Starting New

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Chapter 7

“You need to learn how to use this,” Jake said suddenly one afternoon, gesturing towards his bow and arrow.

I shook my head, “You know I will have horrible aim. I wouldn’t be a good hunter.”

“Perhaps not for hunting,” He said and jumped up and walked to the edge of the central tree trunk, where the clan’s home was, “More for protection.”

I put down my beadwork back into the wicker basket and got up, slowly approaching him from behind. I followed his gaze out into the sky of Pandora. It was hot today, very hot and I could feel the perspiration beginning to bead up on my skin. Jake seemed adamant to just stare out, watching the large trees sway with the hot wind and looking at the waterfall and then at the lake we swam at only days before.

“Protection from what?” I asked, putting a hand out, “The war is over.”

“I know,” He agreed, sniffling slightly and then his golden eyes turned towards me, “I just have a feeling... Anyway, it’ll be good for you to know. All the other men in the tribe know how to use the bow and arrow, whether they’re warriors or hunters or just more general builders or gatherers. It’s a common thing. I can teach you how. It’s not too difficult.”

“Alright,” I said, taking a step back off the steep edge, “If that’s what you want to do.”

Jake and I spent the next day or so teaching me how to use the bow and arrow. I borrowed his for the time being and showed me how to aim correctly. He told me stories of how Neytiri had first taught him.

“She was so strict,” He said with a laugh and then exhaled a rather pent up breath, “She wanted me to look good. She wanted me to impress the others.”

I tried again, aiming at my target, which happened to be a large, brown tarp strung between two trees. It had a circle made of dye in the middle with a bulls eye in the center. Jake said later we would attempt to kill an actual animal, but for now I needed to practice. I always thought using the bow seemed to come so natural to the Na’vi. I was finding out the hard way that it was not as easy as it looked.

“You miss her…Neytiri I mean. I can see it in your eyes,” I said after a moment or two.

He was silent for a while, but eventually responded, “The Na’vi do not encourage grieving at the time of a death. I have such a hard time with this. I mean, she just died less than a month ago. I know life must go on, but sometimes I miss her so much. Other forms of emotions are encouraged, like happiness, anger, even love. But they do not encourage grieving. Their philosophy is once a person dies they will go with Eywa and basically you must go on with your life and not let the death affect you. This is so hard to do.”

“What about during the wars? I know many of the women cried after that, even Mo’at. I’ve seen her crying by herself a few times. She turns away and pretends she’s fine, but I know better than that.”

“They would consider the war casualties special circumstance.”

“What? Just because Neytiri died a few days later, she’s not considered a war casualty?”

He sighed and backed up, “I don’t know.”

“They should change their philosophy,” I said, a bit angry.

I aimed once more for the target and shot very close to the big, black dot. Jake looked on and seemed to be in somewhat of a trance.

“Jake?”

“It’s déjà vu,” He mumbled to himself, “And you’re almost ready.”

I had no idea what he was talking about and continued to practice.

The following day, Jake woke me early. I was startled out of sleep to find a brand new bow and arrow set thrown on top of me me, even before dawn. I opened my eyes wide, and looked at him.

“Let’s get going.”

I stretched and crawled out of the hammock. I relieved myself quickly, grabbed some bread and followed him out. I expected him to walk, but he stopped at a pa’li and threw a few things on top of it. He made tsahaylu and jumped on the animal’s back. He looked down and me and gestured for me to join him.

“I thought we would walk,” I said, standing their nervously with nothing but my bow and arrow.

“Not today. We’re going somewhere different. It’s too far to walk.”

I nodded and grabbed his hand. He pulled me on the direhorse and I struggled to find a balance, eventually grabbing him around the waist for support. He turned back and had a grin on his face.

“Comfy?”

“Not really-”

He took off before I could finish the sentence, going down Hometree and into the forest. The people were mostly still asleep and I was glad that no one had noticed us going off together. The Pandoran crickets chirped loudly in the early morning and the sun was just creeping up over the sky. I increased my grasp around Jake’s waist and shuffled a bit to get closer. He turned his head slightly, probably feeling my breath on his neck, but didn’t say anything.

“Here we are,” He said, instructing his pa’li to stop and looking out, “This is where you can find the best hunting around.”

I didn’t make any move to get off the horse, but instead moved one of my hands slightly up his chest and rested completely against his back. I heard him sigh and turn his head. I lay my head next to his and he leaned back to kiss me. His lips moved sensually against my own and he pulled back a moment later, watching me with half opened eyes.
“That was nice,” He said softly.

The direhorse took a few steps forward and backward, tired of having to wait. I took the cue and slid to the ground. Jake followed seconds later. Thoughts of the kiss were gone for a while as Jake tip toed past some foliage. I followed slowly, careful not to make any unwanted attention. I saw the animal he intended me to kill standing only a few feet away. It was one I had not studied intently and its name was lost upon me.

“Si’ran,” He whispered gesturing to the animal. He crouched in the shadows and looked in my direction, “Go on.”
I nodded, pulling my bow and then arrows out from the strap on my back. I held the arrow cautiously in my hands, waiting for the right time. The animal was dark gray, round, but not very tall. It was munching quite loudly on some grass on the ground and hadn’t even noticed us. I concentrated, hearing nothing but the animal and seeing nothing but the Si’ran. I lifted up elbow up slightly and let the arrow loose.

“You got it!” Jake said loudly, scaring off any other hunting opportunities and running over a few rocks and logs to get to the animal, “Good shot.”

I knelt down next to the animal, seeing it whimper in fear and pain. The arrow hit at a good spot, near the upper abdomen. I did as Jake had showed me, saying a brief prayer of thanks and ending the animal’s knife with a small knife. I lifted my head to see Jake beaming at me.

“See, now you are a hunter!”

I made a face, shaking my head.

“You killed it and we’re going to eat it for dinner,” He said, pulling my bloody arrow out and handing it back to me. I wiped it off and sheathed it back onto my strap, putting away my weapons. He lifted the animal and grunted. I’m sure the animal was heavy. Jake took a few awkward steps back to the direhorse.

“Here,” He said, shoving the animal into my arms, while he got onto the horse.

I hefted it around for a moment or so and then handed it to Jake, so I could get on behind him.

“Ugh, I feel smelly,” I mumbled, not even really wanting to touch him after having dried blood on my hands.

“All in a day’s work,” He said happily, taking off at a more casual speed this time.

I still ended up wrapping my arms around him and resting my head against his shoulder like last time. We rode silently for a while and I felt his hand gently touch my thigh.

“Are you asleep?” He whispered.

“Huh? No,” I replied, lifting my head.

“We’re almost there. You should probably jump down,” He said.

I slid off the back of the horse and he handed me the dead animal. I walked into Hometree, proudly carrying my kill and Jake followed on his horse.

“Did you kill that Si’ran?” Gael asked as I passed.

I nodded and grinned.

“Very good, Normspellman,” He said with a smile and nod.

I delivered the carcass over to the men and women who prepared the meals. They were happy to have something to prepare to eat, but still very wary of me. I just nodded nervously and left.

I caught up to Jake a little while later.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to cool off, clean up, and maybe go take a swim.”

I followed Jake back out into the forest and then jumped behind him on the pa’li. We arrived at the small, glistening lake shortly after. The water was exceptionally cool and drifted down my hot back in warm tendrils as I slowly walked in. I had grabbed a few supplies before we left, including some eucalyptus soap and reed lotion for my calloused hands. I began to wash the sweat and blood off my body.

Later, Jake and I played in the water. We roughhoused, me pushing him into the deep and him dunking me in return. Luckily, I was a good swimmer and could outswim him at any cost. He would laugh and throw huge waves of water my way. He came up beside me and I jumped out of the way, thinking me would drunk me again. Instead he wrapped both of his arms around my neck and I looked into his startling yellow eyes.

His lips found mine and we kissed passionately, his tongue snaking into my mouth. I suckled on it greedily and then we broke softly as he looked into my eyes. He leaned forward again, sucking on my bottom lip and pressing his hand against my ass, moving and kneading it there. He picked up my tail and caressed the long, blue appendage. I was beginning to get hard and leaned against him, but really surprised to find that he was, also. I wrapped one arm around his back and the other cradled his hand. I raked my hands through his dark hair and closed my eyes, relishing in the kiss.

He pulled away suddenly, his breath coming quickly, “We shouldn’t do this here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, thinking that this must be what he wanted.

He cupped my cheek and ran his other hand over my chest, tweaking my nipples and kissing me again.

“If we do this we must do it right,” He whispered, pressing his nose against mine. He held me close and asked, “Do you want to do this, Norm?”

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation, kissing him back once quickly.

“Let’s go to the Tree of Souls,” He suggested, already retreating back to where we had come from. I caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait. I have a better idea.”