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Avatober 2026 10/03 "Makto"
“Sa'nu!!"
Over the past few years, every day seemed the same, filled with peace and love. In the morning, the children would wake up much louder than necessary while jumping on their parents’ hammocks, even though Jake had already threatened to tie knots in their tails. And even though this was bound to happen almost every morning, Neytiri couldn’t have loved the peace that this routine brought more.
And, as expected, today was no different. This time, the children didn’t jump on their parents in the morning because of Neytiri’s belly, which was getting bigger every day. Sometimes she’d come back from hunting trips with lunch in hand, thinking about what the baby’s name might be… if it were a boy, she’d convince Jake, once again, that Kamun would be a good name… but if it were a girl… no one would be able to change her mind.
The name came to her while she was singing a lullaby to help the restless Neteyam and Lo’ak fall asleep on the night they told them about the pregnancy. She was tired and ended up humming a word wrong, when she tried to correct it, that word suddenly sounded too good to be wrong. A few long minutes later, gently rocking her children’s hammock in silence, she finally whispered to herself. Tuktirey. At that moment, she knew that no one would ever be able to get that name out of her head.
So, after spending much of the morning in the center of the village with her mother, helping her sort through the huge quantity of flowers brought from Tawkami territory and distinguish between the medicinal and ornamental ones, the hunting party returned after about two hours away. Among the warriors were Jake and the energetic Neteyam and Lo’ak, carrying two large Yeriks, which they rushed to show Neytiri, proving that they had hunted them with their own hands. As if Jake’s satisfied smile and his bloodstained arrows were just a detail to be overlooked.
So, for lunch, something a little… different, Jake convinced the boys to pack him a mini-picnic, or at least that’s what he always called it when they went to eat away from the village. Today, in particular, Jake really wanted them to go to the bank of a river a short distance east of the village, very close to the ever-imposing Ayram alusìng. When they got there, he put Lo’ak in charge of helping Neytiri chop the vegetables, and Neteyam in charge of helping him gather sticks and stones. However, just as he had meticulously calculated, Kiri found a large shell that was entirely bluish, with purple lines running along its entire length. She had never found shells like this around there before; they seemed to have come from very, very far away. And when she found the second one, it didn’t take long for the boys to abandon their tasks as well and start searching for more of them along the riverbank.
A few weeks earlier, the Tlalim clan had arrived in Kelutral, bringing with them the wildest stories and the most beautiful clothes those caravans could possibly carry. Along with, of course, the most fun parties as well. Jake met a young man from their group who was trading a whole bag of colorful shells from the Metkayina archipelago for anything ‘pointy and equally colorful.’ Jake nearly drove Neytiri crazy trying to make two sets of three new knives with the most colorful amber the Omaticaya could offer, and at the last minute, he managed to trade them. When he explained his plan to Neytiri, she forgave him for the mini-hell he’d caused her. Jake said he’d go to the nearest river, one the children didn’t usually visit much, to scatter the shells under the rocks. That way, when they found them, he could say that Eywa had brought them a gift from the sea.
The children ran along almost the entire riverbank and only didn’t cross the river to see if they could find more on the other side because Jake wouldn’t let them. When Neytiri told them to stop and eat, they did so almost immediately. But then… that boy arrived. Spider. Neytiri didn’t like to remember his name. The children picked up the pace and finished eating so they could look for more shells together with that boy
Eventually, once they had all been found, the boys began playing in the water with Jake, while Kiri, already tired, returned alone to the campfire where Neytiri was, carrying a bag full of shells.
“Are you tired already, Kiri?” Neytiri couldn't hide her smile at the sight of that little face looking so exhausted.
The little girl shook her head veeeeery slowly. And as she set the bag aside, she walked over to her mother’s lap, who was already beginning to wrap the leftover food in some long leaves that had just been washed in water.
“Is there a lot left?” Kiri asked, resting her face in her hands on Neytiri's thigh.
“Considering how many hungry people ate today… yes. Surprising.”
“So can I give Spider a little bit?”
Sigh… of course that’s what it would be. “Kiri… we don’t know if our food is bad for his people… we have some fruit on the way back. And that’s it!”
The little girl rolled her eyes… “Don’t roll your eyes at me!” And she laughed at the “angry” face Neytiri made.
She stood up again and, without straying too far from Neytiri, began to pace back and forth, humming the bits of songs she could remember from the great Tlalim celebration while making a point of kicking a few rocks here and there in the hope that she might find another lost shell. Then, suddenly, she stopped. Neytiri noticed this, since now all she could hear were the shouts, almost desperate, mixed with loud, joyful laughter coming from where Jake and the boys were, so she simply finished wrapping up another piece of meat and moved on to the last one.
“Sa’nu…” Kiri turned to Neytiri with a quick leap. “You were in the great battle of Ayram Alusìng, weren't you?”
Neytiri looked at Kiri, confused. She saw the mountain chair behind the girl and thought that Kiri had just realized that they were the ones who had been there. “Srane Kiri… why?”
“That's not it… were you there alone, or… with someone else?”
Neytiri put the meal aside and turned fully toward the girl, trying to understand exactly what she was asking. “No, of course not… thousands of warriors were with us… all fighting together to drive the Sky People from our lands… it was so beautiful in the end… Jake was there… Seze and I were there, too.”
“SEZE!!!”
Bingo
“You were there with her, right? Like… Makto?”
Neytiri couldn't help but flash her biggest smile at Kiri, who also couldn't stop smiling. “Exactly, my baby! We fought so well that day… When their metal ships flew right beneath us, Jake yelled for us all to jump, and… oh… it was so beautiful…”
Kiri’s eyes were fixed on Neytiri’s face as if it were the first time in her life she had heard that very story. “When we descended from the highest peaks of the Ayram alusìng, the wind nearly tore my paint away… but Seze was just as anxious as I was.” And just like every other time, Kiri, even as a little girl, could feel a hint of sadness whenever Neytiri recalled that day.
“But then what? When you… you know… you ended up with a…”
“Palulukan?”
“THAT'S IT!! You were Makto, right, Sa’nu?”
Even if that beautiful Palulukan had met the same fate as her sweet Seze, Kiri’s eyes, now shining even brighter with joy, managed to dispel any sadness that moment might have held. “What do you mean were, Kiri? I’m still… well… don’t tell anyone I told you that!!”
They both shared the same childlike laugh. “Okay!!! So… how was it? Do you remember?”
“Of course! It feels almost like it was yesterday… He emerged from behind a big tree. He seemed scared, too, maybe not as much as I was, but enough that he didn't stop fighting.”
“And how did you climb up on it?”
“He allowed it! I… still don’t fully understand how… but maybe that wasn’t even the point… I just went up there and did the tsaheylu…”
“And…”
“It was strong, very strong… stronger than any creature I've ever encountered in my life. I've heard stories of the Tlalim, the desert carnivores, the creatures of the snow, and the enormous Zakrus… But nothing… I feel like nothing was stronger than that Palulukan on that day…”
Kiri was mesmerized, once again, by this story. “And you… did you kill many Sky People?”
Neytiri laughed so proudly. “So many… I still remember to this day knocking over some of their iron walkers and pulling a hairless one out from inside them… his face…”
Kiri listened to her mother's laughter, imagining the look on that poor little guy's face. “And did you manage to do it again?”
“No, Ma’ite…”
“Why didn't you try again?”
“It's not that simple, Kiri… that moment was… one of a kind in both of our lives.”
“But... what's the name? …Anur… aaaa… that clan…”
“Anurai?”
“EXACTLY! Don't they ride Palulukans?”
“Yes, Kiri, but just once, too! It's something rare and deeply important to both of us, they're not like Pa'lis! You can't just hop on one and move on. It has to mean something to everyone.”
“Hmm… what if it were today…”
“What, Kiri?”
“If you were to be Palulukan Makto again today… could you do it?”
“Well… I don't think so, honey… Eywa gave me that chance that day because she even went out to fight herself… it can't have just come out of nowhere, Ma’ite…”
“So… did you try it again?”
“Well, no, but… how would I even try, Kiri?”
“How? There, Sa’nu!!”
And when Kiri pointed behind herself, that was when Neytiri finally understood why Kiri had stopped wandering.
Across the river, right between the rocks on the riverbank and the tree line of the forest, a huge black Palulukan with broad grayish stripes, slightly lighter than its fur, stood with its head bowed, staring at the two of them from a distance for who knows how long.
Neytiri’s heart froze instantly. One hand pressed hard against her own belly, waking the baby, and with her other hand she grabbed Kiri’s arm. The girl didn’t seem as scared as Neytiri. She’d always had this stubborn habit of not warning them when Nantangs appeared near their home. But Neytiri never thought she’d fail to warn them about a Palulukan. Especially one as big as this one, since Neytiri could only see its four front legs, and given its size, part of its body was still hidden deep within the forest.
“Ma’Jake!” Neytiri tried to speak as loudly as she could without actually yelling, as she slowly began to stand up, picking Kiri up into her arms and holding the basket of food in her hand. Jake, by some miracle amid all the boys’ shouts, heard her just as he was holding Neteyam in his hands, about to throw him into the water. For a few seconds he tried to figure out why Neytiri had called out to him from behind, but it didn’t take another second for his eyes to widen as well.
Jake slowly set his son down on the ground and pointed toward the shore. When Lo’ak finally spotted the creature, he almost shouted, but Jake and Spider quickly stopped him.
“Shhhh…” Jake was starting to get just as nervous as his kids. “Listen… you boys go over to the campfire… throw some rocks on it, and then follow me to your mom, slowly, got it?...”
The three boys nodded at the same time and began to do as Jake had told them. Neytiri was slowly taking steps backward, moving farther away from the Palulukan, even though he wasn’t moving a single centimeter. Even though he was breathing very, very heavily.
“Sa’nu!...”
“Shhhh Kiri!”
“No, no, he's hungry!”
The boys began to put out the fire while Jake was walking ahead of them, just as Neytiri stopped. “What?”
“He's not going to hurt us… doesn't seem like it, does it?”
As chilling as it was, Neytiri turned her gaze to the Palulukan and… there really was something there. She wasn’t doubting Kiri… she’d always had that strange, yet always accurate, way of looking at animals. She didn’t have time to think about it, the packed food wasn’t enough for someone that size, so it was much better for the meat to be his dinner than anything else. So Neytiri opened the basket and dumped its contents on the ground, making sure as much of the meat as possible was spread out over the rocks. Then, when the boys finished putting out the fire, the three of them ran to stand behind Neytiri.
She and Jake only had to look at each other once. He slowly picked up the bag of shells from the ground and began walking backward toward the forest, never taking his eyes off the Palulukan. And Neytiri set off toward the forest, with Kiri on her lap and Lo’ak holding her other hand. Meanwhile, Neteyam stood between her and Jake, clutching his new, though still small, hunting knife. Before finally crossing into the forest to make their escape, she looked back at him one last time… and he had never stopped looking at her, only her, ever since Kiri had first spotted him.
Then the Sullys crossed the edge of the forest and disappeared as dusk began to fall. The walk back to Kelutral was a relief, a return to their peaceful routine. When they arrived home, the children ran to show off the shells that Eywa had brought from the sea to the river for them. Jake still had to explain to the parents of his children’s friends that they shouldn’t let their kids go looking for shells in that river. At least that managed to elicit a few laughs that night, even though now Jake and his warriors would have to find a way to drive that Palulukan out of the region.
But fortunately, that would have to wait until tomorrow. Once all the children were asleep, Jake carried Neytiri—despite all her feigned protests—in his arms to her hammock. When they were finally settled in, she told him everything that had happened to Kiri at the river. And as worried as Jake was, he couldn’t help but laugh at the whole crazy situation with Neytiri, who was now allowing herself to relax. And just before she drifted off to sleep, long after Jake had already slept, she smiled to herself as she realized that now she would have two great stories involving the Palulukans to tell the baby for the first time when she’s born.
