The night sky over Pandora was endless, jeweled with constellations that danced with faint bioluminescence from the planet's own glow.
I sat on a high branch of Hometree, the forest stretched beneath me like a living ocean. My ears caught every sound—the chatter of nocturnal creatures, the rhythm of distant waterfalls, the steady pulse of the world itself.
And then—something else.
A faint hum, mechanical, alien.
I narrowed my eyes. Engines.
"Storm?" Neytiri's voice pulled me from the shadows. She emerged gracefully onto the branch, her bow slung across her back. "You watch the forest too much. Even warriors must rest."
I shook my head. "The forest speaks. But tonight, I hear… something unnatural."
She frowned, crouching beside me. "Sky People?"
"Not close," I said. "Not yet. But near enough for their stink to reach my senses."
Her hand tightened on her bow. "Then we strike."
"No." My answer came sharper than I intended. "If we strike too soon, we reveal ourselves. They are searching. Let them search in vain."
Neytiri's eyes burned with defiance. "And if they find Hometree?"
I turned to her, my voice low but steady. "Then I will make sure none of them return alive."
Her gaze searched mine. For a heartbeat, I thought she might argue. Instead, she looked away, whispering, "You carry too much. Even storms must break."
I said nothing. Because deep inside, I feared she was right.
The next day, as the clan gathered for a hunt, Tsireya approached me quietly. Unlike Neytiri's fire, her presence was calm, like a tide that pulled without force.
"You sense it too, don't you?" she asked.
I studied her. "What do you mean?"
Her eyes flicked to the horizon. "The ocean tells me when storms are coming. The waves change, the currents shift. I feel it in my bones. And now… I feel one greater than any before."
Her words mirrored my own thoughts. The Sky People weren't just returning. They were preparing.
Tsireya stepped closer, lowering her voice. "When they come, what will you do?"
I looked at her—at the quiet strength in her gaze, the trust she had placed in me since the moment we met.
"I will do what I must," I said. "To protect you. To protect all of this."
Her hand brushed mine, fleeting but deliberate. "Then I will stand with you."
For a moment, the world seemed still, the tension between us charged like lightning before a storm. But then the horns of the hunt sounded, and she slipped away, leaving me with the echo of her words.
That night, alone again atop Hometree, I stared at the stars. Somewhere beyond them, Earth still spun. The place that birthed me, the place that killed me, the place I no longer called home.
And yet, Earth's shadows had followed me here.
The engines I heard earlier returned in memory, their hum like a curse I couldn't silence.
The Sky People were coming.
And when they arrived, patience would no longer be enough.
For the first time since I awakened on Pandora, I wondered—Would I remain Tsa'toruk'itan, son of the storm… or would I become the storm itself?