#mech writes

Tsu'tey didn’t know how he managed to end up where he currently was, curled up behind you, a sky demon, after a long night of intense lovemaking. For months, he had battled with his own emotions, punished himself for the sheer betrayal his heart was pushing on him once he realized what the speeding of his heart actually meant. At first, he had thought it was a side effect of surviving the war with the sky demons - after falling from such a great height. But in the end, he had to be honest with himself that the speeding of his heart had happened long before the war officially came to a head.

No, Jakesully was to blame for this, and no one else. He had brought you with him when he convinced Eytukan and Mo’at to welcome Grace Augustine back into the clan. Along this Normspellman person, you had walked in beside them, a tiny little creature, speeding as fast as you could with your ridiculously small legs to keep up. You had been so helpless and pathetic that the sheer sight of you had made Tsu’tey angry at Jakesully to have allowed you to even join them. Had you been present with Jakesully and Grace Augustine when his betrayal was revealed, however, Tsu’tey knew that he would not have dealt with the situation as reasonably as he had. As it was, however, he ended up falling from the metallic flying machine, littered with bullet holes. Crashing through the forest to the ground, the sky demons greeted him with even more horror. When he came to again, it was your small hands that tended to him until Jakesully and Neytiri could bring him to Mo’at.

After losing his kuru, Tsu’tey had not been kind to anyone, but especially not to you in particular. The words he had said, the strength with which he had grabbed or shoved you, were beneath him, but the fact that it had happened, he could never hide from. And nor did he. Once he got his feet under himself again, once his mind cleared enough for him to realize a thing or two about this new life of his - he had nothing but the wellbeing of the clan and you on his mind. Convincing you to forgive him, to give him a chance, however, had not been easy. In fact, it had demanded all of Tsu’tey’s spare time to prove himself worthy of your affection.

In the end, you reluctantly agreed to date him - a sky people invention where two or more people become mates on a trial basis, to see if you’re compatible. It pained Tsu’tey to no extent to know that this was all you were willing to give him, that you trusted him just about as far as you could throw him. But he had done this, had caused this situation, he needed to stand steady in it or leave you be. Now, Tsu’tey was a lot of things, but a quitter, he had never been.

The courting process - the dating - had been long and difficult, but eventually, you had agreed to live with him in the kelku he had made specifically with you in mind. it had everything you needed within it and although you had been skeptical at first, after seeing all the hard work he had laid down with you in mind, something seemed to click right for once. It made Tsu’tey relax a little, made his anxiousness calm down enough for him to noticeably lighten up again. The first time he had cracked a joke or two, laughing joyfully, Jakesully had choked with surprise. It had been a very good feeling indeed.

With you in his life, everything just seemed easier. Laughter came easier to him, his normally stressed and harsh demeanor mellowed out and despite the fact that you are a sky person, Tsu’tey has never been happier in his life. It’s probably why he lets himself lose control while making love to you. The sounds you make beneath him, the gasped whispers of endearment as you cling to him only fuels his need for you further. For hours, he plows into you, driving you over the edge time and time again until you’re a sweaty mess beneath him, your skin slick and salty, and warm. As his cock presses as far as it can go into you, bulging your stomach enough that he can feel himself, Tsu’tey knows that there is nowhere he would rather be than right here in your arms.

Releasing one last time inside of you, Tsu’tey kisses your lips so softly, it makes you whine. Smiling down at you, he notices how your eyes glitter as you stare up at him. The right thing to do would be to clean you up, to bathe your sore muscles, but at that moment, Tsu’tey loses against the voice in the back of his head that’s telling him to let his scent seep into the very pores of your skin. You fall asleep in each other's arms like that, with loving words and soft kisses on your lips. It is the best few hours of sleep Tsu’tey has had in ages, the best sleep he has had in the month you have lived in their kelku.

But when Tsu'tey awakens early the next morning there's something wrong. Distantly, he registers an iron scent on the air that he knows all too well, but as his mind is slowly waking up, he doesn't pay it much mind. Instead, he runs his large hand over your small body, grabbing your small breast in his large hands as he kisses your shoulder, smiling into your skin as you too awake with a positively satisfied sigh. Tsu’tey runs his hand down your body, over your waist, squeezing your curved and soft hip appreciatively before continuing down to your subtle thighs, pulling a breathy moan from your lips that has his own skin erupt in a million small goosebumps. Continuing on his joyous morning journey, Tsu’tey presses his hand between your legs to find your core already wet and waiting for him. Pressing a finger into you, he lets out a rumble from deep within his chest at how ready you are for him.

Pulling back, Tsu’tey guides you over to lay on your back before slotting himself between your thighs, your hot, moist core smearing slick over his breastbone where it presses into you. Grinning up, he bends his head down, kissing your shoulder, your breasts, giving each nipple a good suck, before continuing down to your molten core, never breaking eye contact with you as he starts his breakfast. Your beautiful eyes are probably why he doesn’t notice the distinct coppery iron scent or the blood that is smeared on the inside of your thighs. Your breathy gasp as his thumb circles your pearl is probably why he doesn’t notice the bloody trail that has seeped from your puffed and raw cunt before he’s there. It takes him back with such shock that he's on his knees between your widespread thighs before either one of you can register what has happened. Lifting his hand to reach out to the blood, he's met with the bloody picture of his own digits between your bloody thighs and core.

"I have hurt you, yawne," Tsu’tey mumbles low, his voice small, even to his own ears. Getting up on your elbows to see what's going on, you look at the blood on his hands and on his chest before you look down at yourself, noticing the blood smeared between your thighs.

"Shit," you swear, clapping your thighs together, hiding your core from Tsu'tey's eyes in apparent shame. "It's alright, Tsu'tey. This happens."

It is alright?

This happens?

Tsu'tey can't believe what he's hearing. His careless mating has hurt you, has caused you to bleed from one of your most sacred places. The immense pain you must have been in while he took his pleasures from you… Shame floods through him and before you're able to say anything more, he gets up to his feet, grabs his tweng and bow, and flees your kelku. Running as fast as his legs can take him, Tsu’tey doesn’t stop until he’s crashing to his knees by the river. Vigorously, he scrubs his hand and chest until his skin feels raw. He can’t get the image of your bloodied cunt out of his head, nor the vulnerable way you had looked up at him. With great shame and stones weighing heavy in his heart, he gets up to meet the hunting party he was to be a part of that morning, only for the hunters to stare weirdly at him.

“Where is your battle band, brother? Your blade?” Atan asks as he steps up to him, Takuk closely following behind.

Patting the bottom of his ribs, he finds the skin bare from its usual protective layer. However, Tsu’tey could not go back to their kelku, even though you might not be there anymore. The sheer thought of crossing your path makes his ears bend painfully low against his skull with shame. Closing his eyes he takes a deep breath before opening them again to stare at his old friend.

“I will go without,” He growls too harshly, making Atan look at him with concern.

“Brother, I do not think that is wise,” Atan starts, but Tsu’tey cuts him off.

“It will be fine,” Tsu’tey bites back at his friend.

“Go back home to get it, we will wait,” Takuk presses, his gentle voice making Tsu’tey sigh deeply.

“Let us go before the hunt will be in vain,” He doesn’t miss the way Atan and Takuk look at each other with worried expressions.

The hunt is not successful. Or at least, not on his part. Tsu’tey is unfocused and stressed, resulting in him missing each and every shot before he’s even able to let the arrows go. When they return, it is without honor for Tsu’tey. Without bidding his friends farewell, Tsu’tey leaves the party to stew alone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long before Jakesully finds him and somehow that is even worse.

“What’s wrong, brother? Trouble in paradise?” Jakesully ask, immediately souring Tsu’tey’s already sour mood.

“Go away, demon,” Tsu’tey growls, noticing how harsh the words are spoken, making him involuntarily wince.

“Demon, huh? That bad?” Jakesully hums thoughtfully, falling into silence beside Tsu’tey. It takes hours of the two of them just sitting in silence together, Jakesully waiting him out, letting Tsu’tey wallow in his own shame and misery until finally, Tsu’tey breaks his silence.

“I hurt Y/n during our mating,” Tsu’tey admits, the words all but a whisper of shame, but of course, Jakesully hears them.

“Good hurt or bad hurt?” He asks as if there is a difference.

“There is no such thing as good hurt, Jakesully,” Tsu’tey growls angrily at his stupid friend.

“Trust me, brother there definitely is and I can assure you, with your size difference, there absolutely is,” The cheeky grin on Jakesully’s face is beyond infuriating to Tsu’tey.

“I made her bleed from her core, tell me where the good hurt is in that, demon,” Tsu’tey hisses before his shoulders slump, and the anger at Jakesully bleeds back into shame at his own actions.

“Oh…” Jakesully hums, his brother finally understanding Tsu’tey’s distress.

“And do you know what she said to me?” Tsu’tey huffs a humorless chuckle, “It is alright. This happens. Which means that it is not the first time I have hurt her like this, without noticing it - without her telling me. I have let her suffer because of my own greed,”

“Are you sure it isn’t just her period?” Jakesully hums, “I mean, she said this happens, right? The Na’vi don’t have them, but humans do. And it’s not as if she’s stopped your mating, right?”

“What is this period you are talking about?” Tsu’tey asks, because no, you haven't stopped their mating before. If anything, you have been overly eager for it.

“It’s uh… well, Y/n could probably explain it better, but each month human females bleed from their… you know,” Jakesully gestures between his legs, as if the word were somehow shameful.

“From the cunt?” Tsu’tey deadpans, watching as Jakesully’s ears flatten and his cheeks darken with heat.

“So crude,” Jakesully sighs before grinning, “But yeah. It's their reproductive organs, their uh… uterus? The womb. Shredding itself to prep-”

“Shredding itself?” Tsu’tey interrupts, his eyes huge as worry overcomes him.

“It’s uh, it’s her body’s way of preparing a new egg to be fertilized so that she can become pregnant - uh with child, after the current egg didn’t take,” Jakesully hastily continues, his discomfort so clear on his face and in his voice.

“So she is laying an egg?” Tsu’tey fills in, feeling bad for not having succeeded in fertilizing the egg you had worked so hard to prepare for him - for them.

“What? Fuck, no,” Jakesully barks, wiping his hands over his face, “Shit… uh, female humans carry a child in their stomachs, in their womb. It’s a… aw hell, I don’t know what it is, alright. There’s an egg, you jizz in her, she might become pregnant and the egg will develop into a child. If she doesn’t become pregnant, the egg will get washed out with the blood before being replaced with a new one.”

“I see,” Tsu’tey hums, but in reality, he does not see anything. Whatever Jakesully is talking about sounds weird and alien to his ears.

“Some women are in really great pain because of it, while others… - brother, where are you going?” Jakesully shouts after him, but all Tsu’tey can focus on is getting to your kelku as fast as possible.

He had left you alone in your kelku while you possibly were in great pain. He had left you there, too caught up in his own shame and emotions to hear you out when you had tried to explain it to him. Passing his people, he takes no care of them as he rushes as fast as his long legs can take him. Eventually, he’s crashing through the doorway of your kelku making you gasp with surprise where you’re preparing a yovo fruit for yourself.

“Yawne,” He pants, entirely out of breath.

“Are you alright, Tsu’tey?” Your worried words greet him as you put the knife down to greet him.

“Am I… Yawne, I did not know,” Tsu’tey falls to his knees before you, pressing his forehead to your stomach as he bends in on himself. Your hands immediately come up to hold him, your tiny hands gently caressing the base of what remains of his kuru, as you hold him close.

“Are you in pain?” He continues after lifting his head when his worries start to soothe, “Is the egg causing you pain?”

“Ah, you’ve talked with Jake I take it?” You hum with a soft chuckle, your beautiful eyes glittering as you look up at him in amusement.

“I have,” Tsu’tey confirms, bending his head down to look at you. “I do not fully understand, Jakesully mentioned that you might be in great pain, and I… Yawne, I left you,”

“It’s alright, yawntu, this is new for you. I would have warned you, but I didn’t expect it to come so soon,” You look down at him with your gentle eyes as if he hung the stars in the sky.

“I thought that I had hurt you,” He mumbles shamefully, “That I had caused you to bleed,”

“So your first cause of action at seeing me bleed would be to run away, got it,” You grinned up at him, teasing him as if this was somehow funny to you.

“Yawne! I…-” He starts, the protest and shame flaring up inside of him. How could he have acted this disgracefully to his mate?

“I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding, Tsu’tey,” You laugh openly as you push his head down into your stomach again, your weak arms holding him close as you chuckle.

“I have disgraced our bond, Y/n,” Tsu’tey starts, his heart breaking in his chest.

“Hey, no, Tsu’tey,” You urge, pushing his head up so that he’s kneeling before you at eye level instead. “Listen to me closely, alright?”

You don’t continue before Tsu’tey reluctantly nods his head, your small hands still on his face, comforting him through what must be a quite distressing time for you.

“Reacting as you did to seeing blood is alright. Especially for someone who has experienced violence as you have,” You pause until Tsu’tey realizes that you’re waiting for him to nod his head in understanding, “We mate with such passion that your conclusion wasn’t farfetched,”

“I do not know this word; farfetched,” Tsu’tey looks into your eyes, reveling in your patience with him.

“It means that it was not a foolish conclusion to come to, that it was within your right to think of it,” You smile again as if he has hung the stars in the sky while your thumbs caress his cheekbones comfortingly. “I’m small compared to you, and you are certainly huge in all aspects of the word,”

Tsu’tey can’t keep his chest from puffing up with pride, no more than he can keep his lips from forming a smug smile. Huffing up at him, your fingers take hold of the base on his ears, making them twitch.

“Behave, yawntu,” You grin up at him, letting him know that it is all in fond fun. “You have never and will never hurt me while mating, Tsu’tey. I don’t know if you’re even capable of doing such a thing,”

You stare up at him while he lets your words sink in, coming to the conclusion that you know best and that Tsu’tey has to trust your judgment. Sighing with the release of his stress and worry, Tsu’tey bends his head down to rest his forehead against yours. It’s comforting the way you’re still holding onto him, grounding him as if you somehow already knew what he needed despite your young bond.

“This period, this blood, can you tell me more about it? I wish to understand it so that I can better help you when it comes,” Tsu’tey hums, opening his eyes to look into yours.

“Of course, yawntu,” You smile beautifully up at him before slowly pulling away.

Taking his hand in yours, you lead him over to your nest, waiting for him to sit down before you bend your small legs to sit between his bigger ones. Taking both of his hands in yours, you look up at him as you start to explain what a period is, chuckling softly at his horrified expressions while explaining about your uterus shredding and how that causes the blood to dribble out. You walk him through everything, about how to contain it, about how you usually manage the pain, and how there are different methods.

“How else may I help you ease the pain, yawne?” Tsu’tey presses on when he notices you’re holding something back.

“It’s uh…” You stutter, your beautiful face darkening with an embarrassment Tsu’tey doesn’t understand. “There’s the act of mating, of - of reaching completion,”

“Mating?” Tsu’tey parrots, his eyes growing huge as his ears rotate forward with undivided attention.

“The act of mating reduces the cramping and reaching completion eases the pain,” You mumble, not able to meet his eyes head-on, “But it’s not something you have to do. I’ve got my heating pads, warm blankets, and excellent pain meds,”

At the mention of medication, Tsu’tey wrinkles his nose with distaste. He had never been fond of the sky people medicine, and to hear that you regularly take them to control a pain he could be helping you with, makes his anger flare. Slicking his ears back with annoyance, Tsu’tey huffs loudly.

“It is no bother for me to mate with you, yawne,” He starts, noting how your cheeks darken even further, “A little blood has never scared me before and it will not start now. Please, let me help you,”

“You really don’t have to, Tsu’tey,” You try again, your embarrassed little face looking up at him full of love and wonder.

“I want to,” Tsu’tey whispers, bending down to rest his forehead to yours again.

“Are you sure, yawntu?” Your eyes portray it all, your uncertainty, your need for him.

“I am, yawne,” Tsu’tey rumbles as he crawls over you, forcing your small body to bend backward to lay back in your nest.

It brings him straight to your hot core, the coppery iron scent strong and warm when he takes a deep breath. He isn’t afraid anymore though. This period had personally insulted him, but now, Tsu’tey would show you what a man truly was. Growling, he plops down on you, the entirety of his weight pressing the air from your small lungs, just how you liked it. The warm heat from your core wraps around Tsu’tey’s lower chest, lulling him to grind his hips into the soft nest beneath your bodies.

“You take my breath away, yawne,” Tsu’tey breathes as he lets the bridge of his nose run up the side of your neck, smirking childishly when it makes your breath stutter in your chest.

“Tsu’tey…” You gasp as he reaches your lips, kissing you long and deep.

The way your small hands clutch at his shoulders to hold on makes something inside of him snap. It’s ridiculous how every touch from you sends him over the edge, breaking the hard-set control he has over himself. You’re simply intoxicating to him. Running his hand down your flank, Tsu’tey lets his fingers flutter over every dip and roll of your soft skin, taking pleasure in the way the contact makes you moan. It never ceased to amaze him just how soft your skin was. The very first time you had allowed him to touch, to feel you, he had lost himself in your body, emerging only when the sun rose once more. His eyes had been blown wide the following day, much to everyone’s amusement.

Now, it was no different. The very scent of you stoked the fire within him, edging him closer to the point of no return, to the point where there was no one but you and him in this life that Eywa had graced them with. Giving you parting butterfly kisses, Tsu’tey dips his head lower, letting his lips trace an incoherent trail until he reaches the top of your chest. He’ll have to part with your thighs around his chest if he is to continue. A part of him doesn’t want to, but the needier part of him claws at his insides for Tsu’tey to present him with the sweetest nectar of your core. It’s the part of him that wins, in the end. Wrapping his hands around your thighs, Tsu’tey gently parts them from around his chest, pushing them back, opening you up like the most precious of flowers.

He’s presented with the same sight as he was that morning, your cunt puffy and red, needy and ready for his ministrations. The blood that slowly comes from your parted lips doesn’t scare him anymore. It’s so… little? Yet, that very morning, it had seemed almost too immense for him to comprehend. Curiously, Tsu’tey runs the pad of his thumb through the red liquid, marveling at the way it colors the blue skin of his thumb. Wiping it away from your entrance, however, only produces more as he forces your lips to part. Smiling to himself, Tsu’tey bends down to kiss the inside of your knees before starting his journey to the core of his desire. He takes a moment to marvel at your own stripes, the silvery, pink, brown, and purple smooth grooves that paint your skin in some places. Never would he have believed sky people worthy of such beauty, but yet again, you had proved him wrong. Your stripes are so different from his own, more like the lightning that crosses over the beautiful Pandora skies. Running his fingers over the stripes on your lower stomach, Tsu’tey marveled at your beauty for a moment before getting to his stomach between your spread thighs.

This close to your cunt, Tsu’tey can see everything. Hears your heart beating frantically in your chest as your blood courses through your veins. Tsu’tey can smell everything. And it makes something wild within him roar to life. His mind zeroes in on one thing and one thing only. Distantly, he registers that you’re talking to him, that your small hands find their way into his braids, but he’s lost in the spell you have over him. Running the pads of his thumbs along the outer lips of your cunt, Tsu’tey is helpless but to lick his lips as your red speckled slick coats his journey. Pressing gently on the silky smooth skin, he watches as your cunt opens up for him, watches as the impossibly small slit stretches the further he pushes.

Repeating the motion, Tsu’tey growls desperately when a fresh dollop of slick emerges from your cunt, the red speckles in it almost beautiful as it slides downward. Unable to hold back anymore, Tsu’tey leans forward, bumping his nose into your swollen pearl as kisses the warm, slick core of your cunt. The sound is almost rudely loud in your otherwise quiet kelku. The slick sticks to his lips in thin strings when he pulls away just far enough to meet your eyes over the swell of your stomach and breasts. Licking his lips, his nostrils flare as the taste hits his tongue, effectively sending his brain into a frenzy. Almost immediately, Tsu’tey dives back in, this time plunging his tongue straight into your core, lapping eagerly at your soft, warm walls. His nose keeps hitting your precious pearl, the hot air from his lungs blowing over it in rapid succession as he dines on a taste he’s never had before.

The taste of your coppery blood combined with the impossibly sweet and heady taste of your natural slick had Tsu’tey all but whining between your thighs, his digits tightening around the plump of your thighs as he held on for dear life. Driving his tongue as far as he’s able to reach inside of you, Tsu’tey breathes heavily as he makes a seal around your cunt, sucking while he licks at your insides. The taste of you explodes on his taste buds with each lick, making him push further and further to get more. He feels almost desperate when your small hands pull hard at his braids, trying your best to lift his head from your molten core.

“T-t..” You stutter, your breath coming harder than his, “T’ey,”

“Yawne,” Tsu’tey answers your call, his voice husky and raw, even to his own ears.

But you’re too far gone. With the little break that you obtained, your head falls back, hitting their nest while you continue to breathe heavily, your small chest lifting and sinking rapidly. It fuels something so primal inside of Tsu’tey that he physically had to clutch onto the bedding to keep himself from pouncing on you. He doubts the stretch would have truly hurt you, had he not been able to hold himself back. The amount of slickness and the plump readiness of your cunt told him as much, but even though you had told him how much you loved the stretch, Tsu’tey was acutely aware of your size difference.

So instead, Tsu’tey eases two digits inside of you, grinning proudly when he meets no resistance, just the slick, plump heat of your hole. Spreading his fingers, Tsu’tey watches as your head bends further back, a moan escaping your gorgeous red-bitten lips as he adds another finger. Like this, you’ve told him, he’s bigger than any human male known to history. It makes his chest puff ridiculously with pride. Add his own cock to the mix and you were a pampered little mate.

“What are you thinking about, yawntu?” You huff a chuckle as you look down at him.

“Nothing, yawne,” Tsu’tey smiles as he leans up to kiss your lips.

Pulling back, there’s red smeared on your face. The realization that he’s wearing you on his own face has his tail whipping painfully behind him with excitement. There’s something so intimate about this, an experience a Na’vi mate could never give him. For a moment, Tsu’tey thanks whatever power Eywa had in changing his mind, whatever made him turn on his opinion and pursue you. Staring down at you, there was no doubt in Tsu’ey’s mind that no atokirina could ever compare to your beauty. Try as she might, the Great Mother could not create anything even comparable to the beauty you held in his eyes. Grinning smugly, Tsu’tey spread your legs even wider with his knees, huffing proudly when your breath hitches.

The way his chest breathes deeply makes his heavy cock glide through the slick of your cunt, your size difference enough for there to be enough motion between you. The sheer heat of your cunt never ceases to amaze him, and try as he might, he’s unable to keep his hips from thrusting, to keep himself from seeking out your tight, slick heat. Pulling back, Tsu’tey meets your eyes as the head of his cock catches on the slick, hot “O” of your cunt. Swallowing audibly, he watches as your body shivers, your cunt spasming, kissing his cock head with an excited greeting. Wetting his lips, Tsu’tey presses forward, feeling his cock crown the tight circle of your cunt before you clench, sending his cock sliding through your slick to end under your navel.

“Tsakem rä'ä si, txopu rä'ä si, yawne,” Tsu’tey growls, his accent heavy, “Do not do that. Do not be scared, yawne,”

“I could never, yawntu,” Lifting your small arms, Tsu’tey bends down for you to grab onto the back of his neck, letting your weak arms press him down into a gentle kiss that touches his very soul.

Leaning his forehead to yours, Tsu’tey tries pushing forward again. The angle is weird like this, making it difficult to line up, but he wants to be close to you, wants to watch the exact moment he breaches your body, just so that he can see your pupils dilate to nothing but black. His cock catches on the ripe, slick circle of your molten core, but this time, when he presses forward, you don’t clench beneath him, denying him access. Instead, your body grows boneless beneath him as you relax, allowing him passage to the innermost sacred place of your body. It’s the easiest, most difficult glide Tsu’tey has had in his entire life. Never before has your body felt like this, clutching onto him as if the very thought of him leaving sent panic through your slick walls.

Groaning, Tsu’tey stills, letting the stretch of his size cement for just a moment before he pulls his hips back, tutting at your distressed whining before he slams into you, this time guided by the slick from his first slide. It fills you up to the limit, the head of his cock hitting that gloriously smooth and plush thing deep inside of you. It caresses the shaft of his cock, just behind his sensitive head while le butts into your wall. Distantly, he knows that he can go no further, but he still tries, pressing until his hips finally meet the plush meat of the crook of your thighs. You’re spread so wide beneath him that for just a moment, he wonders how you haven’t broken yet. Instead, you’re clutching onto him as if your very life depended on it, and when he pushes up on his hands, pressing the full weight of his body on your connection, he can see why.

Beneath your navel, there’s the clear indentation of his own cock beneath your skin. It isn’t the first time Tsu’tey has seen it, but there’s something about it this time that sends him over the edge. Involuntarily, his hips thrust hard, sending your body upward with the sheer force behind it. Your small shoulders meet his wrists, stopping your journey as his cock presses further into you from beneath. It’s a surreal thing to see. One moment, you’re gasping, eyes wide in shock, and the next, there’s something hot spraying from your cunt against his abdomen as your cunt ripples harder around him than ever before while you scream. Your orgasm lasts longer this time, squeezing Tsu’tey’s cock hard as your cunt tries its hardest to milk the juices that it so longs for. But it’s not the orgasm that has Tsu’tey perplexed.

“What was that, yawne?” Tsu’tey asks, his voice unrecognizable to his own ears.

But all you respond with is a series of ‘oh god, oh god, oh god’ while you covered your face from his eyes. Now, Tsu’tey was no fool, he knew your rambled string of words meant that you were in incomprehensible pleasure. It had happened the first time he ate from your core, the first time his fingers had entered your cunt, and especially the very first time his cock had stretched you around his size. So with that knowledge, Tsu’tey set out to get the same reaction again, if only for his own pleasure at seeing it.

With the same eye for detail, Tsu’tey repeats his motions, pulling back before entering you halfway once again. It sends your head back with a long wet moan, your puffy lips parted as you grab a hold of his wrists, preparing yourself for what you so obviously have anticipated to come. Grinning, Tsu’tey slams into you a little harder than he had meant to, but it’s all the same to you. Your loud moans fill your kelku as Tsu’tey presses further, testing the limit. It doesn’t happen immediately, like the first time, but Tsu’tey isn’t deterred. He is a man on a mission, a mission he is hellbent to succeed. And sure enough, after a while, your mouth starts forming that series of ‘no no no no no’ that always comes before something mesmerizing. It spurs Tsu’tey on, his mind chasing that burst of excitement, so pure, from your body’s core.

Thrusting faster, harder, Tsu’tey is not disappointed when he looks down just in time to see that same clear spray emerge from your core, coating his abdomen not just once as before, not twice, but four times. In time with your cunt contracting around him, Tsu’tey was helpless but to give into your core’s demand. With a final thrust, he sheats himself as deep as he’s able to while his body pumps you full of his seed. He’s breathing hard as he lays down on top of you, holding you captive beneath him while you breathe.

“You are,” Tsu’tey pants, taking deep breaths before continuing, “Amazing, yawne,”

Kissing your forehead, your cheeks, your gasping lips, Tsu’tey takes pity on you for a second, balancing most of his weight on his elbows, only for you to whine in annoyance. Huffing a chuckle, Tsu’tey slides down carefully once more, watching you closely as his full weight is on you again. Never would he have imagined his weight to be such a comfort to you, but as you hide your face between his pecs, Tsu’tey is left to drift on the sensation of your combined bodies while you land. He doesn’t know how long it takes, but by the time you emerge from his chest, the chill of the setting sun has started to creep into your dark kelku.

“Welcome back to Pandora, yawne,” Tsu’tey teases, only for you to clench your cunt around his sensitive cock, making him hiss.

“You are a cruel man, yawntu,” You huff, but the poorly hidden amused smile lets him know that your words have no bite to them.

“I am,” Tsu’tey agrees, grinning widely as he kisses your lips. “What does that make you, ma muntxate?”

“An innocent bystander?” You try, your sheepish grin mesmerizing Tsu’tey’s heart.

“You, ma yawne,” Tsu’tey starts, leaning down to hover over your lips, “Have never been innocent a day in your life,”

It brings the most beautiful laughter from your lips, a laughter that doesn’t immediately die down, but instead continues on until it gradually fizzles out. At this moment, Tsu’tey wishes that he could make tsaheylu with you, that he could show you the love that blossoms in his heart, a love that is so strong he’s not certain he could stay true to Eywa if challenged. But you do not have a kuru and he… he does not have his kuru anymore. Still, with everything that you are, you try your best to fill the gap he’s missing, letting him know how much he’s loved without actually having said the words before.

“I love you, Tsu’tey,” Because, of course, you would read him so easily. The notion is no less meaningless to Tsu’tey’s ears though.

“I love you, yawne,” He hums, kissing your lips slowly before hovering above them again, catching your eyes in his, “I have for a very long time,”

It’s an intimate moment, one heavy with emotions, with trust, and honor. You’re both from different worlds, but somehow, together, you have made it work, supporting each other with everything that you were. Tsu’tey knows that there will be nothing in this life or the next that can keep him apart from you. Beneath him, you reach a hand out to brush two of his braids beneath his ear, your small fingers gently rubbing his ear on your way back. Smiling, Tsu’tey gets up to his knees, watching his cock move inside of your small cunt. Pulling out, he watches as your red-speckled slick and his luminescent seed stick to his cock. There’s a mixed string connecting the head of his cock to the puffy mouth of your cunt for a moment before it breaks in the chill evening air. A moment later, however, his seed runs out of your wide-stretched, red hole. It’s beautiful.

Leaning forward, Tsu’tey attaches his mouth to your open cunt once more, sucking his seed and your slick from your abused and tired hole. If possible, your cunt is even hotter, even softer than before as he digs his tongue inside, slurping loudly even to his own ears. The plush of your thighs has collapsed shut on each side of his head, your cute weakness trying to push his head away, but Tsu’tey will drink his fill of you. Not even your gasped whines from above stop him in his ministrations before, as you desperately ramble, something sweet hits his tongue and face once, twice before your thighs fall dead from his head.

It takes him a moment to realize what has happened, but when he does, his cock twitches with interest. You, however, lay completely boneless above him, your breathing coming hard and fast, your eyes closed. Taking pity on you, Tsu’tey licks his lips before gathering you up in his arms. A bath would do you both good before some food and sleep. In the morning, Tsu’tey would quench his thirst for knowledge and you would let him, one way or the other. Grabbing a blanket, Tsu’tey wraps it around you, covering your modesty as he learned the hard way how sky people valued that sort of thing. Walking out of your kelku, Tsu’tey headed toward the river.

“Brother,” Jakesully shouted from the entrance of the communal meal, “Dinner was served a while ago,”

“We will eat at home, Jakesully,” Tsu’tey turns to his… friend, only for the man in question to holler loudly.

“Yo, Tsu’tey got his wings, alright!” Jakesully announces loudly, pulling the curious stares of Atan and Takuk.

Tsu’tey pays them no mind, however, as he continues his walk down to the river. He has a mate to take care of, one who brings him such joy he hardly believed he was still alive some days. To know that you felt the same as he - Tsu’tey could ask nothing more of the Great Mother.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Colonel Miles S. Quaritch

Ma Miles Tw: NSFW, Slow Burn, hurt/comfort, misunderstandings, HEA Pairing: Quaritch x Na'vi!Reader Summary: When your son is taken, left behind by your Toruk Makto, you desperately go on the hunt for your boy. Knowing who took him, knowing that nothing good awaits him, you search high and low through the battlefield of Pandora, praying that Eywa will guide your way.

No Way - Coming Soon Tw: NSFW, body worship, stomach bulge, HEA Pairing: Quaritch x plus size h!Reader Summary: Quaritch has seen you around base. You're not the type he'd go for, but in the quiet of his room at night, your face is the only image he sees. What harm could it cause to take you for a ride?

We're Not Even the Same Species - Coming soon Tw: NSFW, Unplanned Pregnancy, hurt/comfort, HEA Pairing: Quaritch x h!Reader Summary: Quaritch uses you as a fuck buddy, too afraid of what the squeezing sensation in his chest, every time he saw you, would mean. Somehow, he manages to knock you up only to deny his part in the kid's creation. After all, you're not even the same species.

Tsu'ty te Rongloa Ateyitan

Ma Tsu'tey - Coming Soon Tw: NSFW, Unplanned Pregnancy, hurt/comfort, HEA Pairing: Tsu'tey x human!Reader Summary: During the hunt festival, Tsu'tey drinks too much. Excusing himself to get some fresh air, he finds himself at Utraya Mokri to seek comfort. Instead, he finds you there, the human Jakesully brought with him to the Omatikaya. The very bane of his existence. Right then though, you were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. When morning comes, however, Eywa's clarity comes with it. Tsu'tey flees, and then... the humans attack Hometree and Tsu'tey falls from the skies.

Reypaytun Tw: NSFW, Period blood, puddy eating, hurt/comfort Pairing: Tsu'tey x human!Reader) Summary: When Tsu'tey falls for a sky demon, he thought that would be the lowest he'd ever fall. When you agreed to move into his kelku, he knew he could never be happier. Until a few days later, after a night of passionate lovemaking, Tsu'tey wakes up to blood smeared between your thighs. Hurting you, even accidentally... There would be no greater shame.

Jake Sully

TBC

Tonowari

Daddy... huh? Tw: NSFW, puddy eating, p in v, stomach bulge, fudged dumb Pairing: Tonowari x human!Reader Summary: Oversensitive and head clouded with pleasure, you accidentally call Tonowari Daddy, which has... surprisingly delicious consequences.

Others

You're alright, kiddo... Tw: SFW - Pairing: Spider & gn!Reader + Quaritch & gn!Reader Summary:

The Choice - Coming Soon Tw: NSFW, Threesome, competitiveness, friendship, HEA Pairing: Summary:

The lewd sounds coming from your cunt as he buried himself deeper still, would cling to his memories in the quietest of moments for years to come. Your slick, your evident excitement just from being with him, makes the slide irresistibly smooth as he bottoms out once more. Your tight insides quiver around his size, the hot walls all but strangling him as he holds still. Releasing a hot breath over the top of your head, he’s helpless to keep his massive body from pressing deeper into you. 

“P-please…” You beg of him, your lips, red and swollen where he’s kissed you to within an inch of your life. 

Pulling ever so slowly out of you allows for a ragged breath to be drawn before he sheaths himself within your scorching heat once more. His arms are trembling from keeping the full mass of his weight off of you, his ribcage feeling two sizes too small as he clenches every muscle in his body to hold himself back. Looking down between his elbows, your pink, sweaty face stares up at him, head bent backward on the woven mats. It shouldn’t be pretty the way you’re sweaty and blotched, but the sight sends a current through his body which results in an aborted thrust that still moves the entirety of your body up with the force behind it. 

“Ph-pl-se,” Your lips part once more, clumsily begging him for something he has yet to understand. 

Tears are falling from your beautiful eyes, the clear drops glittering in the low light of the setting sun. Not even the prettiest of pearls could compare to the sight, as it burns itself to his memories, joining a series of other wonders. Pulling out again, Tonowari watches intently as your small eyebrows knit together in displeasure. At what, he does not know, but until you tell him to stop, he will take what you freely give and he will give what you will willingly accept from him. 

“D-daddy, please,” You gasp, your voice raw, as just the tip remains inside of your burning cunt. 

Sheathing himself fully inside of you, Tonowari is unable to hold back the powerful thrust that reaches the end of your tight heat, only to push you further up between his elbows. Small arms cling desperately to his chest as your legs spread impossibly wide to accommodate the sudden width of him as he collapses on top of your small form. His head is spinning, his lungs refusing to pull much-needed air into his lungs as he holds as still as he can. From below, your small nails claw at his chest, while you mewl. 

“M-more daddy,” You somehow manage to push out and despite himself, he’s once more unable to stop his hips from thrusting into you, as if there’s still a chance he’s missing a tiny crook inside of you to bury himself in. 

“Little one,” Tonowari manages, his voice strained as his head swims, making him unfocused. 

“N-no,” Your desperation reaches a level that concerns him while he tries to move off of you. 

Instead, you cling to him tighter than before. Your weak arms wrap around his neck while your legs desperately cling to his waist, somehow managing to lock behind him. It’s an awkwardly stretched position you’re in, but you get your point across clear as day. Hushing you, Tonowari holds a hand to your bottom as he sits back up, taking you with him to sit in his lap. Looking down at you, you’re nothing but a toy as your arms loosen from around his neck. Gravity makes you sink further down on his cock, the obscene bulge pressing on your stomach as your tired body leans back. 

“Mh good, Daddy,” You mumble as your small body reaches for him, falling against his chest all boneless and fucked out. 

“Y/n?” Tonowari tries and to his utter surprise, your head actually turns to him as a soft smile crosses your lips. “Still good?”

Inside of your cunt, he can feel his cock twitching at his seemingly new title. There’s definitely something loaded behind it, but as of right now, sheath deep within your welcoming, tight heat, he couldn’t care less. You begged for him with everything that you were... How irresponsible would he be to deny you any longer? 

Thrusting up into the tight heat, the squelching sound of your slick making room for his cock, filled your kelku. There was no doubt in his mind, while he repeated the motion as you mewled babbles of “daddy" and "more”, that the people outside could hear your slick walls while he rearranged them. Tonowari would make sure that there was a permanent shape of his cock inside of you, one that you would never be able to erase. 

“Harder, Daddy,” Your small hands reach for his face and right then, right there, with your face looking so beautifully debauched - he lost all composure.

Holding you up by your middle, he moves you along his cock, watching as it bulges your stomach each time he bottoms out. He’s hitting something tight and spongy, bruising past it to reach the end of your passage, and with each passing, your cunt tightens deliciously until suddenly, your soft body grows taught in his hold. 

“I-I’m gonna - D-daddy!” And with your eyes wide open, staring into his, your cunt spasms hard around his cock, milking him with such force he’s helpless to resist your siren's call. 

With one final press, he buries himself sheath deep within your wet heat as he floods you with his blessings. There’s so much to unpack after this, but for the moment, all he can do is cling to your small body as he breathes heavily. His mind is still swimming deliciously, blank as a clear drop of water where only the reflection of you shines back at him. Kissing your forehead softly, he cups the back of your head as he holds you against his wildly beating heart. 

“Daddy… huh?” He hums, feeling your huffed chuckle against his sweaty skin. 

Waking up to the demon’s annoying voice, you growl furiously as he steps closer to the cot on the floor which substitutes as your nest. You’re crouched protectively over Spider’s still sleeping form, your anger rising at the rude skxawng before you. Looking into the demon’s eyes, however, proved more difficult than it should have been. The sharp yellow depths had plagued you the entire night, waking you with both fear and horror. 

“He always sleep this soundly?” The demon asks, lowering himself to a crouch a few steps away from your cot. 

“No,” You sneer, insulted that he would even ask. 

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, sweetcheeks?” He grins, the sides of his eyes crinkling as he finds humor in whatever it was he said. 

“What?” You bark back, which only makes the demon grin wider. 

“Doesn’t matter,” He waves his long hand in the air between you, “Ready for a new day of teaching?”

“It is day already?” You can’t help but ask, turning your head around the always-lit, cold room. 

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know, now would you, sweetcheeks…” He seems to fall deep into thoughts at that, his brows furrowing slightly before he nods gently to himself and gets up to his feet. “Breakfast is in ten, be ready,”

And with that, the demon is out of the see-through metal doors once more. The second swishing of the door wakes Spider, his messy head lifting in confusion as he looks in the direction of the door. Your son had always been slow to wake up and the fact that he still was, brought you much joy. Looking down at him, you can’t help but brush the hair back from his face. Brown, warm eyes meet yours as he smiles up at you. 

“You’re still here,” He mumbles before yawning and stretching. 

“I will always be here, my life,” You hum back at him, watching as his gentle smile morphs into a smirk. 

“What do you think they’ll have us do today?” 

“Teaching them ‘the Na’vi way’, what else?” You say, trying your best to sound like the demon. 

Spider snorts before falling into a fit of laughter. Looking down at your son, you revel in just how grown he had become. Glittering brown eyes look up at you, his face bathed in joy as he gently pulls your queue. 

“That was so incredibly bad, mom,” He grins, crossing his arms over his chest, “He sounds more like he’s constantly constipated and angry,”

“You’re right,” You can’t help but chuckle at his description of the demon, thinking that it’s spot on. 

“And what are we laughing at?” The demon asks as he walks through the see-through metal doors, carrying a plate of some kind. 

Immediately, the good mood turns sour as he walks further into the room, the see-through metal door swishing closed behind him. Dropping the plate on the table, you look at it with distaste. There are two light brown squares with something a little darker brown on top of it. It’s clumpy and smells strange. On top of that, something red and sweet-smelling was spread. Looking up, you watch as the demon pushes sticks through two squares in his hand before placing them on the table too. 

“Eat up,” He grounds, taking a step back before placing his long hands on his narrow hips. 

“What is that?” You can’t help yourself from asking, wrinkling your nose at the strong smell. 

“Peanut butter n’ jelly on toast and milk,” He deadpans, pointing one of his hands at the food as if it should have been obvious what it was. 

In your peripheral, you can see Spider curiously approaching the table, nose in the air as he steps closer. Hissing, you wrap your hand around his upper arm, pulling him back. You will not let this demon poison your son with this food-like substance. 

“This is not food,” You sneer at the demon, watching as he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

“If you’re not gonna eat, then get moving,” He barks back, slapping his hand over the box that opens the see-through metal door. 

Outside, Lyle and Mansk stand waiting, their expressions unreadable behind their eye shiels. Following the demon, you step out of your metal room once more, closely followed by the other two. Walking through the corridors you take note of each and every turn, trying your best to remember them. One day, you will have the chance to escape this place, be it in here or out in the forest. You would need the knowledge. 

The helicopter ride this time is silent, the tension thick in the air between you. You’re taken to the same place as yesterday, but this time, instead of using the ropes, the demon jumps from the hovering helicopter, landing ungracefully and too hard on the ground. The grunt can be heard over the sound of the helicopter wings. Rolling your eyes, you look back at the others. 

“Take the rope down, I will teach you later,” You watch as they lower their ropes like last time, getting ready to lower themselves with their feet once more. 

Motioning for Spider to get on your back, you wait until he’s settled safely before letting yourself drop down to the ground where the demon still mutters what had to be curses. His eyes are narrowed, his ears slicked back as he looks up at you, his anger so obvious it’s almost dripping off of him. 

“You should not jump, when you do not know how to,” Walking past the demon, you can hear him grumbling something behind you as the unit snickers. 

Spider crawls down from your back as you continue to walk into the forest, looking for Puffball, Spartan, or Yovo trees for some fruit. On your way, you passed a few Dapophet trees, but for now, you would focus on the fruit trees and their roots. Looking back at the unit, you notice how all of them have dropped their boots, some of them even shortening their leg clothing as Z-Dog had. Smiling to yourself you see Spider running in front, helping you find what you needed. 

“How much further, Miss?” Brown pipes up from the back. 

“Until we find what we looking for,” You smile back at him, noting how he breathes heavily. 

Walking over to him, you put your hand on his forehead, noting how he’s burning up. You’re not even surprised if what the demon served you for breakfast is what they eat on a daily basis. Taking his wrist, you pull him with you, nodding for Spider to continue his search. Luckily you don’t have to look for much longer. 

“Here, eat this and sit down,” You pick a few puffball leaves, giving them to him before walking over to the Yovo tree, taking a few fruits from it. 

“It tastes… I don’t know the word. It’s good for you,” You explain to him just as he’s about to eat a leaf. “This tastes sweet,”

“What are you giving him?” The demon steps up and asks, his voice gruff as his brows furrow in worry. 

“Food,” You deadpan, crossing your arms as you pin him with a stare. 

“He ate this morning,” He counters as if you were playing a game of who-knew-what. 

“Your food is no good, Na’vi needs more,” At that, the demon doesn’t have anything to say. Instead, he gets a worried look on his face. It softens your anger at him. 

Gathering the unit, you keep an eye on Brown as he eats while you explain to them how a Na’vi at any stage in life needs to eat and how to recognize the safe and easy fruits, leaves, and roots. Lyle is surprisingly enthusiastic about the different foods and how they’re prepared, asking questions and volunteering to try things first. You’ve noticed that the others aren’t as interested until they get to try whatever it is you’re doing, only then do they enthusiastically tackle the task as if it were a competition between them. During all of this, the demon keeps to the back, silently observing, his curiosity maybe the biggest of them all. 

Days go by in much the same way. They come to get your son and you in the morning before leaving straight away, eating breakfast in the forest instead of the ridiculous things they ate before. After Brown’s fever, they got a clear picture that their new bodies needed different kinds of food from the ones they were used to eating. 

Their jumping was improving, some of them even dared to take the first jump from the helicopter, while others hesitated a little. The demon still didn’t dare to jump after his failed first attempt. You still remember how stiff he had been the day after his first jump, playing it off as sleeping wrong in his nest, but you knew. You could see it in the way he walked, in the way he held himself, and in how he learned how to jump the right way. 

Today, you started teaching them how to hunt for fish. You were no hunter in your tribe, no gatherer or warrior, but you could still fend for yourself when you needed to. The unit loved hunting, all of them taking to it as if they had done nothing else in their lives, the demon and Mansk maybe more so than the others. Their prayers were a bit difficult, but in the end, they mostly got it. 

For the first time, you had decided to let them experience the eclipse and all that the darkness brought to Pandora. In preparation, you had searched for a spot that didn’t cross paths with any predator's hunting routes, praying to Eywa that you would not accidentally cross paths with one. 

“Stay close and do not wander,” You remind them again just before the eclipse is complete, bathing Pandora in total darkness for only a few minutes before Eywa’s children awaken. 

The bioluminescence takes their breaths away, the entire unit turning in circles as they watch the forest come to life before them in the darkness. The demon, standing beside Spider and you, wears an expression of complete awe, his eyes wide, ears twitching as his tail swishes behind him. The curiosity all but rolls off of him as he reaches a hand out to touch a flower. It glows brighter, illuminating his long fingers before the ground beneath his feet lights up, glowing brightly. 

In awe, you watch as atokirina's falls from the skies, slowly making their way down to the demon. The ground he stands on still glows as the first one lands on him, the demon raising his hand as if to swat it away before looking at you. The way you stare at him however, halts his movement, and only a moment later, he lowers his hands, letting it hang by his side as more atokirina’s land on him. By the time they’ve stopped falling, they’re covering him from top to toe, breathing deeply with him as the demon looks at you for guidance. 

“What are they?” He rumbles low as if to not disturb them. 

“They are atokirina, woodsprites,” You start, swallowing audibly, “They are sacred - pure spirits,”

“What are they doing on me then?” The demon tries to be funny, but surprisingly, you can hear the uncertainty behind his voice. 

“Eywa has spoken,” You whisper, more so to yourself than to any of the others. 

With a soft swoosh, the spirits lift from the demon’s body, slowly floating away on their quest to wherever Eywa sent them next. You’re left staring at the demon for long moments, his own eyes staring at you. When the eclipse ends, you’re not sure what to do next, so you lead them back to the waterfall, letting them play as you continue to stare at the demon. 

“Listen, darling,” He starts as he walks up to you, startling you out of your thoughts. But instead of continuing, he falters before sighing deeply, his long fingers pinching the bridge of his nose again as you end up just standing there in silence. 

The darkness of night has wrapped around Pandora by the time you’re at the base once more. Walking after the demon to your metal room, you’re surprised to see that you’re not taking the usual way. The demon leads you through dark corridors that lead to a big community room of some sort. You walk on through it, taking note of the beautiful big see-through metal walls. How you long to be able to go into the forest at will. Walking into yet another corridor, which leads to another and then another one after that, you notice how the doorways are your size this time. Still, the demon keeps on walking until you reach the end. 

He swipes his hand over the box on the door, waiting until it lights green before pushing the door open. It leads to another room, this one with a see-through metal wall overlooking the forest in the distance. Walking over to the wall, you lay your hand on the cold metal, longing to be back with the Great Mother again. Turning, you catch the demon off guard, his eyes gentle, lips slightly parted. 

“This will be your new room,” He lets you know, face hardening once more as his shoulders straighten. “Corporal Wainfleet is on that side of the wall and I’m on this side, so don’t try anything,”

You watch as he points left and right, noting that the demon’s room is the one at the end. Scenting the air, however, you notice how the room smells like Lyle. Instantly, you feel your heart clench for the man. It’s not easy to just uproot and move what was once yours, to do so for an enemy could not be easy for the gentle man. 

“I will say thank you to Lyle tomorrow,” You inform the demon, watching as shock spreads across his face before curiosity sets in. Showing the demon gratitude, you decide to explain how you knew.  “Na’vi has good smell. This room smell like him,”

“You can smell and place our differences?” The demon asks, eyes wide as he lowers his head in curiosity. 

“It is the Na’vi way,” You smile up at him, noting how he becomes deep in thought. 

“And you recognize Lyle’s scent?” 

“Yes,”

“Do you recognize the others too?” He prompts, looking at you with some kind of wonder. 

You just nod, watching as he straightens once more, still deep in thought. Spider shifts in your arms, still deep asleep. Smiling down at him, you note just how much he’s grown in the last year. He’s becoming a young man too quickly, yet not fast enough. Times like this, when he would crawl into your arms or fall asleep on you, had become fewer as he grew. You couldn’t help the small part of you that was grateful to prolong these moments, your motherly instincts not ready to let your son go just yet. 

“Do you recognize my scent too?” The question is asked so softly, so filled with genuine curiosity, that you almost miss it, too wrapped up in your own guilty musings. 

“Yes,” You still hear yourself reply gently. 

Looking up from your son’s sleeping face, you’re met with the sharp yellow ones of the man standing before you. There’s something so soft in them this time, it pulls you in, captivates you, freezing you to the spot. There’s something being said without words, but you can’t hear it, too lost in the demon’s eyes to notice anything at all. 

“What’s going on?” Spider asks from your arms, breaking the spell that had wrapped itself around you. 

Immediately, the demon breaks eye contact, the harsh mask sliding over his face once more. Nodding, he turns around and walks toward the door, opening it briskly before slamming it shut again, leaving you staring after him in silent bewilderment. 

“Mom, where are we?” Spider climbs down from your arms, looking around the lit room with curiosity. 

“Our new room,” You turn to him, smiling gently as you see him touch and lift things. 

“Seriously?” Spider turns to you, the surprise clear on his face. 

“That’s what he said,”

You watch as Spider walks around the room, touching and inspecting decorations as he goes. There’s a black shiny thing on the wall opposite the big nest, another door beside the one the demon had walked through. Walking over to the nest, you scent it, noticing how it doesn’t smell of Lyle at all. In fact, it doesn’t smell like anyone, the scent strong and harsh like the metal room you came from. Maybe it had not been used before? But then, where had Lyle been sleeping? 

A sharp sound came from the black shiny thing on the wall as Spider fickled with a black stick. Taking hold of your son, you lift him up and out of danger as you take the closest thing to you and throw it at the thing. It whines and screams, its big eye blinking rapidly before eventually closing its eye again. Screaming at it, you press yourself to the furthest corner of the room, placing Spider safely behind you as you stand ready for the next attack. 

“What in the everloving tarnation is going on?” The demon bursts through the door, knife at the ready, before a few of the others follow close behind him, weapons at the ready too. 

“Stay away, demon!” You scream at him, furious that he would be cruel enough to lull you into a sense of safety before leaving you in a room filled with hidden danger. 

“What did you do?” He walks up to the dead creature on the wall, touching the big closed eye before putting his hands on his almost bare hips, a deep scowl on his face. 

“It is dead.” You hiss back proudly, watching as his face darkens at his failed attempt at killing you.

“Lord, give me strength,” The demon mumbles, his long fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he closes his eyes for a moment. “It’s a TV,”

“You can’t exactly expect them to know these things, boss,” Lyle chuckles from behind him, pulling a hushed chuckle from Mansk and Brown behind him. 

“Thank you for your brilliant observation, Corporal,” The demon snaps back before turning to you again. “It’s not dangerous, sweetheart,”

“It tries to kill us,” You hiss back just as furiously. 

“What happened?” He sighs, his long hands back on his all-but-bare hips once more. 

“I touched that stick over there and the thing started screaming at us,” Spider steps out from behind you, pushing your hand, which automatically shoots over his chest protectively, away. 

“What, this one?” The demon lifts the black stick in his hand, holding it up toward Spider. 

Hissing, you try to shove Spider behind you once more, but instead, he bends down and walks through your legs with a whined “Mom,” before walking over to the demon. Distressed, you hiss and yip at him to come back, but he’s too curious about the stick in the demon’s hand. Heart beating rapidly in your chest, you look for anything to use as a weapon against the demon and his warriors, finding nothing. Your breath is coming faster and your sight becomes cloudy at the edges, but before you can do much of anything, you watch as the demon ruffles your son’s hair. 

“Go back to your mother, kid,” He nods toward you, gently pushing Spider back in your direction. With a shaky hand, you reach for your son as he looks up at you.

“What’s wrong, mom?” Spider asks, his voice unsure of what’s going on with you. 

“I’m okay, my love,” You try to reassure him, but you don’t feel all that reassured by your own words. 

“Leave,” The demon grunts, waiting for his unit to leave the room before he sits down against the wall. “Take your time, sweetness,”

Using the wall behind you for support, you slide down to the ground, taking Spider with you. The demon’s sharp eyes are trained on you, once more locking you into whatever this is. You find yourself taking deep breaths before slowly letting it out, repeating the motion until your heart stops racing within your chest. It’s only then that you notice the demon breathing with you, silently guiding you as you slowly calm down. Closing your eyes, you lean your face into Spider’s hair, breathing him in, grounding you. He’s safe. He’s right there in your arms. Unharmed. 

“We good, darling?” The demon drawls, voice raspy and rough. 

Opening your eyes again, you take in how he looks. His body is bare, save for his weird-looking black tweng. He still holds his knife, but the blade is facing away from you. For a second, you wonder why they wear all of their clothes when they obviously have a form of tweng beneath it. Maybe it was an armor?

“Let me make it up to you?” He continues after you give him a slight nod of your head. 

Getting up to his feet, the demon slowly walks over to you, extending his long arm for you to take. Looking at it with distrust, you huff through your nose before getting up on your own. The demon lifts the corner of his mouth before stepping back, giving you space. 

“Come with me and I’ll show you around,” 

You follow after the demon, listening intently as he describes different things inside the room. You especially loved how you could make the room illuminated and dark at will. The waterfall inside the second door, the bathroom, was oddly disappointing once you actually realized what it was. The water didn’t smell right and you quickly decided that you wouldn’t use it, instead cleaning the both of you when you got to go out. 

“This um…” The demon stops beside what he called a sink, a weird look on his face, “This is where you do your business, sweetheart,”

“What business?” You ask him, not really getting why his face turns darker at the word. 

“You know, when you need to relieve yourself,” He mumbles, and then it dawns on you. 

“In there?” You ask him, interest piqued. The sky people sure had weird things.

“When you’re done, you just push this one and it flushes,” The demon continues, face growing darker. Walking out of the small bathroom, you watch as the demon stops before the tv, mumbling something to himself before turning around to look at you.

“Follow me,” He grunts before moving towards the still-open door. 

You follow after him, Spider walking in front of you excited about the new stuff that he had just learned. The demon swipes his hand over the box on the next door, opening it before stepping aside, his arm outstretched to allow you to walk through the door first. The room is sparsely lit, a soft glow coming from a lamp in the corner by the demon’s big nest. His bed was a size bigger than the one in your room, the blankets stretched and neatly tucked into the sides. In the middle of the floor, his discarded clothing lay dumped. Your scream had obviously interrupted him in the middle of taking them off for the night. Stepping up beside you, the demon bends down to collect them, mumbling a gentle “Pardon,” before hanging the clothes on the back of a chair. The room smells so intensely of him that had you not already known that this was the demon’s room, there would be no doubt in your mind about it after scenting the air. 

“This is called a remote control,” He drawls lazily, holding up a black stick identical to the one in your room. “If you press the red button here, the tv will turn on. Now, when you do, the screen will come to life… no that’s not the right words,” 

“The TV shows live images from Earth. Plays, news reports, and so on,” He waits for the words to sink in before continuing. “Let’s try,” 

And with that, he presses the red button on the remote control. The TV does come to life, the screen showing some kind of weird forest landscape. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, fascinating in a way you didn’t know. Spider walks forward and you immediately stiffen. You don’t get far however as the demon hurries to lay his hand over the screen, showing you that there’s no danger to it. Slowly, you inch forward after Spider, watching as he too lays his hand on the screen, chuckling uncertainly before mumbling how cold it was. The demon smiles down at him before he looks up into your eyes, nodding his head for you to join them. 

“Come on, mama, it won’t hurt you, I give you my word,” The smile on his face grows warm, his eyes glittering in the light from the TV. 

You inch forward, hand outstretched, and finally touch the screen. It’s like Spider says. The screen is smooth and cold beneath your fingers. You can feel your ears pointing forward with interest as you gently tap it with your fingers, still, it does not react. 

“Why was it screaming? Was it in pain?” You ask, to which the demon chuckles low, a gentle smile on his face. 

“Probably just opened a channel with an action movie or something. Lord knows what Lyle watches at night,” He answers, rubbing the back of his head before stopping, “A movie is like a retelling of a story… or something,”

“Movie,” You mumble to yourself, trying to wrap your mind around what it could be like. 

“Hold on, let me find a movie for y’all,” The demon turns to the TV, pointing the remote control at it. 

The screen changes each time he presses a button on the thing. With wide eyes, you watch as the scenery changes after a few seconds. This continues until suddenly the demon stops with a triumphant “ah”. The TV shows a foreign landscape with sky people on it, a small family with a child. Furry animals, much like your direhorses but with fewer legs, walk around in fenced areas. The sky people wear odd clothing, a different kind from the ones walking around on Pandora. As they walk around inside the screen, you’re unable to look away from it, fascination holding you prisoner. 

Somehow, you end up sitting on the floor, the big nest supporting your back as you stare at the TV. Spider lay in the nest behind you to the right, his head in his hands as he stares with a fascination you haven’t seen in him before. It makes your heart soar in your chest, the warmth spreading to a fond smile on your face, that he’s able to experience this. The demon spares chaste glances at you both, his ears at attention when Spider eventually falls asleep. You just intend to watch a little bit more before getting him to your own nest, but before you know it, you’ve fallen asleep too. 

It’s bright and sunny when you wake up, and you’re so comfortably warm. Stretching, you rub your face into the warm surface, noting how nice and safe it smells. Smiling at Spider’s clinging arms around you, you sigh sleepily, opening your eyes, only to discover that it’s not Spider that’s holding you.  The surface you’ve been sleeping on is blue, the chest broad and warm as the demon breathes beneath your head, his arms wrapped firmly around you as he rests his head on top of yours. Startling, you pull yourself out of his long arms, jumping to your feet, startling him awake in turn. Bleary yellow eyes look up at you before they pop open with alarm, his head turning as he looks around the room, finding nothing to have startled you. And then his eyes widened with realization. 

Spider still sleeps soundly in the nest, his small figure curled up in his - in the demon’s blankets. You’re left staring at each other in silence for a long time, the demon’s face is unreadable, but his ears are pointed at you while his tail moves lazily behind him where he still sits on the floor. The tension is thick enough that Spider eventually wakes up, his eyes just as bleary as the demon’s had been as he looks around his surroundings with confusion. Not breaking eye contact with the demon, you move to sit in the nest. Dearing to look at your son, his beautiful brown eyes look up at you with a slight smile. 

“Good morning, my dearest,” You smile at him, watching as he grins before swatting your hand away when you try to push his hair from his face. 

“Morning, mom,” Spider yawns before stepping out of the warm nest to grab the remote control, effectively turning the TV on again. 

The demon huffs a chuckle and shakes his head as he stands to his feet, excusing himself as he walks into his own bathroom. You can hear the shower running and the demon’s hissed mumbling through the closed door. Given a moment to yourself, you walk over to the see-through metal wall, placing your hand against it. What was happening to you? It wasn’t like you to be this unguarded, especially not while Spider was with you. Yesterday had been a lot, but you couldn’t have been so tired as to just fall asleep like that, especially not leaning up against the demon himself. 

Shaking your head in frustration, you turn to look at your son. He wears a beautiful indulgent smile as he stares at the sky people inside the TV screen. He looks so happy about this new little discovery. The door to the bathroom opens and the demon steps out in his weird tweng. His short hair and queue are wet, but the rest of him is dry. His body is absolutely massive now that you actually have the time to look at him. You keep your eyes trained on him as he walks over to his clothes, applying them one by one as he covers up. A small part of you - a very small part - feels regret at not being able to see his long, strong torso and back anymore, as well as his thickly muscled thighs. It was a shame, really, but you respected the difference between tribes and what they wore. His would be no different. Distantly, you notice that he leaves his booths behind as he walks to the door, stepping out and closing it without looking back. 

You let out a deep breath you didn’t know you were holding before sinking down into the nest beside Spider. Plopping back, you stare up at the ceiling before rolling around, curling up in the blanket Spider had used. It’s still warm and smells of him as you wrap it around you. Closing your eyes, you only intend to rest a little from the intense start of the morning, but before you know it, you’re deep asleep again, safely swaddled in a scent that makes you feel protected and loved. 

Taking your first breath of fresh air in what feels like forever, you look around the gray stone landscape. Your heart bleeds for the beautifully blossoming lives they have destroyed to make this horrid thing. There’s a large number of metal flying machines sitting on the ground while sky people run around doing something. The sound is so loud it hurts your ears, but the demon is leading Spider and you to one of them, their big circular wings turning quickly around and around.

“Wo-ho, hold on there, hotshot,” The demon calls when Spiderjumps up into the metal flying machine, aiming one of its big weapons around. In one long step, the demon is pulling your son away from the weapon, sitting him down on a thin metal bench going through the middle of the machine. 

“Now you listen up, sweetheart. There’s a tracker built into your bracelet, into your son’s mask,” The demon shouts over the loud noise as he taps a long finger against Spider’s air mask. 

“When we hit the ground,” He starts, moving his stern gaze to you before continuing,” and you take off,” The demon almost smirks before looking at your son again, his big hand dwarfing Spider’s bicep. “I’ll have you back in two minutes and I’ll give you an old-school ass whipping, understood? Understood?!”

“Yes, Sir,” Spider answers, rolling his eyes just as you snarl at the demon for once again threatening your son. 

“Alright, alright…” He lets go of Spider immediately, ears flat against his skull as he holds his hands up again before stepping away.

Following his movements, you watch as the demon slaps his hand against the see-through metal of the flying machine, giving the sky person behind it some kind of command with his hands, before squatting down before you. His long arm is holding onto the side as the metal flying machine lifts from the ground, its noise increasing, making your sensitive ears ring. Almost immediately after leaving the barren circle, you can hear Hawnu call for you, his big wings flapping in the distance as he follows. Seeing the warrior behind the weapon twitch before aiming it at Hawnu, you reach out to put your hand on his shoulder, shaking your head as he turns to look at you. 

“He is Hawnu, he will not hurt you,” You offer him, hoping it will be enough for him to stop. Fighting them all so far above the ground, with Spider in the small open space, was not optimal, but if they hurt Hawnu, you would show them just how far a bond between an Ikran and a Na’vi went. 

“Colonel,” The warrior by the weapon turns to look at the demon, but the demon’s eyes are pierced on Hawnu. 

Waving his warrior away, the demon watches as Hawnu’s powerful wings spread wider to follow their speed. He makes a beautiful figure where he flies in the distance, his dark green frame imposing on the bright skies, his golden spots glittering as his wings take him forward. You can’t help but share the demon’s fascination as you watch him, feeling your heart soar with happiness as you silently thank him once more for having chosen you. 

“Hawnu,” The demon mutters, as if tasting the name on his lips, “It’s like a dragon, ain’t it sweetheart?”

“I do not know what this dragon is. He is Ikran, a mighty predator,” You say proudly, smiling as you look back at Hawnu. 

“Wait, wait, hold on,” His small eyes are staring back at you this time, his brows furrowing before continuing, “Is it a Haw-noy or an I-kan?”

“His name is Hawnu,” You say slowly, hoping that the demon could follow your words, “Hawnu is Ikran,”

Humming, the demon nods slowly, his furrowed brows softening again before he turns his head to stare at Hawnu once more. 

“How uh - How does one come by one of these Ik-ans?” The demon has fully turned to you, his back against the opening, only holding onto the side. 

It would be so easy to just kick him out of the flying metal machine they were in. Hawnu would catch you mid-air, you were confident about that. Avoiding the deadly weapons would be the biggest challenge though. You had already witnessed how fast the small balls were, how they shattered on impact to deal the biggest possible damage. Still, when you looked at the demon you could see something deep within him, something that made you hesitate. His small eyes were blown wide, his lips slightly parted, his tail swishing excitedly, and his ears… The demon’s ears were trained on you, wide and pointed straight up towards you. His curiosity was all but dripping off of him, oozing like the warriors on a particularly humid and hot day. 

“Ikran,” You sigh, before slowly pronouncing the word for him.  

“Ik-ran,” He eventually landed on, the word slow and chopped, but you deemed it well enough. 

“To become Ikran Makto is - What is the word… Iknimaya, ” You fumble, trying to remember the English phrasing. In the end, you end up looking at your son, silently asking for help with translating what Iknimaya was. 

“It’s a rite of passage for Na’vi warriors,” Spider offers, smiling up at you once the demon falls silent, deep in thought. 

“To become warrior, you have tests you must pass. To choose Ikran, you walk among them until you find the one. If it is the right one, it will try to kill you,” You immediately notice how the demon’s face lights up. His entire body seems to buzz with energy as a smirk slowly spreads across his face. 

“Outstanding…” The demon drawls, the smirk on his face electrifying as his eyes stare deep within you. It makes your tail thrash wildly behind you, accidentally smacking the female warrior behind you. 

You can hear her chuckle behind you before whispering something to the warrior beside her, making him turn his head before joining her chuckling. Had it not been for the captivating yellow eyes staring at you would have turned around and smacked them both. But as it were, you couldn’t look away from the demon, watching as the smirk slowly slipped from his face, replaced with an expression of confusion instead. 

“You ain’t a warrior, sweetcheeks. How come you have an Ik-ran?” The demon is spot on and it annoys you to no extent. 

“It is different,” You offer, not wanting to remember how you had met Hawnu or how you had created tsaheylu all those years ago. Pinning your ears to your skull, you break eye contact with the demon, feeling how your beautiful, caring son sat closer to you, his small hand holding onto your arm in an attempt at comforting you. 

“Alright, alright - I won’t pry,” He surprises you by backing away, his ears twitching, giving away his burning curiosity. 

You can still see he wants to ask, the need to know almost crippling him, but in a show of great restraint, he turns around again, looking out at the beautiful world the Great Mother had created. You rode for a short while longer until the metal flying machine started to drop, the forest coming closer and closer. The warriors threw thick ropes down to the ground, checking their weapons before looking at the demon expectantly.

“Listen up, buttercup,” The demon starts, addressing you as he takes a hold of the rope he had just thrown over the side of the machine. “To get down, you need to do exactly what I tell you to.”

He then went into a long explanation of how to hold your feet and hands, talking about burns or falling too fast. You didn’t understand the point of the rope when you were so close to the ground. Sighing deeply, you looked at your son, watching as he got ready to climb on your back like you had done so many times before. Crouching to the opening of the machine, you watched as the demon lifted the rope for you to take, but you stepped past him and jumped off of the hovering machine. It wasn’t that high anyway.

From above you could hear shouts and cursing, a commotion happening in the small space. Landing gracefully, you take a step back, expecting the warrior to follow you. Instead, you see them scramble ungracefully over the opening before lowering themselves on the rope with their feet. The bafflement you felt was unlike anything. You knew that sky people had a thing for impractical choices, but this… 

“Whatcha think you’re doing?” The demon steps up to you, grabbing your arm hard as he growls, anger rolling off of him. 

Hissing at him, you move to slap his arm away, but in mid-air he grabs that one too, holding painfully hard over your white cloth bindings. The way he holds you burns as the cloth turns rough against your skin. It’s a reflex when you do it, one you’re completely helpless to stop yourself from executing when your son hisses in fear from your back. Before you know it’s happening your knee shoots up hard, connecting between the demon’s thighs audibly. There’s a loud ‘oof’ before the demon goes down, crumbling to the ground with his hands between his thighs. 

The warriors around him wince sympathetically, but no one approaches. For long moments the demon lays crumbled on the ground, rocking back and forth, until he suddenly stops. Groaning and hissing loudly, he unsteadily gets to his long legs once more, taking a step back before glowering at you. He doesn’t approach, however, just stands there, breathing hard. His hands are still cupped between his legs, but if looks could kill, you were certain that you already would be dead. 

“Explain,” He growls, trying his best to straighten up, but failing miserably.

“What do I explain?” You ask, not really getting what he’s so mad about. 

“Explain,” The demon raises his voice angrily before visibly taking a deep breath to calm down again, “why you jumped out of a hovering helicopter with Spider on your back when I specifically told you how to safely lower yourself with the rope?” 

“It was not very far over the ground,” The nonchalant way you gave your reply seemed to annoy him even more, but before he could continue, Spider stood up behind your shoulder.

“We’ve jumped from higher places plenty of times before, asshole” Spider sneers behind your shoulder, his arms around your neck tightening, revealing his bravado. 

“Na’vi jumps high every day, not short like sky people,”  It comes out a bit more aggressive than you wanted to, but when the demon sucks on his teeth, something inside of you flips with delight. 

“Well, alright then, sweetheart.” The demon drawls, resting his long hands on his hips, “Teach us,”

Huffing at the ridiculous prospect of teaching these people anything, you roll your eyes before crossing your arms over your chest. Cocking your hip out, you stare at the demon, challenging him to make the first move. Looking into his small yellow eyes, you stand there, letting the sound of Eywa’s children give you strength to withstand the demon’s silent threats. You don’t buckle when he spreads his legs and crosses his own long arms across his too-wide chest, and you don’t buckle when he growls angrily, face furrowed in annoyance. Eventually, Spider jumps down from your back, too bored to hold on any longer. You direct your ears in his direction, keeping an eye on him as he moves around before finally settling on a fallen tree just behind the demon. 

“Fine!” You’re actually surprised that the demon gave up. Shooting his arms up in the air again, he growls something under his breath as he turns to his warriors.

Smirking to yourself, you lift your head defiantly when the demon looks back at you. Looking at the warrior beside him, you notice how he grins at you, as if proud that you dared challenge him. 

“Lyle,” The demon snaps his fingers, getting the man’s attention before he leans in to whisper something to him. The man nods before taking out a device, much like one of the ones your Olo’eyktan uses before and after raids. 

“The deal was to teach us the Na’vi way, buttercup,” He starts, turning towards you with that deadly smile of his. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “I can’t protect you if you don’t cooperate.”

“And I can not teach when you do not want to learn,” Flattening your ears against your skull, you hiss angrily back at him. 

“I want to learn, sweetcheeks,” The demon slowly walks toward you, long hands still resting on his hips, “In fact, we all want to learn. Don’t we guys and girls?”

You listen to the group grumble and mumble something similar to an agreement, but the lack of soul is deafening in the busy forest. There’s life flying around you, plants opening and closing. There’s just so much happening at once, yet, when you look at the warriors surrounding the demon, you see no recognition of any kind for the Great Mother’s children. 

“Remove your weapons, you will not need them,” You start, rolling your eyes as you’re immediately met with resistance. 

“Now listen here, sweetcheeks, that ain’t gonna happen,” The demon steps forward to tell you.

“They will hurt your balance,” You cross your arms, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“Not gonna happen,” He crosses his own arms over his chest, leveling you with a harsh stare. 

“Do as you please, skxawng,” You sneer back at him before reaching your hand out to Spider, waiting for him to take it. 

“Where do you think you’re going, missy,” The demon calls after you, growling with annoyance as you just keep on walking, “Lyle,”

Smiling down at Spider, you notice the way he looks up at you. You both share a knowing look when the warrior, Lyle, walks up behind you. Turning your head, you smile at him, noticing how he halts for just a moment before continuing to follow after you. The demon’s frustration can be felt through the distance between you as he angrily follows, although a bit stiffly, behind the group. Walking a bit further into the forest, you find what you’re looking for. 

In the distance, you can smell the sweet, thick scent of forest water, and sure enough, as you walk through a small clearing, a small area with a waterfall opens up. Grinning down at your son, you can see his eyes lighting up with joy, his smile bright as he looks up at you. Behind you, a collection of awe and whistles sounds, and for once, the demon keeps quiet. Turning around, you notice how his eyes have grown big, his ears twitching in attention, and his tail swishing lazily behind him. He wears his emotions for all to see, unable to hide his curiosity or the way he finds beauty in the Great Mother’s creations. Like before, you find that small sliver of hope that there’s something deep within him that wants to break out. 

“You need to learn balance,” You state, watching as they look at each other before chuckling. 

“Sweetheart, we already know how to keep our balance,” The demon drawls, his grin loose and charming. 

“Of course, you do,” You smile sweetly back at him before turning, looking around the water's edges for a fallen tree. 

Finding one almost immediately, you’re pleased to find that it has some thickness to its trunk. Walking over to it, you run your fingers over the weary life of the old tree, silently thanking it for its hard work and wishing it well in its new journey. Although the tree had fallen a long time ago, you were always taught to send a prayer for what might help you, before using it. Rolling the tree over, you were even happier to see that the bottom was slick. It would be perfect. 

“Let me help you out, darling,” The demon drawls from behind you. 

Snapping your head around, you notice how he flinches, his hands shooting to cup between his thighs. Raising an eyebrow, you step closer, watching with delight how he takes a step back. Thrilled at the new discovery, you step aside.

“You need to say prayer, to thank the tree for its help,” The demon frowns down at you, his hands going to his hips once more. 

“It’s dead,” He drawls lazily, looking as unimpressed as he sounded. 

“It has given life to many through its years, made shelter and food for more. Show gratitude, demon,” You can’t help the anger that leaves you. 

“Alright, calm down, sweetcheeks,” He’s holding his hands up again in that annoying manner of his, his ears flat against his skull again, “I’ll pray to your dead forest friend, so ease down,”

You scowl as he walks over to the tree, looking around at his warriors before sighing and going down to his knees. He looks over at you, waiting for instructions. A part of you wants to let him sit and wait, test his patience and willingness to learn, but a bigger part of you wants to see what teaching him the way of Eywa will lead to. The Great Mother would not have sent your son to you, nor let you cross paths with his father if she didn’t have a plan. You had to trust that Eywa had sent this Miles Quaritch of planet Earth to you for a reason - and hopefully, for the future of Pandora, despite his heinous actions against the Great Mother’s children.

Walking over to him, you kneel beside him, resting your hand on the trunk of the tree. Looking up at him, you wait for him to copy you, but instead, he just stares at you blankly. Rolling your eyes, you reach out to grab his hand, placing it on the trunk beside yours. Again, you notice how warm his skin is beneath your fingers, his wrist strong and solid where you hold onto it. 

“Feel it,” You say, looking up at him again, “What do you feel?”

“Nothing?” He sounds as stupid as he looks. 

With your fingers around his wrist, you felt the way his pulse jumped when you placed his long hand on the tree surface. You know he’s not telling you the truth when he denies feeling anything. Scowling at him, you push his hand away as if it had burned you, getting to your knees you start walking away when those long, strong fingers wrap around your wrist once more. Quickly turning around, you hiss at him while pulling your hand away. At the same time, he seems to remember what happened only a short while ago and lets go of you, sitting back down on his knees again, his stupid hands raised once more.

“Easy, easy, sweetness,” The demon drawls, his voice strained - frustrated, “We good?”

“You are impatient like baby,” You start, anger coursing through your body, “Afraid to show emotions as if you know you are lesser,”

“Now hold on, darling,” He gets to his feet again, stepping close enough to tower over you, “I don’t have a superiority complex,”

“Your blood jumped, yet you say you did not feel anything,” You deadpan, watching his eyes widen before narrowing. 

“Pulse, mom,” You hear Spider mumble behind you. 

You’re left scowling at each other for long moments, the demon clenching his jaws as his brows almost meet in the middle. He looks furious… until he doesn’t. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and suddenly, his anger melts away, as if it was never there to begin with. Opening his eyes, the sharpness in them pierced right through you. It takes your breath away. 

“It felt like a small current - as if it was alive,” The demon admits in the end, eyes still staring straight into yours. 

Nodding, you break eye contact, looking over to the other warriors, you gesture for them to do the same. Watching as they all gather around you, kneeling to the soft ground, laying their hands on the tree, you immediately notice their ears standing on attention, eyes wide, as they look down at their hand. The female and the one called Lyle lift their hand and try again, their tails stiff behind them at attention. 

“Thank you,” You whisper to the demon, his head snapping to yours immediately in surprise. 

“What do you feel?” You ask the group, watching as they all hesitate, looking at the demon and each other. 

“It feels electric,” A warrior with black things in front of his face offers carefully, voice soft. 

“Feels like someone’s stroking my palm,” Lyle continues, and just like that, the rest of the group follows. 

It brings a bright smile to your lips. You knew the surprise would wear off, but for right now, you found joy in the way their faces lighted up with joy over something new. Looking over at Spider, you find that your son is smiling widely at the all. Nodding your head, you watch as he moves toward you, touching the tree with both hands. 

“Why don’t you show them how it’s done, my son?” You cup his head, leaning in to give him a kiss on his temple before letting him start the prayer of gratitude. 

Leaning back, you watch as he slowly walks them through it, pronouncing each word slowly, waiting for them all to parrot it back to him before continuing. Your heart soars as pride rushes through you. Spider had grown to become a fine young man. As they repeat the prayer, however, you notice that the demon struggles to follow the others, his pronunciation much slower and more staccato than the others. You take notice of it for another time. Maybe, if you could get him alone, you could help him out with the Na’vi language. For now, you watched as they finished up, eyes wide and smiles loose as they looked at their hands resting on the tree. 

Getting up, you wait for the others before you instruct them to roll the fallen tree into the water. It would serve a great training purpose for the warriors and the demon, and when you had finished, the water creatures would find use for it still. It was the way of Eywa, where energy was only borrowed. Smiling to yourself you watched as the warriors’ tails flicked with confusion about what the tree was doing in the water. Instead of addressing their confusion, you walked forward and into the water before gracefully climbing up onto the tree. 

“I’m not getting into that,” The female warrior huffed, crossing her strong arms over her chest. 

“Try again,” The demon growled, not even sparing her a look. 

“Fat chance,” She snorted back, before hastily adding a mumbled, “Sir,”

Sighing deeply, the demon stepped into the water, his weird clothing making obscene sounds before being submerged in water. Getting onto the log, however, proved to be a difficult task. As you balanced on the tree, the demon jumped ungracefully up and down, eventually hoisting himself up on the wet log. On shaky legs, he tried to stand, the weird foot armor and his heavy weapons throwing his balance off enough for him to plop straight back into the water once more. 

Again and again, he tried his anger building each time he fell. Eventually, you took pity on him. Walking across the log to where he stood, you stepped into the water once more, a gentle hand on his solid back as you led him back to land. Once there, the demon sits down on the ground, his arms resting over his knees as he breathes deeply. Giving him time to catch his breath, you got down to a crouch before him and smiled. 

“I told you the weapons would hurt your balance,” He does not look impressed when he looks up from the circle he’s created with his arms resting over his knees. 

Huffing an annoyed sigh, he pulls the weapon over his head and unbuckles all the gear around his hips and thighs. Looking up at you in challenge, he dares you to comment on being right. Instead, you look at the others, watching as he waves his hand in their direction, and just like that, the rest of the weapons hit the ground too. 

“Happy now?” He grounds out, meeting your eyes again. 

“The feet armor needs to go too,” You grin at him, watching as his eyes go comically large. With his wet hair plastered to his forehead, he almost looks endearing where he sits. 

“My boots?” He asks, voice hard, distrusting. 

“Yes,” You counter, looking down at the weird armor. “You can not feel your ground,”

“Well, I don’t know if I wanna feel this shit,” He sneers back as if a scolded child, immature and unreasonable. 

Rolling your eyes, you reach forward to pull at one of the huge boots off of the demon. You’re surprised when the boots don’t move. Instead, you get kicked back, and just like that you’re on top of the demon, locking him down once more, your foot under his chin, pressing his head down to the ground as you try to figure out how to remove the boots. The demon hisses and twists, struggling to get out of your hold. You get a knee to your face and although it hurts, you don’t stop. Getting one of the boots off, you throw it at his face. His head pops up as best as he can manage with your foot holding him down, his eyes finding yours as he sits threats about what he’s going to do with you. 

Pulling the last boots off, you quickly get to your feet, crouching low as you hiss at him. It’s not a second too late as the demon quickly follows, his massive chest building the growl that escapes his clenched teeth. Straightening, he wipes the mud from the left side of his face before walking toward you. You throw the boots in your hand at his head, hitting his forehead and stopping him dead in his stalk toward you. His eyes are wide and his face blank for all of two seconds before the growl intensifies and he narrows his eyes. You can hear his heavy footsteps as they quickly follow behind you, splashing into the water as you jump back up on the log, quickly walking to the end of it before turning to face him, a smug look on your face as he moves closer. 

“You are welcome,” You say, smiling at him when he’s in front of you, reaching for your arm once more. 

“What?” The demon growls dangerously, but then it seems to dawn on him where he is. 

Shouts from the bank have obviously penetrated his thick skull as his face mellows out. You watch as he looks down at his feet, instantly losing his balance. Reaching out to support him, you laugh as his sharp yellow finds yours. Waiting until he has his balance back, you let go of his big arms, watching as he slowly backs up on the log, arms spread out to keep his balance. 

“Turn back,” You smile at his obvious pride. 

The turn doesn’t happen, however. Once one of his feet left the log, the other slipped making him fall on his ass before slipping backward into the water, head first. Crouching down on the log, you wait for him to emerge before you slap the back of his head. 

“Don’t slap me,” The demon hisses, but you ignore him and his childish antics. 

“Again,” You demand of him, watching as he grumbles before hoisting himself back up, getting into position once more. 

“You’re enjoying this too much,” He snarks back at you, the wet locks of his short hair plastered to his forehead. 

“We are,” You smile at him, watching as his sour mood darkens when he looks around at his warriors grinning widely. 

The eclipse nears by the time everyone has tried their luck on the log. It’s become a sort of game between them as they challenge each other, pulling and kicking each other’s legs out from under them while on the log. But with the eclipse nearing, you tell them to get ready to move back. Looking up, you gauge that you have enough time to clean Spider’s hair. Gathering some plants, you quickly mash them together into a fine paste before calling your son over. 

Getting into the water, he lets you clean his soft, light hair. It’s one of your favorite things to do, though one that doesn’t happen as often as you would like it to, your son having grown too old, yet, not old enough. Taking as much time as you can allow yourself, you let your fingers run through the thick strands, gently massaging his head. Before you want to let him go, you have to ask him to rinse off in the waterfall. 

Turning back toward the bank, you find sharp yellow eyes staring at you, a gentle expression on his hard face. Breaking eye contact with him, you walk out of the water, stopping in a spot of sunlight as you wait for Spider to finish up. 

“He’s grown into a fine young man,” A deep raspy voice mumbles from behind you, sending chills down your spine and making your skin erupt with goosebumps. 

It’s a praise. You know it is as you watch the demon walk past you to his unit, a pleased look on his face. The warriors are laughing and chatting idly, like young adults themselves. Although you know they’re not, you can’t help but compare them to children who had to grow up too fast, with no constant love and support from people who loved them. Feeling your heart ache, you look back in time to see Spider walk out of the water, the smile on his face slowly slipping as he takes notice of your worries. Your son hugs you tightly once he reaches you and you’re unable to hide your smile as you hug him back. 

“Come on, mom,” Spider pulls at your arm, dragging you toward the unit and the demon. 

You guess all good things had to come to an end, but as you look at your son’s arm dragging you with him, his excitement still burning hot from the day, you can’t help but follow willingly. The demon looks at you with sharp eyes as you approach them, no doubt wondering if you were going to try to run for it. Looking down at the bracelet on your wrist, you wonder how you would be able to get it off. It was the least of your problems if you couldn’t get Spider a new mask without this tracking thing in it. 

Leading the group through the forest, you lead them back to where the helicopter dropped you off. You can already hear it closing in on your location. You notice that none of the warriors have put their boots on again, the offending things hanging from their shoulders. Mansk’s feet are pawing at the ground, no doubt taking with him the feeling of Eywa’s blessings for as long as he could. On the other side, Z-Dog is cutting her leg clothing above her knees, no doubt trying to feel more of Eywa. Smiling to yourself, you look up into sharp yellow eyes once more. 

“Spider, get on your mama’s back,” The demon drawls gently just before the helicopter comes to a stop over you. 

“Sweetheart, imma need you to hold on real tight,” He continues just as ropes are thrown down from the hovering helicopter. There are hooks of some kind that attach to the unit’s belts.

Spider crawls up on your back again, his wet hair cold against your back as he clings to you. The demon steps closer, a smirk on his lips as he bends to wrap his strong arms under your ass, effortlessly lifting your son and you up. Instinctively, your legs wrap around his waist to hold on, your arms wounding around his neck. It’s a very intimate position, to the demon this close to your body when not fighting, but your mind gets no time to worry about it as suddenly, you’re all being hoisted through the air, quickly approaching the helicopter opening. It’s the most horrid thing you have ever done in your life. Feeling yourself getting dragged up with a thin rope, you’re unable to help your body from clutching onto the demon, holding tight.

“You can let go now, sweetheart,” The demon drawls, his big hand spread on your bare back, supporting you against his body, “Not that I’m complaining,”

The unit chuckles and whistles, but it’s only Spider’s snapped “Hey!” that pulls you out of your headspace. You’re horrified to find that you’re sitting in the demon’s lap, clutching onto him as you fly over the forest on your way back to the base. Pushing yourself off of the demon’s lap, you stumble, falling hard on your ass. Had it not been for the demon’s firm grip around your wrist, you would have tumbled out of the helicopter opening. You had no doubt that Hawnu would come flying, snatching you up, but the fact that the demon didn’t let you fall astonished you. 

“Careful there, buttercup,” The demon drawls, a charming grin spreading on his face as his eyes meet yours once more. 

Groaning, Spider pulls you between his legs, scowling at his - scowling at the demon. His small hands around your neck ground you enough to snap free of those yellow eyes that have kept you prisoner for the past few minutes. Holding onto your son’s legs, you let the ouch surface of the helicopter pull your resolve together. You weren’t sure what was happening, but you knew one thing for sure, this thing between you, no matter what it was, would never happen as long as you lived. Feeling eyes on you, you turn to see Lyle grinning at you before looking up at the demon. Following his line of sight you notice how he’s staring at Spider, a soft almost unguarded look on his face. Closing your eyes, you prayed for what felt like the tenth time today, that Eywa was right about this guy.

There’s a nose breathing you in, tucked firmly against your neck as you’re held against a solid chest, a large arm beneath your head. The big body spooning behind you is warm and solid as you’re held while you sleep. Smiling, you rub your thumb over the back of the hand that rests across your chest, your smile widening as a deep rumble erupts behind you, vibrating through your back. The nose that had been breathing you in lowers as your mate pulls you closer, ending up against the crook of your neck as his lips mouth at your sleep-warm skin. Chuckling, you grin widely, your heart soaring at how affectionate he is with you. 

“Good morning, yawne,” You mumble, unwilling to open your eyes to the bright light pouring in through the see-through metal wall. 

“Mornin’, m’ love,” The sleep-raspy sound of your mate’s voice hums immediately, his smile spreading across your shoulder as he pulls you even closer. 

“Ugh… you’re both disgusting,” Spider’s voice scoffs as the bed dips before the sound of his feet hitting the ground and a door opening and closing harshly. 

Reality crashes into you the exact moment the man behind you freezes. The sound of the TV plays in the background but all you can really hear right now is the sound of your heart threatening to beat out of your chest. It’s not the first time that you’ve woken up in Quaritch’s arms, but it’s the first time you’ve awoken in an intimate embrace like this. The both of you are unable to move, completely frozen in the same position as Spider left you in. Quaritch’s heart beats loudly behind you, his breathing labored and deep as he just holds you. His face is so close to yours, the heat of his body almost suffocating. It’s not before Spider emerges from the bathroom that any of you move. 

“Seriously?” Your son exclaims, a thinly veiled annoyance trying to hide his obvious embarrassment over the situation. 

Quaritch’s arms lift from around your body at the same time that he pulls his head back from your shoulder. He waits patiently for you to move away from the arm beneath your head, only then does he step out of the nest. 

“Pardon me, Ma’am,” He mumbles before his heavy footsteps pad over the ground. 

“Can you let me out? Lyle promised to play the videogame with me,” Spider asks, his voice hopeful, then happy as his father walks up to the door and puts his hand on the box before stepping into the bathroom. “Thanks!”

Left alone in the room, you’re allowed to breathe freely, taking deep breaths of much-needed air as your eyes begin to water. What was going on? How could you just let your guard down like this for a second time? And to think of him, the very demon from the skies, as your mate! Closing your stinging eyes, you clench your teeth as your chest tightens. You were being unfair, acting out on old prejudice because of who he once used to be. With the exception of how he brutishly took your son from you, he had done nothing to warrant this hatred from you. Out of all of them, Quaritch had been the first one to fully embrace the Na’vi ways, taking to your way of life with great curiosity and interest. No, you could not fault him for who he once was before being reborn. 

Opening your eyes, you look out at the bright day with watery eyes. Why your heart, your very soul, had decided that he was the one you would call mate, you would never know. But you could not deny it any longer. The swelling of your chest, the fluttering in your stomach, and the heat spreading across your face could no longer be excused as mere coincidences. The Great Mother had accepted him as her child, had allowed him to enter your dreams as you rest peacefully, had allowed him to act as your mate while you slept soundly, both in and out of his arms. 

“Why are you crying, princess?” His worried voice drifts over to you a moment before the nest dips under his weight and warm hands cup your face, thumbs gently wiping your falling tears away. 

Shaking your head, you close your eyes, unable to look into the worried warm ones affectionately staring right back at you. Immediately, you’re gathered up into his lap, his wide chest rumbling deeply as he shushes you, a hand rubbing your back while the other cups your head, holding you close to his heart. 

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Quaritch continues, his voice sounding almost lost and small. 

It was obvious that he didn’t know what to do, that he wasn’t used to comforting someone in distress. His clumsy hands patted your back more than rubbing soothingly, his shushing almost sounding as if he was afraid you would be head. Still, the man continued to try, powering through this unknown territory for your sake. Opening your eyes, you looked out of the see-through metal walls, looking longingly at the forest just beyond the kill zone. As if sensing this, Quaritch lifts his head to look in the same direction. 

“What do you say we take the banshees out tonight, get a little wind under our wings?” He asks, his voice immediately more confident than it had been just moments ago. 

“I will like that,” You agree, looking forward to taking Hawnu out so soon again. 

“Alright,” Quaritch hums behind you, “Alright, sweetheart,” 

He doesn’t let go of you, however. You sit in his lap, staring out of the see-through metal wall together, the silence comfortable as he holds you close. As the day slowly passes you find yourself sitting between his legs as you lean back on his chest. His big hands are resting on your bare stomach, your fingers tracing the four knuckles on the back of his hands. His stomach suddenly rumbles loudly, making him groan. It pulls a chuckle from your lips. 

“Hungry?” You ask, bending your head back to look up at him. 

“Unfortunately,” Quaritch hums, looking down at you. “I don’t particularly want to move, however.”

“You are then not hungry?” The confusion on your face, in your voice, makes him chuckle softly, the upward stretching of his lips making him almost adorable when he closes his eyes and shakes his head. 

“Not what I meant, princess,” He grins before moving his hands to your hips, effortlessly lifting you off of him and placing you onto the ground below the nest. “C’mon, let’s get some grub,”

“What is this grub?” You can’t help but ask, especially not when the corners of his lip lift in one of those gentle smiles again. 

“It’s food, sweetheart,” Quaritch grins, a hand at your back gently leading you to approach the door. 

He lets you exit first, slowly following as you step into the hallway. Four sets of eyes meet yours when you look into the room with the videogame TV. Slowly, grins spread across three of the faces as Quarith steps up behind you, placing a gentle hand on your hip. It seems to set off the three recoms behind the sitting bench

“Sooooo… Colonel,” Lyle starts, his face all but split in two as he grins while leaning an arm over the back of the sitting bench. “The walk of shame?” 

The other two snicker to themselves, bumping their fists together like teenagers. Behind you, Quaritch growls dangerously, the gentle hand on your hip tightening as he reacts to what was said. You don’t understand how walking would be shameful, but you did know that you would never feel shame while doing so. 

“I do not walk in shame,” You announce proudly, only for the room to fall deadly silent before full-blown laughter erupts. Even Quaritch chuckles behind you, his hand easing up the pressure on your hip. It does not sound malicious, however.

“She-” Lyle starts, but laughter forces a halt to his rambling. 

“They think we’ve slept together, sweetcheeks,” Quaritch helpfully explains, trying to fill in the blanks you’re drawing. 

“Did we not sleep together?” You ask, confusion clouding your voice. 

“That’s not the kind of sleep I’m talking about. It can also mean…” He looks over to the others, his face darkening slightly when he turns back, before bending down, whispering the meaning of having ‘slept together’ in your ear. 

Immediately, your face heats, your ears slicking back against your skull as you lean back to stare up at him. The warm hand on your hip disappears and uncertainty crosses Quaritch’s face before it too disappears, replaced by the stony indifference he usually wears around the General Ardmore. Turning back, you see that the grins haven’t left the three recoms now hanging off of the back of the sitting bench. 

“But you did sleep together the entire night,” Spider pops up between the recoms, his face one of deep confusion as he stares at you. “He was holding you while you slept,”

“Gee, thanks, kid,” Quaritch drawls, his hands resting on his hips as he sucks his bottom lip between his teeth again. 

Laughter unlike before explodes around the room, the recoms all but crumbling with it, and in the middle, a very confused Spider chuckles as he tries not to get squished between the seemingly adult men. Shaking his head, Quaritch walks over to the sitting bench before lifting Spider out of the pile of long limbs, gently setting him down on the ground. 

“Have they given you anything to eat?” He asks and immediately, your son grins up at him. 

“Yeah, Mansk made me something called a lumbersjakebreakfast. It was really good,” Spider explains animatedly while Mansk chuckles an unsteady ‘lumber jack’ as he gets up from the ground. 

“9000 calories, Mansk. You tryna kill the kid?” Quaritch chuckles, directing the question at Mansk. 

“What? Kid looked at a book and pointed. Wasn’t about to say no to the Colonel’s kid, you know,” Mansk shrugs, a playful grin on his face. 

“Figured we were all going out for some real food later on today. Wasn’t expecting you to actually sleep in though… Sir,” Ja added gently, earning a fond kind of annoyed huff from Quaritch. 

“Well, you figured right,” Quaritch starts, resting his hands on his hips before sucking his bottom lip between his teeth once more, an obvious habit of his. “Gonna have to get some real food in this kitchen. Luckily, the three of you volunteered, ain’t that right guys?”

A collective of groans sounds before the three sit back down on the bench, mumbling while their ears twitch. You didn’t understand why they were complaining. If they didn’t go out to gather food, how would they have anything to eat? You didn’t know where the sky people food came from or how it got there, but then again, there were a lot of things about the sky people you didn’t understand. 

“Get off of the couch already,” Quaritch barks, but you notice that there’s no heat behind it. “And Lyle?”

“Yeah, Colonel?” Lyle turns to Quaritch while turning off the videogame TV. 

“Take spider with you,” Quaritch grins when both Spider and Lyle groan. 

Looking up at him, you notice how his smug grin shifts into another fond smile, and it’s like there’s a whole new person standing before you. Staring up at him, you let your mind wander for a little bit before turning to walk over to your son. Spider and Ja are bent over a small screen, Ja’s long fingers pointing as the two whispers to each other. As you come to a stop behind them, you can see that there’s a drawing of the forest on the small screen and when Ja pinches the surface with two fingers, the drawing gets smaller. Or bigger? You’re not really sure. The drawing is showing the clearing where you’ve taught them the Na’vi way, the area where there’s an abundance of food available for them to take back here. 

“My dearest boy,” You call for Spider, watching as your son turns to smile at you. “Be careful and listen to Eywa’s signs. Use your senses,”

“Mom, it’s gonna be fine. I grew up here, you know,” His smile turns into a cheeky grin and you can’t help the sinking feeling that drops in your chest. Your boy was becoming a man before your eyes and there was nothing you could do about it. 

“But you haven’t grown up in this area. Watch out for them. They are still like small children,” You open your arms as Spider steps closer, leaning his forehead against your stomach. 

Wrapping your arms around his head, you gently press it against your stomach in a tight hug. You understood that he was a young man now, understood that he wouldn’t cling to you like he used to do. The blessed extra time you had gotten while imprisoned here, was one you would treasure for as long as you lived. To have that extra time with him before he left your nest entirely… 

“Don’t worry, mom,” Spider gently pulls back, looking up at you, “I love you,” 

And of course, he saw right through you. For as long as you had been together, he would always be able to read your emotions. As a child, he had been both hot and cold, always on the move until he wasn’t, then he would stick to your back or chest in a sling, snoring softly as he slept oh-so-soundly, cuddled close to your skin. Being of the sky people, he developed a little slower than Na’vi children, which led to more time spent with you while the other children moved more freely with their long, strong limbs. It didn’t take long after Spider’s sixth birth bead was added to his songcord, however. He was off like an Ikran after that, giving the Sully kids trouble to keep up with him. In the end, only Lo’ak had been able to keep up, their energy level just about maxing out together. 

“I love you so much, my son,” You whisper back, leaning down to kiss the crown of his head before pushing him away to follow the recoms as they left. 

Standing in the middle of the room, you watch as they walk out of the common room. Mansk stands by the door, looking over at Quaritch. The two of them are having a silent conversation, much the same way you’ve seen Quaritch and Lyle communicate. Mansk eventually nods and then, he too is out of the door, leaving you alone with Quaritch once more. A big, warm hand rubs your shoulder and when you turn your head, Quaritch stands there smiling down at you. 

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about him, sweetheart, the boys will keep him safe,” Quaritch squeezes your shoulder gently before walking over to the videogame TV, putting away the stuff that they had been playing with. 

Turning to him, you watch as he bends at the waist, letting out soft grunts as he reaches for the pillows on the ground, before putting them on the couch. You don’t understand why there were many pillows on the couch and only one in the nest, but you were certain that sky people had their reasons for that too, however strange it may be. 

“I reckon you want some real food, sweetie?” Quaritch hums as he folds a blanket before hanging it off of the couch end. 

“You are hungry too,” You offer, hoping he too wants the food Pandora has to offer instead of the awful stuff he had fed you all those months ago. 

“I am, sweetcheeks, but I’m not particularly picky. Now, for a sweet angel like you, a simple “pb-n’-j” on toast won’t do, will it?” You chuckle at the weird way he speaks, not really getting what he’s talking about. “Come,” 

Holding his hand out for you to take, Quaritch gently wraps his fingers around your hand before gently leading you through that very same door your son and the other recoms had left through. Walking down the corridors, he doesn’t let go of your hand. What he does do is walk slower, as if the destination he’s taking you to is one he doesn’t want to go to. However, when he opens a huge door and leads you outside, you’re confused as to why he didn’t want to go outside. 

“Call for Haw-nu,” He mumbles, but that couldn’t be it, could it?

“Hawnu,” You repeat back at him, noticing how he still hasn’t let go of your hand. It makes your stomach flutter wildly as your ears perk toward him. 

“Haw-nu. That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Quaritch turns to you, his sharp eyes looking into yours as he silently tastes Hawnu’s name on his lips. 

“Not Haw-nu, but Hawnu,” You try again, an amused smile unable to stay hidden on your face. 

“Hawn-u,” Quaritch tries again, and try as you might, you’re unable to hold back the gentle chuckle that bubbles up within you. 

“No, Quaritch. Hawnu,” You repeat again, grinning up at him. 

“Hawnu,” Quaritch repeats perfectly, a fond smile sliding into place across his face as he looks down at you. “I like that very much,”

“Like what?” 

“The sound of my name on your lips, darling,” Quaritch cups your face with his free hand, his thumb caressing your cheek as you stare at each other. 

You hadn’t noticed that you had called him Quaritch. You don’t know when you had stopped thinking about him as the sky demon and when you had started referring to him as Quaritch. Worse than that, you were starting to think of him as Spider’s father. You don’t know what to do, or what to think at that moment. Quaritch was looking down at you in a way he had no business to - except… he had every right to. He had initiated a courtship and you had accepted it, foolishly thinking that he didn’t know better, and now, months down the path, you realized that you had developed feelings for this man.

Before you could pull away though, before you could step back, Hawnu and Cupcake landed before you, the two having heard or seen you long before you got the chance to call for them. Walking with you over to Hawnu, Quaritch greets your Ikran with a firm rub down his long forehead before gently helping you up on his back. Only then does he let go of your hand before walking over to Cupcake, greeting her in the same manner before making tsaheylu with her in such a smooth way only a natural-born Na’vi, that had made the connection through years of friendship, could. You’re left to clumsily make tsaheylu with Hawnu, your Ikran pushing worrying feelings your way before he gently takes off and you’re in the air once more. 

Feeling the fresh Pandora air against your face calms your nerves to a degree where you’re able to think straight again. Turning your head, you look over at Quaritch, finding his eyes already looking at you. He smiles gently, holding your gaze for a while longer before turning his head back. His profile is beautiful against the setting sun, his long neck, his broad shoulders… his slim waist. You don’t think you’ve ever seen such a thin waist on a warrior this mighty. The thought of running your hands up and down his sides, of holding onto that solid waist in either a hug or… 

Swallowing hard, you turn back to the sight before you. Distantly, you can feel Hawnu pushing his feelings of approval. He thinks you’ve made a good decision in your choice of mate and maybe he’s right. Quaritch has been attentive after you accepted his courtship, has paid more attention to you and your needs, on top of the attention he was already giving your son. He has proved to be a man worthy of love, worthy of a family, and the deep bond it creates. Calming your nerves, you breathe deeply, trying your best to settle the worried lump that has grown in your stomach. What a fool you had been to have believed him ignorant when it came to courting rituals, the only side of learning the Na’vi way you never thought him interred in, and therefore never even mentioned. You want to believe in Quaritch so much, want this change in him to be true because he willed it and not because it would gain him something. But trusting him fully, could you even do that? You realized that it was a choice you would have to make before soon. 

Hawnu dips down, descending to the ground below, and you suddenly notice how your mind has drifted away from you. Looking to the side, you can see Quaritch staring at you with a worried look on his face. You try your best to give him a reassuring smile, but you should have known that it wouldn’t fool the man. Instead, he points down to a clearing on a cliff and it’s only that you recognize where you are. You’ve been here before with the unit, training with their Ikrans as they learned how to make tsaheylu while free-falling. Nodding, you ask Hawnu to land, holding on tightly as he comes up on the clearing fast. Sliding down from Hawnu’s back, you gently break tsaheylu before moving in front of him, leaning your forehead to his as you silently apologize for your absent mind. 

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Quaritch asks just behind you, his voice careful as he stands awkwardly behind you. 

“Yes,” You smile up at him, “Come, we should eat,”

“Right,” He doesn’t sound like he wants to gather food, but still, he follows you as you move toward the treeline.

The sun is quickly setting behind you as you enter the forest, the Great Mother bathing Pandora in a bioluminescent hue. Grateful that food is never far from places like these, you take your fill until you’re almost uncomfortably full, sighing happily at the sweet tastes the fruit offers you. Quaritch eats messily, juices dripping down his chin as he digs into the various fruits, eating with a healthy appetite. Distantly, you wonder if he feels grateful for having tasted Eywa’s creations, but when he looks up from his half-eaten yovo fruit, you can’t help the happy grin that spreads across your face. 

“What?” Quaritch asks, his mouth full, seeds sticking to his chin. 

“You eat like child,” You offer as you step up to him and gently wipe the sticky mess from his face. Bending down, Quaritch closes his eyes as he lets you clean his face, your own hands now slick with the fruit’s juices. 

“Well, I was hungry, darling,” He grins down at you when you step back, making a display of digging into the rest of his fruit, a grin of his own on his face as he gets messy once more. You can’t help the laughter this time and with it, Mile’s eyes glitter in the bioluminescent light. 

Showing Quaritch the nightlife in the forest, you study him as he touches every plant he can lay his hands upon, an almost childish, open smile on his face at every different reaction the plant gives. The wonders of the Great Mother shine so clearly in his eyes as he follows you, his ears twisting back and forth as you walk through the forest. Eventually, you lead him back to the clearing, noting how his face falls a little when he realizes. The child-like wonder shifts into soft contentment as his eyes meet yours, a gentle smile crossing his lips once more. For a moment you can feel your breath catch in your throat while your stomach flutters. He’s a beautiful man and when he smiles, when he directs it at you, and you alone, it feels like you’re caught in an invisible net.  

He sits down close to the edge of the cliff, leaning back on his long arms as he lets his head fall. Looking at you upside down, he huffs a chuckle before lifting his head to look out over the beautiful Pandora landscape ahead of him. Following his line of sight, you know exactly what he sees. The forest is bathed in glittering lights of every color, the plants below glowing beautifully as they share their lights with everything Eywa has touched.  Sitting down on the ground beside Quaritch, you fall into a comfortable silence, your eyes turned to the Great Mother’s creations. 

As the silence stretches on, Quaritch’s heat draws you closer until your shoulders eventually bump into each other. His bare skin radiates so much warmth, the sensation almost like getting wrapped up in soft blankets on a cold, rainy day where the wind howled through the cracks in the maruis. You don’t notice how you gravitate closer and closer until you’re plastered to his side, your head leaning against his shoulder. The silence is comfortable and his warmth even more so. Looking up at him, you notice how he’s only staring at you, a gentle look on his face. Smiling back up at him, you close your eyes as his right hand comes up to slowly push away a strand of your hair. The hand ends up cupping your face before his thumb caresses your cheek as you open your eyes to stare up at him again. You watch as he slowly leans down towards you, his eyes hooded as he nears, clearly intending for your lips to meet in a kiss. His descent is slow, his forehead resting on yours, giving you time to pull away if this is not what you wanted. His eyes meet yours, asking for permission before he turns his head slightly to the side to kiss you. Panic strikes you and before you know it, you pull away. You’re not ready for this. It’s too soon. You quickly get to your feet, stepping away from him. 

“It is late. I need to be with my son,” It’s the sorriest of excuses, the rejection so poorly veiled that it almost pains you. Still, Quaritch does not rage, does not raise his voice or take. Instead, he looks up at you with something aching to sadness before he nods, pulling his long legs beneath himself as he gets up. And that somehow makes you feel worse.

“I understand,” He says, not meeting your eyes. 

You’re just left standing there as he calls for your Ikrans, watching as they land before you. He holds your hand as he helps you up on Hawnu’s back, but no matter how much you search for them, his eyes never lift up to meet yours. There are no lingering touches, no gentle smiles, or commentary. Instead, he lets go of your hand as soon as you’re sat across Hawnu’s back, turning his back on the both of you as he walks over to Cupcake, rubbing her forehead and whispering something to her when she screeches loudly after he makes tsaheylu. The flight back is uncomfortably silent. And when you arrive at the base, your parting is even more silent as he walks to your door, putting his hand on the box before opening it for you. But before you’ve even entered, he’s turned for his own door, opening and closing it, without a goodbye, without even looking back. 

Stepping into your room, the wrongness of the situation fills you. The door closes behind you, its metal latches clicking into place as it seals you off from the outside world. Stepping into the room, you smile gently at Spider snoring loudly in your nest. He’s twisted into his blankets, a half-eaten spartan fruit sitting beside his head. Picking up the fruit, you put it down on the table before stepping into the nest. Curling around Spider, you wrap your arms around him, smiling at the way he sighs happily. There’s a pain in your chest, however. A pain that doesn’t go away as night gives way to dawn. Staring out of the see-through metal wall, you go through what happened time after time, after time again. 

Why had you pulled away? Had you not wanted this from him too? Huffing a humorless chuckle to yourself, you almost chastise yourself for even thinking about it. He was the sky demon, the destroyer of Pandora, the very person who destroyed your hometree. He was incapable of loving anything but himself and yet… Eywa eventually blesses you with rest, your mind numb and your soul empty as you drift off to sleep.

When the door to your room opens, the day is bright and Spider has watched his TV for a while. Ja enters your room carefully, eyes searching for yours as he takes you in. Understanding seems to hit him and he clears his throat before stepping further into the room when Spider excitedly greets him. You watch as the two bump their fists together, Spider grinning wildly as he asks about what the plans for the day were. 

“Bet you’re hungry?” Ja grins down at Spider before looking up at you, “Ma’am?”

“Mom, you didn’t get to see all the stuff we gathered yesterday. Mansk said we’ll be rolling down the hallway by the time we’ve eaten it all,” Spider’s excitement brings a smile to your face, but it doesn’t reach your eyes. You thank the Great Mother that your son doesn’t realize it. 

“He made some really great dishes for us, Ma’am,” Ja smiles gently before walking out of your room. 

Following Ja into the common room, you’re surprised to see a long table in the middle of the room. The unit is gathered there, eating and chatting animatedly with each other as they laugh. Quaritch sits at the end, moving a piece of ovumshroom around on his plate. He doesn’t meet your eyes as you sit down to eat with them, doesn’t greet you or acknowledge you at all. In fact, Quaritch doesn’t meet your eyes the entire day, avoiding contact as much as possible and giving silly excuses each time you try to talk to him. 

It pained you to see him like this. Pained you to know that your hesitant rejection had caused this. He had been nothing but kind toward you and your son, had worked harder than anyone and yet when it came down to it, you hadn’t been ready to accept him just yet. Maybe he thought you didn’t accept him at all? But that couldn’t be, you had accepted his courting after all. Your heart twisted painfully at the thought, your ears flattening against your skull as your tail whipped anxiously against your nest. Sighing deeply, you decided that you would corner him come morning. All of this just had to be a poor misunderstanding, right?