Dancing In The Moonlight

10. Grace

They made the trek to the main Tree of Souls, a place that Neytiri called Vitrautral. It was one of the biggest collection of trees within the Omatikaya territory. On ikran, it seemed to take no time at all. But with over two hundred people, many of them kids, on foot, it took them until eclipse to get there. 

Neytiri stuck to Mairi's side like glue. She couldn't shake the poor girl. Where she went, Neytiri went. The Na'vi woman wouldn't even speak to Tsu'tey, and hadn't said a word to her mother either. Mairi had been the one to tell Mo'at that her mate was dead. 

Evie had flown low above them half way there, squawking loudly to let her know that she was alive. Seze, Neytiri's ikran, had done the same. The beasts had seemed to all fly as one above them, watching their riders with a careful eye. Tsu'tey had flown ahead with a few warriors, and had sorted out a couple of shelters of sort. The teachers of the school had taken ownership of the orphans, and they were all sleeping on top of each other under one roof. The wounded were put into the other, a few healers and the Tsahik tending to their wounds. 

She was tucked up with Neytiri at the back of Vitrautral. Mo'at was praying silently at the base of the trees. Grace's body had been put with the wounded. Tsu'tey was near Mo'at, his gaze cast over the remaining People. 

Neytiri was a physical person. Mairi couldn't even turn her away. She needed touch, even just platonic touch, and Neytiri had been the same. Too wrapped up in the horrors of their own heads. It brought them back down to reality. So that's how Neytiri had ended up in her arms, her forehead tucked into her neck. Mairi's hand was splayed on the back of Neytiri's head. She'd cried herself to sleep.

Mairi couldn't sleep. The link was supposed to be easy to get out of, to just relax and drift off, and you'd be back in your own body in no time. But she couldn't switch off. Neytiri was warm against her face, her soft breath fanning over her collarbone. The comfort alone should have been enough to let her slip under, but she just couldn't. 

It kept replaying in her head. 

Jake's face. His betrayal. The hurt when she'd told him their baby would never know his name. The silence before the wood broke at Hometree's roots and it began falling. The warrior dying in her arms. The woman's blood on her hands. Eytukan's broken body. The embers floating in the air. Fire roaring around her. The smoke so black and dense that it turned the sky dark. Neytiri's wails of agony as she sat with her father. The little boy's screams when he realised his mother was gone. Shouts that were cut off as Hometree landed. 

Where was Jake now? 

She'd told him not to come back. She had no way to contact him. She wasn't sure she wanted to contact him. She hadn't let him explain. But in her head she knew she was just part of his mission. He'd used her to enhance his knowledge, to understand the enemy so he could report it right back to his superiors. 

He'd used her, and he'd lied to her. 

It had been easier for him to convince her that he loved her. Used her for her body and for her knowledge, then told her he loved her to smooth the cracks over. It had been her own fault that she'd believed it. Her own fault that she'd fallen in love with him. 

Who was she kidding? He was human, after all. The Na'vi mating process meant nothing to him. Just the last step in his process to make her trust him. He probably knew about the destruction of the Tree of Souls. He'd lied to her that morning, when he said he didn't know about it. And even if he didn't, he had definitely told them about the significance of the place to the Na'vi. 

Neytiri twitched in her sleep, an agonised groan leaving her. Mairi eased herself back out of her grip and silently got to a crouch. She slipped Neytiri's hair behind her ear and just looked at her for a few moments.