Chapter Text
From the moment she woke, she sensed a great change was to come that day. The forest around her was silent, save for the trickling sounds of water from the pools surrounding her current camp. Usually, she would hear the rustle of the leaves as the creatures moved about, the sounds of the wind as it blew through the greenery around her. But on this day, all was still. Waiting. For something to happen that she, herself, was not aware of nor prepared for. It wasn't until nearly eclipse that a sound caused her ears to twitch, her attention snapping towards its direction. It was a loud shrill, a cry, and it was full of pain. She took her spear in hand and leapt from her marui, landing in one of the shallow pools found underneath her makeshift home as her pale blue eyes scanned the forests and the skies above her for the source of the cry.
Her lips curled back as she hissed and crouched, her spear ready in hand to defend herself from whatever creature decided to invade her peace. And then it happened: an ikran broke through the roof of trees and began its descent rapidly towards the ground. From what she could see, the ikran was injured, a deep gash running along the length of its chest. What drew her attention more was the oddly dressed Na'vi that fell from the creature's back, seemingly dead, and landed not far from where she stood, splashing loudly as its body met the surface of another pool. She waited till it crash landed, and saw that it had succumbed to its injuries, before heading over to the strange Na'vi body now floating face down in the water. It was male and he was dressed in a way completely foreign to her. The only thing she could recognize was a thin silver cord tied around his neck.
The last time she had seen such a thing was back when her deceased father's clan members returned from aiding Jake Sully in the battle against the Sky People. The same battle that took her remaining family member's life. Her older brother, Kieu. One of the clan members, a man named Hayey, had the silver necklace in hand as he handed her her brother's songcord. Unfortunately, however, there was no body for her to bury it with once his song was sung in remembrance. She asked what the silver string was and Hayey had answered that it was a songcord of one of the sky people he had killed. He had also said that nearly all those who had fought against the Na'vi people had a similar string tied around their necks. She nodded, thanked him for returning her brother's cord to her, returned to the home on the outskirts of the village and packed as much as she could. By eclipse that night, she was gone. Never to be heard of again.
Using the blunt end of her spear, she pushed the body over and cursed immediately upon noticing the hair growing on his face unlike her people, her eyes looking to his hands, seeing they held an extra digit than her. "What is a sky demon doing all the way out here?" She asked herself, narrowing her eyes as they further examined the male before her. He was bleeding and unconscious, bruises starting to darken spots on his body. His breaths were weak. Setting her spear down behind her, one hand went to her self-made blade kept in its sheath on her hip while the now free one took hold of the strange top covering the male's chest to hoist him out of the water and onto firm ground. There, she knelt beside him and unsheathed her blade, ready to end him while he was still asleep. Around her, the sky darkened from eclipse and the lights of the forest began to glow. The shallow pool that the demon's feet still laid in began to glow a bit brighter than what it usually had, bringing her attention over to it. The cause of the extra light was a small swarm of glow fish circling his feet, the sight bringing a gasp to her lips. "Here?" She whispered to the fish, setting her blade back into it's sheath before slowly dipping her hand into the water. The little fish made their way to her and back to him, back and forth between them in a dance. "He is a sky demon. I cannot let him live. He does not belong." She spoke to them as if they could respond to her, her pale eyes following their movements. If they could have responded, she felt as if they would remind her of how she was told she did not belong. How her father's clan, the Metkayina, turned her mother, her brother and herself away for being outsiders. Not once giving them a change to prove they were worthy of being one of them. Their harsh words replayed in her mind then and she cursed, pulling her hand from the water to stand. They may have shunned them and turned them away, but they let them live. "Fine. I shall heal him and send him on his way. He will not die by my hand."
This seems to please the fish, for they let their lights fade immediately after and all but disappeared beneath the water's surface. She looked down at him and then over to her marui and sighed heavily, taking hold of his top once more to begin the daunting task of dragging his unconscious form over and up into her home.
"Son, come with me." He said, extending his blue alien out to the human boy before him covered in fake blue strips. The boy hissed viciously at him and dove into the water, leaving him with his banshee and his pain. Over and over the scene played in his mind, mocking him, showing him what happened because he let himself grow a weak spot for a kid who was technically not even his own.
Miles Quaritch, the boy's true human father, was long dead. He crushed his skull in his hand just a few short days ago. Memories and emotions were implanted in this body, this recom avatar, created with Miles' DNA, but in the end, it was still just a shell who's only purpose in life was to continue on a dead man's battle. He knew now to separate the two, the avatar from Miles. The avatar would continue Miles' mission, yes, but he would not allow Miles' emotions and memories get in the way. The only one he'd allow himself to keep was his hatred for Jake and his woman. That hatred was the fuel that kept him going. That gave him purpose.
Somewhere along his flight to flee after nearly dying from his fight with Jake, his banshee was attacked by some monster unknown to him. It dealt great damage to the banshee and thanks to the tsaheylu bond, Miles felt the pain just as badly as the bird did. It was enough to render him unconscious, on top of his other injuries. It was the pain that brough him back to a conscious state eventually. It was duller, not as bad, but still bad enough to wake him up. Something cool and wet pressed against a gash on his cheek and he hissed, yellow eyes opening to see icy blue ones staring back at him. "The hell-" He barked out, trying to move himself away only to realize his wrists and ankles were bound. He cursed and looked back at the being next to him, pausing when he saw it was a washcloth in their hands. They were cleaning him up. "Who are you?" He asked after managing to scoot away from them a bit. Their forehead scrunched together in confusion, much how a human's brows would, and their ears lowered. The only response to him being a blink. Cursing again, Miles sighed and asked once more, this time in Na'vi.
They titled their head to the side then, pressing their lips together before dropping the cloth in the bowl set beside them. "Your Na'vi is horrible. A child speaks better." They spoke under their breath, their voice feminine in sound. It was then that Miles actually took the time to actually look at them.
They held an appearance similar to the Na'vi he was used to seeing, like his avatar, but there were differences in the body build, hair texture, and eye color. They matched the other Na'vi, the sea people he had terrorized while hunting Jake, in those aspects. The only thing that looked like the forest people were their skin being a similar shade of blue and the thinness of their tail. She dressed similarly to the women he had seen in the sea villages but simpler, the top and bottoms made of plain netting to cover what needed to be covered and just a few decorative stones and shells attached throughout. Her hair, wavy in texture, was half braided back with the rest falling down the span of her back and stopping just above her tail. Behind her right ear, woven into a strand of hair, was a string of beads. She watched him observing her for a moment before pushing herself up on her feet. "Who I am is of no importance, sky demon."
Miles continued following her every move with his eyes, his body protesting still for him to lay down and relax his now tense muscles. There was still a good amount of time needed for him to heal. "You have me tied up and held hostage in unknown territory. The least you can do is tell me your name." He was thankful to the boy, Spider, then. During his time captive, the boy taught him much Na'vi. Miles would even come to consider himself nearly fluent, if not for her remark. Her tail swayed behind her as she turned to walk away, placing to bowl containing bloodied water down next to the entrance of what seemed to be her living space. "How do you know I'm a sky demon, anyway?"
Her lips parted with some sort of mock laugh, her pale eyes snapping back to him. "No true Na'vi looks as you do. It is clear to see." She turned to face him once more, "You and Jake Sully share similarities in appearance. He, however, was much more pleasant to look at." Yellow eyes narrowed at her and his ears pressed flat against his head, the corner of his lips curling to bare his teeth. The female laughed once more, whole heartedly, tossing her head back with it. "I take it you do not like him?"
Miles growled, "I will end him. If it's the last thing that I do! Him and his devil of a wife." The smile that lingered on her face fell then, her ears lowering slightly as her hand went to rest on the hilt of her blade tied against her hip.
"Toruk Makto saved the Na'vi from the sky demons. Our planet knew peace once more because of him."
"If you want to save him then kill me right now. 'Cause I will not stop till he's dead."
Cocking her head to the left, she watched him in silence for the briefest of moments, her lips pressing together as she considered her words. "Killing you was my original plan, demon. I had you before me, unconscious and unaware." She made her way back to him and plucked the blade from it's sheath, his eyes snapping to it's sharp edge as she pointed it towards him. Was this how he was to die? In some hut on an unknown island at the hands on some strange Na'vi woman? At least his human self died honorably in action. This was just pathetic. "I was ready to make the final blow but I was stopped." She twirled it in her hand and returned it to it's sheath, yellow eyes now looking at her, confusion clear behind them. She picked up on his unspoken question. "I do not know why the Great Mother has chosen to spare you. If you are to die, demon, it will not be by my hands. I will heal you and help you regain your strength. Then, you will leave." She made her way to the entrance once more and scooped up the bowl before looking back at him over her shoulder. "Now rest."
His lips parted to call after her, but she had already jumped out of the hut and disappeared from his line of sight. His body, having used up whatever small amount of energy he had gained, gave out and quite literally plopped onto the woven mat he was laying on, causing him to groan. Letting his eyes fall shut, he sighed, "Get yourself back together, Miles. We got a lot of work to do."