A/N: - I can't believe I'm writing this. The title is a quote, I don't own it. Brownie points if you can find where it's from. Oh and this is all pretty much plot less by the way, just to warn you.

Prologue

Dappled sunlight broke through the canopy in fits and starts, turning the air to an almost foggy green with slits of bright golden light. Jake tried hard not to grin, pressing himself closer to the soft moss, the bark of the tree he was clung too as his eyes swept the clearing. He barely moved, barely breathed, his elegant ears turning slightly, twitching as the breeze brought a whole new cacophony of smells and scents. With careful, even delicate, motions he started to move closer to his prey, eyes narrowing in utter focus, his breath tightly held, tail low to the ground as not to bat at any of the foliage around him. Slowly he raised his hands and –

"Do not even think about it." Jake let out his breath in a quick rush, letting his large hands fall with a slap against his thighs as he looked down half frustrated and half amused, at his life-mate.

"Am I ever gonna get that?" He asked, putting more exasperation into his voice than he felt as he squatted beside her, quietly staggered once again by how incredibly beautiful she was as she looked over at him with complete loving tenderness before raising a hand and patting the side of his face rather roughly.

"You make too much noise, Jake." Neytiri laughed gently at his expression, leaning over to kiss his rather pouty lower lip. He still made gestures, pulled faces sometimes that were so…human…but they were getting less frequent and where other Omaticaya found those expressions creepy, she found them endlessly endearing. "You will learn…eventually." She teased, laughing outright when he pounced on her anyway, his large, expressive hands tickling her playfully. Even though she was to be the sombre spiritual leader of her people, once her mother deemed her fit, her life with Jake was good, she had never laughed so much before him. Still. The playful game finished with her above him, straddling and pinning him easily. She was right, of course, he had improved…it had been three years since he had been a Na'vi, one of the Omaticaya, complete and whole, no longer a dream-walker and his skills as a warrior, as a hunter in the sky, had improved far beyond her expectations. He even smelled like one of them now, not some alien half-thing.

"Ok, ok I get the point." Jake grouched from underneath her, squirming, but not too much, to get free. Neytiri let him go, sitting back and placing her hands on her hips.

"The point being?" She asked, voice full and rich with amusement. Jake tried not to let himself get lost in the lyrical tones in her voice or the depth of her eyes but he couldn't help himself as their fingers laced together.

"Neytiri is the bomb?" He replied, laughing outright as she frowned. Sometimes, just sometimes it was nice to confuse her with an old fashioned term from Earth…he thought he was forgetting them all. "I mean, Neytiri is always right?"

"Finally, you're learning." She tried, he could see, to be serious, but her smile broke through, broad and flirtatious – he'd tried to find other words for 'flirtatious', not an easy thing for an ex-marine (sometimes he still thought of himself that way, when he wasn't paying attention) but it was the best he could come up with. "It only took a handful of years." She leaned towards him and a shard of golden light fell across her skin, creating a shining blue aura, a tiny patch that he desperately wanted to kiss but her lips caught his and -

"Uh, guys." Norm, clearing his throat and trying not to look at the couple, hands in his pockets and elbows as awkward as ever, appeared at the entry way of their little getaway. "Everyone's waiting for you, there's news over at the uh tree of souls." He thumbed over his shoulder, glancing over but looking away again quickly. "I'll see you down there." He disappeared as quickly as he had come up. Jake smiled to himself, just a little sadly. He was surprised at how much Norman Spellman had adapted, still in his human form, to life amongst the Na'vi. The human doctor, lanky and just a little gangly, had become sleeker, more honed, since the other humans had left but Jake could see the hurt in the back of Norms eyes, the wish that he could once again be the driver of his own avatar. There was nothing to stop Norm, and the other humans who had been deemed safe (or loved) enough to stay with the Omaticaya, going back to the military come corporation base that was slowly but surely being taken over by the forest that it had once sought to dominate. The base still held it's technologies, it's computers, files, ways and means…and the avatars of course, kept fed and healthy by volunteers from the humans who had been permitted to stay…Norm seemed to keep away. Jake always meant to talk to him about that.

The couple stood up together, one helping the other, moving across the platforms that now formed the Omaticaya's home. Since the destruction of Hometree, the Omaticaya had decided to stay put, setting up a semi-permanent camp around the tree of souls, the Ayvitraya Ramunong, living in tents made from the giant leaves of the forests around them, bound together with the dried out entrails of the Yerik, a deer-like creature, a substance which was tougher than any human-made rope. If a Na'vi had to kill something, then he or she made certain that the whole of that creature would be used, every last spec…it was only respectful.

Jake smiled to himself as he followed Neytiri across the plateaus at an easy lope. He was so very proud of the people that had become his own, his own tribe, his own family.

Anyone watching would realise how neatly the pair fit together, how one would compensate for the other, how small touches would constantly be passing between the two and how, even though they were constantly alert and watching their surroundings, they were utterly focused on each other. Neytiri stopped suddenly, letting Jake over take her, just so she could catch hold of his tail and be pulled along, causing a laugh to burst from her lover as he span, still running, to face her. She thumped into his chest and together the pair tumbled into the main clearing that surrounded the tree of souls. Jake glanced up and – for a moment – ignored the slightly disapproving stares of the people around them. He always had the distinct impression, now, that the tree was somehow…happier when he was around…or maybe he was happier around the tree? Neytiri cleared her throat and sprang – almost literally – to her feet in a display of agile grace that nearly distracted Jake from pretty much everything. Sometimes being in love with the perfect woman made it a little difficult to concentrate.

"Jshake Soolee?" A warrior, called Ansit, one whom Jake had come to know and respect after the battle spoke, accent a little thicker than the others for a reason that he hadn't quite picked up yet.

"What? What's wrong?" Jake asked, pausing in the act of brushing off the debris he'd picked up. Ansit looked squarely at him, and the graveness of the Na'vi's face took on a deeper set…the look in his eyes made the hairs on the back of Jakes neck rise, a feeling that intensified as the warrior spoke plainly.

"The sky people have returned."