CHAPTER THREE:
THE FLOATING MOUNTAINS
IT WAS BRIGHT outside on Pandora, the chatters of the many soldiers and scientists all around the base being heard as they did their jobs. Soldiers wore the masks over their faces while holding their guns in their hands, marching along outside in the base they had made many years ago when people had first came to the much larger planet, the men joking around with one another while they ventured together.
Beeps from the many computers in the science labs could be heard as the doctors and scientists wore their white lab coats, continuing to do their daily work. About a day had passed since Jake had been chased through the jungle and was able to get the Omaticaya clan to trust him, despite him being what they called a demon, or a sky person in their opinion.
In one of the many labs, Y/n moved the machine she always had with her by her side as she walked along side Norm with her mother on his other side, the older woman holding a tablet in her hand as she brought up pictures of the Omaticaya people. Jake wheeled himself towards his pod, the three trailing behind him.
The man was about to head back into his Avatar body, but Grace was giving him information about some of the Na'vi while also making sure he remembered their names that he no doubt learned the night before when he had first met them all. Y/n exchanged a glance with Norm as they had just finished listening to Jake list off the names, passing the many other doctors and scientists along the way while they entered the room.
"Okay, let's run through them again." Grace insists before showing a picture of the spiritual leader of the Omaticaya clan.
"Mo'at. Dragon lady." Jake recalls just when another picture of the clan leader pops up. "Eytucan."
"Eytukan." Y/n corrects.
"He's the clan leader. But she's the spiritual leader. Like a shaman." Grace adds, showing a picture of the next clan leader.
"T'su'tey." Jake mumbles, saying the name wrong as he hops up onto the pod.
"Tsu'tey." Y/n corrects again, to which he repeats it. "He'll be the next clan leader."
Jake grabs the tablet when a picture of a female popped up, his lips twitching upwards. "Neytiri."
"She'll be the next Tsahik. They become a mated pair." Grace tells him.
"So who's this Eywa?" Jake asks.
Norm's eyes widen in disbelief. "Who's Eywa? Only their deity. Their goddess, made up of all living things. Everything they know! You'd know this if you had any training whatsoever."
"Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?" Jake fires back, holding the tablet up where Neytiri's picture was still on.
Norm scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Oh, come on. That's not--"
"Knock it off. It's like kindergarten around here." Grace murmurs as she takes the tablet, staring at the picture. "Neytiri was my best student. She and her sister, Sylwanin. Just amazing girls."
"I got a date with Sylwanin too." Jake comments.
"She's dead." Y/n blurts out.
Grace sighs. "Let's go. Village life starts early."
With that, Jake lays down in the pod he had been sitting in, listening to Grace warn him about not doing something stupid as she leaned over him, remembering that he didn't know much about the Na'vi like she and the others did. Jake only smiles, grabbing ahold of lid of the pod and closing it on himself when she had stood up, ready to learn for the day.
* * *
The chatters could be heard all around as the many doctors and scientists continued walking around inside the base, continuing on their daily work for the time being of the day. A group of people, the group as well, could be seen in one room as they prepped themselves for the journey that they'd be going on.
Y/n found herself sitting in a chair, fixing up the vest her mother had given her as she prepares herself to go out. With his backpack straps over his shoulders, Jake wheeled himself over to the group until he was stopping beside the teenage girl and looking between them all, having been told they'd be heading somewhere.
"So where are we going?" Jake questions.
"Getting out of Dodge." Grace replies. "I'm not about to let Selfridge and Quaritch micro-manage this thing. There's a mobile link up at Site twenty-six we can work out of, way up in the mountains."
"The Hallelujah Mountains? Are you serious?" Norm asks in a hopeful tone, receiving a nod. "Yes!" This had Jake look to him curiously. "The legendary floating mountains of Pandora. Heard of them?"
Norm didn't look surprised at all when Jake only shrugged, shaking his head a bit, turning back to his bag with a blank expression. Y/n tied up the laces on her boots, the excitement hiding inside her as she had never been to the floating mountains before, Grace claiming she was too nervous for her to go up that high when not in her avatar body because of her health.
However, with stuff they needed just in case, she had very hesitantly gave in and let her. Soon enough, the group was hopping into the helicopter with Trudy in the driver's seat like usual. It took a bit, but the helicopter was high up in the sky with Grace, Y/n and Norm's avatar bodies laying inside the helicopter. Y/n sat in between her mother and Jake with Trudy and Norm sitting at the front, getting closer and closer to the floating mountains.
"We're getting close." Grace announces while looking at the screens in front of the driver. "Yep. We're in the Flux Vortex."
"We're VFR from here on." Trudy adds.
Y/n furrows her brows. "What's VFR?"
"Means you gotta see where you're going." Norm points out.
Trudy nods, chuckling. "Exactly. Ain't that a bitch?"
The pilot continued on flying upwards and in the direction they needed to go until, right through the fog until a brightness shined right through the glass windows of the helicopter. Y/n, Jake and Norm all leaned forward in their seats as their eyes widened at the sight of the floating mountains in front of them. A look of awe could be seen in the teenager's eyes as she takes notice that one had a waterfall, the water not hitting a pool of liquid below and only hitting air all around.
Taking a glance at them, Trudy smiles at the expressions on their faces while Grace watches her only child with a smile. It wasn't too long until the helicopter landed on one of the mountains, the group putting their masks on, Y/n needing help from her mother before they exited the flying vehicle. Grace helped her daughter down before they were all walking in the direction of the bunker.
Y/n glances around at the floating mountains around and above her in fascination and awe, having heard about them from her mother but she never knew she'd see them with her own eyes. Grace was the first into the bunker, turning everything on before the others all came inside, masks off since they had been inside already.
Feeling herself grow tired, hand coming to her head, Y/n let her mother lead her to one of the bottom bunks and sit her down, getting the things she'd need while telling the other adults whose bunk was whose.
Norm placed his bag on the top one above Grace, the doctor wanting to be right there in case anything happened to Y/n at night while Trudy claimed the one above Y/n, leaving Jake to have the bottom one on the other side of the teenager. With a look of concern, Trudy crouches down in front of Y/n, resting a hand on her knee.
"You alright, kid?" Trudy questions.
Y/n gulps, nodding. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry."
"Okay. But remember, if you need anything and your mom isn't here, always come to me. Alright?" Trudy reminds, receiving a nod.
The pilot pats her knee with a small smile as Grace had been watching their interaction with a small smile. Ever since they had came to Pandora when Y/n was at a young age and her health wasn't as bad, Trudy had been one of the only people Y/n was fond of.
The woman always went out of her way to see the teenager as much as she could during the day, despite if she was busy with something. Once giving the girl what she needed as Y/n and Trudy started up a conversation, Grace led Norm and Jake further into the bunker where four pods laid for herself, Jake, Norm and Y/n for when they'd go into their avatar bodies.
* * *
Days had passed. Jake Sully was learning more and more about the ways of the Na'vi, like the way they hunt, how they use their weapons, how they speak and many more. The group had continued to stay in the bunker, making it quite crowded since there were five of them.
The bright sun was out in the sky as the sounds of nature could be heard all around while the humans were inside the shack. Y/n found herself eating the food that her mother had made while she and Norm were teaching Jake more of the Na'vi language, trying to teach him the statement 'I see you' as they also did the gesture for it as well, all while Jake repeated the thing the entire time.
"This is a very important part of it." Y/n tells him, doing the gesture again.
"I see you." Jake repeats as he does it as well.
Norm shakes his head. "But it's not just, 'I'm seeing you in front of me', it's 'I see into you. I see you'."
"Yeah, it's like saying, 'I'm accepting you. I understand you'." Y/n adds with a nod.
Norm nods. "Yes, just like that. So you gotta get this, okay?"
Jake smiles as he listen to them speak over one another, trying to explain that he had to get this and what the statement meant. Checking down at his watch, he realized it was time to get into the pod and meet Neytiri in his avatar body.
The man hops up onto the pod while Norm presses some button on the machine beside it, getting it going. Standing up with a slight sigh, ignoring the pain in her head, Y/n moves towards the pod as Jake lays down, giving her a concern look when he noticed the pained expression she had.
"Hey, kid, you okay?" Jake asks in concern, sitting up a bit as Norm looks over.
Y/n nods. "Yeah, don't worry. I'll be fine. You gotta go meet Neytiri."
Slowly nodding in reply, he lays back down and moves the stuff on him before Y/n closes the lid as Norm presses a few more buttons, knowing Jake will be in his avatar body soon enough. Turning to face the girl, Norm watches as she places a hand on her head, moving to sit down with his help.
A couple feet away, Trudy had been playing with tools that she was gonna go out and use on her old helicopter and fix it up when she had looked over. A frown laid on her face to see the state the girl was in. Throughout the time that's passed, she still wasn't getting any better, despite the amount of surgeries and checkups she's had from the many doctors in Pandora.