Hey guys! Sorry about the long update, I wanted to tweek this chapter a bit and them my friend finally got me to watch Young Justice, so a new obsession was born. But now chapter seven is up and chapter 8 is in the works!


Kat was excited to return to the clan the next day. She woke early and ate a small breakfast before commandeering Norm to start up her link. She hopped in the link unit, and was off to where she really wanted to be.

Kat blinked her eyes open thinking back on the events of the night before. She was about to turn to Le'quani and shake her friend awake when she noticed the rocking sensation beneath her. She was back in her hammock and, though her memories were a bit fuzzy, she was pretty damn sure that was not where she fell asleep. She shook her head at the mystery and climbed onto the branch above her.

Just to step on Tsu'tey.

"Watch where you step, skxawng!" He hissed, pushing the offending foot away and standing.

"I didn't know you were there! Who just sleeps on some random branch?"

Tsu'tey huffed, crossing his arms before suddenly holding out his hand to Kat. She studied it suspiciously. Was he going to throw her off the Hometree because she stepped on him?

Tsu'tey wiggled his three fingers. "Come. There is one more lesson to be learned."


They traveled a short distance on the back of a pa'li, Tsu'tey leading the large animal with Kat sitting behind him. They dismounted in a small clearing, walking the rest of the way into a grove of strange trees. The plants were similar to weeping willows, at least the pictures of weeping willows Kat had seen, their 'leaves' being glowing pink and purple vines. They were beautiful in the soft light of dawn.

Kat held out a hand, hesitant to touch the bright forms. "What are they?"

"Utral Aymokriyä. Tree of Voices."

"They're beautiful."

"This is a scared place to The People." Tsu'tey walked farther into the grove, running the vines through his hands. "We come here to pray. Sometimes we are answered. Connect your queue to the vines."

Tsu'tey watched as Kat did as he said. The pink tendrils within her long braid twined around three of the vines. She gasped at the feeling and at the sudden sound of children laughing.

"Do you hear?" Kat slowly nodded. "They live inside Eywa. Everyone we have lost lives within Eywa."

Kat closed her eyes, concentrating on the sounds ringing in her head. She couldn't distinguish a single voice, all of the words jumbled together. It was amazing being connected like this, knowing that even once she was gone younger generations would still hear her, would listen to her life and not make the same mistakes she did. But her bliss was cut short when an abrupt shaking sent her to her knees. "Wha-?"

The voices were screaming, mixed together to form one piercing wail. Kat clapped her hands over her ears; it did nothing to dampen the voices when they were only in her head. She curled into herself, a scream of her own adding to the ones in her head and the crunching of the trees around her. It was torturous, this sound of pure pain, and being able to do nothing to help the Na'vi of the past.

Tsu'tey gripped her shoulders, trying to pull her out of her fetal position and out of danger. "Kat!" She screamed again, clawing at her ears. Quickly and carefully, Tsu'tey disconnected her queue, picked her up, and leaped for the safety of the denser trees. Yellow machines tore through the sacred grove, uprooting the Utral Aymokriyä. Kat watched from beside Tsu'tey, the terrible scene blurred from her tears. She never wanted to return to those people. This destruction was the last straw and when the time came, Kat would fight for her new home.

More warriors rode up behind Tsu'tey and Kat, called by the commotion. They also brought Tsu'tey's pa'li. Mounting, the group headed back to Hometree. Eytukan needed to know of this latest offence.


The Omaticaya clustered around their Olo'eyktan, yelling their outrage and screaming war cries. Eytukan lifted his bow towards Tsu'tey. "Tsu'tey will lead the war party." Tsu'tey ran back and forth in front of the crowd, pumping his bow in the air. More cries sounded.

Grace pushed her way to the Olo'eyktan, raising her voice above those of the Omaticaya. "Stop please! This will only make matters worse."

"You do not speak here!" Tsu'tey roared. He turned back to The People, "We will strike the Sky People in the heart!"

Kat yelled with the others, whipping her bow through the air. She was too angry to think clearly, to realize that marching on the human's base would be suicide. She just wanted to cause the Sky People the same pain they caused her clan. She was thinking more like a Na'vi than the human she truly is and she did not care. Jake pushed his way out of the crowd.

"Tsu'tey, stop this! Listen please. Brother –"

"You are not my brother." Tsu'tey shoved Jake to the ground, only held back by Neytiri's hands on his chest. "You mated with this woman?"

Kat's eyes widened at the accusation. She stepped forward, searching Jake's golden eyes. There was love there, and a determination she knew no one could beat down. "Oh shit, Jakey."

"Is this true?" Mo'at questioned sternly. Neytiri stood straight, staring her mother in the eyes. "It is true. We are mated before Eywa."

Tsu'tey looked crushed. Breathing deep he met Kat's shocked eyes for a second before turning away, walking back to Eytukan.

"Do not attack the Sky People. Brother please…many Omaticaya will die if you do."

Tsu'tey stopped at Jake's words. Releasing his knife from its sheath, he lunged for Jake again. "You are not my brother!" He swiped at Jake's chest, missing by an inch. Jake caught Tsu'tey's arm on the swing, throwing the other male over his shoulder. Tsu'tey caught himself before he hit the ground, rolling back into a standing position.

"And I am not your enemy!" Jake released his own knife, but threw the blade to the ground. He held his hands up in a pleading gesture. "The enemy is out there, Brother! And I can talk to them."

"No more talk." Tsu'tey attacked again, swinging wide and catching Jake across the chest. Jake leapt back, touching the cut, and Tsu'tey followed. As Tsu'tey swung again Jake pushed his shoulder back and punched him across the face. As he fell forward Jake forced his knee into Tsu'tey's stomach. Another punch in the face had Tsu'tey flying backwards and losing his grip on his knife. Kat scrambled forward to retrieve the weapon, pleading Tsu'tey with her eyes to stop fighting. Sighing, Tsu'tey wiped the blood from his face and stood, turning back to Jake.

"I am one of you. I am Omaticaya. And I have the right to speak." Jake suddenly switched to Na'vi, assuring the whole clan would understand him. "I have something to say, to all of you. And the words are like stones in my heart."

Grace suddenly collapsed, eyes rolling into the back of her head. Kat and Neytiri dove for the scientist yelling her name. Kat met Jake's eyes as they both understood what was happening. Someone was breaking the links between avatars and drivers.

"Ja-" Kat collapsed next, the coloured vortex painfully forcing her back into her body.


Wainfleet was the one who pulled Kat from her link unit. Once Jake was out everyone had been handcuffed and hauled away back to Hell's Gate. They were currently standing around a computer screen, waiting for Quaritch to hit the play button.

The video showed Jake in his Na'vi body on top of one of the RDA bulldozers from that morning, smashing the cameras to pieces with a rock. Kat was insanely proud of him for the attack. Quaritch, not so much.

"You let me down, son. So, what, you find some local tail and completely forget what team you're batting for?" Quaritch leaned over Jake, shoving his face right next to the Marine's. Jake didn't answer.

"Parker! It's not too late to fix this." Grace tried to reason with Selfridge. Quaritch blocked her way to the man. "You need to muzzle your dog."

"Yeah, yeah. How about we take this down a couple of notches?"

Kat stood and crossed her arms. "Those trees were sacred to the Omaticaya in a way you can't imagine."

"You throw a stick in this place and it lands on some damned sacred fern for Christ's sake!"

"This isn't about some kind of pagan voodoo here." Grace exclaimed. "This is something real, something measurable in the biology of the forest. This planet has more connections than the human brain. And the Na'vi have the ability to access those connections from places like the one you just destroyed."

Selfridge scoffed. It was obvious he didn't believe a word Grace was saying. Kat didn't even think he actually absorbed a word of the conversation. "What have you people been smoking out there? They're just some stupid trees."

"You need to wake up Parker. The wealth of this world is all around us, and the Na'vi will fight to protect it. We can't live with them if we don't understand them."

"I think we understand them just fine, thanks to Jake." Quaritch chuckled. He pressed some buttons on the computer, pulling up another file. Jake's human face stared out at them, then Quaritch pressed play.

"They're not gonna give up their home. They're not going to make a deal. For what? Beer and blue jeans? We have nothing that they want. Everything I was sent out here to do is a waste of time. They're never going to leave Hometree."

Kat stood there frozen. Sent out to do? Leave Hometree? What was Jake talking about in that video log? What had her best friend done?

"Since a deal can't be made then, I guess things are gonna get real simple. And thank you Jake, for all your help."


Kat was a flurry in the bio lab. Selfridge had ordered the division to shut down, so the whole place was getting packed up. She kept busy, kept moving, so she wouldn't think about what was happening at Hometree. And so she wouldn't think about what Jake had done; she wasn't sure if their friendship could handle that truth. So she stayed busy and stayed away. Grace sat at a desk, drowning in whiskey. There wasn't much hope left on their end.

"You know, they never wanted us to succeed. They bulldozed a sacred site on purpose. Just to trigger a response. Creating a war to get what they want."

"That's how it's done." Jake muttered. "When people are sitting on shit you want, you make them your enemy. Then it's justified to take."

Trudy came running around the corner, panting from the exertion. Wherever she had come from, it was fast. "Quaritch is rolling the gunships. He's going to hit Hometree."

The box Kat was holding fell to the floor. She followed Trudy out of the bio lab at a run, Grace, Norm, and Jake right behind.


The link room was a flood of motion. Grace had been able to convince Selfridge to let them link up again and try to convince the Na'vi to move. Kat knew it would never happen, but at least she could warn the clan of what was coming, and help prepare to fight. Actually fight if Selfridge didn't pull their links again. As soon as the link unit lid was closed above her, Kat shut her eyes and willed the coloured vortex to spin faster.

Kat woke inside her hammock. Twisting out of the netting she hurried down the tree, headed for Eytukan. "Olo'eyktan! The Sky People will be here soon."

"How do you know this, Katstone?"

"I-"

"Father! Mother!" Jake and Neytiri emerged from Hometree, Grace right behind them. Everyone turned their attention to the Marine as he began to speak.

"Eytukan, I have something I need to say."

Eytukan glanced between Jake and Kat. Kat nodded to him, showing she didn't mind the interruption. She studied Jake, needing to hear this story as much as the Olo'eyktan, but she not happy about that need. She noticed Tsu'tey appear behind Eytukan and moved to stand beside him.

"Speak, Jakesully."

"A great evil is among us. The Sky people are coming to destroy Hometree. And I led them here." Kat squeezed her eyes closed and turned her head away from the male. "They sent me here to learn your ways, so when this day came I could bring you this message and you would believe it."

Neytiri pushed at Jake's shoulder until he turned his attention to her. "Jake, what are you saying? Did you know this would happen?"

"…Yes. At first it was just orders, but then I fell in love. With you, with the forest, with the Omaticaya people. Everything changed."

Neytiri was inconsolable, hitting at Jake's arms and hands until he released her. She shoved him hard, shouting insults in Na'vi. "You will never be one of The People!" Neytiri backed away, behind her mother.

"Bind them."