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Tiger, Burning Bright	By : YoukaiFate Category: 1 through F > Avatar Views: 6669 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Avatar. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Avatar. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.
Tiger, Burning Bright
A/N: Whew! It’s been a loooong time, but I finally got the spark to go and finish this little story. Thanks for hanging with me for so long, and I cannot say how much the reviews have meant to me. Take care, and live long and prosper, yadayada…(Fate)
Chapter Five
Tse’yan’s head came up as he heard the ikran screaming in the distance. A spiral of erupting flyers exploded above the rocky valley of their home, and Suthor hissed in agitation, instinctively wanting to veer away from whatever had startled them into flight. Tse’yan tightened his control over the ikran, forcing it to go investigate what had disturbed the nesting flock. He waved at the two Omatacaya warriors who rode patrol with him, using hand gestures to signal they follow his lead in a spear-headed pattern.
Suthor growled a protest, but settled down as Tse’yan urged the ikran to go faster. The wind whipped through the Na’vi’s coarse hair as he crouched low over his mount, and Suthor answered with strong wing beats that drove them towards the shrieking flyers. They were suddenly among the frantic flock, and Tse’yan instinctively ducked as Suthor snapped angrily back at the few ikran who tried to attack them.
But Tse’yan’s yellow eyes were arrowed on the lone ikran who stood trembling on the ground, a small rider hugging its neck, her legs too short to reach the natural ridge that provided a good stirrup at the beast’s shoulder. One appendage was somehow connected to the base of the woman’s skull, and she was reaching for the other to use as a rein even as he tried to shout in fear and protest. His hoarse warning went unheard, whipped away by the fierce winds that always howled among the sacred, air-riding mountains. Tse’yan watched, heart in his mouth, as the ikran rose up, wings expanding, and abruptly fell over the cliff’s edge.
"Trudy!" he shouted, shooting after her as horror-filled visions of her plummeting from the wreck of her exploding metal ship twisted through his mind. Suthor screamed in rage and terror as Tse’yan’s emotions bled through the mental link between them. The ikran below screamed back in defiance, shooting just out of range as Suthor tried to grab it in his claws.
"Stop it, you dumb - jerk - " Trudy shouted up at him, her dark glare stopping him cold as the ikran bucked beneath her. She looked so tiny on its brilliant back, but she was grinning like one demented. "I got this under control!"
And then yelped as the ikran did a rolling wingover. She was too busy, then, to shout insults at him, and Tse’yan watched with growing awe as she righted herself, her body shifting fluidly with her mount’s, becoming one as they danced back up into the sky. He felt the other two warriors draw alongside him, and Niyat grinned as the tiny figure high above them pumped a fist into the air, her loud whoop coming back on the wind as the ikran dove and circled on a wingtip. "Oo-rah!"
She circled back around, doing a double wingover that had Tse’yan’s eyes narrowing as Suthor keyahed in excitement, eager to join in the fun as the other two Na’vi decided to do just that. Tse’yan watched in grim anger as the three whirled and dove, Trudy’s dainty ikran darting between the other two flyers in intricate maneuvers as they danced and wheeled in the air. The brilliant smile on the sky-woman’s face as she impulsively hugged the neck of her ikran did nothing to still the rising anger in the stone-faced Wentacaleyah warrior, and he harshly jerked Suthor around to follow the three riders when they finally dropped towards the green jungles below.
ooOOOoo
"What were you thinking, woman!"
Trudy stiffened against her ikran’s side, her stroking fingers slowly turning into a fist. The ikran hissed, glaring at the tall Na’vi, just as ready to attack him as it had her before she’d managed to link minds with it. The wonder of that melding, and the giddy rush of her first flight, were fading as a sullen anger replaced it.
She refused to look at him, trying to calm the agitated Banshee as the two Omaticaya warriors who had just finished congratulating her on her success exchanged significant looks over her head.
"You could have been killed!" Tse’yan roared.
That did it. Turning around, Trudy’s hands fisted on her hips as her dark eyes flashed. The two warriors discreetly absented themselves, taking their mounts with them as she confronted the slit-eyed Wentacaleyah who towered above her, tail lashing angrily as the bioluminescent spots across his cheeks glowed in barely-held emotion.
"If you happen to notice, I’m still alive," she spat, more than fed up with Tse’yan over-bearing attitude. Her ikran bristled behind her, and she laid a calming hand on its neck.
Tse’yan let his breath out in a long hiss, clearly struggling to contain his fury so that he wouldn’t upset the Banshee further. Suthor hovered protectively behind him, though was not reacting to his rider’s emotions as her little yellow was.
"Dismiss your ikran, Trudy. We need to talk," Tse’yan ordered, and sent Suthor off with a slap on the shoulder. The Banshee nagged, but went.
Trudy hesitated, uncertain, and Tse’yan sighed huskily. "She will return, sky-woman, whenever you call. The bond is new, but solid. It will only grow stronger with time."
"It’d been helpful to have known that," she muttered, fingers trailing softly over the Banshee’s knobby head as it dipped down to hers with a low sound of contentment. "Okay, you can go, girl," she said, and the Banshee chittered at her. Trudy stood back as the oddly kite-like wings fanned out and the Banshee launched itself back into the sky, quickly disappearing amid the thick leaves that surrounded them in heavy green shadows.
Folding her arms, Trudy turned back to face her nemesis. She scowled at his hard expression. "I had to do it, you know."
"Why? Why would you put yourself in such danger? What were you trying to prove, sky-woman?" he demanded, tail lashing from side to side as he deliberately stalked closer, trying to intimidate her. Trudy refused to back down, even when she had to tilt her head back to glare up at him.
"To be accepted! As an equal, not just some pet to be indulged!" Trudy shouted back, all her built-up frustration and resentment rushing out of her at once.
"Some pet?" Tse’yan spat, his eyes nearly slitting closed in his anger as his ears flattened to his skull. The luminescent spots glowed across his face like scattered stars.
"I’m tired of being your little pet human, Tse’yan," Trudy growled. "I’m tired of being treated like a child, just because I’m smaller than the rest of you. I’m a grown ass woman, damn it!"
"You think that," he waved angrily up toward the hidden mountains, "was the act of a mature adult? You say you want to be treated with respect, Trudy, but respect must be earned - "
"Which I just did, you big, blue ox! In the only way I knew would get it through that big, thick skull of yours. I am now Ikran Makto - "
"Ikran Makto, yes, you have caught your ikran, even somehow bonded with it, by the grace of Eywa, but do you understand what a risk you were taking with your stupid stunt? You could have been hurt, or worse. You are my responsibility - "
"Your responsibility?" Trudy’s eyes glittered. "I am an adult, Tse’yan! I’m responsible for my own actions. Not you. Me."
"You stupid, stubborn woman," Tse’yan growled, his sharp canines showing in the curl of his lips. "You are all our responsibility, just as we, all of us, are yours. What you do, anything you do, affects not only you, but everything around you. Everyone around you. Think what grief your recklessness would have cost your friends, if your attempt to tame the ikran had failed and you died as a result."
"But I didn’t," Trudy said stubbornly, the grip on her forearms tightening until her knuckles stood out in sharp relief. "I didn’t die, Tse’yan. I succeeded, and I flew. Flew on my own, without being just a stupid passenger along for the ride. Do you understand how much I need that? I have to fly."
Tse’yan was silent for a long time, his piercing yellow eyes searching hers. He finally sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I’m sorry, little one. I did not understand how much it meant to you."
Swallowing her irritation over the "little one" comment, Trudy was somewhat mollified by his grudging admission. Only Tse’yan could mange to deflate her anger so quickly, and make her feel like an ass while doing so. Shaking her head, she sighed as well, figuring she might as well offer an olive branch in return. "I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. It was reckless, and foolish, but I had to do it, Tse’yan."
"I understand," he finally said, though there was a mixture of resignation and regret in his voice. "You are a warrior of your people, Trudy Chacon, and I cannot keep you from being what you are, much as it pains me to see you in danger." His long fingers gently touched her upturned cheek. "I worry for you."
Trudy’s breath hitched. The look in his amber eyes made her heart start thumping hard against her chest as she whispered, "You don’t have to worry about me, Tse’yan."
"I will, Trudy. For you are precious to me." His giant hand cupped her cheek, and the tenderness in his eyes made her heart flop. "You have been precious for a long time."
"Why didn’t you tell me?" she demanded hoarsely, the growing emotion she had locked inside her own heart hurt by his silence.
His hand fell from her cheek, and his yellow gaze moved up to stare over her head. "You are human. I did not think you would welcome such a thing from one of the Na’vi. One of the savages."
"You’re a real idiot, you know that, Tse’yan?" Trudy growled, and then launched herself at him, hitting him square in the chest, just as she’d intended. Tse’yan fell back with a surprised cry, his arms automatically coming up to fold around her as he sprawled back on the ground, his head hitting the moss-covered branch beneath them with a distinct thump.
Trudy laughed at his stunned expression. Before he could gather a protest, she planted her hands on either side of his big head and soundly kissed him. His eyes widened. At first, he was too surprised to respond, but then his big hands were cupping around her face, his fingers tangling in her coiled braid as his mouth devoured hers. His lips were soft, and there didn’t seem to be any cultural differences between how their species locked lips, for he was rather good at it. Not to mention, enthusiastic, for he kept her mouth on his when she tried to draw away, catching her bottom lip between his teeth and nibbling lightly. He was careful with his sharp canines, which had worried her a bit, but his tongue was talented, sweeping away everything but the pleasant heat blazing up between them.
Tse’yan slowly sat up, keeping his hands tangled in her hair as his thumbs made circling motions along her jaw as his mouth claimed hers again and again. Trudy’s hands dropped to his wide shoulders, and she moaned into his mouth, her eyes closing as she sagged against him. The hard muscles beneath her restless fingers bunched, and they finally separated as he drew back. Their breath came ragged, warm on each other’s lips and skin as he pressed his flat nose into the dip just above her nose and between her brows. Tse’yan sighed, his fingers flexing around the nape of her neck, pulling free the long coil of her braid by accident so that it slowly uncurled down her back.
"Trudy," he breathed against her, and she felt her heart do that same little flop at the way he said it. She hadn’t thought she would ever hear someone say her name like that again, and she smiled, hugging him to her even though he was so big it was like he surrounded her whole world. God, that felt good.
He drew back, his yellow eyes intent as he stared at her as if he would memorize every line of her face. Reaching up with her right hand, Trudy brushed the errant braids back off of his brow, her thumb lightly trailing over the blue lights speckling across his skin. Although they glowed like tiny stars, they did not vary in temperature, holding the same warmth as the rest of his firmly muscled body. Sitting like this, in his lap, Tse’yan was still a good deal taller, but there was not the difference as when they stood side by side. She grinned, thinking this might work after all.
"What are you thinking?" he asked quietly, and she chuckled.
"How quick I can talk you into getting one of those hammocks made for two," she replied, loving the way his yellow eyes widened in astonishment as his ears pricked forward. Giving into her curiosity, Trudy outlined the outside of his right ear with a light fingertip. It flicked under the feather of her touch, and he stilled as she lightly rubbed the back of it, the velvety skin soft under her calloused fingers. His eyes closed and an odd sigh escaped him.
"What, no purring?" Trudy smirked as his eyes flew open. "Ah, well, it was worth a try. It used to work on my cat, Mr. Snuffles."
"Your what?" He knew damn well what a cat was, having seen them in Dr. Patel’s video library. He looked offended.
Trudy laughed. God, she loved teasing him. "I’m just kidding. I never had a cat, and I never would have named him "Mr. Snuffles" if I did. Though maybe I should consider it for my ikran. What do you think about Fluffy? Or Mr. Bigglesworth? Or should I call her Miss Bigglesworth instead, since she’s a girl?"
"You tease," he said, his grammar going all to hell.
"You’re too serious," she retorted, playing with the beads at the end of his braids. "You need to laugh more, Na’vi."
"Tse’yan," he replied, mischief in his slanted eyes. "Not Na’vi. Tse’yan."
"Tse’yan," she said, her smile fading at the intense look in his eyes. She felt suddenly vulnerable, and that wasn’t a feeling she had ever been easy with. "Ah, I’m not scaring you, am I? Coming on so strong?"
"Scaring me?" He laughed, hugging her so hard she was afraid he’d crack a rib. "You are my delight, little one, my Tiger warrior of the skies." His words were an odd mix of his native language and hers, as the Na’vi had no word for the ferocious feline. Trudy smiled, remembering how she had painted it on her Samson and how he had rescued her from the burning wreck. Though they weren’t really her memories, but those Eywa had shared with her while she lay delirious under the All-Mother’s healing web.
"Well, you certainly took you’re time telling me," she scolded, trying to ignore the way her heart expanded at his words. Who would have thought that under all that stubborn, blue hide there rested the soul of a poet?
"I was uncertain if you could return my feelings. I would not burden you with them," he said. He could be so blunt and to the point. She liked it. Brady had been a lot like that, though Brady had always given her a bit more credit, treating her like a partner rather than some child to be indulged and protected. That was something they would definitely have to work on.
"Oh, I return them, Na’vi. Though your high-handed ass doesn’t always deserve it." She grinned to take the sting out of her words. "Although I’m not all that much a prize. If you’ve noticed, I can be a bit of a bitch at times."
"Yes," he agreed, and she socked him in the arm. It was like punching a brick wall. "Stubborn, too, and as prickly as a thistle bud and as hard-headed as a titanothere."
"Gee, thanks," she said dryly. "You really know how to compliment a gal, don’t you?"
"I see you, Trudy Chacon," he said, with that fervency the Na’vi always used when using the word in that way. "I see your heart, your spirit, your fire."
"I see you, too, Tse’yan," she answered quietly. She cupped his cheek, her eyes looking earnestly into his. "I see your strength, your faith, your…kindness." It was not something she would have said of a warrior like him, but he was kind. "I see your heart, and it makes me love you, you alien savage."
His hand cupped over hers on his cheek, and he closed his eyes. His fingers slowly tightened around her wrist, and he gently drew it down, taking her other hand and joining them both together so that he held her hands in his between them. He stared at them, hers so small in his but just as calloused and capable. "I would claim you, Trudy Chacon, in the way of my people. Claim you as my life-mate, if you would accept."
Well, it certainly wasn’t your typical marriage proposal, down on one knee with a ring in hand, but what the hell. "Okay," she said, and grinned when his eyes shot up to hers, uncertain if she understood what that whole life-mate-claiming business meant. But Neytiri had been rather informative, when she’d asked her about the Tsahaylu ritual. Trudy knew exactly what "in the way of my people" meant. Her eyes twinkled, and she kissed him, just because she could tweak that stiff seriousness of his so easily. Man, he needed to lighten up.
Though she didn’t mind that serious set of lips on him as Tse’yan returned her kiss. She took her time exploring them as he hugged her to him with a renewing fervency that took her breath away. She was so busy that she scarcely noticed when he stood up, only wrapping her legs tighter around his torso to hook her ankles behind him as his hands cupped her ass. His breath came short as he kept kissing her and trying to see which way to go. She laughed against his mouth when he stumbled, and started nibbling along his jaw. His throat worked convulsively, and he stumbled again, but this time to a stop.
She tilted her head back, looking at the shimmering curtain of the Tree of Souls hanging around them. It was his turn to press wet kisses down her throat, and she shivered under the heat he left in his wake. Tse’yan rested his head against the cleft of her breasts, which had to be an awkward position for him. But he held her there for a long time as she played with the dark, wiry hair on his head, twining it through her fingers in idle speculation. He was as immobile as a stone, so she took matters into her own hands by combing her fingers down to the thick braid that lay along his back. She pulled it up with a tug, and he finally raised his head, his golden eyes full of question.
Trudy smiled smugly. So he hadn’t been expecting they could do this part of the ritual so sacred to the Na’vi. She wasn’t totally certain why it was so important, though she could understand how twining minds could lead to some interesting sensations during sex. And Neytiri had told her that the whole combining-queues thing opened the Na’vi up to Eywa’s blessing. Or censure - for there were cases when the All-Mother showed the couple how badly their life would turn out together in prophetic dreams. Trudy saw the wariness in Tse’yan’s eyes, and wondered if he feared that the All-Mother would reject a Na’vi-Human alliance.
Trudy had no such fear. She knew Eywa would welcome their Mating, just as she knew this was right. And she didn’t waste time trying to reassure the big, blue lug, knowing he would get it soon enough. So she took the end of his braid, brushed it along the back of her neck, felt the tickling exploration of the tendrils sliding free of the end of his queue, and -
Well, let’s just say that there are still some places left in the universe where miracles do happen. And that when two lonely souls finally reached across the aching darkness, kitting two disparate worlds between them under the blessing of both, why the very heavens opened up in a love so profound it shown like a beacon across the vast emptiness of space.
A beacon burning bright.
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Tiger, Burning Bright