Jake couldn't break his eyes off the two strangers and he could tell it was unsettling them, which slightly pleased him, as childish as he realized that was. One was standing with his arms crossed, returning the stare from under the brim of a white stetson. The other, younger looking one, sat upon an old crate that looked like it had been sitting there since the RDA got booted out, twirling a Ka-Bar combat knife expertly in one hand and as he got closer he realized the younger man was also whistling.
Obviously the older one noticed too, because he turned to his companion and elbowed him in the gut, "You're whistling like a fairy again," he growled and the young man went quiet.
Jake then turned to his long time friend, and man whom he now considered a brother, "Oel ngati kameie, Norm," he said with a smile, "how have you been?"
Norm returned the smile, briefly noting in his mind how much the Olo'eyktan's pronunciation had improved, then replied in Na'vi, "I have been doing fine."
The clan chief glanced, briefly, at the two men again, "Who are they?" he asked, speaking quietly and in Na'vi in hopes of keeping the conversation private, "they don't look like scientists."
While the two conversed Roland studied the newcomers or, more importantly, the one who was clearly the leader and therefore he deduced was Jake Sully. As the mercenary scanned his face he could see the resemblance to the human form he'd seen in the picture, plus a few other giveaways that he wasn't pure Na'vi. As he examined the rest of the chief's body he could see why Huntley would consider him a threat. While he was very scrawny, as all Na'vi were, Jake's muscles were toned and he had an aura about him that spoke of his abilities. Surely taking him down was going to be quite difficult.
Norm interrupted his thoughts as he turned towards the two men, "Jake, this is Roland Reed and Jeremy Vetterman. They were originally signed on as security," he explained to an unimpressed looking Jake, "guys, this is Jake Sully. He's Olo'eyktan, or clan leader, of the Omaticaya."
Roland pushed himself to a stand then stepped forward with his hand offered, "Sir," but Jake just stared him down, so Roland dropped it to his side with a sigh and attempted humor, "has everyone forgotten how to shake hands out here?"
The Olo'eyktan's eyes narrowed, "We don't need any more security," he declared, then turned back to Norm, "I thought I was clear on who was to be allowed to stay?"
The poor scientist wilted under Jake's stare, "I'm sorry. They slipped in with the scientists and no one found them out until their ride was sent back."
"We were going to be on your side," Jeremy interjected, "neither of us have any sympathy for Quaritch or his men."
Jake redirected his glare to the older merc, "We don't need you on our side anymore," he stated, "when the next ship arrives you two are going home."
"No complaints there," Jeremy replied, "but you're stuck with us until then and we've already been helping out. Just ask him."
Jake turned back to Norm, as Jeremy had indicated, with an inquisitive look on his face, "Oh, yeah?" he asked suspiciously, "how so?"
Norm shuffled his feat nervously as all eyes were n him, even the other two Na'vi, who Norm assumed knew enough English to keep up with the conversation, "Well, um, it was their idea to convert the solar panels over to the oxygen filters," Norm stated, "it's not complete yet, but in a few weeks we should be running sufficiently enough that we can cut back on fuel consumption."
Jake reassessed the two men with astonishment, "How did two military grunts come up with that?" he asked.
Jeremy chuckled, "We're not military, and it was Roland's idea," he explained, nodding his head to his friend.
Roland shrugged as the Olo'eyktan's gaze shifted to him, "Before we left Earth I read about Canada, or more specifically Toronto, switching fully to solar power," he said, "it was really expensive but I think people are really starting to realize they need to start looking to alternate energy sources. Especially now that their unobtanium supply has been cut off."
As he spoke, an atokirina' came floating down from somewhere above to hover over Roland. The Na'vi hunters, Jake, and Norm all held their breaths at the spectacle. It danced above Roland's head for a few seconds then drifted over to Jeremy. After a few seconds it let a draft lift it up and then it was gone from sight.
Jake took a few moments to process the information then turned to his two hunters, "Stay here and watch them," he ordered before looking back at Norm, "follow me."
The two walked to the edge of the compound, out of sight and hearing range of the others, and sat in the shade of an enormous tree. Jake then described his dreams to Norm, about how they seemed to be warning him about these two but now Eywa was giving him a message, similar to what Neytiri had once said had happened to her when she first saw him.
Norm shrugged after his friend finished talking, "I don't know, Jake," he said with sympathy, "I'm not narcissistic enough to think I could even begin interpret Eywa's message, but they don't seem to be any harm to us and like I said they may have saved all our asses here on base."
Jake cast an eye of scrutiny over Norm, "Yeah, about that," he declared, "how the hell did a military grunt come up with a solution while you and your scientists blundered around?"
"Hey," Norm said defensively, eyes narrowing, "sometimes it helps to have a fresh perspective."
Jake let it go for now, letting his mind focus back on the two strangers, "I was about to just confine them to the base," he said finally, "not let them near the weapons, but you said you already allowed them to handle guns."
"And they didn't try to kill any of us," Norm stated in his defense. He had deliberately left out the part of Jeremy shooting an ikran.
"Still, I don't know what the hell you were thinking taking that risk," Jake countered, "anyway, I have another idea. Until we know we can fully trust them I want to split them up. You said one of them has an avatar, right?"
"Reed has one, yes," Norm confirmed, "I've already let him link up to a few times, he seems to be getting the hang of it. I think I know where you're going with this too."
Jake grinned at his clever companion, "Here's what I'm thinking..."
Norm leaned in with curiosity as Jake outlined the plan he had in store for the two, nodding in agreement with what the Olo'eyktan had to say. By the time he was finished it was starting to get late and Jake knew his hunters must be as tired as he was.
"We'll let them know in the morning. Right now I need to get some sleep," he decided, though he knew he wouldn't be able to get much, sleeping in a strange place without his mate and son, "send the hunters to the avatar bunkhouse and the other two inside. Don't let them know about the plan until tomorrow."
Norm nodded then loped off to do his bidding as Jake strode over to the bunkhouse, sleeping here was always his least favorite part about visiting Hell's Gate.
Early the next morning, before it was completely light out, Roland and Jeremy were helping to load supplies into the back of a Samson. Neither were too happy with the arrangement but they also had no choice but to go along with the plan. As they were getting around that morning, Norm had explained that until the next ISV arrived the both of them were going to be learning. Jeremy was given to the zoology department, he suspected as punishment for killing the banshee. Roland, through his avatar, learning from the Na'vi. Though about what Reed had no idea, he figured he would be learning about their culture. Still, he wasn't keen on the idea, even though Reed had wanted to meet a native, it didn't mean he wanted to live out there in the jungle. That wasn't enough for Jake, though, and he decided that human Roland was going to live out in the forest as well, via a mobile link site, another detail that pissed the young mercenary off. The link site was to be towed, by Samson, out near the new kelutral so that Reed was separated from his friend. Roland was to fly the Samson, as both he and Jeremy were adept pilots from flying evacs back on Earth during some of the more hectic conflicts, and follow Jake to the spot the Olo'eyktan had picked out from memory. The only, slightly, comforting thought Roland had was that he wouldn't be alone out there. Because he was going to be linking up to an avatar, he was going to need a specialist to monitor him while he was under and the position was assigned to an Asian man by the name of Malcolm Mai. In contrast to Reed's brooding, Mai was excited about his new assignment and had expressed, multiple times, his impatience to get going.
As the last of the necessities were loaded Roland turned to Jeremy "Well, I guess I'll see you in a few years," he stated glumly, "don't keep everyone up at night with your blubbing,"
Jeremy rolled his eyes, "And don't go getting yourself killed by the natives. Though as ugly as you are I wouldn't blame them," he retorted as they shook hands.
Norm shook his head, "You know, Jake will allow you to visit from time to time," he declared, "plus there is a communications system built in to the site so you can at least talk to each other. You're not going to be completely cut off from us for all three years."
"Yeah," Reed said turning to the scientist with a smile, "but I'm finally free of this one's stupidity. If you think I'm not going to take full advantage of that, then you're sorely mistaken."
Norm could only continue shaking his had as Jeremy punched his friend on the shoulder from behind. Soon after Jake arrived with his hunters and their ikran and they could tell he was eager to get going. After brief goodbyes they set off with Reed following the trio of winged beasts and their riders.
It was a long and very boring flight to the destination, and Roland was more than ready to call it a day when they set down but he knew there was still a lot of work to do getting the site set up and habitable. Daylight had long since faded by the time both men lie down to sleep and, despite the unfamiliarity of prefab like structure, Roland was out quickly. Once again, though, he was roused very early by Malcolm, who informed him Jake was waiting outside. With a groan of irritation he slowly pulled himself out of his bunk and forced down the little meal Malcolm had prepared for him. Then he lied down on the link bed, nearly falling back asleep before his technician could finish keying in the commands to send him to his avatar.
As he sat up in his avatar, Roland groaned again, this time in pain as the position his avatar had been lying in the Samson caused some stiffness in his limbs. He climbed out of the aircraft and stretched as he strode over to the waiting Olo'eyktan, noting with displeasure that daylight hadn't fully blossomed yet.
"Morning sunshine," Jake said sarcastically at the man's sleepy looking face and Roland had to refrain from telling the chief where to stick it. Without waiting for a reply Jake turned and walked off into the woods and Roland had to almost jog to keep up.
"You never did tell me what I was going to be learning about out here," Roland said after a few moments of silence, trying to break the awkward silence that hung over them. In the distance he could see a massive tree that stood at more than three times the height of the incredibly tall ones they were walking under now, and he assumed that was what Norm had called Home Tree.
The grin Jake shot the man could be described as cunning, "You'll see soon enough," he replied, then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Roland became alert and pulled out the avatar sized Ka-Bar he had been provided, expecting danger. He was put off, then, when Jake started laughing.
"Hiding in the shadows isn't like you," the Olo'eyktan teased to the forest in front of him, "afraid of the big, scary uniltìrantokx?
Suddenly, without making a sound, a beautiful Na'vi woman seemed to materialize from the foliage and strode gracefully up to Jake with a smile, "Merely cautious ma' Jhake," she replied and the two briefly brushed foreheads, "did your journey go well?"
Jake chuckled as he could see, out of the corner of his eye, Reed was getting unsettled by his mate, "It was interesting," he declared, "where's ma 'itan?"
Neytiri gave him a loving smile, "He still sleeps," she replied, "ma sanok has him,"
"Of course," Jake said after a moment, "His grandma never passes an opportunity to spend time with him does she?"
The woman's gaze shifted to the dreamwalker, "Who is your friend?" she asked as she studied him, "I don't recognize this one," she circled the man, noting that his body was severely underdeveloped for his size, but then again all uniltìrantokx seemed to be and like his kind he dressed himself in all those unnecessary garments. She stopped in front of him to study his face and she thought to herself that he did look quite striking despite his alien features, but then again her mate wasn't pure Na'vi either so she figured her opinion was a bit biased. If this one were to join the clan he would definitely have no problem finding a mate, rather he would have a problem choosing just one out of many.
Jake sighed as he too looked to the mercenary, "You wouldn't, he's new here and he's not my friend" he stated then switched to English, "Roland, put your knife away, I don't take threats to my mate kindly."
Reed started as he realized he was still holding his blade then quickly returned it to its sheath, "I wasn't threatening her," he argued, "wait, mate?"
"That's right," Jake replied as he put an arm around the woman's shoulder, "This is Neytiri, the woman who stole my heart."
Neytiri gave her mate a look, "How could I steal that which you gave away to me freely?" she retorted.
Jake laughed aloud at that, "Good point. Neytiri, this is Roland Reed. He's a warrior too," he declared and Reed stepped forward to shake her hand which caused Neytiri to back peddle a couple feet as Jake held a hand up to stop him, "Yeah, they really don't do that here."
Roland felt his face go hot, "Oh, I'm sorry," he said.
The three continued their trek and the young mercenary found himself rubbernecking at every new sound. At one point he stopped to watch as a group of local monkey looking fauna swing by overhead on vines. Hearing a short cough he turned to see Jake and Neytiri staring at him, at which point he apologized and followed them, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks. It was nearly a ten minute walk to the huge tree which housed over one thousand natives. While their numbers were still less than when the original Home Tree fell, the Omaticaya were well on their way to returning to full strength. As the trio walked through a large enclosed clearing at the base of the tree, which served as both the meeting and dining area, Jake let his gaze study the crowd and he spotted, with pride, a number of young Na'vi women with swollen pregnant bellies, Eywa was clearly working hard to restore the balance even after these past few years. The three finally reached the spot his spot where he stood while addressing the clan or ate his meals respectively, as a large root protruding from the ground acted as a small stage for him to stand or sit on. From above an elderly looking Na'vi, but no less graceful, wearing a red beaded dress descended from above with a toddler in her arms. Jake made for his mother-in-law and his son, whom she was holding, but Neytiri all but pushed him out of the way to get to their son first. Relieving the boy from her mother, she gently bounced him in her arms while making cooing noises that brought a smile to the child's face. Jake stepped up next to her and tickled his son's cheek before turning to the clan. With the presence of a strange uniltìrantokx the clan assembled quickly, without the need for Jake to send word. All eyes were on Roland, which distraught him to no end as his ears pinned back and his tail twitched in agitation. Jake let him stew for a minute as the crowd rippled with mutters of confusion and speculation. Finally Jake raised his hand and was immediately rewarded with the crowd quieting to complete silence.
He briefly glanced to Neytiri and her mother before speaking, "My friends, I have brought to you today an uniltìrantokx," he began, letting his eyes pass over the whole crowd, "he arrived on a sawtute ship like the one we sent the others away on. He claims he came to protect our sawtute friends. I don't know if he speaks the truth but I will give him the same opportunity I was given when I first came to you." there were gasps of surprise as well as a couple barks of opposition but they were quickly quieted by Jake raising his hand again, "he is to learn how to live as we do. How to hunt, walk, and speak as we do,"
He turned to Mo'at and muttered to her under his breath, "Could you pick out a few potential teachers for me? They need to understand 'Ìnglìsì."
Mo'at nodded and strode out into the crowd and within minutes she had five hunters standing in a line in front of the 'stage'. Two of the candidates were rather young, both only just recently completing their uniltaron and therefore considered adults. The other three were slightly older and more experienced. Jake paced up and down the line, studying each one for a minute. In his mind he had all but dismissed the younger two. One was a male that held a deep seated hatred for the sky people so assigning him to the task was asking for disaster. The other was a female who, while hard working and respected, tended to get distracted by males, especially the strong hunter types. On top of that Jake wasn't too proud to admit, to himself at least, that Roland was a stud even in avatar form and was bound to attract the attention of many of the unmated females. So that was another disaster he wanted to avoid. The older three were two males and one female. The two males were both mated and one was already a father. The female wasn't mated yet but that wouldn't be the case for very long with the way she and her would be mate acted. He smiled at the young woman as a memory crossed his mind of the young woman helping her fellow hunters prepare for iknimaya. Yes, she would be a fine teacher, she had the patience to take on the task that the others didn't.
"Aw'ey, you will teach him," Jake declared and she nodded, though he spotted the flash of disappointment in her eyes but thankfully she didn't argue. The other four melted back into the crowd with looks of reliefs plastered across their faces. With a wave of her hand Mo'at dismissed the clan and, as the crowd dissipated, Jake ushered the young woman over to where Roland stood waiting, "Roland, this is Aw'ey. She will be your teacher while you are among us," Jake said, "do as she says or you will answer to me."
Reed cast him a baffled look, "What am I learning?" he asked, "can you tell me now?"
"I guess I can," Jake answered, "for the next three years you are going to learn how to live as one of us."
Reed was too dumbstruck to answer as Mo'at strode up to them, "First he will need to dress as one of us,"she declared as he she held up loincloth and indicated an area of privacy off to the side, "remove those garments, they are useless here."
That revelation snapped him out of it, "Oh, no. I am NOT wearing that," Reed declared. Jake just grinned as he knew, by personal experience, what was coming next.
"Remove them, or I will remove them for you," the older woman demanded with a no nonsense look on her face.
To his credit, Roland didn't waver and his jaw locked as he stared defiantly back at the elder woman. Then Jake, as quietly as he could as not to offend her, shifted behind Mo'at and strengthened her glare by adding his own. Roland snatched the loincloth out of her hands and sulked off, muttering to himself as he went.
"He's yours now Aw'ey," the Olo'eyktan said to the young woman, "if he gives you any problems, let Mo'at, Neytiri, or myself know,"
"I will," Aw'ey replied, "may I ask what I should teach him first?"
"He needs to learn how to talk first," Mo'at advised, "if he doesn't know how to talk then he won't know how to respect the forest,"
Aw'ey nodded at her wisdom, "Of course," she said, then nodded to both clan leaders, "Tsahìk, Olo'eyktan."
Jake grit his teeth at the mention of his official title as he watched the girl trot after her student. He hated being called Olo'eyktan and would rather the clan just call him 'Jake' or 'Sully', but when he brought this up to his mate she had explained to him that if anyone other than his family or close friends called him by his name it would be considered disrespectful. He figured that given some time he would get used to it, but then again it had already been three years. Shaking his head he turned to Neytiri and his son, excited to spend the day with them for the first time in nearly a week. Hell, he was even happy to see Mo'at.
That night Roland followed his teacher up the perilous tree trunk path inside kelutral. He was still feeling self-conscious about wearing next to nothing to cover up his privates and he found it hard to keep his 'excitement' under control as he spent the day with a pretty young woman who wore almost as little as he did. It didn't help that, at the moment, he was following her on an incline which meant that her mostly bare butt was at eye level. A breeze blew across his skin and it brought his insecurity back to the front of his mind, nearly causing him to miss the next branch and fall to what he figured would be his death, or at least horrible injury. He couldn't help feeling this way despite everyone wearing the same outfit and no one of them seemed to care or stare. Well, the males didn't but there were a few times at dinner he spotted, out of the corner of his eye, groups of females glancing his way. He just hoped it was because he was a stranger and not that they had an interest in him. While he admitted most of the women were good looking, some very beautiful in his opinion, he wasn't about to get himself hitched. As he dropped down into the hammock located next to his teacher's, he glanced around at the families that were preparing for bed, as it were. He smiled sadly as he could clearly see the love the parents and children shared, and he found himself wishing he could have the same. He didn't think he was displaying his sorrow so clearly, but apparently he was wrong because from the next hammock over Aw'ey spoke up.
"Are you alright, Roh'land?" she asked and when he looked at her he could seen concern in her eyes. He could tell within the first hour or so in meeting her that she was a compassionate individual, even to an alien like him.
He smiled at her worry and the way she butchered his name, "I'm fine," he responded then rolled over to sleep, facing away from her, "just thinking of home. Good night"
"Txon lefpom," was the last thing he heard before drifting off to sleep.
Roland blinked to clear his vision as he returned to his human body. The lid of the link mod raised and he sat up to stretch. His mind was still on the phrase Aw'ey whispered to him. He went through the words and phrases he had been taught today but that one didn't ring a bell. He would have to ask her tomorrow what it meant, for now his cot was calling his name and he was ready for it, as uncomfortable as it is.
Back at Hell's Gate, Jeremy sat awake in the room he had claimed, smoking a cigarette as he stared out the window at the dark forest beyond the fence. According to the clock he should have been in bed over an hour ago, he could even feel it in his bones and he knew he would pay for it in the morning but he would deal with it. He had finally received a reply from Huntley and he was still mulling over the info. It had taken Vetterman all day to decipher the message but when he did he figured out Huntley still expected them to complete the mission by the time the next ISV arrived but on top of that the mercenaries were to disable all the link mods to cut down resistance from the avatars. Jeremy took a final draw from his cig, then flicked it into the trash and contemplated lighting another. Earlier that day he had found a large stash of cigarettes that had apparently belonged to the famed Grace Augustine, which meant he didn't have to be stingy with his own. Ultimately he decided that it was time for him to call it a night and climbed under the blankets on the uncomfortable bunk as he thought of what to tell Reed the next time they talked. Damn that Sully for separating them and damn him even more for making him stay here with the scientists. The last thought he had before sleep was the displeasure of knowing the next day would be spent listening to one of the geeks droll on.
Notes: I've been told by a friend that reads these that I should put translations at the end of the chapters. If you'd like me to do that, let me know. But I think that you should be able to figure most of them out, given the context. Plus if you're a big enough fan of Avatar to have looked up fan fiction of it, then you probably know most of them, excluding the phrase Aw'ey says to Roland. Reviews are appreciated, even if it's to tell me I suck.
