LOG-012.Waking up suspended in some kind of hammock cocoon thing was not on my to-do least, but if I hadn't learned how to adapt, I would have probably died years ago.So instead of panicking and sitting up, which very well might have sent me hurtling out of the thing and to my death, I instead reached upwards, carefully grabbed at the series of vines and branches supporting my makeshift bed, before hauling myself upwards.It was just as I was steadying myself upon one of the thicker pieces of tree that the sound of something creeping up out of my sightline prompted me to turn around, locking pearlescent eyes to golden ones.Sylwanin and I stared at each other for a long moment, before I let out a breath and did the appropriate thing."I see you."The greeting seemed to shake the Na'vi out of her own silence, as she quickly repeated both the words and gesture before pointing further along the branches, where I could see a few dozen figures navigating their way in and out of a few tents."My father has returned with the rest of the hunting party, and wants to speak to you over the feast. Come."Doing my level best not to sway as the girl all but skittered along the branch, I did as directed and followed.—"Sit, Tsahìk Opal. My mate has declared that you are a guest in this home."Greetings had been exchanged, and as I settled down in between a pair of familiar sisters, I tried to ignore the feeling of countless eyes staring at me from around the tree's center mass, instead nodding towards the older man who had spoken, and awkwardly inclining my head to the woman next to him."I thank you, honoured Olo'eyktan. Honoured Tsahìk."The food pressed into my hands helped, at least. Roasted hexapede, by the looks of it. Particularly with several whooping hunters passing by with another trio of them carried along their shoulders helping to confirm the fact.Not exactly convenience food, like what I had barely started getting used to again back at Hell's Gate, but I'd be a liar if I said that Na'vi meals couldn't taste delicious when prepared properly.So I did the polite thing and indulged along with everyone else, accepting a fruit from a barely still Neytiri and using the juice to wash down the particularly gamy taste of the meat.It was after a few minutes of quietly keeping to myself as idle conversations and occasional jokes were had before the clan's leader finally looked up from his own meal, waving a hand at me."There, our bellies are no longer empty. Let us speak properly. You come to the hometree of the Omatikaya. Why?"Oh God this was going to suck.Ripping the last bit of flesh away from the rib in my hands, I chewed it down and swallowed, before presenting the bone to Mo'at, who gracefully accepted the piece and set it away alongside a collection of other surrendered ribs.Then I turned to stare back at the man I knew to be Eytukan, and bit the bullet."The sky people have asked my clan and I to speak to you, on their behalf."There were a few inhalations at the statement, a boy nearby letting out an aggressive whoop before being silenced by a quick smack to the head by Sylwanin.Yet Eytukan didn't say anything immediately, instead staring at me for a long moment, before nodding."You came to them for help in saving your people, and this was the price I suppose?"Answering the question with a small shrug and nod, I couldn't help but feel like a kid all over again, even though I was, by all rights, a grown adult."They're like babies, running around and causing trouble. They are here for things they want but don't know how to speak to the clans."Mo'at let out a scoff at that, waving what I was pretty sure was a femur."Bah, the uhn-ob-tay-nee-oom. The creatures you've tied yourself to break the laws of Eywa, Opal!""They do."The older woman blinked at my blunt response, even as I spread my arms wide, Sylwanin leaning back and Neytiri ducking beneath one of the limbs to accommodate the gesture."They do, and they don't care, Tsahìk. They did not have a guiding hand to teach them these things, as the Na'vi did with Eywa, and so they taught themselves. And their lessons did not include anything resembling restraint."Breathing in deeply, I reached forward and grabbed another fruit from the small pile stacked in the middle of our little circle, weighing it in my hand for a moment before turning back to the clan's resident power couple."But they are a powerful people, I'm afraid. One we can't fight-"I was interrupted by a second whoop as the boy Sylwanin had smacked spoke up again."They are a weak and frail people! Who cannot even breathe our air!""Tsu'tey, be quiet! She's a Tsahìk!"The realisation of just who I was looking at came and went as Sylwanin gave the young man another smack on the head, before I rolled my eyes and gestured towards him with the fruit."Mm. A weak and frail people who cannot breath our air, and who come from beyond the sky. Tell me something, would you?"The male blinked at that, before nodding, crossing his arms as he did so.It was with a slight amount of trepidation that I allowed my hair to flicker for a moment, drawing several gasps as it did so. A calculated gamble, but in my experience the lights tended to put people on the back foot when I was speaking to them."Say you are on the ground, and there is another Na'vi flying above you on an Ikran. This Na'vi wants your things, and keeps dropping rocks on you to get them. How do you stop him?"I'd give him this, his answer was quick."I would bring down the little skxawng with my bow and sling!""I see…and say he was too high for the bow to reach? Too high for you to fly up to, even with an Ikran of your own?""I…well-""You cannot reach the skxawng. You cannot shoot the skxawng. And he is free to pelt you with rocks until you are dead, after which he will take your things for himself, because he is a greedy skxawng. What do you do?"Silence met the question, as Tsu'tey actually seriously seemed to ponder the thought for a long moment, the rest of the gathering alternating between looking at me and him as he did so."It…is not an ideal situation."Allowing a small smile to adorn my face, I bowed my head to the man who would one day be Olo'eyktan."No, it is not. And yet it is the one you, the Omatikaya, are now faced with I'm afraid."Turning to stare at Eytukan, I allowed my hair to flicker again, drawing another set of gasps from a few of the surrounding Na'vi, an intrigued glance from Mo'at, and a fair degree of curious touching from Neytiri, the little shit."The sky people want your things, Olo'eyktan. They have sent me to try and get you to give them up in trade, both because I owe it to them as a debt, and because they would feel bad by their own sensibilities if they were to kill every last one of you for them. But make no mistake."It was a horrible feeling, seeing the slight trepidation in the older man's face as I tilted my head slightly, and promptly drove the point home, flickers of pale light travelling down through my hair as I did so."They care far more for the rocks and ores beneath this tree than they do the forest people living within it."But I had a job to do. To look out for me and mine, and to try and keep the violence to a minimum. And that was simply the fact of the matter.