Chapter 10: Blue and Opal

During breakfast, Grace had explained what had happened in our escape at death from the evil beastie of doom, the Thanator. I rolled my eyes; the events that took place in the forest of Pandora wasn't something I'd publicly want to admit.

"It's not something you can teach," Jake boasted.

I snorted. Of course it was something that many could teach, the navy for example, marines...Whatever. The scientists that sat with us clapped our shoulders in congratulations.

"That's awesome, guys," Max said with a wide smile.

I smiled back. Next to me, however, Norm was silently fuming. My smile immediately dropped and I rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. I knew why he was so mad – he had trained for many years, learnt the language and dreamt to be in our position. Then, the Sully siblings came along and got a free in-pass with the natives. I brought my gaze to Jake and gave him a warning glare.

"For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you two. God help us all," Grace announced.

After a rather annoying chat with Parker and Quaritch, it was time to go back into the world of Omitacaya. Grace followed after us and showed us pictures of the clan as we headed over to the link.

"Tsu'tey," I answered immediately as his picture popped up.

"Mo'at," Jake said as the matriarch's face was visible. "Eytukan," he continued.

"He's the clan leader," Grace informed us, and then flipped through to Mo'at. "But she's the spiritual leader. Like a shaman."

"Cool. Now, who's Eywa?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Who's Eywa? Oh, only their deity. The Great Mother. The goddess made up of all living things. You'd know that if you had any training whatsoever," Norm snapped, pushing past us.

I gazed after him with a sigh. It wasn't our fault that we happened to stumble across a rather pissed off Na'vi girl who then lead us to her home, but I never wanted my new friend angry with me.

Jake hauled himself up onto his link. "Who's got a date with the Chief's daughter?" he shot back, smirking.

"Well, I gotta date with the best warrior. So take that, bro," I said, popping my shoulders.

"Knock it off. Jesus, it's like kindergarten around here," Grace muttered as I lay down in my link bed.

I awoke in the hammock and gazed up at the hometree – I could wake up to that marvelous view every morning. With a sigh I left the hammock and ran down the carved 'staircase' that lead into the village. I almost instantly looked around for Tsu'tey; hopefully he hadn't forgot him, or I'd surely be screwed.

"Where is he?" I whispered to myself.

"Demon." It was a distinctly deep voice. "Training starts now."

I turned to see Tsu'tey smirking evilly at me, and held two reins in his hands.

"And how does this training start?"

He just gave me a mocking grin and started walking. "You keep up, or not bother. Not my problem," he called over his shoulder.

I groaned. This sucks...

We reached a small patch of land, one of which had a small pool of water at the edge where the horse-creatures were drinking from with their frog like tongues.

"What are these anyway?" I asked curiously, rubbing my hand over it's back softly. I always had a soft spot for animals.

"Pa'li," Tsu'tey replied shortly, and stood closer to me. "To ride Pa'li, you must make the tsaheylu." His tone turned quiet at the end and patted the Pa'li.

"Um, no reason for offence, but do I have to call it Pa'li? Do you have a 'sky demon'name for it?" I questioned.

"Direhorse is what that Doctor woman call them," he said. "Get upon Opal."

I sighed and hopped onto the horse, hooking my feet on the built in stirrups they seemed to have. It felt comfortable to be on Opal, and I gripped an antennae nervously. With a quick movement I made the tsaheylu, and everything turned fuzzy for a moment. I could feel the connection that blended through my queue and into my brain. It was as though the feelers branded themselves on my brain, and I could hear almost everything. I gasped.

Tsu'tey stared up at me, no longer angry and demanding, but quiet and calm. I liked this side better than his 'follow, or be left behind, demon from hell' side. It was a nice change. "This is the tsaheylu– it is the way we connect with the animals, the bond. Feel her, listen to what she listens, feel what she feels," he instructed, and softly rubbed Opal's nose. "You may instruct her from the mind, but for now you must speak your commands."

I smiled and said, "Go."

Opal moved foreward, but there was no bounce at all. I gripped the reins and swerved her right, allowing her to run through the shallow part of the water before positioning her so she came towards Tsu'tey. It was payback, it was cruel, but the look on his face as water sprayed over him was absolutely hilarious. I let out a snort of amusement and stared at his face with slow bubbles of laughter bursting from my throat.

"I..." I gasped out. "am...so...sorry.."

And then I exploded with laughter.

"It is not funny!" he roared and promptly glared at me. "You have skill on Pa'li, but now is not time to be cocky. Let us ride through the forest if you think you are all great."

I shrugged and the race began.

We soared through the forest on our direhorses, but he was a few inches in front. Tsu'tey had probably grown up on these things, where I had only just learnt how to ride this new form of horse. I had riden horses throughout my life, and even did competitions, but these direhorses were much faster and more agile than the everyday horse.

I shouted, "Jump!" just as a rather large tree trunk moved into my path, and Opal complied. She leaped over swiftly and continued, letting out a call of content. They reminded me of dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, a movie that was adapted from the hundred year old original. Tsu'tey ended up leading me to another clearing, and I saw Jake and his mentor on the other side.

"Come," Tsu'tey ordered me. I mimicked him childishly from behind but followed anyway.

We rode up to them, and I almost laughed at the sight of my brother. Mud covered his face and chest and he slowly wiped it off as he stood.

"Hey, bro," I said cheerily.

"Oh, hey," he replied and stood. "I see you can ride."

I nodded, and told him cheekily, "Well, you should've taken those horseriding lessons I took back on earth. But, no. You had to be a man! How's that treating you?"

Jake just rolled his eyes.

"You should go away," Tsu'tey blurted angrily.

"I knew you could speak English," Jake told him proudly.

As Tsu'tey spoke in his language to Neytiri, I muttered to Jake, "Yeah, and he does not stop talking. All I hear is 'sky demon' this, and sky demon that."

"You'll be fine," Jake reassured. "But if he hurts you, you tell me and i'll beat his ass." That was whispered to me, and luckily Tsu'tey couldn't hear.

"Let us go," the Na'vi male ordered and off we went, back to that damn clearing we came from.

As we reached the clearing, he demanded, "Now, you must think your orders to be a good rider. A good rider is silent but strong, and does not fall off like that demon."

I glared at him and snapped, "Hey, listen blue boy. That demon happens to be my brother and I will cut you if you say one more bad thing around me, got it?"

He just laughed, as if I was some child that was threatening to stomp on his toes.

"Asshole," I mumbled to myself. 'Bite him'.

Moments later, Tsu'tey let out a slight yelp of pain as Opal bit his finger.

"Oops," I said sheepishly. "My mind slipped."

He glared at me. "If you are going to be this annoying, then I will not mentor you. Simple as that."

"Fine," I agreed. "But, then you have to do the same. No more 'sky demon' or glaring at me every five seconds. Just calm training."

"Deal."

Uh huh. Yep. New Chapter after about four months... people who actually read this have every right to murder me, but do make it quick and painless :P

Usually my excuse would be school work, but even though it was the case, I felt absolutely no interest in the story. Then I stumbled upon it once more and decided 'eh, what the hell?' But I have written two more chapters after this so I will be updating either tomorrow or the next day.

From the bottom of my heart, I hope you do enjoy this new version because I find it better and Lara isn't much of a mary-sue and dialogue stealer as she was in the original.

I would usually say BIG GREEN BUTTON! PRESS HIM! But since it no longer has a green button - do press the link below to review.

As always, cyber cookies will be available.

PS: I think I have turned into a review whore, because i really don't care if you abuse me for my lack of updating, I love that feeling when people comment and tell me what they like and what they don't like. But don't turn it into a flame; all i will do is use it to warm my beetles and 'chicken'.