22. Finale

The singer-teachers woke up. Somehow they had fallen asleep with the last remains of their food still in their hands. Someone was talking to them as a few helpful hands were shaking them.

"What, what..." Puvomun said, trying to make the hands go away.

"We need you," said Ekirä.

"Uh? For what?" Puvomun, and also Amhul, were still trying to come to their senses.

"Jakesully's body needs to be moved."

That woke both of them up. "What? Body? He's not dead, is he?"

"No. But you and Amhul have most experience with moving hurting people on fa'li," Korun said, who was there as well. His had been the helping hands.

"And what has this to do with Jakesully?" Amhul wondered, pushing her braids back.

"His tawtute tokx is still in the small kelku lefngap, but it is in danger there. He is using their breathing masks to keep the uniltìrantokx going. Neytiri says that there are not many masks left."

"I understand," Puvomun nodded. He thought for a moment. "Are you sure we have to do this?"

Neytiri nodded. "Yes. Amhul sì nga will take care of Jake when he wakes up. He knows you, you helped him a lot. His Omatikaya tokx will lie here until his tawtute body is in the camp machines. I will stay here with him. Ekirä, Lolet and Rakan will come with you."

"And Nusumea Tirea?"

"Kehe, ma tsmukan. His knowledge is needed here," Neytiri said. "Ma oeyä sa'nok said so."

Puvomun understood that. Nusumea Tirea was a good healer. "Srane, mllte. We will need fa'li then."

"I'awn and Jake are already fetching them for you." Neytiri had things under control, obviously. "Lolet and Rakan know where the aysawtute kelku is, they will lead you."

At that point, Jakesully and I'awn came to the clearing, leading four fa'li.

"Be quick," Neytiri said. Then she turned and walked off, going after other things she had to take care of.

Amhul and Puvomun went over to the fa'li. Lolet and Rakan were there too, and they mounted.

"Toruk Makto," Puvomun said, "how will you know when we have arrived?"

"It's not that far to the shack," said Jakesully. "In a while I'll lay down here and get out of the link-unit. I'll be waiting for you."

It sounded strange, but then... so much had been strange since this man had arrived.

"Kìyevame, ma smukan," Jakesully said with a grin.

"Tsmukan," Amhul corrected him, out of habit, making the man grin even wider. Evidently he had done that on purpose.

"Kìyevame, ma Jakesully," Puvomun said, and then the four rode off, to the little place, to save the Sky people man.

Upon arrival, the singer-teachers were shocked. They entered the small cleared area where the silent body of a Palulukan lay. Scattered everywhere were pieces of metal, and very dominantly there lay a fallen metal suit. Two arrows protruded from it, and when they passed it they saw the surprised face of a tawtute, his dead eyes staring into the sky but not seeing it.

"He tried to kill Jakesully," Lolet told them.

"Hah, he should've tried that with me," Rakan boasted, "I'd have taken him out of that fgnap suit and punched him-"

"Yeah, sure, you're still the big hero, as usual," a small voice sounded. It came from one of the openings in the cabin. "I'm in here, guys, there's enough room for one of you to come and get me out of here."

Puvomun and Amhul unmounted. Puvomun then went into the strange house, bent over as it was so low.

Jakesully was lying in a strange box. "Puvomun," he said, smiling behind the mask. "Glad you didn't waste any time, I'm almost on the last mask here. Time to leave, ma tsmukan."

Puvomun lifted the tiny shape from the box. Before they left the place, Jakesully picked another mask from somewhere and asked the teacher to also bring the 'wheelchair'.

Once outside, the teacher handed the small man to Amhul, and took him again when he sat on his pa'li. "I have to hold on to you, Jakesully," he said. It was hard to call this tiny person 'Toruk Makto', and yet he knew that this man had the spirit.

"That's okay, Puvomun. Just don't drop me, because now this pa'li looks a whole lot higher than before."

For some reason Rakan did not make any of his boisterous remarks. The group then left the small cabin and rode off towards the camp.

As they were riding for a long time, they heard a person shouting overhead. They looked.

"Kalin Kato!" Lolet called out, recognising her friend.

"I will tell the people you are coming!" Kalin Kato called down at them as her ikran made a swoop as low as possible towards the ground. Then they pulled up and quickly were out of sight.

The group rode the remaining stretch as fast as possible, taking care that Jakesully was not getting too tired.

When they arrived, Kalin Kato was waiting for them, as were many of the people that had stayed there to keep an eye on everything. The aysawtute took the 'wheelchair' and put it on the ground. Tawtewng then helped Jakesully down from the pa'li and put him in the strange cart.

The man called Max said that there was something to eat waiting for Jakesully.

"And you should have a shower and some sleep, Jake. You look like you were found in some trashcan," Norm Spellman said. He was there as well.

"Yeah, and he smells like that too," a woman said, which made everyone laugh.

Jakesully looked up at the Na'vi that were standing around the group. "Thanks for bringing me here, guys. I think you should sleep here, it's getting dark soon and you had quite a day behind you too. Kalin Kato, can you go back to the clan and tell Neytiri and the others not to worry? I'll be awake again in the morning."

"Tam, ma Jakesully," Kalin Kato said. "Kìyevame, ma smuk." She turned and ran off to her ikran. The people watched them fly off.

The aysawtute then went into the buildings. The Na'vi that did not have a duty for the night went outside the camp and found a few trees they could sleep in.

The next morning, Puvomun and Amhul woke up feeling strange. This area was not familiar. The sounds were strange, the smells were wrong, and the lack of forest where the aysawtute had made their encampment was unnerving.

Lolet and Rakan were awake and on the ground already, tending to the fa'li.

"You are teachers," Rakan remarked, somewhat puzzling at first. "One day of riding and you have to sleep more, like children."

Lolet threw him an angry glance but refrained from commenting. She clearly did not feel comfortable her either. "Do we go back now, or do we first go to… there?" She pointed at the group of buildings behind the fence.

Rakan was in favour of leaving immediately. Puvomun wanted to visit their friends at the camp for a moment, to make sure everything there was in order.

"What do you think that brings?" Rakan asked. "There is nothing you can do."

Lolet agreed, and Amhul remained silent.

"We should let them know that we are going back," Puvomun said. "I will do that. I'll be back soon."

When he returned, the others mounted their horses and then they started on the way back to their families and friends. The ride back went fast, as this time they did not have to be careful with a delicated passenger.

They were almost halfway when loud sounds came from overhead. The riders grinned, as they recognised it. At a spot where the forest was thinner, they saw Toruk. Two shapes were flying on its back, and there were several ikran with their riders with it.

The four looked at the immense animal until Jakesully made it fly off, to the aysawtute camp where the riders had just come from.

"A greeting," Amhul said. "And appreciation, I think."

Lolet agreed. "Amazing to see."

"I want to go back there, to see what happens," Rakan pitched in. "Maybe he is going to slap some of the aysawtute around!"

Before someone could hold him back, the impetuous one turned and raced off on the pa'li.

Lolet looked at the teacher-singers. "I should go after him and make sure he doesn't go crazy." She set off after her mate.

"He is a handful," Amhul sighed. "We should go back, ma Puvomun."

At as comfortable a fast pace as they could manage, they returned.

Day and night passed a few times. Occasionally a warrior or hunter would come to the people, to tell the things that were happening. The aysawtute had used their equipment to tell their companions in space that their stay on this world was over. Many thundering machines had come to collect all the Sky people.

The aysawtute encampment was almost empty. Only a few of them were chosen to remain on the planet. They were the ones that had fought from the inside, to help the Na'vi.

A small group of people had gone out and found a new Hometree. Others had started to build new looms, new tools, to make new racks for people to put up their belongings. Once they had belongings again.

"We won't be needing arrows soon, I hope," Puvomun said to Nusumea Tirea, as they finished one of the racks and put it in place.

"Except for the hunters," his friend agreed.

"Srane. Aysaronyu will need them."

Nusumea Tirea looked up, when a sudden noise from outside the new Kelutral reached their ears. Puvomun saw him walk off. When the healer-hunter returned, he said: "We have to go back now."

The men joined several others and walked back to the clearing where still many of the people were.

On the rocky platform to the end of the clearing, stood Jakesully and Neytiri, with Toruk. Jakesully's tswin was connected to Toruk, their tsaheylu flowing. The man held his hands on the huge head, and Puvomun understood that he was witnessing something special.

"Irayo, Toruk," Jakesully slowly said. "You helped us to become free again, and win the battle. You are now free to go again. Kìyevame."

Slowly he disconnected his queue from the large animal and stepped back, holding Neytiri's hand.

Toruk reared up and screamed loudly. Then it jumped away from the ground, flapping its wings. Everyone watched it fly off, understanding the importance of the moment.

Jakesully then looked at the people. "The Omatikaya are free again," he said. "We have fought for our land, and we threw the Sky people back to where they came from." The man looked at Neytiri for a moment.

"I have asked Mo'at to do a ceremony for me. For that I also need to ask your help. Some of you have seen my tawtute body, and how broken it is. I want to become an Omatikaya who does not need the help of a machine. So I ask you, all Omatikaya, all my friends. Do you want to give me your strength? Do you want to support me, to ask the help of Eywa?"

After a moment all the people cheered and yelled. Puvomun and Amhul looked at each other as they screamed. This was a good thing, they both knew it.

Preparations were then made. Riders were sent out to collect Jakesully, after his Na'vi body had laid itself down under the Sacred Tree.

Everyone waited in anticipation, and finally the riders returned. It was Neytiri who carried the small man to the tree, laying him down near the body that would become Jakesully.

All the people had sat themselves down around the low platform, their ayswin connecting to the ground, to Eywa, and they all moved their bodies in a trance, to summon the energy, to call to Eywa.

Mo'at stood over the two bodies, chanting, and Neytiri sat at her feet, close to the small body. Small fibres had come up from the ground, attaching to the broken body, as well as to the queue of the uniltìrantokx that was supposed to become the man.

Energy pulsated everywhere, light coming from every living thing in the area, as the people asked for the help of Eywa, to make the change happen.

Puvomun lost touch with his environment as the energy flowed and became more powerful. Suddenly there was a rush and then slowly the energy ebbed away. He opened his eyes. He felt Amhul's hand in his again, and turned his head to look at her.

Amhul's eyes were fixed on the low platform.

Puvomun looked at it as well. He saw how Neytiri kissed the eyes of the small body. She moved to the body that was supposed to harbour Jakesully's spirit now.

Everyone waited with baited breath…

_ the end _

Na'vi - English.

Atokirina - seeds of the Sacred Tree

Ayewan - young ones

Ayfo lu tstunwi - They are kind

Ayfo makto nìwin - They ride too fast

Aynivi - plural of nivi

Ayoeyä atxkxe - our land

Aysaronyu - plural of taronyu (also 'saronyu')

Aysawtute/sawtute - Sky people, the humans

Aysko / sko - bows

Ayuniltìranyu - plural of uniltìranyu, dreamwalkers

'Eveng - a child

Eveng - children

'Ewantu - young one

'Ewll - plant

'Eylan - friend

Eylan - plural of 'eylan

Eywa - the Goddess, nature, Gaia

Eywa ayoehu - Eywa be with us

Eywa ngahu - Eywa be with you

Fa'li/ayfa'li - plural of pa'li - horses

Fngap - metal

Fngapä ta'leng - metal skin, AMP suits

Hetuwong - plural of ketuwong - aliens

Heyn - to sit

Hì'i - small

Ikran - mountain banshee

Ikran makto - ikran rider

Irayo - thank you

'Ite - daughter

Kaltxì - hello

Karyu - teacher

Kava - alcoholic drink

Ke nìltsan - not well

Kefyak? - right?

Kehe - no

Kelutral - Hometree, where the Na'vi clan lives

Kelku lefngap - house of metal

Ketuwong - alien

Kìyevame - May we see each other again

Kxam - middle

Kxawm - maybe, perhaps

Kxetse - tail

Lu - is, to be

Ma yawne - (my) love

Makto zong - travel safely

Mesawtute - two Sky people

Mllte - to agree

Nantang - six-legged direwolf

Nga - you

Nga yawne lu oer - You are my beloved

Nìprrte - you're welcome

Ngeyä - your (ngeyä sa'nok - your mother)

Nivi - hammock

Numeyu - Student

Oe 'efu pa'li - I feel the horse

Oe irayo si Eywaru - My thanks to Eywa

Oe ke lu - I am not

Oel omum - I know

Oeyä koaka 'eylan - my old friend

Olo'eyktan - clan leader

Pa'li - six-legged direhorse

Palulukan - giant six-legged feline predator

Po lu - he is

Pxasìk - very bad curse-word

Rewon lefpom - good morning (lit. morning good)

Riti - stingbat

Rolyu - singer

'Rrta - Earth

Sa'nok - mother

Saronyu - hunters

Sempul - father

Set - now

Sì - and (used in listing things)

Sìltsan - good

Skxawng - moron, idiot

Sran, srane - yes

Srung - help (n)

Srung si - to help

Swizaw - arrow

Tam - Good, okay

Taronyu - hunter

Tawtute - Sky person, one human

Tokx - body

Tsa'u lu sìltsan - that is good

Tsaheylu - a mental bond, made by tendrils in a Na'vi braid to other living organisms on Pandora

Tsahik - spiritual leader, shaman

Tsamsiyu - warrior

Tsko - bow

Tsmuk - sibling

Tsmukan - brother

Tsmuke - sister

Tswin - queue, braid

Tokx - body

Txon lefpom - good night (lit. night good)

Ulte - and (used to combine sentences)

Uniltìrantokx - Avatar (dreamwalker) body

Uniltìranyu - Dreamwalker, a human in an Avatar body

Utral Aymokriyä - the Tree of Voices

Vitra - soul

Vitrautral - the Tree of Souls

Yerik - six-legged kind of deer