Hello dear readers. It is good to present you with another chapter.

For all who wish to know what caused my long-ish absence can read the note at the end. Without further ado: The Quiet before the Storm.

Chapter 23

Dr. Ian Gavin looked down on the huge blue figure of the recombinant laying on the medical bed in their small infirmary. For such a huge ship the medical facilities were grossly understaffed and underfunded.

It was only one of the many signs only the worst of humans got the chance to walk on Pandora. No one cared about the welfare of others, no one cared about the environment or the many creatures they were hurting. With little other qualifiers Personnel to look after him, Ian had insisted upon doing it himself. While he was far from qualifiers himself, he actually knew how to use the search function on his pad to read through all medical texts he could get his hands on. With his extra work he was also able to postpone on other tasks, he was all to glad to ignore.

It had taken him days of constant care to somehow patch Tom's skin back together into a nearly recognisable thing while dousing it all with antiseptic fluids and stuff and keeping it cool. The skin was partly burned and blistered and hurt only from looking at it. It would take weeks before the blue tint of the Na'vi skin would reclaim dominance over the purples and reds of bruises, cuts and burns, though he was very unsure of how recognisable it would turn out to be.

The man stayed unconscious for the entire day and only woke up to drink and eat something. Only his chafed throat kept him from crying out loud as he was force fed some medicine along with the warm broth. Ian had to commend the man for an incredible pain tolerance, because he himself got so sick from those tiny wails of pain that he lost his dinner, lunch and breakfast into the bin moments later.

Two more days, he was given to recover before both Ian and Tom were forced to accompany the Colonel onto a Tulkun hunt. While they were fascinating in their sheer cruelty, Ian was more impressed by the profound devastation he witnessed on Thomas face as he saw the floating body- belly caved in after receiving two torpedoes straight into the gut. The hunt was even more gruesome than usual, even from his perspective and he was somehow glad when Tom passed out from pain or exhaustion and they were brought back to the Sea Dragon. Two more days had passed and Tom's recovery seemed to slow. He slept more and more with only twenty to thirty minutes of awake time, begging for painkillers. Ian saw no real reason to refuse.

He himself was definitely too sober for his own good, but with Thomas Sully in the state he was in, Ian didn't dare cloud his mind, in fear some stupidly violent Marine would come in to finish whatever they had started.

Objectively viewed, he did not think he could actually prevent further harm to be done (and he didn't doubt that there would be more), but he would certainly try. At this point Ian was so disillusioned about his own place in this beautiful world and the role of his own species, that he considered his loyalty to humankind a formality at best. If he could, he'd live on his own, with only his research for company (sadly, this was not an option).

He knew himself well enough that he was neither strong, nor brave nor socially connected enough to live apart from other humans. They were in an outright war with the most human friendly Na'vi Clans. Clans that had followed the lead of Jake Sully only a couple months prior, whose bloody and barely breathing brother he had laying in front of him.

Ian was far from well informed, but even with the slight shift in the humans favour on the forest front, there was no real chance for them to take over the area, or any other area really with the amount of natural opposition they were fighting.

He had never been much of a believer. Believer in god or any deity, really. Earth had been too damaged even before his birth so there was no real hope of that happening. Instead he tried to find comfort in Science.

Now at the assumed pinnacle of his scientific career, being on another moon entirely and having the ability to research a bunch of highly intelligent and fascinating marine life forms, he actually reconsidered his former belief of there not being a higher being of some sort.

Of course he had heard about Eywa. Every self respecting person on this planet heard about her (and that count was embarrassingly low on the human side). Eywa was considered to be the mother intelligence of the entire planet. With the limited amounts of video material the humans had gathered from the ruins in Hells Gate when they returned two years ago, there had been some people convinced she was very much real with the sudden animal attacks during the last battle.

Now the humans had around fifteen bases all over the map, gathering resources that only Pandora was able to produce (Unobtanium and Amrita being two of the most precious resources). Ever since their return and based on all the major observations made by the scientist that had come decades ago (Dr. Augustine being the most prominent one) the increasingly aggressive behaviour shown by flora, fauna and even the weather, had people (mainly the scientists) in a frantic tizzy.

Was it possible that this ominous deity had fought them off along with the Na'vi for the entire last two years?

Ian looked back down to his patient, whose heart kept on its stubborn beat of defiance. An alien feeling spread through his body, and in this moment of mental diffusion, he actually asked this Eywa for guidance. Guidance in this difficult situation.

He stood still in breathless anticipation, then let his shoulders sink in disappointment. What was he honestly hoping for? Some kind physical prove that all his possible plans were actually good?

In a sudden but slight sway of the ship, Ian stumbled over to his pad that still had several tabs open from earlier in the day. His eyes widened in shock, then in utter disbelief.

Was this real? If yes, he knew what he could do.

Jake rubbed his tired eyes when he finally got back outside after an hour long meeting with Tonowari, Grace and several craftsmen of the Metkayina tribe, to discuss the build up. Of several traps around the reef, to make it more of a labyrinth for their enemies, if the should come.

Grace supported Jake throughout the discussion and listed all the possible vehicles the humans could approach with. They knew of the massive ship, because Eyatan had seen it for himself as did Spider. With the experience of a human marine and some semi outdated knowledge on Hell's Gate, Jake was very sure there would be at least two to three Helicopters. The process of describing what a helicopter was, certainly didn't turn out to be funny. They had received incredulous stares from all around them, because the sound of a dragonfly, the size of an Ikran sounded ridiculous.

And when the description of vehicles had been uncomfortable, the discussion of human weapons felt like a walk of shame to Jake. Tonowari kept his cool though the others had a difficult time to not look too disgusted by the metal death spitters as one aptly described the one gun Jake was allowed to keep.

He honestly couldn't blame them for their disgust. Jake had been disillusioned by the honour of carrying a weapon when he fought in Venezuela really fast. Many men and woman in the military only had the honour to follow orders, but not necessarily think for themselves. Jake had been like that before coming to Pandora. Tommy had criticised him for his behaviour, but Jake had foolishly ignored his brothers council. At some point, carrying a gun became second nature, during his time as a marine. He had nearly missed the feeling of it during the time his legs were paralysed and then Tommy got murdered out on the streets- nothin g really good followed until he set foot on Pandora.

As the discussion progressed, Jake realised how little he actually knew about the human marine corpse anymore. It reminded him to seek help from the person who was lastly exposed to it and when he asked Tonowari, the chief was only a little reluctant to allow Spider to join the talk.

Jake had offered to personally get his son. Maybe he did it for some direct sunlight or some fresh air, because the council tent was by far the one that was the most closed up. Some discussions needed a certain degree of privacy, even amongst the Na'vi, who were by far less secretive than humans, in Jakes personal opinion. It meant they had only one bigger tent that was built unlike all the open aired tents and maruis around. Except for a hole in the roof, only the entrance allowed fresh air to get into the tent, the rest was all built from thick dried leaves and a stone mixture that reminded him of cement.

Jake turned to the beach where he had last seen his kids help out with some chores. He found them easily, firstly, because there was no way that his knucklehead Lo'ak would ever be brought to sense or silence. While all his older siblings were either caring for Tuk, or mending some fishing nets with the metkayina teens, Lo'ak made sure to knot his net into different forms, that looked very unlike any animals from the forest that he had learned to loudly imitate.

Secondly, the group was easy to see due to other tribespeople making a wide berth around them. Jake was sure the reason was not Lo'ak's quite impressive representation of a palulukan's roar. He quietly asked himself if someone had thought him to do that, because Lo'ak even had a hard time hissing, before leaving the forest.

No the reason the other people gave the group unsure glances was Spider. The comparably tiny human with renewed blue stripes along his body.

Tanu'ley had told him how she had barely finished looking him over for injuries before he asked her to help him renew the paint. Along with Kiri, they had spent several hours of preparing the best paint they could produce and painting him in elaborate stripes, as a form of welcoming him home. Jake had to smile at the memory of his embarrassed son before him as his godmother boasted her and Kiri's work in front of the family, last evening. The scene was so sweet that even Neytiri had begun grinning at the noticeable blush on Spiders face.

Compared to the Omatikaya's friendly neglect and ignorance to his presence, the Metkayina were way less accustomed to a human amongst them. They had only ever heard of their atrocities but not of the lovable sides, that seemed admittedly few, but Jake knew better. He had to know better because he had seen some humans from their best side.

His student Ao'nung had shown surprising hospitality along with his sister, towards Spider. If he understood his students looks correctly, Ao'nung had decided to do Jake the favour of keeping an eye out for Spider. With the teens help, there would be few people daring enough to even think of harming Spider. Along with Tanu'ley who was just that scary.

Jake walked over and applauded a little when Lo'ak finished his little show. The teens turned around to see who was coming and he noticed how Lo'ak tensed up a little with the slightest increasing glow of his tan'hi. How cute, his son was embarrassed.

"You know, that was quite an impressive roar, little tiger. I only hope we will be able to use that net for fishing again." Jake joked, trying to ease his sons situation. Lo'ak nodded fervently and plopped down into a seated position, now dedicatedly working of fixing the net.

Jake scrunched his brow a bit but left it alone and turned to Spider.

"I know it must be irritating by now, but could I ask you a favour?" He asked, and Spider was already on his feet before Jake was even finished speaking.

"See you later guys." He said with a little wave before trotting the last couple meters over to Jake. He explained the discussion to Spider, who then nodded and followed him back to the council tent.

The boy had barely arrived in the village two days ago and had to retell his observations of the enemy situation for the x-th time. Jake was honestly confused how anyone could think of Spider as anything but Na'vi with the way he walked, talked and obviously supported their side.

He guessed that the others would come to see this in time and if they didn't… Spider was now a Sully, and Sully's always stick together. Jake would prove it to them and the first thing to do so would be to get his reckless brother back.

He had his back pressed to the wall and a gun pointing at his chest as fear forced him to control his outrage.

"You stay right here Doctor. No need to make a scene." The Avatar woman said with a soft and disgustingly false smile as she stared him down with her extra four feet height. Still he tried his best to glare at her menacingly for her unbelievably inhumane actions.

"That man is barely alive! What do you think you're doing?!" He shouted back, frantic to get his patient back to the cot where he was supposed to be sleeping. The cot was empty now and it's former occupant stood slouched and groaning in between two recombinants, some of the former pristine white bandages already showed growing red splotches of recovering skin being ripped open again.

There was another rough shove and he got pushed to the ground, unable to save himself. "I tried to be nice, but these are the colonels orders. This man is a criminal, therefore we need to make sure he gave us all useful intelligence. Move or be food to your beloved fish." She hissed but Ian knew she was lying. The soldiers took a half conscious Thomas Sully away and Ian was only able to pray that he would make it back alive after his captors got their pound of flesh.

Spider couldn't help but notice the restlessness of his godmother. Although she appeared busy on the outside, always finding activities to distract herself, he could sense her underlying unease. Her true recognition lay far beyond the reach of the Metkayina, making her almost unknown among them. The places where she was truly acknowledged seemed distant, as if they belonged to entirely different worlds.

Nevertheless, Spider could empathise with her. Like him, she was consumed by worry, unable to find solace in sleep, and overwhelmed by a wordless anger. He knew that a significant part of her chosen family was missing, likely enduring mistreatment because of his actions. Did Tom anticipate the consequences that would follow their successful escape? The mere thought of not being able to see that kind-hearted man again pained Spider to the core, leaving him mentally agitated. However, he realised that his godmother must be feeling even worse.

While the scouts tirelessly searched for the missing ships, Tanu'ley volunteered a few hours each day to assist them. Nonetheless, she insisted on taking care of Spider, refusing to leave a child to fend for himself, as it would be a failure in her role as a parent. During their time together, despite their shared worries, she made an effort to know him better. Spider cherished the undivided attention of an adult, even if just for a couple of hours each day.

Upon Tanu'ley's return from the search in the early noon, they would embark on expeditions around the island with Kiri, Lo'ak, and occasionally Tsireya or Neteyam. They would scavenge for necessary materials and brainstorm ideas to protect the reef. During these excursions, she would engage him in conversations and teach him various skills, similar to what parents in other clans had done.

Spider experienced a profound sense of significance whenever Tanu'ley was present. In her company, he wasn't treated as a freak, monster, or merely a human. He was acknowledged simply as Spider—her student and, in an unexpected turn of events, her godson. Despite the strong bond he shared with the Sullys, he couldn't help but notice the differences from his previous life. He now had a home he could freely enter and leave, a personally crafted mat to sleep on, his own fishing spear, and people he could genuinely consider his family. While he still felt a degree of caution when entering the Sully tent, he oddly felt at ease in the smaller Marui, where it was just him, the peculiar woman, and her intelligent Ikran.

Jake would occasionally visit despite his busy schedule, and Spider was immensely grateful for the care shown by his new parents. However, he couldn't help but fear that he might impede their plans with the amount of attention they bestowed upon him. Naturally, both of them vehemently denied this whenever he brought it up.

"I have more than a decade to make up for. You'll have to tell me to stop visiting before I ever consider it. I'm your father now, and I want you to be safe and, ideally, happy," Jake stated emphatically on his fourth day in the reef.

"You're young and have much to learn. I'll teach you, and then you can safeguard what you consider your own," Tanu'ley added. Spider immediately relented upon hearing her perspective. The notion of protecting the many things he had received provided him with sufficient reason to become wholly dedicated. Yes, Spider yearned to become strong and capable of safeguarding. Where others belittled him due to his stature, Tanu'ley offered him the opportunity to become what he had always desired—a son, a warrior, and a respected member of a community.

He was willing to work tirelessly if it meant achieving these aspirations, starting with his mentor herself. With each passing hour, he sensed the weight of her prolonged waiting tugging at her delicate heartstrings. He observed her for a week before approaching Jake to share his observations. His father's face contorted in pain, and he placed a large hand on Spider's back.

"Thank you, son, for telling me. I understand that the situation is far from easy for her," Jake responded, offering a gentle squeeze to Spider's shoulder.

"I'll also watch out for her. The Tanu'ley I once knew was prone to acting recklessly. Such recklessness could prove fatal in the worst-case scenario," he continued, leaving Spider torn between increased worry, relief at not being the only one to notice her state, and a hint of guilt for having reported on her.

Shaking his head slightly to dispel the latter thought, Spider realised he was indeed looking out for her and doing exactly what she had taught him: protecting what he possessed with all his resources, if necessary.

The door was violently ripped open by those two soldiers from before, bringing in their victim. Ian jumped up at the sight of Tom walking in, blood dripping from his face and a vacant look in his eyes. He was impressed to see how Tom made his way through the door on his own, while the soldiers stayed outside. The woman shot him a dirty look, "Like my work?" She taunted, then grinned and waved before slamming the door shut, as if she had no clue how to handle a damn door. The only time he would allow her to mistreat a door like this, would be to smash her own head with it.

Violent thoughts aside, he rushed over to Tom, grabbing his lower arms and leading him to a nearby cot. Tom's wrists were rubbed raw from the cuffs they probably had him in, during their "interrogation". Damn marines only wanted to get their piece of the cake. Their personal revenge on the man who looked like his brother but had done nothing deserving of such torture.

Tom followed his instructions like a robot, staring into the air with wide, empty eyes. Those bastards must've drugged him to put him in this state.

"Tom, can you tell me what happened?" He asked, not even sure if he wanted to hear it. (Un-?)Fortunately, Tom couldn't answer, so Ian let out a sigh and got to work on the small stab wounds which covered his forehead, nose and left cheek. It would take some time for the drugs to wear off, and hopefully, he'll get some sleep after that.

Kiri rose through the surface after an long drive, finally taking a deep breath of the warm afternoon air. The water was slightly cooler right after the eclipse of the day but it was beginning to get warmer now and her Ilu had fun turning and twisting around the rocky parts of the outer reef. She blinked the few drops of water from her eyes when Tsireya rose from the water to her left. Her expression spoke of happy astonishment.

"Kiri! That was incredible. You just continue to get better and better at diving while you already were a natural at the beginning. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were born in the water." She exclaimed with a wide smile on her lips. Kiri couldn't help but return the gesture. She was really proud of herself for diving so long. The pressure of dooming conflict that hovered over the village was slowly getting to her. She had fled the permanent fighting in the forest and only a couple months of reprieve before the same dread reappeared. At least she had Spider back, who was her only real friend in the forest. She was sure she wouldn't be able to bear seeing all the stress and sadness return to her parents faces without his optimistic smile cheering her up.

"Thank you Tsireya, you're just that good a teacher." Kiri complimented, really meaning what she said. While Tsireya didn't need to really teach Kiri all that much, she was still kind, patient and thorough in her explanations - all good traits of a teacher and leader.

"Please don't, you didn't need my help at all." The teen denied with a giggle, though the slight blush on her face showed real appreciation. Both took a moment to relax in the slight burn of the sun before they motioned to go back to diving. Tonowari had approached the group of teens in the morning and asked them to check on several coral and algae populations on the outer reef, while the others would go our hunting outside the reef. They easily agreed and split up into groups of two, though they decided to go out after Eclipse.

This was partly because that would mean Neytiri could look after Tuk. Partly because they didn't wan't make Spider feel uncomfortable, who was able to hold his breath infinitely with the mask, but unable to ride his own Ilu. Tanu'ley would return just before Eclipse and take him on daily hunts or other training, which would keep him happy and in safe company. Kiri didn't really think the village was all that ill intended towards him, but she just felt so much better when he was with Tanu'ley, who was honestly too caring for her human charge. Also her newest brother kept on smiling when he got those lessons. Finally he got the adult attention he had longed for for so long.

He had smiled at her when they had parted on the beach. Surprisingly Tsireya had grabbed her hand as soon as they agreed to go in pairs, pulling her to the water with the short excuse of 'girl bonding'. Typically she would insist on helping Lo'ak, who objectively seen took the most effort to care for. Neteyam was just easy to get along as long as he didn't feel like the other was a danger to his family. She herself was too good at diving and sensible to really cause problems.

Well either Ao'nung or Rotxo would have to deal with her unruly brother now. She personally hoped it would be the latter, because he was much calmer and kinder and Ao'nung had a bad record of taking Lo'ak anywhere. Sure they got along now, but there were these weird tense moments from time to time. Also they had received strict orders to not leave the reef without adult supervision.

Kiri had seen her older brother hide his disappointment. At home he was considered an adult, yet here he probably felt belittled or slightly degraded by receiving the same orders as his younger siblings. Neteyam was proud of his hard work - always had, really. Despite his easygoing nature he had a hard time to deal with these kind of situations. All he ever wanted to be the best he could, as the oldest child of Toruk Makto. Maybe it was good that her brother was forced to be a child again? In any way, Kiri could only assume his feelings until she just went up to him to ask. Maybe she should do that in the evening.

Tsireya and Kiri worked for a couple hours and went from one spot to another to either check the numbers, take some samples or clean up when other plants were overtaking the other plants space. Kiri began to wonder if Tsireya had any intention of doing said 'girl bonding' or if it was just an excuse to not go with Lo'ak. Did they have a fight? It was pretty obvious how much they preferred the other and only a matter of time until one worked up the courage to confess.

Just as she finished the thought, Tsireya signed for her to move up and they soon took deep breaths of air.

"Actually there was something I wanted to ask you Kiri." The younger girl began looking somewhat bashful.

"It took me some time to get ready but I guess it wouldn't get any easier if I wait longer." She took a deep breath and gave Kiri a determined look.

"I really like your brother." She rushed the words as if embarrassed and Kiri had a teasing grin pulling at the sides of her mouth.

"Oh, that is great! You know there were a lot of girls who fancied Neteyam back home." Kiri said in an excited tone, greatly annoying how her friends face turned a little more reddish brown.

"No, no, no! Not Neteyam… I like Lo'ak. He's… he's so…" she hid her face in her hands before abruptly stopping. Kiri took pity on her and relented.

"Don't worry Tsireya, I know. You're both pretty obvious, you know?" She said, reaching her arm out to put a reassuring hand on the others shoulder.

"Really?! I guessed so, but… Oh, I'm not sure. He looks like he likes me back but it has been months since you came and there was so much going in the past weeks. Your mother and brother coming here, the humans attacking a village, our parents preparing the village for a fight. I didn't think it would be the time to talk about my feelings for him, but I couldn't really keep them to myself anymore. You know him best and I think we have become good friends, so I want to hear your opinion on it." the young Metkayina princess babbled, lifting her head back up with a prominent blush on her checks and her Tanhi glowing in a pretty light green.

"I'm not sure what you want to hear really. I think you would be good for each other. Well you would be good for him. Not sure what you see in that Skxwang, but deep down he is a rather decent guy I guess. A little too obsessed with our dad's approval and daring, short tempered and hard-headed, irresponsible from time to time and silly-", "Kiri!" She was interrupted by Tsireya bright giggles, who looked much more comfortable now.

"Be nice, there also so many good qualities about him. No need to be mean.", "But I need to warn you! Lo'ak is a handful and I'd be so sad if he really lost his heart to someone who wouldn't be able to deal with him." Kiri responded, observing how Tsireya's expression turned somber.

"Then be assured that I'll give my best to honour your trust. I'm willing to work hard for his sake." Her words sounded solemn along with the honest care she displayed in her expressive eyes. Kiri smiled.

"Then there is no reason for me to not be happy for you." She saw the other girls shoulders sag down with relief before the bright smile returned to her face.

"Thank you so much Kiri. I hope you won't mind me asking you for advice sometimes." Kiri was honestly to happy to have this opportunity. They could become even closer friends now, something she didn't really have at home. A really good girl friend to talk with about girl stuff, doing girl things and so on.

She was about to respond when she noticed a rather fast movement in the distance. Tsireya picked up immediately and turned around to see what had distracted her.

"The travelling merchants are here? They were not scheduled to come for another month or two. What brings them here so early?" Her friend asked out loud, just watching the sleek boat houses speeding over the soft waves, pulled by several Ilu at a time, along with a wide sail bent by the breeze.

"They look like they're in a hurry." Kiri remarked.

"Yeah, also they never travel alone, so I'm wondering where the rest of the caravan is." Tsireya replied. They decided to go back to the village to see what had happened. Their task was more than done, so there was no issue for them to leave earlier.

Kiri's curiosity won over, especially now that the feeling of dread spread through her stomach.

Ian really tried his best to keep Tom in his sight for the next week. The man somehow got to work, despite being pumped full of morphines and looking like a mummy, with all the bandages covering his entire torso and shoulders though, his best efforts weren't enough.

He would turn around and see his charge being dragged from the room by an angry or sadistic looking recombinant and Ian had to accept his own lack of power. Tom would stumble back into his lab hours later, always looking worse than before. These "sessions" as Tom would cynically call them, had happened thrice now and Ian vowed to stay sober to offer at least the minimum of medical care the other would need afterwards. Most of the new injuries went along his his legs or upper arms. Long shallow cuts on his thighs with the only outward purpose of transforming the striped skin into a jagged mess. Parts of his skin missing, like its been rubbed raw with a brush and once his big blue friend came back with a bloody face, due to many tiny puncture wounds along his glowing freckles.

Ian was so fundamentally disgusted with each new wound that he felt little to no remorse of loading bouts and bouts of critical intelligence data onto a hard drive stick. Everything he could find on earth itself, the fifteen human bases spread over Pandora, leading figures and new technology. He knew that if this should be discovered, he'd be executed on the spot, but even his basic will to survive dwindled down with his prolonged sober state.

Humans were disgusting backstabbing creatures and Ian was very much human right now.

If it was okay for them to torture a former human, Ian was allowed to load all important files he had found and compiled onto a hardware stick and putting it into the securely locked cooling box, next to the carefully wrapped object taking up most of the space inside. He hid the stick amongst the conserved flowers he had gathered from his small collections of life samples and quickly closed the lid.

Whatever this would cause in the future- he would not feel regret for his actions.

Also, there had been a small skirmish going on outside. Gunshots and outcries with angry soldiers running around. He had no Idea what had caused the commotion, but It couldn't have been good. Nothing that required the need for guns was good- not good for the environment- the humans could die for all he cared now.

Time to get to work.

I guess I have some explaining to do. First I'm very sorry to leave those hanging who have followed my story for some time now. My University is taking up so much time right now that I hardly have time or the creativity to concentrate on writing. I estimate the next two to three chapters to take some more time, though the end is all written out, so please no worries in terms of me finishing this story. Later than anticipated, yes, but I still plan on finishing and redoing some parts of it.

Thank you to all who have waited so patiently and all whose comments have encouraged me to continue. This chapter is for you and I hope you are not too confused- though the cut-off scenes and the confusion are actually intentional.

As always, I'd be absolutely thrilled to hear your thoughts and comments. Until next time.