klutz, couldn’t balance to save her life… Hence why later she’d been put in boxing lessons, somewhere she could use her lack of coordination to her advantage. And yet, she was still slightly shocked by his height. She’d never been tall before the surgery, now she was over six feet tall, which was large for a human… But compared to a Na’vi, she was still a shrimp. More than a shrimp, she felt like a child. To her pleasure and surprise, his next words came in English, it was choppy… But in all honesty, it couldn’t be worse than her Na’vi.

“One of us, taught it to you?” She mumbled, more to herself than Txe’lan. He must have been a curious fellow to have already met a human… Or had he met an Avatar like her? She wasn’t certain, and really wanted to ask who but decided against it. If he wasn’t going to speak their name, why should she pry? It wasn’t her business. She turned her gaze from the large horse to the Na’vi again, this time speaking to him, rather than herself, “Nga Nume inglisia? Oe neu ne… Nume your lì’u,” She spoke slowly, trying to focus a little more. She was pretty sure that sentence was much better than her prior ones. Though she was sure she said ‘words’ not ‘language’, but in any case the meaning should have been clear.

There was a slightly familiar word too. Tsaheylu. That meant the bond, right? She definitely had one of those, it had been a demand. She’d been under the impression that one could not connect with the word of Pandora without one. She reached over her shoulder, gently pulling the braid from under her shirt to show him, smiling a little. Fi’u? The bond?” She added, just making sure they were on the same page. How embarrassing would it be to have misinterpreted him?

Monty was almost amused, this Na’vi seemed just as curious as she was. Hadn’t she been told to be careful? She didn’t doubt he was dangerous, afterall, he was much larger than her, and he had a weapon. Whether she’d had protection training or not, she doubted she’d have much luck against a Na’vi if it decided that she didn’t belong on Pandora.
“Are you part of the Omaticaya clan?” She asked him, tilting her head to the side as she blinked her blue eyes curious. She was trying to appear more curious than she was, she didn’t want to come off as nosy. But she wanted to know which clan she had met a member of, it might come in handy later.

----------------

(Translation:
-“You’re learning English? I want to learn your words.”
“This?”)

[Txe'lan]

Much to Txe'lan's surprise, this Sky Person seemed to have a better understanding of the Na'vi and the language (although it was still far inferior to a Na'vi's own understanding of their culture) than the actual human-looking Sky Person he'd been learning their language from. Perhaps this could be beneficial to the three of them. This 'Kizcha', Txe'lan was starting to know her as merely 'one with a false body', could converse in English much better than he could, and she also seemed to be able to speak Na'vi well enough to grasp both speaking and translating, so perhaps she could be a good intermediary between Txe'lan learning English and both her and Katelyn learning to speak Na'vi. Oh yeah, this could work.

Txe'lan let his own hair cord fall back to the center of his back, seeing as though Kizcha had one of her own and gave his own nod of approval. The technology of humans hasn't failed to amaze him yet, since they seemed to be so adaptable that even mimicry of a Na'vi body allowed them to form Tsaheylu. Funny to think that Txe'lan was feeling doubtful that the false body of hers could allow her access to the bond between Pandora and Eywa. If she wanted to learn about the Na'vi, then she was sure as heck on the right track.

However, Kizcha seemed kinda shocked that one of her own was teaching Txe'lan to speak English. Txe'lan had no problem with it, but it was supposed to be a mutual relationship. Since this could be either problematic or useful, Txe'lan decided to keep the name to himself out of respect for his and Katelyn's deal.

"Yes, one of you... teaches me inglisia."

Then she asked about his clan affinity; he couldn't make out everything she said since his English was still very much rudimentary, but since she was so interested in learning about him he felt that it couldn't hurt to tell a bit about himself and what clan he came from. After all, if Txe'lan was going to learn about the Sky People, then it seemed mutual to inform the Sky People about who's planet they were going to share.

"Srane, olo' Omaticaya, Oe lu 'healer' of Na'vi."

To show the bearing of his clan name, Txe'lan reached for a Cat Ear reed hidden in one of his vambraces. Unlike many other Na'vi, Txe'lan wore quite a bit of clothing. Not only was his loin cloth spacious and wide, but he also had on a vest of woven moss & wood fibers, two vambraces, a couple of arm & leg bands, and even a satchel full of useful things on his side. It was only logical that he'd be hiding useful things in the clothing he chose to wear, so he'd have things like Cat Ear reeds and other such utilities.

Txe'lan then played a simple Na'vi melody off of the reed, starting high, then moving lower in octaves, then jumping back to the high notes. It sounded more like an ocarina if anything, but it was a known fact that the Omaticaya clan were known for their music.

"Nga na?"

((Translation:
1. "Yes, clan Omaticaya, I am 'healer' of Na'vi."
2. "You like?"))

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

Monty was very curious on who could be teaching the Na’vi English. She hadn’t heard of anyone doing that.. Then again, she didn’t exactly follow up on the gossip either. She wanted to press for a name, or a description, not to interrogate the person but more to question why. She had a feeling whomever it was, wasn’t an Avatar like herself but a normal human. Txe’lan seemed too curious for her to be the second Avatar he met. But, she knew curiosity killed the cat and decided for now it was better to hold her tongue than annoy or offend the Na’vi. Though she had to say she was proud of where she was getting, Txe’lan almost seemed impressed by her neutral bond… Was he impressed by humans? She’d been warned to be careful because apparently the Na’vi didn’t trust them… Txe’lan seemed almost too curious for his own good. She certainly hoped he wouldn’t get himself in trouble, she knew her kind to be a little touchy when people stuck their noses in too deep.

His response to her question of his clan was a little bit of a brain freezer. She got the gist of it and mentally stored the words to he spoke to translate later. She understood that she had guessed correctly on his clan, which made her a little more proud. Then again, that was really the only clan she knew of, there were others of course, but she’d only heard about that one. She also understood the ‘healer’ part, simply because it was English. So he was a healer, that was an interesting tidbit of information. Her mind dabbled with it’s imagination, trying to fix an image of what a healer of the Na’vi could do. She couldn’t fathom and because she wasn’t thinking let her mouth run. “You’re a healer? How do you-“ She stopped herself from rambling on in English, she’d just lose him. “Tslolam,” She chose to say instead. She wasn’t going to badger him with questions like that. If they were secrets of the Na’vi, he probably wouldn’t say them to a complete (and most likely freakish) stranger.

Monty was a little confused when he played for her. Sure, the sound was lovely, and she made a mental note to learn how to play a reed before they left Pandora (if they left…). She was quite taken by the sound, feeling a smile pull at her lips. Nga na? Did she ever. She nodded her head quickly at his question, eyeing the reed curiously. How on earth did they manage to make music from something so simple? Then again, everything in their world was simple compared to the technology she was used to. With a snap of recognision she remembered something else she was taught, didn’t the name of his clan mean something about music? A flute of some sort. They were known for music. She mentally patted herself on the back, she was getting good at this. “Srane, yes I do Txe’lan. Oe na very much,” She spoke, mixing her English with the Na’vi language. She hoped it wouldn’t confuse him, but she had to fill the gaps somehow.

“You have… Nawm… Skill… Talent? Nga pam sevin,” Monty spoke, brows furrowed a little in concentration to try and get the words she needed. In the end her final Na’vi sentence wasn’t exactly what she had wanted to say, but it was as close as she could manage with her current mental dictionary. She hoped he’d understand at least the point of what she was saying. She mentally ran through her word lsit before continuing, “Frapo in Omatikaya play…?” She trailed off her question, unsure if he’d understand. Just in case he didn’t, she used her hand to gesture at the reed.

----------------

(Translation:
-"I understand"
-"Yes, I do Txe'lan, I like very much,"
-"You have...Great...Skill... Talent? You sound pretty,"
-"Everyone in Omatikaya play…?”)

[Txe'lan]

Kizcha was definitely another kind of Sky Person; not only did she have a good albeit limited grasp of the Na'vi language, but she had an abundance for curiosity. This wasn't the first time he'd met a Sky Person with curiosity instead of fear (although fear was the first he'd encountered), and the meeting of two curious minds was turning out to be a common occurrence around the Omaticaya clan, and Txe'lan seemed to be the head of the pack, having the most curiosity for the Sky People as well as the best track record for encountering them. First it was a regular Sky Person with a metal suit, now it was one with a false Na'vi body. Where would it take him now? Sky People animals? Who knew.

In response to Txe'lan's display with the Cat Ear reed, Kizcha seemed to be rather amazed at his skill with native music. It was a common notion that the Omaticaya, or the Blue Flute clan, were very good with their music, with all the lutes, lyres, drums, and even singing, all in nearly perfect harmony. The First Songs were still held in much regard, even after centuries past, and thus music was practiced all throughout the clan, even if there were some that didn't have any musical talent.

"Ke niwtox, sla txan si," Txe'lan replied, meaning that there were many in the Omaticaya that played the Cat Ear reed. While it was their primary instrument, there were also strings and drums that came into the mix whilst there were a select few that had the voices gifted by Eywa to sing what few could. If Txe'lan could sing anything, he would likely be backup as a tenor.

Although Txe'lan still had trouble with English, he could get the jist of what Kizcha was trying to ask of him. She wanted to know how he went about healing Na'vi when they got their various injuries. That was privileged information that he wasn't willing to share with a stranger, unless she managed to get herself hurt somehow, then he might demonstrate for her why he was considered the healer.

"No tell, but you get hurt and see."

Txe'lan wasn't implying that Kizcha needed to hurt herself to see how he would heal her wounds, but he wasn't going to explain outright how he went about it. These were secrets he was willing to keep to himself until he could come to trust this Dreamwalker, and that still seemed like it was going to be a long way off. Still, Kizcha didn't seem like she was going to blab to anyone that she met a Na'vi that saved her neck, but Txe'lan didn't know that for certain, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

((Translation: "Not all, but many do."))

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

A full sentence of Na’vi needed a moment for her figure out. She figured out it had something to do with some playing, but not all. It made sense, she figured that some would play other instruments, that hardly surprised her. It was like humans, really, they had an amazing array of instruments, why didn’t the Na’vi? She was curious to see more (and hear more) of the different intstruments. Actually… In general she was curious about everything to do with the Na’vi. “Do the Omatikaya play 'awsiteng?” She asked. She meant the clan as a whole, she could imagine that sounding absolutely amazing. She wanted to ask what other instruments the Na’vi could play but didn’t really know how to phrase the question with any of Txe’lan’s language. She didn’t want to speak too many fully English sentences.

She was hardly surprised that he wouldn’t tell her his healing secrets. She had expected such an answer, though she couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. He seemed quite fine with giving out the other information she asked, so she wasn’t going to complain. “I would rather not get hurt. But that is fine, tslam tsat it’s swok,” She replied, the worlds accompanied with a smile. Perhaps sacred wasn’t the word she was looking for, but it was the closest to secret she could come up with. She hoped that that would change quickly. Though it was a harder language, she’d perfected Spanish is less than a year and figured she could get a grasp on Na’vi within a short time. She’d need to talk to other Avatars about what they found out and get their vocabulary. But she could do this, of that she was absolutely certain. Besides, what else could she do? She’d gotten her body completely altered to try and learn about these people, there wasn’t any going back now.

Her gaze shifted towards the Horse again, now a little more accustomed to it’s presence. Though she’d never been fond of horses, she had to admit that this one had an adorable face. She wanted to get a closer look, but didn’t know how to deal with the creatures of Pandora. She’d been taught etiquette for the Na’vi, but the animals were brand new to her. “nga have a sevin ‘eylan,” She told Txe’lan, gesturing to the Direhorse with her hand, finding her tail curled around her wrist.

“My tsap'alue,” She muttered as she pulled her tail off her wrist, shoving it behind her quickly as her ears flicked backwards against her head in embarrassment. She wasn’t sure why she apologized, more because she felt fairly foolish. It wasn’t that she couldn’t control her tail, she tended to forget about it which let it have a mind of it’s own. She was known in the Avatar Program for knocking things over and smacking people in the face with the appendage. She hoped to master it eventually. For now she curled it around her ankle in an attempt to control it. “Si nga have a Ikran?” She asked, trying to move on from her tail troubles and focus on something else that had made her curious. The Banshees.

----------------

(Translation
-“Do the Omatikaya play together?”
-“I understand that it’s sacred,”
-“You have a pretty friend,”
-“My apology,”
-“Do you have a Ikran?)

[Txe'lan]

The sky people never failed to amaze Txe'lan, not only for their almost infinite capacity to try and learn about the Na'vi, but also for their ambitious attempts to cross the great divide between their own nature and venture into another. If they could manage to mimic the body of a Na'vi, certainly they could be welcomed to try and become good neighbors. But given their inept understanding of Pandora on the whole, they couldn't be considered good neighbors until they could become familiar and comfortable with the planet of which they had returned. Until just a day or two ago Txe'lan had never encountered Sky People in his life, but these encounters only made him ever more curious about their antics.

When Kizcha notioned to Txe'lan that the Omaticaya all play together, he nodded in return. The whole clan had some sort of musical aptitude, whether it was the reed flutes, skin drums, or plucking the lyre strings to even singing in their own language, all Na'vi found music from nature, and Pandora was just full of it.

"Srane. Niwtox Omaticaya si pamesto 'awisteng."

Txe'lan put his own reed flute away, knowing he wouldn't need it anymore. Kizcha was already impressed with the display, and there was no need to lay it on any thicker. Before she could ask the question regarding his Direhorse, he laughed a bit at her remark about not wanting to find out how the healers do their work; he couldn't blame her. He then disengaged the Tsaheylu and dismounted, steadying his horse in the process. It was a brilliant creature, one that could easily provide a stable hunting platform, just as long as there were no Thanators to invoke fear into them.

"Poan te pa lu 'Risu', siltsan pa'li."

Txe'lan patted Risu's neck, indicating that he was a good horse. She then asked if he had an Ikran as most Na'vi did. That he wouldn't deny, but he wasn't going to call Vrrtep'taw all the way out to the plains when he already had an animal to ride. Sure, it might've made for a good shock-and-awe moment, but it wasn't really necessary. Only one Sky Person has seen Txe'lan's Irkan, and that was only for when she needed transportation to a very special place that she couldn't ordinarily reach on foot.

"Srane, oe makto 'aw."

Now it was time to see if Kizcha had any guts to do something that the Na'vi would take for granted. He wanted to see if she would be willing to ride Risu for a little bit.

"Neu ne makto Risu?"

((Translation:
"Yes, all Omaticaya make music together."
"His name is Risu; good Direhorse."
"Yes, I ride one."
"Want to ride Risu?"))

[Monty Monroe]

--------Monty--------

Though she didn’t understand every word that was spoken to her, Monty got the general gist of what Txe’lan was saying. He said something along the lines of his people playing together. That answered her question, so they did all play at once. She would give a foot to hear and watch that sort of event. She had a feeling though that if she ever did, it would be a long ways from now. She hardly expected to waltz into their home and listen to them. As if it would be that easy… If it was, they wouldn’t have needed more than one or two Avatars. If all went well, perhaps one day she’d be allowed to set foot within the tribe’s home. That would be a ways away, but she could always hope, right? It wasn’t like Monty had much else to hope for. “That would pam sìltsan,” Monty replied, smiling a little more.

His next statement was a little harder for her to get. She got good, Direhorse and Risu. She figured the sentence meant something along the lines of ‘He is a good Direhorse, his name is Risu’. She nodded slowly to show she understood, tearing her gaze from the Na’vi to his steed. Yes, she was a lot more fond of Pandora horses, than earth ones. The faces of Direhorses almost resembled an anteater to her. Almost adorable if it wasn’t for the enormous size and hooves. “It would la ha,” She replied, watching the creature with a small smile. Her mind flashed back to her little Yorkie mutt, the one who could never leave the base without dying. It was a shame really, she wished that her dog hadn’t been brought to Pandora, it wasn’t fair to keep him locked up constantly.

It wasn’t a surprise that Txe’lan rode an Ikran. She was fairly sure it was common in most cases that a hunter would ride one. She didn’t want to assume, which was why she asked but it was a curious thing to her. The bond itself made her curious… With Direhorses, and Ikran alike. With all life they bonded too, but the Ikran were a one time deal and it intrigued her. She had yet to try bonding with anything and was slightly nervous to attempt such a thing. She loved animals though, so was fairly curious in the Ikran, she couldn’t wait until she saw one. She’d seen one at a distance, but never up close. She didn’t comment on the fact he had one, she instead let the topic drop.

Her brain froze a little at his next offer. Did he just ask her if she wanted to ride the Direhorse? Well that was a slightly difficult question to answer. Truthfully, she’d never ridden a horse in her life and though Risu seemed friendly enough he could easily squish her. But she didn’t want to say no, simply because she didn’t want to offend Txe’lan… She knew that Direhorses could bond with more than one rider, but she didn’t know if was a great honour or something to get such an offer. Well. Perhaps it would be a learning experience too, a time to get over her strange fear of the creatures and move on. Wasn’t that what you were supposed to do if you feared something? Confront it?

“Oe could fmi,” She replied slowly, smiling a little as her gaze moved from the creature to Txe’lan. “It would be a great honour,” She added, hoping he’d get the gist of her English. She felt she did a good job of covering up her nerves as she let her blue eyes move back towards the massive creature, her tail tightening around her ankle. To her own surprise, she did want to try and ride Risu.

----------------

(Translation
-“That would sound good, ”
-“It would seem so,”
-“I could try,”)

[Txe'lan]

Txe'lan continued to build on his assumption that Dreamwalkers were a strange breed of Sky People. They had all the capacity to be just like the Na'vi they were trying to imitate, but their mindset was just like that of any other Sky Person; Kizcha just seemed to embody that notion entirely. They fear what they do not understand, and that assumption was holding true in this case. Pandora was a very strange planet to them, quite so was the fact that all the animals and plants were very different from the ones they knew. Even if there were some similarities, the differences were what often threw them off.

Txe'lan then motioned her over to him, ready to get her to try and ride Risu. If she had any horse experience then this would be very similar, but if not it would be a practically whole new experience. Truth be told Txe'lan really wanted to see what this Dreamwalker was capable of since her body wasn't completely like that of a Na'vi. This would make for an interesting observation in-case they did anything the real Na'vi would be suspicious of. This reminded him of the time of the last Toruk Makto; he was a Dreamwalker and did things the whole Omaticaya Clan hated him because of for a time.

"Don't be nervous. Fikem lu ftue."

To any Na'vi, riding a Direhorse was a rudimentary task of being a hunter. Hunting on horseback was a very useful skill as it made for faster travel and the ability to evade other predators. Those Thanators could be quite evil if they did decide to try and interrupt a hunt in progress (and they were practically impossible to bring down with an arrow), thus the Direhorse was a very reliable companion to get someone out of a pinch. All a Na'vi needed to do was make the Tsaheylu and one could practically ride hands-free and let the Direhorse do all the work.

"Make Tsaheylu and feel, don't think."

It was all Kizcha needed to do. In order to ride a Direhorse, one had to be comfortable with the animal they were bonding with. A well-behaved Direhorse like Risu, a male, made that a pretty easy task. If she could do that, then riding would come pretty easily.

((Translation:
"Don't be nervous. This is easy."))