Finally alive (Book 1)

VI

I get separated from Jake as a female native lead me away from the crowd. She stopped when we were at the far end of the tree. She turns to me speaking so fast I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying. With that, she extended her hands with a few pieces of wood and cloth. My eyebrows shot up in surprise as I looked from her to the pile of things.

‘What am I supposed to do?’ I ask genuinely lost.

She frowned lightly, looking behind my shoulder and taking a step back.

‘That is your new clothes.’ A new voice rang behind me and I turn around, hugging myself for comfort. It was the guy that the tsahik pointed at minutes before. He wore a scowl, and he held his bow by his thigh. His hair was braided into a sort of a updo, only the long braid being loose. I tried not to stare at his torso, which looked stunning. Not that I have anything to compare it to but geez. He was something.

I squeeze me eyes shut for a second. Now is not the time to drool over strange men.

I open my eyes and see him glaring at me with hostility. ‘Txi.’ [Hurry] with that said he juts his chin towards what the female held. If this was a different scenario, I would have argued.

I need to play along. I should be glad we are still breathing.

After what felt forever, I finally stepped out from the refuge of a big leaf and stepped closer to the two figures. They were talking, not turning to me as I approached.

I tugged on the piece of wood, that was supposed to cover my chest. That was a poor excuse of a bra. At least the cloth covering my nether region did its job. Ish.

‘Za’u’ [Come] the man orders as he swiftly moves towards the giant stairway. He doesn’t stop to wait, so I have no other choice but to sprint after him. Is it common for the Na’vi to run everywhere?

He finally stops, and I still beside him, trying to catch my breath. My breath hitches as I notice where we were. The whole village was here, sitting around a few fireplaces, eating. I notice Jake was already among the crowd. He noticed me and waved me to join him. I took a step forward, and when the native didn’t stop me, I increased my speed a bit. I felt really self conscious about the outfit.

I staggered when I noticed the people’s tails on my trail, so I slowed down, watching my step.

I finally plop beside Jake, and he passes me a bowl with suspicious contents. ‘Took you long enough.’

‘Shut up.’ I grumble quietly, blushing.

‘I’m glad you’re okay.’ he stated, stirring the contents with his finger. I look up at him, a small smile appearing on my face. Even though I was scared shitless, I was really glad Jake was with me.

‘Jarhead clan? What’s that all about?’ I tease him as I observe the bowl closer. Looked like a soup with slug like chunks floating in there. I scrunch my nose as Jake responds.

‘First thing that popped into my head. And look where we are.’ he said with a tang of audacity in his voice.

I remain quiet, and dare to try the suspicious food. The smell was not inviting, but I was too hungry to be picky.

‘How is it?’ Jake cautions, as I lowered the bowl from my lips.

‘It’s like a very..exotic chicken soup. Could use some spice, though.’ I say staring off to space for a second.

‘It is so obviously not a chicken.’ Jake grumbles slowly taking a sip of the liquid.

The dinner ends and apparatelly the village life too. We both were lead up again, and pointed towards two semi transparent hammocks hanging between the branches.

I look at the hammocks then to Jake, who was already clambering his way into one. The woman that brought us here swiftly landed into hers, as I remained glued to the branch.

‘It’s not that hard Sena. C’mon.’ I hear Jake saying from his seated position in the bed. I make a sour face, and try to get in mine. I try to lower myself from a tinier branch, but my muscles were not as trained as the marine’s so I tumble down to the hammock with a curse. Good thing they were sturdy enough.

I hear Jake snicker beside me and I send glare his way. I gaze up, feeling strangely relaxed. I close my eyes, breathing out and relaxing completely.

I feel like falling and jerk up my vision incredibly blurry. I hear familiar voices as I come to.

‘There you are..’

‘Hey, he woke up too!’ another voice booms and my vision finally clears. I see Norm smiling lightly at me as Grace shoves him out of the way. ‘Please tell me the avatars are safe.’

‘Yes. And if only you knew where we ended up.’ I say, finally realizing what's what.

‘What do you mean?’ she counters as I rise from the machine.

‘How about we talk over some food? I’m starving.’

The story  spread out pretty quickly about our encounter with the natives. Everyone seemed to gather at where we were eating. And I wanted to eat something and go to sleep.

Thankfully, Grace shooed everyone away and stated authoratevely to me and Jake.

‘You two go to sleep. The village life starts pretty early.'