I’m not sure! You definitely don’t need to feel bad about enjoying that dynamic though! It’s really interesting to think about and i would love to explore how spider would react to Quaritch forcing it. I haven’t decided whether or not to go in that direction in this fic yet, because I want to keep Q as close to canon as possible, but I am thinking about it! Thoughts are definitely happening 🤔

I suppose showing Spider Q’s implanted memories would be showing him (as Jake says) dead man’s memories. The narrative is obviously trying to show Recom!Q as a separate entity to the human Miles Quaritch, so I’m not sure they would ever do that in canon. I guess it’s possible the Spider would ask Quaritch to show him memories of Paz, but I think his pride and stubbornness would never allow it.

I have this headcanon that Kiri would be the one to suggest doing Tsaheylu with Spider for the first time — and please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t imagine it in the same context or meaning as Jake and Neytiri’s bond. Yes, canon has made it very clear that Kiri and Spider have romantic feelings for each other, but I don’t think romance would be the reason they’d be willing to share that bond. I think it goes much deeper than that.

They’re both deeply spiritual and deeply faithful in their own ways. Kiri doesn’t even need explaining. And in Spider’s case, this has been shown repeatedly: his respect for Pandora and its living beings, and most clearly in the moment when Jake is about to kill him and Spider says that he knows he has to go to Eywa — firmly believing that even though he’s never been able to connect to her, she would still receive him among her own.

For the Na’vi, Tsaheylu is something profoundly spiritual, special — I’d even dare to say sacred. And that’s exactly how I think they would see it.

The thing Spider has wanted most in his entire life is to be Na’vi. He has explicitly said that he wishes he could connect to Pandora through a kuru, to have one, to experience a bond he believed he would never have. And now he finally can — all because of Kiri and what is essentially a miracle.

In several scenes, and especially in the one where they’re talking, we’re shown Kiri’s desire to be the one who introduces Spider to Pandora in a completely different way than he’s ever known. Now that he can breathe Pandora’s air and has developed a kuru, she wants to be his guide — not just physically, but spiritually. And I think her reasons go far beyond “it will freak out the ancestors.” There’s a deep joy in her every time she sees Spider connect with Pandora in a way he never thought possible. You can see it on her face: she’s genuinely happy because he’s finally receiving everything he’s longed for his entire life.

But Tsaheylu isn’t the same as bonding with an ilu, and Kiri knows that. Better than Spider does. Because it’s very likely she’s already experienced Tsaheylu before — at the very least with her parents, considering what we see with Ronal connecting to her daughter before dying. So Kiri understands what it truly means, and she understands what Spider has been missing due to biological barriers — something that’s completely natural to the Na’vi from the day they’re born.

And the closest, healthiest bond Spider has is with Kiri. So it makes perfect sense to me that she would offer herself. That they might want to keep such an important moment just for themselves. Just like when Kiri asked Spider to wait until she could connect to Eywa too, because she didn’t want him to experience that without her. And even though Spider was incredibly excited to finally have everything he’d ever wanted, he chose to wait. He always keeps his promises. I think something very similar would happen with Tsaheylu.

Which is why it feels so unbearably painful that Varang took that from them.

Spider’s first Tsaheylu being with Varang — used as a tool to mentally torture him — must have been horrific. Abusive and disgusting. And we can see how deeply it affects Kiri by the way she breaks down in tears. The fact that Kiri understands the full weight of what’s happening also makes it feel like poetic justice when she later uses that same bond against Varang. Because Varang isn’t just torturing Spider in the most invasive way possible; she isn’t just mocking Eywa — she’s corrupting his first bond, turning what should have been sacred into a potentially traumatic event.

Still, once things calm down after the final battle… once Spider has had time to adjust to his new life, I can imagine Kiri coming back to this idea. Beyond all the reasons above, as a way of undoing some of the damage. Of replacing a terrible memory with something gentle and meaningful. Of covering the bad with something they could both carry in their hearts.

Now, would Spider accept?

I’m not sure — not anymore. Before, I think the answer would have been an immediate yes, with the same childlike excitement we’ve seen with so many other things. But now, he might hesitate. And I don’t think that hesitation would be because of Varang. Spider is one of the mentally strongest characters I’ve seen. But his experience with her showed him just how deep — how invasive — that bond can truly be.