Pamtseo'Ite jogged brusquely ahead, stopping every few minutes to wait for Ray, who was content to plod along at his own pace, taking in the wonders of the jungle that had a few months ago been so alien to him. The young female was bubbly and bouncy, alive in her youth, and always a little impatient at Ray, who was content to take things just a bit slower. Ray rounded another bend in the trail formerly used by the RDA, now already almost overgrown with brush. Pamtseo'Ite stood leaning against a tree, tapping her bow impatiently against the soft soil. As he approached she reprimanded him.

"Could you be any slower?"

A wide grin split his face.

"Yes."

Ray made his movements exagge

ratedly slow and Pamtseo'Ite rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"At this pace it will take all day!"

Ray shrugged unapologetically.

"I'm not particularly excited to go back, it's not like I've never seen it before."

"Yes, but I've never seen it before, and as soon as Eywa's trees claim it for her own, I will never see it again."

It had all started a few days ago. Pamtseo was always questioning him about how sky people lived, what they ate, and all manner of other trivial questions. When Ray had described to her the inside of Hell's Gate, she was flabbergasted. (Metal beds? No wonder your people were in such a bad mood!) It was turning into a long Pandoran summer and responsibilities were at their lowest, so no one had given them a second glance when they had packed up and left. Alright, maybe in hindsight there had been some eye-rolling, but it was always in conjunction with knowing smiles and winks. The village Pamtseo'ite was from was a much smaller subset of the forest tribe, living a good distance from the former site of the Hometree. It took them the rest of the morning to reach the outer wall of the desolate human fortress, its massive walls now bent and covered with foliage which provided an excellent climbing surface. After some help Ray managed to clamber after Pamtseo'Ite over the double walls and onto the base proper. After a slightly rough landing, Ray turned and spotted her looking around the massive complex with that spark of curiosity in her eyes that he knew so well.

The place had really gone to seed by human standards. Pavement near the walls was starting to crack under the pressure of a thousand little shoots pushing beneath it. There were burn marks on the main landing pad where the massive shuttle had made an impromptu landing to evacuate a defeated ground force. Pressure differences had blown out all of he exterior windows, and the power from the bases backup stores was long gone. The turrets no longer swiveled to face targets, and small animals nested in the guard towers. There was little time to take in the scenery, because soon Pamtseo'Ite wanted him to show her where he had slept in this odd sky-person dwelling. Ray led her to the compound nearest them and after a few tries managed to pry open the unpowered door to his old room. The room hadn't changed much. There were a few faded magazines on the floor, featuring humans females with a minimum of clothing. Pamtseo'Ite flicked these under a bunk with her foot, looking at them disparagingly. Ray unlocked his old locker and scanned it. To his surprise, his old ruck was still inside. He pulled it open and a small avalanche of empty cigarette cartons fell to the floor. The marines had not attempted to return Rays property to him. Pamtseo'Ite picked up one of the packs with a quizzical eye, and attempted to read it.

"Malaralboro, malbarao, marlbralo, Ray, what does this say?"

Ray took the box from her gently and tossed it in the waste bin in the corner.

"It is a sky-people word. Made up, Doesn't really mean anything."

Ray's grasp of the Na'vi language was pretty good and they had been talking in it entirely for the past few weeks, but Pamtseo'Ite, ever curious about the sky-people had developed an interest in English. Ray wasn't in the best position to sate her curiosity, not being much of a teacher, but he had given her some translations as to what the humans had called certain things. An unlit cigarette rolled out from the pack and Ray snatched it up, tucking it into the waistband of his loincloth. Pamtseo'Ite gave the room a last look.

"I thought it would be more interesting, how did you live in this place? So boring!"

"I agree. C'mon, lets eat."

The two would-be explorers climbed to the top of the compound and let the sun beat down up them, Ray pulling a few food-wraps out of a satchel at his waist. There were no words in Na'vi or English to describe how good Omaticaya food-wraps were. It was a simple but genius amalgamation of a bundle of meat and spices, bound around with an edible leaf and a small strand of twine. Ray gobbled up his, and light the pilfered cigarette, taking a deep drag. Pamtseo'Ite's nostrils retracted at the smell of stale tobacco, and she reached over and flicked it out of his mouth. Ray turned to her, slightly shocked.

"Hey! That was probably the last smoke on Pandora!"

Pamtseo'Ite swallowed a mouthful of food and shook her head dismissively.

"Good. I hate those things, every time, I can smell it on you, its disgusting."

Ray rolled his eyes and sat back to enjoy the sun.

"It's very bland, do all your living spaces look like this?"

"No, only the military ones. Earth isn't much better. Imagine this, but as far as the eye can see."

Ray looked over at Pamtseo'Ite. She was not looking at her surroundings, but rather staring at him, looking a little hazy-eyed. She looked away at once and blushed a little. There was a quiet moment in which neither of them spoke. Then Ray stood up.

"Hey, you want to learn how to play basketball?"

Pamtseo'Ite looked back at him, a confused look on her face.

"What?"

"Basketball! Ancient sky-people sport, come on, the courts are over there."

Ray could feel the warmth in her soft hand as he helped her to her feet.