"A doctor that happens to be a drill sergeant?" Now Andy outright chuckled, wincing as his stomach wound reminded him that he still had some healing to do. "That's her in a nutshell. Not that I'd even dream of not doing what she says. This ain't the first time I've gotten messed up, and I've learned soon enough that the fastest way out of med bay is to do exactly what the doctor orders." He smirked. "Thinking about it, I've met one or two of her kind before. You just don't mess with them, no matter if you're a patient, another doctor, or the big Reaper himself."
Ni'ka couldn't help herself in teasing Ash a bit: "Oh yes, you should know about Tiye's Wrath..." Then her face grew soft too. "Bringing in Tsanten, I'll forever be in her debt," she admitted, ignoring the fact that she had played a part in that too. "And Ash is right about another thing too. Feeling the touch of Eywa that night, it gave all of us hope. The People, our Tawtute friends, Ash and Rick...and us Changed ones too. She still Sees us."
Andy heard the words, knowing that he was probably missing a good part of what lay behind them. And that was on more than one level. By now he had learned firsthand how important spiritual issues were for the Na'vi, and that was a field in which he lacked experience; he knew that if he wanted to throw in his lot with them - and he had decided already for that - he'd need a lot of extra tuition on that subject. The knowledge about the Na'vi shared in the barracks was usually much more of the practical kind.
And the second thing he was sure of was that his two visitors weren't telling him everything. For example, they'd have to have a base somewhere out there, a place where they could sleep, eat human food... Not that he blamed Ash and Ni'ka for keeping their mouth shut about it. If they were ever to trust him, he'd have to work for it.
"Yeah," he finally muttered, "I'd like to know if and how they felt it in the 'Gate too. Probably more in the miners' and science blokes' quarters than in the barracks."