Dancing In The Moonlight

7. Wainfleet

"Yes, Jake, that's it! That's it!" 

Mairi felt like her face was going to split in half with how widely she was smiling. She stood with Tsu'tey, Ka'ani, Saeyla, and another Na'vi man who she hadn't caught the name of, watching Jake battle with his ikran. He'd finally made the bond. Neytiri hurried over to him, speaking to him in low tones and pushing the ikran to face the edge of the cliff. 

"Think, fly!" Neytiri shouted.

"Fly?" Jake asked, confusion in his tone. Neytiri ducked down as the ikran launched itself and Jake over the cliff. 

It was beautiful. The journey up to the banshee rookery had been breathtaking. Tsu'tey had kept shouting at her to keep up because she kept getting distracted.

"Holy shit!" Mairi laughed as she jumped down to stand with Neytiri, her eyes on Jake in the sky. She could hear him screaming as the ikran flew them into rock. "At least I know what not to do." 

Today was the day. 

She had no idea how the fuck they'd managed to get that far. 

It was nearer three months. Three months since Jake had entered her life and just refused to leave. They were together almost all of the time. Their deal had stayed true. They'd used the boundaries, the rules that she'd made up. Jake was a great fucking lay. Knew exactly where to touch her, how to turn her on, had the filthiest fucking mouth she'd ever heard in her entire life. She knew he'd been lying. 

Not that she could comment on it. She gave it back to him just as much. 

But somewhere along the way, the rules had slipped. The line had blurred. She was enjoying herself. And she'd done the one thing she'd specifically said she wasn't going to do. 

She'd went and fucking fallen in love with him. 

And she was too selfish to tell him because she didn't want to end what they had. 

It would be fine. It was just because of the sex. That's what she kept telling herself. The last friends with benefits she had only lasted about three weeks. Not nearly enough time to start to love someone. 

She was around him twenty four seven. They went to sleep together in the same bed in both bodies. Mairi joined his training sessions more often than not because she and Tsu'tey were finished with hers. They snuck off after training to shag and there had been multiple times Neytiri had asked if she was alright because she kept walking funny. 

Mairi had told her it was because she was tired. Which wasn't entirely untrue. 

They had meals together. They went foraging together. He assisted her on the odd occasion that she went hunting herself. They bathed together. They went pa'li riding together, much to Jake's dismay. She taught him the language. He taught her fighting techniques. She taught him how to play rugby. He taught her how to handle a gun. She taught him how to make accessories. He made her an arm bracelet. She taught him how to braid. He rebraided her hair with Neytiri's help. Poor fucker spent nearly three hours on it before Neytiri took over completely. Grace had been so worried that something had been wrong when they came out of the link. 

Grace had been allowed back into the village. It had brought a tear to Mairi's eye. She had to remove herself before being able to actually speak to her. 

Jake had done his first clean kill two days ago. It had only been a matter of time before Tsu'tey took them to the Hallelujah Mountains to complete their iknimaya. 

And now they were here. Joy for Jake suddenly dispersed as she realised that it would soon be her turn. 

Neytiri gripped Mairi's chin, nodded and smiled at her, and then ran back underneath the waterfall to get to Seze and fly to meet Jake.