Chapter 1: First Steps

Mo'at didn't want to be Tsahik. But it was either that, or give up his love for Eytukan. Eywa had decided so and she had thus followed the training of Tsak until the death of the mother of her partner, Talxyn, left to join their goddess in her sleep. Eytukan, him, followed his training of chief. The future Tsahik was already the mother of two daughters that she gave birth to. She named her elder daughter Neytiri, six years old, and her younger daughter Silwanin who was in her second year. She had until the next sunrise before taking up her duties as Tsahik. Mo'at then decided to hunt Metabetes with a group of three taronyus on their Ikrans. But as they found their prey, they heard sounds of explosions far to the east of their positions. Her first thought was of the People of Heaven. What was it attacking? Or rather who?

Mo'at: Ayoeng sweylu omilvun fwalen (We need to know what's hapening)

Taronyu 1: Srane my Tsahik. Slä oeng kisya. Nga lu nihwang lestrantena fpi olo sngeyä. (Yes Tsahik, but we will go alone. You are far too important for our tribe).

But Mo'at did not listen to him. She put her Ikran towards the place where the noise came from, soon followed by her Saronyu. It took them some time before they reached their destinations. And what they found horrified them. In what used to be a village populated by a clan, there were fires, consuming the vegetation around it, and they saw the bodies of Pa'lis, Ikrans and members of the People. From what they saw, some were covered with red holes on the body or head. Others had severe burn marks or were blackened. In the distance, a gigantic burning tree can be seen reinforcing the tragic aspect of the scene.

Taronyu 2:Pesu soli tsa'u ?(Who did this ?)

Mo'at: Aystupe Kawnglanä (evil people) They landed in front of it. And there they saw, with certainty, the extent of the disaster. The spectacle of the corpses piled on top of each other accentuated their disgust. But, they distinguished between robots with broken windows and small beings with either no head, bodies cut in half or with cuts the size of a native's blade.

Mo'at, clenching teeth in rage: Tawä haxpxitu pak !( Sky's People! )

Taronyu 1: Tsa-hey! ayoeng tsasypang faywrrtep pak! (we will kill these demons!)

The future Tsahik shared her feeling but she knew that attacking this people would be suicide because of the superiority of their weapons and armor.

Mo'at: Pxoeng zene omilvun fiolo' fpi tslam fwa foltem (We need to know who this clan was in order to understand what happened).

Taronyu 2: Tsaw lu ftuäng ! Sawtute skola'a fiolo ! It's simple, the Sawtute have decimated this clan!

Mo'at: Srane. Slä tsalu lekin fpi leioae si smuktu sneyä. Yes, but it is necessary to honor our brothers and sisters.

Suddenly they heard a cry like an infant.

Taronyu 2: atemrey'aw ! A survivor!

Taronyu 1: Fu 'awe .

Following the cries coming from their right, they came out of the ruins of the old village and walked until they found a woman, on the path with leather straps pierced through with bullets and partly burned in the face. She was carrying something in her arms. Given her protective position, she seemed to want to protect what she was carrying. In fact, the screams were coming from this little being.

Na'vie: Mawey…. Txo ngal ketimvxey… ma ite oeyä… Sno rìlyun ngaru sì…Oe ketsun zivong nga… muvelo. (Calm down... If you don't stop... my daughter... they will find us and ...I won't be able to save you... a second time...)

Mo'at: Ma Silwyn ?

The woman turned her head weakly towards the Tsahik. At that moment, she noticed with horror that the hair of the Tsahik on the left side had disappeared. Her childhood friend's face was partly burned on the left side as well as part of her body and the left eye remained closed. The young Tsahik knows from now on that the clan that was decimated was that of her best friend.

Na'vi: Mo…at ? Tsalu ngaru? (Is that you??)

Mo'at: Srane.

Na'vi: Oel simvilpey tsata.... Tuteori zera'u (I was hoping that... someone would come) At that moment, the cry started again.

Silwyn tried to calm her child but she became weaker and weaker and failed. The memories that Moat had shared with her friend came back to her, as if there was only one day between them and this drama.

Silwyn: Kam... aylemreyaniri... ftumfa olo oeyä srak? Y... is... there... any... survivors... of... my... clan?

Mo'at bowed his head.

Mo'at: Kehe. Ngaytxoa ma eylan. (Sorry my friend)A moment of silence intervened at this moment, where the future Tsahik heard the groans of her dying friend from where the red trace on the corner of the mouth announced her imminent end.

Silwyn: Mo'…at …

Mo'at: Ma Silwyn ?

Silwyn: Kraa….Oel hiyum…. Oe new… kivem….nga nariveyi si…ite oeyä… Ngal pänoluting oe… Ngal tihawiveynu poe.(When I...leave...this...world...I will...want...you to want...on...my daughter. Promise... me... that... you... will... protect her ....)

Mo'at: Nga lu pänur oeyä… Natxo poe lolu ite oeyä. You have my promise. As if she were my daughter.

At that moment, the dying mother let her friend take her child from her protective hands. The baby continued to cry, as if she knew she was leaving her mother forever. Silwyn closed her eyes as her child passed into the arms of the future Omatikaya's tsahik.

Mo'at, looking at the child of one month: fyape fko syaw poer?what is his name? But she had no answers and by looking at her friend, eyes closed and motionless, she knew that she had joined their goddess. Mo'at calmed the baby's tears and put him to sleep singing a melody. Once this was done, she looked sadly at the corpse of her best friend, wiping her tears before burying it with the help of her taronyus.

Mo'at: Kiyevame ma Silwyn. Tsata tireä ngeyä tsirvurokx miSanok sneyä (Farewell Silwyn. May your spirit rest in our Mother)

Once this was done, they returned to their mounts and set off again, this time to the Kélutral, while taking one last look at the ravaged village.

When Mo'at arrived at the Kelutral, she was reprimanded by her partner.

Eytukan: Nang ! Mo'at, Nga lu Tsahik Nga sweylu taron. Nga omun fko! ( A Tsahik doesn't hurt. You know it!)

Mo'at: Nang ! Ma Eytukan, Nga 'awnìmko tsaw oe ! Ulte Oe kelu Tsahik mi. (Eytukan, don't do this to me! And I am not yet Tsahik!)

Eytukan: Srane. Slä nga lìyu frray. Tafral, nga 'awnim ftumfa terkup ! Oe kenew tatep nga Peseng ngal rolun fi'evengti ? (Yes, but you will be tomorrow. So don't die! I don't want to lose you. And where did you find this child?)

Mo'at: Poe kelu sa'semur . Sawtute skola'a olo sneyä. Poe lu atemreye'awe. Oel omolun sa'nokti peyä krra oel olu evengti ulte oel pänawnutìng ftumfa nari si sìnite peyä.(She has no parents. The sawtute decimated her clan. She is the only survivor. I knew her mother when I was a child and I made her a promise to look after her daughter).

Eytukan: Ulte olu pesu ? (And who was ?)

Mo'at: Ngal keomolunti Tsaolu Silwyn, Tsahik ulte eylan oeyä .(It was Silwyn, the Tsahik and my friend)

Eytukan: Oe olomun tsat tì'eylan sneyä kelolu tsata zitsi tor. Slä… nga law ftumfa tsata nga sì ? Ngal ronolsrelngop tsat poel new omiyevun ftawnemkrrit peyä. Peu nga payeng ?(I also knew that our friendship was not from last year. But are you sure about what you're doing? Imagine that she would want to know her past. What would you tell her?)

Mo'at: Menga kelu zun pahëm tsaw (We haven't gotten there yet)

Eytukan: Ulte nga fpìl tsata poe rayun mo peyä miolo sneyä ?(And do you think it will find its place in our clan?)

Mo'at: Poe emayza'u tengfya omatikaya 'awe. Tsalu kelu poe lu talunreypayur Menariya tunti tsata poe tsun sliyevu hapxitu olo sneyä (She will prove herself as an omaticaya, Moat replied, it is not because she has the blood of another clan that she cannot become a member of our clan).

Eytukan: Oel poleng ftumfa tsaw (I wasn't talking about that.) Mo'at was going to reply but then Silwanin arrived. She was being chased by her sister who seemed to tease her. The youngest girl had hair that was at the level of her head, in which she tied a headband, a leafy necklace covering her chest and she had a yellow sex patch between her legs. Neytiri had about similar clothes except that she had a green sex patch.

Silwanin, en se réfugiant derrière sa mère: Nang ! Ma Sanu ! Nga pengko Neytiri txey !? (Mom! Can you tell Neytiri to stop!?)

Neytiri: Nang! Nga lu fnawe' awe! (You're a coward!) Her sister replied by sticking out her tongue.

Mo'at: Mawey meite oeyä !(Calm my daughters!)

Silwanin: Ma Sa'nu.... Little lu nga fyolep? (Mom, what are you holding?)

At that moment, the baby woke up and gave a little cry to show that it was the case.

Mo'at by showing them Silwyn's daughter who looked at them with her little eyes: My daughters, I tell you that you have a little sister.

Neytiri and Silwanin: Nang! Poe lu asevine! (Oh she's cute !)

The baby seemed to intimidate her because she wanted to take refuge in the arms of her adoptive mother by shouting.

Neytiri: fyape fko syaw poar? (What's her name?)

Mo'at was thinking in her head. It's true that not having been able to get the name Silwyn gave her child, we'll have to give her one. No matter how hard she dug her head, she couldn't find anything that would suit her best friend's daughter on her husband's side. She searched her head on her parents' side. Seytsyn, her maternal grandmother, and Ludskyn, her paternal great-grandmother, could both do the trick. The first designating a strong personality, the other an extraordinary beauty.

Mo'at: Lutsey

Several months later,

The eleven-month-old infant was trying to walk. But each time she fell and crawled back on all fours. This spectacle touched the eldest child, who went to her level to carry her. The youngest had already been trying to stand on her own two legs for a month without failure.

Neytiri : Stop, little sister! You're hurting yourself! It's useless! You will arrive one day, don't worry. It's just a postponed game. But the baby looked sulky, not seeming to appreciate this failure.

Silwanin : Let it, big sister. She won't give up, until she gets what she wanted.

Neytiri : But she has been trying to walk for a month, without success!

Silwanin: But it doesn't seem to be enough to make her back off! Come on little sister! You're going to make it!

Lutsey tried to stand up again but the next second she fell again, buttocked to the ground. That's when Mo'at arrived, wondering what was going on.

Neytiri : Ma sa'nu, Lutsey keeps trying to walk without success. She has been persisting for a month now and it worries me! Mo'at watched little Lutsey try to stand on her legs, without success. She smiled at the strength of will shown by Silwyn's daughter.

Mo'at : She really is her mother's daughter. Go for it my darling! You're going to make it!

Lutsey managed to stand up for a few moments and take a few steps before falling down again. That was enough for Neytiri to reassure herself.

Neytiri : You're almost there little sister! Come on!

Finally, after yet another attempt, she managed to stand up and walk towards them all the way to the end. She then had a huge smile and so did her sisters. Mo'at, smiling, carried her and looked her straight in the eyes. Her family's enthusiasm was shared by the eyes that were usually so cold.

Mo'at: Congratulation my daughter! You finally managed to walk! We are all proud of you!

Little Lutsey exchanged a smile with her two sisters and her mother.