Choosing a Path
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

Kiseki pushed the capsule lid open, stomach grumbling loudly as she did.

"Care to explain this?" Norm asked, holding up the piece of toast she had "eaten" earlier.

"Er, ah," she stuttered, not sure what excuse she could come up with for boycotting breakfast.

"Kiseki!" Norm exclaimed, "You know the rules, we're not supposed to link up on an empty stomach if you're going to spend the whole day linked to the avatar!"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Come on," Norm said, pulling her up, "You're going to get some food in your system, even if I have to force-feed you."

"Damn," she cursed, almost collapsing on Norm, "Don't say I told you so or I'll kill you."

The two of them made it to the cafeteria; Norm placed a heavily laden plate of beef casserole in front of Kiseki, "Eat."

Kiseki slowly ate the huge meal, picking slightly at the food. It didn't taste half as good as the teylu did.

"You okay?" Norm asked.

Kiseki shrugged, chewing slowly through a mouthful of beef.

"Kiseki, we're best friends, I can tell when something's wrong," Norm pressed on.

Kiseki put down her spoon, "Peyral offered to teach me in place of Ninat. She told me I had the look of a fighter in my eyes."

"Fascinating," Norm said, "Are you going to take up on her offer?"

"I don't know," Kiseki answered, "We need to learn more about the Omaticaya if we want things to go on peacefully here. If I were to accept then I wouldn't be able to gain information on how the healers used the plants of Pandora, because that information could aid us in our research."

Norm nodded his head, "You raise a pretty good point there. But if you decline Peyral's offer she may be offended."

"I know, it's a lose-lose situation," she mumbled, picking up her spoon again.

"There's a lot that you're scans are missing," said Jake, gesturing to the inside of the scan of the Home Tree, "There's an inner structure of columns in the inner circumference of the tree. There are also two main spiraling columns in the centre, which is how they are getting up and down the tree."

"Well we'll need accurate scans of all inner structures," Quaritch said, "And who do you think will be getting those for us."

"Me," Jake deadpanned.

Selfridge ran a hand through his hair in annoyance, "Look, normally having an indigenous population wouldn't piss me off, but it's just that their damn tree is on the largest unobtanium deposit within thirty clicks anywhere. We try to give them clothes, roads, churches, education, but no, they like mud."

"So you want me to get them to move," Jake concluded.

"Yes! Find me a carrot that they'll follow," Selfridge said, "You've got three months to give them incentive to move. After then the bulldozers are coming, and if they haven't moved it's their loss."

"Even if it is good stock, it's going to look bad if you kill the indigenous," Jake pointed out.

Selfridge smirked, "If there's one thing investors hate more than bad publicity it's a bad quarterly statement."

"Yeah, but we also need to watch out for Kiseki, she's with me too. And if she finds out and tells Grace and the others what I'm providing, they won't hesitate to kick me out of the program," Jake said.

"Well make sure she doesn't find out," Selfridge said.

"Don't worry," Quaritch sneered, "We can always make sure those limp-dick science majors don't interfere with OUR operation."

Jake had to admit, he didn't like the look in Quaritch's eyes when he said that.

Max Patel shuddered at Quaritch's words, he didn't doubt that Quaritch would be willing to open fire on their department if they dare tried to interfere. The man was a tyrant! 'I have to tell Grace though, we can't just do nothing,' he thought anxiously, walking away quickly in the hopes that no one had seen him.

As soon as he called together the rest of the team participating in their operation, excluding Jake, he told them all that he had found out.

"Well we should kick him out!" Maria said angrily.

"But that would indicate that we know and they'll shut down the whole program," Norm protested, "All our work would go to waste."

"Norm's right," Grace said, "We can't afford to lose the opportunity that Kiseki and...Jake had gotten us. Even if Jake is providing them information we still have Kiseki giving us valuable information to aid our research as well."

"I know, I could try warning the Omaticaya of what's going to happen," Kiseki suggested.

Max shook his head, "They still don't trust you enough, even if you did tell them they probably wouldn't take you too seriously. And even if they did, they'd try to attack the base and that would only make things worse."

Kiseki sighed, "Damn. But we still can't let Selfridge and Quaritch manage this thing under our noses."

"She's right about that," Maria nodded, "We've got three months before the bulldozers come, right? We could try to reach a diplomatic solution before then through Kiseki."

"Well, maybe if Kiseki was to take the same lessons as Jake, she'd gain their trust quicker than if she continued where she was," Norm said, thinking back to Kiseki's mentioning of Peyral's offer, "Kiseki was offered lessons in being a hunter and fighter from Peyral, rather than a hunter and healer."

"Is this true?" Grace asked.

Kiseki nodded, "But then we'll lose the information for our research."

Grace shrugged, "Well we could always gain that information the hard way, through sample-taking and analysis. Reaching a diplomatic solution, as Maria suggested, is probably the best path now."

"But there's still the issue of Jake, and his giving intel to Quaritch," Norm said.

The five of them thought about it for a while before Max piped up, "Isn't there a mobile base up at the site 26. The flux vortex there would make it difficult to report and distancing Jake from Quaritch means that we could try to pressure him to see things from our perspective."

"We could work from there," Grace said, "But there's only four link beds, either Norm or Maria would have to stay behind."

Norm and Maria looked at each other awkwardly.

Grace sighed, "It's getting late, why don't we go sleep on it. Besides, Kiseki's got a pretty big day tomorrow, considering she'll be with Peyral instead of Ninat that training is going to be a lot more strenuous than what Ninat has been teaching her."

It was decided, once Grace got permission to work from the mobile base we'd try to sway Jake to seeing things from our perspective. Maria doubted that he would, so did I. "Norm, can you stop fidgeting?" I asked the top bunk shifted slightly every time he moved.

Norm jumped down from the top bunk, "Can you believe the nerve of that guy! He has the opportunity of a lifetime and he's throwing it away for those RDA goons!"

"Calm down Norm!" I yelled, holding my hands over his mouth. "Those RDA goons are the ones financing the avatar program, without them we wouldn't be here, and you and I both know they wouldn't hesitate to shut down everything we worked for if they even got one inkling that we know what they're doing with Jake."

Norm pulled my hands from his mouth slowly, "I know."

He sat down on my bed and I sat next to him.

"Have some faith," I said, "Have faith that we can stop this thing before it snowballs. Have faith that your time will come soon."

"To have faith requires a deity," he said bitterly, "And look at our own. God? Jesus? They may as well have abandoned us."

"I know Norm," I whispered, "I know."

Norm was significantly calmer in the morning, he knew what was at stake but he still felt jealous of Jake. "Hey," Kiseki said, poking him in the shoulder, "I'll be watching you."

Norm smiled, "And I'll be watching you to make sure that you eat this time."

Kiseki rolled her eyes, "Let's go sit with Maria."

"Morning Norm, Morning Kiseki," she greeted, "I got you breakfast."

"Norm told you didn't he," Kiseki sighed.

Maria nodded, "Toast and baked beans today."

Kiseki wrinkled her nose, "I hate baked beans."

"Just eat!" the other two said out of exasperation.

After a quick breakfast in which Norm and Maria almost force-fed Kiseki the three of them hurried to the avatar link centre. "Remember to accept Peyral's offer," Maria whispered.

Kiseki nodded, but she was quite nervous at how Ninat would react.

"I'll see you on the other side," Jake said cheerfully, it was as if he hadn't betrayed their trust.

Norm's fist twitched noticeably.

Kiseki chuckled before leaning back into the capsule, "Keep an eye on our green monster Maria."

"Sure," she smiled, closing the capsule lid.

I sat up in my hammock and stretched my arms out. My stomach grumbled from hunger. "Are you ready?" Ninat asked from the branch above me, holding the basket.

"Yes," I answered, jumping up to the branch to join her.

I was holding the basket again as Ninat pointed out the many different fruits and vegetation in the forest. I chewed slowly on a white fruit that was shaped like an apple. I was wondering how to tell Ninat of Peyral's offer.

We walked up to the warriors; they didn't eye me warily as they had the day before, which was an improvement. Tsu'tey still made an effort in not acknowledging my existence, which was nothing new.

"I see you Kiseki," Peyral greeted, taking one of the white fruits out of the basket I held.

"You know each other?" Ninat asked, slightly surprised.

Peyral nodded, "I had offered to teach Kiseki in your place."

"What?" Ninat gasped, and then turned to me, "Will you accept her offer?"

Peyral looked at me expectantly.

"The life of a warrior does fascinate me," I finally admitted.

"But Jakesully is already training to be a warrior," Ninat protested.

"What does that have to do with anything?"I asked.

"Is he not your partner?" she asked me.

"No, he is not my partner," I answered coldly, I didn't want to be associated with Jake anymore than I had to.

"So you are not mated," Peyral stated.

"No," I answered as I stopped laughing.

Ninat shook her head, "We should bring this up with Mo'at."

I walked slowly to the pa'li, "Hey girl."

"See if you can replicate what we did yesterday," Ninat instructed me.

"Okay," I said, jumping on.

"Will you accept Peyral's offer?" Ninat asked as she absentmindedly stroked the pa'li.

"Probably," I answered honestly.

"It is very dangerous," Ninat pointed out, "…you may make the bond now."

I took my queue and connected it to the pa'li. 'Calm,' I thought, 'You know who I am. I tried to ride you yesterday. Go forward slowly.'

"You are doing better, try to go a little bit faster," she said.

'Faster.'

This proved to be another mistake as the pa'li bolted forward, leaving me behind in the mud.

"You need to strengthen your leg muscles and grip so you don't fall off again," Peyral said, walking over to help me up.

"Thank you for the advice."

"So it seems I was mistaken in thinking that you and Jakesully were mated," a voice said from behind Peyral. It was Mo'at. She then turned to Peyral, "Are you willing to teach Kisekistewart?"

"Yes," Peyral answered.

Mo'at then turned to me, "Are you sure you want to take this path? It is very dangerous."

Ninat pulled me away, "May I please speak to her for a moment?"

"Of course."

Ninat took Kiseki to a rather small clearing nearby. "Are you crazy?" she hissed, "Do you really know how dangerous it is to take the path of a fighter?"

"I know the risks," Kiseki answered calmly, she needed to gain their trust and learning to be a healer would take longer.

"Are you sure?" Ninat asked.

Kiseki gave a firm, resolute nod.

Ninat sighed, "It seems I cannot change your mind." She ran out of the clearing, leaving Kiseki behind.

'What's up with her?' Kiseki thought, walking back to Mo'at and Peyral.

"I will accept your offer," Kiseki said when she reached them.

"If the matter has been settled I will leave now," Mo'at said.

Peyral beckoned to Kiseki, "Come, ride again."

Jake held up the bow and notched the arrow in place. Neytiri pushed him and he fell back a few steps. "Your core muscles need to be stronger," she said, taking the bow and arrow from him, "You should go exercise those muscles for the next hour."

As Jake started some sit-ups he thought back to the deal Quaritch had made him. 'It would be nice to get rid of that wheelchair,' he thought, 'Where would I go from there though? I'd have money, sure, and legs, but that money won't last forever. I'd end up back into military work and possibly get re-injured.' Jake paused for a moment, 'Unlike here, this body is stronger. And this world isn't dying.'

"Did I tell you to stop?" Neytiri asked, looking down at Jake.

"No ma'am," he muttered under his breath, getting back to his sit ups.

"You are still being vague with your orders," Peyral scolded as Kiseki was covered with mud yet again.

"Is it lunch time yet?" she asked as her stomach rumbled.

Peyral nodded, "Come, you will eat with me and the other female warriors of the clan."

"Okay."

Kiseki was glad that she could avoid Jake; she wasn't in the mood to deal with him at the moment. 'And here I was thinking that he wasn't so bad,' she thought morosely, eating slowly, 'Oh well, this will give me incentive to work harder and earn the trust of the Omaticaya. I don't want this to end in a war.'

"Are you okay?"Peyral asked.

"Just musing on what life is all about," Kiseki answered.

Peyral smiled fiercely, "Your life will be that of a warrior soon. I will make sure of it."

"Okay," Kiseki said with enthusiasm.

Later that day Peyral took Kiseki running through the uppermost sturdy branches to strengthen her legs. "Stop," she ordered, holding an arm out to prevent Kiseki from running any further. It was fortunate that Kiseki had stopped on time as the branch there were running on had come to an end. "What now?" Kiseki asked.

"We go back the other way," Peyral answered, "We have a long way to go before you are strong enough."

Her legs felt like lead when dinner came around. "Tomorrow we will try to ride the pa'li again and test your climbing skills," Peyral said.

"Okay, would you mind if I sat with Ninat?" she asked, looking for the healer.

"Of course not," Peyral answered, beckoning her onwards.

Kiseki quickly navigated her way through the throngs of the na'vi before finding Ninat. "I see you Ninat," she greeted, walking over and taking the seat next to her.

"I see you," she said coldly.

"Are you okay?" Kiseki asked, "You're acting different."

"Oh really," Ninat said, absentmindedly giving Kiseki a leaf filled with food.

Kiseki sighed, "I had hoped that we could be friends."

Ninat scowled, "How? You will be spending all your time learning from Peyral."

"I know, but I still use the hammock next to yours, I can still sit with you at meal times and if Peyral doesn't mind I can still pick fruit with you in the morning."

"That is still little time."

"But that's better than nothing, right?" Kiseki pointed out, "Just as a little food is better than no food at all, a little time spent together is better than no time at all."

Ninat turned to face Kiseki, "I know that, but..."

"But what?" Kiseki asked.

"It's embarassing," she said shyly.

Kiseki smiled gently, "Well, that's your secret to tell and I won't push you to tell me. Friends wait after all."

Ninat smiled in return, "Thank you."

A/N: Okay, I know it's been ages since I've last updated. I aplogize. I've had so much to do for school and I aplogize for that, but you must understand that my schoolwork is my highest priority right now. Anyway, this may be the last I can update for a while because in 11 days I will be going to Japan for two weeks. So this is just a heads up. I will continue writing in my spare time, but just understand that it is difficult for me to be consistent with my updates. A big thank you to all the people who have faved, alerted or reviewed, I am sorry that I can no longer answer each one individually.