Author's note: My funny bone, brittle in the best of times, is broken on this story. I realized that Neytiri has plenty to be pissed off about, especially at Jake, the first soldier she's met with whom she is at an advantage. Putting a humorous angle on this was becoming difficult, and I wasn't enjoying the struggle, so I'm just going to let this evolve as it will. I hope you enjoy it anyway, even without the laughs.
Also, for those who haven't read the script: In the original idea, Neytiri had an older sister who was shot and killed right in front of her at Doctor Augustine's school. Bear that in mind towards the end of this chapter.
They spent the entire day alone in the forest, not talking much. But as he followed Neytiri, Jake didn't feel the same tension he'd felt back in the village, and it soon felt almost natural, touring this prehistoric rainforest with a nine foot tall blue alien woman.
Neytiri knew the land for miles and miles around, and she took him in a broad circle around Hometree, stopping him when she spied a plant or mushroom she felt he needed to know about.
They came to a bright clearing among the trees, dotted with red plants spiraling open like fountains.
"Hey," Jake said, "I know these." He approached a plant that was almost taller than himself and tapped the spiraling red flower on top. Shtoonk! It sucked itself down into the ground.
He was startled when Neytiri laughed and came to stand next to him. She touched another plant – shtoonk! - and it disappeared as well. "It is called loreyu – you say 'beautiful spiral." Her smile was bright and sharp, genuine.
There, standing in the sun streaming down through the lighter canopy, seeing Neytiri smile and laugh for the first time, Jake could have no idea how painful and wonderful she was going to make his time on Pandora.
Neytiri glanced at him, and Jake quickly looked down. He realized he'd practically been gaping at her.
She jerked her head at the grove, making her bone and wooden jewelry rattle. "When I was young, my first hunt alone came here. I was stalking a yerik - "
"Yerik? Jake asked automatically. He thought it sounded right.
Neytiri made a frustrated noise. "Yerik," she said slowly, then crouched down to scratch at the dirt. She stood a moment later and tapped Jake's leg with her bow, pointing.
It was a rough drawing, stylized like the cave paintings they'd made everyone learn about in grade school geology. It looked like a six-legged deer, but it had big fans or ears instead of antlers, and of course the ubiquitous pair of tentacles that seemed to trail from the head of every animal on Pandora. Yerik.
"I followed it here, and it went into the flowers. But I was young, and I - " she tapped another flower (shtoonk!). "It ran from me. I was very angry. I was glad that no one was with me to see."
Jake had to smile. It was strange to think about her making a mistake – like all the Na'vi, to Jake she seemed invincible in the forest.
"First time I saw these things I ended up getting chased a mile by a Thanator," Jake offered. "Thanator, you know – big cat, armored tail?"
"Palulukan?" Neytiri said, looking at once impressed and disbelieving. "You ran from palulukan?"
"That's how I got separated from Doctor Augustine. I had to jump off a cliff into the river to get away from it. That was the night you found me in the forest being chased by the viper wolves."
They began to walk again, side by side this time. "The Na'vi do not speak of palulukan in song or ritual," she said. "He is the biggest hunter in the forest, he will hunt even Na'vi."
As they walked, Jake enjoyed retelling the tale of his escape. He didn't have to embellish to make himself sound either very skilled or very lucky. From the way Neytiri snorted as he explained how the thanator had pulled off his pack and let him escape, he knew what her opinion was.
They walked for another ten minutes before the sky suddenly bloomed above them, and they were in another, larger clearing. Among the mammoth trees, he felt tiny as an ant. Now he felt absurdly comforted at being one of the tallest things in the area. There were no loreyu here, just small plants and grasses.
And a building?
Neytiri hadn't moved, and Jake glanced at her before leaving her at the clearing's edge. Definitely a building. He could pick out details beneath the overgrown exterior: wooden walls, thatched roof. The door was hanging on its frame.
When he got closer, he let out a low whistle. The entire front of the building was shot to pieces, like there had been some sort of Bonnie and Clyde shootout.
"Hey, what is this - " he stopped, realizing Neytiri was still at the clearing's edge, eyes bright, face blank. He jogged back.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "What is that place? It's shot all to hell. Looks like somebody took it for a shooting gallery."
"Shooting gallery," Neytiri said dully, looking over Jake's shoulder.
"What? Oh, yeah. It's a place where humans – soldiers, you know – train. And they set up targets and try to shoot them for practice."
He turned around and looked back at the building. He'd have to ask Doctor Augustine about it when –
Neytiri made a high, pained noise behind him, and he was only halfway turned when she collided with his back, sending him sprawling in the dirt.
"Shooting gallery!" She hissed down at him, pointing with one clawed finger. "Sky people think everything is about killing! That was the school. That is where I learned your English, that is where my sister – " her face twisted miserably, and she angrily blinked away tears. Jake got to his feet and backed away slowly.
"Soldiers did that!" Neytiri raved on. "Always soldiers, like you."
"Hey, I didn't have anything to do with that," Jake countered, remembering Mo'at telling him to stand up for himself. "I just got here, alright? I'm sorry you lost your little school, but what's the big – "
Neytiri leaped the distance between them like an antelope and swung her bow at his head just like she had the first time they'd met. Jake didn't get his arm up in time. The hard wood cracked against his temple, and a bolt of sickening pain shot through his head. He felt his legs give out, and had one last absurdly clear thought: She just knocked me out. Colors exploded as the world tilted and he fell onto his side. Neytiri stood above him glaring down furiously, and then everything went black.
When he opened his eyes, it was to the darkness inside his link unit.