Invisible String - Jake Sully

21

The tension was high in the communal area. The people were angry, scared and anxious. They didn't know what this meant or how to react to the slander of their fellow tulkun.

They wanted to fight back for the safety of their village and their tulkuns. The sky people declared war on their territory and they wouldn't let that slide.

Tawn felt angry and anxious. The moment the sky people killed Roa and her calf, it became personal to her, whether they did it intentionally or not.

Her protective instinct went haywire, and adrenaline coursed through her. 

"This cannot go for long now," Tonowari's voice thundered through the area, yells of encouragement from the warriors and villagers adding fuel to the fire, "we let them hunt our tulkuns brothers and sisters without batting an eye," he continued his eyes ran over the people, "this time we fight back, we will no longer let them push us around!" cheers erupted, "We fight for our brothers and sisters, and we fight for our home!"

Tawn joined in the cheers, feeling motivated by his speech. 

As for Jake, he stood next to Tawn with unease in his eyes. He knew this was targeted at him. Quaritch was getting closer to him. If the village fought back, he'd know where he was, and he'd come here to burn the village to the ground just like the last one.

Jake's gaze moved to Tawn, watching her cheer with her clan.

Suddenly an awful realisation came crashing down like a bucket of cold water, bringing him to the harsh reality that he hadn't told her the truth. Tawn didn't know that he was being hunted by the sky people, that the reason they killed Ronal's tulkun was because of him. He did this. He did it again, just like before with Neytiri.

Jake couldn't stand there and watch them die. He needed to do something.

"Stop! Listen!" Jake yelled through the hoots and shouts.

"Jake! What are you doing?" Tawn hissed, gripping his arm tightly.

Jake turned to her, "just listen to me," he said softly before turning to the people.

"I know you wanted to fight, but we mustn't make haste for it," he shouted, "we have to understand how they think! If we bring them the war, we would only lose and they will continue what they're doing!" Gasps were heard from the people, "they didn't care about the balance of life. This is only the beginning!"

Tawn was worried now. Did they have to endure this brutality until they left? What about the future of her unborn child? Would they grow up in a hostile pandora, not even safe for their own kind?

Tawn could feel Kiri's fingers lacing through her own, grounding her back on the surface. She turned her gaze to Kiri, smiling down at her gratefully.

"You need to tell the tulkuns to leave! Tell them to go far away and don't come back until they are gone!" Jake ended his discourse, earning the sounds of disapproval from the village.

"That is outrageous Jake Sully!" Ronal warned, her eyes glaring at her sister's mate with rage, "you lived here for so long and yet you learned nothing of us!"

Tonowari shared his mate's disapproval, looking at Tawn with exasperation.

"We have to fight for our brothers and sisters!" a warrior cried, earning a chorus of war cries from the clan.

Tawn shook her head in disdain at her mate. She was so disappointed with him.

"No, if we fight back, they will take everything, even the one you love," Jake pleaded. 

When no one seemed to hear him, he grabbed the tracker from Neteyam's hand and brought it up for the people to see, "you tell your tulkuns if they are hit by one of these, they are marked for death," he said making sure the people knew the gravity of the situation.