Neytiri moved her songcord gingerly through her fingers and across her palm. The cool draw of the beads, threads to her skin had found a rhythm with the afternoon waves. And yet, she was numb to both. I had been hoping I wasn't.

But there was only the feel of Neteyam's cold body against hers.

"Neytiri."

She barely acknowledged Jake's voice. It had taken some time to find her, as she rarely found solace on the beach since coming here. Jake hunched beside her, at a respectable distance. Ever the gentleman to her needs... and it stoned her heart in further anger.

"We're speaking with the clans before dinner." He spoke of the communication channel Norm had helped to set up with Na'ring. After the reef villages had been designated as the place to recover, channels- untouchable by the demon ships- had been set up so the resistance could stay in contact with one another. Any movements by the clans reported, all to ensure the push back of the Sky People.

And sooner, with the more of us. Neytiri lowered her hands, opening the beads to the rays shining over the eastern seaboard. "I will not be present. My thoughts need space."

Jake nodded, hands folding and unfolding. A fidgeter, wasting time and energy... Neytiri worked her bottom lip decisively. "We should have invited Varang to join."

"We still might," Jake considered softly. "I'm trusting whatever Tonowari and Ronal have to say."

Ronal, who was mediating after being stunned by their encounter with the Me'txep. Neytiri wrapped her cord back on her hip. "Their transgressions run deep; I know what her advice will be."

"How did the break happen?" Jake ran his fingers in the soggy sand. Neytiri started at a memory, admiring a turok's skull while telling him the legend of the 'Last Shadow'. A happier story from a happier time.

"Two generations before," Neytiri's response was automatic; like the tight weaves of a basket, all passings of the people were ingrained in her mind and soul. "But there had been signs before, of the Me-txep disregarding Eywa's laws. With the rage of their mother mountain, Eywa broke their connection..."

There was more, but Neytiri did not want to tell stories. Jake was silent, rising with her from the surf. He wavered, watching her string her songcord to her hip. One gleaming bead short. Neytiri stared down the fading sun. Neteyam's amber stone carried like lead in her pouch, but she couldn't... attaching it would be the same as accepting it.

Jake said nothing... and they had yet to face one another. Neytiri wouldn't admit how physically cold it made her feel. Still, she turned to watch her ikran peacefully on a jetty. "Regardless, Varang will lead patrols at dawn. And... I will be there to guide them."

"Neytiri?" Jake started. Neytiri turned with a heavy swallow, head and shoulders straight. "They cannot enter a battle blind to the enemy."

"What makes them our ally?" Jake lowered his voice, as sound traveled well over sand.

"They are EXACTLY what we need!" Neytiri moved her feet restlessly. Sand became so heavy when wet, slowing her down. "All the clans together, ridding our home of those roaches!"

Jake's posture shifted, stirring his own anger. "You gotta stop separating Sky People from Na'vi. Stat thinking about a future for both."

Neytiri stared hard into him, memories of their tsaheylu only an echo. She thought on that moment, aglowed under the Tree of Voices, the most. Not Neteyam's desperate breathing, or his face stilling on the rocks. No, deeper memories monopolized her thoughts- slowly turning into regrets. Neytiri tried to hold them up, higher than the anger and the grief. But each morning they were renewed; stronger. If she did not act on them- "Do we have the same enemy, Ma'Jake?"

"You know better than to ask that." Jake flabbergasted, feet shifting, trying to keep them close. "But you saw the Me'txep. We can't blacken our hearts, fighting only for death. We need to fight for balance."

"You speak what's impossible for Sky People." Neytiri threw an arm to the golden horizon. In turn, Jake pointed toward the village, cradled in the mangrove roots. "What about Norm and Max, huh? Or any of the lab guys? They nursed Grace's avatar to term and gave us Kiri! They chose Pandora for their home long ago."

His hand flew to hers and Neytiri had to look. The wounds over his cheek and nose, slowly healing into scars. Callous reminders of their retaliation for Neteyam. With no battlefield, Jake's hair was free in the breeze, often making him appear younger. Now Neytiri only saw the wrinkles edging his exhausted eyes. Did she carry the same signs of age?

"There're others we can help to understand," Jake pulled her hand to his chest. "We have to. They're not going away this time. After Earth's death, they'll be scattered here like bones... then what?"

He shook his head, allowing his fear to peek out. "I want Kiri to know her mother's life, that Tsu'tey and Trudy's deaths, was worth their future. One that embraces, just as Ewya-"

"What connection can Sky People have with Ewya?" Neytiri pushed back, horrified at the thought. To share the very being of her homeland with those monsters!? He hoped for too much! "They have no place, no right to it! Not after everything they have taken."

Every word hit louder against the sand, over the waves. She pressed until his heartbeat seemed a part of her skin. "What we tear down will restore balance."

Both of Jake's hands held hers now, massaging her fingers in a rare, meditative touch. "And ours?"

Neytiri stilled; the coolness of the tide rushed her feet and somehow reached every bone within her. Jake cautiously cupped his hand on her neck, drew their foreheads close. "What's broken can be mended, Neytiri. You need to let us back in. I don't care who's first, I just... I miss you."

Neytiri closed her eyes to the familiar tears. "They have to pay."

"That's not what he died for-"

Neytiri's chest threatened to burst and she shoved Jake back, letting him read her rage. "You do not tell me why he died. You do not!"

Jake's shoulders deflated in a shaky breath. He turned his eyes to the water, the last rays glinting on his pupils. He held there, hesitated. "Say it."

"You took us from our home," Neytiri's loathing seeped between her lips. "You ran. You hid us. And he died... because of you!"

She wanted to hit him! She needed to add to his wounds... "You would not listen!"

Jake hung his head, whatever words lodged in his throat. Neytiri swung her fist at his stoic chest. "How could you do it? How could you... act so shamefully?! You cost me a child, YOU KILLED HIM!"

He staggered back with her third punch, waiting. The beach settled, if not recoiled with her echos. The salted air spun and Neytiri fought for solid footing within her mind. Jake braced himself before daring to speak. "I'd take his place. If I could, I'd give him back to you; without hesitation."

He spoke pathetically, stripped of the regal pose he'd bore next to Tonowari, across from Varang. "All I can do now is fight. And find peace. So it won't be for nothing."

No. His vision clouded reason. Who spoke, the father, the leader, the rider... or her mate? Neytiri doubted he knew anymore then she did. Nothing, outside of a battlefield, was clear anymore. She shouldered past him, mind and muscles set on her belongings, tucked in the mauri. She would only need her weapons. "I'm flying back. I will scout with them over the coasts."

Jake's footsteps came quick. "That's not a good idea-"

"I was not asking!" Neytiri stayed him from touching her. Jake lingered, unsure. She wasn't. She was done losing.