The Balance of Life
Part One - Discovery
Chapter 4 - Part 21--- NewHome
"We will be landing in five minutes." Rocky announced over the intercom. He knew the announcement was unnecessary as Jake and Neytiri would have known the area better than he did. He was quite sure they flew here regularly. It was ingrained in his routine to let those onboard know when they would be landing.
Neytiri had said very little during the flight, while Ralu chatted continuously at Norm. The roar of the rotors made normal conversation almost impossible without using the headgear. Jake wondered what Neytiri was thinking. He was pretty sure it had to do with having a child. He couldn't read what she was feeling on her face. The one thing he hoped was that she wouldn't constantly be obsessed with all the things that might go wrong. The last twenty-four hours had been rougher—mentally and physically—on her than it had been for him. If he had to take it easy, he hoped to convince her to do the same. That would give them an opportunity to continue the discussion they had begun late last night.
Jake saw Kyle and Judy standing next to the pump as Rocky hovered the Samson just before landing smoothly. As soon as Rocky cut power to the rotors, Kyle started dragging the refueling hose towards the Samson.
"How long will it take to refuel the pump?" Jake asked Kyle after he and Neytiri had jumped out.
"About an hour, maybe less."
"How much has the water level dropped?"
"Go see for yourself. Our original estimates of three days look to be on target."
"We'll do that," Jake answered as he looked up to see where Neytiri had gone.
Not far he noted when he saw that she and Norm were talking with Rocky by the door of the cargo hold. Ralu was standing between them, uncharacteristically quiet. He was quite sure she sensed the burden that Norm, and Neytiri carried. Late in the night, she had confided in him the guilt she felt over Karen's death at the hands of some of their people. When he had told her about feeling that same guilt, but a hundred times stronger she knew that he understood her.
"I will send for someone to fetch a litter," Jake overheard her tell Norm when he walked over to where they were standing. "I'm sure mother has made the necessary arrangements. Once I've had a chance to talk with her I'll let you know what they are."
"Thank you Neytiri," Norm replied. When he unexpectedly pulled Neytiri against him and hugged her, she didn't resist.
After returning the embrace she placed her hand—in a gesture of comfort—on his shoulder. "I'll be back as quick as I can. Ralu, why don't you come with me?" she added turning her attention to her daughter.
Jake saw Ralu stiffen and expected her to argue. When she simply placed her hand in Neytiri's and walked off with her, he was mildly surprised.
"This means a lot to me," Norm told him for the third or fourth time after Rocky had returned to the cockpit. Figuring Norm was under a lot of stress, Jake didn't mention it.
"I know it does. It means a lot to Neytiri and me as well. I try not to think about the fact that my human body is buried somewhere nearby as well. It's just a bit on the weird side."
"I'm sure it must be. Jake…I'd like to ask you a favor."
"Sure, go ahead."
"If something happens to me, human or avatar, would try to see to it that I get buried next to Karen. Knowing that would give me some peace of mind."
"I'll make every effort to make sure that happens. But I'd just as soon not have to fulfill that promise for many, many years."
"Same here. I've told you before I was an only child. I always wanted a brother. I'd be honored if you would be my brother. It's how I think of you most of the time."
For several seconds Jake was rendered speechless by Norm's outpouring of his feelings for him. "You are my brother, in spirit, in every possible way. We both bled to help free the Na'vi from the RDA. I don't see how we could be anything but brothers to each other after what we have been through."
This time it was Norm who was speechless. "Thanks…brother."
"You're welcome, brother."
"If this didn't mean so much to me I'd think we were starting to get maudlin."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Let's go see what the water level looks like."
"Lead the way." Norm replied.
Neytiri found her mother seated with a group of elders in the gathering area. All conversation stopped when she and Ralu walked up to the group.
"Jake is going to live. His wound is healing very quickly. The Sky People used some medicine of their making that has made the healing quicker. He returned with us to finish healing here, among his people. Right now he is with the other Sky People to see what progress has been made in draining the Well of Souls."
"Are you hungry?" Mo'at asked.
"No, we ate before we left the Sky People's home."
"Let is walk," Mo'at said after she rose and excused herself from the others.
"How are our people dealing with all that has happened since the Sky People came to help us?" Neytiri asked as the three of them began walking back towards the Well of Souls.
"Most are very hopeful that the Mother Tree will be saved. Some are not so sure. If anyone is against accepting the Sky People's help they are keeping it to themselves. Everyone here is feeling great sorrow and shame for what happened to Jake and the sky woman. The attack was cowardly, not the way of our people. Those who escaped into the forest will never be allowed to return."
"Do we know how many attacked us?"
"Eight that were killed. Six others that escaped."
"Blind hatred poisons the heart so that the eye does not see."
"Exactly," Mo'at confirmed.
"We need to start building a new home as quickly as possible. Our people need to have work that will focus on the future, not the past."
"On that we are in complete agreement. The question is, where do we build our new home."
"If the Sky People agree, I would like to go back to the trees that we visited before the storm. I would like you to come with us. To see for yourself if they would make a good home for the Omatikaya. As I told you before, Ralu sensed something bad happened there a long time ago. I would like to see if you can sense what she was feeling."
"The only way I can describe what I felt was that it left me feeling cold and uneasy," Ralu added when Mo'at looked at her. "A shiver that came and was quickly gone."
"There have been a few stories of terrible tragedies befalling some of the Na'vi tribes near the times of the first songs," Mo'at began. "Most are like the mist, impossible to see through. Meanings are very difficult understand."
"I have never heard such stories," Neytiri said, wondering why she had not.
"They are not for the young. Elders pass them on to other elders so that they are not lost to us. Even the oldest and wisest cannot agree on their true meaning."
"Do they apply to what Ralu felt?"
"It is impossible to know. I only mention them because they tell of sad times that happened long ago. There may be a connection, and there may not be. Such is the nature of these things."
"Will you go with us if I can get the Sky People to take us there today?" Neytiri asked, getting back to the main point of the conversation.
"Yes. We should decide quickly if this place is suitable as a new home for our people. If it is, we can prepare to move. If it is not, then we must keep searching for a suitable new home tree."
When they crested the ring around the Well of Souls, Neytiri's heart felt lighter that it had in many days. The water level had dropped to the point where most of the Mother Tree was above the water line. A few of her tendrils still touched the water here and there, but nothing like it had been the day before. She spotted Jake and Norm talking with Judy part way down the incline, near the water's edge.
"Oh, mother. I can hardly believe the change from yesterday." The sight was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Caught up in her emotions she didn't resist when Ralu let go of her hand and raced down the incline to stand between Jake and Norm.
"It is a wonderful sight," Mo'at confirmed. The sky woman named Judy told me they expect to have all the water removed in two more days."
"I hope that this will start to build trust between our people and the Sky People that remained here. Perhaps this is Eywa's way of bringing us together for some purpose."
"You may be right. We will have to wait and see." Mo'at replied. "I see that Ralu is still very much taken with Norm."
"Yes she is. I'm a little worried that she might be a little possessive of him. It could be from everything that has happened and there is nothing to worry about. Norm adores her. She makes him feel happy when she is around him. Something that he needs now. Have you decided on the place where we will bury Karen's body?"
"Yes, I found a suitable place not far from where Grace and Jake's human body are buried. It will allow her to be close to Eywa."
"That is good. I will tell Norm so that we can see to her as soon as he is ready."
"I will wait for you at the place where we buried Grace."
Surprising both of them, Neytiri gave her mother a quick hug. Something she rarely did anymore. Following Ralu's path down the incline she quickly informed Norm and Jake of the plans for burying Karen's body.
When the not so tiny procession arrived at the place where Karen's body was to be buried, Norm looked around at all of the people who had followed. The site of so many clan members who had come to be part of Karen's burial lightened some of the heaviness in his heart. He had walked behind the two litter bearers; Ralu's hand firmly held in own. Jake and Neytiri along with Kyle and Judy were directly behind him. He had expected a few of the Omatikaya to come, but nothing like the number that actually came.
The two men who were carrying Karen's body stopped when they reached where Mo'at was standing. Setting the stretcher on the ground they stepped back as Kyle and Judy came forward to place Karen's body in her grave. Earlier Kyle had told Norm that he and Judy had arranged with Mo'at to be the ones to handle her body once it reached the gravesite. When Neytiri and Jake moved up to stand beside him, Neytiri took his free hand in hers.
When Mo'at nodded at Kyle and Judy, Judy removed Karen's body from the black bag and passed it to Kyle who was standing in the grave. Once Kyle finished arranging Karen on a bed of fresh flowers so that she looked like a peacefully sleeping child, he climbed out to stand beside Judy.
Several wood sprites floated silently into the grave to dance their way over Karen's body. When all but one rose out of the grave Mo'at began to speak.
"Here us great mother. Take this woman's spirit so that she will be one with you for all time. Even though she was not from here, one of yours, she was kind and loving. She felt our pain and did as much as she could to help us. She, like so many of us, has died before her life was full. I am told that she had a large heart, just as Grace had a large heart for our people. Care and nourish her spirit so that it will be with us always."
Norm could feel the tears running down his cheeks but didn't let go of either Ralu or Neytiri. He knew that contact was what was holding him together. When the Omatikaya began to sing, he felt Jakes hands on his shoulders. Cocooned by love and friendship he let the words of the song wash over him, through him as he thought of all the things Karen had meant to him, been to him. Images of her smiling, scowling, laughing, crying, they filled his mind in a jumbled collage. He knew they would be with him for all of his life, just as he knew they were burying a large part of his heart with her today.
When the song ended he let go of Ralu and Neytiri's hands and stepped closer. "I loved you more than you knew," he began; his voice soft but mostly steady. "Or maybe not, as you seemed to know everything I was thinking, everything I was feeling. I'm sorry I didn't tell you more often just how much I loved you, how much you meant to me. You were the best part of my life. I will never forget you, never stop loving you. Eywa will keep you and comfort you until we are together again."
Norm turned to address all who had come. "I want to thank each of you for being here," he began, in fluent Na'vi. "Grace taught me to love the forest, the life in it, and all the people on Pandora. When she died I was able to accept that she was with Eywa and not lost to me, to all that knew her. Knowing that Karen is with Eywa and that I may be allowed to join her when my life is over brings me peace. It will sustain me through all the days of my life. Thank you again for coming."
"Mother will see to it that the grave is properly closed," Neytiri told Norm as people began to leave.
"Try to remember how she lived, not how she died. Remember her spirit. That is what I try to do with my father."
"Does it work?"
"Not always, but it gets easier with time."
"Thanks Neytiri. I wouldn't have gotten through this without you and Jake, and Ralu. Everyone else who helped in one way or another."
"Try to remember that you are not alone. Both here among the Omatikaya, as well as the Sky People."
"I'll try to do that."
"I have asked if Rocky could fly us, and mother, back to the trees we were shown the day the ground shook. After Rocky talked with Gary it was agreed that he would take is there today. Once mother is ready we will leave. I think you should come with us."
"Yes, I would like to. The more I keep busy the easier it will be for me."
"Kyle and Judy are going with us," Jake added. "We should be ready to leave within the hour."
"I'll be ready."
Author's Note:
Looks like it will take one or two more medium posts to wrap up Book 1. I'm trying to get them posted before Memorial Day weekend starts.
For those of you who have reviewed, Thanks. As always I enjoy hearing from you, so please review when you can.
Enjoy.