That Weird Girl with the Ponytail

“Ma Sohek.” Le’sohek huffed, nuzzling deeper into the sheets. They felt rough against her cheek, like she had been drooling heavily again. Oh, or maybe the dream was from another concussion. That could explain the stiffness in the fabric, dried blood from another unfortunate round with Harding. “Ma Sohek, tìtxen si.” Mm, maybe she was biting her lip again, that would explain the texture and Ri’nela waking her up early….

Ri’nela was shaking her shoulder now. Le’sohek growled open-mouthed at the contact and yanked the sheet over her head, shooing the elder Na’vi away in the same motion. “Augggh! Hum, ma ‘Nela! I was dreaming!” She hissed in displeasure when the sheet was pulled away, blindly pawing after it. Keeping her eyes closed was a matter of pettiness at this point, but if she could just go back to sleep for a few moments maybe the dream would come again. “Lee’me alone!”

“Sohek–”

“We were on Pandora and outside! And I had a bow and a songcord and blew up an AMP suit!” Abandoning the war for the sheet, Le’sohek grabbed her tail tuft and rolled onto her other side, putting her back to Ri’nela’s protests. “The klaxon isn’t going off yet, let me–”

Her stomach lurched. Le’sohek snapped her eyes open with a yelp just in time to register damp rock rushing to meet her face. She hit with a solid whumph of air exiting tensed lungs, sputtering human curses with the last threads of breath left to her.

Laughter drifted from her left. “You were in a snonivi, skxawng!”

Le’sohek grit her teeth. “Nor, if I get up and do not see Eyweveng in all her glory,” She shoved her limbs under her sprawled body, still clutching tight to the end of her tail. It wouldn’t do to smack it on something if it were all a dream. “Then I am kicking your blue ass, vonvä’.”  

~

(After Le’sohek sees they are indeed outside and takes in the nature that stretched out from the entrance of their little dwelling under Resistance HQ, she bounces to her feet and takes Ri’nela by the arms, crowing about how they are outside.)

Ri’nela entwined her forearms with her clan sister with a laugh as bright as the morning sun and followed her movement, dancing with her in the steps they had made up as children as their arms swayed. 

At last Le’sohek threw her arms around Ri’nela with breathless giggles. “Ma olo’tsmuke, we are outside!” 

Ri’nela pulled back and seized Le’sohek’s cheeks, shaking her gently. “We are!” She laughed aloud again and touched her forehead to her clan sister’s. “We made it. At last!”

“You will wake the whole forest with your noise.” Le’sohek whirled to where Nor was kneeling before an array of clay pots, fingers coated in a dark green pigment. His face scrunched up as he turned to the shard of mirror dangling from the wooden rack the paint pots rested upon, rubbing the paint onto his neck. “And get those Sky People rags off. You looked better yesterday with the scraps Raj cobbled together than in...that.”

Despite the crick halfway down its length, the tufted end of Le’sohek’s tail began to dance. Ri’nela covered her mouth, stifling knowing giggles, as the younger Na’vi slipped easily into a crouch, body coiled. 

“Ma Noooorr...” The purr to Le’sohek’s voice had the aforementioned young man rolling his eyes. “You must celebrate too, big brother.”

“I am celebrating, skxawng, I just don’t need to–”

Le’sohek pounced with another wild whoop, arms outstretched. Nor caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and managed to set the paint pot down just before his clan sister slung into him with a clipped laugh. He cursed as she nuzzled into his neck, purring obnoxiously loud as she attacked his sides mercilessly. 

“You are messing up my war paint!” Was all he managed to howl between 

“Noooo, I am borrowing your war paint!” Le’sohek rolled off at Nor giving a particularly firm push to her shoulder, clear warning that the moment was over. She bared her teeth at him playfully, eyes squinted in unfiltered joy. Green paint was smeared across her face, a familiar Na’vi handprint across her shoulder. “And we are not at war, skxawng! We are free! We are...ah, dammit what’s the word...” 

Ri’nela leaned forward, offering, “Kawkxan?”

“No, that...doesn’t sound right....”

“Layro.” Nor grumbled. He was already back to the changing station, surveying the damage done by Le’sohek’s impromptu cuddling. 

Le’sohek pointed at him excitedly. “That! Layro.” She rolled the world around in her mouth a few times before giving a firm nod and another wild smile. “Layro. We are layro!” 

“What is the difference?” Ri’nela crossed her arms, addressing her elder clan brother as Le’sohek padded a few turns on all fours, murmuring to herself that it felt far better moving when she was layro. “Both mean free, don’t they?”

Nor put back the green once again and retrieved a pot of stark white. “Kawkxan is for something more physical, like if you unblocked a door it would be kawkxan.” He rose up on his knees to put his upper chest in frame of the still slightly swaying mirror shard. His scrunched face seemed more a result of using the object rather than focus. “Layro means free from oppression. Like TAP.” 

The sharp spit to the word made Le’sohek pause in her reacquainting of her hands to the earth.

“Where is Teylan?” Her ears flickered back, eyes darting about the cave in search of their baby brother. She remembered he was there last night, but...his hammock was empty.

Ri’nela nodded towards the bare metal rafters further along the little cave that made up their hideaway. Now in the full light of day Le’sohek realized it was not a full-sized cave in truth, but a tiny grotto extended by the undersides of metal foundation prefabs from the modules above. “He is inside. Already working on some of the broken tech the Resistance members have been talking about.”  

~

(Le’sohek puts on the Na’vi style Resistance clothes and goes to find Teylan and tell him about how wonderful everything is outside and that she will find them something to eat that is better than RDA rations.)

Nor was shaking his head when Ri’nela turned her attention back to the cave.

“There she goes again. Acting like a hyper child.” His voice carried an edge of displeasure.

“I think it is something we all should do more now that we are free.” Ri’nela retorted, though her tone remained gentle. “We did not get to sing and dance when we were little, so why not now?”

“We need to learn the proper way.”