Note: This chapter begins in Grace's view starting the following morning.

Grace woke with her mind already full of concerns. She dressed and lit her first cigarette of the day. She had it in mind to hound the heads to end the investigation and get Jasselle out of that cell. It had gone on long enough. She needed Jasselle to get talks started with the Na'vi.

As she walked through the base toward the detention area, there were signs something wasn't quite right. The soldiers wouldn't meet her eyes and there were strange marks on some of walls. When Grace arrived, Jasselle wasn't in her cell. She wasn't in detention area at all. Quaritch was talking to other marines.

"What happened?" Grace demanded, "Where is she?"

"Excellent questions doctor," he said, "I've been asking them myself."

"What happened?" she repeated in a low tone.

"Dr. Scully apparently refused to answer some questions last night, stole a gun, attacked my soldiers, and made break for it," he explained.

Grace blinked at him a moment. "What do you mean made a break for it? Why? Where could she go anyway? It's ridiculous and it doesn't sound like her at all."

Quaritch's eyes narrowed as he stepped up to Dr. Augustine. In a quiet and strangely polite voice, he said, "Apparently, she wasn't as innocent as everyone thought, doctor. From the lack of security cameras, which she may have arranged, we can only go by the doors she opened. The last being the entrance to your precious avatar yard."

"The yard?" Grace said shocked.

Quaritch nodded and continued, "We have already search that area thoroughly and didn't find her. I can only suspect she attempted to escape into the jungle possibly."

"That's insane!" Grace said stepping away from him. She dropped her cigarette but didn't notice. "She'd never survive out there unprepared. She knows that better than anyone here."

"We are conducting a search of the entire base and surrounding area," he informed her. "If she is still within these walls, we'll find her."

Grace reluctantly nodded and hurried out. Quaritch smiled, picked up her forgotten smoke, and helped himself to it. "Boys, put Dr. Scully's belongings in storage with the tent of hers. I want this cleaned up before suppertime."

Grace rushed into the link room and softly snapped to SG, "Did anything happen in the yard last night?"

"Huh?" SG said.

Grace grabbed his arm. Everyone else tried to pretend to ignore them as Grace shoved him into the chair before his console. "Jasselle's missing," she whispered, "They said she went into the yard sometime last night."

SG typed as fast as he could. There was only one camera left in the yard, a hidden one. The one Jasselle had worn in her avatar's headband. Bio had hung it over the repaired lab doors. A secret, only a few in the department knew. They watched the video data as it sped through the night. There was no sign of Jasselle.

"Wait, what was that?" Grace asked when she saw movement.

SG brought it back and played it at normal speed. There was activity in the yard, but it wasn't Jasselle. Two of the Na'vi had slipped into the yard. With the small size of the camera, it was hard to tell anymore about them. They watched as the Na'vi opened the cabin grate and entered. When they exited the cabin, one was carrying Jasselle's avatar. They saw the other Na'vi throw the tracking device toward the base. That one locked the cabin back up and together they left with the avatar.

"Sam," Grace said calmly as she straightened, "Nothing happened last night, did it?"

SG smiled, "No, doesn't look like it, as always." He deleted the file.

Grace nodded and asked, " Contact Trudy, tell her I need to search the surrounding jungle for Jasselle myself." Then Grace went to a pod and quickly settled in.

Trudy readily agreed to go search for her gossip buddy and her baby was quickly readied. David also joined the search; with the mining started he didn't have anything to hide anymore. Together the team and the guards took the search slowly and carefully. For a very long time they had no luck. Then as they passed over a clearing about four or five miles from the yard's jungle entrance David shouted, "Look!"

In the clearing, almost in the center was one of the Na'vi. The male was simple standing there, watching them fly by. He held his bow at his side and made no move to use it. Through the binoculars Grace saw it was Vitingon. His expression seemed to be one of patience and expectation. Grace wondered if he had been waiting for them. "Take us back around," she ordered.

Trudy guided the craft in a smooth turn and hovered over the clearing. Vitingon didn't move. He just watched them. "All right," Grace said making up her mind, "Bring us down near him. The rest of you put away your weapons." The soldiers stared at her. "You heard me! Right now!"

Trudy landed as ordered giving Vitingon plenty of room. He waited patiently for Grace and David to approach him.

"I see you, Vitingon," Grace said in greeting.

"I see you, Grace," he said. "My clan is not pleased."

"I know and I am sorry," she said.

"Are you sure you know of what?" he asked.

Grace shook her head, "Perhaps not, your people have many reasons you can choose from for your displeasure. Please forgive my rudeness, but we are looking for Jasselle, her small form. She is missing."

Vitingon frowned, "Missing no longer." He nodded behind him. Out of the jungle a group of Na'vi came into view. They were all people Grace had seen with Jasselle on more than one occasion. But it was what Rameana and Gi-chen were carrying that held her attention and made her feel ill. Rameana was carrying something wrapped in one of the robes that RDA had gifted to the Na'vi. From the shape it appeared to be a human body. Beside her Gi-chen carried a filter mask and human clothes with obvious bloodstains on them.

"No," Grace whispered, "Please, tell me that isn't Jasselle. It can't be."

Vitingon simply said, "We tried to save her."

Rameana offered Grace the body, but she couldn't move so David stepped forward and took it. In the transfer an arm slipped out of the robe and hung limply the hand exposed.

"Oh god, no," Grace said noticing the violet nail polish that Jasselle had always worn to match her eyes.

Gi-chen came forward and shoved her burden into Grace's arms. "There was no reason for this to happen," she hissed her eyes bright. She then softened and pressed Jasselle's pendant into Grace's hand whispering, "You are to give this to her brother. Do not fail to do this request of our sister."

Grace closed her fingers around it and nodded making herself say, "I will see it is done."

The Na'vi said nothing else and walked back into jungle vanishing as though they had never been there. Grace sighed and turned to David who looked just as sad she felt. "Let's take her home."

At the landing area of the base, someone must have called ahead from the small crowd that was waiting for them. Most of their expressions were cold and unfeeling. There was a gurney with the doctors to take Jasselle with them and away.

"No," Grace snapped throwing the clothes and filter mask on it. "My department will take care of her."

"Dr., that's against procedure," a doctor insisted.

"I don't care. Jasselle respected your precious procedures, not me. She will be examined by her fellow scientists and buried not burned as the people are here," she stated walking away from them. David cradled the body and followed Grace before they could stop him.

A day later, Jasselle's body was dressed in the nicest clothes they could find among her belongings and placed in a body bag. Mary had performed a quick and quiet autopsy in between. As the team prepared to take their friend and colleague to her final resting place, they gathered around Mary to hear what she had found. Once he was certain no one could hear them SG nodded to Mary.

She whispered, "They did tend her. She died from internal bleeding. She was beaten nearly to death… among other things. Her injuries are not from any animal attack or someone the size of a Na'vi. A human or more likely humans did this. We knew she could fight, she stood up to a Na'vi warrior, sort of, and it wasn't this bad. Her body revealed: a broken arm, one leg had a swollen ankle, the other a bruised knee. There is no way she sneaked off this base under her own power like they're claiming."

Grace nodded, "So we keep quiet for now. We're not warriors, but we will plan."

"For Jasselle," David said. Everyone nodded.

"All right, let's say good-bye," Grace said.

All the operators climbed into the pods, several personnel grabbed filter masks. Her body was carried out to the yard. The avatar operators had dug a grave for her beside her favorite fruit tree. There were a few marines that joined them, mostly those she had tended and comforted in the past. There were guards on the walls, but for once they were quiet.

She was lowered into the grave. Then one by one, the mourners would toss a handful of dirt on the bag and some added tokens in her memory. Grace settled Jasselle's fruit basket over the head of the body bag. David emptied a small bag of what looked like black sand. Mary added a something wrapped in cloth. "The viper wolf fetuses. I've learned all I can from them. They can keep her company," she explained. Bio tossed in a bunch of native flowers that resembled Jasselle's favorite flowers, lilies.

More people added tokens and dirt over her till everyone got a chance. No one made any speeches or knew what to do beyond burying her. Once it was finished, the people started leaving. Alone Grace knelt down, placed a hand on the mound and whispered, "I will kept that promise and find out what you were really up to. Then, then I will finish what you started."

4 or so years later

Colonel Quaritch slowly walked down the aisle in the mess hall addressing the new arrivals. On one hand, he was relived they were finally here. He had been stretched a little thin for at least a year. On the other, among the soldiers, workers, and researchers was the first resident that any officer had to console about the death of a loved one. He wasn't looking forward to it. He looked around trying to figure out which of them was Jake Scully. Then a young man came into the room using a wheelchair, that's when he remembered the file on Scully.

Once he finished the safety brief, he said, "All right, report to your respective areas. I need to speak with a few people starting with Jake Scully." The young man was surprised. He motioned Jake joined him at a corner table while he grabbed a couple of glasses and a bottle of scotch. The bottle came out of Selfridge's personal stash that he wasn't suppose to have on this dry base. He only gave it up after Quaritch threatened to make him talk to Scully.

Jake watched him confused but quiet. Quaritch poured the glasses and offered Scully one. As Jake took it he said, "Go ahead and knock that back, Jake."

"Sir?"

"One marine to another, knock that back."

Jake did, his face tightened as it bit back, only to open his eyes to see his glass being refilled. "Sir, what's going on?"

"With anyone else, we simple send a letter for someone else to do this as we did for the rest of your family. Drink," he said and waited till Jake compiled. "Jake, your sister, Jasselle Scully, died about four years ago." He poured another glass as Jake stared at him. "Knock it back."

"Sir, I couldn't have possible have heard you right," he said very softly.

"You did, drink," he ordered. Quaritch could see the alcohol was beginning to take affect as Jake did what he was told. He had been asleep for nearly six years. His tolerance level, regardless of what it had been, was gone. "We have a shrink on base that has been ordered to fit you in whenever you need."

"Four years?" Jake repeated. "How?"

"There were some unexplained incidents that had happened over a period of several months. We thought the Na'vi had something to do with it, but more than likely the responsible party was a human or humans. Jasselle was a suspect and we had to question her."

"Suspect, her?" Jake interrupted and paused remembering the chief's rank, "Sorry sir."

"Understandable," he said pouring another glass, "One night during questioning she apparently lost her cool, broke out of the detention area and ran into the jungle. No one can explain why."

"Forgive me sir, but lost her cool?" Jake repeated, "She was always so level headed."

Quaritch shrugged noting the bottle was half empty. He nodded to the base shrink who held a bottle of motor mouth just in case. The man slowly began walking over. The Col poured another glass and said, "People noted later on that she had changed a lot over the months. Jake, she had been spending most of her time with the natives. They weren't too thrilled when the mining started neither was she." He nodded to Jake to have another drink. "That's when relations broke down, which was while we were questioning her and she was critical in keeping those relations open, I think."

Jake shook his head and said, "She probably blamed herself for the break down. She never did know when to quit." He stopped and hung his head, "Runs in the family unfortunately."

Quaritch pulled out a key, "Here, this will open the door to her old quarters. Everything that belonged to her is there. It's yours now or you can have it sent home with the next shipment. This is Dr. Walker, the resident psychologist."

"Feel free to stop by my office at anytime," he said handing Jake the bottle of motor mouth.

Jake nodded, had one drink more and said, "Excuse me, I need… I need to be alone." He quickly grabbed his things and the key and wheeled away.

Quaritch watched him, "I think that went well." He knocked back his first glass. "This is high quality stuff."

"He's not going to be very useful to Dr. Augustine, sir," the doctor stated.

"And your point being what?"

Jake somehow managed to find Jasselle's room. He didn't quite remember how he got there. Alcohol always made him more sleepy than anything else. People said he was a happy drunk, but there was no humor to be found in a bottle this time. His bag was on the floor as he was going through a crate. Near the top there was a familiar box. Jake dragged it over and opened it. "Weeds, weeds, where is it?" He pulled out a strange bundle of braided plant stalks and a lighter. Then on the nearest flat surface he set it down and lit the ends. He settled his forehead on his hands over the burning herbs. Mother warned him, if he ever needed to quickly clear his head but become separated from pain, both physical and emotion, this particular bundle would do it slowly and permanently (at least the head part) if brew in a tea and very quickly for a short time if breathed as incense was.

It smelled awful and he had to find something to cover his mouth before he coughed. His head did clear completely in moments but he felt empty inside. He smothered the herbs and put them back. He thought about what the colonel said. Several things did not belong in association with the sister he knew. He, Tom, and Jasselle had been very close, all their lives. Those combined with a few items he had not found yet made him all the more concerned. He continued to look wondering. 'Where's her sword? She wouldn't lose it. The cross star pendant might have still been around her neck, but not likely,' he thought. The missing object that worried him the most was the card box. She always had it nearby, even if people made fun of the Tarot cards inside.

He found her personnel notebook and there were some copies of her logs. He started them up and just leaned back listening to her voice. It was that last month of logs that existed. In all of them she was talking to him. She kept inserting Gaelic terms at places and it was obvious instead of subtle like most Wicca messages were. She had tried to leave him a message, but his Gaelic wasn't very good. The very fact that the message was so blatantly there made him wary. Jasselle had been cautious always and sometimes prone to think of the worst scenarios, but she was gone by all accounts and the message was proof that she had had reason to fear for her life. Even without understanding all that Jasselle was trying to tell him one thing he knew for certain: he had to find the person she called Rameana. In one of the logs, Jasselle had added the same Gaelic word in front of that name and his. Around those words she had referred to siblings, but that wasn't what the term meant. Whoever that was his sister wanted him to find.

By the time Jake had gone through most of the front room, he had found her personal notebooks and her album though no ring. He figured someone took it, but it didn't matter. He never liked the fact she kept it, even though it was terrible what happened, Eddy was a loser. The burned herbs were starting to wear off and he started feeling. Those feelings were painful aches inside and a swimming head. He wheeled into the sleeping quarters. Something in there still carried her scent. He dragged himself into the bed and gave into the new bottle of alcohol as bad as it was. Among her herbs was a great hangover cure for the morning.

Grace climbed out of her pod demanding her cigarette. As she lit it the tech said, "He's here."

"Who?" she asked a little bored.

"Her brother, Jake," the tech was nervous about something.

Grace sighed, "Time to face the music, so what's wrong?"

"The colonel spoke with him. He shut himself in her old room."

"What? How'd he get in there?"

"No one has seen him since."

Grace nodded, "Have someone make sure he comes to research tomorrow." She frowned, "I'm going to have a word with Selfridge."

The next day, Jake showed up at the link room to meet everyone and find out just what his duties now were. The first thing they had him do was make the initial log "Is this right?" he asked. "The one I saw Jass make, it was like she was talking to me."

"Well, why don't you talk back? If that makes it easier," Norm advised.

Jake thought about it, 'If only she could talk back.' He turned back to the camera and adjusted it before continuing not noticing the tech Sam was glaring at Norm. "All right Jass, I get the basic idea behind the whole connecting with the avatars but it's technically over my head. I saw the message you sent me while I was sleeping no less." He tried to smile, "If even half of what you promised happens, mostly the walking again, it could be worth the trip here. The plan you stated, which now without you is a bust I guess, was to start by living here at the base and learn the basics of surviving outside the base. Then if the Na'vi were cool with it move to home tree and learn to be a Na'vi warrior." He stopped and shook his head, "I'm sure I could have done it. Given the chance I would have rose to the challenge Jass. If the chance does become available, I will succeed. For you and Tom," he turned to the others again. "Is that good enough?"

"Come on, what would you have been learning from her? What do you need to learn to succeed? Be thorough, good science is good observation," Norm encouraged. Norm's cheerful tone made Jake want to deck him, but the idiot was too far away at the moment.

After Jake finished his log he waited for the next order of business, but no one seemed to want to talk with him. When he asked the tech Sam about seeing Jass's other logs, the tech sighed. Jake had noticed that there were not as many as he thought there should be, but then he knew his sister was renowned for her lacking love of paperwork. A waste of her time, she had often told him. The tech's reaction seemed to be something else.

"Jake," Sam said pulling up a chair. The tech fidgeted a moment before continuing; "It's been four years for us. Please know everyone liked her. She looked out for everyone. I don't know the details. I wasn't there. Jasselle was wonderful to everyone in research. None of us wanted to believe anything bad could happen to her."

"It's still a little raw for me." Jake said annoyed.

Sam nodded and said, "I miss her every morning."

"You do?"

"Yes, she was always the first one here. She called me SG for…"

"Super Geek," Jake said rubbing his face, "There always had to be a SG around." Jake sat quietly a moment staring off at something. Then he pounded his fist on his chair's armrest a couple times. "Where's the rest of her logs?" he asked resisting the urge to swear.

Sam nodded not surprised by the former marine's angry or his request. Sam reached over to his console and pick up a small handheld. He quickly copied all the base's data about Jasselle Scully, at least what he was allowed to access, some files he knew had gone missing, onto it and handed it over. "This is everything I have access to about her, Jake. I know some logs had been deleted for security. That's what we were told anyway."

Jake took the handheld and wheeled himself to an empty desk. Everyone who had known his sister watched for a bit. Norm watched as well, Tom had been a great friend for the three years they gotten to work together.

Later on, he and Norm meet Dr. Grace Augustine for the first time. Grace insulted his intelligence, which didn't surprise him. He fired back the blunt remark that he had come to work for Jasselle not her. No one liked his answer, but he didn't care as he looked over the pod and settled himself in.

He had forgotten how good it was to be able to walk. He escaped into the yard much to the dismay of the doctors. It felt so good to be outside, he just had to run and feel the ground under his feet again. 'Jass, if you could only see this,' he thought.

Grace met him and tossed him a fruit. He hardly paused before taking a bite. The pebbled surface gave way under his teeth like a plum but tasted a little like a honeydew melon or a kiwi. He couldn't decide, but it was so good. Grace laughed shortly and said, "Those were her favorites." She rubbed a hand along the trunk. "Every morning she was here in the yard, she had one."

Jake glanced at her and took another bite thinking.

"You should get dressed, you know," she said and looked behind him, "You too, Norm. Just remember boys, your avatars have tails."

"Then I want to know what happened," Jake insisted.

She nodded and waited for him by the tree. When he rejoined her she said, "She was a great person, Jake. Sweet and kind and caring to all who knew her." He nodded and waited. "I didn't let them burn her. It didn't seem right. We buried her right here." She pressed a hand on the ground. The ground had leveled out and grass now grew there again.

Jake knelt beside her and stared at the area startled. His sister's body, not ashes, was below his fingers. Bury like they had in the past that she had cherished so much. "To you," he said, "It's been years. For me, in a matter of weeks I've lost both my sibs."

"I know and I am sorry," she said and reached into a pocket, "When the Na'vi returned her to us, they gave me this." She pulled out Jasselle's cross star pendant. "They said to make sure you got it."

Jake took it carefully; it was so much smaller in his big blue hands. "She gave it to them, to give to you with instructions to give it to me."

"Yes," she said, "Does that mean something?"

Jake shrugged and kept his secrets to Grace's annoyance. He instead said, "Two questions: First, who is Rameana? Second, where do I find this Rameana?"