The leader opened his eyes. He saw smoke curling from the barrel of Jade's gun. The bullet had barely nicked his forehead as it passed, burying itself in the ground beside him. Jade turned her back on the Na'Vi.
"Get out of my sight." Jade said darkly. "You have ten seconds."
The leader stood up and backed away, glaring at Jade. She spun and fired, the second bullet striking a tree just next to the leader's head. He took off.
"Run home to your mother!" Jade yelled. She sighed and ejected all the spend casings from her revolver. Both Michael and Marty were staring at her.
"What?" she snapped. "Why is everyone suddenly so interested in what I'm doing?"
"Jade, are you feeling all right?" Michael asked.
"No! I've been stuck out here for twenty-four hours with no food or water with only Marty to keep me company and now he's my best friend!" Jade replied, gesturing in Marty's direction. "Plus I just got knifed by a ten-foot Smurf. I think it's self-evident that I'm not feeling all right!"
Michael ordered his men back to the Samson. He glanced between Jade and Marty. Marty was looking at Jade with a mix of confusion and respect. Then he looked at Michael and got nervous. He wasn't that much taller than Michael, and was certainly thinner.
"Uh... hi." Marty said. Michael raised an eyebrow.
"You can talk?" he asked.
"Yes, he can speak fluent English." Jade replied before Marty could. "Can we get back to how I'm friends with a Na'Vi?"
Michael glanced back at Marty. "Pretty small, isn't he?"
"You probably didn't get the chance to notice that while you were pummelling him," Jade said. "You know, right after he saved my life. Twice."
Michael cursed Jade's ability to make him look like an idiot. "Look, when I came in you were bleeding and unconscious."
"So was he." Jade pointed out. Michael looked around awkwardly.
"Thank you... for saving my sister..." Michael said extremely quickly, barely making eye contact with Marty. It was enough to make Marty grin happily.
"But are you all right physically?" Michael asked.
"Well I don't think I have any blood left and I'm just operating on adrenaline at the moment." Jade replied matter-of-factly. "How about you Marty?"
"About the same, though I'll probably never smell again." Marty replied. Michael's headbutt had somehow managed to make Marty's nose even wider.
Michael felt a bruise forming on his forehead and wished he could rub it.
"Jade, please tell me what's wrong." Michael said.
"I was going to kill him." Jade replied. "I wanted to kill him. But I just couldn't."
She looked at Marty. "I guess we can blame this little preacher. In one day he's taught me respect for life. That'll be a handicap for military service."
"Don't take it the wrong way." Marty told Michael. "It was mostly her telling me I was wrong about everything I thought I knew."
He looked at Jade. "And you know what? You're right. I know I didn't act like it, but I enjoyed talking to you."
"Ok, that was touching Jade, but we really need to get going." Michael butted it. "The Colonel is going to chew you out for breaking that dozer."
"Screw him. Say it was an improvised distress beacon." Jade remarked. Michael sighed and rolled his eyes. He paused to give Marty the briefest of handshakes and jogged off to the Samson. Jade and Marty exchanged a glance.
"Probably won't have time for our chats anymore, will we?" Jade asked. "Pity. I've got plenty more things that piss me off about this planet."
"I'm game if you are," Marty replied. "I know a place near the base. It's sheltered, nobody would be able to see or hear us."
Jade thought about it. "Maybe." She turned and walked over to the Samson, where Michael was impatiently beckoning her. Marty gave an awkward half-wave as it rose over the canopy and disappeared. He sighed and walked away.
That night, Marty sat in his shelter. His cuts had been bandaged and his nose set. Back at Hometree the leader had denied fighting Marty, probably embarrassed that a human woman and a runt had been able to beat him unarmed. Marty's tail twitched impatiently.
A hand touched him on the shoulder. He gave a shout of surprise that was embarrassingly squeaky and shot into the air. He spun around to see Jade laughing. She was wearing an eyepatch over her left eye and her left arm was in a cast. He also noticed that she wasn't wearing armour or a gun. Even the knife sheath slung across her chest was empty. She noticed where he was looking, but gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"Sneaking out of a base where your brother is a high-ranked officer is hard, but doable." She remarked off-hand. "Smuggling weapons out – that's another story."
"I didn't think you were coming."
"And miss pointing out all your flaws?" Jade grinned. "Wouldn't miss that for the world."
"So what happened when you got back?"
"The 'patch is temporary, before you ask. People have been calling me a mirror clone of my brother, so the sooner I get it off the better. I'm going to have a wicked scar, though. That should bring some respect. Turns out my brother convinced the Colonel that I sabotaged that dozer as an impromptu S.O.S signal. So it's a fine out of my paycheck instead of demotion." Jade explained.
"Are you happy?" Marty blurted out. Jade raised an eyebrow. "It's just... I've been thinking about my tribe and your company. I know it's stupid but... sometimes I wish I was a human."
"That's an odd wish." Jade remarked, her tone neutral.
"Humans seem free to make their own way. I have to do what the rest of the tribe says I should, and when I couldn't they lost all respect for me." Marty went on, downcast. "Helping you was literally the only thing I'd ever done right."
Jade patted him on the shoulder. "But it was a good thing. Look, I don't know many Na'Vi, but from what I've seen I wish all Na'Vi were like you. And to be honest... I'm glad I met you. I really haven't had any friends since... five years ago, but I'm proud to consider you one."
There was a long but comfortable silence.
"So I've been meaning to ask. Do you actually hunt or does your god provide food so you can just frolic in meadows all day?"