So one day, after yet another week of putting up with the sky people coming into the forest, trying to drive them off with arrows, and getting the soldiers coming after them for retribution, the elders of the Hometree decided, after much consideration on the matter, to simply send a representative to the sky people and ask them what they were there for. If they understood the sky people's motives, it was reasoned, perhaps they could arrive at a compromise, or direct the sky people elsewhere, Eywa willing.
"What the!?" Colonel Quaritch yelled in shock at the utter audacity he was witnessing. "The fuck are doing here, cat-lady!?"
"My name eez Neytiri," she said slowly, trying her best to remember Grace's English lessons, "I come peaceably. I want to talk."
Quaritch lowered his gun for a minute. As a military grunt, he'd seen all kinds of crazy shit in his life, but this was definitely a first—apart from the fact he was on a moon orbiting a gas giant millions of miles from home inhabited by giant blue cat people—never in all his days had he seen an enemy combatant waltz right on to his base and ask to talk. He was seriously tempted to just shoot the cat-lady and head on to lunch in the mess hall (he hated wearing the stupid air-masks, anyway), but something spurred him to give her a moment.
"Okay…" he said cautiously. "I'll give ya one minute. What is it? What do you want?"
"Why are you here?" asked Neytiri. "What is your meaning for coming to…"
"Pandora?"
"Yes, thank you. "What is your meaning for coming to Pandora?"
Quaritch was a bit stunned. It was such an obvious question! Why had none of them asked it before? Oh, they're indigenous blue cat-people, they probably don't have a whole lotta smarts between them to begin with… Regardless, she's asked the question politely and professionally, so he figured she deserved an answer.
"'Cause," he said matter-of-factly, "we need a special kind'a rock you got that we call Unobtainium. It's sitting in the ground under your forests and shit. And we need it."
"But why?" Neytiri pressed on. "What purpose does it serve you? Survival? Weaponry? … Food?"
"We need it to build starships so we can come to Pandora," said Quaritch.
"But why do you need star-sheeps to come to Pan-dor-a?" Neytiri asked on.
"So we can come to Pandora," said Quaritch firmly.
Neytiri paused for a moment, processing what she had just heard. They need to come to Pandora, she thought, so they can get the rock so they can build spaceships …so they can come to Pandora?
She was not entirely sure how to respond to this conclusion.