Calm Before The Storm, Jake Sully

068, Home.

♯┆calm before the storm .ᐟ
━━━━━━━━━━

     He can come home. Kìlan can come back to his home. Denahi trailed throughout Pandora's forest, breathing in the earthy and woodland scent. Damp soil, fresh pine. Warm and sweet florals drifting in the air. Although her new home claimed to be one within oceans, Denahi couldn't deny how her heart and mind felt steady when she was here.

Tracking the ground, holding her bow and hunting the next moving animal. "Knew that I would find you here, baby," Jake's sudden voice broke the silence in the forest.

Denahi frowned and turned around to him, "I had that one. You made it run away." Denahi's pursed bottom lip made Jake laugh at her reaction. She was back home.

She looked so natural. At peace. The forest had been her home for multiple years of her life. It was what Denahi knew. Where her brother and parents are buried beneath the Earth and connected in Eywa's arms.

But, their son was buried beneath water.

That had become their new home. "I had to at least bring something to Neytiri," Announced Denahi before Jake stepped close towards her, rough pads of his fingertips trailing up and down her bare waist. "I'm sure she knows that we are thankful," Jake mentioned before Denahi nodded her head.

But no matter how much the two of them thanked her for raising their son, nothing about it seemed to be correct.

Nothing was enough. "She looked after him when we could not," Denahi told Jake. He understood that. It wasn't going to be an easy goodbye for Neytiri, "And I do not want to leave too soon. I have just come back."

There was the truth. Denahi wasn't hunting because she had to find a gift for Neytiri. Denahi hunted because she missed it.

Being back in the forest. Jake leaned in and breathed in her scent. It wasn't one full of salt and sea like before, it was full of that same woodland scent Denahi smelt like fifteen years ago. He pulled back and smiled at that familiar scent. One his wife hadn't lost but was becoming more faint.

"We have to get back, baby..." Jake mentioned before tugging at her soft hands.

Denahi huffed at his words, "Do you not want to hunt?" She smiled up at him. Although, hunting had been an intriguing invitation, that look on her face said something else.

"As much as I would love to do that... Our children will be getting inpatient," Jake replied before Denahi nodded her head.

And when she walked slightly in front of him, Jake pulled her back against his chest, "But... I never got to thank you properly for saving my ass against the RDA."

Denahi shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing. But it was more than that. She risked her life for him. She touched metal for him. She faced the one person who terrified her for him. All of it for him.

"Then we should leave the children with Neytiri tonight and you can show me how thankful you are," Denahi offered. Jake's face turned bright and cheerful, knowing the night ahead of them wasn't going to be hydrating or restful.

"Sounds like a plan, baby," He whispered before the two began to walk again.

"Mama!" Their little Malhua shouted as she stumbled towards them both. Her face excited after getting to hold her little brother for the first time. "Hi, darling," Jake said before taking her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist and resting into the crook of his neck.

Denahi smiled at the scene in front of her.

Lo'ak held Kìlan as Tuk perched over the top of them, wriggling her fingers in front of Kìlan's reaching hands. Kiri and Spider sat on the other side of the room, talking and laughing together. Jake holding tired Malhua close to his neck, rocking her gently.

It was beautiful. It would have been more beautiful if two weren't missing. Mukata and Neteyam would've been the perfect additions to this beautiful scene.

But, the Great Mother protected them within her hands now. They rested with her.

"Home... The eight of us are going home tomorrow, together," Denahi mentioned to them all. Spider and Kìlan involved.

This was it. This was their lives now. Until the next unfortunate move from the RDA or Mangkwan. But for now, the Sully family could finally live in peace.