Another Chance at Life
The sacred site had gone quiet after the warriors and hunters of the clan had left following Jake's rousing speech as Toruk Makto, leaving behind the non-warriors; mostly families consisting of the young and old. A notable sadness hung in the air, having increased with the latest death of a beloved friend and mentor. Though Grace didn't have full membership rights like Jake, she still was an accepted member of the community. Many of the young ones currently around had been a student of hers at one point or another.
Mo'at and Norm lingered at the base of the large magnificent tree that was beginning to softly glow again after dimming from Grace's passing; both bodies still laid peacefully upon its roots. With all that Grace had done for the clan, Mo'at felt without a doubt that she and the Omatikaya would honor her human body with a traditional burial, and would soon begin to set that task in motion. That would be the easy part. What was more difficult for Mo'at to determine was what was to be done with Grace's dreamwalker body, as it yet still lived, drawing shallow breaths.
As Mo'at stood and contemplated this issue, she noticed the luminosity of the roots below the dreamwalker increase brightly before fading again to normal levels. Odd. Curious, she stepped closer to inspect the rogue phenomena. As she did so, she noticed the body begin to move as if waking from sleep.
"Graceaugustine?" whispered Mo'at, almost in disbelief. She leaned down and reached forward to place a hand on the dreamwalker's shoulder. Upon contact, the body jolted.
Grace stirred awake with a gasp, reflexively reaching for a wound that was not there. No pain. The lack of sensation eased her breaths and she began to relax, her mind settling from a heightened state.
Norm, who had crouched into in a depressive reflective stupor, his head bowed and eyes closed, was suddenly pulled from his thoughts. In a rushed stumble he moved next to her beside Mo'at. "Grace?" he called softly, reaching forward to place a warm hand on her lower leg.
Other nearby members of the clan took notice of the renewed activity on the hearth beneath the luminous tree, murmurs of hope of one less loss spreading like a wildfire through the crowd, grabbing everyone's attention.
As Grace's mind cleared, she regained awareness of her surroundings. As she looked up she noticed the tree now seemed backwards, then it occurred to her she was blue. She initially didn't think anything of it until the significance of the moment stuck her seconds later, her memory of recent events reinstating itself to the forefront. As she quickly rolled onto her stomach, putting her hands underneath her to lift her on her knees, she was immediately faced with a view of her dead body; her auburn hair just inches away from her face.
Grace froze. She had never seen her human body before while in her avatar form as it was always hidden away inside an active link unit. It shocked her at how tiny and pale she was in comparison.
A different kind of pain hit her; an emotional pain. She slowly sat up, and swallowed as a grim expression crossed her face as tears began to form. She then shifted to semi slide-crawl and sit next to her body; taking one of her small human hands into one of her large avatar's with a light grip, while she reached forward with her other hand to softly touch a lock of her hair, running her fingers through the auburn curls before ending with a tender caress to her head. With one last light squeeze, she released the small human hand, gently placing it back down to lay the way she found it comfortably resting. Her body looked peaceful, which was a small consolation that juxtaposed the inner turmoil she felt at knowing that she'd never be her human self ever again. Though she was happier in nature with her avatar body away from all of the RDA's corporate bullcrap, her human body was still her true original self. To not be intrinsically tethered to it any more felt unsettling to say the least.
Grace felt a comforting presence move beside her and finally gave it her attention, finally looking away from her body. "Mo'at," she shakily addressed the elder, as if seeking a steadying force.
Mo'at placed a tender hand to Grace's shoulder. She could see the deep-seated pain in Grace's eyes and tried to offer her condolences. "Eywa has blessed you with a life among the People. It will take some time to adjust and to process the loss of your human body. You are no longer a dreamwalker, Kìreysì."
At hearing her Na'vi name, Grace began to feel a sense of fully belonging set in. She nodded, then looked back towards her body. "What about..."
Mo'at quickly replied, "Have no worry. The burial will soon take place in the early light of next morning. Until then, your body will continue to rest as it does." Mo'at helped Grace to stand. "We will also find you a place to sleep tonight."
"Thank you", answered Grace. She then looked to Norm and smiled at him. She could see the remnants of a few dried tears. Though they had always remained professional, there was a sense of relief at seeing Norm also standing next to her on the hearth with Mo'at, and in such a sacred place no less.
Norm stepped closer and gave her a brief hug. "I'm so glad you're back, Doc."
"Me too," replied Grace with a small sigh.
She then took in her full surroundings which included the obvious quiet crowd down below, however disturbingly numbered far less than what she expected to count. She was sure not that many had died in the destruction of Hometree, had they? She saw a lot of familiar faces, many looking up towards her, while others were mostly tending to wounds or in silent prayer. There were also several faces that were missing from her view. "Where's...?" she began to ask.
Norm saw Grace looking around and immediately knew what she meant. "Jake, Neytiri, Tsu'tey, and many warriors went off to gather a war party."
"What?" said Grace confused. "I know I was fading in and out, but I didn't think I missed that much, did I?"
"Uh, technically you didn't, as they left only a few minutes ago right before you woke up," said Norm. He then glanced at his watch. "From the time we left Hell's Gate, it's only been roughly two hours. Trudy flew us to Site 26 where we picked up the link shack, then she flew us over to here at the Tree of Souls; the link shack is a couple blocks that way," he pointed to its general direction.
"That I'm aware of. What happened elsewhere after we landed until I was carried here?" asked Grace more specifically.
At Grace's questioning look, Norm continued. "As you were dying, Jake got desperate to save you. He bonded with a Turok and pledged his loyalty to Tsu'tey in his effort to help convince the clan to agree to bring you here. After we thought the transfer failed moments ago, Jake took up the mantle of Toruk Makto to gather other clans to fight back against the RDA."
"Your perceived death along with the destruction of our home helped empower the People to unite under the symbol of the sixth Toruk Makto," solemnly commented Mo'at.
The look of surprise on Grace's face said it all. Before she could say anything, the moment was discreetly interrupted by one of her eldest female students who presented her with a spare loincloth and beaded top for her to wear. Grace thanked her, accepting the gift. It wasn't until the items were in hand and she noted that the items were clothes that Grace looked down at herself and realised that she had been completely nude. A different kind of surprised look crossed her face as she looked back at Norm, who looked level at her. "Well, then..."
It took Norm a few seconds too long to realize the awkwardness that should have been apparent, considering that they both came from human society. Thankfully, they were in a Na'vi community at the moment. "Oh, yeah, the transfer ceremony required as much skin contact as possible, as you can see..." he said casually indicating the thin root filaments that draped her human body like a blanket and the pieces that still stuck to her blue skin. "What was it like, being in that tree for upwards of like three to four minutes or so?" His eager voice reminded her of the pure excitement of a curious child.
Grace tilted her head and lightly chuckled at Norm's straightforward behavior as she put on the beaded top followed by the loin cloth. "The experience was... interesting. Unfortunately, the best I can recall is that it's kind of like being in a dream that's difficult to remember once you wake. What I do know for certain though, is that Eywa is most definitely real."
She looked at a few root tendrils on her arm that caught her attention then over at her still body covered almost entirely in them. Norm's comment reminded her that if she ever wanted to take samples from this place, that right now was probably the only chance she would ever get to do so. She knew that Mo'at probably would never agree to her taking any direct samples from the tree roots, and so settled for the many bits and pieces that currently stuck to her blue body. Grace carefully walked around to the back of her human body to kneel and visually inspect the root filament queue attached to the base of her body's skull. She reached for her own braided neural queue and saw all of the root filaments still intertwined around the sensitive tendrils and strands of black hair. "Amazing" breathed Grace with an inquisitive smile. Humans spent multi-millions per unit (culminating in potentially billions worth) in advanced psionic machinery to accomplish what this planet's organisms can do naturally. She herself currently proof of her hypothesis proven true of Pandora's trees being a neural network. This newfound knowledge made her feel a little giddiness begin to build inside, helping to offset some of her somber mood about having just died.
After a long look, Grace stood and rejoined Mo'at. As much as her botanist heart desired for documentation, she knew to remain respectful and to not ask to take photos or ask to collect the root queue. Instead, she asked Mo'at for her body to remain as close to as it currently is when it's eventually gently removed and buried; for the tendril blanket and root queue to remain attached to her corpse.
Mo'at accepted her request, "It shall be as you wish, Kìreysì."
P.s. I have no idea how long it took for Grace to succumb to her wounds. Two hours is just a guess. It's difficult to accurately tell the day/night cycles considering that in "The Way of Water", there's like this seemingly daily eclipse that occurs.
