Naru

**Naru** (pronounced Nardu) was a human of the Comanche tribe. She was raised by her mother Aruka as a healer, despite wishing to be a hunter like her brother Taabe.

## History

During a failed attempt to hunt a deer with her dog Sarii, she witnessed what she believed to be a mythical "thunderbird" -- it was in fact a Yautja starship arriving on the planet amidst stormy cloud. She believed this was a sign she should begin her Kuhtaamia -- a rite of passage into hunting.

Shortly afterwards, Puhi went missing after a mountain lion attack. Naru tailed the search party, until she was discovered by Paaka. Taabe allowed Naru to formally join the party, given that her skills as a healer would likely be necessary. They found their wayward tribesman alive, but gravely wounded. She treated Puhi's wounds with orange totsiyaa to cool his blood -- but expressed concern when Taabe sought to hunt the lion at night. Something, she reasoned, had scared the lion from its den.

As the rest of the group carried Puhi home, Naru noticed a flayed viper and unusual footprints. Fearing for her brother's safety, she and Paaka set out to find him. They soon found Taabe in an open plain and concocted a plan to kill the lion -- with Paaka and Naru as bait. The plan went awry almost immediately, with the lion killing Paaka and Naru falling from a tree and knocking herself unconscious after only wounding the animal. Fortunately, Taabe was able to kill the animal and was declared war chief.

Naru was not deterred -- she left the camp the next day in search of the creature that had left the strange tracks. She found a field of flayed buffalo, and paid her respects to the fallen animals, before being caught in quicksand that she narrowly escaped. After that, a bear would chase her into a beaver dam -- before the bear was slain by an invisible creature that held it over its head. Naru fled down the river.

It was then she encountered a Comanche search party organized to look for her. After trying to explain what she had just seen and being ridiculed for it, Naru fought with Wasape before, ultimately, being bound so they could begin their journey back to camp. However, upon stopping to rest, the group was set upon by the invisible creature -- the Feral Predator. It rapidly killed Wasape, Ania and Huupi. Naru escaped the attack with Itsee -- who was also slain as they fled.

As Naru fled back into the forest, she was caught in a bear trap set by Big Beard and his voyageurs. The voyageurs had encountered the Predator as well, and captured Naru. When she awoke, inside a cage, she reasoned that these were the ones responsible for the slaughtered buffalo she had seen. Raphael Adolini, a translator, attempted to get Naru to tell them anything she knew about the creature hunting them, but she refused.

With no cooperation from her, the Frenchmen decided to use her and her brother Taabe -- also captured -- as bait. Naru, however, had learned that the creature was only hunting those it considered threats. Once the creature had slaughtered the Frenchmen, Naru cut herself and her brother free. She headed back to the voyageur camp to find Sarii -- killing several of the surviving Frenchmen as she did. Raphael Adolini, wounded, approached her in the camp -- offering to teach her how to use his gun if she would treat his wounds. She did so, using orange totsiyaa to cool his blood, and he showed her how to load and use the flintlock pistol.

They were interrupted by the sounds of the Feral Predator nearby. Naru hid, noticing as she did that the creature did not seem to see Raphael until it stepped on him and he made noise. It slew him instantly. It was then that Taabe arrived on horseback and engaged in a duel with the creature. Naru noted several behaviors, particularly that its masks lasers seemed to be where its projectiles aimed. Taabe was slain in the duel, but not before encouraging Naru to flee.

Naru fled, but with her newfound knowledge of the creature she also planned a trap. Discovering Big Beard nearby, she knocked him unconscious and set him up as bait. Meanwhile, she ingested orange totsiyaa to hide her presence from the Predator. As the creature killed Big Beard, she shot it in the back of the head with the flintlock pistol -- taking the opportunity to steal its mask.

From there, she lured the creature to the battlefield she had selected -- where she managed to sever the creature's right arm. She pulled the creature into quicksand, though it was able to pull itself to the surface to fire its bolt gun -- only to discover that Naru had aimed its mask at the creature itself. The bolts hit their target and blasted through the Yautja's skull, killing it.

Naru returned to her camp, mourning her brother, but bringing the creature's severed head. She gave the flintlock pistol to the chief Kehetu, and advised that they would need to safer ground. Kehetu appointed Naru the new war chief.

## Source

Naru is derived from *Prey*. For canon information, please visit:

* Xenopedia