I come with another one-shot, this one takes place after they've returned to the Tree of Souls and right before the big battle, which I'm sure you'd figure out by reading but whatever :) I'm really excited with the way everyone responded to the last one that I hope you enjoy this one just as much.
Disclaimer: i own nothing at all, this is all James Cameron, I'm just elaborating.
"nothing is ever entirely/ right in the lives of those who love each other."~ Eavan Boland "Domestic Violence"
"The road is now a sudden sea/ deep enough now/ to lay your armor down…"~ Dashboard Confessional "Don't Wait"
I was never more elated to see the Tree of Souls until we returned from the calling, something familiar and reliable. But there was a serene and fierce beauty there at the Eastern Sea, especially at dawn while the sun begins to rise up out of the curve of the waves. A few wild ikran climbed up through the sky and flew against the pinks and golds of the ocean sun rise, their calls echoing off the steep cliffs. The vast blue green sea moved before me rising and falling with its own breath. It, too, was a living entity like my forest home. And for just a moment I wanted to stay; forever mesmerized by the gentle movement of the sea, the call of the breaking waves, the salty air. In that moment, there was no war, no death, no confusion.
Over the last few days, everything I know has been burned beyond recognition, my home destroyed, my father killed, my mother heart-broken. And Jake…now something sits between us, unspoken but needling and I don't know who to put into English what this is. But I do know that somethings cannot be put right, no matter how we wish it. Somethings cannot be changed. Some hurts go too deep to heal.
I watch him now; seeing all the other clans streaming into the valley, Toruk beside him as a reminder of who he is and what must still come. As I climb toward him silently, Sev'et's words come back to me.
The Olo'ektan of the Eastern Sea People, Sev'et, caught me only this morning when she landed at Hometree to find it filling with warriors with every passing minute. She and her fliers awed at the gathering we had accumulated in the past few days.
"You are a lucky woman," she told me, her hand on my shoulder, a confident smile lighting her face.
"I am?" I wondered. I certainly didn't feel it; war was upon us, a war that we could not avoid.
Sev'et smiled. "Your mate is Toruk Makto. Eywa chose him, sent him to us. It is a sign."
I nodded and swallowed back what has been weighing on me. "Yes, he was. I suppose I am lucky."
"Eywa be with you, sister," She insisted.
"And you, sister." I replied.
"There are so many," I say aloud when I'm close enough to him. As the words leave my lips I realize that it is the first time we have spoken privately since he became Toruk Makto. Everything happened so fast, he returned and begged help for Grace, who could not be saved. And then the next thing I knew, we were flying through the sky, gathering warriors.
He turns slightly, and smiles almost shyly for me. "Ten clans by last count."
"No-men told me two more are on the way from the Plains." I report the reason I'm here. Only a few minutes ago, No-men came barreling down from one of the taller trees surrounding the Tree of Souls. He told me that he and Trudee had seen another three more entering what they call the "fluks". He told me that Jake would know what that meant. "We will catch the Sky People by surprise?"
Jake shakes his head, sadly. "Probably not. Quatrich'll know we won't go without a fight." It warms my heart to hear him say "we" but he goes on. "He'll suspect… he's probably doing the same thing we are."
"He is afraid…" I realize quietly. "All the Sky People are afraid…why?"
"Because they don't understand." He huffs out a breath. "Sky People are always afraid of things they can't comprehend."
"Do they fear Eywa, then?" I wonder. "So few Sky People understand Her, but those who do, honor her with their bravery." I think of Grace and of No-men…and Jake.
Jake shrugs. "Some don't think She's real," He steals a glance at my shocked face. "Sky People have forgotten their Eywa and they can't See her anymore, no matter what she looks like."
Despite what they have brought to us, all the destruction and death, the pain and sorrow, my heart hurts for them. How can they See anything when they have forgotten their Eywa? How they can go on? "It is no wonder they act this way," I say to Jake. "Like sad and hurt children. They are lost without the guidance of Eywa, no one is there when they need it most."
Jake smiles a little. "If only they could learn. If only they could See…"
"No one can teach you to See," I repeat to him, stepping closer. "But Sky People can learn…Grace did, Trudee, No-men….you…" I add quietly. "Sky People can change."
Instantly, I remember him telling me: "Everything changed, okay? I fell in love. With the forest, with the Omaticaya people." His gaze softened as he gripped my shoulders. "With you…with you…" He said it over and over again trying to make me understand, but I didn't want to listen. Fear had taken root and it pushed everything else away from me including him. Fear of what the Sky People would do, of what my Jake had done (or didn't do), for my people. But the fear, too, that I had chosen wrong.
"You meant what you said?" I need to confirm suddenly.
"When?" He wonders.
"When you said you had fallen in love with the forest, with us…with me?" I clear my throat.
He turns now, fully, to me. His eyes move across my face, drinking it in as if he had not seen me in many years. But he holds himself back from touching me. "Of course I mean it. I was rotting away in that wheelchair and you brought me back to life…."
I shake my head, crossing my arms over my chest. "It was the Sky People who gave you this body. Not me. And it was Grace who brought you here. "
"No." He's never fought with me before. Always, I've called him "Skxawng" and smacked him upside the back of his head. Always, he would either look down or glare at me. But I haven't had to do that in a very long while. I would really like to about now. "You're the one who saved me from the Nanatag, from the Sky People, from myself."
"Eywa chose you…" I disagree. "She chose you to be Toruk Makto…She chose you for all this." I gesture out at the mass of Na'vi streaming into the valley. "No one else could have brought the clans together!"
"I wonder," he says quietly. "If it's me or Toruk Makto that you trust now." His eyes pierce me through with their sadness, mirroring my own I am sure.
In my heart, I know that the words my Jake spoke that day were as true then as they are now. Toruk would not chosen Jake if he did not love the People. Eywa would not have saved him from my arrow. A thousand other things would have stolen him from me long before now.
I swallow hard and pick my words as carefully as I can. "Toruk Makto is mighty. Toruk chooses him, Eywa chooses him. And they have chosen you." I take his hand in mine. "Eywa will provide…"
Jake looks down and brushes his "thumb" over the small burn on my wrist, sorry that he could not be here to make it better. As I struggle to put what I must into English, he speaks again. "I know you aren't entirely sure if you can trust me again," Jake reasons. "And I know what I am. But…I need you to have faith in me; I can't do it without you."
I smile a little and he does too. I grip his hand tighter, knowing that there is only one thing I need to say. "Eywa will provide," I say again, firmer this time.
He doesn't seem to understand still and he begins again. "If you don't believe anything else I've said-",
"My Jake…" I sigh.
"Nope. I've got to say this…" He grins that silly grin at me. "If you don't believe anything else I've said believe this: I love you." He swallows hard and that silly smile becomes the nervous one. "More than I ever thought possible….But if you can't…I'll understand. I'll leave you alone after this and never bother you again." He waits like an injured yerrik for the hunter's knife.
The full weight of what he's offered hits me and I throw my arms around him as if to hold him back from walking away. He lets out a small "oof" of surprise, though he puts his arms around me like nothing happened.
For a brief moment, I am back at the shore where there was no war or terror. I only hear my Jake's steady heart beat, feel the warmth offered by being wrapped in his arms. Know that I did choose right, I did listen when Eywa spoke to me. Know that I am indeed a "lucky woman" not because he is Toruk Makto or that he was chosen or a sky people….but that he is my Jake.
In the time that we have been apart, I've forgotten what his skin feels like under my hands, how he fits so lovingly against me. I pull back for just a moment to look into his face, a smile already settling there, erasing all the horrible things said and assumed. "Don't ever leave me again." I order softly before pressing my lips to his.
He returns the kiss carefully at first, gauging my reaction but soon we both loose ourselves to it. We both put as much as we can into the kiss; love, sorrow, hope and despair and take comfort from it. There is a need too, a need to be close and to never let the other go. Despite everything…he is still my Jake. I cannot go on without him. I need him the way I need my breath, my heart.
"Never," He promises, when we pull back and I can hear the smile in his voice. "If that's what you really want."
I nod, lacing my fingers through his. "It is." I say with no hesitation.
"Good," is that needs to be said. He keeps one arm around my waist as we watch the flow of clans slow a little a night settles in around us.
"Jake! Jake!" No-men comes running up the ridge, several Na'vi stop and watch the dream walker, who hasn't learned to be silent yet.
"What?" Jake calls.
"Look!" No-men points straight up and we see more ikran and their hunters pouring through the sky like rain. "Tsu'tey's back with at least two more clans!"
I squeeze closer to Jake, if possible, torn between hope and despair. He is Toruk Makto, and he has brought the clans together. But the Sky People are angry and afraid, a terrible combination and I fear that more lives will be lost than saved. So much to loose but so very much to gain.
Eywa will provide.
Well, what do you think? Feedback is always appreciated!