Chapter 5 - School

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It has been a few days since the incident between Shadow, the scientist and the lab. Not wanting to hide the truth Shadow allowed Eytulkan, with the help of Grace, to explain what happened. Everyone was conflicted when they learned this but they too accepted him as part of the clan. 

As for Grace she knew what would happen if her leaders learned of Shadow so when they asked what happened to her protection and the Samson she lied to them saying the Na'vi accepted the idea for the school and she sent them back to the base without her and saying that they were probably attacked by the wildlife which they thankfully bought. 

The clan moved the down Samson and the bodies deep in the forest to make sure they buy the lie and Grace was later picked up by a second Samson and she returned to the home base. 

Grace later had her school built within the forest and she was going to see her new students tomorrow. The children going were very excited at the idea of school and when the day came they could hardly contain their excitement and nearly run off to the school. 

Shadow had accompanied them to act as a bodyguard for the children and make sure nothing happened to them. And because Shadow was responsible because he agreed to the idea of a school. 

When they arrived they found a small wooden house with a Na'vi woman sitting on the steps reading a book but this wasn't a normal Na'vi, she was wearing Sky-people clothes and she had five fingers instead of four. She looks up from the book and smiles when she sees the children and waves them over.

"Hello there! Come on over! Don't be shy! Your right on time" They get closer and they are surprised by who the woman is. 

"Grace?" Neytiri says in disbelief and Grace laughs.

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"Didn't expect me to be Na'vi now did you?" She says with a grin as everyone stares in absolute bewilderment at the fact Grace is Na'vi now, Shadow steps forward and sniffs her then pounces her and starts licking her face.

"No! Shadow stop! Down! Shadow!" She says in between laughs and everyone laughs at the scene before Shadow gets off her and she pets his head. 

"Yeah I missed you too big guy" She says with a smile and stands up and looks at everyone else. 

"I'll explain how this is possible later" She says gesturing to herself. 

"But for today your going to learn our language and how to speak some of our words. How does that sound?" And the children cheer and they go inside to the classroom and throughout the day they learn English and had much fun. Many hours had passed and it was time to return home.

The children were disappointed they had to leave but were excited that they could come back tomorrow. So after Shadow gave Grace a lick goodbye, much to her disgust and everyone's amusement, they left the school and back to the home tree where the children tell their parents and the clan how much fun they all had. 

When the children went to sleep Moat came up to Shadow. 

"Were they in any danger?" She asks worriedly but Shadow shakes his head much to her relief and pets his head. 

"Thank you for watching over them for us" He purrs as he receives the attention and her heart spins at the sound of his purrs. 

"Come, let us sleep now, you have a big day tomorrow" she says with a smile and they leave to sleep. 

The next morning they leave for school again and after Shadow gives Grace yet another lick they continue the day learning how to write their languages and comparing them to the Na'vi writing. When the day was almost over Grace made an announcement. 

"Ok I think we learned enough about English for now but tomorrow I have a new idea of what we can do" The children look at Grace with excitement as she looks at Shadow who has sat in the corner watching over everyone. 

"Tomorrow we're going to learn about Shadow" Everyone turns around to Shadow who raised his head at the mention of his name. 

"I'm sure you all know where and how Shadow was made yes?" The children nod at this. 

"Well there is some writing back at his birth place on what Shadow can do but not everything and I would like to see them in action" She explains and everyone turns to Shadow again. 

"What do you say Shadow? Wanna show us what you can do? She asks and Shadow chirps happily and the children cheer as Grace smiles. 

"Great, then I will see you all tomorrow" she says and they all say their goodbyes and return home. 

Moat looks for Shadow again when she learns that Grace asked him to show her and the children what he could do. 

"Are you sure this is wise?" She asks him and he chirps. 

"Even though she is a scientist?" She asks him again and he chirps again and she sighs. 

"Very well, as long as you are sure" she says and pets his head and he purrs. 

In truth she does not know why she is so worried for Shadow. She knows how aggressive and deadly he can be to those who would harm him and those close to him. And yet here she is worrying about him over nothing. 

The next morning Moat had decided to come with the children today and wanted to watch how Grace does with the children. At least that's what she told everyone, the truth though was that she was still worried about Shadow and she couldn't sleep well last night, so to help put her fears aside she decided to join the children today. 

When they arrived the children cheered when they saw Grace again. Moat was surprised to see her as a Na'vi but decided to ask about it later. She sees Shadow lick her and for some reason that seems to anger Moat though she doesn't show it. 

"Hey bud, ready for today?" Grace asks him to which he nods and the children cheer in excitement. 

"So what's first?" She asks him and he looks down for a moment before Sylwanin answers. 

"How about when you saved us? You spitted at the Thanator with something" She says and Grace looks confused at what she meant but gets her answer when Shadow spits at the ground and a patch of dirt starts to melt. 

"Acidic spit? Incredible" She says in astonishment and one of the other children speaks up. 

"What about his second mouth?" Grace looks at the child extremely confused but Shadow opens his mouth and his second jaw comes out. 

"You have a tongue and a second jaw in your mouth?" She asks in bewilderment and Moat smirks at her confusion. 

Throughout the day they watch and witness what Shadow could, climbing trees, using his tail and etc. At one point Grace wanted to see what his skin felt like and she began pulling and squeezing different parts of his body. This had really made Moat mad but she wasn't the only one. 

Sylwanin and Neytiri were also oddly uncomfortable with the way Grace touched Shadow but they weren't sure why. They knew she wasn't going to harm him anyway but they wished she didn't. This confused them greatly but kept quiet about it. 

The three were relieved the day was over and Grace wouldn't touch him again but Shadow still had some things left to show so they weren't very excited for tomorrow. When they returned to the home tree the daughters pulled their mother to the side to speak with her privately. 

"Mother? We wanted to speak to you. About Shadow" Neytiri starts nervously and Moat is already interested and worried in what her daughters had to say. 

"When Grace started to... touch Shadow, we became a bit... uncomfortable when she did" Moat listened intently on what they were saying. 

"And we know Grace wouldn't hurt him or try to but we were still uncomfortable with it and we don't know why" When they finished Moat sighed. 

"I too was uncomfortable with it as well" She says surprising them both. 

"When you told me Grace wanted to learn about him I became very worried and decided to join you all today" She admits to them, surprising them even more. 

"But why? Why are we all so worried about him? He saved us and we have been the greatest of friends for years but we're all worried for him? Why?" Sylwanin asks them both but neither had an answer for her or themselves. 

"I do not know but we can keep an eye on him to make sure he is safe" The girls were disappointed that they didn't have an answer to their question but they agreed to watch out for him and they left to sleep. 

But unknown to the trio, Shadow had followed them and listened to every word they had said and grinned widely. 

For the next few weeks Shadow joined the children with school but he had started to act a bit differently. Instead of sitting in the corner, he now lies beside Grace's feet where he gets petted a lot by her. 

This made the two girls very unhappy that Shadow was giving Grace more attention than them and Neytiri could have sworn she saw a smirk on his face when he catches them glaring. Afterwards she confronts Shadow about it when they return to the home tree. 

"Shadow why are you acting so... friendly with Grace?" She asks him and he tilts his head to the side. 

"I could- I mean we could give you attention if that's what you want" She says quickly fixing her small mistake and Shadow starts laughing which makers her glare at him. 

"Hey! Stop laughing! I'm worried about you!" She says and he immediately stops laughing and tilts his head to the side. 

"I-I'm worried that I'll lose you. And not just me. Sylwanin and mother are also worried" She says anxiously and he stays silent but then he steps forward and hugs her and rests his chin on her shoulder and she hugs back. 

"I'm sorry I know we're worried for nothing but we still do and we still don't know why. Maybe..." she says and looks at Shadow. 

"...maybe your just that special to us" she says quietly and caresses his cheek and he purrs softly and it makes her heart flutter. 

Then she freezes. 

She now notices what she's doing and what she said and she quickly pulls away from him with a very blushing face. 

"I-I'm sorry that was silly of me to say, I need to rest, see you in the morning" she says quickly and nearly runs off and Shadow stands there with a very, very wide grin. 

Neytiri keeps walking to her bed rest with her heart hammering in her chest so hard she thinks it'll explode. 

Idiot-idiot-idiot why did you have to say that!? why did you... she stops her thoughts as she thought back to how Shadow held her and how close his head was to her... 

...Almost close enough to kiss. 

Then she stops and her face turns bright red and she shakes her head. 

Kiss!? Why are you thinking about kissing him!? He is not Na'vi he's... 

And she thinks back to how much fun she and her sister had with Shadow, how he had always protected them... 

How safe and comfortable she always felt when he was nearby. 

...He's better, he's sweet, caring, gentle. He makes me so happy when he's close. She keeps thinking about these thoughts and the more she thinks the bigger the smile on her face grows. She doesn't even know she walked to the healing tent by mistake where her mother was mixing herbs and she notices the face her daughter is making. 

"Neytiri?" She says but she doesn't respond and when she sees the distant look in her eyes and the smile on her face, she recognises it immediately and a smug smirk is on her face. 

"Neytiri" She says again more sternly which gets her attention and she notices where she finally is. 

"Mother? I'm sorry I was in deep thought" She says shyly and embarrassed and Moat's smirk grows. 

"I could tell when your were daydreaming about him" She says hinting at her and she freezes. 

"I recognise that look you have on your face when you walked in here but the question is who has you dreaming about him? Hmm?" She hums and Neytiri turns red even more at the fact she had been caught. And by her mother of all people. 

"I-I was thinking about someone but I'm... confused about what I feel for him" She admits as she sits by her mother and she smiles at her. 

"Well tell me how you feel about him, what makes you like about him" She tells her daughter and she takes a deep breath. 

"I feel safe with him, he always makes me smile just by being beside me, I feel warm when I think about him and my chest feels like it will explode from how fast my heart beats" she says as she places a hand on her chest and smiles but then she frowns. 

"But lately he's been giving another woman more... attention with her than me" she says disappointed and Moat hums. 

"Then you must tell him soon, before you lose him completely" She tells her daughter who looks confused. 

"But how can I? And what if he chooses someone else?" She asks distraught at the thought and Moat calms her. 

"Just say what you told me and if he does then he was not the one for you, but there is someone here who will be your life mate" Moat says trying to ease her mind and Neytiri nods in understanding and leaves the tent. 

I understand now I-I... 

She takes a deep breath. 

I love Shadow and I will tell him when I can. 

And she smiles at this. 

I'm in love with Shadow. 

And she walks to her bed rest and sleeps the rest of the night with a wide smile. 

Back with Moat she smiles at the thought of her daughter finally finding someone who she trusts enough to eventually become her life mate and it makes close her eyes and she thinks back to her time with Eytulkan, how happy she felt when they joined their Queues together, the time they spent together, when he protected her and her children from the Thanator... 

Then her eyes snap open and she freezes. 

Eytulkan never saved her from the Thanator, it was Shadow that did. And she starts thinking about her time with Shadow and her heart starts beating faster and her face turns slightly red. She shakes her head at this. 

Why? Why am I feeling so warm like this when I think about him? I only felt this way about Eytulkan so why... 

And her eyes widen. 

Am I... falling in love with Shadow? 

She shakes her head and narrows her eyes. 

No she couldn't she was already mated with Eytulkan. 

But why did she feel more... happy when she thinks about Shadow. 

Do I love Shadow the way I love Eytulkan? Perhaps more than Eytulkkan.

She feels very confused and decides to go to sleep and think on this tomorrow but not before a thought crosses her mind... 

Could Neytiri have been talking about Shadow?