Jade hit the water hard, dropping well below the surface. The Na'Vi had been shaken from her grasp and she couldn't see him beneath the water. Jade felt her lungs burn, but knew she had to hold on. The water had seeped through her exopack's filters and leaked from the air hose into her mask. She swam furiously for the surface, unhooking her exopack from her belt and holding it above her head. The instant Jade broke the surface she held her exopack as high as she could and removed her mask. She quickly put her mask back on and pressurised it. She took a few cautious breaths.
"What were you thinking?"
Jade turned around and noticed her Na'Vi guide floating beside her.
"I told you to drop the gun! Are you incapable of listening to anyone but yourself?" The Na'Vi berated her.
"Oh I'm sorry, I expected a big, strong Na'Vi like you to hold a puny human woman for more than two seconds!"
"Your hand was sweaty!" The Na'Vi shouted.
"So was yours!" Jade fired back.
"Stop trying to shift the blame on me!"
"What, like you're doing?"
"Rocks!" The Na'Vi called. The two of them pushed off each other and curved around either side of a jutting rock in the middle of the river. They kicked until they were close to each other again.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried screwing with me while I was on the log!" Jade picked up the argument.
"I told you about the Banshee three times! It's not my fault that you're stubborn and ignorant!"
Jade spotted more rocks. Instead of calling out she grabbed the Na'Vi by the neck and swung him around to her left. "This is not the time for this argument!"
Jade was getting tired. Her armour was weighing her down, and she was worried that soon she wouldn't be able to keep her exopack above the water.
"Hold this." She ordered, handing her exopack to the Na'Vi. Before it could react in any way other than comply she had gone underwater and undone the clasps and buckles of her armour. She felt herself bob up as her armour drifted away and sank. Jade grabbed her exopack back.
"Is stripping your reaction to every problem?" The Na'Vi asked. Jade slapped him, an action that probably hurt her hand more than his face. It still made her feel better.
"Where does this river go?" Jade asked. "And if you say a waterfall I'm going to drown you."
"A little way downriver it goes underground. We'd have to be fish to survive down there." The Na'Vi replied.
"Come on Nature Boy, get us out of this!" Jade ordered. The Na'Vi looked around hurriedly, searching for something that could help them. Spying something further down the river it swam away, leaving Jade beating water to keep her exopack in the air.
"Human!" Jade looked up. The Na'Vi was dangling above the water, hanging from an overhanging tree root with one hand. It was reaching out with the other. Jade took the deepest breath she could, hooked her exopack back onto her belt and swam towards the Na'Vi. As the current took her past it she propelled herself from the water and grabbed its offered arm with both hands. It swung her up, using her momentum to fling her high enough to catch the ledge.
Jade dropped to her stomach, lying over the edge from the sternum-up. She dug her boots into the soil and held out a hand. The Na'Vi jumped from the tree root and just managed to grab her hand. Despite its weight pulling her down Jade hauled it up over the edge.
The two of them lay there in the dirt for a moment, panting and thanking their respective deities that they were still alive. They were both covered in dirt and mud, and Jade had bits of grit in places she didn't want to think about, but they were alive.
"Why did you help me back there?" the Na'Vi asked. "You hate me, but you didn't leave me."
"My people have a code." Jade replied, hauling herself to her feet. "'Never leave a man behind'. I'm not about to break that code, even for you."
The Na'Vi stood up as well, trying to brush off the filth but only succeeding in moving it around. He gave up quickly and glanced up at the sky. The setting sun was being blocked out by huge, dark clouds.
"It'll be dark soon. We'll need a fire if we don't want to be eaten in our sleep. I'll go get some firewood." The Na'Vi said, and left. Jade sat down and started drying out her revolver. Thunder cracked from far away, startling Jade. She looked up at the dark clouds and saw a raindrop land on her mask. It was soon followed by dozens more as the rain intensified.
Jade had always liked rain. On particularly bad days, she would pray for a nice, heavy rainstorm. Then she would stand outside, tilt her head back and let the water wash all the crap away. She had a thought.
No. It's way too dangerous… She thought. Although… when will I have a crappier day than this?
Jade took a deep breath and pulled off her mask. A few seconds later her mind started wandering. Her situation seemed less bleak. All she had to do was keep her wits about her. And keep an eye on-
The Na'Vi appeared suddenly from behind a tree. Jade gave a little cry of surprise and quickly put her mask back on. The Na'Vi looked equally startled.
"I… uh, brought firewood." He said awkwardly.
"Oh… good. Good. Well, start a fire Nature Boy."
"I have a name, you know." The Na'Vi said a little irritably.
"Really? Then what's mine?" Jade asked. The Na'Vi almost answered before it realized it didn't know.
"At least you've stopped calling me Papa Smurf." He said to himself, stacking the firewood in a small pile along with some kindling. Jade watched him build the fire, deep in thought. By the time it was going properly the sun had gone down completely. The bioluminescent parts of Pandora began to light up.
"It is quite pretty," Jade muttered to herself. Then she realized that the Na'Vi could probably hear her and changed topics. "We'll keep watch in shifts. I'll take first watch."
"No, I will. You're tired and I've got better night vision. You'll need to be in good condition tomorrow." The Na'Vi countered. Jade didn't feel like arguing. The night was fairly warm, so she took off her olive drab leather jacket and balled it into a make shift pillow. She rolled over and shut her eyes.
"Jade."
"Huh?" The Na'Vi turned around. Jade didn't seem to have moved or given any hint that she wasn't asleep.
"My name."
Despite everything she had gone through, and despite the fact that she was lying in the middle of the Pandoran jungle with a single pistol, no armour and no backup with only one Na'Vi to watch her back, Jade fell asleep.