Chapter 32

Harry stood at the edge of the clearing, his eyes fixed on the circle of Na'vi that had gathered before him. He could feel the tension and anxiety in the air, and he knew that this was a moment of great importance.

The Na'vi were preparing to perform a tribal ceremony, a ritual that had been passed down for generations. They were praying to Eywa, the great and powerful spirit of Pandora, for strength and guidance in their upcoming fight against the sky people.

When Harry shared the fate of the Omatikaya clan, they were all beyond furious. Most of the members of his tribe were from the great reef, but despite their differences from those of the forest, the destruction was unacceptable. Hometree had long been a symbol of Eywa's power, making a tree so impossibly large, that houses one of the few great clans whose history was known throughout Pandora.

"We are Eywa stalwart defenders. When the great balance is threatened, there can be no response except war." Sukals sombre voice echoed out over all the clan members. Even the children, normally so full of life, were quiet and downcast.

Harry stood in front of a group of eight warriors, fully armed and with eyes full of violence. This was their war party.

There had been more, including many who lacked the fighting skills of the hunters, who had volunteered to join the war they all knew had been started. Harry had chosen only the most gifted and experienced and limited his numbers to those that he could transport in his rotorcraft. He had selected Doeung and Zewyan, who despite their missing limbs were fearsome warriors with great experiences. Harry also brought along the majority of the hunters, including Nami, Mutil, Tawtute and three more who had only recently joined the tribe.

The point of contestation was Sukal. She had demanded to go, not willing to let her husband go to war without her. Harry had tried to convince her, reminding her of the sacred responsibility she took up as Tsahik. Eventually, they both compromised. Sukal would join the war party, but limited her role to healing and helping the victims of the war. There would be enough dying and in need from the destruction of Hometree, let alone any other future conflicts.

As the fighting would be on land, many of the tribe mounts like Skimwing's were useless. Further, Harry and Mutil had yet to tame an Ikran, making the rotorcraft their only means of transporting the group. The only upside was that Harry was able to load several containers full of medical supplies, emergency rations and automated drones to help the now-displaced Omatikaya clan. There was also the Tra'vre, a miracle fruit that could heal almost anything, a great blessing in times of a vicious war.

"Wear these markings with honour. You may wield the blade, however you are not alone. Eywa walks with all of us, guides our aim and cleanses our hearts. Every member of Tawsemka stands behind you, brave warriors. Defend the people. Defend the Great Balance." Sukal spoke out again as she held a shell full of yellow paint.

She moved from member to member, marking them ready for war with her paint covered-fingers. The paint drew simple lines arcing from the brow, down and across the cheeks with a single marked their chin below their lips. The paint was made of a mixture of plants and mud that when dried would die the skin. The paint would take many weeks to fully wash off, a sign for all of the commitment to their cause.

As Sukal finished painting the war party, other tribe members approached. Each with their own shell, with a variety of colours that they then marked their loved ones with symbols and sigils. Turo came up to Harry and without a word, used his black paint to draw a swirl over Harry's heart. More came, each adding their own mark until Harry's chest and back were covered with the well wishes of his tribe. His family.

The ceremony ended with a great cry of triumph and joy, and Harry knew that the Na'vi were ready to face the sky people and defend their land. He felt a sense of pride and determination fill him, and he knew that he was ready to fight alongside his fellow warriors. The support of his clan had become his strength that they would carry with them to face the trials and challenges that lay ahead.

The Na'vi were soon dancing and singing, their voices rising up to the heavens in a chorus of prayer and supplication. Loved ones shared final embraces and kisses as the group prepared to leave, not willing to delay further.

As they loaded the final supplies and all took their seats, Akxuk, the eldest member of the tribe approached with a beautiful red flower in her hand. Wrinkled hands placed the flower firmly in Harry's braid.

"Return alive Olo'eyktan. The people need your strength and wisdom."

Giving Akxuk and the other members of the tribe a final glance, he stepped into the cockpit and started the engines.

The time for peace was over.

The time for war was just beginning.

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Beep!

Beep!

Harry's eyes fell on the monitor in the cockpit. They had been flying at their maximum speed towards the Omatikaya clan for several hours. They were still approximately two hours out from the smouldering wreck of Hometree where Harry hoped to find some of the survivors and offer his assistance.

Seeing the attempted contact from Hells Gate, Harry was immediately suspicious.

Had they discovered their war party already?

Taking a quick glance at the scanning equipment, making sure a squadron of enemy rotorcraft wasn't going to appear over the horizon, he turned his attention back to the message. It was unusually coded, not coming from the main broadcast frequencies but from old subsystems that most wouldn't know existed.

Deciding that whoever it was, wasn't Quaritch or Selfridge, Harry accepted the call while making sure the camera only captured him and not his fully armed war party.

"Harry!" Max, a scientist that Harry had only met a few times appeared on the screen, clearly relieved to have reached him. Harry knew he could trust Max, he had been responsible for tipping Harry off about Quaritch preparing to wipe out a tribe to retrieve captured Avatars.

"Max? Why are you calling me?"

"Hometree. You need to… They have… I couldn't stop them… Please…" His incoherent babbling made little sense, but Harry understood the gist of the problem.

"I know Max. I saw the images." Harry's voice was flat, the image of the devastation permanently scarred into his brain. "Do you know about Jake? Was he there? Did he survive?"

Max quickly explained how Jake and his research team of Grace Augustine and Norm Spellman had been captured by the Colonel's men and held prisoner. With the help of their pilot, Trudy, they escaped the base and hoped to reunite with the Omatikaya clan.

Harry nodded, Jake was a former marine and tough bastard, Quaritch would have his hands full trying to handle him.

"That's good news, Max. Stay in touch if there are any more developments." Researching to shut off the communication, Max yelled out in panic.

"Wait!"

"What's the matter? They escaped surely …"

"Harry you don't understand. Quaritch has declared threat condition red. He has taken control of all the on-world assets. Selfridge is powerless. Quaritch knows Jakes not going to go down without a fight, he's recalled all the mine workers to gear up for another attack."

Feeling his jaw set, Harry spoke not as a scientist, a husband or a human. He spoke as an Olo'eyktan. "When this war is over, Quaritch will tremble with fear before the Navi." Adding in Navi, "He has woken the slumbering beast and now must contend with its fangs and claws." At Harry's declaration, the war party chorus of yells filled the rotorcraft making Max flinch in shock.

"That's not all. I heard some of the soldiers boasting in the mess. As Jake was escaping, they say that the Colonel managed to hit Grace with his pistol."

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They found the remains of Hometree still smoking. Grey ash filled the air and covered the jungle in a blanket of unnatural grey. Every breath they took only allowed more ash to enter their lungs, giving them all a ragged cough.

Harry's heart ached as he saw the destruction that had been wrought on this wonder of Pandora. He knew that Hometree had been a symbol of the Na'vi's strength and resilience, and he could not believe that it had been brought down so easily.

The Navi, who were able, had been evacuated from the area. Harry used his scanners to see a large group of tracks leading deeper into the legendary floating Hallelujah Mountains. There was a powerful flux vortex there that rendered many of his technological instruments useless and made the possibility of finding Jake and the injured Grace Augustine extremely remote.

Landing in the former home of the Omatikaya clan, Harry and his war party used his thermal senses, drones and Fang's superior nose to find any survivors. He knew the Navi would have had to flee quickly, without the opportunity for a thorough search.

Harry and the other Na'vi picked their way through the wreckage of Hometree, their hearts heavy with grief and their eyes scanning the debris for any sign of life. The air was strangely still as if the world had become deaf. Standing before the consequence of humanity's greed, Harry could almost hear the cries of the wounded and the dying echoing all around him. There was nothing that could justify this.

The team searched for many hours, moving as quickly as they could, desperately trying to find survivors. What they found was death. Corpses of young, old and everything in between was hidden in the growing piles of ash. When they did find the dead, they buried them in the roots of nearby trees, saying a short prayer to Eywa before continuing the search.

Occasionally an Ikran would cry out as they circled overhead or divided low to search for their bonded rider. When they found their partners forever silent, Harry was shocked at how the animal's sounds reminded him of grieving loved ones. It reminded Harry how interconnected life on Pandora was, even the animals built emotional connections that rivalled that of humans.

Not all was lost. Harry and his clan members managed to find a few fortunate survivors still hanging on the life.

Bark!

Fang altered the team to another Navi. Harry moved closer and using his hands, wiped the mound of dirt from a blue face. It was a young child, a girl of no more than 10 years whose arms had been deeply burned. Pressing his ear to her chest, Harry heard a faint intake of air.

She lived!

Taking his medical pouch off, he started treating her. Rubbing a natural lotion of her burns to stop the internal damage and injecting some compounds into her blood to open up her airways.

Calling over to Nami, Harry helped them move his patient onto the rotorcraft before calling out to Fang.

"Good Boy!"

Despite the chaos and the danger that surrounded them, Harry and the other Na'vi remained determined and resolute. They knew that they had to find every survivor, no matter how difficult the task was. Enough had died already.

The search continued with the war party able to rescue a total of 14 Omatikaya members, all of whose lives now rested on a knife edge. The number of survivors was minute compared to the dead however every life they saved restored a small part of his hope.

Harry knew that the Na'vi had been through a great trial. But he also knew that they would become stronger for it, and that they would rise up and rebuild their home. The Navi were nothing if not resilient.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the search was over. This was only the first step of their journey, they had to return the wounded to their loved ones and convince the Omatikaya tribe to accept his aid against his former species.

Easy… Right?