I'll Put My Red Dress on Again

Chapter 11

"Bed time." I say to Jake as we walk up the tree levels. Other people were sleeping in hammocks that are scattered throughout the level. Neytiri gracefully gets in our hammock. I follow her movements. Jake gets in, basically falls into the hammock. He leans on his side, using his hand to prop up his head. I give him a "really?" look.

He just smiles at me. I stick my tongue out before laying down with Neytiri. She looks at Jake and closes the top of the hammock. She looks at me with eyes full of emotion. "It will be ok." I say while bringing my hand up to Neytiri's cheek. She holds my hand and closes her eyes. "We will be ok."

—-

The next morning Jake was already up when Neytiri and I got up. As we were walking down towards the pa'li Jake and I were having a conversation. "So you and Neytiri are a thing?" He asks. I sigh and roll my eyes. This can go one of two ways. One he's a little bitch about it, or two he doesn't care. "Yes we are mates." I responded. "Is it typical for uh... a girl and a girl to be together?" Jake asks. I suppress a laugh. "No one cares. There is no typical relationship here, you just love who you love." I say simply.

"Why do you ask?" I ask with a glance. "Umm..." Jake was clearly searching for his words. I just wanted to ask, because the culture here is different." He explains. "Hmm, ok." I replied. "Jake, the people here are nothing like that. The only people they don't accept are sky people."

Neytiri walks towards up on a pa'li. "That time already?" I tease Neytiri. "Let's see how good he is." Neytiri answers. I hop onto the back of the pa'li with Neytiri. "Just follow us." I say as Neytiri starts walking away.

When we arrive at the river where pa'li training takes place, Neytiri and I hop down. Neytiri calmed the pa'li while Jake got on. "Sit on it as if it was a horse from Earth." I instruct Jake. He gets comfortable and looks at Neytiri and I for next instructions. "Grab your queue." I say while grabbing mine.

"Connect it to hers." I point to the pa'li. Jake sighs and follows instructions. Jake's pupils dilate alone with the pa'li. Neytiri touches the bond between the two, "This is shahaylu - the bond. Feel her heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong legs." Neytiri explains. Jake closes his eyes and nods.

"You are now one." I say while intertwining my fingers together. "You may tell her what to do." Neytiri touches her forehead, "inside. For now, say where to go." Neytiri instructs. Jake takes a breath, "forward" he says out loud. I look at Neytiri, she just shrugs in response.

The pa'li starts to gallop. Jake clearly doesn't know what to do and he falls off right into the mud. I laugh while Neytiri gets the horse. "You're supposed to ride the pa'li." I say. He rolls his eyes in response, "Haha." He deadpans. "Again." Neytiri says while walking the horse back.

I don't know how long we've been practicing. It's been maybe hours? Jake kept falling off, each time he felt harder than before. Jake was buried in mud, his body was clearly in pain. He slowly got up to his knees. Tsu'tey rides over with another hunter. Mud getting kicked on to Jake as they walk by.

Jake eventually gets up and Tsu'tey stops his horse right next to him "You should go away." Tsu'tey says with a look of disgust. "Nah, then you'd miss me." Jake replies. I gave Neytiri a wide eyed look. She shook her head and palmed her face. Jake looks over at us, "I knew this guy could speak English."

"You kinda have to if they're destroying your planet and trying to drive you out." I reply to Jake. "Ok, Miss. Debbie Downer." He replies. I once again rolled my eyes at Jake. Tsu'tey is now talking directly to Neytiri. "This alien will learn nothing. A rock sees more."

Neytiri sighs in agreement. She walks up to Tsu'tey's horse and hits the back of its body. The horse runs away. "I think Tsu'tey may be right." I say while walking over to Neytiri. "Grace should be here, not him." I say while looking at Jake. "He doesn't deserve it." I add. "I agree but there is nothing we can do." She says sadly.

"Again." Neytiri says when she notices Jake just standing around. "This is gonna be a long day." I say to Neytiri. I grab her hand and squeeze it. "It will be." She says as she holds my hands. I could tell that Neytiri was stressed. I mean this man was her responsibility. "It'll be ok. Just take a breath. I can take over for a while." I say to Neytiri she nods.

After a couple more hours of this training."That's enough." Neytiri says while stopping the horse. It's been almost the whole day of this. Jake got better but still had a long way to go. "You've made good progress." I say to Jake. "But it's time to stop." I add on.

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