Jade holstered her smoking revolver and sat down near the disabled dozer. The Na'Vi gaped at her.
"Is there a problem?" Jade asked.
"Are you trying to confuse me now?" The Na'Vi asked.
"It's not exactly hard to do," Jade replied. "Obviously the people up top will want to know why one of their dozers isn't operational anymore. They'll send some people, maybe engineers and an escort. They'll find me here and I get to go home with them. Sure I'll get chewed out, maybe even demoted. Not my first time, and it sure as hell beats sitting around here."
"Oh. I guess you don't need me anymore." He said carefully.
"But what if a big scary monster comes along?" Jade warbled. "I'll need a big, strong Na'Vi to protect me."
"Look, if you're not going to take me seriously-"
"And you take me too seriously. Yes you can stay, so stop whining." Jade rolled her eyes. The Na'Vi sat down opposite her.
"So I've been meaning to ask – do you use your braid for anything else?" Jade asked. "I'm being serious this time."
"Well we use them to ride our animals, commune with Eywa," The Na'Vi counted off fingers. "And form bonds with our mates."
"Uh, what?" Jade asked. "By 'mate' do you mean...?"
"When a male and female love each other-" The Na'Vi began.
"I know what it means!" Jade cut him off. "But... you use your tentacles for that?"
"Yes. And?"
"The same tentacles you stick in your animals." Jade said. She sat and waited. The moment the idea dawned on the young Na'Vi was glorious. The sudden rush of blood to his face turned it almost purple.
"No! We... they... and our..." He spluttered incoherently. "That comes later! The bond is so Eywa can judge the union. If the two aren't soulmates then they go their separate ways."
Laugher from her apartment. Male and female. Jade opened the door-
"I... see..." Jade struggled to keep herself under control. She didn't like where the conversation was going. Thunder boomed nearby and the sun went behind the clouds. She stood up and looked away.
"Can we talk about something else?" She asked.
"But I'm curious. What do humans do?" The Na'Vi asked innocently.
Keep it together. He doesn't know. Jade thought. It was five years ago. You got over it, remember? It's just a memory. Keep it together.
"On Earth two people meet each other and fall in love. Then they get married. But sometimes getting married was the wrong thing, so they... go their separate ways. Later." Jade explained carefully.
The door opened. Candlelight spilled into the hallway. A woman in a red dress.
"Well the Na'Vi only every bond with their soulmates and they stay together for the rest of their lives." The young Na'Vi went on. "No couple has ever split after Eywa-"
Jade opened the door. Candlelight spilled into the hallway. A woman in a red dress leaned in and kissed her husband passionately on the lips. He didn't even notice her come in.
"WELL AREN'T YOU ALL SO FUCKING PERFECT?" Jade yelled, wheeling to face him. "I WISH I WAS BORN A NA'VI! THEN MY LIFE WOULD BE ALL SUNSHINE AND FUCKING RAINBOWS WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD! PLEASE COME TO MY WORLD AND FIX ALL THE PROBLEMS THAT WE IGNORANT HUMANS CREATED BECAUSE WE'RE JUST SO FUCKING INCOMPETANT COMPARED TO YOU!"
Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled. The clouds broke again, spilling waves of heavy rain onto the forest below. Jade felt drained from her outburst, and her knees began to shake. She sat down heavily on a tree root her head hanging. She felt a presence beside her, but didn't look up. The Na'Vi sat down beside her. There was a long silence broken only by the patter of rain on the leaves and the ground.
"I'm sorry." The Na'Vi said quietly. Jade snorted.
"A Na'Vi admitting wrongdoing. Isn't that a sight." She said. The Na'Vi looked down again. Another silence.
"I really mean it, Jade." He went on, using her name for the first time. "I should have realized you didn't want to talk about it, but I didn't. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Jade said suddenly. The Na'Vi seemed startled. "It was five years ago. I thought I was over it. I should be over it."
"But it must have been hard. I can't imagine what you went through." The Na'Vi said. "You shouldn't feel bad about crying-"
Jade ran outside. The rain poured down on her, mixing with her tears of sadness and fury. She found the emotion that was tearing her up inside and crushed it. She was a soldier. She was going to make her own way. She was going to support herself. And above all, she was never going to waste time crying and feeling sorry for herself again.
"I'm NOT crying!" Jade denied. "It's just the rain. I haven't cried in five years and I'm not going to start now, least of all for you."
"I failed the test."
"What?" Jade was surprised by the sudden conversation turn.
"That's why I couldn't help the Banshee. My people have to go through a test to become men. We have to go to a Banshee nest and find one that will bond with us. But we have to fight with our Banshee and... I was too small. You only get one chance, and I blew it. I'll never be a man. I can't ride, I can't fight, I can't shoot, I can't move quietly. I'm more or less an outcast from my tribe. I attacked you because I wanted to prove how tough I was."
"Why are you telling me this?" Jade asked.
"I just want you to know that I'm not perfect." He explained. "I want you to know I'm not so different from you."
Jade put her hand on his shoulder. "It took balls to admit that. Being able to see your own flaws is good. You can turn them to your advantage and work to overcome them."
He smiled awkwardly. "I learned from the best."
"I've got a new nickname for you." Jade said. "Marty Stu. Sound good to you?"
He winced. "Please just Marty. The Stu is overkill."
There was a comfortable silence. Jade took a deep breath and took off her mask. She leaned back and let the rain wash over her, smiling. The Na'Vi got a good look at her for the first time. She had a twisted white scar splitting her right eyebrow in half, obviously a relic from past services. He also noticed a small jade hairpin keeping her hair in a ponytail. It was the only feminine object she had.
"Oh great." Jadesaid, looking at the Na'Vi. "We're friends now, aren't we?"
"I guess we are." He replied. Jade mulled it over.
"I'd say it's a good thing. You think so?" She asked. He agreed.
"How're you feeling, soldier?" Colonel Quaritch asked, leaning back in his chair. The two of them were inside the mess hall. It was empty at this time, with most other soldiers out on duty.
"I can't complain, sir." Captain Michael West replied. He wished he was standing easy. He had a knotted white scar over his right eye, an injury that had left him blind in that eye, that was itching fiercely. He was glad he was left-handed, so the injury didn't hinder him too much.
"I don't believe that." The Colonel said, shifting his weight. "I think you've been fretting about your sister ever since her Samson went down."
"I wouldn't let that get in the way of my duties, sir." Michael responded tersely.
"But it is your duty to help fellow soldiers, isn't that right?" Quaritch went on. "But we received intel today that suggests your sister is alive."
Michael couldn't keep his reaction under control. "I knew she was alive. I know I have my duties here but sir, if I could just-"
Quaritch held up a hand to silence the captain. "The problem is that your sister attacked and disabled one of our dozers. It doesn't look good for her. If there is one thing I don't want, it's one of ours going over to the enemy's side. The way I see it, you understand her better than anybody else. I'm sending you out ASAP. Find her and tell me what the hell she's playing at."
"Understood, sir." Michael nodded and left. Damnit Jade, what the hell are you doing? He thought. He hoped that his sister could just stay out of trouble until he got there
"We have to hide. Now!" The Na'Vi ordered.
"What's wrong?" Jade asked, putting her mask back on.
"I'm an idiot! I should have recognized it before! This is one of the areas we hunt. There could be a hunting party any minute now!" The Na'Vi explained hurriedly. Jade didn't say anything. The Na'Vi turned around to face an arrowhead pointed at him from a few inches away. The bow's wielder was sitting astride a direhorse. Jade was standing behind, hands in the air with three more bows pointed at her.
"I hate this goddamn planet." Jade said in a resigned tone.
"So let me guess. These wonderful Na'Vi want to kill me, right?" Jade asked, dropping her revolver.
Marty didn't respond, as he was in the middle of a rushed conversation with one of the Na'Vi, obviously the leader. Though she couldn't understand the words, Jade caught the gist of the conversation from the tone. Marty was trying to explain something – probably her presence from all the gestures in her direction – and the hunting party leader was generally ignoring him.
"So what'll it be boys?" Jade asked the closest hunter. "Summary execution or will I be brought before your chief?" Of course the Na'Vi didn't understand her but she didn't care. She was just talking to fill in time while she thought up a plan.
"Hey, Dances With Smurfs or whatever the hell your name is," Jade called to the leader. "Are you going to kill me? It's just that I hate waiting around."
"You may not speak." The Na'Vi replied in thickly-accented English.
"Wow, I guess you aren't the only one who bothered to learn." Jade remarked to Marty. He made vicious 'shut up' gestures and resumed the conversation. The leader started to get angry and Marty began to shrink away. The leader ended the conversation by kicking Marty to the ground. He had to roll away to avoid the direhorse hooves.
"An old acquaintance of yours?" Jade asked.
"Remember when I said I was basically an outcast?" Marty replied. "These guys caused most of that. Right now he's pondering whether to take us to Hometree and make an example of you or just kill you now and save some effort."
"I'm glad he cares. What about you?" Jade asked. Marty was about to reply when the leader apparently came to a decision, which was met with approval from the other three hunters. Marty went pale.
"Change of plans," he gulped. "He wants to kill me too for consorting with the Sky People. He says I'm not worthy to be part of the Na'Vi people."
"I am so sick of this horseshit." Jade said through gritted teeth. The leader drew back an arrow, the poisoned arrowhead pointed at Marty's head. Jade stepped in front of him.
"Translate." She hissed. "Hey asshole! Aren't you the big strong warrior! It takes a brave man to shoot unarmed prisoners."
Marty stuttered a little, but mostly translated well. The leader's face twisted into a scowl.
"You know I'm a warrior too. I know how to fight. But I guess you're just too much of a weak little bitch to fight a woman." Jade went on. The other three Na'Vi looked horrified once Marty had finished translating.
"Enough, woman!" the leader cut her off. "You want to fight. I will fight."
"Then stop tentacle-raping that horse and get down here. You can look me in the eyes when I kill you." Jade said. Shut up shut up shut up! You're just making it worse! her mind screamed. The leader unhooked his braid and lightly hopped off his direhorse. Jade instantly regretted speaking up. She'd forgotten that Marty was a small specimen – this one was ten feet tall. He gave an order to the other hunters, who backed off, leaving a small circular space. Marty backed off too. Jade pulled out her combat knife, the blade seeming woefully inadequate. The Na'Vi smirked and pulled out its own knife. It was bigger.
I am so screwed. Jade thought.
Michael was hanging out the side of the Samson, scanning the forest below. He was wearing an eyepatch now to protect his injured eye, and was heavily armed. He had only chosen three soldiers to accompany him not including the pilot, deciding that a smaller team would be easier to coordinate.
"Just settle down Cap, I'm sure we'll find her." The medic said. Michael had hand-picked the man for his skills. He just hoped nothing had happened to Jade to justify his presence.
"I know we will." Michael replied. "I just hope Jade doesn't get herself into trouble before I get there."
Jade was the first of the pair to get wounded. She knew that the first one to get hurt in a knife fight is usually the one who loses. She had tried to stay on the defensive, ducking and dodging while looking for an opening to wear the Na'Vi down. But she was too slow. She felt like she was moving against heavy wind, while the Na'Vi had no problem. The cut was shallow but long, curving down from her left shoulder to just above her left breast. It probably would have been deeper if it hadn't had to cut through her tough jacket first.
Jade staggered back, nursing the wound. The Na'Vi let her recover and wiped the blood off his knife with a finger. Jade switched to a standard grip to try and keep the Na'Vi away from her. A few quick slashed warded it off, and Jade quickly switched to a reverse grip to try and at least nick the Na'Vi as it dodged away. Bad move. It just grabbed her wrist and ripped the knife from her grasp. He kicked her in the stomach, sending Jade tumbling backwards. She fought the urge to retch and picked herself up. The Na'Vi tossed her knife aside.
"Please Jade, don't do this!" Marty begged. "He'll kill you!"
"As opposed to just killing us anyway. Brilliant plan." Jade panted, clutching her wound. "I'd rather go down fighting."
The Na'Vi got bored and went after her. Jade dodged and weaved, backing up until she hit a tree behind her. Jade ducked the vicious stab that would have pierced her mask and let it hit the tree behind her harmlessly. Not skipping a beat, Jade drove her elbow into the Na'Vi's arm joint with all the force she could muster, plus the extra momentum of her standing up. It was like hitting a brick wall, but it obviously hurt the Na'Vi as well since it let go of the knife. Jade drove her knee into the Na'Vi's groin and punched it in the stomach with both fists simultaneously. As it stumbled back, winded, Jade turned and tried to pull the knife from the tree. It was no use – it was stuck fast.
The Na'Vi slammed her head into the tree. Her mask didn't break, but a worrying fracture appeared on the glass. He spun her around and kneed her in the stomach, which made Jade want to throw up her lungs. He tried to retaliate with a weak punch. The Na'Vi caught her arm, and snapped it. Jade screamed in pain. The Na'Vi pulled his knife out of the tree and ripped Jade's mask off with his free hand. Jade had only just managed to take a deep breath, but lost most of it when the knife raked over her face, leaving a deep gash over her left eye. The Na'Vi lifted her up and threw her down in the middle of the circle.
Jade spotted her Wasp lying on the grass in front of her. She tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her arm, and crawled over to it. She reached over with her good arm. Suddenly the Na'Vi stomped on it, eliciting another howl of pain. The Na'Vi rolled her over onto her back and crouched above her, his knife ready. The rain was still pouring down, stinging her cuts and mixing with her blood.
A fast-moving shape rocketed out of nowhere and hurled the Na'Vi off her. With a great effort, Jade rolled over to look. Marty had tackled the hunter and was now sitting on his chest, laying into the Na'Vi's faced with punch after rage-fuelled punch. Once the hunter got over the initial surprise he kicked Marty off and stood up. The other three hunters closed in, bows ready.
"I hate this fucking planet." Jade said, using up the last of her air.