Hello and Thank you to all my dear readers who put up long enough with me and my story to still read this.

I don't really have anything to say in my defence other than life happens. I promised myself my studies would always take priority (and they did) but I never anticipated getting back into the writing flow would be so hard.

I'd like to thank all of you who have the patience to wait for the next chapters or those who leave comments. They motivated me so much to continue.

But I don't want to make you wait any longer. I humbly present the slightly shorter chapter: Sworn Revenge.

Warning: This chapter is bloody and full of bad emotions and minor character death.

Chapter 24

Kimat rubbed her weary eyes as she sleepily gazed at the morning sky. The sun had yet to rise after her second night watch in a row. These shifts were especially hard each time. The barrage of once fond, now hurtful memories would haunt her at night, along with the image of a wildly grinning man, whom she had lost nearly three moons ago.

The morning would bring relief from her worries and a smile to her face. She didn't feel less lonely, no, loneliness only faded with a look over her shoulder, to the peacefully sleeping faces of her two children. The light and Eywa's artwork of colours along the horizon would send her into a serene state of meditation while everyone else was still asleep. It wouldn't be long from now until the others would arise.

The first glimmer of sun slowly climbed out of the softly rocking waves and like every morning she was able to imagine that the heat would come from a strong embrace instead of the sun.

He had loved the sun where others would get weary of it's unrelenting heat. Especially when they were on wide open waters, travelling on their boats. They were only a small caravan of seven boats that travelled faster than the big merchant lines, though the bigger caravans could afford to also transport decent sun covers on their larger boats.

Kimat waved her hand when she noticed Gurem, her neighbour was up as well. She received a kind smile from the elder man before he silently went to his trunk to retrieve some food for their Ilu which softly floated in front of the boats. The kind animals would find proper rest for the next night when they would finally arrive at their destination near Awa'atalu.

The many reef clans in the area were so welcoming and kind, Kimat could even see herself living with them like she once had. Her children would be glad for the opportunity to make close friends again who weren't weathered sailors. It was the place she grew up in before she followed her mate out on the water, but with him gone It wouldn't be safe for her anymore. He had been the experienced sailor and they had learned to work as a team, but never her alone. Her son tried to step up for his fathers chores, but even so they would exhaust themselves in seconds with only slightly stormy weather going on. A week after her mate's passing she had decided to leave the caravan and was met with sadness and confounding empathy.

They had asked her where she would want to live with her kids and her wish became their command. The course for the Islands around Awa'atalu was set and they would ask for shelter in every clan if they needed to, just to see her family taken good care of.

Kimat had cried for hours in gratitude, hugging each of her caravan family members until they kindly waved her off to get going already. Chores were a constant within their community.

All hours of the day the boats and Ilu had to be steered and maintained and the people fed with what they had fished for. Kimat usually didn't get the physically demanding chores except for the night shifts she had volunteered for.

No, Kimat was their singer. Where other caravans carried goods their caravan shared stories. Her job was to turn the information they gathered into songs. Her talented but young son, Lou, loved to hear her sing and usually insisted to help her with the melodies and words. She half suspected he'd done so to get away from his other chores, but her mate had loved the picture of them performing songs together so much, he easily allowed the boy to spend his time as he preferred and Kimat didn't mind the company at all.

Especially when her first child, her daughter Lyan, preferred diving above anything else. She was more fish than Na'vi, her mate used to joke, but when their daughter trained her diving to the point where she could spend over an hour underwater it was less a joke but more a fact.

Kimat turned back to the horizon to admire the small and now visible shoes of the first islands. It would be good to get some distance from the great woods and the skypeople. After all they had taken from her what she loved most next to Lou and Lyan.

Ao'nung and Lo'ak were goofing off near the Tsurak feeding places and excitedly discussing when and how they would tame one of their own some day. They had finished the scouting for their algae populations and tried to just enjoy some down time. Usually Ao'nung would have used every chance to boost either is age or experience over the slightly younger teen, but the last weeks had seemingly humbled him. The few talks he had overheard about the similarities between Lo'ak and his teacher, when he was younger had intrigued him and now he was much more open to honestly befriend the other teen for his own merits.

They were both ranking some of the Tsurak attributes they preferred like speed or strength, when they noticed a lone Ilu speeding towards the shore near them. With barely a look and a shared feeling of unease they both stood up and jogged to the beach where they found a frantic looking boy with some of the exotic accessories Ao'nung recognised from one of the sailing tribes. A colourful and tightly wrapped cloth covering his braided and beaded hair. Leather gloves that only left out the last finger with the swimming membrane, that looked slightly ripped and bloody.

The boy had a hard time breathing from the exertion of sailing here and the streams of tears covering his cheeks.

"Please…*cough* Let me speak to Tonowari. Let me speak to the chief. Please help!" He chocked out with the most devastated expression Ao'nung had seen in his life. He moved on instinct when he came up to the strangers side to help him up.

"Come, I can show you to him" He announced to placate the boy and he blessed Lo'ak, when he saw his friend already sprinting to the council tent, probably to tell their parents of the boy.

"My name is Ao'nung, we will get you help immediately. Can you tell me your name?" He spoke, trying for the reassuring tone he had heard from his mother when she was treating wounded children. The other just nodded his head with exhaustion and pain written all over.

"Lou, my name is Lou." The boy said before his knees began buckling so Ao'nung was now mainly carrying his weight.

He was glad that only seconds later he could make out the forms of his parents rushing towards them. They were nearly in earshot when Lou beside him suddenly cried out:" Chief! We were attacked. Please you must help us! My…mothe-" he croaked out and Ao'nung was now struggling to keep his heavily shivering body upright. Eventually his sluggish struggles to get closer to the adults brought both of them to their knees. He grunted out in annoyance but also dread. Why was the boy so desperate?

He watched his father's face turn into alarm while his mother had a deep frightening scowl disfiguring her's. People around started whispering and the physical weight that was pulling him down, all this didn't keep Ao'nung from noticing the the near blank expression of his teacher who reached up to his throat and grabbed the twin stones around his neck.

Ao'nung never felt that much dread for his and the clans future. The skypeople were close now.

The boy's name was Lou and his family got attacked on open sea. Ao'nung couldn't find out much more before his mother took the child to rest in one of their tents. Minutes later she came back out to the agitated crowd, telling them how the boy would be a refugee in their village and should be treated with kindness. The sky people had attacked and they would need to look for survivors beyond the reef.

As soon as she had finished speaking Neytiri stepped forward in her eerie way of walking. Sometimes he was sure she was floating rather than walking.

"Let me and some other Ikran riders go first. We can tell you if it is save to look for survivors." She asked and surprisingly she received stern nods from both of his parents. His teacher's mate didn't waist a second before Lo'ak's crazy aunt and the cool warrior woman were letting out high pitched cries to call for their mounts. They were gone moments later and left an angry silence behind. Another attack on their people. They wouldn't be tolerating any more.

Ao'nung could feel the rage himself and suppressed it so it wouldn't show on his face but with the look Lo'ak gave him he knew he had failed.

But how could he possibly control himself in this situation? How DARE those humans attack them unprovoked? How DARE they hunt for their brothers and sisters like they were mindless beasts when only the skypeople themselves were the mindless ones?

Ao'nung turned around, looking for what to do -what he could do- and saw his teacher move away from the group, hiding the small form of Spider behind his legs. He had never met another human other than Spider… would the others look like him? They would wear those masks and paint themselves with stripes? Lo'ak had told him that Spider was different from other humans, he was more Na'vi than anyone else. And despite those tales Ao'nung felt hate rushing through his veins when he caught another glimpse of the light brown skin.

He knew Spider was his friends Brother but the pain made it hard for him to accept. Spider was innocent, yet his race was not. Ao'nung knew he would fight them to his last if he could.

Tom's mind felt blurry and swollen with the amount of painkillers Ian managed to get for him. Half of it must have been illegal or stolen if the man's expression spoke for anything, though he wasn't complaining. No he was really far from complaining about a damn break from life right now.

Maybe around his first death as a human… was it just him or did he sound like some apathetic deity with the curse of immortality? First death, second, third. Better not deal with it like the totally responsible, self reflected and stable minded adult might have once been.

Maybe regular torture was not all that good for ones metal health. Maybe he should act in a marketing video, to tell people that torture is bad and drugs are good. Maybe he should stop thinking all these cursed thoughts all together.

Basically, Tom was not sad to be drugged up to the gills, because he was not ready to deal with all the pain his body was probably in. He should consult with Mo'at just to be sure he wouldn't die in the next couple days, but that could prove to become difficult with his circumstances right now. Each day was pain and suffering and then causing pain and suffering for the magnificent creatures of Pandora the disgusting little man was hunting like it was a sport. Then there was the pain and suffering he caused the poor village where he had dropped Spider off.

Hopefully he hadn't killed his Nephew with that stunt… a stunt that put him in the position he was in now. A stunt which could be partly responsible for Maya's death. A plan Tom had pulled out of his ass, when he recognised the chance.

Good Eywa, please let his thoughts be quiet now, nothing good would come from it, except he would wish for less drugs to feel the pain he'd deserve to feel. And he did certainly deserve it all if the blood of Norm, Maya and Spider stuck to his still alien looking big blue hands.

His hands that held on to two small vials of golden liquid, one extracted from a space whale, the other a synthesised version of it. The glowing screen in front of him showed how the analytic system showed the same properties for both in the major components, and slight differences with the lesser components.

He had worked on this for many hours. Tom couldn't exactly tell how many hours, but what time he didn't spend being harassed, drugged or watching pure carnage on the hunts, he was working on this.

The disgusting little man made sure to come by each day to ask for progress and Tom usually let Ian do the talking. He was in no state to tolerate such angry stupidity, so he just glared and held up a hand to his throat, which was raw from screaming every day. The disgusting little man had the audacity to look annoyed with him.

The next time he would give him the formula to his synthesised version of Amrita. Tom was unsure if this would mean he would be killed afterwards but the colonel still gloated about the fact he would be used to go after Jake. He would make sure to execute Tom in front of Jake, just for his revenge.

Maybe Tom should kill himself and take himself out of the equation? It could be beneficial considering the situation but Tom knew deep down he couldn't do it.

He was a Sully and he would fight until the very last moment if he needed to. He would do so in every life he was given and this one was was no different.

Suddenly two Soldiers stormed into the Lab and grabbed him by the arms.

"The Colonel want's to see you." One of them said, and Tom was certain the reason couldn't be good.

It was madness. Sheer utter but undeniable madness. People she had known ever since her mating so many happy years ago were now sinking to the ground of the sea in plumes of read water, hiding their scared faces. Kimat was the only one left, crying in both physical but also emotional pain. She had thought her world broken to pieces the day her mate had passed. How wrong she had been. No her world now was ripped to shreds. The most important pieces were either send of with their only Ilu, minutes before the grey bird of death had reached them. Lyan had urged her brother to take the kind animal to flee and had doves deep into the sea. With hear threshold she would be able to last way longer than those monsters appeared to want to waste on them. Kimat had stayed on the boat. She was neither a good swimmer nor a good rider of Ilu, so she had sent her children off, sensing the immediate danger. At first the monsters hidden behind the visages of forest people had attempted to ask them for something. They had shown them a glowing picture of the man who had stood right behind him. One person, Sonab, their navigator, had ben brave enough to point to the obviously horrified man who looked just like the man on the picture. With a single loud clap Sonab crumbled and slipped into the water, blood tainting the waters.

Streams of outrage sounded seconds later and Kimat had begun to whimper in fear. If she would ever have to sing of those people she would do so with screams. Screams of pain, hatred and disgust.

Another person fell into the sea, but Kimat didn't see who it was. Instead the monster at the front began talking in their language, though his words were deformed and broken.

"Do you know this man?" He had asked. No one was able to answer.

The man who looked like the picture now spoke in their alien language. His voice was rough, but she distinctly recognised the sings of a singer. It seemed he was pleading with the monster, going of his tone and gestures. This man seemed calm and submissive, but something about him gave her chills. Something about him was wrong, even more so than his fifth finger or small eyes.

She was unable to pinpoint what it was before the man was brutally punched to the ground. Shortly after a tiny, rose coloured being stepped up hissing out words she was unable to understand. The monster left off his prey, turned back around and stated a question which made her guts rebel with terror.

"Who is your singer?" At first she could barely understand him. The others of her tribe looked similarly confused and frightened, so she couldn't blame them for looking at her when the understood. Sadly they only noticed their mistake when the monster had done so as well. Three more loud claps sounded and more people she had considered her family fell.

The monster now directly looked at her, motioning her to step forward as much as she could on the small boat she was still standing on.

"Tell me." He demanded. "Tell me what you know about this man." His accent was so thick and the blood rushing through her ears so loud she barely got what he had said. What was she supposed to do? She knew nothing, but feared he would kill her and the others if she didn't speak. She wrecked her brain for words to say, anything that would make him believe… For the first time she considered telling something untrue. Something made up.

"He flew by us on his flying beast." She stammered. One of the only things she honestly knew about the forest people were their magnificent flying companions. She had seen them once, when she visited the distant shores to the great woods with her tribe.

"He was alone, travelling directly east to the lone islands." She continued. Kimat looked up into a cruel grin of the monster. His former prey, still beaten on the floor softly shook head and closed his eyes with something akin to desperation.

"You are not truth." The monster stated, butchering her language but still transmitting his knowledge of her deceit. Kimat felt broken and empty when more loud claps went off, more screams were heard and more bodies collapsed all around her.

She had failed them. She had caused their deaths. She would probably die as well now.

The last thought she had were of her beautiful children. She prayed Eywa would keep them safe from this madness, but before she could finish her plea she felt a piercing pain in her chest, before there was only light.

Then there were many voices, welcoming her into the heart of Eywa.

It wasn't pretty was it? Well what can you do when the setting is a steadily growing war/genocide.

I'd absolutely love to read some replies and thoughts of yours on the matter. What did you think of Kimat? I was somewhat unsure if I should include her story or not? Was her depiction too detailed/ not detailed enough to emphasise with her on an emotional level?

I have so many questions I would like to ask, but they will blow this chapter out of proportion.

Most important of all: Stay safe and healthy. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas this Year :D