Chapter Text
Not far from the Hometree of Omaticaya, before it fell to the terror of Sky People, a pack of Ikran resided. A year before the Hometree fell, the pack were welcoming their newborn into the pack. It is at this very moment that the Great Mother Eywa decided to put her plan into motion, for a curious case occurred. An Ikran of pure white was born. She was an outcast of her own kind. Even though Ikran could be born with a variety of colours, predominantly blue, green, brown and on occasion purple. A white Ikran with no markings besides those of a slightly darker white that indicated her bioluminescence spots were unheard of. She would grow up being unable to blend in with her rainforest environment. Making life difficult for her, as she would be unable to hunt efficiently nor hide from other predators.
Yet despite it all, she was incredibly beautiful and extremely rare, a myth amongst the Na’vi not too far unlike the legends of Toruk. Her white coloration reflects the sun making her glow in the most iridescent of ways, when she eventually would learn to fly properly, she would blend in with the clouds seamlessly which her other kin didn’t have the power to achieve.
She was dearly loved by both her mother and father, but the same could not be said for the rest of her kin. They saw her as strange and unnatural, despite only being of a different colouration. Yet to them she would always be an outcast.
When she was almost four seasons old, she lost her sire. He fell to the Sky People during their attack on Hometree, when Eywa called upon the fauna of Pandora to help protect their home. He now rests in Eywa’s embrace at the roots of the old Hometree.
Years later, at the still tender age of six, even for an Ikran, her mother was taken out of the sky by a Ska’avum, who greatly injured her. She fell to the forest floor, not far from a Nantang den, where she met her ultimate end, and her soul returned to Eywa, leaving her daughter to fend and survive for herself in a pack that didn’t want her.
The young white Ikran, mourned her mother’s death, crying out to Eywa that it wasn’t fair!
She became more of an outcast in her pack than ever before, her kin used to only tolerate her because of her mother but now with her gone they pretended she didn’t exist at all. Since she was still young, she relied on her parents to bring her food like many other young Ikran, since she was now by herself, as no one else deemed to help her, she was slowly starving, which stunted her growth. At her age, she should be approaching half the size of a full grown adult but she was just past the halfway point to the middle stage. To survive she used her small stature to learn to be sneaky and swift, as she stole pieces for herself from the bounty the other Ikran brought in. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for her to survive if not grow.
Many weeks later, she trilled in her loneliness as she glided from one tree to another as she attempted her best to teach herself to fly. Until a movement way below the tree branches caught her attention a creature jumped from branch to branch with incredible swiftness and efficiency of a Na’vi hunter. Yet it wasn’t one?
She tilted her head in curiosity and released a curious little noise as the creature re-appeared once more between the branches. To her it looked Na’vi but its colouration was wrong. It was similar to hers! She had to get closer.
Hoping from branch to branch, she followed the little creature, until they arrived at a little clearing that led to a series of metal structures. She stayed behind in the forest, high up above the ground, as she was finally able to look at the creature without the obstruction of trees and plant life. It appeared to be a child. Perhaps a Na’vi child? She has seen some grown Na’vi come to her home and try to bond with her pack, some succeeded and some failed. It looked like them, but also not fully. Its colouration was wrong, same as hers but she didn’t really think too much about it. It didn’t have a tail which was odd but perhaps it hasn’t grown yet, she has never seen Na’vi children but perhaps the lack of tail wasn’t that odd. What stood out to her was the fact that it was tiny! Perhaps it was really young, but then why would it be alone by itself not realising the irony herself.
The child piqued her curiosity and she proceeded to return to the same stretch of forest for the next several weeks, where it kept travelling between. The journey itself was not overly long for an Ikran, perhaps a twenty minute flight between the strange metal structures and the Omaticaya clan, but by foot, through the rainforest? It would take almost two hours! And the child was doing it by themselves! And with no help? She was impressed. She liked its spirit and resilience.
The child was often very joyful when she saw it jump between branches but today it appeared not to be so. The movement looked more clumsy and less spirited as it made its way towards the metal structures. She looked on in concern, as the child disappeared into one of the metal structures looking quite glum.
She was about to leave, when a loud crash was heard and it drew her attention. A piece of metal that he disappeared behind, was swung open and the child was literally thrown out! She growled in rage, as she saw the young one be disrespected. It was against Eywa to hurt a young one! She growled angrily from her perch high up in the tree, unsure what she could do to help but she was definitely not leaving until the child was safe! Even though she wasn’t sure what she could do against danger as she herself was still very young, a child herself not even half the size of a fully grown Ikran.
Once the child got its bearings and adjusted the mask upon its face, it ran straight for the forest, leaving the shouting behind him. The Ikran couldn’t understand what was being yelled at the child, but by the tone and volume she could understand that it wasn’t pleasant.
As she turned to leave to follow the child further into the forest, in a different direction from which it usually runs around in, she didn’t see the man ran out the building shouting curses at the child, but ultimately not follow it into the forest before turning with a frustrated huff and going back inside.
The child was distraught, tears rolling down their tiny cheeks, the mask fogging up with his ragged and irregular breathing, as well as the tears blurring his vision. Due to this, he didn’t realise that there was a vine sticking out nearby that his foot got caught in and sent him tumbling to the forest floor.
He clutched at his foot, crying even louder and hiccuping every so often as all the pain accumulated in his little body. It was too much! Everything hurt!
The Ikran descended down several branches to follow the child who lay curled up on the forest floor. She has not been so close to the child before.
During his fall, his knife got loose and fell several meters away from him. He himself was covered in scratches and scrapes, it was quite evident that not all of them were sustained from this fall. His small songchord was barely holding on to him, as it clearly got snagged on something during the child's fall.
The ruckus managed to attract the attention of some Nantangs that were out on a hunt. Two in particular. They crept towards the noise of a distressed child, prepared for an easy meal.
It took the Ikran longer than usual to pick up on danger, as two nantangs stalked the child and she was not having that.
As the Nantangs made themselves more visible to get closer, yet far enough away from the child, the little Ikran descended on them like Toruk on metal Ikran. The Ikran snagged one of the Nantang’s mid pounce, gripping him in her jaw with a lot of strength, before tossing him in the direction that he came from. She heard the child scrambled behind her but she didn’t pay him any heed, her focus now only on the other Nantang. The remaining Nantang, whine pathetically as it looked up at the Ikran, cowering in fear as she saw her mate be tossed like a little pup away from her. The Ikran snapped her jaw at the Nantang, a warning. Luckily the second Nantang heeded the warning and ran away. She waited several more heart beats, making sure they wouldn’t come back in a surprise attack while her back was turned before turning around to face the child.
The child was no longer curled up on the forest floor; he was hiding himself behind the roots of the tree that he fell out of clutching his knife close to his chest. She was happy that he managed to compose himself enough and pick up his weapon when danger was near. She made a warble like noise at him, and lowered her head to be closer to his eye level.
The boy was scared and hesitant, but also curious, staring in awe at the unusual Ikran in front of him. His face was a mess of tears behind the mask, but at least her presence seem to make him forget about his turmoil for the moment.
With cautious and with movement of a true Na’vi he slowly made his way towards the Ikran, hissing in warning when she moved suddenly. She was amused by his display but let him explore, this let her get a closer look at him. They were both studying each other.
He was very small, had pale skin similar to hers but more pinkish in it’s hues while hers had a slight blue tint to it. However, he did have blue stripes all over his body. His hair was blonde, almost unheard of for a Na’vi and looked to be quite matted with things sticking out of it, he still had no tail. His clothing was like any other of the Na’vi and his songchord, barely held onto him. The most curious thing was the mask he wore, that she only saw from a distance and now upon closer inspecting she noticed that his nose was kinda weird and his eyes were brown!
The child was making similar observations of the Ikran, he has never seen one in such a colour. It was really pretty! It was also way smaller than all the other Ikran he has seen in the clan.
The Ikran, despite being still quite malnourished due to her outcast statues, she couldn’t be fully thrown out of the pack just yet since she was still a child, but even at her current size she was big enough for an adult Sky Person to ride if someone was brave enough to try. But she never even considered ever trying to bond with one of those. The bond was till death! A very important decision not to be taken lightly.
A small movement caught her attention, the boy lowered his knife and lifted his hand towards her. She hissed lightly at him, and he hissed back at her. Brave move. She liked him. Even more impressive judging by his size and willingness to face an unbonded Ikran. Who were notoriously dangerous.
He tried again, raising his hand towards her face. She hesitated, as she twitched towards the hand. His face fell slightly, and she didn’t like that, closing her eyes, she leaned the rest of the way forward, his hand now gently resting on her snout.
He let out a little gasp filled with wonder as he gently petted her. The forest seemed to fall into a hush around them. She relaxed her posture and lowered herself closer to the ground.
“You are so pretty.” He whispered in a rough mix of Na’vi and English. She didn’t fully understand what he said, but she understood his sentiments and preened at comment.
“My name is Spider. What’s yours?” Spider asked, as he grew more bold and began to lightly scratch at her chin, which she greatly enjoyed, her eyes falling closed as she chirped.
Unphased, Spider kept rambling to the very friendly Ikran, who made herself very comfortable on the forest floor, wrapping him in her tail protectively.
“Is it alright if I give you a name?” He asked politely, and then fell silent but didn’t stop in his petting.
She thought about it for a moment, only her Maktoyu can name her but the more she thought about it the more she wanted this little one to be her Maktoyu.
She nodded.
Perking up, Spider hummed in thought. Trying to come up with a good name for her.
“How about Ara?” He asked cautiously, as if afraid she would hiss and attack him if she didn’t like it.
She made her version equivalent to a hum as she thought the name over in her mind. Ara.
Ara.
She liked it.
She made a little chirp, lifting her head and giving a nod. The smile that broke out over Spider’s face was beautiful!
“Ara it is then!” He exclaimed happily!
The two hung out in the forest until the eclipse snuck up upon them and Spider grew worried as he finally took in the unfamiliar surroundings. He was getting tired and he needed to get home but he didn’t know where to go.
Picking up on his mood, Ara stood up and lowered her neck towards him. In the same manner that he has seen Ikran do to their rider.
He was shocked by the offer and also terrified, now that Ara stood up she was huge in comparison to him!
“I-I don’t think this is a goo-d idea.” He stuttered, all of a sudden nervous.
Ara chirped at him in confusion.
Seeming to be able to see her confusion, Spider elaborated.
“I have never been allowed to ride alongside anyone. I don’t know how.” He explained before quietly adding that he had no kuru either, which she actually didn’t notice until now but it was no matter, to Ara she already saw him as her, and she will be careful as she ascends higher to get them to safety of the trees.
She prompted him again to get on, it was no big matter. She was sure they would be able to understand each other.
With a lot of hesitancy, Spider did his best to get on top of Ara's shoulders, wrapping his legs tightly around her neck and his arms gripped way too tightly to her crests, where her own kuru resided.
Without her own conscious thought, her own kuru opened up and wrapped slightly around his wrist and for a moment Ara felt a connection begin to form.
Something settled ever so slightly.
Not dwelling on the thought, and letting Spider become more distressed, she gently leapt up into the sky that swiftly grew darker while the bioluminescence of the planet awakened.
They climbed swiftly and smoothly up to the top of the ginormous tree, with the efficiency of an Ikran that knew the forest better than the open skies. Bringing them up to the very tops, which gave a stunning view of the night sky.
Ara flew ever so slightly to a bigger tree where she settled them both for the night. Spider curled up under her wing, with stars spread like a glittering blanket above them.
After the adrenaline crash and some grumbling about him needing to go home, but not protesting too hard, Spider fell into a deep sleep, wrapped securely in Ara’s wing, as she watched over him for half the night as she too succumbed to sleep.
By the will of Eywa, they were bonded for life. Ara was Spider’s Ikran and Spider was her Maktoyu, when her kuru wrapped around his arm, a connection began to grow ever so faintly, claiming him as Eywa’s child.