horizons | jake sully

S I X

Neytiri and I gave up our pointless argument pretty quickly. She never brought up what she thought she could see anymore, which I was very thankful for.

And I made sure she knew.

"You're getting there, try saying something more complicated," I said. Neytiri and I sat across from Jake as he tried to speak instead of just listen and repeat.

"The sky is purple tonight."

Neytiri gave me a look and I tried not to smile on an effort not to make him feel stupid.

"Okay, what do you think you said?"

"The forest is beautiful here."

Neytiri chuckled and shook her head.

"You said the sky was purple," I said with a smile, "Try something else."

He took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"Thank you for... learning.. no hold on... thank you for teaching me."

Neytiri nodded in approval and I just smiled wider. It was choppy and not perfect, but he's learning.

"Good. Really good. See, it's just repetition, right? Those are words you've used before."

"Yeah, makes sense," he said.

"How did hunting go yesterday?" I asked Neytiri. She had taken him hunting to see if he was making good enough progress.

"Good. He is almost ready."

Jake glanced nervously at me and I nodded.

"What more can we do?"

She gave me a look and I knew exactly what she meant. I smiled and looked over at Jake, who wore the most confused expression I have ever seen. His eyes were filled with some sort of fear and I couldn't help but laugh. Neytiri stood up and patted the back of my head.

"If he happens to fall off, oh well," she said. But this time... this time she was joking. I nodded and stood next to her, extending my hand out to Jake. His eyes darted between mine and Neytiri's before he slowly placed his hand in mine.

"Come with me."

I walked him to a clear spot and called Seya. His eyes widened and he stepped back from me as she landed. I turned and cocked my head to the side, giving a small smile.

Clearly he was nervous.

I grabbed his wrist and placed his palm on the side of Seya's neck. He stared at me and started to relax a little. His shoulders dropped and his eyes went normal again.

"Do you trust me?" I asked. He stepped closer to me, making direct eye contact with me.

"Yeah."

I smirked and climbed up onto Seya, holding out my hand for him.

"Then get on."

He took my hand and climbed on behind me. One of his arms wrapped around my waist for stability and his other hand was placed on my shoulder. I felt my heartbeat quicken and tried to mute whatever was happening. I took a deep breath and told Seya to go. She pushed off the ground quickly, making Jake rock back. This made his hold on me tighten.

Shit.

I tried to ignore him completely and just focus on flying. But he was like a child. His eyes were wide with awe and a smile was plastered onto his face. I kept looking back at him with my own smile. It was like he was seeing everything for the first time.

We flew above the trees for a while. The air was perfect and it was a beautiful day to just fly. You could see for miles up here. That was my favorite part. Jake kept pulling me closer and I couldn't tell if it was on purpose or just him trying not to fall, but it was making all the alarms in my body go off at once.

"This is insane," he said with a wide grin. I smiled back at him and eyed the surroundings.

The destination was coming up.

"Get ready to watch your head," I said to him as Seya began to dive. He leaned into me and I could feel his head against mine as we headed back down into the forest.

Seya went straight to the ground and landed gracefully in the clearing. I inhaled slowly and slid onto the ground. I turned to Jake as he looked around at the trees surrounding us. He looked like this was the first time he was experiencing the forest. I ran my hand across Seya and watched as Jake messily dropped onto the ground. He stumbled and looked at Seya, shifting to get a better look.

"Oh, don't look in her eyes," I said, stepping to the side. He awkwardly looked away from her face and he looked like he was analyzing her.

"How does that work?" he asked, looking at me.

"Tsaheylu. A ritual known as Iknimaya takes place and when the bond is made, an Ikran will fly with one Na'vi in their entire lifetime."

"Only one?"

"Only one," I said.

"So.. when do I..?" he said slowly. It sounded like he didn't actually want to ask, but he wanted to know bad enough to at least half ask.

"Soon. That's actually why I brought you here. To make sure you knew what this was like."

He nodded and started to look around again. I smiled and went to sit down against a tree, tracing my fingers on the ground below me. Jake looked at me and walked forward. I watched as he sat down beside me and looked up at the sky through the trees.

Eclipse was soon. Now was the perfect time to be here.

"Is this where you go when you vanish?" he said.

"Yes. It's peaceful here."

Jake nodded and I could feel his arm against mine. As it got darker, the world around us began to glow. I smiled and took a slow breath, watching the forest come to life.

"It's beautiful isn't it? Watching it all begin to glow?" I said quietly, leaning my head against he tree.

"Yeah," he mumbled in response. I turned my head slight and when I looked he was already looking at me. The eye contact made my heart race. I was getting lost in thought when I noticed him slowly getting closer to me. I mirrored him, our faces just inches away when I snapped out of it.

I leaned back and looked at the sky.

"We should head back," I said, standing up. He nodded and I held my hand out to him. He took it and it was like a shockwave being sent through my body. We both climbed onto Seya and I got us back to the village safely.

Jake dropped into his hammock as I climbed into mine and he closed his eyes. Once I knew he was back to his human self, I climbed out of my hammock and made my way to Neytiri's. She watched me as I sat next to her, an all-knowing smirk on her face.