Trade and Intelligence
Jake and the Namana Na'vi federation he was in charge of had recently won the skirmish nicknamed "Lucifer's Battle". The effect of that battle and its aftermath was that most of the forest and edge-of-forest clans had defected from the "Ocean Federation" and joined the Namana. But at the plains it was harder, with the simpler and longer range view from a helicopter up in the sky it was dangerous to venture too far from the forest lest helicopter patrols would discover them. Many of the clans on the steppes consequently felt the tawtute power as better at protecting them than the Namana Federation no matter how clever they were getting at their guerilla tactics in the forest, those clans had defected the federation after the disastrous Battle at the Stone Covered Well and not rejoined it yet. Some southern clans kept loyal in spite of whatever, such as the Ikran clan of the south coast, they had fought valiantly at the Great Battle and fled into the forest after the lost battle, like other loyalist clans outside the forest. Jake, Tsailoni, Jeff and Neytiri needed some resounding victory to undermine the RDA dominance over the plains.
They sat and pondered how. Jeff, the top military commander of the federation, stated that a stalemate was now reigning between the plains and the forest, one which the na'vi probably would win in the long run since the enemy simply couldn't afford not to strike into the forest given all the mineral in deposits in the forest. But then Jake protested:
"I think you are rather optimistic now, Jeff. We know that we are up against a brigade, two regiments and a supporting company that is, we have 'trimmed' it a little but still, and we know furthermore that a new regiment is to be delivered with the next ISV. Shawn has hacked its cargo manifesto. The longer time we waste, the more powerful they'll get, also they will then have time to come up with tricks we don't know about as for now. (He was right about that, a pandemic virus was under concoction in the RDA labs.)
As for now they have the northern plains in a grip of iron, they have spun a web of allegiance over the southern plains too and we have just begun to impinge on their hold on the archipelago out west. As long as they keep from making any huge forays into the forest it is hard for us to tackle them. After the debacle at the Onati Hometree and their disastrous defeat at the Swamp Hometree they have mostly stopped making forays into the forest unless in huge campaigns we mostly hide away from and evade, and take on them when some opportunity for it comes drifting by. They have rendered themselves less vulnerable to us."
Jeff turned at Tsailoni and thought aloud:
"We simply have to wait for a major attack we can ambush in the forest then. Or better – take some opportunity to pull them in. That means offering them something irresistible, like a 'defecting' clan sitting atop a big chunk of unobtanium ore."
Tsailoni gave a thoughtful comment:
"That irresistible lure could also be something else than grey stones. It could also be knowledge of the enemy – knowledge we could provide them with… By the way: How is our network of na'vi spies all over Namana Land, ready established? Able to plant 'information' useful to us?"
Neytiri worked in a way like the Na'vi head of intelligence in this war so the answer to this was up to her.
"There are of course holes in our 'network' but it is getting quite finely meshed. We do get useful information from it but trying to plant propaganda and false information is more risky. Our agents then run the risk of being pointed out as the one who said this and that."
If the Na'vi side of the conflict was in a quandary, brigadier Cox was no less so. Experience had shown that sending small expeditions into the forest simply was too dangerous to be contemplated, a scouting force of a full Na'vi clan kumpongu (war party) was needed. He would simply have to sit and wait for a new regiment in some months. And he could hope for what had been hinted at in the last meeting he had been at before he left from Earth, in the RDA HQ in Zug, Switzerland: There might be a virus available for him to unleash on the enemy, killing them off in droves and also rendering the allied clans desperately dependent on vaccines – giving RDA a powerful leverage to keep them digging for ore…
But that was still in the uncertain future. He could just hope for a message in his e-mail box arrived from RDA HQ through the "worm hole" through space time. He thought to himself: "So you better be patient, Nev!"
If brigadier Cox was just biding his time, there were others who saw a golden opportunity in the predicaments of RDAs operations at Pandora.
The current situation was that the human and their Na'vi allies held sway over the northern steppes and coastlands. But there were a steppe zone south of the forest too, far less broad than up north and with less ore deposit around so no permanent base had been established there. But in this liability there was a blessing, no human military force was around to irritate the southern Steppe clans.
The local agent, Marianne LeClerc, was French by background, she was born in the city of Clermont-Ferrand. The mightiest southern steppe clan was the Mau'txe, in a traditional and embittered enmity with the Eymastua at the edge of the forest. So the Mau'txe was the hard fist at the southern steppes but employed by a commercial company as she was, she had set up her office with the Trader clan, not a very big clan but a clan of acknowledged mastery of the intricacies of the art of barter trade. She often felt like a queen of a kingdom of her own. The political philosopher Karl Marx once wrote that a state's top functionaries can be divided in ministry of external plunder – in her case the Mau'txe clan which was the trump card among the southern warlike clans armed with firearms courtesy of RDA, the ministry of internal plunder – that was the Trader clan for her which was nerve center of her commercial business with gathering ore to be shipped up to Svarog, and the ministry of public works which in her case meant the Zo clan, local masters of healing which she had empowered even more with handing out medicines from the RDA laboratories.
Agent LeClerc had with considerable acumen built up a powerful RDA presence in the southern plains, for very little investment by the RDA head office at Svarog. Head of the station up there, Perry Henson, was often very, very benevolent in the reports about her he sent back to Earth. She was ambitious too, aside from her commercial empire south of the jungle she had another ace card up her sleeve in the fight against the Na'vi side: Her own little espionage network…
Laura Di Raffaeli, aka. Feofa te Nenokxi Eymaneo'ite, was an accomplished spy of the "Mata Hari" variety. Agent LeClerc had asked the intelligence leader at Svarog Concetta Reveteri for an able agent for sniffing out clans with an interest in commerce with "grey rocks" and had been assigned her. And Laura showed to be very able, she not only recruited the Nenokxi clan to the Ocean Federation, she even infiltrated and turned over the hostile end-of-forest Memekx clan, living in a "bay of grass in the jungle mainland". She established a wide network of informers in various clans so she knew well when some forest clans were making ready for a foray out at the steppes, rendering the steppe clans all the more grateful for their "magical" power of always knowing beforehand when it was time to mobilize the clan fighting forces. Turning the Memekx clan to neutrality and then (apparent!) friendliness wasn't any big deal but the big clan up north beyond the neighbouring Nemengli forest clan beckoned and that clan was big game indeed – the Omatikaya… Infiltrating THAT clan and undermining its fighting ardor would be one huge plus mark in her resume… That prospect was one mightily tempting tickle to her professional ego as spy… Her contact agent LeClerc wasn't averse to it either, participating in arranging such a coup would look extraordinarily good in her resume too – she might be able to really put a torpedo into the Na'vi resistance, something brigadier Cox up north had never been able to do, no matter how much human martial power he had invested in it.
However, if there was one thing Laura or Feofa was certainly not it would be a sloppy amateur who didn't do her homework beforehand. More than once careful contingency planning had saved her blue avatar skin from dismal failure and capture. She acquired a powerful radio set for transmitting messages to intelligence HQ at Svarog and put it up at her own home station together with agent LeClerc, with copies for agent LeClerc too. Presenting herself as an itinerant trader from the Trader clan was a good cover for coming and going, belonging to a clan that was hostile shouldn't be too much of a trouble, reports she had heard from other traders indicated that the Omatikayas and their allies were very interested in firearms to replenish their stores expended in skirmishes against the RDA forces – it would be simple for her to present herself as peddling loot stolen from RDA arsenals, some ammunition clips offered for sale should grant her access to the clan.
Then next step: Information search. One problem the RDA commanders had was that the precise current organizational structure of the Na'vi was a mystery. All right, the grand picture was clear: Basically a confederacy with Jake Sully as leader with advisers drawn from the clans in various affairs, the members of the former avatar team had been made members of various clans around, mostly the Omatikaya but not exclusively. But the finer details were unknown, such as who manned the various tasks in the leadership, the abilities and weaknesses of those people, the martial powers of the various clans etc. What was known before the war of such details of organizational patterns was probably irrelevant now, they had most probably been reorganized soon as the big war broke out.
She decided to find some point of entry into the clan. Romancing the born Na'vi would be hard, they were brought up to ignore romantic advances until it was clear that it was meant for a brain-to-brain connection and then lifelong faithful monogamy. That was too dangerous to enter in since it meant opening a door into the very innermost of her knowledge, memories and emotions, she had been strictly warned against this. But engaging in all-girls chit-chat was on the other hand not out of the question… and that could be more than enough informative.
She looked up the biographical entries in the RDA database of employees about the members of the avatar team. Best sources would be either calm and lonely types with narrow horizons, longing for someone just to keep them company, or vivacious types who could be approached with histrionics or romantics as suited.
She suddenly noticed something in the records – the psychologist of the team, Nicholas P. Dixon was noted as an incorrigible womanizer. Promising – she had never yet met a man with that weakness unable to resist her overtures… Reading further she noticed another promising lead, the seamstress and laundry manager of old "Hell's Gate", Penny Magennis was noted as a modest, unassuming, homely young spinster with a liking for garment care and making. Sounded as one who could be approached with a little female "small talk"… She could bring some products from southern tanneries – the Nenokxi clan was known for its craftsmen in the craft of tanning – so she would have occasion to get into contact with her. Melanie Foster, limnologist, might be useful to contact too, however rather more risky since she was noted as on the one hand a dull, eminently unglamorous and rather socially isolated by nature but upright in ethics and very devoted to her science, life in fresh water. Either of them, all of them best of all of course, might be useful sources.
And she planned a get-away plan with care – she picked a direhorse mare with good carrying training but also able at galloping fast. She loaded it with a carrying harness which easily could be unplugged and dropped so she could run for it into the forest very quickly if needed. And she appointed Mekoki, a young man of the Trader clan, as her trading assistant, medicines provided by agent LeClerc had once saved his mother so his loyalty was rock bottom. She had agreed with him a distress signal, "dancing man", hearing this he was at once to abandon the cargo and ride to the Mau'txe to raise a rescuing warrior party if she couldn't wiggle out of the situation on her own. So now, harness baskets full with finely tanned leather hides, sweets Na'vi style for the kids, river mussels for food and some ammunition clips – and a radio set hidden in a basket, she went out on her trading excursion. The walkie talkie she brought along was small to be easily hidden so its range didn't reach far, on the other hand she had on beforehand hidden repeaters high up in uninhabited trees on the way to the Omatikayas.
The call sounded in New Hometree: "A trader is coming!"
Life in New Hometree wasn't bustling these days, most had taken refuge in various smaller localities in the vicinity. Only a few watchkeepers were present, some twenty or thirty scouts at any time. When now this trader was observed the message went out to the crafts' leaders of the Omatikayas to come to inspect the merchandize. The craftsmen and –women came and took a look at it and recognized it as good. The warrior kumpongu eyktan was a wee bit sceptic – how had she come by this ammunition she intended to sell? Stolen from a plundered arsenal, was the answer. Well, OK.
"And now You must allow us to demonstrate our hospitality. The jungle is dangerous by night so please stay with us over the night and share in our meal!"
Laura or Feofa took a look for her marks, she couldn't see anyone who could be Nick among healers or Melanie among gatherers but she took a look among the weavers too, knowing the interest of Penny in garment she would probably be in this gang inspecting what she had for sale. And – there she walked, dressed in loincloth and with only the skimpiest cover over her breast but still recognizably her, she evidently was among the assistants of the weaving eyktan.
When food was ready she sat down with her by the firepit. It wasn't hard to get into a chit-chat with her. How life was going nowadays? Not too bad, even her mate Brad had finally come to terms with the constraints of village life. A bell instantly started ringing in the head of Laura – Brad Fuller was noted in the database as a notorious freak and the head of a three-piece harem none of whom was Penny, he was described as a type not fitting easily into any society anywhere. She made a note in her mental notebook, this was surely something to record in the database at the head office of intelligence at Svarog!
Not long after daybreak she left and returned, at a stopover she took her walkie talkie and gave report. The report made its way through relays to the main radio set at Trader clan's hometree, and from there up to donna Reveteri's office at Svarog.
In time "Feofa" came back with more merchandize for sale, more than once too, again and again she met with little, naïve Penny and pumped her for what she knew, she was a veritable gold mine! She readily revealed where her "away" tree was in the jungle and she knew where the gatherer's tree was too but nothing more. She could explain a good deal of the inner workings of the Na'vi federation too and all was reported to donna Reveteri…
There was, however, a limit to how much knowledge could be hauled out of Penny, she was a weaver on the bottom-most hierarchical level. Laura had found out that Melanie was well above her in rank as a "good gatherer" in charge of the fishing team of the gatherers, the inlander clan Omatikaya didn't live close by any extensive lake or river so didn't have any fishing team numerous enough to be assigned a crafts group of its own. Too big risk to contact her compared with what information she could be "milked for". Nick, on the other hand, should be both simpler and more informative. Penny had said that he nowadays was teacher, "karyu", in psychology and psychiatry at the Central Forest tribe's school of healing. That was far above Penny's level, appreciably above Melanie too, and as a notorious Casanova he shouldn't be hard to catch. So Laura started bringing psychoactive medicines in her merchandize, in the hope that he would be attracted. And one day he showed up.
The talk about the potions and their beneficial and less than beneficial side effects went on between "Feofa" and Nick. She proposed that they could go to a secluded area of New Hometree where they would be less disturbed. Afterwards Nick could sense a certain amorous tone in the voice of this trader Feofa. Hmmm – didn't she blink her eye just now? Then she became clingy too and a warning light started blinking in the head of Nick, he had received a strict warning from Norm, together with a very nerve-wrecking act Norm had authored and performed – he remembered very vividly its effects still – about the risks of unfaithfulness among the Na'vi. When she came to the giggly level and wanted to stroll hand in hand with him, the yellow blinking light turned blindingly and steadily red. So he took her for a walk towards the forest – past the four warriors keeping watch over the New Hometree… Close by now…
"Grab this trader! She is a suspect one! May be a spy!"
Suddenly five pairs of arms took hold on Laura. She put up a mighty struggle and she screamed the alarm signal "dancing man" to Mekoki. He rose immediately, cut loose his mount and galloped into the forest. She herself was bundled up and put at a direhorse. Into the forest she was taken, over hill and vale she rode until she came to a thicket. There they brought her down from the steed and a branch hiding an entrance was pushed away.
In the semi-darkness inside there she could discern numerous Na'vi with yellow sashes and belts, all of them looking at her in undisguised hostility. Some of them she could recognize, such as the avatar bodies of the square-jawed Geoffrey Enright and the lanky Norman Spellman, or the red robed Mo'at with her special hairdo and equally red-robed Neytiri however with her hair in the customary long braid, marking her as shaman to become but not yet. And finally a black-caped male entered, with the five avatar fingers he couldn't be anyone else than Jake Sully himself. He said it very laconic:
"Mo'at, taste her! Neytiri, tsahaylu!"
Laura was kicked at the back of her knees so she fell down kneeling. And then she felt something sharp strike her in her shoulder and she heard that authoritative female voice saying:
"Not a personally bad person but still very dangerous having at large!"
Then she could feel how her tswin, her braid that is, was grabbed and connected with another one. It felt like a bathtub in her head suddenly was unplugged, she could see how many memories, knowledges and observations went down the drain. Not so that they were forgotten but they became known to Neytiri who drew them out of her. In the end the tsahaylu link was unconnected.
"She has been chatting a lot with Penny and found out about whatever she knew about or systems. They know for instance where in the forest the 'away trees' of the weavers and gatherers are."
"In so case the Omatikaya gatherers and weavers must at once relocate to another away tree. Send them a message – on the double! There may be enemies on the way! Are there any warrior teams available to defend those 'away trees'?"
Jeff was serious in his voice now. "Sorry, no more than a skeleton crew guarding New Hometree, most teams are playing hide and seek with an RDA company at Big River. And I don't think that any other nearby clan will be able to come to our assistance this fast either."
Jake became frenzied now. "Then it will be all the more important to get those civilians into safety and to get those ay'kumpongu back from Big River at once. There are far more important targets nearby now, playing our cards correctly it is still possible to turn this disaster into victory."
Actually, it was almost too late already. Mekoki had alarmed the Mau'txe who mobilized a kumpongu and took two other prairie clans along with them too. Some two hundred warriors were now riding, and a dozen in the air, towards the most southerly known "away tree", the gatherer's. They intended to capture hostages they then could exchange for Feofa. Some twenty of them set the course for the gatherer's away tree, equally many continued on to the weaver's tree and the rest kept back in reserve.
Ma'tilta te Povitxens Pxerta'ite (i.e. Mathilda from Providence RI, USA and daughter of Bertha M. Cummings) was one of the additional "dreamwalkers" who had arrived at Pandora after the Great Battle. In her human body she had been an abominably overweight woman of very limited social skills and coming from an upper class background, making her an outcast in the social environment at Earth – her brilliant academic achievements couldn't remedy that. Jake had succeeded with making her reform her ways by connecting her tswin with a branch from the Tree of Spirits, bringing her into direct contact with Eywa and also with the deceased ma'am Grace Augustine. She understood things she never before in her life had…
Nowadays she was a reasonably well adjusted gatherer of not too bad physique and looks and of all right social standing too, furthermore she was a satisfied mate of Am'tey and mother of two years old Tanya – named after her beloved grandmother at Earth. Right now she was sorting the various herbs she had gathered for seasoning the dinner for tonight…
PIIIP!
The whistling sound the messenger blew with his whistle rang shrill. He called out even before his ikran (banshee) had touched ground:
"Get all out of here! On the double! Enemies will soon be coming – here! Run to the warrior's away tree!"
Pure pandemonium broke out. Mothers ran for their kids, fathers reached for their weaponry and Ma'tilta was very happy that little Tanya right now was with her mother in law over at the storytellers' away tree. Her daughter not at risk, she joined fathers intending to cover the fleeing females and their kids… They could clearly see a swarm of hostile ikran-riders up in the air but there was no use in firing at them, they were far too fast moving.
Then hooves thumping the ground sounded. Ma'tilta looked back – still a few mothers striving to collect their kids to get away, we can't evacuate yet!
Then the Mau'txe riders arrived, some twenty of them, a prominent among them called out:
"We don't intend to hurt anyone, we just want to have one of our own released in return for you, Feofa te Nenokxi Eyma…"
Suddenly three arrows were planted in his rib cage, one of them fired by Ma'tilta.
A call went out:
"All gone now, now out of here!"
Ma'tilta had just loosened another arrow, again finding its mark. But now the order had been given, no use in risking anything more, better turn and try to get away to fight more another day… She turned and ran – but suddenly she felt a big thump in her back and then a searing pain… Her feet failed her and she fell to the ground and… felt suddenly so very heavy… hard to draw breath… oh my Am'tey!... Tanyaaa!... gasp… And she lost consciousness.
Shortly after she opened her eyes again and rose to her knees – and beheld ma'am Augustine again, she had seen her when she first time connected with the Tree of Spirits and in the limbo between her human and na'vi lives, and behind her the tallest Na'vi woman she had ever seen, with so many and so tight glittering skin spots that she looked like shining. That Na'vi said with the voice of an elderly, wise woman Ma'tilta had heard once before:
"Welcome to the afterlife, Matilda! You have made yourself deserve a name among the hallowed ancestors, Tanya will grow up to be the ancestor female of a big and proud family, keeping your name alive for many a lifetime, someone to be proud of being the descendant of!"
"You are… Eywa? And You are Grace Augustine? I am in other words dead now?"
Grace replied: "Yes you are dead but don't be sorry, Tanya is in good hands, she has a loving father and a no less loving grandmother, one day she will have many respectful step-mothers. You will be able to follow them all for as long as You care. And I am Grace and I am Eywa and I am Tsu'tey and I am Eytukan and…, it matters little in this land. Rise Ma'tilta, You are to become one of the mass of proud ancestors too!"
Ma'tilta rose and looked at Grace but it was Eywa she saw. A look at the other standing there and she beheld the one she had once seen in the mirror as the astoundingly fat Mathilda S. Cummings. She grabbed a lock of hair and found it red and curly, and she wore a white lab coat… She turned towards Eywa again but saw Grace. Now lifting her arm she saw that it was peppered with zillions of small, blinking spots now.
"Now You see Ma'tilta? You are part of the community now!"
Four of the some twenty defenders didn't get away but were struck down by the Mau'txe arrows, including a female one, only the leader Tutum'o and the warrior Leotx fell of their own. But the attack couldn't be called a success still even if the enemy had lost more, they hadn't captured any of the enemies they could use for ransoming Feofa.
The next in command warrior Meo'au who took over after the fall of Tutum'o gave orders now. His warriors searched the whole tree for gatherers trying to hide up in the tree but they couldn't find anyone, the gatherers had escaped all of them. He assembled his warriors and commanded:
"Now we ride to our other possible target, the weaver's away tree, the warrior party going there may have managed to capture some hostages there."
But then the totally unexpected happened. A young girl at ten years or so of age came walking out of the forest to the warriors who were making ready to mount their ay'ikran and fa'li again. And he said with her childish voice but using quite adult words:
"I am Kyntia (named for her human grandmother Cynthia…) and I have been ordered to announce to You, honored warriors, that You are surrounded by three full olo'kumpongu of battle-hardened élite warriors, three hands of them ikran mounted and with guns trained on You. And Yeff, grand kumpongu eyktan of the Namana Land and my daddy, is at the command of this surrounding force! You don't stand any chance to escape so to save your lives there is but one option open for you: Surrender."
The child turned towards the forest and called out: "Did I say this correctly now, daddy?" The warrior gang understood that Yeff had sent his own daughter to present them the demand for surrender, utilizing the traditional Na'vi respect for children. And an arrow whizzed out of the forest and got stuck in the tree trunk, to underline this demand.
The Mau'txe warriors dropped their bows and spears and sat down on the ground in surrender. They were explained the whole story about what had really happened at Old Hometree, how insignificant the difference between Old and New RDA actually was and all such. Afterwards they contacted the rest of the war party and convinced them too about the same. Long live the power of peaceful convincement over martial and lethal force!
Later in the day Jake came to assess the success story himself. Three males and Ma'tilta were found dead with arrows in their backs, Jake ordered them taken away to be buried with heroic warrior's honors tomorrow. Then he sat down with Jeff.
"This battle has so far been a tolerable success in itself, they frittered away their chance for retreating with searching the away tree for someone to take hostage. But now we can take this victory and turn it into a decisive one. How about this plan Jeff…"
The day after the remaining warriors on ground and in air came back to the Mau'txe Home thicket. They brought two females along with them, one of them wearing a brown belt, both of them looked like important Federation people. Olo'eyktan Nutxa'mey was satisfied, now he would be able to ransom Feofa. The two apparent captives walked up to him and faced him, in the view of the warriors.
"Olo'eyktan Nutxa'mey te Mau'txe Tsu'tey'itan, I am Trutxy'tsakon te Maiami Alfons'ite and this is Naraporn te Tsiang'may Naraithaksin'ite. We commend ourselves to Your hospitality and we ask to bring You a message from the Namana Federation. For You to be totally sure that we are not only speaking truth but very earnestly so too, we request that Your tsahik inspects us. Here is my shoulder for her to prick and my tswin to connect with, likewise Naraporn is offering her shoulder and tswin."
Tsahik Kukuto was rather taken aback by the request – who was this person offering to lay bare all her innermost secrets for her to see? But she did prick them both, having tasted their blood she declared: "Honest and earnest females both of them. To be trusted." And then she connected tsahaylu with both of them, Trudy first and then Naraporn.
After the inspection session she looked frightened, all skin spots totally dimmed down, equivalent to pale as a carcass at Earth. She turned towards her mate the olo'eyktan:
"Nutxa'mey, seems that the rumor about how the tawtute vandalized and brutalized that you were convinced by that tawtute female was just a lie – it still wasn't! We are currently serving someone who would gladly burn down the Tree of Voices given the least chance to get away with it! Who in the ultimate end would be not dissatisfied with seeing all of us dead! (Her eyes became stiff and angry.) Nutxa'mey, we simply can't go on serving them! They just have to be sent away and without delay! And we must assist the Omatikayas with sending them away from all of this world too!"
Trudy and Naraporn looked at each other and understood that Jake's ruse of smuggling in the truth through an apparent surrender had succeeded. Ma'tilta and the three males had not given their lives in vain! The warriors had been in on the ruse all along, playing their part with artful acting.
The day after a polite Mau'txe messenger came to agent Marianne LeClerc and informed her that the clan now had transferred its loyalty back to the Namana Federation. She was asked to please be good to always from now on keep away from the Mau'txe clan's territory… Later the same day she had similar declarations from other clans at the southern prairies too. In the end, expelled from the last of the southern prairie clan supporting her, she had no alternative but to call for a bail out from a Valkyrie space ferry.
Her trading kingdom had ended its success story with a sudden and ignominious failure, thanks in no small part to a former avatar of not so bad ethics as had been believed and some brave defenders of the gatherer's away tree, some of them falling in heroic defense of their clan. Laura Di Raffaeli alias Feofa had acted as the irresistible lure to pull them into the forest, making for the defeat needed to win them over, that Tsailoni had been wishing for. The always loyal Ikran clan could now return to its home ground at the southern headland of Namana Land.
Agent LeClerc had never had any avatar body, she later on had to be satisfied with a boring desk job there and never again put her feet at Pandora. She found herself a husband at the Svarog station, making a reasonably happy couple with her Vincent Faveaux.
Laura Di Raffaeli lived on as prisoner of war until the end of the conflict and was then sent up to Svarog along with the other prisoners-of-war, living there for thirteen years after. When Naraporn came back to the Alpha Centauri solar system after having given evidence at the trial of the leadership of New RDA and having witnessed the formal liquidation of the company, Laura was together with the other former avatar agents of New RDA presented with Jakesully's offer, in his capacity as head of the Namana Federation, to return to Pandora to live a life among the technologically primitive Na'vi she had been genetically more adapted to since she left behind her human skin at Earth, also a life she had been living down there for a happy time before. She eagerly accepted the offer, left her Laura identity behind at Svarog and settled as Feofa with the – yes indeed, the Mau'txe clan…
