Starting New

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Chapter 10

We landed at a base of a grassy valley near the edge of the forest. Jake slid off the animal and walked blindly towards one direction. I watched him vaguely for a moment, totally lost in what to do and how to help. I followed him moments later.

Jake had sat down under a tree and had his hands over his face and his knees pulled up.

“Jake?”

He breathed in deeply a few times and looked up at me. He shook his head and sniffled. Jake squeezed his hands against the side of his head and made a low groan in the back of his throat. I kneeled down next to him and ran my hand through his hair.

“I don’t know what happened. Everything just went to hell…and there’s no good reason.”

“I know.”

“I don’t understand. How can they do this? How can they tie us up and throw us out. We didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to be with you. There were no law books saying I couldn’t be with you.”

“But there was something…wasn’t there?” I questioned.

The last few days Jake had seemed worried to say the least. It started way back when Mo’at had first allowed me to take plant samples. He had seemed edgy when I returned late and had even said I shouldn’t be out alone. Then later Jake he taught me to use the bow and arrow. I still don’t think that was for hunting. He even admitted that it was for protection.

“Xanos and the others had been acting strange. They were plotting something, I could tell. I just didn’t know what or when. I didn’t want to say anything to anybody about it. It could have been nothing. I just—I just didn’t think they would go after us like that. And when they shot you out of the tree I thought for the worst. You just lay there on the ground and your eyes had rolled back into your head. I thought you were dead.”

“I’m alright, Jake,” I said, rubbing his back briefly and sighing deeply, “What about you?”

He looked down idly and stared at the gash in his chest, “It stings.”

I took his hand away from it and studied the long slash, “Lay down.”

“Huh?”

“Lay down,” I instructed again and pulled out the few items I held in my satchel, “I will put something on it.”

He lay down as I told him and stared at the night sky. He was quiet as I rubbed some of the reed lotion on the wound. The bleeding had slowed, but it still needed more tending to. I looked at the glowing of his face in the darkness and the sadness in his eyes haunted me.

“It should help with the sting,” I whispered and looked back at his face.

His expression was neutral and he continued to avoid my eyes. Small wet trails fell from his eyes. I clasped my mouth shut and decided whether or not to lay with him. I ended up lying down and curling next to him, pulling my tail up to my bottom. After many minutes of silence he looked over at me, rubbing at his eyes and sniffling.

“I’m sorry, Norm,” He said softly.

I turned onto my side and rubbed his tears away, “It’s alright. I know. It wasn’t your fault.”

He just nodded and leaned into the touch. I gently ran my fingers through his hair, fingering the beads in his hair and then pulled him close. He seemed grateful for the embrace, as the night was cold, and put his other arm around me, also. We fell asleep together for the first time that chilly night. I felt safe in his arms, but unsure of the environment around me.

I woke up later, right before the sun came up and looked over at him. He was still sleeping peacefully, his face nestled against my shoulder. I didn’t want to wake him, but I was afraid we might be seen. We were still sitting pretty far out in the open. I shook him slightly and he inhaled, blinking large golden eyes at me curiously.

“We should at least go back to base. They can fix you up there. That wound could get infected-”

He shook his head and sat up, stretching.

“We can’t go back. That will be the first place they’ll expect us to go,” He explained.

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, Norm. I never thought I’d be in this predicament.”

“Should we try to find another tribe?”

He stood up shakily and looked out at the open valley, “I don’t know what else to do. But, we can’t ride Shadow during the day.”

“Shadow?”

He smiled a bit and nodded, “My Toruk. She’s so big and easy to spot. They would shoot her down—or at least attempt to. We’ll have to wait until night. They don’t ride at night.”

I agreed to wait and we moved further into the forest and out of sight. Jake settled upon a large boulder and I walked around, trying to find some useful plants for our injuries. I found a plant not far away that could be used as an antibiotic. It could be eaten orally or crushed to spread upon a wound. I plucked off a few leaves and gave them to Jake. He cringed at the sour taste but dutifully ate a few leaves. I took off a few more leaves and found a rock. I crushed the leaves into tiny particles and picked them up in my hands. I sprinkled some onto Jake’s chest wound and then onto the gash underneath his eye.

“How’s your head?” He asked.

“Hurts like a bitch.”

He gave a halfhearted laugh and put a hand on my shoulder, “Let me see.”

I turned around and kneeled down so he could see the damage. I felt him feeling around in my hair and he came upon a large knot just above my left ear. I cringed and pulled away.

“You hit the ground so hard. I wasn’t so surprised that it knocked you out.”

“I was shocked,” I looked down and then back at him though squinting eyes, “The sun hurts my eyes. I think I gave a migraine.”

I sat down next to him and he put an arm around my waist.

“Maybe you should lie down,” He suggested.

“Where?”

“Here,” He said, pulling my other shoulder down. I lay my head on his lap and curled up close to him. He ran his hand through my hair, careful not to touch the injury. I closed my eyes, grateful for the gentle touch and relaxed.

“I feel like the only thing I have left on this world is you,” He said softly.

I turned slightly and looked into his eyes.

“I didn’t want this for us, Norm. I had such a good future planned for us. I had imagined so many happy things and now…”

“We did have happy times, Jake. I hope we will have more.”

I rested for a while, but did not sleep. I listened to the birds chirping around us. I heard small animals calling to each other in the forest. Jake continued to run his fingers through my hair. I could feel his hands moving together and felt him plaiting small braids into the long strands. I probably could have stayed there with him, just like that, forever. I got up about a half hour later when my stomach began to growl.

“We should find some food.”

“Where?”

“I saw some a fruit tree nearby. Let me go see if I can find something.”

“Alright. Don’t go far.”

I nodded and took off, suddenly grateful to have my bow and arrow with me. Jake must have felt better about my new skills too. I wandered around a little while and found the tree not too much later. I gathered a few of the round, fleshy, violet fruit and headed back to Jake.

Not a second later after finding Jake did the fruit fall carelessly out of my hands.

A blue, female warrior stood in front of Jake, holding a dagger. Jake looked shocked and struggled to find his own weapon, which was lying down on the ground. My eyes almost bugged out of my head as I quickly aimed my arrow at her.

“Put down your weapon,” I instructed, speaking Omaticayan and indicating her knife.

She swung around quickly and seemed to be surprised to find an arrow aimed at the center of her chest.

“Put it down!” I said again with more vigor, pulling back on the string.

She lowered the dagger and looked between us.

“You should quiet,” A voice said from behind me in a dialect of broken Omaticayan.

I jumped slightly and my eyes got wide as I felt the thin tip of another man’s arrow at my own back. I made an expression of displeasure but kept my arrow highly aimed.

“You die for him?” The voice said from behind me, inquiring about Jake.

“Yes,” I replied, with no hesitation.

“He important to you?” The man questioned, “Brother?”

“Important? Yes. Brother. No.”

“Hmm…”

I aimed again and almost released, but a blue arm snaked out from behind me and grabbed my bow, making my arrow wiz off into the trees. I turned around and fought him, throwing a few punches, but he was faster than me. He pushed my shoulder roughly and I ended up sprawled into the dirt. I saw Jake make a move to help me, but the woman leaned forward and hissed. The dagger was aimed for his neck.

“You bad warrior,” The man suddenly said with a chuckle and looked down at me.

He said something to the woman in a different language and she reluctantly lowered her dagger. She cast an insipid gaze at Jake and took a step back. They spoke for a second and he laughed loudly. Both were Na’vi, but dressed more unusual than our tribe. Instead of feathers and beads for decoration, they had long, sharp teeth hanging from around their neck and several body piercings. Their faces were both painted yellow and he bared sharp teeth at what resembled a smile.

“What tribe is yours?” The man questioned me.

I looked at Jake for help, but his gaze showed no inclination.

“We have no tribe.”

“I no believe. You speak Omaticaya,” He said and pulled a knife out of his pocket, “No lie to me.”

I stared at the tip of the blade and looked into his eyes.

“I speak the truth. We were Omaticaya, but were exiled from the tribe.”

“Exiled? Why?”

“Several reasons…many of which did not make sense,” Jake said, carefully scooting his way over to me and lifted his hands in surrender, “Please lower your weapon. We have no way of harming you.”

The knife wavered in his hand for a moment, but he eventually sheathed it once again.

“Why reason?”

I looked at Jake again and decided not to respond. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to make the situation any worse than it already was. We didn’t know who these people were or where they came from. I didn’t think we flew far enough to even encounter another tribe. They weren’t from the Omaticaya. Of that I was sure. I didn’t know who they were.

“Our tribe did not approve of our relationship. We are lovers,” he said, looking back and forth between the two strangers, “We are mated before Eywa.”

“Mated before Eywa?” He questioned, looking back and forth between us, “You both male.”

“Yes.”

I held my breath and waited for a reply. The golden eyes of the stranger held Jake’s gaze momentarily and his brow straightened out after a few seconds. He spoke quickly to the woman who replied back in a questioning voice. He nodded and looked at us once again.

“We are similar circumstance.”