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Then for a moment there was silence in the alcove - not a sound save for our soft breathing and the ambience of the Omatikaya in motion as they continued their lives - until, at last, Neytiri cleaved the silence with a softly spoken question. After swallowing to moisten her suddenly dry throat, she said "Ma yawne... I do not understand what upsets you so. What is a... a New-klee-arr Mis-eye-ill?" Upon hearing the question Jake Sully raised his head from his hands to affix her with a terrible, deathly gaze. "A Nuclear Missile_"_ he answered, gently correcting her pronunciation of the English words, "is a weapon, ma yawne, a terrible Sawtute weapon. I will show you, if you wish... but it will shock and horrify you; this is something none of the People have ever seen before."

At his words, slowly and hesitantly, Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite nodded her head. "I will See this thing, Jhake, this Missile. Rutxe," she said. His gaze becoming saddened, Jake nodded and then, moving over to Neytiri, he gently took her tswin in hand and connected it to his own, forming the bond of Tsaheylu. With said bond made, Jake then shared with his beloved his memories... and as we looked on, Neytiri paled, an expression of shock etched upon her face. Then, her expression morphed into one of absolute horror, before finally crumbling into grief as she and Jake both slumped to the ground and began to weep, bitterly. Watching them, softly Ieesha intoned, ~The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare...~

Shaking my head in sadness, I moved to lean against Ieesha's body; as I did so she gently folded a wing over me for comfort. "...slow death by radiation poisoning," I murmured. Her sadness filling my thoughts, my beloved blinked and nodded, her midnight-blue eyes shining with unshed tears. A short while later - once we were all able to get ourselves under control - as he sat against the wall opposite us, cradling Neytiri's head in his lap whilst he stroked her hair, Jake murmured, "That's exactly what happened, you know?" Sitting there facing him - leaning back against my beloved's curled body as I absently stroked the heads of my two animal friends - I blinked, before replying "I beg your pardon?"

It was Neytiri this time who answered. "When the Great War ended, at first the People rejoiced, for the Sawtute were gone; with Eywa's help we had brought them low, and had made them flee from kifkey Eywa'evengä, back to their Home of 'Rrta!" She said. "The happiness of the People, however, was not to be; soon after the Sawtute returned to their home, tìvawm fell upon us. Tìkawng aytirea haunted our people; many sickened and died from a säspxin that we could not heal. So many people..." At her words, Ieesha and I shared with each other a pained look. 'Cancer,' I thought, sickened. At this, my beloved nodded. ~Victory for the Na'vi at the conclusion of the Great War, yes, but a pyrrhic one; the radioactive fallout - from those 'extra' missiles that the RDA used - caused mutations in the cells of all Na'vi exposed to it.

Cancer. Jake and Neytiri either weren't there when those extra missiles were fired, they didn't get a lethal dose of radiation, or they were both very lucky...~ she said to me, privately. She lapsed into silence, then as Jake continued from where Neytiri left off. "Many years passed before we recovered and even now, our recovery is still not yet complete; sometimes young are born wrong or even dead, and sometimes our Elders sicken and die sooner than they should despite the fact that we take great care of them and their needs. Now, we know why..." At his words I nodded solemnly, before responding, "But it doesn't have to be this way, Jake. We can fix this - I, Ieesha and Txra'kon We'er - we can fix this!

Sawtute caused it; a Tawtute can end it! Tomorrow I'll get back out there with whatever tools I need to dismantle that damn missile; then, I'll retrieve the remains of the Na'vi trapped beneath it so your People can see him safely to the embrace of Eywa. Once that's done, if you grant me - and by extension Txra'kon We'er - permission to fabricate and then warp a Gateway to the outskirts of Hometree or preferably closer to it, I can have the entire Clan moved to Txra'kon We'er's Clinic in a heartbeat; there, your people can be purged of radiation and have any cellular damage corrected. Please, Jake, ma Tsmukan we can fix this..." When the reply to my words came, it was not Jake who responded; it was Neytiri.

"You Sawtute... Sawtute like you built the Nuclear Missile" she growled, darkly. "Sawtute like you thought it up. You think you can use more of your ketuwong machines to heal this? You think you're so powerful; so superior to us. You don't know what it's like to actually heal something; to care for another life; helping and nurturing it as it grows. All you know how to do is make war and death..." Her words pierced to my very core, a strangled, choking gasp escaping me as I experienced a series of sudden, and violent flashbacks... Times during war with the Zerg, when I could do nothing except watch as good Zealots died; times when I'd needed to perform mercy killings for those animal Children of Eywa whom were beyond my help... and the time when I had ended the life of my beloved...

An utterly irrational thought gripped me, then - 'Oh, gods... she's right!' - and my eyes welled up with tears as I pulled one of my love's wings over my body in order to hide myself from the world. Mere seconds later, however, I was snapped out of my funk before it could even begin by Falkor and Miracle as they wormed their way beneath Ieesha's wing to cuddle as close to me as possible, whimpers of concern escaping them as they softly licked my face. Even as they did this the peace was rent asunder by Jake's angered shout of "Neytiri!" and a roar of anger from Ieesha. Her teeth bared in an animalistic snarl, my beloved affixed Neytiri with a terrible, enraged gaze, the elliptical pupils of her midnight-blue eyes narrowed to slits of sheer malice.

~How dare you speak that way about my David! You take that back, you... you skorr! You va'cha qwee'sta! How could you say those horrible things about my Lifemate when he has done so much for kifkey Eywa'evengä?~ she shouted. When Neytiri did not answer, a dismissive snort escaped Ieesha and she buried her head beneath her wing pressing it gently against my body; at that point I clutched her head desperately and wept in silence, staining her muzzle with my tears. And so it was that I cried myself to sleep. When I awakened roughly two hours later - at least I think it must have been two hours later; I wasn't quite sure of the time - Falkor and Miracle were curled up on either side of me, dozing peacefully. Ieesha's wing, I noticed, was raised slightly, revealing the face of Jake Sully

Crouching before us, the Omatikaya Olo'eyktan had his arms outstretched to accommodate the bulk of the filled sumin jilt'luy cradled in his hands. It was late in the evening; from where I lay inside the alcove I could just see the light of the Omatikaya's mreki u'lito, around which they - and, surprisingly, my own Clansmen - sat, speaking softly with each other as they partook of the evening meal. My attention, however was soon drawn away from that scene and back to Jake as he saw my tear-stained face. Setting the filled Leaf Plate down beside me, softly he asked, "Are you alright, David?" Hearing my name properly pronounced after so long, in English, from one of the Na'vi - was quite a surprise; so much so in fact that, at first, I wasn't sure if the question he was asking was directed at me, or towards someone else!

When Jake repeated the question, however, I thought for a moment. Was I truly alright? A moment later, I nodded slowly, then answered, "Yeah. Yeah, I am." At this, Jake smiled, and then - gesturing to the Leaf Plate beside me - he said, "I got you some food; thought you might be hungry." I was, indeed, hungry, and the selection of foods upon said plate - cooked yerik meat, and some teylu grubs, along with some delicious fruits and vegetables looked more than appetizing! "Thank you, Olo'eyktan" I replied. "Hey," Jake said, a chuckle escaping him, "that's just my day job; I'm still the same Jarhead Marine I've always been. When we're alone you call me Jake, alright?"

"Deal" I replied, and then we both chuckled softly. A moment later, however, my mood turned somber and I heaved a weary sigh. "It's difficult, you know..." I murmured. At my words, Jake moved to sit with me as he asked, "What is?" Shifting about beneath my beloved's wing such that I could sit up properly, I lifted the Leaf Plate into my lap and then - raising my head to look at him again - I answered, "Dealing with all this; the prejudice. I thought..." I lapsed into silence for a moment, softly caressing my dozing animal companions as I gathered my thoughts, before I continued, "I thought I was making headway with overcoming it, you know?" At this, Jake responded, "Well, you won me over!"

At this, I laughed loudly - Ieesha's amusement filling my thoughts - as I slyly replied, "... only after Neytiri 'talked' you into giving me a chance!" At this, Jake leaned way back, raising his hands in a placating gesture as he said, "Whoa, man, back off! That's Na'vi abuse; I don't have to take that crap from you!" Laughter escaped us for a moment, before the mood once more grew somber. "But seriously, I thought I was making progress, you know. We're getting along - everything's all sunshine and daisies - and then... your wife spews all that venom out of her mouth! Where the hell did that come from, anyway?" Jake sighed at my question, before answering, "We lost a lot of good people in the Great War with the RDA; Eytukan, Tsu'tey, Grace, Trudy and so many others.

Since that time, we've all been leery of Sawtute, but - in Neytiri's case - me showing her the destructive power of nuclear weapons just... compounded everything; it was the straw that broke the back of the camel. Anyway, I've spoken with her, and she's ashamed of the things she said; you won't be hearing that kind of stuff from her again and if you're about she'll stay out of your way." At this, I nodded in acknowledgement. "Thanks," I replied. Then, a moment later, I said, "I am going to sort out that missile, you know, and get that Na'vi, too." Jake nodded solemnly. "I know," he said. "Eat your food and then get some shut eye, Zealot; you'll need it. Tomorrow's going to be a long day..." And with that, Jake Sully left the alcove to return to his Clan, leaving me, Ieesha, and our animal friends alone.