The Red Reaper

9 - Meeting Grace

"The Jarhead clan? And it actually worked?"

"Hey, I'm practically family, they're gonna study me, I have to learn to be one of them"

"That's called taking the initiative, son, I wish I had ten more like you"

The Colonel patted him on the shoulder as he walked around, done with what he wanted to say and hear.

"Look, Sully, Sully, just find out what the blue monkeys want, we tried giving them medicine, education, roads, but no, no, no, they like mud and that wouldn't bother me, it's just that they're..."

They zoomed in on the home tree on a digital map as he kept on insulting the natives.

"...Their damn village happens to be resting on the richest unobtanium deposit within two hundred clicks in any direction, I mean, look at all that cheddar"

"Well, who gets them to move?"

"Guess"

Jake laughed, remembering what he heard about Laip'xi and Tsu'tey doing to humans when they crossed the line and got too close.

"What if they won't go?"

"I bet they will, actually I'm pretty sure we'd be able to convince them to move if it wasn't for that damned mutt!"

"The damned Red Reaper"

"Red reaper? What's that?"

Jake asked, wondering what they were so frustrated about.

"It's this huge beast the na'vi somehow managed to tame several years ago, we've seen a na'vi riding it and they always make a mess of our equipment, we haven't been able to advance thanks to it, especially since it grew"

"The damned thing is the size of a Hammerhead Titanothere now, fucking hell"

"I think I saw what you mean, they call her Laip'xi, it's their guardian"

"Valuable info Jake, find out its weakness so that we can kill it"

"You've got three months, that's when the next bulldozers get there, either find a way to kill it, or get them to move"

After Jake left for the science quarters, Grace updated him on the names of the na'vi leaders and some information about them. He needed to soak up all the information she was providing him with so that his life with them would be smooth sailing.

"Tsu'tey"

"He'll be the next clan leader"

"He's also Laip'xi's rider"

Grace lifted her eyebrows, surprised that he knew something she didn't.

"Laip'xi?"

"Yeah, the monster that keeps killing Colonel's men"

"You saw it?"

"Yeah, it lives with them in the tree, protects them and pretty much feeds them too"

"How did it react to you?"

"Well, it protected me whenever it seemed like they were going to kill me, other than that it just kept sticking close to Tsu'tey"

"Interesting, anyway, next"

"Neytiri"

"Yes, she will be the next Tsahik, they become a mated pair"

They continued talking before Grace showed him inside the pod because village life started early. When Jake woke up in his avatar body, he nearly fell off his sleeping pod, as Laip'xi was sitting on the branch, staring at him sleeping, for who knows how long.