Petrichor

Hometree

It was a while before Jake woke. She sat beside him all day, Neytiri bringing her food. She kept checking on both Grace and Jake, but they were in the deep slumber.

Neytiri had explained softly that their consciousness were linked to their Na'vi bodies. Grace had told her about it before, and Ilhia had been too young to understand it. She'd pieced a few things together in her head, but it solidified when Neytiri explained. Because their Na'vi bodies were asleep, it meant that their human bodies were awake.

She didn't care. He was her mate. She will love him in his Na'vi body and in his demon body, however ugly it was. 

She couldn't say that it didn't freak her out a little bit though. Her Jake looked dead, apart from the very very slow breathing his body was doing. She kept checking on him because his chest was stopping and starting its movement. 

She trusted in Eywa though. In Eywa and in her fate. The Great Mother would provide. 

She was crouched between Jake and Grace with her songcord, adding a piece for last night's events, her face hot as she recounted it. She softly hummed her words as she finished the addition and ran the cord through her fingers from the beginning. 

Her ears twitched involuntarily as she heard a change in both Jake and Grace's breathing. She knelt down to Jake and placed a hand on his chest, her braids falling around her face. 

"Jake?" she whispered, feeling the need to be quiet. 

His eyes opened, and for a second he took in her face above him, before sitting up. Ilhia leant back, giving him space, and saw Grace was sitting up too. 

"Where's your father?" he asked, his voice low and throaty from his long nap. He grabbed hold of her hand. "We need to see your father now."

They ran down the spiral, Ilhia yelling in a way her mother would not be proud of. "Ma sempul! Ma sa'nok!" 

They reached her mother and father, Jake and Grace close behind her. "Eytukan, I have something to say," Jake said urgently. 

"Listen!" Grace added. 

Her father hesitated for only a split second. "Speak, Jakesully."

"A great evil is upon us," Jake started. Ilhia gasped. "The Sky People are coming to destroy Hometree. Skiva'a! Skiva'a!" 

The People responded to the words with a cry of acknowledgement. 

Jake turned to her then. "Look, tell them they're gonna be here soon!" 

Ilhia repeated the words to her family. Her mother and father exchanged worried glances.

"You have to leave, or you're gonna die!" Jake exclaimed. Ilhia put her hand to her mouth. Surely this is not what the Great Mother wanted? 

Mo'at stepped forward. "Are you certain of this?"

Ilhia didn't miss Grace's look of disappointment as her mate struggled to find words. 

"Look, they sent me here, to learn your ways, so that one day I could bring this message and you would believe it." 

The words churned in her head. Could it ..? Could he ..?

Ilhia touched his arm and turned slightly so she was in front of him. "What are you saying, Jake? You knew this would happen?" 

His face was full of regret as his eyes roamed over her own. "Yes." 

She felt her face twist as she tried not to cry. 

"At first it was just orders," he tried to explain, grabbing her forearms. "But then I fell in love with the Omatikaya people, with the forest, with you." She tried to pull from his grasp, no longer listening. "With you!"