Chapter Text
When Tsu'tey came to his senses, the first thing he felt was the unbearable pain. It hurt in his chest, his legs, shoulders, head... Every single inch of his body felt like it had been broken into pieces. Even the light shining through his heavy eyelids hurt his pupils.
The voices Tsu'tey heard all around himself were in chaos - worried cries, urging orders, and doubtful questions from every direction. But there was a soft touch, also, tending to his pains that felt so gentle, it almost calmed him...
Tsu'tey wanted to know who it was. He needed to. Carefully, he lifted his eyelids open but he had to close them immediately as the sudden sunlight blinded him. It felt like his eyes were stabbed by the sharpest tstal and he needed to cry out in his pain.
"Oh thank, God..." he heard the distant voice, in the language of tawtute, and his nose immediately frowned in despise. He gathered more strength and this time, Tsu'tey finally managed to open his eyes, once and for all. He saw a small tuté, a woman, looking back at him - you. He felt intimated now by your touch and gathered all his strength to sit up, even though it hurt.
"No! No, no, no, no..." You tried to push him back by his shoulders, but he was reluctant, no matter how much pain Tsu'tey felt. "You can't do that right now..." you begged him, but he pushed your hands away. "Please..."
His eyes looked down to check out his own self to see why everything hurt so badly and when he saw the bruises, cuts, and bloody bandages all over him, he finally remembered. He was shot when Toruk Makto marched the tribes against your kind to win back Pandora for the Na'vi once and for all.
He remembered how he believed he would die while falling and how he looked forward to finally meeting Sylwanin again... You took that away from him. Without the Tree of Voices, the only way he would ever see her again was in the afterlife... He looked at you and felt the strongest hatred burn up his insides and he instantly wanted to stand up to leave you behind, before he'd do anything he'd regret later...
Your small, worried hands tried to urge him to sit back down, but that only fueled his rage. He wanted to stand up on his feet but they were weak and hurt like never before and he collapsed back onto the ground. He hit his head on the frame of the bed while falling and everything faded to black...
***
The next time Tsu'tey woke up, he was alone and in silence. Everything that had hurt before still hurt, but at least the voices didn't overfill his sensitive ears and there was no sunlight blinding him through his eyelids.
This peace felt nice, he just wished his legs and chest weren't throbbing in unbearable pain... He gathered his strength to open his eyes and this time he could do it in one go - the roof above his head protected his pupils from sharp lights. But what he saw was way worse...
He was in a settlement of the demons... Artificial materials covered everything - the shiny, white roof, the weird linen of the bed he was lying on, the transparent glass in the windows... everything was stranger around him, and no sign of other Na'vi nor nature around him.
He wanted to raise his arms to aid himself sitting, but to Tsu'tey's greatest surprise, they were tied to the bed.
"Pehem...?" he mumbled as he tried to struggle stronger this time. He needed to free himself. He needed to get out of this place... Of the demons' place... He felt his heartbeat accelerate as he almost panicked and when he heard the door open behind him he struggled even more.
"Don't do that!" Tsu'tey heard your voice again and he grunted in his helpless anger. Not you again... The one who took everything from him! An honorable death and a chance to be with her again...
"Let me go!" he demanded and hissed towards you when you rushed to stand beside him, placing your tiny hands onto his shoulders. Your touch, to his greatest surprise, wasn't so unpleasant as he'd imagined a tawtute's would feel.
"Calm down... please," you asked him but that only made him struggle harder - despite the unbearable pain.
"Don't touch me, vrrtep!" he grunted, trying to shake off your hands and you finally did as he ordered. Good, Tsu'tey thought. Obey him.
"Okay, okay!" you raised your hands defensively by the sides of your head. "I promise I won't touch you more than needed if you stop with this tantrum," you explained calmly and he considered your offer. "I'm just trying to save your life after all..." you mumbled under your nose as you turned your back on him to get something out of the little package you brought with you.
"You denied my death." Tsu'tey spat the words angrily and you furrowed your brows as you checked whether the liquid could come out of the needle of the syringe in your hands without a problem. A thin splash of medicine shot out and you nodded to yourself contently, angering Tsu'tey further with your indifference. Did you not hear his words?
"Is that such a big problem?" you asked turning to face him again. You foolish demon, you understood nothing! His eyes darted at the syringe and he hissed.
"What is that?" he asked starting with the struggle again and you rolled your eyes, angering him further. He wasn't just some inexperienced kid, why did you behave like he was one...
"It's medicine," you explained patiently.
"I do not need your medicine..." Tsu'tey grunted and you sighed. You grabbed a chair standing next to a table in the other corner of the premise and dragged it next to his bed. Tiredly rubbing your neck with your free hand, you started explaining.
"Listen. "Here your palms met in front of you, and the tip of your tiny fingers pointed towards Tsu'tey." I'm going to inject this antibiotic -that you do need - quickly and then I'll leave you alone until tomorrow, I promise." you looked into his eyes with an expression Tsu'tey couldn't read and that just fueled the hate he felt towards you. He could always read any other Na'vi...
"It's also pointless trying to get off the bed, Tsutai because your legs are fractured." You pronounced his name wrong. It both upset and annoyed him, maybe more than the fact that he was tied to this strange bed, even without the belts binding his arms against the frame.
"It's Tsu'tey..." he grunted quietly and you looked confused for a second. Or at least the Na'vi guessed that you were confused because, without proper ears and a tail, it was so hard to read your feelings.
"Oh... I'm sorry." you chuckled awkwardly when you realized he corrected you. "Jake told me your name but I'm still learning your language and all, so some pronunciations are hard for me... Tsu'tey," you repeated correctly this time, smiling tiredly.
Your small hands now reached for the belts that were tying both of his arms to the cold, metal frame of the bed. Carefully, you took off the first one, then when you needed to unbind his other arm, your torso bent over him. He felt a strange artificial smell coming from your hair that he couldn't particularly call unpleasant, even if he wanted to... That didn't mean it wasn't something unnatural and Tsu'tey loathed everything unnatural.
When you finished, the Na'vi immediately started massaging his wrist. He also noticed the relief on your face when he didn't try to jump to his feet immediately.
"I'm sorry for that..." you mumbled, nodding towards his hands. "I just needed to make sure that you're not alone when you came to, and that you wouldn't want to stand up again... You have no idea how many holes I had to sew in on you... And inside you to be honest." You chuckled again, but your laugh seemed to be joyless. Tsu'tey noticed that dishonest laughing was a thing among the sky people.
Jake did that often as well and Grace did too.
For the Na'vi it was weird. They were always honest and straightforward with each other so seeing you do it was confusing. Was it funny to you that he was shot, or were you just behaving strangely as any other sky people would...
"That's why I need to give this shot of antibiotics to you..." you raised the syringe for Tsu'tey to better see it and his ears shot down uncontrollably. You denied his death, he thought again. "Because I'm not going to let you die," you shook your head and reached for his arm.
Why? Why do you want to keep him alive so much when his time already come?
When your fingers almost reached his arm, he pulled it away first, frowning furiously but you were stubborn and your small, weak fingers locked onto his wrist to keep him in place adamantly.
Your touch was so surprisingly gentle - even though you were trying to be firm - it reminded the Na'vi of rain on the hottest days... His ears shot up for the contact and Tsu'tey furrowed his brows in his own confusion.
When the needle poked through his skin, Tsu'tey barely even felt anything at all and he couldn't decide whether it was because his senses could only concentrate on your touch against his skin, or because you were good at whatever you were doing...
"It's against infections." You explained, even though Tsu'tey had absolutely no idea what 'infections' meant. "You are very strong. It's a miracle you survived being shot so many times in itself, not to talk about falling hundreds of meters..." he didn't know why but the compliment almost made Tsu'tey push his chest out in his pride for a second. Of course, he was strong. But then he realized he was where he was because of your kind in the first place...
He answered nothing, which finally made you realize that your company was the last thing on Pandora Tsu'tey wanted to have at that moment.
He watched your tiny frame stand up, drag the chair back to its original place, and put the empty syringe back into the little package you brought with you.
"All right, I'll leave now..." You shot a shy smile towards the Na'vi's direction before turning towards the door to leave and Tsu'tey was glad you'd finally disappear when something came to his mind.
"Wait!"
He reached after your arm to firmly grab it, stopping you in your path. You hissed up in pain, startled, trying to get his grab off your arm automatically. When you looked at him you seemed to be... scared? Your tiny eyes widened as your hand desperately tried to peel off the long fingers wrapped around your lower arm that almost completely got lost in Tsu'tey's grip and your face frowned painfully.
That was when he realized that he might have been clenching onto you too hard... He had never touched your kind before, he had no idea about how fragile you might be. He let go of you instantly as his ears flattened in his hidden shame. He didn't want to hurt you...
"Did we win?" He asked in the end without saying anything else, watching you hug your hurt arm to your chest like a wounded prey.
"Yes..." was all you said and left the room in a hurry.
The Na'vi won... Tsu'tey felt so relieved and proud... Toruk Makto did it! But if they really won, then why were you still on this planet?
***
The artificial noises didn't let him sleep much. Tsu'tey missed the sounds of the forest that had been his lullaby all his life. If his legs could hold him, he would have left the minute he opened his eyes...
He hated being bound to this bed and room inside the demons' compartment and also hated being taken care of by one of the demons themselves. If they wanted to keep him so alive then why couldn't he at least heal among his own people?
You should have left with the others he thought... And most of all, you should have never saved his life... Eywa was already waiting for him. And Sylwanin too...
Then your scared eyes came to his mind when he grabbed your arm and he felt ashamed again. Yes, he hated your kind - well, most of them - but never meant to hurt you. Not without a reason. Especially since you were obviously a zeykoyu and not a warrior. Tsu'tey only fought against other tsamsiyu, otherwise, the fight would never be worthy.
He hoped that he scared you so much that you wouldn't show up again, at least.
And still, even after causing you pain, you came the next morning. Tsu'tey was tired - he barely slept a few hours last night, due to the throbbing pain in his limbs and chest, but you seemed to be just as lightmooded as yesterday as if nothing had happened.
He noticed a few strands of your hair braided close to your nape, similar to the way the Omatikaya did it.
"Good morning..." you greeted him quickly but Tsu'tey didn't say a word in return. He just watched the ugly artificial ceiling above his head, only his ears continuing to follow your movements.
"I need to examine a few things on you, and replace your bandages to keep your wounds clean..." you spoke, and Tsu'tey heard the twinkling noises of the things you brought with you. "But first things first..." here your voice sounded like you were lifting heavy things. "You must be hungry... Gosh, these things are heavy like watermelons..." You panted and put something heavy onto the table in the other corner of the premise.
He heard you preparing something - he had to force himself not to show any interest and look your way - and you finally turned his way. "Ka'ani told me you usually eat these for breakfast so I thought you'd like them now too... " you mumbled, stepping next to his bed cautiously. Hearing the name of his apprentice, Tsu'tey felt a sort of relief that he survived. He hoped that Saeyla was well too. Ever since he woke up in your care, Tsu'tey only met you. He knew nothing about the others at all and he felt like he missed so much...
Your hands gently touched his shoulder and the Na'vi shuddered for the feeling as he was so preoccupied with his thoughts. Again, your touch felt softer than he would have ever expected and he couldn't stop his eyes darting to look at your arm.
In your free hand, you held a bowl of awaiei, chopped into tiny pieces and for the first time in the past two days, Tsu'tey finally noticed the growling hunger in his stomach. He swallowed dryly, almost losing control as he reached for the bowl. He wanted to sit up as well, right away, but he didn't expect the pain to strike his torso. He grunted and fell back to the bed immediately.
"No, no, no... slowly!" he heard your worried voice and felt the small, yet so soft helping hand of yours on his back and for a second he felt humiliated... He couldn't even sit up on his own. You should have left him to die...
"Don't touch me, vrrtep..." he coughed in his helpless anger, but then his eyes met yours and... and he felt his anger vaporize at the sight of your face. You were so worried. And you looked up at him with such a gentle expression. Were you even capable of hurting a hí'ang? Calling you demon now felt like a bit of an overexaggeration.
"Okay! I won't touch you more than necessary, just let me help you with this..." you asked him. Tsu'tey's eyes fell onto your arm that he grabbed yesterday and he felt the hot flush of guilt and shame on his insides. Dark, almost black bruises remained where he gripped you, his fingers clearly drawn out on your skin. He didn't want to hurt you. He looked away from you with a burning face.
He hurt a zeykoyu. It didn't matter that you were from another culture, a much worse culture than his, zeykoyus were respectable and precious to the people, no matter what.
His shame drove him to accept your help in the end, letting you pull him into a sitting position as Tsu'tey also pushed himself with his own arms. It hurt like hell, but it was definitely easier this way. You then gave him the chopped awaiei and he started eating like he hadn't eaten in days... which was true after all.
You just sat there and watched him without a word, lost in your thoughts. A minute had surely passed in complete silence when you finally spoke again.
"The RDA is leaving Pandora next week," you said the news, and Tsu'tey's tired heart happily beat up. His ears turned towards you as you spoke again. "Jake and the Omatikaya are working now to send them home with all their weapons and mining equipment. They can go to hell..." You chuckled a little and the Na'vi watched your face. You seemed to be happy that your kind were leaving. You managed to confuse Tsu'tey every second...
"You leave too?" he asked and your face seemed like the question hurt you for some reason - even though Tsu'tey was only curious this time.
"No," you replied shortly and stood up from your chair. The Na'vi finished eating and put the bowl aside, watching your next movements with squinting eyes and visible distrust. You were searching for something inside your bag that you had brought with you, showing only your back to Tsu'tey.
Were you trusting him - even after he hurt you -, or for the sky people it wasn't such a big thing to do?
When you turned to face him again, there was a fresh package of bandage in your tiny hands. Without looking into his eyes, you stepped back to Tsu'tey, so close that he could smell the strange, alien scent coming from the top of your head one more time.
"I'm going to replace the bindings around your chest." you started explaining and the Na'vi immediately frowned his nose disliking the idea, which you noticed right away. "Just to be clear, It's going to be faster if you let me do my thing without opposing," you stated and Tsu'tey scoffed. "Fast means I leave sooner," you said and the earlier warmth your mood emitted now became cold.
"I know what fast means..." Tsu'tey grunted irritated but you ignored him.
"Now raise your arms..." you ordered quietly, and after a short, obligatory hesitation, the Na'vi did as you said.
You reached forward and despite the coldness in your voice, your touch was just as gentle and soft as before as you unbound Tsu'tey from the previous bandages. You needed to lean uncomfortably close to the Na'vi to do so and he tried to ignore your presence with all his might. A tawtute being so close to him just felt wrong...
Your arms almost hugged his torso as you worked and your hair with the strangely pleasant smell got too close to his nose again.
"Why you do not go home with the other tawtute?" he asked to avoid paying attention to the warmth coming from your body before he'd shove you away and hurt you involuntarily again. But this question seemed to upset you as well.
"Look." you withdrew your arms and stepped a step back to be able to look into Tsu'tey's face. Your brows were low, and even without a tail, the Na'vi could clearly tell you were angry. "I know you hate my kind and I understand it. Humans are the reason that you've lost so many. But there are good and decent people in my kind too. I never came here to mile and exhaust your planet in the first place and I've never agreed to it." you explained angrily.
Only now Tsu'tey noticed the split skin on your lips and the fading bruises under your eyes. You must have put up quite a fight and from your words, the Na'vi realized that you must have fought against your own people... "I never wanted what happened to the Omatikaya..."
Tsu'tey watched your face with surprise. You were so tiny and soft, and you were not even a tsamsiyu, yet you stood up against your own people. You had... You had a strong heart.
"Now if you excuse me..." you stepped back to him to continue working and the Na'vi let you without a word - though frowning intensely. Strong heart or not, you were still just a tawtute...
Your swift hands unwrapped the bandages, revealing his wounds all around his torso. Every gunshot was sewn tight and when you checked them one by one, you contently nodded to yourself. "No signs of infections," you said the news almost happily and after cleaning them with a cotton pad, just to make sure, you wrapped Tsu'tey's torso again into the new roll of bandage.
"We're done for today, Grumpy..." You patted his arm when you finished, calling him a nickname he didn't know the meaning of. The Na'vi's ears shot down - you shouldn't call him nicknames - but this reaction only made you chuckle.
"My name is Tsu'tey..." he corrected you under his nose for which you only hummed. You packed everything that you brought with you and started walking towards the door to leave. But before you would have opened it, you paused.
"I'm staying because I have nothing left at home," you said quetly without facing him and left the room.