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Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah. I don't own Avatar; James Cameron does. All the Avatar stuff belongs to him. However, my Na'vi character, myself, the Dragon Weyr and its technologies, and the Pandoran animals of my menagerie are all mine. The Protoss - apart from my characters - all belong to Blizzard Entertainment.

Pandora's Templar

A Work-In-Progress Story by Coranth Dehanae

Chapter 2

(Continued from Chapter 1...)

Pulling myself away from these thoughts, I softly replied, "Yes... Yes, I remember now. It's good to know that the harness works." Although I couldn't see it because I was seated behind her, Txe'lan nodded. "It does work well, Txa'vit - and the riding leathers are very comfortable - but... why did you use your own personal Warp Beacon_to have Txra'kon We'er take the Ikranay?"_ Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I shifted uncomfortably in the saddle for a moment, before I replied, "Well... Falkor just woke me up this morning, and... I... I didn't have the time to stock my Medical Kit or get another Warp Beacon - he wanted me out here now - so I just went with him..." A long-suffering sigh escaped Txe'lan, then, and I lowered my head in shame.

'God damn it...' I thought, 'I should have gotten another Warp Beacon! I should have prepared better...' For a moment, I continued to berate myself internally, but then, Txe'lan's next words pulled me from my thoughts. "While it's true that you should have had Falkor wait whilst you checked and restocked your supplies, I... I am glad that you did not. Also - although it might seem cruel for me to say this - I am glad that I chose to become Tsa'hik of Txra'kon We'er. I... That poor Ikranay! I have never, in all my life, seen such a terrible thing! How... How_could Eywa allow him to become so terribly injured? It... His injuries are so severe that... that..."_ She lowered her voice, then, as if to speak some terrible secret, or blasphemy. "...Txra'kon We'er thinks that it might not be able to save him..."

At these words, anger seethed within me. "Unacceptable!" I snapped. "Falkor and I busted our asses to get out here and send him back to the Dragon Weyr, and there's no fucking way I'm going to let him die, not on my watch!" With that said I whistled to Falkor and then issued a command to Sa'nok in pure Khalani. "Sa'nok, home - STAT!" Upon hearing said command, the mighty Palulukan let out a frightening, pantheresque roar... and then, with Falkor acting as our guide, we were off! During my years of living on Pandora, I'd been on many urgent Veterinary missions before - so I knew that Sa'nok could run at incredible speed - but this time, as we ran through the forests of Pandora, the speed at which my Palulukan friend was moving was terrifying!

Her massive claw-tipped paws literally tore up the ground, as we moved so fast, that all I could do was grip tightly to Txe'lan's shoulders and pray to Adun that she and I both didn't fall from her back! "What of others?" I yelled to Txe'lan, over the noise of the wind rushing past us, a phenomena caused by the incredible speed at which Sa'nok was racing. "Others safe," Txe'lan yelled in reply. "Told Txra'kon We'er to feed all and clean homes before Ikranay came!" At this, I heaved a huge sigh of relief, before replying, "Irayo, Txe'lan, irayo!" Even with us riding atop her, due to her amazing speed, Sa'nok returned to the Dragon Weyr in record time. Charging through the wide-open Gate of Dawn, the mighty Palulukan hurtled over to the Transport Alcove and skidded to a stop within it, followed moments later by my faithful Viperwolf, Falkor.

Once we were all inside it, the Dragon Weyr activated said Alcove, instantly transporting us back to the safety of the Weyrheart. We arrived standing upon the Great Fleece Pile, and - upon our arrival - the Dragon Weyr immediately directed a cloud of its Nanocytes to form into a large water trough. Once the trough was fully formed, quantum microreplicators within it instantly activated to quickly fill it with fresh, ice-cold, crystal clear water. As Sa'nok heaved a weary sigh and lowered her head to drink deeply, without a moment's hesitation, Txe'lan and I dismounted her and then, working together, we carefully removed the tandem harness. At that point, the Dragon Weyr shifted the harness away, returning it to its rack above her usual harness.

Both 'tack racks' were located on the wall near the oak dresser where my clothing, and Ieesha's possessions, were stored. 'Good' I thought, gazing at the harness for a moment, 'the Dragon Weyr's Nanocytes will clean it, check it for damage, and perform any maintenance, if needed. As for poor Sa'nok...' I turned my gaze toward her '... she could use a good rubdown...' It was true. Having drunk her fill of the water in the trough - allowing the Dragon Weyr to vanish the remainder and break the trough back into Nanocytes - my poor Palulukan was now laying upon the Great Fleece Pile, utterly exhausted! She was panting heavily, her great chest heaving in and out as she sucked in and vented air through the unusual inlets on her body.

"Easy, big girl, easy there..." I murmured, moving to caress her face and muzzle. Txe'lan, too, moved to stroke my Palulukan friend, softly uttering "Mawey, Sa'nok, mawey..." as she ran her hands gently over the animal's heaving body. Her muscles and bones aching and sore, Sa'nok fixed Txe'lan with a look of suffering, mewling softly in agony. Upon seeing this, Txe'lan uttered a soft, almost lyrical prayer to the Dragon Weyr, asking of it a boon... and moments later, said request was granted. A feeling of absent affirmation filled our thoughts, as the Dragon Weyr replicated and shifted to the Fleece Pile a whole slew of items. A large container filled with hot water, two soft sponges, several huge fluffy towels, some bundles of dried herbs, a Mortar and Pestle, a glass bottle filled with thick clear oil, and several special acupuncture needles.

With these, working together, Txe'lan and I proceeded to utterly pamper Sa'nok. First, with the hot water and the sponges we gently and carefully washed the sweat from the Palulukan's body. Then, after drying the huge animal with the fluffy towels, we combined the clear oil-base and bundles of herbs together in the Mortar and ground them severely with the Pestle to make a thick, sweet-smelling herbal paste, which we then proceeded to thoroughly massage into Sa'nok's skin. Once the Mortar was empty - when Sa'nok's leathery skin was utterly smooth and supple and shone somewhat like a coat of newly dried obsidian paint - Txe'lan watched, half in awe and half in horror, as I took the acupuncture needles and proceeded to insert them at certain points throughout Sa'nok's body, in order to deaden pain and stimulate her natural healing ability.

The acupuncture needles weren't hurting Sa'nok at all. On the contrary, even when I inserted three of them into critical points on her head, she didn't react negatively; she just lay there on the Great Fleece Pile in a state akin to deep meditation, purring deeply. Awed at the quiescent and humble state that the great Palulukan was in and wanting to understand their purpose, Txe'lan slowly reached out a hand to touch one of the three needles inserted into Sa'nok's head... but as she did so, I swiftly rapped her hand! "Never, ever touch the needles, Txe'lan!" I cautioned. Pulling her hand back, Txe'lan looked at me with an expression of mild hurt. "Why, Txa'vit?" she asked. "They are all over her body, even in her head, and they look painful! Aren't they hurting her?"

With a shake of my head, I answered, "No, they aren't hurting her at all. The needles are so fine that, when inserted correctly, they cause no pain whatsoever. They are where they are to help focus and direct the flow of Sa'nok's Qi - her life energy - to where it's most needed. If you touch any of the needles, you run the risk of not only causing her great pain, but also ruining the entire procedure. Please do not attempt to touch them again." Suitably chastised, Txe'lan nodded and then bowed to me, softly uttering, "Ngaytxoa, Karyu Txa'vit." Nodding to her, I gave her a smile. "Apology accepted, Txe'lan; you didn't know," I replied. Fifteen minutes later, Txe'lan again watched in awe as I carefully and painlessly removed each and every one of the needles that I had inserted into Sa'nok.

The Palulukan didn't react at all to this, for she was deeply asleep on the Fleece Pile, purring still as she dreamed pleasant dreams. Once I'd removed all the acupuncture needles, the Dragon Weyr shifted them, and the other items we had used to treat Sa'nok, away to be cleaned and stored or - in the case of the herb and oil remains - broken down into energy. "Alright" I said, once everything had been cleared away, "that's that done. Now... let's check on that Ikran!" And with those words, Txe'lan, and I headed into the Dragon Weyr's Clinic. Unfortunately, what Txe'lan had said was absolutely true: the poor white Ikran's condition was critical, so much so that we didn't just check on it; we actually ended up staying in the Clinic, for thirty days and thirty nights to assist with his treatment.

During that time, Txe'lan and I became the Dragon Weyr's 'gophers' - we would 'go for this and go for that' - stopping only at night whereupon we would sleep in shifts, in small cots thoughtfully prepared by the great Nexus. Replacement organs, bio-system cybernetics, herbal remedies, fresh blood replicated from a small sample of the Ikran's own... The Dragon Weyr seemed to have no sense for the times, delicately mixing the ancient and the modern, weaving a balance between primitive medicine and advanced science, blending the old with the new as it worked tirelessly to save the Ikran's life. Txe'lan and I didn't care, however; we just kept working, acquiring whatever the Dragon Weyr needed and bringing said items to the Autodoc, so that it could just keep working.

Even Falkor and the Pack helped; they fetched and carried items in their mouths when we asked them to. The tension in the Clinic was so thick you could have cut it with a knife, and for a while things got hairy - the poor Ikran actually died three times in the Autodoc! The second time the little Ikran passed away, Txe'lan uttered a soft prayer of healing in Na'vi, and then another to the Dragon Weyr in Khalani. I, too, bowed my head and spoke a few words. "Join us, Little Brother. Join us in the light, where we stand vigilant. Live for us; that you may help us heal the sick, repair the injured, and bear the Duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that you shall always be one of us. You shall always be Family, and will never be forgotten."

I'm not sure whether our prayers and words really worked, but they must have had some effect, because each time the Ikran flatlined, the Weyr's incredible Autodoc was able to revive him back to life without any complications whatsoever. If was as if... despite everything that had happened to him, the little Ikran refused to die, and wasinstead fighting, with everything he had, to return to us, to live. Ever so slowly, ever so gradually, the little animal healed. Once the Ikran's condition was stable enough, I was able to sit with him in the Autodoc, cradling his small head in my arms as I carefully spoon-fed him a warm broth prepared by Txe'lan, consisting of blood mixed with small scraps of raw Yerik meat.

When he gazed up at me - chirruping and trilling softly once in awhile between feedings - and I gazed back at him, I felt the greatest love and affection for him. 'I... I feel like I'm feeding my own son...' I thought. Roughly forty-five days later, the Ikran was healed, his treatment complete. When the Dragon Weyr gave us a summary of just what it had needed to do in order to treat the animal however... I held Txe'lan close, my heart heavy, as she wept bitterly into my shoulder. The little white Ikran... was more machine now, than animal. Oh, there was no evidence of it - and he appeared perfectly normal, as he gazed at us with bright golden eyes from within the Autodoc - but the Dragon Weyr, Txe'lan and I knew the truth.

Almost fifty percent of his original body was gone, replaced by quantum bonded bio-system cybernetic skeletal grafts and implants. Several of his major internal organs had needed to be replaced entirely with freshly cloned, undamaged ones, whilst others would never function properly again without assistance from the colony of Nanocytes, which now resided within the animal's body. Even worse, was that the Ikran would never be able to fly naturally again. Irreparable brain and nervous system damage had meant the irrecoverable loss of his flight ability, but he would be able to at least unfurl his new wings and use them to glide via the micro-gravitic thrusters built into their undersides.

Now, you must understand, dear readers, that as Txe'lan continued to weep in my arms, she was not weeping because the Ikran would never be a normal animal; on the contrary, she was awed that the Dragon Weyr had been able to pull off such an incredible miracle. No... Txe'lan wept because - as a Na'vi, even with her understanding of tawtute and Protoss sciences - she couldn't quite come to terms with cold, artificial things being placed within a living body. She was comfortable with the hard technology of the Dragon Weyr, and my Nanocyte Filter, but the idea and concept of true cybernetics - the merging of the machine so completely with the organic - was unnerving to her, since it was something she'd never even conceived, of or thought possible, before.

A living being restored to health via machine parts that were themselves lifeless? Inconceivable! Gradually, Txe'lan's weeping slowed, and then finally halted. As I continued to hold her, she looked up at me, her eyes puffy from crying and her cyan face wet with the stains of her tears. "Irayo, Txa'vit, irayo" she choked softly. With a gentle nod of my head, I replied, "Do not be upset, Txe'lan, that this Ikran will never again be a normal animal. Instead, rejoice, for the Dragon Weyr has performed a miracle and has restored him to life. Txra'kon We'er has blessed this Ikran and made him Weyr'eveng. This, then, is what we will call him: Miracle, Weyr'eveng; Child of the Weyr."

That, dear readers, was how the young Ikran, Miracle, became the newest member of our menagerie. Time marched on as it always does, and as the days rolled into months - inspired by what she had seen the Dragon Weyr accomplish - Txe'lan withdrew from her duties as its Tsa'hik in order to return to her studies. This time, however, instead of learning about all sciences in a general sense, she focused herself upon one particular discipline: the science of Cybernetics. Under the tutelage of the Dragon Weyr, she learned what Cybernetics could do to a person's body in benevolent ways. She learned of cybernetics in medicine; how artificial hearts and other organs - and minor enhancements such as reflex boosters or mnemonic implants - could be used to save people's lives, or enhance one's body.

She learned of cybernetics for amputees; how lost limbs might be replaced with hardier cybernetic equivalents, and was stunned when she discovered that some of the menagerie's animals - most notably Falkor and Beauty - had been healed via Bio-System limb and organ replacements. Txe'lan learned of total body prosthesis; how one's brain could be placed into an almost completely artificial body, such as the shell of a Protoss Dragoon. She also learned about the malevolent aspects of Cybernetics. She learned of cybernetic implants and other devices designed to suppress psionic power, brutally extract information, utterly wipe away a person's deepest memories, or even reprogram a living being's consciousness.

She learned of the horror of Cybernetic Addiction and of the way that some cyborgs - particularly "full-conversion 'borgs" - began to feel after a time: superior and aloof to the organic beings they once called friends. Finally, Txe'lan bore witness to the horrifying nightmare fuel of grisly "Body Chop-Shops" and the vile Black Market Cyber-Villains whom not only ran the dreadful places, but kept them supplied via vicious gangs of thugs whom would happily acquire cybernetic parts from anyone... even going so far as to violate the graves of dead cyborgs and hack parts from the bodies of those still living! Eventually - at the culmination of her studies - Txe'lan willingly underwent surgery in the Autodoc to attain some cybernetics herself; a series of small implants that would allow her to better perform her function as Tsa'hik of the Nexus.

The devices she received were a neural processing adjunct, an eidetic implant to enhance her memory, and an attachment to the end of her tswin that would enable her to directly join her mind with the construct, in a form of Tsaheylu. Although the devices given to her by the Dragon Weyr were nothing special and the surgery relatively routine, when she emerged from the Autodoc and I beheld the golden psi-steel extension seamlessly attached to and merged with the cyan of her tswin, I was shocked and amazed, for she was the first Na'vi ever to receive and willingly accept cybernetics. Even better - armed with her new knowledge and understanding of the devices and their functions - instead of fearing them, she was overjoyed and believed that they brought her even closer to the incredible fortress that she revered as her new deity. "They are Txra'kon We'er's Gift, Txa'vit," she said, "and I am glad that he has honored me so!"

As Txe'lan resumed her role as Tsa'hik and drew ever closer to the Dragon Weyr, under the watchful eye of my Palulukan friend Sa'nok the young Ikran, Miracle, began to integrate into our family. He didn't seem to mind at all that he couldn't fly; on the contrary, he simply lived his life as best he could. After Txe'lan and I trained him not to urinate and defecate inside, Miracle chose the Dragon Weyr as his permanent home, rather than one of the Nests already occupied by Leaf and Cloud. He ate voraciously, grew like a weed, and became a rambunctious ground-pounder, often engaging Falkor and the Pack in rollicking games of chase and tag to dissipate the tremendous heat that built up as a result of his unusual avian-like metabolism.

The young Ikran was just full of life and was always getting into mischief; Txe'lan and I had to reprimand him severely one day when he somehow got into the Dragon Weyr's Laboratory and smashed a slew of delicate glassware. '... and how, by Adun's blessed grace, did he manage to piss off an entire herd of Hammerhead Titanotheres and send them stampeding towards the Weyr?' I wondered. Luckily no one had been hurt - Miracle had used his Warp Beacon to Gate away to safety when things had gotten hairy and the herd had successfully been repulsed by the expanded shield of the Dragon Weyr - but after the incident, Sa'nok had disciplined him severely, nipping him on his backside and boxing his ears!

His advanced cybernetics made him slightly stronger and hardier than the other animals of the menagerie, and when he learned this, things took a turn for the worse; he began to challenge Falkor for the position of my favorite and would bully and boss the other animals about, snapping at them and roughly pushing them away from me when I made to pet them or spend time with them. Sa'nok soon put a stop to this, however, for when he dared to challenge her one day - in full view of Txe'lan and I no less - she utterly dominated him, pinning him to the ground then roaring in his face! Although he struggled valiantly, try as he might, he could not break free from beneath the crushing, dinner-plate sized paw that pinned him, and eventually - with a high-pitched, keening cry of despair - he gave in, and submitted.

Afterward, Sa'nok gently curled around him and began to lick-groom him until he trilled softly and closed his eyes in quiet happiness. Unfortunately, as time passed by, Txe'lan and I began to realize something tragic about the newest member of our menagerie. Although somewhat mitigated by his cybernetics, due to his irreparable brain damage, the young Ikran, Miracle... would forever remain young. Like Peter Pan before him, he would "never grow up"; he would always view the world with the innocent eyes and mental faculties of a young child. We also noticed that sometimes, there were periods where Miracle would simply stop; he would 'zone out' and stare at something far, far away that only he could see... And then, a few moments later, he would return to us, twice as rambunctious as before.

Miracle knew he wasn't like other Ikran - he would never be able to truly fly or take a mate - but despite that and his mental problems, Txe'lan and I vowed to give him the very best quality of life that we could! He bonded well with all of us, but - like Sa'nok had grown close to me - he grew especially close to Txe'lan. Although he would sometimes accompany me on my Veterinary missions with Sa'nok and Falkor, mostly, he would remain within the Dragon Weyr, staying close to Txe'lan and accompanying her as she went about her duties as Tsa'hik. He liked things that glittered and shone, and loved the many simple, sturdy toys that I made for him to play with, particularly a set of wooden blocks whose faces were etched with glittering, painted Khalani Glyphs. He also loved being read to by me, and loved to hear stories told by Txe'lan of her time as a Child of Eywa. The one thing that Miracle truly adored, however... was music.