Chapter Text
Spider leaped over another protruding root with a grunt. Since the Sky People’s return, he had often slipped away to be alone. After the ships landed, the relationship between the Na’vi and the humans who remained on Pandora had grown increasingly tense. Spider didn’t blame them, it hurt him too to watch the forest burn. Many in the clan had already lost something because of the humans, so it was no surprise they were wary around the other species.
The boy just didn’t want to get in the way, especially with his own personal problems. The warriors were busy discussing action against the RDA, while the rest continued settling into High Camp. And honestly, no one really cared much about Spider’s whereabouts, except maybe the McCoskers, who later complained about having to search for him. Well, now they were gone, and good riddance.
He sniffled before lifting his mask to quickly wipe his face, then pressed it back firmly. It hissed as it resealed. Spider sat on the root, legs dangling, stewing in his foul mood.
Even though he’d spent his whole life wishing his adoptive family would disappear, now that they were gone, he felt miserable. They were the closest thing to family he’d ever had, and they had gone, spitting in his face by taking his friends hostage. It was shitty.
Of course, he couldn’t complain about it. He wasn’t the one in danger because of all this, he just felt sick at the thought of being alone again. He’d been thinking too much about this crap, which was why he’d run off into the jungle.
He knew it was damn dangerous, and Jake had forbidden everyone from going near certain areas after another skirmish with the RDA. But the Na’vi were busy with their families, and the scientists were struggling to set up their relocated equipment. Besides, he always came back before anyone even remembered he was gone.
So he found a spot by a small stream, where he just watched the water and let his mind wander. It was quiet here, and he knew Jake wouldn’t let his kids come looking for him, this was too close to some RDA structure.
Still, the forest didn’t feel empty. After a couple of days, he started sensing eyes on the back of his neck. A shiver ran down his spine, but Spider stubbornly ignored it, almost getting used to the feeling. In a way, it helped with the loneliness, like at least the forest hadn’t abandoned him.
Spider stared blankly at his feet, swinging them idly. He’d probably cried all the tears he had over what happened, and now he was just here to clear his head. It was pretty far from where the Omatikaya usually hunted, anyway.
Spider propped his elbow on his knee and rested his chin in his palm, watching as a yerik descended to the pond for a drink. A small herd followed behind it.
A smile flickered across the boy’s face. Despite growing up on Pandora, the animals could still sense his unnatural scent, they rarely relaxed in his presence, either attacking him, fleeing in fear, or, on rare occasions, holding their ground. Spider knew it was a miracle they didn’t react worse; most humans faced outright fury from Pandora’s wildlife, leaving them scarred for life.
One male yerik suddenly locked eyes with the human boy, its head-fan flaring as its lip curled back. Spider sighed in disappointment, the creature had noticed him and was seconds from bolting.
Then the yerik’s head jerked up, staring at something behind Spider, before it spun and fled in the opposite direction, the herd scattering after it. The crack of snapping branches followed, and Spider instinctively reached for his bow, twisting to see what had spooked them.
A blue hand seized his mask, yanking him still, just as an unknown Na’vi dropped upside-down into view in front of him. She held him in place with one hand, a knife gripped in the other. He barely had time to react, still half-crouched on the root, fingers just brushing his bow. Her bright green eyes locked onto him, pupils slightly narrowed.
"I’m one of you! I won’t hurt you!" He shouted in Na’vi, trying to calm the stranger and make it clear he meant no harm.
The Na'vi woman studied him before slowly lowering her knife and releasing him, continuing her examination. She swayed as if preparing to pull herself up, but instead slipped, tumbling to the ground and nearly rolling head over heels.
Spider barely stifled a giggle at the sight, he'd never seen such a clumsy Na'vi, one who couldn't even hold onto a tree. She winced slightly and pushed herself up from the dirt.
"Sorry!" His face immediately flushed with shame when she seemed to notice his muffled laughter at her fall. But in response, the Na'vi only smiled and let out an almost silent laugh of her own.
Her tail flicked playfully behind her as she brushed dirt from her body and straightened to her full height. Spider studied her ornaments with interest, they were different from what Omatikaya warriors usually wore. Her top was woven with red and gold threads, with a leather sheath where her knife rested.
"You're ikran makto!" Spider gasped, noticing the number of her accessories, as well as leggings worn by ikran riders and the flight mask that looked more like a headband to keep her hair back.
"You know much, human boy," the Na'vi woman murmured as she crept closer and crouched, shifting her weight to stay at eye level with Spider.
She watched Spider with interest, brushing aside one of his locks. Her fingers lingered in his hair, lightly twisting it as she examined his selfmade dreadlocks.
"I live with the Omatikaya," Spider explained, "and the Resistance. I'm Spider,"
The Na’vi woman respectfully stepped back and brought her fingers to her forehead, now formally greeting him, though a smile still played on her lips.
"Oel ngati kameie, Spider," she replied, then introduced herself, "I am Iaraen,"
"Oel ngati kameie, Iaraen," Spider raised his hand to his forehead in a respectful gesture, still studying the Na’vi’s appearance.
Her hair was beautifully adorned, her dreadlocks and tswin tied up in a high tail. Everything about her screamed that she was a warrior from another clan. Spider bit his cheek, wondering if he could ask where she was from.
"You come here often, Spider," Iaraen said, rising and walking toward the stream. She knelt by the water and drew her knife, cutting reeds growing along the bank. The beads in her hair and on her top swayed softly and rhythmically. Most of them were in shades of brown, gold, and red, though a few differed in size and color.
"You’ve been watching me?" Spider asked, surprised. He had thought he’d accidentally disturbed her peace, prompting her to attack him.
Iaraen looks at him and smiles, her ears twitching with curiosity as she studies Spider’s expression. His eyebrows, furrowed in confusion, make her laugh, loudly, human emotions seemed less expressive to her, and rather amusing.
Spider hesitates, opening his mouth, trying to be polite before questions start tumbling out. She was odd, yet strangely friendly, even though she’d tried to attack him at first. And it seemed Iaraen had no intention of offering any explanations.
He still wanted to apologize to her, though he wasn’t sure how to put it into words. He must have disturbed her more than once, maybe messed up her hunting. Maybe he’d caused trouble for her clan, even though this was still Omatikaya territory.
To the north was the Bridgehead, and to the south lay ground of Tayrangi clan, while heading east would lead only to the open sea. Though her clothing was made using a different technique, he could partially recognize the materials it was crafted from. The other clans neighboring the Omatikaya were much farther inland.
The Spider crouched and slipped off the root where he had been perched, then slowly approached Iaraen, wondering how to continue the conversation.
Though he feared he might seem intrusive, he was curious to learn why a Na’vi with such unusual eyes was hunting on foreign territory.
"Are you from the Tayrangi?" Spider stands awkwardly behind Iaraen as she deftly ties the reeds together and picks them up.
"I was raised by that clan," the Na’vi woman shakes her head before denying her current ties to them, "But they let me go, just as they once took me in. Now I wander north,"
Her answer only partially addressed the question, without delving into her true origins. Her songcord was long, exceptionally long, even for an adult Na’vi, which only raised more questions about how much she had lived through. Parts of her clothing, especially the ornaments, were made from animal components Spider didn’t recognize.
"And you, how did you end up here,Spider'evan?" Iaraen had seen humans before and knew how they usually dressed, making this human child in Na’vi garb an oddity. The humans she had encountered during her brief travel had been hostile toward anything related to the Na’vi, yet he was dressed as one of them. Though the craftsmanship of his loincloth was crude, like something made by a child still learning. "Did you come from the sky, and the Omatikaya took you in?"
"I was born on Eywa’eveng," Spider blurted out, somewhat proud that he wasn’t an alien. But then he hesitated, thinking about his place in the clan. "I live there, along with a few scientists,"
Though Spider considered himself Na’vi, he couldn’t claim to be a full-fledged member of the clan. Many Na’vi merely tolerated him, letting him help rather than treating him as a true warrior. In many rituals, he was only allowed to watch from the sidelines. But he didn’t hold it against them.
"No, you are not a warrior,Spider'evan," Iaraen said bluntly, her eyes scanning his attire. He didn’t wear the customary cummerbund of an adult warrior. Spider winced at the truth, even though the Na’vi woman’s words held no malice.
"I can’t pass the Iknimaya. I can’t make tsaheylu," Spider shook his head.
He gave a sad smile, trying to soften the edges, as if his inadequacy would disappoint her and drive her away. As if not being Na’vi enough would make Iaraen lose interest and send him off.
"Your English is pretty good," Spider remarked. She pronounced his nickname well, without mangling the middle of the word like other Na’vi who had never dealt with the speech of the sky people.
"I knew Sky People when I was young," Iaraen replied, adjusting her grip on the reeds before slowly moving away from the stream, glancing back at Spider now and then as if expecting him to follow.
He hesitated for a moment before taking a step forward, still debating whether he was being too pushy. Many clan Na’vi he’d tried to talk to before dismissed him as a "tawtute'eveng with pointless chatter." It didn’t exactly hurt, it just set clear boundaries on how not to seem rude.
Iaraen moved swiftly and smoothly between the trees, going farther and farther away from the stream. She slowed and turned only to make sure Spider was keeping up. The boy sped up, pushing through the forest, not wanting to give her any reason to worry about him.
He gasped when the Na’vi led him to her temporary home. A long membrane was stretched from a small rocky outcrop down to the ground, forming a shelter. Strands of drying meat and a few fruits hung from threads. The place vaguely resembled a makeshift outpost, only more homely.
"Your marui is very beautiful," Spider said as he stepped inside and looked around. True, there weren’t many decorations, her heavy bow lay against the stone wall without a weapon stand, and beside it were arrows with reddish-brown feathers.
"Thank you, tawtute'evan," Iaraen laughed warmly at his compliment and tossed some reeds near an unfinished ikran saddle.
Spider shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other before moving closer and crouching down, watching the weaving technique of another clan. He had seen the Omatikaya make saddles, and now he was witnessing the craftsmanship of a different clan, utterly fascinated.
"Spider'evan, why are you out here alone? Even Omatikaya warriors only come here in groups," Iaraen asked curiously, seeming troubled that a child raised among the Na’vi would wander so close to the human structures. "Do your parents let you come here?"
Spider bit his lip, scrambling to come up with a quick lie. He didn’t want to tell the truth, afraid it would reflect poorly on his clan,that no one had really taken responsibility for him. Though Na’vi rituals were dangerous, no parent would give their child permission to leap into a palulukan’s den or, well, approach human buildings.
He continued to remain silent, his muscles slightly tense, as if afraid he’d be accused of laziness or lying or something else.
"I don’t have parents, and I’m old enough that no one needs to watch over me. I just don’t want to bother anyone with my thoughts," Spider groaned, never able to come up with anything better than that. His smile wavered slightly as he realized he had bothered her once before, "Sorry for getting in your way,"
Iaraen let out a surprised sigh, not expecting the boy’s sudden apology. She had made camp in the territory of another clan to keep an eye on the strange sky person who now sat in front of her. Even if the Na’vi didn’t deny travelers rest, if anyone should be apologizing, it should have been her.
"Don’t apologize," Iaraen tosses at him, returning to weaving her saddle. Not all humans she’d known were cruel and greedy, but someone who apologized this much was a first.
Spider shut up and just kept silently watching her. It was awkward, there were still so many questions he wanted to ask but was afraid of being rude or hurting her with some memory. Quietly, he scanned her campsite.
His stomach growled as his gaze fell upon her food supplies once more. Spider had safely skipped lunch due to the dishes being poisonous to him, and he had slipped away from dinner to be alone.
Iaraen’s ear twitched at the sound of his hungry stomach, and she lifted her head. She was staring at him sternly. Truth be told, Spider had seen that look from adults before, whether they were Na’vi or Sky People. She seemed insistent, as if she wanted to make sure the boy wasn’t hungry, her tail swaying behind her.
"I gotta go, eclipse is coming soon!" Spider blurted it out almost in one breath, quick and sharp, as if he had just remembered the promise. But that wasn’t the case. He just didn’t want to be in the awkward position of refusing Iaraen’s cooking. Even if he had accepted, he would’ve had to carefully pick through the food to find something his body could tolerate. So bolting was his way of avoiding seeming fussy. "I’ll stay for dinner tomorrow. You’ll be here, right?"
"Only if you come back to the stream tomorrow,"
She beamed, baring her white fangs. Her eyes crinkled slightly with amusement, a playful glimmer shining in them. Her tail flicked happily, the tip tapping against the ground.
Spider found himself unable to suppress a smile when this Na’vi woman was so open and kind toward him. She gazed at him in wonder, as if he were something long-awaited. He was used to most adults not caring much about his existence.
Spider rose from his crouch and stepped out under the open sky, tilting his head up to gauge the time. Normally, he’d already be back at High Camp by now, with the eclipse so close. Though he loved climbing among the bioluminescent plants, the twilight held plenty of dangers even for a Na’vi, let alone a human, who was many times more fragile.
He turned to see Iaraen calling after him, telling him to be careful, before disappearing into the trees. Alpha Centauri always set quickly, plunging Eywa’eveng into dusk in no time.
The plants began glowing in shades of blue and violet as night approached. Spider loved the night—the shimmering colors cast an illusion, making his skin appear blue.
A syaksyuk tribal group swung from tree to tree, nimbly leaping and climbing across the branches, rustling the leaves above Spider’s head.
A light rain began to fall as if from nowhere, pattering softly against the ground. Mud grew slick under Spider’s feet as he pressed on through the forest toward Ayram Alusìng.
He returned faster than usual, covering the distance from the stream to High Camp in record time. The village had grown quieter, many Na’vi mothers were putting their children to bed, humming soft, melodic lullabies. Spider tried to slip as quietly as possible between the maruis, careful not to disturb the families as he made his way toward the portable biolab module.
Passing through the Na’vi living area, he reached the section where the avatars and humans were stationed. He wished one of the avatar drivers goodnight before being cornered by Lo’ak and Kiri.
"Bro, where were you? We were worried," Lo’ak said, placing a hand on Spider’s shoulder. He looked genuinely surprised that his friend had been missing all evening.
"This skxawng told Tuk a nantang ate you, and she started crying over it," Kiri shot a glare at her brother, who just rolled his eyes, apparently, the youngest Sully had taken the joke too seriously.
But Kiri, too, was eyeing him with concern, having returned only after dark. Spider’s sudden disappearance had sent both of them scrambling to make sure he was just off doing his own thing and not in trouble.
"Long story, but I met a Na’vi from another clan," Spider seemed eager to share the details of his unexpected forest encounter, gesturing animatedly. "She’s a wanderer, and she has these really pretty eyes–"
Kiri let out an annoyed snort, earning a teasing nudge from Lo’ak, who grinned at the chance to mess with his sister.
"Oh, I thought you said Kiri’s eyes were the pretty ones," Lo’ak joked before getting a light smack on the back of the head from Kiri, who now looked slightly flustered.
"You should shut up before I start listing all the girls you've chased after," Spider shot back, giving Lo'ak a playful shove to shut him up.
He immediately cringed at the memory of his own awkward attempts at romance, nothing more than childish crushes. Like that time at nine years old when he'd confessed to his friends that he was in love with Ikäe, a warrior barely younger than his parents.
Kiri burst out laughing, savoring the chance to pay him back for all those jokes about her unknown father.
Their laughter was abruptly cut short by Neytiri, who was striding toward them with purpose. Lo'ak squinted slightly, realizing he and Kiri were about to get an earful,her lashing tail and pinned-back ears made that much obvious.
"Ma ay'evi, your father told you to go to sleep," she said curtly, leaving no room for argument.
"We were looking for Spider–" Lo'ak tried to explain before his mother cut him off.
"I'm sure he was heading to bed too. There was no need to leave your little sister alone,"
Neytiri's tone turned sharper as she glanced at Spider, prompting him to nod and step toward the lab, letting her herd her kids back to the marui. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she turned away in approval, refocusing on her son and daughter.
Lo'ak grumbled a bit with his mother about curfew and his concerns for Spider, but in the end, Neytiri made him go back to sleep.
Kiri waved at Spider before following her sulking brother and their mother. Spider waved back, then ducked into the lab and sealed the door tightly behind him. The airlock hissed, and the inner door slid open, granting access to the filtered atmosphere inside. He pulled off his mask, rubbing the spots where it had pressed into his skin, leaving faint marks. He greeted Jocelyn, who was practically asleep on her feet, before slipping into the main section of the lab.
He found himself near Max and the computer that stored all the scientists' records. You’d think they’d have run out of things to study after 14 years on this planet as allies of the Na’vi, not to mention the extra years under RDA’s thumb.
"Hey, Max. We still have some RDA archives, right?" Spider stared at the holoscreen where the scientist was inputting notes. After the first few nerdy jargon-filled words, he gave up trying to decipher the wall of text.
"Pretty sure we’ve got a few. What’s got you so interested, kid?" Max turned to him, looking surprised by the boy’s sudden curiosity. Spider hadn’t asked to watch old vlogs in ages, and when he did, it was usually just stuff about Na’vi traditions.
"If I can’t find what I’m looking for, I’ll ask you or Norm," Spider kept peering over the scientist’s shoulder, waiting for access to the files.
"Here, just don’t stay up all night," Max vacated the chair with a stretch before heading toward the living quarters.
Spider quickly hopped onto the seat, crossing his legs and leaning on one arm as he scrolled through the video logs. His thoughts were fixated on Iaraen’s origins, he couldn’t shake the fact that she’d interacted with humans as a child. He didn’t know of any other clans that had cooperated with humans besides the Omatikaya.
Unfortunately, some of the old logs were missing. Some hadn’t been backed up before the RDA left, taking their data with them, while others had simply been deleted due to limited storage. Most of what remained were military records, Spider still didn’t understand why those had even been copied over. Probably just a desperate attempt to salvage whatever they could before it was lost forever.
Spider groaned when he saw the unpleasantly familiar face, which fortunately he had only seen on the holoscreen. He grimaced in disgust, wondering why the scientists had even kept this. He hesitated for a moment, considering deleting it, but in the end, he just clenched his teeth and ignored the video of his father’s face, focusing on all the other recordings instead.
He clicked on a vlog by an unknown RDA employee in a white lab coat and slightly turned down the volume to avoid disturbing anyone while he watched. As expected, he didn’t find anything interesting on the first try, skipping forward slightly as the person on the holoscreen rambled in overly technical terms about loreyu.
He turned off that recording before moving to another one, skimming through it while half-listening to what the various scientists were saying in their vlogs. Spider grabbed a small piece of paper and a pen, doodling little sketches of whatever came to mind. He tried drawing Iaraen from memory before switching to what he was better at –drawing his friends.
The boy hummed a quiet tune as he sketched and studied whatever he had access to. This was definitely going to take a while, even while speeding through the videos, all he heard about were trees and roots, with only the occasional mention of animals.