Ney'tar and I ran until our bodies hurt, and we stopped when we met the silence of the forest. We stopped, out of breath. I leaned forward, resting my hands on my knees, panting. Ney'tar stood up beside me, also out of breath.
"What the hell, why were they this far out here?" I stood up. "They shouldn't even be out here."
"They are getting too close to the tree," Ney'tar said.
"What? But your home isn't close-"
"Not my clan, the Omatikaya," Ney'tar said. I panicked, remembering that the RDA is after material under the tree the Omatikaya are living in, and Jake was there, based on the files I've been receiving.
"Shit, Jake's there!" I broke into a sprint again.
"Wait, who's Jake?!" Ney'tar asked, running after me.
"He's my brother!" I yelled back, my Ikran came down and took me up into the sky. Ney'tar called his Ikran and followed me. I connected to Mewsia's queue.
"What's going on?" Mewsia spoke into our connection.
"Omatikaya," I told her. "My brother's there, I have to make sure he's okay!"
"But you didn't want him to know you're here," she said,
"I don't have options right now." I told her, and we flew towards the Omatikaya tree. Ney'tar flew alongside me. The trees were thick together. I hadn't seen anything yet, but I could smell smoke ahead. I grew scared of what was ahead. Then ahead, there was a grey, desolate patch that grew into an entire area. Like a scar that covered the land. "Oh my god,"
"The home tree," Ney'tar said as we landed. I looked around, then I saw someone in the ashes.
"Hey! Are you alright?!" I got off Mewsia and ran to the person on the ground. Then I saw his face, Jake's face. "Oh my god, Jake!"
I slid to his side and checked his body. No cuts, no breaks, no blood. I sighed shakily out of relief. He was okay, just not in control of the avatar body.
"What happened here?" Ney'tar asked.
"The RDA, best guess, Jake was sent here to learn from the Omitakaya and convince them to leave," I told him, sitting up in my brother's Avatar against a tree, or what's left of it. I stood up and looked around the mess. "I hate people, they end up consumed by greed and do this to planets that aren't their own."
I felt Ney'tar watching me, and I know he isn't going to blame me, but part of me wishes he would.
"Ruby, you fight alongside Na'vi; you don't take from this planet unless you need it," Ney'tar said. "You are... You are the best of the sky people; you want to protect and preserve this world."
I looked at him, not quite believing him, but not quite denying it either. He could tell I wasn't so convinced of myself.