The next week passed very slowly. All Na'dia seemed to do was eat and sleep, and try and not rip her IV or monitoring leads off – it turned out the tape used to hold them on her skin brought out a rash on her, and she had to lay there on the bed doing her best not to scratch and rip the damn things off.

Much of the time one or another of her life-mates were with her, or if not them, Wokan, Ilyana and their children – accompanied by the palulukan cubs – who, remarkably enough, were very well behaved, unlike their normal selves. It seemed the cubs were being run ragged by Ralu and Tanhi, providing welcome relief for the human babysitters. One of the perennially bad poker players came in too, and thanked Na'dia from the bottom of his heart for bringing the two Na'vi children to Hell's Gate.

Nights were much better. She had forced the tawtute doctors to get rid of the gurneys so she could sleep on the floor, with Ninat and Txep'ean. It was strange, sleeping in absolute blackness without being able to hear the sounds of the forest, and her lovers found it hard to relax into sleep. But the reassuring sound of their heartbeats and breathing on either side of her made her feel content and happy. It was not right for a Na'vi to sleep alone.

After several days, Na'dia was getting to the point of breaking out of the decanting room, no matter what the doctors said. It was only the threat of Mo'at issued by Macdonald that kept her in her place. So she was surprised when Zhake and Ney'tiri visited her early one morning, when both of her life-mates had gone in search of food for her breakfast.

"Hey, sicko," teased Zhake, lifting his arm in greeting.

Ney'tiri nudged her mate in the ribs with her very sharp elbow, making him wince. It seemed that she had landed the blow on a slow to heal bruise – which, Na'dia wagered, she had put there in the first place. "Do not be so disrespectful to my sister," hissed Ney'tiri. "She has been ill, and needs our love."

"Be calm, Ney'tiri," said Na'dia. "Zhake means no harm, merely to make me smile." And she was smiling.

"What happened to the sexy Eastern European accent?" asked Zhake, a little disappointed. The few times he had heard Na'dia speak Na'vi her words had been overlayed with an unforgettable heavy accent that oozed sensuality, unlike any Na'vi that he had ever heard. For his question he received another jab in the ribs.

"Vot axxent? I zpeke vith no axxent," growled Na'dia in her huskiest voice, surprising herself that she could still assume the accents of her birth tongue, even if she could no longer speak it.

Both Ney'tiri and Zhake laughed, and Na'dia joined them.

"Seriously, though," said Zhake. "I'm glad you are recovering, because I need you on your feet and out of here. We are stripping Hell's Gate of all its movable equipment, as I expect the next assault to land here. I want you ready to fight in two days, if you can make it."

"I would leave today," said Na'dia, glancing at her sister. "If Mo'at allowed it. I am tired of lying here, and wish to be free to dance under the leaves of the forest."

"My Zhake wishes you to study tawtute sniper tac-tics," said Ney'tiri, stumbling over the unfamiliar word, "With our sister Ninat, so that you may be the best warrior that you can be." She held out a data tablet towards Na'dia.

"Yeah," agreed Zhake. "The heavies are going to be a different prospect from the light infantry you engaged on the plains. I need you to be aware of their capabilities, and the best tactics to use against them. I've loaded up a Marine training program on the tablet that you and Ninat can use. I've already given her a spotting scope and shown her how to use it." Zhake blessed his stars that Ninat had been one of the few Na'vi to attend Grace's school to have mastered the ability to read English. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to use the scope and its digital readouts effectively.

Na'dia had almost snatched the data tablet from Ney'tiri's hands. At last, something to do! She had been almost climbing the walls from sheer boredom – or would have, if she had been allowed to move away from her blankets. Belatedly, she thanked her visitors, holding the data tablet to her breast as though it might be taken away from her. "Irayo, my sister and my brother. I will learn these things well, so that I may keep our world safe."

Grinning, Zhake added, "I don't expect you will learn that much – palulukan can be pretty damn sneaky, and from your effort on the plains I suspect you could teach concealment and ambush tactics to the Marine scout sniper school. But you never know."

"Come, my Zhake," said Ney'tiri, pulling on his arm. "Our sister wishes us gone, so she can learn new ways of defeating the enemies of the People."

"Eywa ngahu," said Na'dia softly, as her two friends left her alone in the decanting room. As soon as the door shut, she switched the tablet on, and started flipping through the training program. It was interesting – very interesting – even when she had to go back to the beginning when Ninat returned from gathering fruit.

Mo'at did not release Na'dia from what had seemed like a prison for four days, not the two that Zhake had hoped for. She did not mind that much, though, as finally she had something to do. Zhake had highlighted sections that she should pay particular attention to – especially those regarding emissions control, concealment, materiel denial and engaging armoured targets.

Even Txep'ean found it interesting – although he had no intention of ever using firearms, he thought it was useful understanding the capabilities of their opponents. He commented that this would be even more challenging than hunting 'angitsa, especially as inexperienced and incautious hunters tended to end up as a muddy pink paste on the forest floor.

A group of humans was waiting outside the decanting room when she emerged into the daylight, blinking from the brightness of Alpha Centauri A. She shaded her eyes with one hand, brushing her complexly beaded braids aside from her face. Ninat had insisted on weaving the most elaborate beads, flowers and feathers into her hair before she would think of letting Na'dia up from her sickbed, so now her hair blazed with decorations of many different colours, and her body was decorated with jewellery as gorgeous and sophisticated as that worn by Ney'tiri.

A group of humans was waiting outside the decanting room. They nodded to her and Ninat respectfully, before rushing inside. It appeared that this was one of the last facilities that remained to be stripped of gear, and they had been waiting for her to be ready before starting work.

Ninat said, "Your pe'efghe is in the longhouse with your blades."

Pe'efghe? What the hell was a pe'efghe, wondered Na'dia, until she translated the sound in her head. It was, of course, her BFG, her modified GAU-90 sniper rifle. "We should go and practice, my love," suggested Na'dia.

Her lover nodded eagerly. She wanted to prove herself worthy of Na'dia's love – she had been much teased by Ney'tiri and Peyral when she chose the way of the gatherer rather than the hunter, and wanted to prove herself just as courageous a warrior.

The palulukan was waiting for them in the longhouse, looking rather disgruntled – if one could imagine a palulukan being disgruntled. Most people would call her extremely pissed. The reason for her dissatisfaction was evident – her computer console had been packed up and removed.

The huge predator signed, "I am glad to see you well again, cubling. I wished to see you, but could not fit through the small opening the humans call a door." She paused, before adding, "I considered making the door larger, but the thought of listening to the complaints of small round Max for days on end was too daunting. He can be very persistent."

Na'dia chuckled as she signed, "I too am pleased to see you, sensei. Is your mate well, and your cubs also?"

Her sensei snorted explosively. "He is always playing that stupid game with the humans. I cannot see the attraction, although he says the challenge is in the battle of minds, and the cloaking of intent with deception."

Ninat signed, "Is that not the challenge of war?"

The palulukan's head swung towards her student's mate in surprise, and examined her closely. Perhaps the cubling had chosen one of her mates well – she was more intelligent than the palulukan had thought, although the cubling's other mate was like all males. "You are right," signed the beast slowly. "Perhaps my mate is not as foolish as he appears."

The palulukan had never focused her entire attention upon Ninat – it was extremely intimidating being stared at by a child of Eywa that could snap her body in two as she would break a twig. But Ninat bore up under the glare of the palulukan, determined not to show any sign of fear. After about a minute, the palulukan nodded with apparent approval, and looked back towards her student.

"The one you call Ney'tiri asked me to direct you to the control tower, where her mate will brief you," signed the palulukan. It stood and started to flow out of the longhouse.

"Where are you going?" asked Na'dia.

The answer was simple. "To gather my brothers and sisters, to aid in the battle against the humans."

With a flourish of her tail, the palulukan left the building.