Here we are with the second part of Ava's training. There's a little more "other" kinds of stuff going on here besides her training. I think it goes relatively good.

Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. I really hope everyone likes this chapter. I know I really liked writing it.

As usual, I don't own Avatar. I do however own Ava, Eyreal and Tu'San and any other characters that don't look familiar.

Read on!

Compromises, Part II

On the days when Ava wasn't learning the language and making me look bad, and on the days when she wasn't riding with Tu'San, Eyreal would teach her to use her bow better. Mo'at had already made it very clear that I was only there to protect Ava from anything that might endanger her, so I had to hand over most of her training to the two people I'd entrusted her with. But I was still there. And even though Tu'San didn't always let me help, Eyreal was more willing to let me assist her with anything she needed. For that, I was grateful.

After I'd told Eyreal about the incident in the river the day I'd found Ava, I was a little surprised to see that there were only a few things she decided to do to help Ava with the bow she was given. I couldn't remember how Ava had been holding the bow or how she'd aimed. All I could remember was that she'd saved my life. I didn't know how significant that was, but it looked important to Eyreal.

"'Ewan'aw is strong with bow," she said as I watched her stand in front of Ava who was holding a bow in her hands the way all Na'vi held their bows. "She save olo'eyktan's life in 'heat of moment.' But she forget proper way to hold bow. Killing prey and defense of victim separate things. She must learn difference between defense of victim and providing village with proper kill for food."

Ava didn't say anything about what was being said. I was surprised that she didn't complain or even ask questions. I'd asked Neytiri a lot of questions about when I would be able to make a kill and when I could do more than just practice. It had taken almost two months before I'd been given that opportunity, but I'd been working at a fairly quick pace since I'd had a timetable. Ava didn't have a deadline, so I wanted her to understand what she was doing and why before it was time for her to make her first kill. I didn't want to rush her.

"Arm higher," Eyreal instructed Ava, lifting her back arm a little higher and folding her hand tighter around the wood of the bow. "Hold stronger. Only when you hold properly will you hit prey in correct spot to kill. Must kill, not only injure. Prey get away if only injure. Tslam?"

Ava nodded silently, gripping her bow tighter.

Eyreal glanced at me as I sat off to the side of where they were standing. I looked around where we were, making sure we were safe. I did this more often when I was with Eyreal because I knew she understood how dangerous it still was for Ava to be out in the open. We were still trying to stay near Hometree while walking far enough away to be left alone. We hardly ever had an audience. I preferred it that way.

"Jakesully," Eyreal said softly, beckoning me to them as they stood there. "You show also," she gestured to Ava. "Tu'San only think to teach 'ewan'aw to ride and track and perhaps to run. She must have tutan taronyu to show her proper way to hold bow."

The first thing I realized was how Eyreal had actually called me by name. She hadn't done that since I'd brought Ava back to the village after taking her to Norm. The other thing I noticed was how Ava looked at me with the kind of determination only a young woman could have when being faced with something she'd never experienced before. I stood up slowly, and Eyreal took a few steps back to take my previous place and watch the area around us while I stepped in front of Ava. I looked at the way Ava was standing and how she was holding the bow, and I could see how tense she was. I didn't know if that was because of simply doing something she'd yet to accomplish or if it was because I had to stand closer to her than I really had been as of yet.

"You need to relax," I said softly, touching her arms gently. "If you don't relax, you'll probably hurt yourself before you can kill anything. The animals around you will be able to sense if you're on edge. Relax," I whispered, laying my hands over her shoulders and gently pushing them down. "It should be easy to aim and then shoot."

She huffed softly, still flexing her shoulders and glancing at me as I moved behind her and touched her arms again. "Easy for you to say," she grumbled.

Though it should have been awkward to be so close to her, I had no trouble whatsoever lowering my hands to her back and then her waist, making her stand up straight. "Relax your hands," I said softly. "It's not target practice. Not yet. And breathe. It's very important to breathe."

She inhaled deeply, still holding her bow but flexing her fingers slowly. She glanced at me, only turning her head slightly and then exhaling sharply. "She taught you this," she said suddenly. "Didn't she?"

I was surprised, lowering my hands to my sides as she turned her head a little more to look at me with both eyes. "Yes," I said. "She did."

"And are you as good as she was?" she asked softly.

I looked at Eyreal to see a sad expression on her face as she looked away. In the time since Ava had come to the Clan, since Neytiri had died, I hadn't thought about answering a question like that. Was I as good as Neytiri? The obvious answer was 'no,' but she'd taught me everything she knew. And it was clear she'd done a much better job with me than Tu'San was doing with Ava.

"Well, she was very good," I told Ava. "She was a good hunter and a good teacher. She was also supposed to be a successor for Mo'at. Her training as tsahik was probably the only thing that saved my life."

"And how long did she teach you?" Ava asked.

Again, I looked at Eyreal, thinking of the first three months I'd spent with Neytiri and her people. But it wasn't really fair to say it only took me three months to learn whatever Neytiri had been teaching me. I'd honestly been learning up until the day she'd died. "I was still learning the day I lost her," I said softly. "I'll probably be learning until the day I pass through Her Eye again."

Ava relaxed a little, and I looked at her again. "You mean when you die, don't you?" she asked softly.

"You could say that," I said gently. "But don't worry. I don't plan on dying for a very long time. I'm not going to leave you, Ava. I promise."

"Did she plan on dying?"

I didn't have an answer for her, lifting my hands again to her arms and attempting to help her relax.

"Keep breathing," I reminded her.

She looked away, wrapping her hand around the bow again.

If it had taken me three months to learn what Neytiri taught me, it took Ava less than half that, even if I made a point of not teaching her too much all at once. And she learned it so fast, with disturbing accuracy. I could have argued that someone had started to teach her these things before what had happened on the base, but Grace had been a scientist. She wouldn't have known about taronyu.

She learned to shoot much easier than I had, even with the limited amount of time she had with the riding, running, tracking and language learning she was doing with me and Tu'San. I was still helping Eyreal with her English, and she was still helping me with Ava's Na'vi. She allowed me to accompany her every time she went out with Ava to help her with bow shooting. It was surprising since every time I went along, Ava seemed to get a little distracted. I still couldn't tell if it was Eyreal's intention for that to happen, but she always tried to involve me in Ava's shooting. It wasn't easy for me to focus either, since I always thought about Neytiri while we were out.

When Ava moved up to targets painted on leaves, I could see how much she always tried to hit the center circle. Eyreal and I both tried to teach that it wasn't that important to always hit the bulls-eye. Sometimes, it wasn't going to be that simple, and she had to learn to hit a target in the right spot, not necessarily in the center.

"How long did it take you to hit something in the right spot?" Ava asked me while we were standing several meters from her leaf target.

"Well, I was learning at a different pace than you were," I told her. "And I had a little experience with guns. So it didn't take me as long to learn how to shoot. But you don't have the time limit I did, so we can do this at the right pace."

She looked at me through her bow. "Why did you have a time limit?"

I glanced at Eyreal as she watched us. "It's a long story. One for a different time." I pointed at the target. "See if you can hit the third circle," I instructed. "On the right side."

"Why there?" she asked, pulling her bow taut.

"Sometimes, a shot that looks easy can actually be really hard. Hitting the center is easy. Try it."

She inhaled deeply, grasping the bow and then relaxing her shoulders before she aimed silently and then released her arrow. It whizzed through the air in an instant, hitting the target on the second circle instead of the third, but it was on the right side.

"Not bad," I said.

"But I can do better," she argued.

"It's okay," I told her, watching her lower her bow and then look at me.

"You are going to tell me, aren't you?" she asked, and I knew what she was talking about.

I looked at Eyreal again. "I will," I promised. "But not today. Come on. Focus. Think about shooting. Don't think about something that isn't important right now, okay?" I pleaded.

I could see she didn't really want to let the subject drop, but I tried to make it clear that we were all out here for her to learn to shoot. After that, she lifted her bow to start again, and I tried to focus on helping her shoot better. I think I hoped more than anything that she would forget, but I figured it was just too good to be true.

With Tu'San, it was purely about riding or running or tracking, and working off him, Ava was able to earn her knife after he thought she'd learned enough to earn the right to carry a weapon on her all the time. While I had chosen to carry my own knife where it was always visible by me and anyone who faced me, Ava chose the oddest place for her knife holster, asking to have it fitted for her left thigh like a side-arm. Seeing it there make me think of the security guys on base and Trudy, but I didn't tell Ava that. I wasn't really sure why she wanted it there, but the first time she had to pull it, I realized quickly how useful it was for her to have it there.

Living in the forest, you learn to survive fast or you die, and in Ava's case, she'd survived in the forest for ten years before I found her. So it was clear to me that she already knew how to survive, but I wasn't quite ready to be made grossly aware of it, especially on a day when it seemed like everything went wrong all at once. First of all, after riding out into the forest on horses with Tu'San like we'd been doing all along, a flock of tetrapterons scared the horses off while we were resting. At the point, we were too far out to catch up to them, especially when a herd of talioang separated us from our ride.

At the point, we'd had no choice but to start back to the village on foot, which would have been simple, had we not run into a pack of nantang that was strangely out scouting for food in the middle of the day. One of the pack decided I looked good enough to attack, kind of like one of another pack had the day I'd found Ava, and it would have been nice to defend her for once. But I no such luck, especially when one of the bigger ones lunged at me from a tree branch low to the ground.

Sharp, long teeth sank into my shoulder with the clear intention of taking a decent size chunk out of me, but before it could really dig in, Ava slung her bow into its rump, scaring it away and then pulling her knife from its holster to drive the blade into his chest. Tu'San was busy fending off the other three, and I was laying there with gashes in my arm and blood gushing from every point of entry. I honestly blacked out for a minute, but when I opened my eyes again, Ava was sitting on top of me wrapping a bandage around my shoulder. Tu'San was sitting beside her, whispering softly, and she was whispering to him, some in English, some in Na'vi, and they both agreed I'd lost a lot of blood.

"We might not make it back to the village if we walk," she said, looking at me and realizing I was awake. She laid both her hands over my face. "Jake."

"How far out are we?" I whispered hoarsely.

"Nearly ten kilometers," Tu'San informed me, helping me sit up as he passed water to me. "Your wound is very bad, and there is no place for food nearby. We should not remain on the ground much longer. Trees safer."

I was a little disoriented, but I was pretty sure he was saying we were alone, we were too far from the village to get help, and we were going to have to climb to be safe for the night. It was then I realized how late it was.

"Jake," Ava said again.

I lifted my eyes to hers. "I'm okay," I promised. "Just help me up, will you?"

She moved to stand up then, taking the hand of my uninjured arm and pulling me to my feet. I stumbled, and despite her being smaller than me, smaller than Neytiri and Eyreal, she kept me on my feet, grasping onto my waist as I pulled her into my arm.

"It's okay," I whispered. "Let's get out of the open, okay?"

I looked up at Tu'San, and he led the way to a rather tall tree that looked like it had a platform of limbs and leaves for us to sit on for the night. My shoulder was stiff, and not just because of the bandage, and it was hard to climb. But I didn't let Ava see how much it hurt. I waited until we were all safe to think about what it was going to feel like in the morning. I hadn't really been hurt like this, not even while I'd been training with Neytiri, and it really did feel unlike anything I'd experienced in the body I was in at that point. By the time it was dark and the forest was lit up all around us, it wasn't that hard for Ava to see how uncomfortable I was.

"I should have been paying attention," she insisted, sitting at my side and laying against the side of my body opposite my injured shoulder.

"This isn't your fault," I told her. "I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, and so has Tu'San. We should've been the ones to realize what was going on. No one could have predicted we'd get ambushed by three different kinds of animals. It's okay, Ava. Once we get back to the village, I'll get some proper bandages and medicine, and I'll be fine. This didn't happen because of you. Besides, this isn't the worst injury I've ever had. In fact, it's a baby one compared to the injury I got in my human body."

"What was that one like?" she asked softly.

Up until now, I'd only really given her a minimal amount of information about my previous life, and I wanted to keep as much of it to myself as I could. But she was half-Human. I figured it was only natural for her to be curious.

"When I was human," I began, "I was in a war. And I was hurt. The doctors couldn't do anything because I couldn't . . . afford their help, so I was paralyzed from my waist to my feet," I explained, touching my waist and then my feet. "And I had to get around in a chair with wheels on it. I couldn't walk, Ava. Not like I do now. So like I said, this isn't that bad," I promised, nodding to my bandaged shoulder.

"The healers in the village don't have restrictions on who they help," Ava said softly. "I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to help you so you could walk again. That doesn't make sense to me."

I pulled her closer to me, laughing softly. "It didn't make any sense to me at the time either. So don't feel bad. Now come on. Get some sleep. I'm right here, okay?"

She didn't say anything else, squeezing me in her arms and relaxing to get some sleep while Tu'San kept watch over the immediate area around us.

By morning, even though I'd told Ava that my shoulder was okay, I was actually very glad we were getting back to the village.

Since I'd been hoping to delay telling Ava the majority of information about when I'd been human and learning from Neytiri all the years before, it only seemed right that I couldn't avoid it forever. Especially with her learning and understanding so fast. I probably couldn't have avoided telling her what she wanted to know even if I'd really wanted to. And I really wanted to. So of course I was the one who actually facilitated the entire incident that allowed her to find out all about those three months I'd first spent with Neytiri and her people.

It was one of those days when I'd been out with her by myself, since both Tu'San and Eyreal were doing things on their own in the village. After riding out on one of the horses from the grove and then deciding to run a little further out, it just hadn't occurred to me how far away from the village we actually were. I don't ever think I realized how close above our heads the stone arches were until Ava brought it to my attention that we were walking only a few kilometers from the basin of Vitraya Ramunong. And that meant we were near a place I hadn't really been in over ten years. And Ava was the one who saw it before I did.

"Jake, what's that?"

I looked at her, and she was pointing to the ground while we were up in the trees. I followed where she was pointing to, first seeing overgrown vines and trees and then seeing dull silver from the top of the link module as it set neglected from the last ten years of being unoccupied and busted up. I still remembered that day, the day when we, the Na'vi had waged war on Hell's Gate for the destruction of Hometree and for Grace's death. I remembered Tsu'tey and Trudy, and I remembered fighting with Quaritch in this very clearing before Neytiri had saved me. I hadn't ever thought I'd be back, but now that I was here, I couldn't stop the flood of memories I felt as Ava and I descended the trees to the ground in front of the module.

"Be careful," I said to Ava. "There's glass on the ground. It'll leave cuts on your feet."

"Glass?" she asked. "How?"

I walked up to the module, seeing the link beds inside and remembering how Neytiri had found me on the floor unconscious from suffocating. Ava stayed close to me, and I climbed in through the broken out window. She followed me, and while I had to squeeze in, she had a little more space to move around.

"Jake, what is this place?" she asked.

"It's a long story," I told her.

"Is this the story I've been wanting you to tell me?"

Sadly, I nodded. "Yeah."

It got quiet as I sat there, and she looked around for a minute before speaking again. "Jake," she said softly.

I looked at her. "It'll be easier if I show you," I said, moving to the corner slowly where the video monitor was setting and finding the controls. I wasn't sure if it would come on after ten years, but apparently, the power cells still had a little juice in them. It powered up after only a minute or two.

The tips of my fingers were bigger than they had been at the time, but by some strange miracle, I was able to find the set of logs that were mine. I hadn't thought about them in over ten years, the first one opening up softly as Ava and I sat in front of the monitor.

Seeing my face, my human face, and hearing my voice coming through the video log was an interesting experience for me. It had been over ten years since I'd seen this face, and it was so different from the one I had now — and yet so similar. When I'd first come to Pandora, I'd been just about a cynical as they came. After losing my brother and being shipped here in his place, I'd been thrust into a universe I knew nothing about. And very few people had actually given me the information I needed to get along. One of those people had been Norm, and eventually Grace had actually helped me. Over three months, I'd actually grown to despise Selfridge and Quaritch. I'd grown to love Neytiri and her people. But in that growth, I'd actually destroyed the one life I probably should've been working to protect. I didn't know if Ava would understand that.

I left Ava to watch my video logs by herself, sitting outside the module and watching to area around us since we were closer to another Clan here. But I could hear everything she could hear. I could remember everything that had happened then. I now wished that I'd at least known about Amelia and Ava even if I still would have spent most of my time with Neytiri. I know I could've at least done something to keep them safe. But instead, Amelia had died trying to protect her daughter, and Ava had spent ten years in the forest fending for her life.

I tried not to pay attention to how much time went by. It felt like it took hours for her to watch the three months worth of logs I'd recorded about every important and sometimes unimportant moment of my time spent in two separate bodies. Ava never said a word. She just sat there and listened. And listening to her made me remember every good thing, every bad thing, every stupid thing I'd done those three months.

"Jake," she said, startling me as she climbed out of the module. I turned to face her. She moved to my side, reaching for my face and staring at me for several seconds before she spoke again. "Was this your fault?" she asked softly.

The one question I'd been hoping to avoid answering, and it was the only one I knew the answer to. I couldn't lie to her, bowing my head. "Yes," I whispered, but I knew she heard me.

She didn't say anything else, releasing me and climbing down from the module to leave me there.

I cursed inwardly, following her immediately. "Ava, please. Let me explain," I begged. "It's not that simple."

She didn't respond, and I sped up, catching her and turning her to face me. "It's not that simple," I said again.

"It sounded simple enough coming from your mouth," she accused. "How could you?"

"I was different!" I exclaimed. "Things were different. I learned to love this place, but it didn't happen overnight."

"But you knew what they were planning," she cried. "You knew what was going to happen, and you didn't do anything to stop them until it was too late! My mother died because of you! Warren died because of you! It's no wonder you didn't want me to know this!"

She tried to push me away, the way Neytiri had that day, but I refused to let go. "Ava, please. I didn't know your mother when I came here. I didn't know you. I wish I had. I wish I'd known, but I didn't. And I'll always wish that now, because it was my fault that you got left out here. But I'm trying to make up for it now. I know it's not enough," I apologized. I loosened my grip, lifting my hands to her face. "And I know I don't deserve forgiveness. But please. Please just know that I would have done everything in my power to change this if I could. It's not that I didn't want you to know this. I was afraid. I didn't want to hurt you. And I can't fix what went wrong, but I can always hope that you'll eventually understand that I would have if I'd had the power to do it. Because it's not just about who's responsible. I didn't have the power to effect change in this place. Not when I got here. I had to earn that power. I have that power now, and that's why I'm teaching you. Please just trust me."

"I did," she said sadly. "But that was before I knew this. How can you expect me to forget this? How do I know you're not doing this for me because you feel sorry about what you did to me?"

I dropped my hands from her, bowing my head. "You don't," I admitted. "And I'm — I'm sorry I waited so long to tell you. I should've told you a long time ago. But it's not safe out here for you right now. Just let me get you back to the village, okay? Then you can decide what to do. Please."

She didn't say anything, moving toward the trees around us and beginning her climb. I followed her closely, keeping my distance but still watching her so I could make sure she was safe. But our luck didn't hold.

We were halfway between where the link module had been left and Hometree when I realized something was wrong. The forest is usually not quiet or empty as far as other animals go, but it was at this point when I couldn't hear or see any animals around where we were walking. And normally, we would've been able to run along without noticing. But with Ava not listening to me, I didn't have anything to do but listen and look. And I was almost too late to catch her when an arrow flew through the air and slammed into the tree limb behind her head. I pulled her out of the way just in time, unconsciously crushing her against my chest as about ten or fifteen men and women from the nearest Clan burst through the underbrush of the forest around us. I recognized their markings immediately, especially since I'd had a few run-ins with them over the last ten years being olo'eyktan of a fairly large Clan nearby.

"Fìswiräti, peú fì'u!" My eyes fell on the one in front as he aimed another arrow at Ava, and as I looked around the small clearing, I moved Ava behind me still keeping my arm secured around her so she was pressed against my back.

I held my hand up in front of me, hoping to keep him back as I spoke. "Lu mawey, ma tsmukan. Ruxte. Oe tsun oeyktìng."

He didn't put his arrow away, but he stood up straight, snarling. "You are not my brother," he said in plain English. "What is that?" he pointed to Ava as I held her behind me.

I glanced at her, sighing heavily as I lifted my eyes back to his. "She is a child of Eywa," I told him. "Her father is one of the People. Her mother was a friend to the Omaticaya many years ago. She is no threat to you or your Clan. She is a member of my Clan. Please allow me to take her back."

"Uniltìranyu olo'eyktan. You cannot claim this thing is a child of our Great Mother. It neither looks like us nor walks like us. Therefore it will be captured and killed. It is abomination. Unworthy to be allowed to live. If you wish to survive, you may go, but it will stay."

I grit my teeth together, holding Ava tighter. "You won't be able to lay a finger on her," I swore to them.

"Jake," Ava whispered.

I looked at her, and she lifted her eyes to the trees. As subtly as I could, I looked too, seeing Tu'San and Eyreal above us with a five-person hunting party surrounding the warriors surrounding me and Ava.

"Let us go," I ordered. "And none of you will be hurt."

The leader of the group smiled and laughed, unconsciously lowering his bow. "I think we have the upper hand here now, uniltìranyu olo'eyktan."

Less than a second after he spoke, five arrows flew through the air, hitting five of his men immediately. He pulled his knife, looking above him to see the seven Omaticaya aiming their weapons at him. I didn't know if that was enough for him to back off, but Tu'San dropped out of the tree, followed by Eyreal, and together, they took point around me and Ava as the other five hunters remained in the trees.

"Kill this creature and make us your enemy," Tu'San warned the leader. "Retreat now and preserve our good will. Attack and suffer the consequences."

I felt safe enough then to stand up, keeping Ava against me as the leader of the other Clan appeared to be appraising Tu'San's warning. With his group being outnumbered, it looked like he would have done the smart thing and leave, but he stood there for several minutes, not moving or even speaking.

Tu'San didn't back down, pulling his knife from its holster at his right hip and drawing it on the insistent leader.

Then after about ten minutes, he finally spoke, still snarling. "Outnumbered today. But tomorrow is trramip. We see numbers then."

Half a minute later, he nodded to the members of his group, and they backed off. The five hunters with Tu'San dropped from the trees then, keeping the perimeter while he and Eyreal remained near me and Ava. I turned to her, lifting my hands to her face.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

She nodded, laying her head over the middle of my chest as Tu'San stepped closer to me and spoke softly.

"You are both unharmed?" he asked.

I nodded. "We're okay. Thank you."

"Ma tsahik say strange movements in land here," he told me, meaning the other Clan. "'Ewan'aw should never be away without hunting party. Not after today. Agree?"

I lowered my gaze to Ava, and she lifted her eyes to mine. I held her tighter, looking at Tu'San. "Agreed."

When the hunters around us decided it was safe for us to make our way back to the village, I allowed Eyreal to take Ava ahead of me. Even though I'd effectively saved her life, I didn't want that to influence her to forgive me. I had caused her to get left out here, and I was indirectly responsible for her mother's death. If I hadn't escaped the base with Norm and Grace, Amelia wouldn't have felt the need to get Ava off the base. She wouldn't have been caught outside. The guards wouldn't have shot her.

I still hadn't made it through her mother's logs for that time, but it didn't matter anymore. I needed to move on, and even if I wanted to know the truth about Amelia's death, I couldn't let it influence anymore of the decisions I made. And I needed to focus on the next several months of Ava's life with me, not the few months of her life on the base when I'd first gotten here.

I tried to give Ava space when we finally made it back to the village, opting to find Thomas while he was with a few of his friends, and even though I didn't really bother my son either, I stayed where I was until she was ready to come to me.

When she did find me, she surprised me with her tact, sitting on the branch where I'd settled and watching Thomas and his friends with me for several long seconds before she spoke. I expected her to make me feel like I'd owed her an explanation the moment I'd laid eyes on her, but instead, she apologized.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," she said softly. I tried to stop her, but she shushed me with her fingers on my lips. "I was only six when I got lost out here, but I knew it was safer out here than it was back there. And you didn't know me. You had no reason to behave any differently than you did. And I know you would change it if you could. You tell me all the time. And even if you are responsible for a lot of things that happened, if anyone other than the people who did know about me had seen me, they would have killed me. I wouldn't have been one of you," she said touching my chest. "Or even one like Rea. I would have been something completely outside their realm of understanding. So in an indirect way, you actually saved me."

I shook my head. "Ava — " I stopped, breathing deep. "You don't have to do that for me."

"I'm not doing this for you, Jake," she told me. "You've been working so hard. You wouldn't be doing that for me unless you really wanted to. This doesn't change that. I just wish I'd known. Now that I know this, it won't be hanging in the air between us. I know how much you loved her, Jake. And I know how much she loved you. She saved you."

"So have you," I reminded her.

She blushed, bowing her head. "What did she call you? Skxawng?"

I blushed then. "Sometimes," I admitted.

"So it's normal for you to need saving every once in a while. And I guess I'm going to be the one doing it from now on."

"Ma sempul!" Thomas yelled. I looked at him to see a smile on his face. "Come! We need one more!"

"Go," Ava whispered. "I'll stay here."

I didn't wait, rising slowly and moving to where my son and his friends were beckoning me to them.

After that day, time passed so quick that I barely had any time to really stop and look at what I was doing. It became second nature to me, even showing my ikran to Ava when I thought she was ready for it. It made me think of when Neytiri had shown Seze to me, and it made me sad they were both gone now. Neytiri had made the bond with a new ikran eventually, but I knew she always missed her friend. I'd been flying with this guy for ten years now. He knew me in a way no one else really ever would, but Neytiri had come very close.

"Ikran is not horse. Once tsaheylu is made, ikran will fly with only one hunter in the whole life. To become taronyu, hunter, you must choose your own ikran, and he must choose you."

"When?"

"When you are ready."

The roost was alive with activity the day I took Ava up into the canopy of the tree while Tu'San and Eyreal were both off doing other things hunters usually did when they weren't teaching. It was easy to call mine forward, but different from how I'd reacted, Ava wasn't scared or even surprised when he burst through the leaves, shrieking loudly and coming to settle in front of me.

"Zawng," I called, and he was at attention easily, his fierce yellow eyes zeroing in on Ava as she knelt to the trunk of the tree a good two or three meters away. "Easy, boy," I whispered, soothing him with the meat I'd brought for him.

I glanced back at Ava, seeing the smile on her face. "This is an ikran," I told her. "He's been mine for ten years. He's a good friend. Ikrans aren't like the horses you ride with Tu'San. Once you make the bond with one of these guys, it's for life. To become a hunter, you have to choose your own, and he has to choose you. Or in your case, I guess she would have to choose you."

"Why didn't you show him to me before?" she asked, rising from her position and moving toward me slowly.

Honestly, I hadn't really been out on him since Neytiri's death, so I knew I'd been neglecting him. But I didn't know how to tell Ava that, so I lied.

"I wanted you to be ready," I told her. "It's a big deal around here. I hope you get to do it the way I did."

"When?" she asked, grasping onto my arm gently.

I smiled, remembering Neytiri's words and repeating them. "When you are ready."

I looked at Ava. "Step back," I suggested. "I'll show you what he can do."

She took three long strides backward, crouching down as I straightened the harness on my friend and then mounting him easily. So much time had passed since I'd done this, but it came back like it had been less than a day.

"Yah!"

With one word, he took off, beating his wings against the air and gliding down into the open air. Wind hit my face perfectly, and I immediately couldn't believe I'd gone so long without doing this. For a minute, I flew around the tree, keeping Ava in my sights and smiling as she watched me intently. I could see the yearning in her face that Neytiri had probably seen on my face that day. I thought for a few seconds how close Ava was to being able to do what I done. I thought about how proud I was that she'd come so far. I thought about how Amelia would have loved seeing her daughter do what she was doing now. I thought about Tommy, knowing he wouldn't have been able to show Ava the things I was showing her now, but hoping he would have wanted it this way.

Ava's desire to learn grew even more after seeing my ikran, and my desire to teach her grew too. I wanted to be with her when she went on her first hunt, but for the time being, just being with her made me feel a little more like myself. I didn't have to work as hard to show people how special she was. I didn't even have to prove to Mo'at how well she was learning. I didn't have to hide how proud I was. Things were finally back to normal.

Another chapter put to bed! Yay! Next time, we're going to delve a little deeper. Stay tuned.

Now for the definitions:

'Ewan'aw - Young one (Ava)

Olo'eyktan - Clan Leader

Tslam - Understand

Tutan taronyu - Male hunter

Tsahik - Matriarch - Interpreter of Eywa

Taronyu - Hunter

Tetrapterons - six-winged bird-like creatures (there's no Na'vi name for them)

Talioang - Sturmbeest

Nantang - Viperwolf

Vitraya Ramunong - Tree of Souls

Fìswiräti, peú fì'u - This creature, what is it (what is this thing)

Lu mawey, ma tsmukan. Ruxte. Oe tsun oeyktìng. - Be calm, brother. Please. I can explain.

Uniltìranyu olo'eyktan - Dreamwalker Clan Leader

Trramip - New day

Ikran - Mountain Banshee

Tsaheylu - the bond

Zawng - Scream (the name of Jake's ikran - seemed like a good one to me)

LOTS of definitions. Wonder how many new phrases I can come up with in Na'vi. I think I've got a few good ones up my sleeve.

As always, Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy reading it. I'm enjoying writing it.

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