"Doc?" Alex asked. "Mo'at says that it's time."
"What? Oh right…" the weathered doctor turned to two of his subordinate scientists. "We're in luck lads." He smiled brightly as he got up.
"We're seeing the Tree of Souls?"
"That's right Gomez my good man…" Carnegie beamed.
As Carnegie assembled a group of scientists, Alex started to walk over to Father Byron. The priest in question was checking a passage from the hard cover (and expensive) Bible that he had while he was having a rest amidst the meeting with the humans and the tribe. He looked like his usual self.
"Hey, Byron?"
"Yes?" the priest asked, slapping his book shut.
"Stan's going off to see the tribe's holy site." Alex began awkwardly. "I would like you to go with them."
"But I have barely had the chance to spread the word of God."
"Dude, I've been translating for you all day." Alex replied testily. "I think the Na'vi have got a good idea about this 'God' guy." He looked back to check the others. Wikus was there, talking to the Na'vi with the help of Noh about what flying was like with a beast rather than a machine. One of the Na'vi was showing Emile some of the herbs that could be used to stave off bleeding and finally Jade was being shown some of the pots and crafts that the Na'vi made. Everything was still good.
"Anyway, you'll get to see the Tree." Garnett continued. "From what I heard, it's pretty impressive."
"If you say so my child." He said in a grumbling way.
Byron wasn't a bad man in the Alex's mind. He just didn't quite understand the world around him. He was such a friendly and helpful man back at base, namely in that he was a good counselor and didn't force his views upon over people. It pained Alex to do this to him.
Carnegie and his men, who were soon joined by Mac, Dwight and Byron, along with a few other militia men assembled where the some Neytiri and some Na'vi men and women led them back to the choppers, where they would fly to the tree.

As they walked off back into the bush, a familiar voice came from behind Alex, which caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.
"How's things going back home?"
Alex turned around and looked up to see Norm. He was accompanied by his wife, Ellen. They wore heavily stripped down, torn and tattered variants of old human fatigues which had been lovingly cared for, which all the same, gave them the look of ship wreck survivors.
"Jesus!" Alex twitched. "You scared the living shit out of me!"
The big people smiled. "You guys never keep your eyes open." Ellen shrugged.
"Well what I still don't get is how the hell you guys are better sneaks than us." Alex said shaking his head. "I mean, you're twice as big as us, you're blue and you friggen glow in the dark. How?"
"Well, we've all been living here in the bush longer than any of you guys ever have."
"Yeah… all right… How's life holding you guys up?"
They chatted around for a while longer. Things had been going good for the Spellman's and the other scientists. The Omaticaya had been good to them as they had made good doctors and storytellers. They hadn't just survived on the land of Pandora, they thrived.
I hope my own people can do the same. Alex wondered in his head.
Ellen was good woman. She had stayed behind with the other scientists to study and live with the Na'vi. She knew humans would come back to collect the research data at some point. From the times Alex had talked to her at the base, she had come off as a spirited and intelligent woman.
"Listen Norm, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"I know you've talked to Carnegie a lot about this… but what can you tell me about the Worldmind?"
The two scientists looked at each other.
"Where did you hear about that?" Norm asked in surprise.
"I heard about it from the white-coats." Alex shrugged. "It's my job to know this stuff."
That was a half-truth. The liaison only needed to know about Na'vi culture. He didn't need to know biology.
"Well, I can tell you right now that it's all around us as we speak." Ellen said. "Know what I'm saying?"
"Sorta…"
"Listen, could you come with us?" Norm motioned off to the bushes. "I want to show you something."

Jake was showing Mo'at some of Jade's sketches of life back on Earth when he saw an unusual sight: an RDA mercenary mingling amongst the humans.
He was talking to some of the Na'vi while being roughly translated by one of the militia. As he looked closely, he could see that he was a pilot who must have walked out from the choppers over to the Hometree. With his green fatigues and exo-mask, he stuck out like a green thumb on a mechanic.
After he was finished talking to them, Jake left Mo'at and walked over to greet this anomaly. The pilot was soon finished talking with the others.
"You don't look like militia." He said to the pilot.
The man turned around up to Jake. He looked like a veteran, not the crazy Vietnam vet kind, but the good, adventurer kind. He was weathered, experienced, but always up for some more.
"That's right. I'm just a company man." The pilot extended his hand experimentally. "Wikus. Wikus Bezuidenhout."
They talked for a while about themselves and life in general. The usual.

"So how's life back on Earth I wonder?"
"What do you think?" the pilot cocked his eye.
"Is anything different since you guys left?"
"Well, now that you mention it… there were a few things that got shook up."
"In a good or a bad way?"
"I think in a good way for you guys. I think." Wikus said thoughtfully. "After the whole Hallelujah disaster, when all of the RDA came back from being kicked off world, people started wanting answers. The company of course gave their own explanation for what had happened, but nobody trusts megacorp PR. They said that they were back-stabbed by the ruthless Jake Sully, dealt a dirty underhanded defeat and forced to abandon the planet all together."
Jake gave a smirk at his description.
"But there were just too many witnesses in the whole operation. Too many mercenaries with wet tongues, too many mine workers angry about their lack of medical compensation and too many bitter, jaded scientists. It didn't take a detective to know that there was more to the whole operation than RDA let on. There was a lot of pressure from UNDETA and the Corporate watchdogs to try to find out what had happened."
"So there was an investigation?"
"I was getting to that man. When the RDA came back, a lot of the ultra-nationalists, military guys and companies were flaming about going back to Pandora to reassert control of the blue savage. But the problem was, is that the tide of public support was going against them. Cause was providing far more concise evidence than R-"
"Wait, who's 'Cause'?"
"Hm? Oh, they're this environment organization that started up a while back. They're trying to defend Pandora from the human greed and the human ignorance and all that bullshit…"
"You don't think highly of them?"
"Nah, they're a bunch of treehugger hippies really. They're, like, a worse version of the old Greenpeace since they're always in your face, always on about greed, always going on about how the Na'vi are angels compared to the human race and stuff like that." He muttered dubiously. "Rude too. Few like them."
"Are they all like that?"
"Oh no, there a bunch of other activist groups who are much better who joined in the fight, so yeah, it's all good, it's sweet… Anyway, the activists had better evidence on what was going on, so before you know, there are huge demonstrations against the RDA. Then there was you."
"Me?"
"Well, the corporations all tried to paint you as a traitor, but you've kind of become a bit of a folk-hero back home."
"Really?"
"Yep. Think it's got something to do with fighting off the Corporation, just like a hero in a movie."
He gave a smile. "You should be proud of yourself. You inspired a lot of people."
Jake gave an almost shy smile.
"Anyway, the UN is on the RDA's asses right now. There's even talk of repealing the Interplanetary Commerce Administration and putting the entire Magnium op under United Nations jurisdiction. Like that's ever going to happen…"
"Well… why don't the governments just take control of everything from the RDA and send their own troops in?"
Wikus looked at Jake like a teacher was to a particularly stupid student.
"You're kidding me right?"
"Well, I'm sure the governments would want to control this than-"
"Shit no Jake." Wikus interrupted. "They want us mercenaries here. They're glad we are here." He said with cold power. "Because if we weren't, they'd have to come and do the entire job themselves with their own resources." He looked at the others. "It would be a thankless, worthless, bloody job and once the body count started to rise, they're screwed. Any casualties here on the moon would be trumpeted by media."
"So?"
"So once that happens, the public opinion would just shift away from the governments and even the UN. A dead kid from the States would garner more public attention than the fifty or so Na'vi he'd be protecting. So even if they did give a big enough shit, their own media prevents them from paying any meaningful cost."
"What if the UN takes control?"
"They don't have the resources to do any mining. They got the manpower and the administration, but they don't have near enough money to build new starships, even with the newer faster models. The only way forward for them would be to take one from the RDA, but those guys would have to have done something really bad for that to happen.
That's why the RDA still runs this town. Unobtainium has become the new lifeblood of Earth. We need it to survive. In the biggest machine in the history of humanity, we're the necessary evil."

Alex was being led a short way through the bush, chatting to Ellen and Norm as they went. He trusted Norm enough to know he wasn't being into a trap, so he didn't feel nervous about what was happening.
"Okay Alex, here we are."
Alex regarded what he saw with intense curiosity. It was an old, prefabricated scientist's outpost. It looked well cared for, but the time on Pandora was taking its toll on it. It was rusted, the windows were replaced with canvas awnings and the walls were covered in vines. It also looked like an AMP went and took a sledge to one of the walls.
"What is it?" Alex asked.
"It's our old science outpost." Norm answered "We used this place as an uplink site for our Avatar's, as well as general sight-seeing."
"Looks a bit battered."
"Yeah, let's just say this was a key place in the Hallelujah battle. We moved it when we shifted home."
"You live here?"
"Nah, we just put all of our science stuff here." Ellen answered. "Come on."
They walked over to the hut. Before he climbed the stairs to the front door, he noticed a carved stone placed near the entrance on the forest floor.
'In loving memory of Grace Augustine.'
It didn't look like a grave stone, Alex thought as he wiped his feet before entering the hut, but the name definitely rang a number of bells inside his head.
When he entered the hut, the first thing he noticed was that the roof had been altered big time to accommodate the Na'vi. It looked as if someone had cut it off, put scrap metal on the cut, and then put the roof on again. Despite looking a little haphazard, the rest of the hut looked quite homely. The old metal and plastic tables and lockers had been used in the roof modification, and had been replaced by wooden benches and tables of both human and Na'vi size. They were covered in a huge variety of papers, books, equipment, trinkets and plants. Tapestries and wall awnings lined the walls, and the floor was covered in homemade rugs. With the papers scribbled with various notes and formula, the place all cluttered up, and strange equipment everywhere, it made Alex think that this was what a wizards study, or an alchemist's lab should look like.
"Over here Alex." Ellen said as she went to the desk. She fumbled with an old computer and started to bring up a few files.

They spent the next fifteen minutes going over The Worldmind. Alex was constantly asking questions about the subject: how powerful was the signal transduction? Are there any particular strongpoints? What animals were most under its influence?
"You seem pretty interested in the topic Alex…" Norm muttered with curiosity.
"What's wrong with that?" Alex shrugged.
"It's just that I've seen few humans interested in Eywa and stuff…"
Then the two scientists got a question that stumped them.
"Is it wireless?" Alex asked.
Norm gave a blank look. "You know… I'm not sure… it's theoretically possible that it happens, but I don't think it would be powerful enough to directly-"
Before they could go on any further, a voice called out from outside to the scientists.
"Hey Ellen! Norm! Some of the other guys want to see you about something."
"Ah crap…"
"What's going on?" Alex asked, getting off from his oversized chair.
"It's probably just my friend Max. He came back a while ago from the Khalistheya tribe and he's just getting used to the new management." He and Ellen started to get up and leave the hut. "Look, could you just wait here for a minute? We'll be back here in a bit."
"What? Uh… okay…"
Before he could do anything the scientists had left Alex alone.
Now he was all alone in the science hut. Just him, the birds in the trees, various piles of paper and whatnot (where they managed to find paper after six years was beyond him). He started to look around at everything. Not that he was being nosy, he was just bored. He couldn't find anything suspicious, although he did find a broken rubix cube shattered into many pieces. It looked like the concept didn't go down well with the Na'vi.
He drifted back to the computer. It was well cared for in the Pandoran world and it clicked back into life after Alex fiddled with the piteously obsolete mouse. He shook his head, "Give me a holo any day…"
There wasn't much on the desktop to look at, only a few links about scientific recordings and a shortcut to minesweeper. He was about to click on that when one of the shortcuts caught his eye.
'Video Logs: Sully, J.'
Alex went and opened the folder. He started up the first one on the list.

"Where's Garnett?" Dwight asked Jade.
"Oh, he passed by me a while back, said he was going to see something. I'm sure he's okay."
"I hope so…"
The sun was starting to set in the horizon, and human and na'vi alike were doing what they've been doing for the most of the day. Someone had started up a campfire in the clearing. There was a great peaceful vibe going around.
"They certainly live happily, don't they?" Mac said with nostalgia. "Kind of reminds me of those Cause guys back home."
"What, you mean those pagan hippies?" Noh muttered.
"Well, no not like those guys now that you mention it." Mac muttered scratching the back of his head. "You don't like Cause?"
"Nah dude. I've always hated it when they try to be something they don't really understand." Noh answered. "And face it, all the talk you hear about their way of life in terms of 'being one with nature' and solstices and what not usually just boils down to sex, drugs and violence." He paused for a moment. "Usually at the same time."
Then a few of the na'vi started to show the humans a dance. It was something beautiful, hard for the humans to describe. The song that went with it was something about giving thanks to the earth for their bounty. It flowed with grace that was hard to imitate.
When it was over, one of the dancers; a young woman, who Noh identified as Shee'kana, seemed to give the humans the impression that could not do anything that amazing. It was an unusual display of pride. Unfortunately for the woman, one of the humans cocked their eye at this.
Emile raised a hand and his finger to get silence from the entire crowd. He was completely silent. When the crowd was paying attention to Emile, curious as to what he would do, he started to take a mouthful from an over the shoulder flask. He didn't swallow it; he just held it in his mouth. He took a small fire lighter from his vest. The humans looked a little shocked.
"Emile, what the hell are you doing with the paraffin-"
Before they could say anything else, huge gouts of flame surged from Emile's mouth. The flame fanned forward, making a few na'vi to scatter back in fright, and causing screams of shock from all around. The once cocky young woman cowered back in fear. Then the flame vanished as it quickly as it appeared. Then all of the humans started whooping with joy and laughter.
"That's fire-breathing!" Emile shouted more alive than ever, fires blazing in his eye. "Beat that!"
He took another swig.

Alex took his datapad out of the computer after the download was complete. He had the entire archives with him, every video log Sully had ever made. The question that Alex was asking himself, was why.
Why on Earth was he being so subversive and doing this?
He couldn't answer himself. It was just something he felt that he needed to do.
"Hmm… the Spellman's aren't back yet." He muttered. He looked outside the hut and was completely surprised to see, wait for it… a garden gnome. At first he thought that he was seeing things, but after he poked his head out the window in disbelief, he saw that it was a haphazard construction of baked mud, painted in crude colors. It must have been made by some children.
Alex stared at the construction for a minute before saying "I guess it's just you and me shorties in a crazy world of giants huh?"
The gnome gave the expectant answer of total silence.
Alex shook his head and pulled his head back inside. There wasn't much else to do. He was about to go on the computer to play some minesweeper, when he saw something on a shelf that he failed to notice before.
It was bunch of old photographs, tacked to a small wooden frame. All of them more or less showed the same thing. Na'vi children, at what seemed to be, an old school of all places. They were doing things you'd come to expect of kids in a human primary. There were pictures of kids painting with their hands, kids learning the alphabet, writing, playing games or just smiling at the camera. The thing was, is that these pictures were not of this generation of Na'vi, and more importantly, there seemed to be this avatar woman with them, who Alex guessed was their human teacher. She seemed familiar. Somehow.
They were pictures of children anyway.
That took Alex back.

"Alex!" the voice cried. "Alex!"
The door opened up in the darkness. A young man, wearing his casual clothes, squinted his eyes into the dark of the bedroom.
"What's the problem sis?" he asked in dozed fashion.
"I don't like the dark, it's scary." The young girl said. "Could you turn the lights back on please?"
"Mmf… fine…"
Alex flicked the switch on the bedroom wall. The light from the one lamp on the ceiling cast shadows across the room.
They had been lucky to find this apartment. Even after graduating into the Toronto District Police Department and getting his first real paycheck, they had been hard pressed to find a decent place to rent. Space was at premium on Earth. The rich lived in great arcologies with everything they desired at their grasp while the poor lived in dilapidated towers where getting your stuff stolen was a matter of life or death. The East Coast Sprawl was no different. Alex couldn't believe that he managed to find a decent apartment for himself and his sister.
Decent however, was a relative term in a world in which standards were slipping. It was two bedroom, one living room sash kitchen with barely enough room for visitors, and a toilet. Nowadays with clean water being a more sought after commodity, people tended to go to public bathhouses to wash. The walls were cheap concrete, with the odd cheap wall hanging put up by Alex and Michelle to try to brighten the place, they had a cheap projector instead of a real holo, the furniture had seen better days, and fridge didn't always work. Alex had also invested a little money into getting some decent soundproof curtains to blackout the constant light from the outside city. By 21st century western standards, this was poverty. In the 22nd, this could be seen as middle class.

"Thanks Alex." The little nine year old girl in the bed smiled. "Could you leave them on?"
Alex sighed. "Listen Michelle… You're gonna have to learn how to cope with the dark, it's not that bad."
"But I hate the dark." The girl moaned. "I can't see anything in it, and I think there's monsters in it."
"Ah jeez…" Alex muttered. He was quiet for a bit as thought about what he should do.
Then he turned off the lights, and sat down on the bed. "Michelle, listen." He began gathering his strength. "Darkness isn't a bad thing. It isn't good, true, but it's not really what you'd call evil or anything right? It just is."
"But isn't light better than the dark?"
"Normally so. But too much light, and it blinds you. And if you come to rely on it too much, you're blind when it's taken away from you."
"Can't we just have light and no dark at all?"
"It's never worked that way." Alex's eyes adjusted to the dark by this time. He could see his little sister listening. "Put it this way, if there was never a dark, how would you know what light was? If there was no 'hot', how would you know what 'cold' was?" He focused into her eyes. "You can't have one thing without the other. It's called harmony."
"Harmony?"
"Yeah… I heard it from this tai chi guy…. Anyway, things are all good and in harmony, if things are balanced."
"Does that include good and bad?"
"No. Good and bad change depending on the balance. If things are not balanced, bad stuff happens. Simple."
There was silence.
"The darkness doesn't seem so bad right now." The girl said. I can see you now."
"That's your eyes getting used to the dark." Alex smiled. "It comes to you after a while in the dark. It happens to all of us."
"I think I can still see some monsters though."
Alex twisted around to check his surroundings. As he expected, there was nothing hiding in the dark.
"I can't see them."
"I can."
The brother sighed and thought for a bit.
"Okay, those monsters that you see?" he began reassuringly.
"Yeah?"
"They're really scary aren't they?"
"Yep."
"They're trying to scare you aren't they?"
"Yes."
"Well that's the thing 'Chelle." He smiled. "That's all they can do."
"What do you mean?"
"Those monsters will try to scare you all the time, but they cannot actually hurt you." He continued. "They may look like they're going to eat you, but they will never succeed. That's because they can't actually do anything to you. Scaring is the only thing they can do." Alex's voice started to take a heroic tone. "So if one of those monsters sitting in the shadows try to eat you, you just tell them that you know that they can't touch you."
"Okay Alex!" Michelle agreed brightly, having regained her confidence.
"Atta girl!" Alex smiled. He took a glance around. "If you want, I could tell you a bedtime story until you're too tired to see the monsters?"
"Can you?" she almost squealed.
"Yep." Alex got up and flicked the light back on. They darkness was banished to the Dread Reaches of Behind the Furniture. "What story do you want to hear?"
"Can you tell me the story of Ashitaka and San again?"
"You love that one don't you?" Alex smiled. "That's okay. I do too."
Alex had learned the tale from an old Japanese animated movie called 'Princess Mononoke'. It was an old 20th century film about a young man who was cursed by a demon, and winds up stopping a war between the human metalworkers and the spirits of the forest, and making friends with the human Wolf-girl San. It was a beautiful story. He liked it because it wasn't about good versus evil. It was about nature versus machine. The thing was, is that humans got to live in harmony with the forest as opposed to being utterly defeated. Both sides had learned to live together, not destroy each other. He liked that part.
He also liked how the 'Princess' of the movie was an aggro, feral girl raised by wolves, who in the beginning, almost slashed the hero's throat as opposed to being your average heroine, but that was another thing.
He had just reached the part when the hero Ashitaka first meets San, when he realized Michelle had fallen fast asleep. He got up, flicked the light off, closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
At least she didn't ask for the story about the wolf that wore human skin. That story gave him nightmares.

"I see you." An innocent voice greeted in Na'vi.
Alex turned to the entrance and was totally surprised to see a familiar na'vi child sitting on the table. She was close to Alex's height and she was the typical garb of a na'vi child. Alex knew who she was though.
"I've met you before right?" Alex asked carefully in na'vi.
The child nodded.
"You're Jake's kid right?"
The child nodded again. "That's right."
"What are you doing here?"
The girl gave a happy 'don't care' shrug. "I wanted to see you."
"Why me?"
"Because I've seen you before."
"That it?"
"Well Hesh'ka didn't let me near your friends." She pouted. "She's so boring…. And creepy."
Alex remembered the Na'vi woman he once saw during his first night with the Na'vi, along with Noh. She certainly made a mark in his memory.
"Then how did you get away?"
"Hesh'ka thinks that I'm playing with my friends." She smiled mischievously. "I'm not."
Alex grunted an uncertain reply. He had no idea on how to handle her.
"Well… what do you want to talk about?"
"What's your home like?" she asked casually.
Alex gave a long thought about this. He needed to condense this into a way that she would understand. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Well… In the old days, it used to be like this world." He began. "It was green and full of life, and we lived in harmony with the world."
"Did you have animals like us?"
"Sort of. There used to be great grey beasts with snouts that worked like arms called elephants, birds that could hover in one spot, perfectly still, and four-legged versions of dire-horses." He started.
"Used to be?"
Alex nodded sadly. "Yeah… they all started dying out though."
"Why would Eywa let that happen?"
"We don't have Eywa."
"You didn't?"
"Never."
"Then who looks after your world?"
"We do. We are the one and only masters of our world." He sighed. "And we're not very good at being that."

They talked on about the world called Earth. Alex told Miri that people became more and more adept at creating tools and technology, so as a result, they became the masters of the planet. But people had never truly learned to get along with each other. People always pursued old hates and bitterness, and they used their technologies to force their will open others. As time went on, their technologies gave them great power and riches, but it also altered the land in ways that the humans didn't truly understand. As time went on, the human's quest for power started to warp and change the land in negative ways. But greed and ignorance, as well as the desire for power and plain stupidity, meant that few people truly understood the consequences of their actions. As time went on, the great natural wonders faded away and vanished. The sea rose, becoming poisonous and toxic. The forests were cut down for space and fuel for the fires. The great beasts were hunted down and died out. And the air itself became filthy and poisonous. The world was warped into a twisted, toxic shadow of itself, forcing humanity to look to other worlds for survival.
As Alex told these stories, Miri jumped to a conclusion. "All of this technology must be so evil then…"
"Evil?" Alex flashed angrily. Miri shied back.
Alex softened. His voice took a mentors tone.
"Miri, listen. Technology is like… fire." He got out a cigarette lighter (he didn't smoke, but it was better than matches.) and flicked a flame into existence. He held it toward Miri and shielded it from the wind. "It can be used for both good and bad things. Fire helps cook the food to keep your belly full. Fire keeps people warm at night; it helps light our way in the dark. Fire keeps you alive, but it can also kill you. Fire can burn forests to the ground, incinerate people and give them the most horrific of scars. One carelessly dropped flame, and everything you've ever loved could turn to ash."
Alex drew the flame back to himself. Miri was almost hypnotized by the flame.
"There are other things like fire. Take the bows of the hunters for example. They hunt the animals that you eat, that's true, but they are also used to kill other people for whatever reason the bowman might believe.
And that's what tech is like. The guns that the soldier shoot can hunt animals as easily as it can kill people. The chopper can fly people around, or it can rain fire down upon a village. The potions created by the scientists can heal ailments, or they can poison people. At the end of the day, technology is neither good nor bad. It just depends on how it is used."
Alex flicked off the flame. Miri's eyes looked back to his. "Do you understand?"
Miri was silent for a while. "I think so."
"Good. Take my advice kid. Try to get a better understanding of things before you make your judgment. Okay?"
"Okay."
They were silent as Miri reflected upon this. Alex realized that for a supposed six of seven year old, she was amazingly smart. She could have been mistaken for a ten or even twelve year old.
Alex wondered if something made her mature more quickly than normal. She was certainly different than other na'vi. And that's when he finally saw the five fingers.
"Well you're a little different from the others aren't you?"
Miri noticed that he was talking about the hand, and was about to answer, when a cold voice sounded from the doorway.
"What are you doing with her?" Hesh'ka accused.

Alex stiffened up as soon as he saw the woman. She was giving Alex the same look that he had received months ago back at the Hometree. It had left an imprint in his mind.
She wasn't taking his eyes off of him. "Miri, come here right now." She said in a voice that disguised total rage.
"But-"
"Now."
Miri got off the table that she was sitting on and walked towards the hulking woman. Hesh'ka told the child to go and wait outside.
Alex further tensed. This was about to get ugly. His mind briefly flashed to the pistol he had on his leg holster, but he wasn't intending to use that. Yet.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned, moving forward.
"The Spellman's invited me here."
"What were you doing with Miri?"
"Talking with her. Is there a problem with that?"
"What were you doing with her?"
"She found me. Looks like she's a bit more adventurous than you thought."
"She shouldn't be talking to you."
"Yeah well, sounds like you haven't been keeping an eye on her enough." He shrugged. "That's slack."
Alex knew immediately that he should not have said that. Hesh'ka started to encroach on his personal space. In the face of this, Alex folded his arms and stood his ground.
"You should not be here." She snarled in his face.
"Is that so?"
"Your kind should not have come back here."
"Well… Yeah you're probably right." He sighed. "But…" he shrugged. "Here we are."
The woman started to get annoyed. That wasn't a good thing for Alex's life expectancy. Before the Tsahik could fire another question at him, Alex said right in her face "What's your problem with me?"
The na'vi gave a spiteful smirk. "My problem isn't just with you, ass." She snarled. "It's with all of you tawtutes. Why don't you just leave my people alone? Why don't you just go back to wherever you came from?"
"That's not going to happen." He said flatly.
"You should." She muttered. "You've brought nothing but pain and destruction wherever your kind goes." She started. "You shoot the animals, you tear down the trees, you even throw down the flying mountains."
Alex was examining his fingers. "So what have I ever done to you?"
Hesh'ka examined his face. "I've learned that your kind is all the same underneath. That's a start."
"On the contrary, we're more different from each other than you think." He answered. "That's why we hardly get along with ourselves. So how do you know that I'm your enemy?"
The Tsahik was silent.

"Tell me, you're a Tsahik of a tribe that really doesn't like us." Alex began. "You really don't like Jake because you know that he's human underneath. If that's the case, why the hell are you so concerned about her daughter?"
Hesh'ka was silent for a while, then gave an almost malicious laugh. It didn't sound good to Alex's ears.
"That child is special, tawtute." She smiled.
"Yeah, I kind of got the five finger thing on her." The human muttered. "Tell me something I don't know."
"It isn't about those hands." She continued. "She is a child that has both the blood of the Na'vi, and that of the Sky-people running through her. That makes her special."
"What, are you intending to try to barter her to us as a negotiating chip?" Alex said dubiously. "'Cause we don't really care about her in the larger scale of things."
"Barter her?" she said in an amused fashion. "I don't intend to give her away at all." Then she gave an almost evil smile. "She's more powerful in ways that you cannot even dream about."
What?
Before Alex could snap a question or at the very least, some witty one liner, the door suddenly opened up to reveal the rushed face of Norm Spellman.
"Sorry about taking so long Alex, I was-" He saw Hesh'ka's dreads. "Uh, Tsahik? I thought that you were watching the little ones?"
Hesh'ka turned around, realizing that she was in a position of explaining to do. "I am watching the children." She answered politely. "But young Miri went off and I found her talking to this tawtute."
"Then… why aren't you with her?"
"What?"
"She's watching the other humans right now, at the clearings." Norm continued. "Why aren't you with her?"
Alex stepped out from behind the Na'vi and said in a critical and ironic voice "See? Slack."

The sun was setting over the trees that made up the horizon. This marked dinner in any and all cultures across the galaxy. Unfortunately, this was the time in which the humans had to leave for home.
The humans were just waiting for their friends to come back from the Hometree. They were having their final conversations with the Na'vi about how the day was. All in all, Noh thought that for to opposing factions who had been at each other's throats six years ago, this had been a pretty good way to wipe the slate clean.
But that was just wishful thinking. He saw that the old wounds still hadn't healed yet. He still saw dirty looks amongst the tribe from afar, still some bitter feelings. He knew that while there might have been a change in management, humans were still humans. They were liable to change. And the Na'vi knew that. He needed to warn his other friends about that sad fact.
Still, at least this would bandage up the old wound.
He looked amongst the tribesman and scientists and saw that Alex was talking to Jake about something or another. Being the nosy parker he was, he listened in.
"Well… it was nice to have you as guests and visitors here." Jake seemed to reluctantly say.
"Yeah. Listen, Jake…" Alex began. "I got something for you and your daughter."
Jake frowned. "How do you know I have a daughter?"
Alex gave a slightly exasperated look. "She kind of stuck out to me last time I was here, I'm not blind Jake." He grumbled. He took something out of a pouch on his back. It was a small book, manufactured at the colony by order. On it was the picture of what looked like a tribal mask.
"What is it?"
"It's called 'Princess Mononoke.'" Alex answered. "It's an old fantasy story. My little sister used to love it. I think your kid will to."
"Hmm."
"Just read it yourself." He sighed. "Trust me, you'll like it."
As everyone was talking, Noh heard the familiar drone of a Samson. As he looked up he saw the shadow of the Tree of Souls expedition come over. Great beasts flew past and back to the Hometree. The Samson landed back on the clearing with the other craft but it kept its rotor running. They were of course, planning to leave soon.
"Well, I guess it's time for us to go home." Noh said with some fatigue in his voice. "It was nice seeing you guys."
"I guess this went well." Jake replied with some reluctance.
Noh cocked his eyes. "You were expecting this to end in a bloodbath?"
"Oh shut up you…" the chieftain grumbled.
"Nice to see that you guys are getting along famously." Alex smirked. "But it's time to go."

As the Samson's faded away into the night, Miri watched them fall over the horizon. She had known from the start that the human called Alex was good. His aura was soft and peaceful, not violent and unpredictable like so many over humans. She also knew that there was something far more special about him, something that she had felt when she first linked with the Worldmind.
Of course, she was just a child. 'So what did I know?' She thought. 'I'm just guessing.'

Alex checked his datapad for the last time. He saw that he still had the video logs of Jake Sully, and then he closed the thing up and put it back on the back of his vest. He couldn't explain exactly what drove him to copy information like that. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was a sense of cunning, but whatever it was, he just felt that it was something he had to know.
He tried to think of something else to take his mind off those troubling thoughts. He was sitting on the chopper with Carnegie and Father Byron and a few other scientists and militia. Most of the guys were dozing off but Byron looked different. He was fully awake, which was unusual for a man of his age.
"Penny for your thoughts Byron?" Alex asked curiously.
"Take your penny and shove it."
Alex's eyes practically bugged out of their sockets.
When it looked like Byron wasn't paying attention anymore, Carnegie quietly whispered to Alex's ear "Forgive him, but I think he just had a crisis of faith at the Tree of Souls."
"Uh-huh…"