Rage — Chapter XII
"Don't do this," the words of Jake's plea remained distant, fading from time, destined to be forever ignored.
Taking place of her mate's voice were the embers of Neytiri's past, burning through her veins with the indignation of a grieving sister, exploiting a loving daughter, and subverting the merciful instincts of a mother. They infected her mind as a malicious malady would, insisting on her fury, and channeling her once abandoned hatred to summon the vengeful tempest that desired nothing more than for her to claim this kill.
You are a warrior, they reminded her. Take the kill.
But ma Jeyk, she thought, ma sa'nok, they are worried… for me.
Stealing a glance that rebelled against the inner voices of her mind, Neytiri found Jake standing by the entrance of the room, nursing his wounded hand that she gave to him while Mo'at stood beside him, her mother's face devoid of emotion, other than the small brow-line that rumpled with worry for Neytiri.
They both wanted her to stop, and in spite of their pleas, Neytiri's shattered spirit resisted as she had long craved for this moment to happen.
Swallowing the hardened lump in her throat, she averted their gaze to glance down at the demon lying motionless on the bed. The dissenting voices swiftly made entrance into her heart, telling her that Jeyk did not understand her.
How could he, they said. He is just like them: a liar, a deceiver, a demon.
A demon? The mate of Jake Sully looked back again, her expression withering with uncertainty of these voices. How could he be a demon when he loves me?
What he has done has returned terror to your People. They reminded her.
Yes, Neytiri conceded, you are right.
Raising her weapon high, she sealed her eyes shut behind the deceit fabricated from her pain. "Bless me, Great Mother," she whispered, her voice a faint tremor, "and guide my hand to eradicate this impurity that has invaded our home."
Jake's patience finally wore thin of this nonsense. He started to make his way towards Neytiri, determined to intervene and end this madness when a restraining hand clutched his arm, its grip unyielding. He turned to find Mo'at, her authoritative gaze commanding a wordless directive that this was a moment he could not stop. And neither should he.
"But—" Jake tried to get out, but Mo'at simply shook her head, silencing him. Her gaze mirrored that of a concerned mother, her worry extending not only for Neytiri's well-being but also to the safety of Jake, her son-in-law.
Within the confines of Neytiri's whispered meditation, she felt a coolness envelope around her body, taking her to the past where the cries of her People resided. They pleaded with her to deliver the justice that they sorely needed. What they desperately wanted from her.
I will, she promised them.
Presently, Asher felt an undercurrent, however weak, returning to him. When he peered beneath the veil of his eyelids, he saw an ill-opportunity waiting for him: a glimmering blade dangling above, held by a pair of blue hands with every intention of letting the blade strike him.
Oh—what the hell is this! He thought beneath the haze of the weakening connection. He tried to speak, to push the words out for this person to stop, but they fell back against the languishing strength of the avatar. What did come out was a hoarse croak.
A sign of life.
Neytiri's ears fell at the sound that the demon made, causing her grip on the blade to waver. A part of her said no. Another part of her, a larger part of her, resoundingly wanted her to do it.
But her mind hesitated, the synaptic connections faltering.
I cannot do this; she told the voices.
They were silent; their demands held at bay by her resilience to deliver the kill.
Then, as a tsunami of haunted trauma returned, it caved in the last ounce of her reason, washing away the mercy, and howled through her:
"Enough!"
Kiri cried out, "No!" She looked back to Uncle Norm. "Do something!"
"Kiri, I-I can't," he said, his voice shaking, unsure how it was even possible to stop someone like Neytiri.
"If the demon has to die by mom's hands, then let her," Lo'ak snorted.
Neteyam nodded in agreement. There was no point in stopping mother.
"Shut up!" Kiri shot back at Lo'ak.
Jake ripped his hand free from Mo'at's grasp and sprinted towards Neytiri with every intent in stopping her. But it was too late. The blade plummeted like a thunderbolt, spearing towards the demon's throat with deadly aim.
Simultaneously, Asher, anticipating the onslaught of pain and the encroaching darkness, instinctively sealed his eyes shut. His ears rang, pitching to a high-pitched whine that suggested the disconnection of the avatar. But when there was nothing, not even a hint of the Ticonderoga link-bed cushioning his body to welcome him back, he began to suspect something else was wrong.
He decided against his better judgement to peek under one eyelid, half-expecting to be living in some quasi-purgatory.
But what Asher soon found staring above him instead was a Na'vi woman, her glare a blazing inferno that burned with the fury of an entire People. In her hand and what Asher could barely see past his bleary vision was the blade, its tip disappearing from his peripheral as he felt it scratching at the flesh of the avatar's neck, drawing a single droplet of crimson blood that ran down the shallow valley of his throat.
"Attack me!" she roared to the demon. The heat of her breath searing his face.
Asher remained staring at her, his mouth quivering to say something but the strength of the connection wasn't enough to allow him to speak.
"I said attack!" she begged again. But this wasn't her speaking. It was all the other voices that stood behind her frightening glare. They wanted to see again the human face responsible for killing her father. To hear again the howl of missiles screaming over her head. To find her sister on the ground, her expression beckoning for Neytiri to leave. To be immersed in the blood of her People. To relive the nightmares that have long plagued her.
No—these were not voices of the past. This was her. She wanted to relive it again. That was the truth of it all. To give herself reason as to why she continued to breathe. So that one day, she can finally kill a demon, and then another, and another, until none of them were left standing on her land.
The blade quivered in her hand as she squeezed on the hilt, urging herself to push the blade even deeper with every voice whispering for her to do it.
It has to die.
It has taken everything from you.
KILL IT.
Asher was unable to feel the pain of the blade, but he knew from looking at this woman, that she was beyond pissed.
"Fight!" She cried out again. Tears welled up and around her eyes, burning like acid.
The silhouette of Neytiri mirrored over the surface of Asher's eyes, pain etched across her features. She had felled many of its kind before, believing with all her heart that what she was doing was the right thing. That to kill these demons was defending her own. That taking the life of another was preserving those who needed it more. But now, as she looked at herself in his gaze, she saw a mad woman, not a mother, nor a warrior.
Who am I?
She dared to find the answer in his eyes. The deeper she followed into the pitch void of blackness, surrounded by the golden aura of the demon's quivering gaze. She found herself there. Standing among the ruins of Kelutral, her father's bow cradled in her arms. Screaming into the air.
No more of this.
Neytiri flickered a glance to the side, not wanting to know the answer any longer. Gradually, she retreated the blade back into its sheath and pushed herself off the gurney. She then turned and left the room for her mate and her mother to deal with this thing.
"Neytiri?" Jake called out to her.
She refused to acknowledge him.
What she needed now was to find a place to clear her mind, to talk to the ancestors, to find her father again, and to ask what was going on within herself.
Jake followed her out of the room, the rest of their family trailing behind. They exchanged looks, silent confusion etched into each of their faces.
Kiri took a step closer and said, "Mom?"
Was she going to stop and look at her? The answer to that question briefly remained in the air until Neytiri stopped, catching the faint sorrow echoing passed her ears. She turned, observing Kiri's approach, her hands clasped together in a gesture of respect for her mother, but also slightly intimidated of her as well.
Dangerous curiosity flickered in Kiri's eyes as she looked up to Neytiri, desiring to know—to understand what had changed within her mother to make her choose life instead of death. However, as much as Neytiri knew that Kiri wanted an answer, she harbored no inclination to do so as she bowed her head, hiding her eyes from her daughter before turning away to find the exit from this horrible place.
What she wanted was to retreat, where no one could find her.
And as she continued her solitary walk towards the exit, she felt the presence of her children surrounding her. Lo'ak, ever stubborn no matter what was happening, walked up beside her and took her hand into his own. She let him. Desiring nothing more in this world than to feel some semblance of love. Neteyam too trailed after his mother, hoping to comfort her.
Kiri, however, lingered behind, burden with a sense that she was partially responsible for not telling her mother about the dreamwalker. Jake, after all, had emphasized the importance of maintaining secrecy about the dreamwalker ever since they brought it to High Camp last night. It was a mistake, she told him. Because eventually, someone was going to find out. Evidently, her words, along with Neteyam, whom she did not know had shared a similar word of warning, had now come back to haunt everyone.
But he was quite unrepentant of this fact. Instead, he was far more concerned with the health of a dreamwalker than with what mother was going to think of it.
Gaze lowering, Kiri's thoughts fired from one end to another without ceasing to blame herself for this mess. None of that mattered now. Neytiri was aware. Mo'at knew. And everyone at High Camp have now heard of Jake harboring a dreamwalker. Yet, Kiri could not shake off the feeling that she dealt a painful blow to her own mother.
Sighing, she took a sip from her mask and glanced over to Jake who had been observing in silence as his mate, accompanied by their children, left the compound.
Seeking the unspoken permission to join Neytiri even in spite what her father has done to hurt her, still managed to show respect to her parents. Though Kiri believed Jake no longer deserved it.
"Go," Jake said.
Kiri offered a small smile of thanks before departing after her mother.
"Jake, you good?" Norm asked, interrupting Jake's thoughts.
"Yeah, I-I'm good."
"Do you need us to get—"
Jake waved his hand, dismissing any of Norm's ideas to help out in this hour. He only wanted to watch Neytiri disappear behind the atmospheric exchange gate.
"I think I just… I don't know Norm. I think I screwed the pooch on this one."
Norm let out a small, understanding chuckle. "I've been there."
"Not like this, Norm. I—" Jake looked over to the smaller Norm and finished his thought. "—I don't know what to do."
Back in the room, Mo'at approached the dreamwalker, her footsteps deliberate and silent. Asher could see her moving towards him with a motion that suggested she was of great importance around here. Concealed beneath her translucent tunic, crafted from an unfamiliar material, her hands emerged, gently adjusting the mask on his face.
Asher found himself taken aback by her unexpected kindness. After witnessing and experiencing so much, he had not anticipated such gentleness from another Na'vi. What was happening here? Some kind of good cop, bad cop routine? No, that seemed too cliché even for the Na'vi.
"You," she spoke in English. "Have met my daughter. Neytiri."
His flesh-brow furrowed together, realization striking him like a heat-seeking missile that this was none other than Neytiri's mother—and that the woman who was about to kill him was Neytiri herself, the very same woman who must have encouraged Jake to go to war against the RDA. This was wild!
But such revelations took time to sink in and currently, Asher was far more worried about his connection to the avatar than infamous celebrities.
Lower lip quivering, Asher's words thirsted to be released. Sensing that the dreamwalker wanted to say something, Mo'at leaned closer, awaiting his response as he finally managed to get out:
"M-my connection i-i-is weak."
Thank God! He can finally speak! He was genuinely far too happy to hear these words being uttered from the avatar that he almost thought he was going to black out from all the excitement swelling up inside.
Hearing his words, Mo'at nodded, understanding what this 'connection' meant to her.
Standing outside in the corridor was Jake, his arms crossed, and his gaze lost on the tile floor. He was pacing inside that skull of his with ways he could mend this problem. He was also beginning to fear that this problem he created was impossible to fix. Well. Not until Neytiri cooled down enough for him to get a word in. And just as he was about to commit himself down this line of thinking, he heard Mo'at coming out from the glass room, the door announcing her presence before them.
"Young Tsyeyk." Mo'at's call to Jake had cut through his rambling thoughts. "Your uniltìrantokx, he appears to be dying."
"Dying?" Jake repeated. He swore Neytiri didn't hurt him, but it turns out something was going on with the avatar by the way Mo'at was looking at him in a concerning way.
"What?" Norm said, his eyes darting with confusion between the two blue-skinned Na'vi. "What's going on, Jake?"
"I don't know," he said as he started jogging over to the room.
What they found was Asher, his legs dangling off the gurney, as he tried to gather enough of his strength to stand up.
"Whoa-whoa!" Norm said, bursting into the room. "Hey, hold on there champ."
The avatar let out a grunt in response to Norm's comment, clearly annoyed that no one knew what was happening to him.
"What's going on with him, Norm?" Jake asked as he walked in right after the man himself.
"I have no idea," he shrugged.
Swiftly moving to grab the avatar's legs before the heavy shoes acted as an anchor and they took the avatar down to meet the cold hard floor. "Hey," Norm called out to the avatar, hauling the legs onto the bed. "You okay?"
Just then, Mo'at's voice broke through from behind Jake. "Young Tsyeyk's uniltìrantokx said that a, 'connection' is weak."
Why the hell does she keep saying my dreamwalker? Jake thought as he made way for Mo'at to come into the room.
"A connection? Connection, connection." Norm repeated, his fingers tapping on his head as though somehow the answer will pop into his brain.
"M-my backpack!" Asher shouted, his body spilling over onto the floor and smacking with a great thud that spooked Norm.
"Damnit dude!" Norm cried.
Jake's tail flicked. "His backpack? Wait, his backpack! He told me about some kind of network device in it."
Norm snapped his finger in agreement. "Yes! Max was looking into it. I thought that device looked familiar."
"Familiar-huh? And you weren't planning on telling me?"
Norm was already on his way out of the room when he yelled out, "yeah-yeah, I'll tell you more about it later!"
Meanwhile, on the floor, Asher tapped his finger, hoping to get someone's attention to roll him over onto his back. It was quite an embarrassing situation for the man, who, as he was lying face first against the floor, started to feel that the others in this room had both equally forgot about him and pitied his presence.
"Young Tsyeyk, your—"
"I understand, Tsahìk Mo'at. My uniltìrantokx," Jake replied, his tone laced with a hint of annoyance, although Mo'at remained oblivious to any of his sarcasm.
Kneeling beside Asher, Jake gently lifted the avatar and hauled him back onto the bed.
"Let's try to stay on the bed this time, okay?" Jake spoke in English with a touch of humor, patting the avatar's leg reassuringly.
Asher grunted. He was beginning to feel like a patient in an asylum. Except this asylum involved aliens.
Norm and Max reentered the room, their hands occupied with the weighty backpack of the avatar. It was clear that the network device was substantially more heavy than initially anticipated at first glance.
"Oh!" Max blurted out, surprised by Mo'at's presence. As soon as they sat the backpack on the floor, he turned and conducted the typical greeting in Na'vi. "I see you, Tsahìk Mo'at."
Mo'at reciprocated the greeting with a warm smile of her own.
"Okay, Max, how does this thing work?" Norm inquired.
"Simple," he said, moving over by the backpack on the floor. "We were working on something similar for long-range connections with avatars. But before we could get a working prototype," he opened the panel on the device, his finger zeroing on a button, which when pressed, lit up the LCD screen, showing the battery life at 10%.
"Jake attacked the RDA."
"Not my fault."
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way." Max added with a sly smile. "Anyways. This thing needs power."
Once again, the avatar emitted a grunting sound, seemingly acknowledging that notion.
"How?" Norm asked, his face now leaning over to see what ways they could power the network device.
Maintaining a stable stance on both feet, Max crouched down and extracted the beige-colored device from the backpack, revealing its dimensions of approximately thirty-five inches across and forty inches in length. Norm removed the backpack from underneath it.
With a feeble lift of his arm, Asher pointed towards the device, emitting a grunt that Jake interpreted as "solar."
"I think he said solar?" Jake said, gesturing back to the avatar.
"Solar huh?" Norm echoed, glancing over to the device again.
"Yeah, it's solar powered. Explains the crystalline pattern embroidered into the backpack." Max stated, his hand motioning to the glass-like panels on the backpack.
Asher grunted negatively. "F-fusion."
"He said fusion," Jake said, now assuming the role as an interpreter.
"Yeah, uh, we have a microfusion reactor for the link-beds." Norm said, "now that was a bitch to get up here."
"No joke," Max said, agreeing.
Asher grunted loudly enough that Mo'at tapped on Norm's shoulder. "The uniltìrantokx, Norm."
"Oh right, let's get this thing to the microfusion reactor!"
"All right." Max wheezed, his hands grabbing the edges as Norm took up position on the other side. Together, they lifted the device and began hauling it out.
With those two gone, Jake turned and looked over to Asher.
"You owe me one," Jake stated, his finger pointing at Asher's face, who, while unable to relish in his typical behavior, resorted to blinking at the finger.
Switching back to Na'vi, Jake didn't want Asher listening into the conversation he was going to have with Mo'at. "Tsahìk Mo'at, how did you know Neytiri was not going to kill him?"
She blinked between the avatar then to Jake as she answered him in the most Tsahìk way possible. "Eywa."
"Uh," Jake muttered, absentmindedly scratching the back of his neck. "Sure, but how?"
"Young Tsyeyk. Eywa does not take sides and Eywa was not about to let my daughter take a side either. But my daughter is also deeply wounded and the dreamwalker was not her intended target."
Jake was about to ask her who was when Mo'at continued.
"She saw the dreamwalker as a threat, but she did not see who inhabited the body." Walking over to the avatar, she settled her hand over his chest.
"A lost soul resides in this body, young Tsyeyk."
Jake laughed. "Lost? Tsahìk Mo'at, that man is not lost."
She shook her head. "He is lost. He seeks an answer, and he believes the answer is here, with us. But his answer is not the one he is searching, as his lies elsewhere."
Jake slouched his head back, not really comprehending the meaning of any of this. "I don't understand."
She smiled, nodding to him. "One day, you will, like your uniltìrantokx will also."
Jake inhaled and gave a gentle nod. He might not understand, but as the Tsahìk said, maybe he will. One day.
Suddenly, the avatar gasped as he felt a surge of renewed energy rush through his body. It was as though he was finally alive, finally here. But in the midst of this resurgence came an uncontrollable movement that sent him tumbling back on the floor. His face smacking hard against the floor that pushed aside the mask, revealing blood oozing from the feline nose.
"He is here with us," Mo'at astutely added as she gave the avatar space to move.
"I-I am," Asher said groggily. Glancing up to the pair, he shared a weak, timid smile. "Thank you."
Jake nodded in his direction. "Sure but, as I've said, you owe me one."
Asher sat up from the floor, holding onto the bleeding nose. "Okay," he relented. Although he was not keen on paying back anyone, he understood what Jake meant.
"This is Tsahìk Mo'at who," Jake gave a quick glance to the Tsahìk, "really wants you to be alive."
The Tsahìk took a moment to bow her head before the avatar, an unprecedented move that even surprised Jake himself.
She never did that to me.
"Thank you, ma'am." Asher said as he stood up. "I don't-uh-oh!"
In another surprising action, Asher conducted the hand gesture, showing the 'I see you' greeting to Mo'at before fumbling his words nervously.
"Oe-oel ngati kameie."
Ah, smart ass. Now he speaks Na'vi. What's next? He's going to start dating one too?
"Oel ngati kameie." She greeted back.
"That took me a better part of a day to learn that. But it is good to meet you ma'am. And sir." He exchanged a nod between all of them.
"Enough with the sir." Jake stated in an annoyed tone. "You better know more than that because I'm going to take you to meet everyone else. You ready for that bloodhound?"
Asher's tail flicked side-to-side, smacking against the gurney much to his embarrassment.
"Wait-hold on. Meet? Everyone?"
Jake nodded. "Everyone."
Mo'at looked at Jake, feeling this was unwise as the Tipani were quite. What was the word that humans used? Irritated by the presence of a dreamwalker. If Neytiri was the barometer of how the Na'vi felt about the presence of an unknown dreamwalker among their midst, then this decision by Jake was only going to make things worse.
"Young Tsyeyk. Is that. Wise?"
"Tsahìk Mo'at. Everyone knows he is here."
"This does not mean you bring him out to be killed."
"Killed?" Asher echoed.
"They all know. It is best that they meet him before they talk amongst themselves about him."
"Killed?" Asher again repeated, this time the word fogged up his mask.
Mo'at shook her head, taking a sip from her own mask. "You have seen what my daughter has gone through. Olo'eykte Amanti will not be pleased to meet your dreamwalker."
"And if I don't show her that he is not a threat to them, then she will really start to believe he is and will come here to kill him."
"Hey-hold on. I don't want to be killed here. I just want to talk to you, Jake. I don't need to see anyone else."
Jake snapped back. "You came looking for us, bloodhound and us is exactly what you're going to get."
Norm returned in time to find a tense standoff between Jake and Asher. "Uh," he interrupted. "Sorry Jake, but uhm. The Tipani. They look really angry."
Jake remained glaring at Asher before saying, "how angry?'
"Angry enough that Amanti looks like she's gathering a war party to break into this place."
Jake sighed. "You're coming with me," he said, gesturing to Asher.
"Young Tsyeyk. One mistake today is enough. Two. You might not recover."
"I'll handle it, Tsahìk."
She made a 'humph' sound as Jake grabbed Asher by the shoulder and directed him out of the glass room.
"What's your name?" Norm asked, walking beside the avatar.
"Asher. Rayan Asher."
"Okay Rayan. Here's the thing about the Na'vi. They are docile when they don't feel threatened. And your worse enemy when they are. So you better listen to Jake here, otherwise you'll find yourself disconnected without every noticing it."
"S-sure."
Jake prodded Asher to continue moving. As they continued through the corridor, Asher saw the soft glow of blue light radiating in the main lab. At the center, he noticed an amnio tank, with an avatar floating inside of it. But before he could get a question out, he was pushed towards the atmospheric gate.
Jake surrendered and placed his mask back on the rack before reaching over to take the mask from Asher. "You don't need this where we're going," he said.
Norm took a mask on the other side of the entrance way. Clearly, as a human, he couldn't breathe the Pandoran atmosphere as Jake opened the door and shoved Asher into the gate.
"Listen," Jake said. "These Na'vi are Tipani. There might be Omatikaya among them, but the Tipani are warriors. And when they're pissed, they're pissed. They're going to ask me why I brought you here and by God you better tell me the truth, or I will hand you over to them."
Asher grew serious. Even as he found himself in what would be considered the 'enemy's camp', he still had a job to do. "Jake," he said, pausing temporarily to gather his thoughts before being metaphorically fed to the lions.
"I am telling you the truth. I am here to help the Na'vi out."
"Don't tell me that. Tell them that." He said as he unsealed the hatch and pushed the door open.
The light from the outside temporarily blinded Asher as he felt a hand reach for his shoulder, ushering him out to the cacophony of war chants being hailed into the air.
"Olo'eyktan Tsyeyk Suli!" Amanti shouted from within the crowd. The Tipani warriors surrounding her fell silent, their gazes fixating on their leader.
Jake's ears perked up. Scanning the crowd, he found her near the front. She wore a distinctive garb that set her apart from the rest of the Tipani, with river shells from her land adorning her neck and unfamiliar flower petals delicately placed upon her bosom. A translucent material, akin to Mo'at's own garment but of a different hue, draped over her shoulders and cascaded down her back, stopping just short of reaching her tail.
War paint smeared across her face with the typical Tipani colors of indigo, red, and yellow.
"I am here for the demon!" she declared, stepping forward with spear in hand. She was not familiar with the other dreamwalkers in Jake's camp, leading her to ignore Asher for now.
For the first time in his life, Asher felt a genuine sense of fear. This was unlike the fear he had experienced on war-torn battlefields, where he could seek refuge behind cover and think on how best to approach the problem with lethal velocity. Rather here, he stood exposed, vulnerable to the threats hurled in a language he did not understand. Moreover, he was no longer among other humans; he was among the Na'vi, an entirely different species with an unpredictable behavior.
"This is him," Jake spoke in Na'vi, his grip tightening on Asher's wrist as he raised their joined hands in the air, presenting the demon to the crowd.
Blinking in confusion, Asher instinctively wrenched his hand free from Jake's grasp. His gaze met Amanti's unwavering stare; her spear pointed directly at him. "This is it?" she questioned; her voice underlying with skepticism.
Jake nodded. "That's right."
As Amanti advanced towards the demon, her spear raised menacingly, the pointed tip threateningly close to Asher's face, he turned to Jake, his voice laden with alarm. "Hey, hey! She's pointing a weapon at me!"
A bitter realization washed over Asher—he was facing yet another attempt on his life in the span of a single day.
Chuckling lightly, Jake offered a sardonic remark. "You better start saying something before she starts hacking you to pieces."
"Jake," Asher pleaded, "don't let them do this. If I die, then I have no choice but to confirm to Ardmore that the RDA was right about you."
Jake shrugged. "Doesn't matter what you do or say. The RDA will always come after me—after all of us."
The spear inched dangerously close to Asher's face.
"Damnit Jake! Listen to me!" Asher's voice strained.
Jake turned, his gaze narrowing as it fell upon the avatar. "Why should I? You came looking for us, remember?"
Among the onlooking crowd, Amanti's children stood by, notably Tsmupxa, his bow held in a defensive stance. Kxeyìn stood beside her brother, her eyes fixed on the demon with a seething intensity, harboring anger not only towards Olo'eyktan Tsyeyk Suli but also for the demon he had brought into their midst.
The woman with the spear began speaking to Asher in the alien tongue, her voice dripping with anger akin to Neytiri's.
"No Jake—I was looking for you!" Asher said.
"You said you want to write a peace treaty? What is your guarantee that the RDA is going to follow through?"
Asher darted his gaze between the woman with the spear and Jake, his anxiety palpable. "The UNE's guarantee."
Jake let out a dismissive snort. "The UNE has no jurisdiction on Pandora. The RDA does."
The spear's point pressed harder against Asher's neck, a dangerous reminder that he was going to be disconnected, as Norm said, if he doesn't share more information with Jake. All the while, he backpedaled, trying to avoid any further harm to his already wounded throat.
"The UNE will support the Na'vi in whatever matter," he stated, his voice straining against the spear point. "That they see fit."
Jake's tail whirled restlessly. "That means we can dictate terms?"
Cornered and with nowhere left to retreat, Asher's eyes locked onto the spear, the burning intensity of the woman's glare focused solely on him. "Yes! Yes!"
"And if the RDA attacks the Na'vi, what can we do?"
Asher felt his back pressed against the entrance of the science shack, his options dwindling rapidly. There was only one hail Mary left to throw.
"You can defend your lands; you have that right!" The spear was now puncturing into Asher's skin.
"And what do you need from us?" Jake asked.
"I just need to talk to you. To find out what's really going on here, with you, the Na'vi, everyone!"
"To find, what, bloodhound?"
The spear was now cutting into his throat. "To find out if the Na'vi are truly under the threat of the RDA!"
"Good thing you were looking for us then," Jake mused.
Switching back to Na'vi, Jake intervened between Amanti and Asher. His hand reached over to push back on Amanti's spear while speaking. "He has admitted to me that he is a weak-willed demon, who finds your presence frightening and will obey your every command."
Amanti glanced back to Jake, her flesh-brow arcing. "Then it will die, Olo'eyktan Tsyeyk Suli."
Jake shook his head, countering her determination to kill Asher. "He—it, is my prisoner. It will tell us everything and if it betrays us, then I will give you the honor of taking its life."
Amanti glanced momentarily at the demon; her expression twisted with anger. Though it was not within her right to claim a kill within the Omatikaya's camp, the fact that the Olo'eyktan had not mentioned this demon before fueled a sense of betrayal from Tsyeyk Suli. They would need to address this matter in greater detail later this evening, or else Amanti would have to find a new home for the Tipani if the Olo'eyktan was going to emulate the ways of the Sky People.
"Fine." She sighed, relenting, and slipped the spear away from Asher's throat.
Gasping and clutching his wound, Asher struggled to catch his breath. This was not how he had imagined his first encounter with the Na'vi.
Jake leaned around him and whispered, "That's twice you owe me."
Asher coughed again, not wishing to get into a debate when he was out…speared and outnumbered.
Turning to face her people, Amanti raised her spear and yelled, "the demon is a prisoner to Olo'eyktan Tsyeyk Suli. If anyone lays harm upon his prisoner, will face me with death at my side."
"But, Olo'eykte! The demon!" someone from the crowd voiced their concern. Amanti acknowledged their worries with a nod. "The demon is the responsibility of the Omatikaya Olo'eyktan. It will not harm us but if it tries, we will rip it apart!"
The crowd erupted in agreement. Tsumpxa, Kxeyìn, and Srìlo did not. When their mother returned to them, Tsumpxa spoke, voicing the same opinion that his siblings were thinking of. "This demon is responsible for killing our father. I will not stand by and let it live among us. Not after what they did to our People."
Amanti remained silent as she moved through the crowd. Tsumpxa persisted, trying to convince his mother.
"Mother, please, we can kill it in secret!" He insisted.
Amanti hissed. "You will do no such thing, my son." She cast a final glance at her eldest before resuming her path through the crowd.
Remaining where he stood, Tsumpxa lowered his head, his gaze fixated on his mother's back, unsure how to make sense of any of this.
Srìlo meanwhile kept looking at the demon, his curiosity getting the better of him that he started to approach it with the subconscious desire to talk to it. Without warning, Kxeyìn swooped in and snatched him, pulling her brother back into the fold of the crowd.
"No," she told him.
He pointed at the demon, "But—"
"Mother does not want you talking to it, let alone looking at it. We do not know how dangerous it is. This is for the matter of the Omatikaya to deal with. Come, we must finish your own training to get ready for Iknimaya."
Training. Srìlo sighed. That's all he ever does now. Train. Train. Train. When was he going to have some fun around here?
After Jake instructed Norm to watch over Asher, he departed to find Neytiri.
Shortly after Neytiri left the shack, Kiri found herself closely trailing behind her mother when she heard her name being called out.
"Kiri!"
Ears leaning back, Kiri turned to see Spider emerging from the crowd of Na'vi that had congregated around the science shack. He was running towards her, skillfully leaping over a rock before picking up speed once again to catch up.
"Sorry I wasn't here," Spider explained, gasping for breath. "I was helping Sam gather some leaves to make her tea. Thought I could lend a hand, you know? She's been dealing with a gnarly illness lately, and she's been teaching me a thing or two about botany."
Spider hoped that by mentioning their shared interest in plants, he could bring a smile to Kiri's face. However, it seemed that even his efforts fell short, failing to ignite even a remote hope of a laugh.
"So I did." Spider continued, trying his best to lighten up the mood around here. "She told me I was her best forager. Well, I would not go that far. I think you're better than me."
Miles knew there was something more going on here when he saw the Na'vi surround the science shack. It had to be the suspected rumor of an avatar that Jake picked up.
"We have an avatar here, don't we?"
Kiri nodded.
"Can I see him?"
Kiri shrugged. "Sure, I guess." She pointed to the science shack where Asher was still being ushered around by Norm. But the way she said it sounded as though she didn't care.
"Kiri, what's wrong?" Spider stepped ahead of her, positioning himself squarely in front of Kiri. He refused to let her dismiss her troubles so easily.
"Nothing, Spider." She lied as she attempted to walk around him.
"Is it about the avatar?"
No answer.
"Don't tell me your dad found out what I did yesterday. I swear it was only a joke!"
No answer.
"Kiri, seriously, what's wrong?"
She stopped and got close to his mask to fog up the visor with her breath. "Why don't you just leave us alone, okay Spider?"
In that instance, Miles broke eye-contact with her as he fiddled with his hands, unsure how to answer that except with his own silence.
Leaving him behind, Kiri caught up with her family as Neytiri found refuge behind a cavern wall, secluding her away from any prying eyes as she sat near a waterfall to drown out her thoughts. A few minutes later, Jake found her and the family thanks to Miles who told him where they went to.
Peeking out from behind the wall, Jake found Neytiri solemnly looking to the horizon, her son Neteyam, cuddling her while Lo'ak stood near the waterfall, tossing pebbles over the edge to kill his boredom. Kiri meanwhile sat like her mother, watching the clouds drifting mindlessly by along with her own stream of thoughts as she replayed over and over in her mind of what had happened back in the science shack.
Tuktirey was also with them, having found her way to her mother's side when Neytiri was searching for a reclusive place to hide. Clutching her mother's hand tightly, they walked together until they arrived here, where, with the warmth of the sun upon Tuktirey's face and the soothing rumble of the waterfall to fill her mind, lulled her to sleep, her head now resting gently upon Kiri's lap.
Silently, Jake approached his family from behind, his footsteps barely registering amidst the natural symphony surrounding them. He reached out to squeeze Kiri's shoulder, request under the silent gesture that he wanted to join them. With a subtle shift, Kiri made room, mindful not to disturb Tuktirey.
Kiri watched as her father settled himself between them, a shared warmth passing between them in a wordless exchange.
Meeting Kiri's gaze, Jake offered her a tender smile, a quiet reassurance that everything was going to be okay. He then turned to look at Neytiri, searching within her lost trance where he pleaded with her to return to him.
"Will you be able to forgive me?" He whispered to her. "I know… I should have told you about the dreamwalker. I just—" He took a deep breath and continued, "I just wanted to protect our family. Our People. And you're absolutely right about me—about my decisions. I failed us."
Jake gave time for the apology to digest in her mind, not pursuing any further.
"So… we might have a solution with the dreamwalker." He said.
Kiri looked at her dad. Curious of what this solution might be.
"He's-uh. I don't know how to say this. But he's here to help us."
Neytiri remained quiet.
"He wants to help us—and the People."
"How?" Kiri asked from his side.
"He says he can help us by creating a treaty." The word 'treaty' converted into English when Jake said it, with no Na'vi word of any kind to be translated.
"A treaty?"
"It's a way of saying, that the Sky People will obey whatever rules there is to not harm us."
"Can it work?"
Jake shrugged, "I don't know."
"Then why trust him?"
Yeah, why should I trust him? Jake thought as he flung a rock into the vast expanse of the floating mountains.
"Mo'at seems to trust him," Jake added, his eyes stealing a glance to Neytiri to see if that triggered anything. It didn't. "And uh, I want to believe her too."
"But do you?" Kiri asked.
Jake looked at his daughter, his eyes filled with a mixture of affection and concern. "No," he admitted. "But if there is a reason Mo'at is protective of him, then I have to trust your grandmother." He pulled Kiri closer, enfolding her with one of those famous strong hugs of his.
Neytiri knew that regardless of Mo'at's trust, the ultimate decision rested with Jake. It was his call whether they would allow the avatar to remain among them. And that was the answer Neytiri had been waiting to hear.
"To be sure that no one is going to be hurt by him," he started to say again. "I'm going to instruct Norm to keep an eye on him. And I will have guards stationed around the shack. Which means he is not to be talked to. Not by anyone, including you Kiri."
"So that means you're going to keep him around?"
"For now." Jake agreed. His gaze shifted once again to Neytiri, seeking her thoughts on the matter of keeping the dreamwalker among them.
"Neytiri?" he called out softly, hoping to draw her into the conversation.
For several seconds, she refused to recognize her name. Then, lowering her ears, she turned, facing her mate where she met his gaze with her own otherworldly glare.
"If," she squeaked the word out with great hesitancy in her tone. "If it is allowed to remain here. Then—anything it does to harm our People, will come back to you. I will carve out your heart and show it to you if it dares harm a single one of our children."
The expression on Neytiri, Jake noticed, became callous, rigid, and cold. She was dead serious with her next words.
"I… will ensure your memory is gone from our People. Your bones—forgotten. Your name—ash—if you allow it to harm any of us."
He felt it. Deep down into his soul that Neytiri meant every word of what she said. Nodding slowly, he wanted her to know that he agreed and—
"Do you?" She threateningly asked under the harsh, trembling whisper.
"Neytiri—"
"Do you?!" She repeated again, her voice fighting to remain politely quiet. A single tear she tried to hold back ran over her cheek and down the lining of her throat.
"Yes," He answered confidently.
As Jake attempted to encircle Neytiri with his arm, she forcefully shrugged him off, rejecting any physical contact of his. She didn't want to feel his presence, let alone have him near her in that moment, but that was something she couldn't do, not without making her family look terrible before the clan.
Respecting her wishes, Jake fell silent for the remainder of their time together. Neytiri retreated back into her meditative silence, once again fixing her gaze upon the distant horizon. Lost in the depths of her own thoughts, she yearned for a time long gone, a time devoid of dreamwalkers, demons, and Sky People. Where her father was still alive as was her sister. But they all had faded away.
However, the voices of her heart remained present, whispering but subdued. She couldn't predict when they would resurface to haunt her once again, but time will tell.