Jake
INTERLUDE: Jake
.
You were a lighter shade of blue then he’d grown used too. Your grin was wide. Your eyes a bright blue and your hair thrown into a curly ponytail as you threw up a peace sign to the camera. “Who’s this?”
Grace glanced at the picture, something tight in her expression, her lips pursed as she replied, “Hana te Ue Tsonu’e’ite. She’s the eyktan of the Metkayina.”
Jake looked at the picture again, noting the eyebrows and the extra finger. You were dressed like a Na’vi, but that didn’t change the little details. He looked back at Grace, who was watching him.
“She was an Avatar driver, a marine biologist. Smart, and stupidly loyal,” said Grace after a minute. “I didn’t know her long before…”
Sensing the tension, Jake asked carefully, “How did she die?”
Grace reeled back a little, surprised. “Oh,” she said. “Hana isn’t dead.”
His mind whirled, and he wanted to ask more about you, about this picture—but the conversation is quickly derailed by Norm’s entrance and a quick change in topic later, and Jake Sully had forgotten about you.
Only for a little.
.
“Hey,” he said quietly, picking at his food. “So who’s this Hana chick? Nobody will say anything about her.”
Norm leaned forward a little, and said quietly, “She joined the Metkayina—permanently.”
Jake blinked, his heart racing a little. “What? How?”
Norm shrugged a little awkwardly. “No clue,” he said weakly. “Trudy is good friends with Ava Harris, she was the escort for Felix and Hana before they started making regular contact with the Metkayina.”
“Ava?” repeated Jake. The name sounded familiar, and after a few moments, he was able to associate it with a dark skinned woman, one with a pearly white grin and a contagious laugh. “I didn’t know she and Trudy were friends.”
“Yeah, well,” said Norm, looking a little uncomfortable. “Ava and Felix go way back, college days. Hana joined the group later. Ava’s a bit tight lipped about it all, but sometimes she’ll talk about it.”
He hadn’t realized Norm was so friendly with Ava Harris, or Trudy for that matter. Jake had started spending so much of his time, mentally or otherwise, with the Omaticaya that he’d started to neglect his human life. After a long pause, Norm offered, “Felix could tell you more.”
.
He didn’t get the chance to speak with anyone about you for another month. The call came in the middle of the night, Felix’s terrified voice cutting through the silence like a knife.
“Grace? Grace come in!”
Grace lurched herself from her bed, fingers clasping around the communicator. “Felix?”
“Thank fuck,” said Felix, his voice a little tinny. Jake sat up, rubbing his eyes. Norm shifted in his sleep. “Hana called, it’s Tonowari. He’s been shot.”
“Fuck,” said Grace. “I’ll bring Mason.”
“Hurry,” he said. “I don’t care how you get here. If he dies you know what the Metkayina will do.”
Grace shakily stood, her movements quick irregardless. “I have to go with Mason to the Rig,” she explained quickly. “Tell Norm I’ll be back soon. Do not pull me from the link.”
And then she was gone. It was late into the morning, long after Jake should have linked with his avatar body and joined Neytiri, long after Norm had woken up that Grace finally came out of her link bed, looking exhausted and in need of a stiff drink.
At Jake’s look, she said, “He’ll live, thank god.”
Jake swallowed. “Who’s Tonowari?”
Norm nodded in agreement, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward.
Grace rubbed her face, lighting herself a cigarette. “Tonowari is olo’eyktan of the Metkayina. Ronal is the tsahìk.”
Jake finished, “And Hana is the eyktan.”
Grace huffed a little, blowing a stream of smoke out of her nose. “She’s their mate. Hana destroyed a metric fuckton of data right before the RDA killed a tulkun. She escaped soon after they caught on, and we mostly figured she was dead.”
Norm sat up a little straighter. “She befriended a tulkun, right? Ava won’t talk about her.”
“Ava’s smart,” scoffed Grace, taking a drag as she leaned against her link bed. “Felix blabbed and they killed a tulkun and her baby. The whole clan just about lost it. Felix got kicked out and Hana…”
“What’s a tulkun?” Jake asked, feeling a little lost. Norm sighed.
“They are kind of like whales,” he said.
“No,” interrupted Grace. “The tulkun are as intelligent as you or me, probably even smarter. They have morals and stories, and mathematics. They use calculus to calculate their travels. And Felix got a mother and her child killed. The relationship between a tulkun and Na’vi is sacred, the bond between them is eternal.”
Norm swallowed, a little taken aback. Jake nodded slowly.
“Felix reported what he knew about them to the RDA. He thought it would protect them. He was wrong. The Metkayina found out and exiled him. A few months back, the RDA picked up a kid. Long story short, Hana and a few warriors broke her out of the RDA base and ran into Felix. He gave them a communicator in case they ever needed to contact a friendly face.”
Jake nodded his understanding. “Tonowari got shot.”
“Bingo,” said Grace. “Tonowari will live, but even going and saving him hasn’t endeared us to anyone.”
She straightened, and looked Jake dead in the eyes. “You have a message for the Omaticaya. You need to tell them that when the time comes, when they call for them, the Metkayina will answer.”
Jake’s stomach swooped. He wasn’t certain he wanted to know what that meant.
.