I Have Crossed the Stars to Find You - BOOK ONE

Chapter 11 - New Life

Meanwhile back at Hometree...

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Jake

I'd woken up that morning to Norm frantically shaking me in my hammock, yelling about Ninat's water breaking and how he is not at all ready for it to happen right now. I do my best to calm him down before hurrying out of my home pod and going and retrieving Ozue and Neytiri while Norm went back to his mate. Once Neytiri and Ozue head to Ninat's home pod I go to Rose's to wake her up and get her to come give her friend moral support, but when I get there she's still fast asleep.

I walk over and gently shake her, calling to her quietly to try and wake her before I remember that she's probably not linked again yet considering how late at night it is, nowhere near the normal time for the village to be waking up. Cursing quietly I lean down and plant a soft kiss on her forehead before grabbing one of the containers of ointment off her shelf and running back to Ninat and Norm's home pod. As I'm running there's suddenly a loud roaring heard across the forest, causing some of the ikran at the top of the tree to scatter, birds and other creatures seen fleeing in every direction. Before I even have time to process the noise there's a loud crash and it shakes the ground, nearly causing me to drop the ointment in my hands. I make it to the pod finally and quickly hand the ointment to Ozue before she runs back inside to help with the birth, I instead hastily climb to the top of Hometree and call Bob, climbing onto his back and immediately flying out of the tree to try and see just what the hell that noise was.

However as I start flying away I catch sight of Anìheyu flying towards me and Hometree, something on his back. I fly over alongside him and hiss loudly as I see the thing is a human, though as I fly closer I see the human take notice of me and she starts waving her arms around at me, then my ears pick up on what she's yelling, "Ma Jake! It is Rose!" With a soft smile as I relax, I level out next to her and point to the base of Hometree, motioning for her to land, which she nods in agreement at. As we land other Na'vi warriors come running out of Hometree with their bows at the sight of a human, but I quickly dismount Bob and hop onto Anìheyu's back, crawling across him until I can grab Rose and gently but firmly pull her against my chest, snarling at the other warriors until they lower their bows. Once they do Rose starts hurriedly explaining to us all that her link pod broke, then she takes a moment to briefly explain what a link pod is to the others while I move to sit on the ikran's back, gently pulling Rose to sit in my lap, my arms looped around her waist protectively.

Suddenly Norm comes running out of Hometree and he looks relieved to see that I'm still here, barely paying Rose any mind as he hurries over and practically yanks me off the ikran, though I gently shove him off before climbing off the ikran and waiting patiently for Rose. I watch as she puts her duffel bag on her back before she turns to me and wraps her arms around my neck, I scoop her off of Anìheyu's back and hold her close against my torso, her legs going around my waist to her best ability as we head back into Hometree. As I climb up with her and Norm to his home pod, she explains to me that she saw ships landing a few miles away from her lab, both of us coming to the shared conclusion that it must be the Sky People. When we get to Norm and Ninat's pod we can hear Ninat screaming inside, I set Rose down on her feet and gently take her bag from her, she looks up at me in concern for her friend and confusion, "Ninat's gone into labor, ma yawne. Go to her, she needs her friends right now." I murmur to her quietly and watch as she immediately hurries into the pod, explaining quickly to Ninat and Ozue that it's her in her human form before holding Ninat's free hand, Ozue holding the other one as Neytiri instructs her to push.

I stand outside with a few other members of the clan who had woken up from all the commotion, my ears pricking up slightly as I hear a loud baby cry a few minutes later. A few more minutes later Norm walks out with the baby swaddled in a woven blanket and already cleaned up, I coo down at the baby when it whines quietly, both of us going wide eyed when we hear Ninat begin to scream again. Norm hurriedly hands the baby over to me and I follow him as he goes back in the pod, worried for his mate. Neytiri says something to Ninat about a head poking out and instructs her to push again, my ears flattening against the sides of my head as she lets out another loud scream, making sure I carefully cover the baby's ears as well so it doesn't get startled too much. I keep my eyes focused on the baby in my arms then on Rose as I watch her gently pat away the sweat on Ninat's brow with a cloth before helping her drink some of the watered down pain-relieving paste she'd made the day before. She's not even the one giving birth but to me Rose looks like she's glowing, a soft smile gracing her face as a second baby pops out, I watch as she looks to Ninat who nods once to her, then Rose carefully let's go of Ninat's hand and goes over to Neytiri, accepting the bloody babe from her and carrying it over to a small table set up a little ways away from Ninat. She gently cleans the baby up with a damp cloth then puts the Na'vi equivalent of a diaper on it, cooing at it and starting to hum quietly when it begins to fuss. She carefully picks the baby back up and cradles it against her torso, it's nearly the size of half her torso but she manages as she walks over to me, grinning up at me when she gets there.

We both stay against the one wall of the pod so we're out of the way, neither of us speaking but all I can think about as I watch her cradle and soothe the babe is what she'd look like as a mother, her own child in her arms. I don't notice my tail loosely wrapping around her thigh until she looks at me with a soft smile, leaning over to press her forehead against my bicep before looking back down at the child in her arms, both of us gasping quietly when he opens his eyes and stares up at his before his face breaks into a gummy smile and he giggles quietly. We're both suddenly aware of how quiet the pod is now, looking over to Ninat to see her barely awake, a third babe latched onto her chest and feasting away. Rose chuckles quietly and walks over, helping Ninat latch the second babe onto her other breast as I walk over and give Norm his firstborn. I gently pull Rose away from the new family as Norm and Ninat talk quietly to each other and to their children, the two of us quietly saying goodbye to them and Neytiri before we leave the pod. I take Rose to her home pod to let her organize and put away the stuff she brought with her in her bag before crouching down and hugging her from behind, nuzzling my cheek against the top of her head and purring softly when she brings a hand up to rub it through my hair. "Ma yawne," "Hm?" "Nga lew si reypay. Ayoe laro? (You are covered in blood. We can go get cleaned up?)" I ask her, smiling softly when she turns in my arms and smiles up at me, nodding.

✭・.・✫

A little over half an hour later we were sitting in one of the bathing pools, I was leaning back against a rock and Rose was seated in my lap, my arms wrapped around her possessively as other Na'vi sometimes walked by to go to another bathing pool. We were both aware of how the Na'vi aren't too worried about public nudity, at least not around the clan, and we were both growing used to that but I couldn't help the urge to keep her bare body shielded from any wandering eyes.

Once she was clean and I'd let her undo my braids, she just settled against my chest and we laid together for a while, one of my hands laid across her back and the other rested on her thigh, keeping her from falling backwards or sideways into the water from where she sat sideways in my lap. Her fingers traced over the patterns on my skin while I mindlessly rubbed circles into her flesh, purring quietly at the intimate moment we got to spend together. Rose eventually broke the silence, tilting her head up to look at me, her hand stopping where it rested on my chest, "Ma Jake? I think I am ready to transfer." My eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear before returning to rubbing slow circles into her thigh. "What do you mean?" "I mean I am ready to become a Na'vi. Permanently." I nod slowly as I remember my own permanent transfer, tail twitching slightly where I have it loosely wrapped around Rose's waist, purring getting a bit louder for a moment as she reaches a hand down to gently stroke over it. "I think that can be arranged, we'll just have to talk to the Tsahìk." I tell her and she nods with another smile before once again relaxing against my chest.

As she slowly dozes off in my arms I am reminded of why she came here in her human form in the first place.

The Sky People had returned.