Mirabel was already in lab as she got everything set for link bed, but also waited for her mom to arrive with Jake. Once everything was set and ready, Mirabel decided to wait for the others to come until she heard voices coming from the distance. She looked to see her mom and Jake entering the lab but notice that her mom was holding a tablet showing the pictures of the Na'vi he and Mirabel have met.
"Okay, let's run through them again." she said to him and showed the first picture of the Na'vi.
"Mo'at. Dragon lady." Jake guessed and Grace showed him another Na'vi. "Eytucan."
"Eytukan. He's the clan leader." Grace corrected and then mentioned about Mo'at. "But she is also the spiritual leader. Like a shaman."
"Got it." said Jake as he was about to get on the link bed but then Grace showed him another picture. "T'su'tey."
"Tsu'tey." Grace corrected.
"Tsu'tey." Jake repeated.
"He'll be the next clan leader." said Grace and showed him the final picture of the Na'vi.
Jake held onto the tablet as he got a good glance at the female Na'vi.
"Neytiri." he spoke softly.
"She'll be the next Tshahik. They become a mated pair." said Grace as she was mentioning Neytiri and Tsu'tey.
"So... who is this Eywa?" Jake questioned.
"Who's Eywa?" Norm spoke as he looked at the soldier.
Mirabel listened from the distance and rolled her eyes, but then smirked at Norm was beginning to explain to him.
"Only their deity. Their goddess, made up of all living things. Everything they know!" Norm explained to the soldier, "You'd know this if you had any training whatsoever."
"Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?" Jake asked as he showed the picture of Neytiri.
"Oh, come on. That's not..."
"All right, knock it off, you two." Grace spoke as she stops the two argue. "Let's go. Village life starts early."
And that was Mirabel's cue to go. She quickly got on the link bed and got one of the scientists to help her get settled.
"Good luck out there, Mira." he said to her.
Mirabel nods a little as she smirked until the scientist closed the lid. As she listened to the sound of the machine starts working, she closed her eyes and start clearing her mind until everything went white.
At the Hometree of Pandora, Mirabel, in her avatar body, was already awake as she out of the hammock and at the bottom base of the home tree. She was looking around seeing the Na'vi working and the children playing. She starts sitting down on the root of the tree as she was waiting for Jake to come down and Neytiri to join. Suddenly, she looked at her side to see a Na'vi hand holding a Pandora fruit. She remembered eating those when she's in her avatar body, but then looked up to see that it was Nowu standing beside her. The young warrior sat beside her and handed the fruit to her.
"Thank you, Nowu." Mirabel spoke as she held the fruit in her hands and took a bite of it.
She looked at him again and notice that Nowu was looking at another direction, feeling a little nervous.
"It's been a while since the last time we saw each other." she said again as she was trying to make a conversation with.
"Yes... it has." he replied as he shifts his head a little just to look at her.
There was silence between the two and if felt awkward for the Na'vi boy.
"I see that you've become a warrior."
"Yes... after my family were... gone, I was raised by the finest warriors of the Omaticaya. They taught me how to fight. How to hunt. Tsu'tey teaches me as well. Some warriors even vowed to take a revenge on Sky People avenge our People."
That felt a little awkward on the revenge bit, but Mirabel somehow nodded a bit.
"I'm against them as well. The RDA, I mean." she said to him and No'wu looked at her.
"You would go against your kind? Why is that?" he asked her.
"There are good sky people that cared about nature, but after what those guys have done... They need to be stop. I can't let them destroy the beauty of Pandora or even kill more Na'vi." she said and then looked at Nowu. "That's one reason why I need to train more."
"To protect Pandora." said Nowu and Mirabel nodded her head.
Suddenly, the two heard laughter of children that sounded really close. The two looked at the direction to see the children but also saw Jake as he was now in his avatar body. He was walking slowly as he looking around to the Na'vi at work, but behind him were the children all laughing at him and pulling his tail.
"Looks like someone finally came." Mirabel spoke as she looked at Jake, but also giggled to see the children fooling around him.
"And the children are laughing at how he dresses like a child." said Nowu.
"I also dressed like a child, Nowu." Mirabel said as she turned to look at him but notice the blush on his face as he was looking away a bit.
"Not really." he replied.
Jake slightly looked back to see the Na'vi children laughing around and pulling his tail. The soldier started to walk slowly a bit with a smirk on his face, but as the children continued their teasing, he let out a roar at them as he turned around to face them. The children screamed with a startled, but continued to laugh as Jake laughs with them. Mirabel smirked and giggled to see Jake playing with the kids a little, but then turned to see Neytiri riding on a direhorse, but also with two more that are meant for her and Jake.
"Well... guess my training starts now." said Mirabel as she slowly got up.
"Until we meet next time." Nowu spoke to her as he looked at her.
"Yes..." Mirabel replied as she smiled to him, "Next time."
Nowu watched her walked away as she was heading towards Neytiri. The Na'vi princesses handed one of the ropes to her while she gave the other to Jake. He smiled a little and felt like he was happy to see his old childhood friend again.
"Nowu! Come!" Tsu'tey's voice hollered for him.
The young warrior quickly got up and head towards him and the other warriors, but then turned back as he was still looking at Mirabel.
Somewhere at a river near the Hometree, the direhorses were eating necter from the flowers as they were using their tongues to get the sweetness. Mirabel finds them so interesting that their tongues look so much like an anteater. Only instead of bugs, it's only the sweet necter of honey. As Mirabel, Neytiri, and Jake stopped at the exact spot for training, Jake stood close to one of the direhorses as he looked nervous. From the expression that Mirabel could tell, the soldier never rode a direhorse or a horse to be exact. To be honest, Mirabel never rode one either.
"Easy boy." Jake spoke softly to the direhorse but Neytiri shook her head.
"Pale is female." she pointed as she petted the direhorse.
"Okay. Easy girl." said Jake as he was correcting his words and slowly got on her back.
Mirabel was petting the other direhorse, which is actually a male by the dark colors, but continued to watch Jake as he grabbed a hold of his braid with his queue and connected it to the creature's antennae. The direhorse's pupils dilate and eyes wide, causing her to go wild and winnies nervously, but Neytiri putted the creature to calm her down in her native tongue.
"That is shahaylu. The bond." Neytiri explains as she looked at him. "Feel her. Feel her
heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong legs."
Jake closes his eyes as he started to feel the direhorse's heart and the strength of the legs. Mirabel listened to her friend for a moment and gently grabbed the male direhorse's antennae with her queue. As they are connected, the direhorse did the same reaction as the female but Mirabel calmed him down in native tongue. The young avatar starts feeling everything from the creature.
"You may tell her what to do. Inside" Neytiri said to Jake as she was talking about the mind. "For now, say where to go."
"Forward!"
The female direhorse launches into a gallop. Jake tries holding onto the antennae, but he flops around and throwns to the ground. Neytiri and Mirabel laughed at the scene as Jake was covered in mud. As the soldier avatar was about to get up and Neytiri rushed past to retrieve the creature, Tsu'tey and the hunters, including Nowu, gallopped towards the three and stopped in front of Jake.
"You should go away." Tsu'tey spoke to Jake as he glared at him.
"No, you missed me." Jake joked as he smirked at the warrior and Neytiri came back with the direhorse. "I knew you could speak English."
"This alien will learn nothing..." Tsu'tey scoffed in native tongue as he was speaking to the princess, "A rock sees more. Look at him."
Neytiri chuckled at Jake as he was brushing the dirt off of him. As the warriors continued to ride on their direhorses, Nowu looks back to see Mirabel as she was smiling but then looked away.
"Mirabel... you're turn." Neytiri spoke to her friend.
Mirabel closed her eyes as she was feeling the male direhorse more until she decided what she wants the male to go.
"Slowly forward." she spoke to him.
The direhorse starts trotting forward as Mirabel hanged on to the antennaes and trying not to fall, but in the girl's heart she felt of doing more.
"Now go back, but fast."
The creature turned around and start galloping towards to where Neytiri and Jake were.
"Okay, stop." she said to him and the direhorse slowly stopped and neighed a little.
Mirabel looked to see Neytiri smiling at her while Jake had his jaw dropped as he was stunned, but his mind would say that she's a showoff. The young avatar giggled until the Na'vi princess spoke to her.
"You always fast to learn." she spoke to her and then turned to Jake as he finally brushed off the last of the dirt on him. "Again."
A moment later, back at Hell's Gate, Mirabel was in the lab with her mother and Norm. They were waiting for Max as he was bringing Jake over. He was at the center talking to Quaritch and Selfridge. Mirabel was still not liking it at all. She still has a feeling that they were up to something. Perhaps next time, she'll have a word with Neytiri about it. Or Tsu'tey if he warms up to her and Jake. Or even the chief. Maybe time will tell, but who knows.
"Mira... Mira!" Grace's voice spoke as Mirabel was snapped back into reality. "You finished packing?"
"Yes, I did." Mirabel smiled as she looked at her. "It's been a while since I was at the site."
"Well, you know that we're taking Norm and the marine, right."
"I know."
Grace smiled at her daughter and patted her shoulder.
"Get your stuff ready. We'll meet with Trudy."
"Yes, ma'am." she replied and quickly dashed off down the hall, but also notice Max coming in without Jake.
Mirabel was curious why he isn't with him, but she'll think on that later as she continued walking. She finally reached to her room as she quickly grabbed her bag and her tech gear in a case and quickly dashed out of her room, but then stopped as she felt like she forgotten something. She quickly went back to her room and got to her computer. Checking to see if all the securities on her video diaries and personal research are safe and secure.
"Okay." she whispers to herself. "Good so far."
Turns out that her videos are locked and secured with a password that she put in. Making sure that no one goes in and looks at them. For some reason, what she learned, was that Selfridge and anyone at the center could go through videos of the scientists that they learned. Or so she heard but decided to keep them blocked from anyone.
Once that was set, Mirabel quickly grabbed her bags again and starts leaving her room to the Armor Bay. But while she was walking, she stopped for a moment as she looked through a side window, seeing a different room from the distance. She saw Quaritch in the room, talking to a woman with blonde hair. She started to realize that the woman is his wife. Don't know if she feels sorry for her to be married by a monster or something else in her mind, but she wasn't so sure what it was.
She quickly continued walking, hoping that the colonel didn't notice her until she finally reached to the Armor Bay as she quickly brought her mask out. Once she entered, it was safe for everyone to not wear masks, but it won't be for long once the gates are open. She finally spotted Trudy with her aircraft, but she was also with Grace, Norm, and Jake.
"There you are." Grace spoke as she spotted her daughter. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry. I had to check on something. But I'm here." she replied and then looked at the aircraft to see her mom's and Norm's unconscious avatars in the back.
"Come on, we're burning light. Let's go." said Trudy and everyone quickly hop in but also helped Jake as he was in his wheelchair.
Mirabel was already buckled in with her seat, feeling the excitement inside of her. She hasn't seen the Hallelujah Mountains for like two years since the school tragic, but she'll happy to go back to see the view and her room in Site 26. Once everyone was buckled up and the aircraft starts lifting up, Mirabel smiled more as the gates are opened.
To Be Continued...
