𐌄𐌋𐌙𐌉𐌍Ᏽ Ꮤ𐌉𐌕𐋅 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌍𐌌𐌀𐌕𐌉𐌊𐌀𐌙𐌀 (Aᕓ𐌀𐌕𐌀𐌓𐋄𐌍𐌂𐌔)

\\ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟡//

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"Nathan~!? Nathanial, can you hear me?"

Forcing his eyes to focus, Nate blinked multiple times to wet his dry eyes. Grace and Max's faces loom over him.

"Wha~ Ahmm" Nate tried to speak but found his voice failing him due to his throat being as dry as the desert on a hot afternoon.

"Mhmm uhh, what time is it?" Nate asked placing his arms on the sides of the chamber and pulling himself up.

"A little after 11," Grace answered.

"Jake... Is Jake ok?" Nate asked, trying to peer over his chamber to Jake's.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Jake's hand appeared in the air, though Nate couldn't see the rest of him.

He was still in his chamber, though more awake than Nate at the moment.

"Damn, you two were dug in like ticks." Grace jokes.

"Are the avatars safe?" She then asked, looking between her two Lakies.

"Yeah, Doc, and you are not going to believe where we are." Jake laughs with a huge grin on his face.

At breakfast the next day, the other drivers lean forward, hanging on Grace's re-telling of the tale.

"So, the kids are out there one night, and they got the Queen B*tch herself offering them the spare room and the car keys... Unbelievable!" Grace complains, shaking her head in disbelief.

"It's not something you can teach," Jake comments with a smile.

Some of the other scientists clap Jake and Nate on the shoulders in congratulation.

"That's awesome guys." Max smiled.

Norm chomps his bacon, fuming, unimpressed that both Nate and Jake, two former marines who had not even half his training got to live within the Na'vi village while he had to watch from the sidelines.

"For reasons I can not fathom, the Omatikaya have chosen you. God help us all." Grace spoke seriously for a second, her eyes cast at Jake.

Back in the Bio Lab Jake pumps his chair across the lab, flanked by Grace Norm and Nate. Grace holds stereo still pictures in front of him, one at a time, images of clan members she has shot over the years appear, a kind of flashcard drill for Nate and Jake.

"Mo'at... Dragon lady," Jake calls before Grace changes the picture.

"Eytucan~" Jake calls, however, his pronunciation is off.

"Eytukan!" Nate corrects.

"He's the clan leader, but she's the spiritual leader," Grace stated before referring back to Mo'at.

"Like a shaman." She added.

"Got it," Jake nodded rolling toward his link.

"Ke'Kaya." He answers as Grace pulled up the next picture.

Nate paused as he stared at the smiling face of his teacher. She really looked like a butterfly when she was happy. He smiled, the AllMother was right to give her bioluminescence in the shape of one.

"Tsu'tey.," Jake looks at the picture on Grace's screen, pulling himself up into his chamber.

"He'll be the next clan leader."

Grace changes the picture, the last one, and hands the monitor back to Jake.

"Neytiri," He answers softly, staring at the picture.

"She'll be the next Tsahik, they become a mated pair," Grace informs Jake and Nate as they prepare to head back into their Avatar bodies.

"So who's this Eywa?" Jake inquires.

"Who's Eywa?" Norm chirps in dramatically.

"Only their deity... The Great Mother. Their goddess, made up of all living things~ Everything they know... You'd know that if you had any training whatsoever~" Norm exclaims.

"Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?" Jake swings back showing off Neytiri's beautiful picture to Norm.

"Oh come on! That's not a~" Norm throws his hand up as he tries to deny the statement.

"Knock it off... Jesus, it's like kindergarten around here..."

As Jake and Nate settle into the soft embrace of their links, Grace inputs commands at the control station.

"Neytiri was one of my best students. She and her sisters Ke'Kaya and Sylwanin. Just... Amazing girls." Grace reminisces as she helps Nate prep his Link.

"We didn't meet the other one," Jake calls out.

"No, she's dead," Grace replies quietly.

Jake and Nate share a sad look as the link room seems to go quiet for a few seconds.

"Okay, let's go, village life starts early." Grace pulls herself together, pushing Jake and Nate to get into their link chambers.

"Link is ready," Max called out from behind the monitors.

"Okay, Nathanial behave, play nice, and you," Grace lowers the bio-sensor array over Jake's chest.

"Don't do anything unusually stupid." She tells Jake.

Jake smiles as he closes the clamshell, and he and Nate are transported back into the forest. Nate blinks awake, staring straight up at Hometree, like a gothic cathedral overhead. Sunlight streams down through gaps in the towering vault. Slowly he sat up, his heart skipping a beat when he felt the hammock under him sway violently, reminding him how high he was, and how easy it would be to fall to his death. Nate turned his head, watching Jake haphazardly get to his knees, shaking and shivering as he steadily climbed onto the stable branch serving as the stronghold the hammocks hung off. Nate pushed at the webbed piece of hammock above his head, watching it slowly shrink back to his right before he cautiously got to his knees, pulling himself up onto the walkway branch.

"Where are the girls?" Jake asked, doing a 360 on his axis as he looked around.

"Maybe they're on the ground level already,"

"Oh wait, here comes the Ke'Kaya," Jake spoke quickly.

Nate turned to face the same way as Jake, watching as Ke'Kaya walked toward them. Her ears were tilted down slightly as she approached, and her large golden eyes darted over the floor for a second before up toward Jake and Nate. Nate noticed that she had a bright orange eye-guard resting on her forehead, her tightly braided hair sporting orange beads and feathers instead of the beige and white ones she had the previous night. She wore what looked like a t-shirt made of thin gold wire and a light grey loin cloth.

"Good morning," Nate nodded once as Ke'Kaya paused in front of the two Avatars.

"Morning," Jake mimicked, his hair bobbing in his face.

"My sister waits for you below. Lessons are to begin, go," Ke'Kaya spoke to Jake, gesturing a hand toward the spiral staircase and sidestepping to allow the taller male to pass.

Nate and Jake shared a look quickly before Jake headed toward the spiral. Jake walked like he was unsure of where to step, his tail swaying with life. His ears stood straight momentarily as he turned to lock eyes with Nate one last time before beginning his descent to the lower level.

Ke'Kaya blinked, looking up at the taller before turning and walking away.

"Come," She spoke, heading up the spiral.

"Oh~" Nate stumbled as he quickly followed.

"Are we not going with them?" Nate lifted his eyes to the female before him.

"No. We head up, I want to show you what you work toward," Ke'Kaya looked back over her shoulder at her student.

Nate swallowed hard, his ears flattening against his loosely threaded hair while he followed the Na'vi princess up Hometree.