LOG-016."What the hell do you mean she has stock in the RDA? Nor, stop that."Augustine's question and order were both punctuated by the woman lightly slapping away a wandering Na'vi hand, the blue limb receding as its owner cringed at the light bandaging being wrapped around his other limb."Sorry."Across the medical bay, one of her assistants shrugged from his position leaned up against a wall, tablet brought up close to shine against his bespectacled eyes."I mean it's all publicly available information. I just got curious after hearing some chatter while passing the control room. Seems like little Miss Tsahìk decided to become a shareholder at some point. A minor one, but still."Grace could only sigh at that, even as she idly slapped away Nor's hand again, lamenting that the alien youth seemed so prone to injuring himself while playing with the other children of his now adoptive clan."A Na'vi shareholder. Honestly, just how much are they freaking paying her?"The assistant snorted at that, even as a pair of Kyra'meta girls peeked through the medbay's open doorway, their curious stares earning an embarrassed twitch of Nor's ears."More than us, that's for sure. Probably helps that she's shacked up with-"The man shut his mouth at his superior's annoyed expression, before letting out a light snicker as the woman sighed."Ugh, don't even get me started. With him? Honestly, of all the people she could have gotten with…"Her bemoaned statement earned an outright laugh from her coworker, as the researcher lowered the tablet and waved at the two Na'vi hiding in the doorway, sending the pair scurrying away with giggles of their own."Pretty sure he's earned a place in the world records for pulling it off, now that I think about it."Grace grunted, even as she allowed her patient to finally sit up, inspecting his bandaged hand with wide eyes."You're giving him way too much credit. Opal's the one running that…relationship. The gal has him wrapped around her big blue finger.""...Can I go now?"A sigh."Yes, Nor. You can go. I heard Opal wanted to speak to all of you anyway, best go see what she wants."—I yawned slightly, stretching and cracking my shoulder in satisfaction as I made my way into the small meeting room, pale pearlescent eyes locking with golden counterparts as I stared down the huntress I'd assigned to go track down the Na'vi I'd be speaking with today.Swapping into this body's native language came as easily as breathing, of course, even as I closed the door behind me."K'seeli.""Tsahìk.""You can call me Opal if you'd like, you know.""Tsahìk."The repeated word was said with a slight wrinkle of the older woman's nose, her expression scrunching up a little as she presumably managed to finally pick up on the smell of the shampoo I'd made use of prior to coming to this meeting.Well…either that or the other smell I'd tried to mask with the artificial substance."This is obscene, even for you."Ah, the latter then. Though it had taken her a few seconds to pick up on it, so…maybe perfume would help? I'd need to source some later. Getting shampoo that didn't irritate my skin had already been a trial and a half."Nothing wrong with a bit of enhanced negotiation, my friend. I do think I came out on top in the engagement as well.""The human warriors speak of broken bones.""Oh I was very gentle, I assure you."My smirk only drew an exasperated huff from the huntress, before she stepped aside, the various trinkets decorating her form (including a combat knife I hadn't seen her with the day before) jingling slightly as she moved.The absence of her larger form allowed me to lock eyes with four smaller figures, each one watching me with some level of trepidation from the human-sized seats they were in as I stepped forward, my clanmate moving to guard the door behind me.Silence stretched, filling the room for a long moment before I let out a breath, inclining my head towards the…well, the children Quaritch had somehow ended up bringing back."Nor. Teylan. Ri'nela. Yuayt."There were small reactions from each child as they were named. A flinch. An intake of breath. A soft exhale. And a narrowing of the eyes.It was Nor that ended up speaking first, bowing his head towards me, all to stares from the others."M-My Tsahìk-""Ahp ahp ahp!"He froze at the noise that left my mouth, my finger raised in a halting motion."Not your Tsahìk, young boy. You may be living with us. You may be playing amongst our children. But I am of the Kyra'meta. And you…oh, you are of the Sarentu."Curiously, all of the children wilted slightly at that reminder, even as I shrugged."At least from what I've been told by the woman who handled you. She's still telling us all sorts of things, even now. Nasty business, what that horrible little man did to your clan. They were well respected, you know? Even my clan, isolated as we were, knew of them."Leaning down slightly, I planted my hands atop the table between us, tilting my head as three of the children leaned backward, while Yuayt met my stare with one of his own."...Did your clan speak much of mine, when they were still alive? The star clan, struck by curses and disease? Abandoned by Eywa?"All four of them glanced at each other in response. Some kind of unheard conversation passing between them.It was Ri'nela that finally spoke up."We…we remember very little of our time with the clan. Mercer wanted us to forget."I mulled over that for a moment, before turning to glance at K'seeli out of the corner of my eye."Quaritch killed that waste of air, yes?"At the woman's nod, I sighed, turning back to give the children a sympathetic look."Good. A shame that I didn't get to feed him to an Ikran myself…but good. So!"Everyone flinched as I brought my hands together in a loud clap, grinning down at the gaggle of invaluable orphans the RDA had all but dropped into my lap."You've all suffered quite a bit, and I'd prefer to keep this as straightforward as possible! So allow me to be very blunt, if you would? In the interest of fairness."My question earned confused blinks from the quartet, before they slowly began to nod, prompting my grin to widen a little further."Good, good. So this is how it is. Your clan is dead. One might even consider it extinct, unless you four manage to, miraculously, bring it back somehow. Unlikely, to say the least. Additionally, you've had your typical Na'vi education ruined by Mercer, and likely wouldn't survive long in the forests on your own. Though who knows? Maybe I'm wrong."Stepping back, I spread my arms wide, lips pulling down into a slight frown as my tone turned serious."But regardless, at least as of right now, you all live by the grace of the RDA. Kept fed, clothed, and protected, if only because you are of passing interest to them, greedy humans that they are. And because you present a rather unique opportunity to me."Lowering my arms, I took in the hesitation in the air like a fresh perfume, closing my eyes and nodding."I am not your Tsahìk. But I am entirely willing to be, both because I feel bad for you, and because of…well, politics!"Confused blinks, an annoyed grunt from my subordinate. All expected, even as I gave my sales pitch."Under my guidance, you, lost children of the Sarentu, will become Kyra'meta. You will learn to follow the stars as we do, and we will keep you safe. We will keep you fed. We will consider you our own, and we will ensure you have the freedom to live in comfort, while pursuing a path of your choosing."Opening my eyes, I could see…hope. Etched across their faces. Dug into their expressions. For what hope had they had in recent times?Very little, from what I understood. And now here I was, giving some to them. How…wholesome."In exchange…you will do your best to remember what you can of the Sarentu. You will hold your history close. And you will act as my ambassadors. True ambassadors. Not like what Mercer wanted with you. The Sarentu were respected by many a clan, you see, and with your help, the Kyra'meta will garner that same respect, if only due to association with you."Bringing my hands together, I ignored the soft exhale of relief K'seeli had just let out behind me, focusing on the children I was…well, adopting."That's the deal I'm giving you. Nor. Teylan. Ri'nela. Yuayt. Join my clan. And bring that clan prosperity in turn."Goodness, what a strange thing I was doing."So I suppose only the question remains…do you accept me as your Tsahìk?"It was a foregone conclusion, of course. But I still found myself smiling slightly as all four bowed their heads in acceptance, only to let out strangled noises of surprise as I leaned across the table and pulled the quartet into a tight embrace."Good! Good! Then you are my children, until you are either grown, or others of the clan decide to take you. Come, give your pale mother a hug."Gosh if the way some of them began to sniffle slightly in response to those words wasn't just adorable though, even as they all began to squeeze the veritable life out of me, the poor things....Fucking Mercer. Hopefully Quaritch hadn't been too gentle about his execution. He'd certainly earned it.