【 CHAPTER EIGHT 】

FLIGHT on the back of an Ikran had been everything Ruth had hoped it to be and more. The wind in her face, the flaps of her mount as they soared in the sky toward Hometree. It was a song to her heart. For a moment, she was able to forget everything that troubled her, Pandora seeming to sigh a lullaby to her the longer she felt in tuned. At some point during the time when Ruth had managed to get a grasp on coordinating with her mount on where to fly, Jake had found her, every bit of exhilaration visible on his features when they'd flown side by side.

The Ikran was far different from the direhorse, it's thoughts and movements more erratic and quick compared to the terrestrial animal's steady and slow nervous system. While their queues were connected, she could feel every part of the animal move. The flaps of her wings, the opening of her fish-like jaw, her four eyes that were incredible for spying prey.

Mid flight, she decided she needed a name to refer to her new companion, therefore she wracked her brain for a few minutes until she managed to come up with one: Denver. The city she was born in back on earth, all in its glory being overpopulated and dirty. Yet, it was still her home and for what it was worth, she still had some good memories back home.

She and Jake had spent a few hours in the sky trying to catch a glimpse of anything and everything they could and at some point the other two young hunters found them on their own Ikran, ensuring that they had also completed the bonding process safely. Later on, Jake peeled away in flight with Neytiri when she found the small group, the other two hunters wandering off and leaving the doctor alone with her mount. To ensure that Tsu'tey was not left behind, Ruth doubled back toward the Ikran nests, landing on the same cliff near the waterfall where she found him waiting for her by himself.

Sliding down from where she'd sat on Denver's back, Ruth disconnected her queue from the Ikran's as she looked up with a broad smile. Leaning her head into Ruth, her Ikran let out a growl that was nothing short of affection toward the woman. Her attention then turned to Tsu'tey, who neared her with a caution necessary anytime one came close to another Ikran.

Ruth might have considered the glimmer in Tsu'tey's eyes admiration when he looked to her. Something in the way he looked at her was different than the typical neutral expression he held. Absentmindedly, her hand ran along the leathery neck of her Ikran. Her ears pinned back as she looked to her feet almost shyly.

"I thought you were going to die," Tsu'tey said above the roar of the waterfall in Na'vi. She had come so close to plummeting to her death, she realized. The adrenaline had been enough to save her life, his yowl of fear having been just another noise in the background as she had wrestled with her Ikran with everything she had.

His concern was enough to make her belly blossom with butterflies, her heart seeming to hum in agreement as she looked back up to him. All this time she had wondered if he'd cared like she did, or if he'd simply offered to teach her out of kindness and principle for her prior friendship with Sylwanin. The rational part of her tried to stay simple minded about it all, because why did this partnership have to be deep? Was she so desperate for some form of change in her life that she was looking for him to be interested in her? She felt like a damn fool. Though, his actions were beginning to prove to her that there was more than what met the eyes.

"I was scared," she admitted as her eyes met his. All of it had happened so fast. She'd come close to death and he'd been scared for her. The more her nerves began to calm, the more she had to fight the urge inside. Tell him, her emotions, her heart whispered. Tell him how you feel.

As much as she desperately wanted to express all of the building feelings she had begun to cultivate toward him, better judgement told her otherwise. The tumultuous sequence of events she'd just went through was not an excuse to cross a line she would otherwise not be able to go back from, but blurring the line was not crossing it. It wasn't, was it?

Moving on to a different subject, she cleared her throat. She knew what was to come next now that she would now be an aerial hunter, but she still asked, "What is next?"

"Uniltaron," Tsu'tey replied. "Dream hunt." Better known as a chemically induced trance caused by the sting of an arachnoid and ingesting a glow worm. A strange ceremony, really, but it was essential to become one of the people. She'd be the first outsider, or the first scientist at least, to take part. She could only imagine what Grace would do to rack her brain afterwards.

"It will be a long flight to Hometree," Tsu'tey warned her. Their ride on horseback had been a grueling handful of days. He gestured toward her Ikran. "May I ride with you?"

Ruth glanced to Denver, whose beady orange eyes seemed to look right back. She could carry herself and Tsu'tey back easily. It was the close proximity that had her intimidated. They needed to get back to Hometree at some point, though.

She nodded, not entirely confident with the decision as she turned to Denver and connected their queues before beginning to climb upwards. Once she was in her spot, she reached a hand out to Tsu'tey. He adjusted his bow on his back before taking her hand and climbing onto Denver. The crimson, vermillion, and chartreuse Ikran listened to the unspoken commands of Ruth through their bond to stay settled and calm as Tsu'tey found his spot behind her.

He didn't straddle her from behind, as she had expected. Instead, he balanced on a foot and a knee. One of his hands rested on her shoulder. The other held on her waist. Both seemed to burn into her skin, her ears pinning back as she directed Denver to carefully turn so that they could take off.

"I promise I'll be careful," she said after managing to muster some feigned confidence to Tsu'tey. His only reply was a light chuckle before she had them diving off the cliff's edge.

AS if her human body had done everything she'd done in the mountains during the Iknimaya, Ruth was beyond exhausted when she crawled from the link chamber with a grogginess only a full nights sleep could taper. As much as she was excited for her success of the day, the doctor wanted to wander to her bunk and pass out. Grace and Norm had other plans once she'd come into the living quarters of the connected pods and found that they'd put together dinner for she and Jake.

"How was it?" Grace asked Ruth with all the enthusiasm of a proud mother as she took a seat at the small table they used to occasionally dine at, typically for lab work. Jake pulled up next to her in his wheelchair, the marine appearing just as tired as she was after their eventful day.

"I watched Jake almost fucking die," Ruth shook her head as she shot him a glance, where Jake swatted at her and rolled his eyes with the beginnings of a grin.

"Dangerous would be an understatement," Jake replied as he grabbed his fork and began working on the dinner Grace and Norm put together, which seemed to be rehydrated steak and vegetables. Rehydrated anything was a subpar meal to Ruth.

"What I'd give to be learning from one of them too," Norm uttered almost spitefully as he picked at his plate.

"But you both bonded with an Ikran?" Grace reaffirmed her question, ignoring Norm's comment. Ruth and Jake's nods seemed sufficient enough as she said, "I know I said to focus on the learning, Carson, but having the opportunity to study an Ikran up close would be a god-send..."

Ruth chuckled as she set down her beverage she'd just taken a drink from. "I suppose at some point I may be able to fly up here so you can meet her." When she mastered flight without fear.

"Her? What's her name?" Norm asked, his side ass comment apparently entering the back of his mind.

Ruth smirked. "Figured I'd name her after the only place back on earth I really cared about, where I'm from. So I decided to name her Denver." Even though it had all of the same-old qualities of every other densely populated city on earth, it was still her home. She had deducted it down to a need to have some remembrance of earth, no matter how much she'd disliked it.

Grace hummed a laugh and looked to Jake. "And you?"
Jake gave an incredulous smirk that made Ruth immediately assume he'd named his Ikran something stupid. During the climb to the nests, in the moments where Ruth was able to focus on something other than falling, she had cracked jokes with Jake about the proposed names he might give his mount. His short list of names she asked him to construct as they climbed had been made up of the most bland American names ever. Most if not all fitting into an imaginary category that sufficed as middle-aged white men. Steve, Patrick, Henry, the names were atrocious to Ruth. She'd been kind enough to leave her teasing at simple laughing rather than digging into him for such dumb ideas.

"Bob," he stated simply, which immediately earned the laughs of Ruth and Norm, Grace shaking her head but still smiling. Stupid name indeed.

Both Jake and Ruth went on to tell them about the day's events, the heights they climbed, their dangerous tussles with the Ikran, the flight that sealed their bonds. Ruth described how she'd almost been sent head first off the side of the cliff, nothing but her legs holding into Denver's head. Jake's literal tumble off the cliff had had Grace quite literally freaking out until he explained that he'd managed to snag a root before falling to his death. Nevertheless, dinner continued on with small talk.

"I don't mean to be so straight forward about this," Grace stated the four of them had been quiet for a time while eating. "And none of us are strangers here. Hell, we live in a cramped trailer with no walls. But there's something I wanted to speak to you both about, since I've got you together." For some reason, Grace's words made Ruth uneasy, her mentor bringing up what was obviously a serious situation. There had never really been a time where Grace had been like this to her, in the way a parent would speak to their child. Part of Ruth wondered if her anxiety was rooted in her fear of ever failing Grace. The mother she never really had.

Ruth and Jake were silent as they waited for Grace to continue, so she did. "You both know I miss nothing," she said, her original smile disappearing into something more serious. "Nothing. And I sure as hell didn't at the hunting festival." Jake palmed his face while Ruth pursed her lips and sighed, eyes adverting to the suddenly interesting measuring scale to her left. Grace continued with her speech. "I saw the way you both acted." She leaned forward as if to gain their direct eye contact. "You're playing a dangerous game. Out of any of the Omaticaya you might have grown close to, did it have to be the future Olo'eyktan and Tsahik?"

Grace was disappointed. Very disappointed. Ruth's cheeks grew hot, her green eyes looking to the floor with embarrassment. And as much as she was right, Ruth had spent so long shoving the dangerous reality of this situation into the back of her mind, acknowledging it exists but doing nothing to prevent the inevitable. Her mind flitted back to the ride wiry Tsu'tey earlier that day.

"Neytiri and Tsu'tey are promised to each other," Grace's tone remained even, but authoritative as her eyes shifted between Jake and Ruth. "Have either of you considered the repercussions? You both thought it would be good idea to just upset the balance that has been set? Ruining their pairing can cause irreversible consequences." Grace sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as if the presence of the two of them was more than she could bare. Like a disappointed mother. "Whatever you do, don't mate with them."

Ruth wanted to defend herself by saying that she never intended on truly pursuing Tsu'tey. That he was nothing more than a teacher to her, but she was never the best at lying. They'd shared a handful of interactions that may have pointed toward something more than a mentor and apprentice, but any sort of acknowledgment of it had remained to herself.

The directness of Grace was harsh at best. A wave of embarrassment rushed over Ruth as the conversation was ultimately dropped by Grace's order, that of which she was obligated to follow. Neither Jake nor she seemed to have words after the talking-to, setting the evening with a negative tone that Ruth was not enjoying. The four of them continued on with their dinner while only sharing a handful of short conversation that were far from easy to contribute to for the younger woman.

The rest of the evening was somewhat somber, Grace and Norm eventually retiring for the night while the remaining two couldn't sleep. Expected, considering the unspoken truth of their growing attentiveness toward their mentors had been brought into reality and there was no more hiding from it. As to not wake them, Jake and Ruth decided to spend their off time for the night in the link room. It was apparent they both were fighting mental battles with themselves after Grace's warning.

Sitting inside one of the link chambers on the gelatin padding, legs crossed, Ruth gripped herself in a hug as she stared out the window of the link chamber trailer and out into the night. The mountains glowed, inviting and seemingly slumbering themselves. Lights danced in the star speckled sky and just beyond the mountains, Polyphemus loomed.

"What can she really do about it?" Jake asked Ruth and breaking the numbing silence they'd both been sitting in for quite some time. He was angry, his elbows on the desk adjacent to the link pod Ruth sat in, hands clasped toward as he looked out the window. The anger in his tone told her enough about how he felt about Neytiri, about how deep Grace's accusations had gone. "We haven't actually done anything wrong."

"She's just trying to prevent more problems," Ruth tried to reason with both him and herself. She lowered her legs to cross them, her hands resting at her sides to press into the gelatin lining of the link chamber. "Why did you get so defensive so quickly?"

Jake turned his head to the left, giving her a side eye look. "Why didn't you get defensive?" He muttered while avoiding her question. "I'm well aware that you're in the same position with Tsu'tey as I am with Neytiri. But you didn't say shit when she started throwing her accusations."

"Watch it," Ruth growled defensively, brow furrowed. "I'm not the enemy here. No one at this site is, in fact." She sighed and ran her hand through her loose, dirty blond hair, eyes closing as if she were trying to gather herself. She looked to him before saying, "You're right. Things have started... changing. With me, I mean. About how I feel toward Tsu'tey." She looked away from him and out the window, thinking on the Na'vi man she's slowly begun to trust. To admire. The agreement between she and him that had turned from a professional opportunity on her part into something much deeper. Much more complicated.

Jake had turned now, his wheel chair facing her. He cocked his head. "I've seen the way he looks at you. How he acted today, while we were up in the banshee nests." She must have not noticed a thing except Denver, when she'd been so focused on not dying. Jake must have flown by just as she'd almost been sent sliding down the back of her Ikran head first toward a fall she wouldn't have recovered from, seeing the way Tsu'tey had been ready to lunge for her. Jake clicked his tongue, saying, "His reaction to you nearly getting thrown off that cliff wasn't one between a teacher and student."

So Jake was more observant than Ruth had realized. More attentive than she'd let on.

"Why Neytiri?" Ruth asked, changing the subject to him. "Why choose a woman in the Omaticaya, let alone the future Tsahik, as if you plan to never leave this moon? As if you'll remain with the clan for the rest of your life?" Her question regarding Neytiri had a very obvious answer, as the doctor had been around the Na'vi woman a few years before Jake even arrived to Pandora. She was beautiful and fierce, with a soul to match it. She was kind and loyal and someone that Ruth had always trusted since being on the moon, since helping Grace teach her English in the school house.

Jake seemed to think about his words, about the truth they held. He looked down to his lap as if his words were going to somehow change everything just because he spoke them into reality. "She... she brought out a side of me I thought had died. Back on earth."

Ruth understood him immediately. She understood his past and all that he'd lost. He came to Pandora with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Why wouldn't he want Neytiri? The woman he'd been in such close proximity to in the passing weeks. Ruth couldn't ridicule him for feeling as such when Tsu'tey had begun to do the same to her.

Saying precisely what the doctor had been thinking, Jake said, "I have nothing to lose, Carson. I have nothing back on earth. Here, I have found an opportunity to start over. To be happy."

Ruth sighed. "Would you believe me if I said I felt the same?" She wanted to leave everything behind. She never wanted to leave the moon, never return to earth. If she could find someway to transfer all of her conscious in her avatar, she'd leave the body she currently inhabited to become one with the forest as it broke down and turned to nothing.

"You're not like the other docs," Jake shrugged. He seemed to be calming down now. "I haven't heard you say a thing about family back home. Ever missing anything on earth." It was true. She didn't have family. Her grandfather, the only person she'd had in her young life, died due to an illness that ravaged him too quickly and an expired medical insurance plan. Another reason for her to despise the society and planet she came from.

"If I could drop everything now, everything I've worked for as a practicing doctor," she murmured. Her mind was off somewhere in the Pandoran forest, in the comfort of everything that this link chamber room wasn't. "I'd let this rot to never have to leave behind my blue skin again."

Jake's lips ever so slightly pulled into a half smirk like he understood her feelings, her yearning to leave behind her human life. "Yea. Me too, Carson." 

AND so in the coming weeks of Ruth's success and in bonding with her Ikran, Denver, a routine was built within the dynamic she and Tsu'tey were sharing. Whether they slept in hammocks that were beside each other, had nights of isolation that were nothing in particular of a negative nature, the two always dined together in the evenings and met at the mother loom in the mornings to tackle whatever piece of training she was to do next to prepare for her final test: the dream hunt.

The dream hunt was the last stage of the right of passage all Omaticaya took apart of. It was particuarly dangerous as well. A sting from a venomous arachnoid, ingesting a glowing worm and a solid few hours of absolutely tripping balls in order to experience an immensely deep and spiritual psychological journey in her mind. A but if chanting or singing on her part whilst tripping balls would complete the ceremony. Making her one of the people.

Still, she had deemed herself not ready. Not quite yet, she'd told him as they'd left Hometree on the back of their Ikran half an hour ago to venture out into the glowing forest of the night, roosting their mounts in the branches of the nearby trees.

Finally, she was being granted the opportunity to not only see, but visit the Tree of Voices. Tsu'tey deemed it would be good for her visit before her dream hunt, to make contact with the ancestor and input her own mental data into the neural system. The dream hunt was occasionally fatal to those that partook who were not strong enough to fight the venom of the arachnoid. The confident part of her knew she would fight it and complete the ceremony. Doubt and caution was still worth considering, though.

Following close behind her mentor as they padded into the flowing strands of the willow-like trees, Ruth looked down with a broad smile as the moss below her bare feet blossomed with bioluminescence with every step she took. From their left, a warm, gentle breeze wafted into the glowing grove.

Tsu'tey stopped once they'd reached the middle of the grove where any which direction one may look was made of the flowing strands of the trees.

"I am sure you know this place," he said to her as he grabbed some strands and pulled his braid from his back. Ruth followed suit, gripping some of the tree's strands. They were reminded her of the endless lights of earth, of the fiber optic technology that almost all of her world used. They flowed similarly, but the tree seemed to hum with life itself. Like it held sentience. She knew Grace would kill to be here. She would savor every moment to describe it to her.

"Tree of Voices," Ruth murmured as she watched him connect his queue to the tree. When he looked to her, it was as if he looked through her, his eyes dilated. She followed suit and soon understood why.

Every plane of her conscious was able to view and file through thousands of years of memory, through events and emotions and thoughts of every individual of the Omaticaya that spanned far beyond recorded history. Any given individuals life was visible from beginning to end, no matter how short or long. Alone, viewing it all was extremely emotional for the woman the longer she allowed herself see it.

"Utral Aymokiryä," Tsu'tey said the tree's name in Na'vi as her minded continued to look through what the tree had to offer. "The people have come here since the time of the First Songs to connect with Eywa."

"It's a database," Ruth half said to herself, as Tsu'tey wouldn't know the meaning of the word. The Na'vi have quite literally uploaded and downloaded information to the tree through a neural network. In the same way Grace had hypothesized.

"You brought me here in case I don't survive the ceremony," she stated neutrally while pulling away her queue and allowing her braid to fall over her breasts. The slightest hint of his saddened expression told her enough as he nodded.

"Uniltaron is very dangerous," he told her as he pulled away his own queue, his expression solemn. "It is perhaps best we visit a few times before your ceremony."

So that others may visit her were she to perish. For him to visit her, part of her wanted to believe.

Nodding her head in understanding, she sighed. Under the Tree of Voices, she wished she'd never have to wake up. To face the metal box she was confined to otherwise face the consequences of dying within minutes.

"You have learned much. Quickly. And become skilled," he murmured. His gaze turned toward the ground for a moment, ears pinned back before looking back to her. "You have proven to me that judgment is not mine to have."

She noticed the notch in his right ear for the first time as he spoke, likely an injury. The way his eyes were shaped so uniquely. The way he kept his braided hair. Every part of her wanted to drink up everything he was so that she'd never forget. Never forget the Na'vi man she felt herself ever so slowly falling for.

"All that I ever ask is to be given a chance," she murmured, her voice barely over a whisper.

"You will always have me at your side. Always have my bow, my knife." His words were pledge to her. His voice, too, was hardly above a whisper. Intimately quiet. She wasn't quite sure to what degree, but she'd been right. He cared. "Always."

In the grove of the glowing Tree of Voices, in the company of a fierce warrior of the Omaticaya, Ruth Carson felt safe with Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan.