When Eytukan gave the order to bind the three avatar drivers Grace and Jake tried to fight free. Tsu'tey was the one to restrain Kat. It saddened her that the Na'vi did not trust her but she understood why they wouldn't. So she went quietly, hating the hurt on Tsu'tey's face. Hating herself for being human. Even hating Jake.
Kat could hear the roar of engines coming closer and closer to Hometree. She, Jake, and Grace were tied, hands behind head, to posts just outside the shelter of Hometree's leaves. Three other Na'vi held knives to their throats.
Jake and Grace were still shouting for everyone to run. Kat stayed silent, knowing none of the Omaticaya would leave this battle before it even began. They would protect what was theirs. Instead she kept her eyes on Tsu'tey, watching him bark orders to other Na'vi.
The Scorpions came from the right, a Dragon Assault Ship leading the way. Slowly the machines turned to face the Na'vi. The clan shifted, reading their bows.
The giant fans from the Dragon spit water into the air and pushed small trees and bushes in half. Kat's hair was whipping around her face and she was repeatedly stung by the beads added to her braids. Tsu'tey and five other warriors disappeared back into Hometree, heading for the ikran to attack from above.
Missiles were fired from the Dragon, white smoke erupting from where they hit. Children came streaming out from between the roots of Hometree, coughing from the fumes. The Na'vi fired in retaliation. The arrows clattered harmlessly against glass and fell back to the ground, but the clan kept shooting.
More missiles were fired, this second assault exploding against the wood. The great tree quickly caught fire, the wind from the Dragon's fans spreading the flames even quicker. Seeing the destruction just one human machine could cause and the fruitlessness of their weapons against it the clan ran for the forest.
Neytiri turned to look at the three captives briefly before fleeing with the rest of her people. Jake shouted after her, straining against his bonds.
Mo'at emerged from the smoke and held a knife to Jake's neck. Tears ran down her face as she looked him and Kat over. "If you are one of us…help us." She cut the ropes binding Jake, quickly moving to Kat and Grace. Kat rubbed at the bruises on her arms, watching Hometree burn. Then she ran.
She ushered children ahead of her, slapping their backs when they stopped to look back. Kat grabbed the youngest when he started to slow, swinging the small body into her arms. The other children had just cleared a log when more missiles hit, sending out a giant blast radius and knocking her down. She flew forward, twisting to protect the boy in her arms and huddled over him until the booming stopped. Kat scooped up the boy and rushed away calling for the other children, dodging the many falling branches. Another missile launch blew them off their feet again, this time she stayed down. She feared eventually hurting the child from the continuous falls. Kat waved the other children into a huddle behind her.
A massive creaking suddenly filled the air behind the fleeing Na'vi. Many stopped and turned to watch as the great tree fell from the attack. Kat pressed the small boy's face into her shoulder to keep him from seeing his home destroyed. She watched though. She refused to look away from the horrors her race had wrought. Even when the tears started at the loss she blinked through them. She didn't turn from the sight until a great thud sounded and Hometree forever rested against the ground. Then the screams began.
Slowly the Scorpions and the Dragon Assault Ship turned away from the scene and headed back towards the humans base.
The People were screaming. Some collapsed to the ground, others covered their faces from the sight. All around Kat Na'vi were trying to find loved ones through the smoke and dust. She looked at the children still surrounding her and stood. Speaking softly Kat ushered the children forward and away from Hometree. They followed the path of the other Na'vi, into the forest and luckly came upon Le'quani. Together the two females were able to calm the children and join their small group with another.
Now that the immediate danger was over Kat felt it was safe to lower the boy she had been carrying back onto the ground. He was silently crying and even once again on his own feet refused to let go of the female's hand.
Just as they began walking again, Tsu'tey unexpectedly landed beside the group. He slid from the back of his ikran and stalked forward towards Kat. Faster than the two females could react Tsu'tey reached for Kat and cupped her face. Bringing her face to his, Tsu'tey rested their foreheads together. "Thank Eywa you are safe."
One last single tear made its way down Kat's face as she sighed out his name. "Tsu'tey. I'm so sorry."
"Shh…the Omaticaya are traveling to the Tree of Souls. We can rest there and plan what to do about the Sky People."
Kat smiled at the male in front of her and stroked a thumb across his cheekbone. Suddenly Kat's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in Tsu'tey's arms. Tsu'tey scooped Kat's prone form into his arms and turned to Fukè, climbing in the saddle. He nestled Kat safely in his lap and looked at Le'quani from his perch. "Le'quani, get the children to the Tree of Souls. I will fly ahead with Kat."
Le'quani nodded and watched as Tsu'tey disappeared into the cloud with her friend.
Someone yanked Kat from her link bed, she couldn't tell who, and everything was bright and blurry. Too many links forcefully stopped was making it take longer to reacquaint with her body. When her vision cleared she could see Grace yelling and Norm handcuffed to a rail in the middle of the room. He was struggling to get to Jake yelling at the men in uniform. One man was pulling Jake from his own link bed and tossing him over his shoulder and then roughly dropping him in his wheelchair. Kat tensed at the display and threw her elbow back. She was quick enough the solider holding her couldn't react in time and ended up with a bloody nose on the ground. But before she could get to Jake another soldier came from nowhere and swung at her face.
Kat's head snapped backward from the force and she held a hand to her throbbing eye. She could hear Grace and Jake yelling her name, but she only glared at the soldier who hit her. They were herded out of the link room and downstairs where they were all shoved into a holding cell.
There were two benches and a stainless steel toilet for decoration in the cell. Norm stretched along one bench and Jake stopped his chair in the middle of the room. Grace and Kat shared the second bench, Kat taking the side farthest from the marine.
"Why Jake?"
Jake lifted his head and met Kat's eyes. The tears there almost broke him. Seeing the look on her face now, he was asking himself the same question, and his answer wasn't good enough.
"Legs, Kitty. That's why. Quaritch promised me the surgery to fix my legs if I could just get the natives to leave their tree. One tree. How hard could that be, right? Get some weird blue aliens to leave behind a giant fucking tree. And then I met them, and I learned about the planet and the people. And you, Kitty. You were so happy running around out there. You know, I haven't seen you smile like you do with the Na'vi since I proposed to you 6 years ago.
"And then I started to wonder what I was doing. Why was I betraying my best friend?! But I was in too deep then. How could I tell Neytiri, tell The People, tell you, that I was a selfish bastard? So I thought maybe I could change Quaritch's mind. Find somewhere else that had more unobtanium-" Jake had begun crying by that point. The tears were silent and didn't faze him, but they fazed Kat. She stood from her bench and almost collapsed in Jake's lap shushing him and whispering comforting words. Jake latched his arms around her waist and sobbed into her shoulder.
She understood now why he acted the way he did. If she was being honest with herself, if Jake had told her about his meeting with Quaritch at the very beginning and his promises she would have helped him. She could never fault him for wanting his old life back, for wanting the stares and taunts and hardships of being confined to a chair to be over. So she held him until the sobs quieted and the shaking stopped. Until Trudy, of all people, came through the elevator doors with a food cart, then proceeded to knock the guard out.
Trudy called for Max, who used his key card to unlock the cell doors. Then the six of them made a dash for the hanger. "Trudy, fire up the jet! Go!" Jake yelled. Trudy handed Norm her spare gun and the two broke from the rest of the group, running ahead down the hallways. Jake kept the rest of them following at a slightly slower pace, stopping to check each hallway for any of Quaritch's soldiers.
When they made it to the airlock Jake stopped and placed a hand on Max's shoulder, stopping the other man from entering the small room. "Max, I need you to stay here. I need someone on the inside."
"Okay. Go!" Max nodded and motioned Jake through the door. Kat and Grace already had their exopacks in place. Grace was looking out the small window into the hanger watching for soldiers while Kat took the gun from Jake so he could use both hands on his own exopack. When everyone was ready they made a careful dash to Trudy's Samsom 16. Kat hopped in the jet and grabbed Jake under his arms when Norm lifted the other man. As she was pulling him into the jet the alarms were set off and multiple pings could be heard.
"Shit!" They had been seen and somebody was coming after them with bullets. Kat had a good idea as to who that was.
Grace tossed Jake's wheelchair into the jet, jumping onto the skid after. She grabbed onto Norm's outstretched hand as Jake called to Trudy to take off. Bullets were still coming through the open doors and pinging off of the metal surfaces as the Samsom 16 lifted off of the ground. Trudy managed the tight turn and they were off, quickly escaping the reach of the shooter.
"Yeah! Yeah!"
"All right! Yes!"
Kat was laughing with Trudy as the boys celebrated. She turned to Grace to include her and went silent at the red staining her shirt. "Jake!" She screamed. "Jake, Grace's been hit!"
"Trudy, Grace is injured! Norm, get the trauma kit!"
"Trauma kit's forward, on the bulkhead."
Jake used a rope hanging from the ceiling to lift himself over to Grace. He put his hand over hers and pressed down. "Hold on Grace, keep pressure on it."
"This is going to ruin my day." Grace groaned. "Whatever. Doesn't matter. It's fine. Let's just get to the mobile unit and get the hell out of dodge."
They made good time to the mobile unit, reaching it within the hour. Norm and Jake gently lifted Grace out of the jet and down to Kat and Trudy. The two women settled her in Jake's wheelchair and carefully pushed her towards the mobile unit. Once inside Grace was transferred onto one of the link beds where Kat heaped her in blankets and tried to get her to drink some Gatorade. Trudy returned Jake his wheelchair and started inspecting the jet. She wanted to be sure the bullets didn't hit anything vital and damage the jet.
The men joined Kat in the mobile unit. While Jake gathered enough radios for everyone, Norm linked in to his Avatar and started hooking cables between the unit and the Samsom 16.
Kat sealed the doors between the links half of the unit and the bedding half. The jet could only carry so much and the link pods were the higher priority. When Jake gave the okay from their end and Norm confirmed everting was secured topside they lifted off. The mobile unit swung slightly; Trudy gave herself a few seconds to readjust before moving the Samsom 16 forward.
"Just keep going north Trudy." Jake said into the radio. "Get us deep into the mountains." He pushed himself over to where Kat was watching over Norm's link unit. "Norm, how're you doing up there?"
"All good!"
Jake nodded to himself and set the radio in his lap. Grinning, he rammed forward and knocked Kat's feet out from under her, just like the day they arrived almost a year ago. He rolled them both over to the last link unit and nudged Kat towards it. "Go Kitty."
"Jake, I can't just-"
"You're going to chew your fingers off if you stay here much long. Norm and I have got Grace. We'll meet you at the Tree of Souls."
Kat quickly hugged her best friend and jumped onto the link bed.
Kat awoke surrounded by a purple light. It took her a few moments to realize she was under a tree very similar to the grove of Utral Aymokriyä. Just five times larger in size to other trees. She stared in awe at the sight until her attention was caught by the Na'vi beside her. His brown neckpiece had been replaced by one of red beads, decorated by three palulukan claws, and he wore more neacklaces to signify his new rank in the clan, but Kat still instantly recognized the warrior.
"I See you, Katstone."
"I See you Tsu'tey." Kat smiled. "Where are we? It's beautiful."
"The Tree of Souls." As Kat tried to sit up Tsu'tey stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. "Carefully. The roots are still bound to you."
Kat looked down to her body to see thousands of tiny blue vines connecting her to the trees massive roots beneath her. Moving slowly, she gently pulled away as the roots fell off. "What is this?"
"This is a very sacred place. The Elders say the Tree of Souls can make a Na'vi whole again when they travel through the Eye of Eywa. I did not see the harm."
Once Kat was fully standing Tsu'tey held out a hand for her. Kat took it gladly and the two started into the surrounding trees.
"Eytukan has passed into Eywa. I am now Olo'eyktan."
"Tsu'tey, I am so sorry." Kat tightened her grip on the male's hand.
"I am who The People look to now. I am to lead them, and my first act will be for war. The clan is scared and in need of guidance, but I do not know how to guide them Kat."
"Tsu'tey, you have been preparing for this task for many years. Eytukan chose you and taught you himself. He knew you would be a great leader to The People. Yes, you will lead sooner than anyone anticipated, but you will lead Tsu'tey. You know what needs to be done. Now trust yourself to do it."
The two stopped their walk and sat together on the forest floor. When Kat tried to release his hand, Tsu'tey held on tighter, pulling their intertwined hands into his lap. He absentmindedly played with her fingers as they talked.
"Neytiri and I were to be mated before Eytukan and Mo'at stepped down." Kat grimaced at the reminder. "We were chosen for each other. Neither of us wished to mate, it was simply our duty to The People. But Neytiri has mated another and now I am free to choose for myself. As Olo'eyktan I must learn over time what is best for every Na'vi. But I already know what is best for me.
You, Kat. I wish to be mated with you, Katstone."
Kat could only stare at Tsu'tey, shocked silent from his words. She wanted so badly to say yes, but there were so many obstacles to them becoming a couple. "Tsu'tey, I can't…you are Olo'eyktan. I can't be Tsahik! I'm just a dreamwalker from some far off planet!"
"You would make a great Tsahik; you are very in tune with the forest and what The People need." Tsu'tey finally released Kat's hand only to cup her face in his hands. "But fear not Kat. Neytiri and I have spoken about the leadership of the clan. We are friends and work well together. We see no reason to not lead the clan as separate beings."
"But Olo'eyktan and Tsahik have always been a mated pair."
"That is no more. Neytiri has trained under her mother for many years. She is ready to be Tsahik, and so she shall."
"And the clan is okay with this?"
Tsu'tey kissed her brow. "The clan will be oh-kay. Please Kat, be mine."
Kat let her tears fall as she gently pulled Tsu'tey's face to her own. When their lips met it was every bit as passionate as their first kiss in the river. Everything faded from her mind but the male in front of her and the way their bodies fit together perfectly. As Tsu'tey brought their quene's close to connect, she breathed out her quiet answer.
"Yes."
