A/N: Now we will be getting into the good stuff. This chapter will be where we begin to see some action and excitement. (And romance) Enjoy.

For the next few days after that it was the same; wake up, do some research, link up, exhaust ourselves in our avatars, come back, have dinner, repeat the next day. I was sitting at my table researching some banshee DNA when I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned, seeing Dr. Augustine with a sly grin on her face. "You wanna get out in the field?" I felt my eyes widen, excitement surely sparkling in them. "You're kidding." "Nope. We're going to the very outskirts of Kelutral to get scans of the outermost roots. There's somethin' going on in the biology of the Hometree that I haven't figured out yet, and I wanna know what it is. I know you majored in zoology but..." I cut her off when I slammed my notebook shut and practically jumped out of my chair. "I might be a zoologist but my interest lie in all aspects of anything Pandoran."

"So is that a yes..?" She jokingly said, clearly knowing my answer. "Are you kidding? You can count me in. When are we leaving?" "As soon as we get your jarhead of a brother out of his meeting." I guess I looked puzzled since she continued. "Your brother's the only one from the "security team" that has an avatar, so while he hangs out with us, he reports to Quaritch." She watched my expression as I processed this information, the feeling it gave me made me.. Apprehensive. Jake might be a moron, but he's not heartless, unlike the rest of those mercenaries. And as if on cue, he came rolling in, peeking at my research table.

"Perfect timing marine. Come on, it's time to link up." Grace said, walking out towards the link room. Jake and I looked at each other and followed her, heading towards the room a couple paces behind her. "What was that meeting about?" I asked him, keeping my voice down. He shrugged, "Nothing important. Just the usual, "keep your head on swivel, shoot anything that moves" type deal.." I looked at him, unconvinced but willing to let it go. He held his hands up in surrender, "I won't shoot anything as long as nothing tries to eat me." I chuckled, thinking back to the time I found out he kicked a dog and I in turn kicked his ass for it. Though the dog did bite him first, I was uncompromising in my 'hurt no creature' rule as a child.

We met up with Norm and Rylie on the way. "Can't wait to meet the natives." Rylie said as she started packing her avatars backpack which was almost as big as she was when in her human body. "whoa now.. Just hold your horses there. We haven't exactly been on friendly terms with the Na'vi in the last few years. If we go out looking for them they might see that as an act of aggression." Grace said. "Why?" "Because thanks to Quaritch and his thugs, the Na'vi won't even talk to us anymore." "And how is this 'spose to work?" I heard Jake ask as we wheeled himself over to his link chamber. "Well.." Grace started as she stared at and then walked towards Norm, Rylie, and I." ...we have some new faces. You're all fluent, you've studied the culture, you're none threatening." I could tell that last one was directed mostly at Norm. "The clan we know best, the Omaticaya, may give you guys a chance. Maybe you all can get them back on the table, before things go belly up for good." She finished as she helped prep Norms link chamber. "This is failing as a pep talk." Norm responded right before Max said his link was ready.

"How do we contact 'em?" I heard Jake say. "We don't. They contact us. If they see is taking our samples, treating the forest with respect.." "Not trampling everything in sight.." I chimed in, to which Grace gave an approving nod before continuing to lecture my brother. "We do all that and they may reach out to us." She finished as Jake and I both lied down in our chambers. "Or they may skin us and make a drum." I heard my jarhead brother say as I pulled down the biometrics over my body. As the lid of my link chamber began to close I heard the chief scientist say "Just keep your mouth shut and let your sister do the talking."

After linking to our avatars and getting ready for the field trip, we all headed out to the tarmac and waited for our pilot to come get us. I looked over at Jake; gun in hand, dressed in green cargo pants and a black tee shirt, his face was passive, neutral. He was tense though, in go mode. Grace tried to explain to Jake what we were doing out in the forest while the rest of us made small talk, and after a moment or two, a Samson came landing in front of our group.

A light skinned brown haired woman in her early to mid 20s was sitting in the pilot's seat. She wore sunglasses and had a grin on her face. There was a bald man inside as well, sitting on the side of the craft and holding onto the mounted machine gun for support. "Welcome to Air Chachon, I'm your host Trudy Chachon and I'll be your assigned pilot for the remainder of our stay in Pandora. That's my assistant and idiot gunman Wainfleet." She said in a voice like that of an airplane pilot over the intercom. I liked her already. Rylie and I grinned, our soft laughter bringing a bigger smile to Trudy's face. "Nice to meet you Trudy, Wainfleet," I said as we began loading our supplies into the aircraft, "That's Rylie Carr, Norm Spellman, my brother Jake Sully, and I'm sure you already know Grace." I introduced everyone, they in turn gave waves, Jake and Trudy seemed familiar with each other already as they gave each other a, "Sup?". Trudy turned to me expectantly, "And you are?" "Oh right, my name's Céleste." I said, chuckling at my forgetfulness.

She nodded, turning slightly to shake my hand, "Pretty name. Means heavenly or celestial in some languages, in my native tongue for example." She had switched to Spanish which put a smile on my face. "Exactamundo mi amiga." I replied, her grin turning sly. "I think we're gonna get along just fine." She answered, and we both chuckled at our quickly newfound friendship. Soon we all strapped in and took off, soaring high above the rainforest like trees, it felt like a dream. I hadn't seen this much greenery on a planet since I last looked in a textbook.

We quickly found that Trudy was a little dare devil, since she found no problem with flying only feet above the water of a river among a massive flock of stingbats. We all were looking out at the four-winged creatures in amazement when gravity seemed to get turned off as Trudy took a 90 degree nose dive off the edge of a waterfall before leveling out the chopper and flying it at a 45 degree angle leaning to the right as she circled the inside of a giant crater like hole that had waterfalls coming in at almost every side. "Whooooo'' My brother and I both yelled, to which we could hear Trudy laughing over the intercom.

A few minutes later we were flying past trees that looked similar to the umbrella shaped trees I used to see in textbook pictures of Africa. Only difference was, these trees must have been at least a quarter mile high. Most of the trees and plants on Pandora were massive compared to anything they resembled from earth but these trees dwarfed everything else in the forest by hundreds, if not thousands of feet.

Not long after that we began to descend towards the forest canopy until we passed through a hole in the trees that led us to a small clearing hidden beneath the trees. As we flew lower towards the clearing we spooked away a herd of Hexapede, or Yerik, as the Na'vi called them. Before the helicopter had even fully landed Wainfleet and Jake had both jumped to the ground and were scanning the surrounding trees with both their eyes and their guns. I saw Grace walk up to the glass cockpit that separated Trudy from the atmosphere. "Shut it down. We're gonna stay a while." She said through her communication device she had around her neck. "It takes me a second to get this bird going so give me a holler when your on your way back." Our pilot said from inside the Sampson as she powered it off. After reminding Norm to grab his pack Grace turned to Wainfleet. "Stay with the ship. One idiot with a gun is enough." She said as the rest of us started making our way into the underbrush. I could practically hear the smiling smirk form on my brother's face despite his back being to me.

We bid our 'see you later's' and went on into the brush. Even though we were out in the forest, exposed and vulnerable to the elements and the wildlife, I couldn't help but be in awe of the biodiversity around us. The lush looking emerald grass beneath our feet, the towering trees above us, the sounds of the animals in the area… "You alright over there Heaven?" Rylie said, breaking me out of my trance, a startled look on my face making her laugh. "You look like you might faint." "I just might.. Have you seen so much life in one space..? It's.. Beautiful." I honestly would've cried right then and there had I not felt new presences around.

I observed our surroundings; not a leaf or branch out of place, bushes and flowers and undergrowth undisturbed. "You're sensitive, aren't you?" Norm said, gaining our group's attention. I scoffed, "If you mean emotionally, only on Tuesdays." They laughed, even Jake gave a small chuckle from behind his gun as he searched around us. I continued as we began walking, "I don't know.. I've always been.. Aware. I can feel the energies of places, people. The slightest change of mood in a room. I know when people walk up on me before they even say anything.. I have dreams of things that might or have already happened, deja vu, or sometimes I get dreams of what's to come, or sometimes I get something akin to prophecies." Everyone but Rylie and Jake looked up at me, skeptical, making me shrug, "I had a recurring dream about space the weeks before I decided to crash the Avatar tests. I dreamt about Rylie being my best bud too."

Rylie smiled as the rest looked confused which made her explain. "At the test I remember seeing Céleste and feeling like she would be really cool to hangout with. Imagine my surprise when she ended up being my roommate, and having her look at me like I was a ghost." That swayed them enough for Norm to continue. "So what did you feel back there?" I looked around, the feeling of being watched still making my tail twitch. "Somebody's watching us.'' "It's probably hunters of the Omaticaya clan." Grace said, her voice was calm, no apprehension whatsoever. "Really?" Jake said with nervousness in his voice as he began to scan the trees again, Norm following up with questioning Grace, "How could they know we're here?" "They've probably been watching us since we landed. It's best not to worry about it, and not to shoot anything that moves while we're out here. I'd hate to have to disentangle another political scandal." Grace answered, certainty and something that sounded almost.. Regretful.

After a few minutes of walking and an encounter with some blue, monkey-like creatures that Grace had called Prolemuris, we came to another break in the trees which revealed another clearing. Odd thing was, there was a shack-like structure on the outer edge of it. It looked like it had been abandoned for many years since nature had begun to overtake it. It was covered with moss, vines, and large flowers that were growing in and out of the structure. "What is this place?" Rylie asked as we started making our way through the doorway of the abandoned building. "This was my school. Now it's just storage. The kids were so bright. Eager to learn. Picked up English faster than I could teach it." She said as she picked up an old book off of the floor and put it back on the shelf before giving me, Rylie, and Norm instructions on what to grab from the various storage crates around the building, all while Jake roamed the structure looking for threats.

I looked over for a second to see Norm picking up another beat up book, Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax''. "Oh, I love this one. The stingbats keep knocking them off the shelves." Grace said as Norm handed her the book. It was only then that I noticed the four winged reptile-like creatures who were sleeping upside down in the rafters of the building. It seems that was when Jake noticed them too because out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother slightly tighten his grip on his gun, even though I had told him they weren't aggressive earlier. "I leave them here hoping some of the kids will come back and read them." Grace continued. "Why don't they come back?" Norm asked. There was a moment of hesitation before Grace answered. "The Omaticaya.. learned as much about us as they needed to." She stated simply, and by the look on her face I got the feeling she didn't want to explain further.

As we finished gathering the needed supplies I saw that Jake had stopped in front of one specific wall of the building. When I got closer I saw him tracing his hand and fingers over- "Bullet holes.." I said, shocked. "What the hell happened to this place?" Jake said in the same shocked voice. It felt like an eternity before Grace answered, a look of sadness and pain on her face. "Some of the older kids had become angry with the deforestation the bulldozers were causing, so one of them rallied up a small group of them to set fire to one of the dozers... They came here looking for shelter when the RDA came after them.. they thought I could protect them, but then the RDA just started shooting up the whole school through the walls."

My mind shot back to the conversation I had engaged in 6 years ago as I shot my hand to my mouth in a gasp. "The Princess..." Grace whipped around, "How do you know that?" "T-the day we shipped out, on the shuttle, people were talking about it.. Oh Grace I'm so sorry.." She sighed "I at least was able to get the rest of the children out through the back door unharmed, me being the only exception." She said as she lifted her T-shirt up a few inches to reveal a pair of bullet scars on the left side of her avatar's abdomen. "Good thing the soldiers were smart enough to recognize I was an avatar when they came inside and brought my body back to the base to get fixed up."

We all just stood there for a while before she huffed, "Norm you done grabbing the supplies?" He confirmed it with a thumbs up, she nodded approvingly, "Good, we've got work to do and not a lot of daylight to do it." They all walked in a direction and I went to follow, when I spotted a small flower growing from a vine on a nearby tree. It was blue with white spots on the inside and soft looking, it reminded me of a tiger lily, but with more petals. I quickly grabbed it, placed it on a wall of the building and prayed in Na'vi, hoping the deceased would hear an outsider like me. "I pray Eywa has received you. May you rest in peace with the All Mother." I stayed for a minute longer and rushed off, not wanting to be left behind.

3rd POV:

While the group made their way to a good place for their work, they were being watched from the trees. Two pairs of eyes, one yellow, another green, observed these intruders as they crashed through the undergrowth. "We will never catch prey with them scaring everything off." A soft male voice remarked. The other answered, female, a bit anxious but softer still, "They won't be here for long, they cannot be here after dark." "We wait?" A hum of agreement sounded, and they slinked off into the cover of the trees, watching, and waiting.

1st POV:

I watched as Grace pulled out equipment, Norm started setting up a scanner and probe, Rylie began collecting samples around us. I was supposed to be doing the same but Grace didn't seem to mind me observing her. "Cool it marine, you're making me nervous." She remarked, chuckling at Jake's seemingly constant swiveling, making him relax and lower the muzzle. Going back to her work, she swept away some dirt to expose some roots, "See how the roots of these two trees interact with each other?" Norm nodded as she continued, holding both our attentions until I noticed Jake wandering off. I internally sighed. 'I'll never catch a break with this dude.' I put down my equipment softly so as to not disturb Grace and Norm, and followed my sibling.

I saw him looking at a coral colored spiral plant, it was about shoulder height, and had completely captured his attention. But before I could call his name, he went to touch it, and the plants and the surrounding ones shot into the ground with a SHWOOP! Making him and me laugh, until he kept doing it, one after the other. My gut started not feeling good, and before I could stop him, we heard a loud snort, and we looked up to see- "A Hammerhead Titanothere.. OhmyfuckinggoddessJakewhatinthefuckwereyouthinking-?" "I didn't expect it to be there!" He hissed at me, raising his muzzle as he kept an eye on the beast in front of him. Grace's voice came on over our radios, "Don't shoot. Don't shoot, you'll piss it off." "And it's a he by the way." I whispered to him.

The gigantic animal lowered its 3 meter wide head, angrily pawing at the ground before swinging it's sledgehammer of a head left and right, knocking over a couple of trees. "It's already pissed off!-" Grace cut him off, "Trust me, shooting it won't do anything but make him angrier, that armor's to thick." She said, causing my brother to raise the barrel of his gun towards the sky. The hammerhead threw its head back and forth again, splintering more trees and ripping up the flora. "It's a territorial threat display, don't run or he'll charge." "So what do we do, dance with it?" Jake said, terror in his eyes. "Just.. hold your ground." Grace said right before the titan of a creature flared up the frill on the back of it's neck and prepared to charge. We looked at each other, and nodded, a crazy gamble going through our minds. We looked up as it charged, and in sync we raised our arms, got as big as we could and screamed at the top of our lungs at it. It stopped in its tracks, and seemed surprised to our relieved joy. Jake started talking smack to it, and I would have joined him if it wasn't for the uneasy feeling in my gut. I suddenly heard a low growl and a shadow covering my back.

I turned, my face going pale blue at the sight of the Thanator currently behind us. "Yeah! Who's bad?-" I tapped his shoulder, gulping. "Um.. Jake..?" He turned, still unaware, "What? What are you looking like that.. For.." His jaw dropped as he spotted our next opponent standing in the brush behind us. A six legged panther from hell, powerful distensible jaws and piercing green eyes that spelled death. It growled, sending shivers down my spine. To both of our surprise the creature leapt clean over our heads landing between us and the Hammerhead herd that had appeared while our backs were turned. "I really wouldn't want his claws in my back." I said before the Thanator turned its attention from the Hammerheads towards me and Jake. "Run? Don't run?" Grace's voice came, fear in her tone. "RUN, definitely run!" And just like that we took off.

It didn't take long for it to catch up, I could feel the vibration in the ground from it's pursuit. We shot through two trees, hoping it would catch itself between them and get stuck, only for it to be smart and go around it. We scrambled under some tangled roots- CRASH! It broke the roots and sent me flying, Jake landed underneath it and started shooting, making the beast below in pain and rage before swiping the gun out of his hand. He went to climb a tree and get out of it's way when it caught Jake's backpack in midair and swung him back and forth. "Jake! Leave the pack-let's go!" I said, scrambling to my feet, hearing him hit the ground and following me. "Where to now Egghead?" I growled as we sprung past trees and vines, "I'm not the one disturbing the natural peace of a hostile environment for shits n' giggles-!" "I didn't think either of them would be there!" I almost slapped him, "NEXT TIME THINK ABOUT YOUR SURROUNDINGS YOU SKXAWNG!"

A roar sounded behind us and we took that as our 'shut up and escape' signal, but me being me I just had to get one last word. "Come on Marine. Haul Ass" I yelled at my sibling who was starting to fall behind. I myself was quickly growing tired of running for my life when- "There! A river!" He pointed to our left, a river of crystal clear water coming into view. "You sure about this?" "You got any better ideas?!" The Thanator burst out of the trees behind us and it was time to go. We made a mad dash to the river's edge and dove in. We both dived in heads first in an attempt to escape the creature. It took us about half a second to remember that bad things always come in threes. First the Hammerhead Titanothere, then the Thanator, and now a river that was moving too fast for us to swim in since the current was creating an under tow that made it almost impossible just to keep our heads above the surface.

"Heaven! Grab on." Jake yelled. "Grab onto what-? Oh goddess..!" We were rapidly approaching a thundering waterfall, and the current was far too strong for us to do anything to slow ourselves down or get out of the river. The current of the river became stronger when suddenly the ground/water came out from under us and we began a freefall towards the lake below. "Jake! Grab my hand!" I yelled at the top of my lungs before I felt my brother's fingers intertwined with mine seconds before we hit the water.

3rd POV:

Two pairs of eyes watched carefully from the trees as a lone sturmbeest came up to the lake for a drink. It was about to dip it's head in the water when it was spooked by a noise coming from the water nearby. The female Na'vi hunter swore internally. They had been waiting at the water hole for some time waiting for an opportunity to get a kill. Her thoughts were interrupted however as her male hunting partner tapped her on the shoulder and gestured towards the spot where the sturmbeest had just been. Two strange looking, drenched Na'vi, who were wearing clothes were walking out of the lake. Well, more like the female was dragging the limp body of her male companion before dropping him on the sandy shore.

"Jake? Jake wake up! Come on bro, don't leave me like this." The female stranger said to the limp body of her companion. The two Na'vi hunters who were watching from the trees correctly theorized that the two strangers on the beach were dreamwalkers since they were speaking perfect English and from the way they were dressed. The female dreamwalker put her ear to the mouth of her companion before she put one hand on top of the other on his chest and started rapidly pushing down on his chest hard. She must have done this for a full minute before finally, she broke her rhythm by using one arm to hold the upper body of her companion at about a 90 degree angle before using her other arm to deliver an uppercut punch just below his ribs.

That apparently did the trick seeing as the male seemingly jolted back to life before turning himself over and coughing up enough water to fill a bucket. The two Na'vi watching from the trees turned to each other in shock. "Did she just save him from drowning by punching him?" The male hunter asked, in slight disbelief at what they had just witnessed. The female hunter never got a chance to answer since their short lived conversation was interrupted by the sound of the dreamwalkers on the beach. "Heaven, did you have to punch me?" "I sure as hell wasn't going to give you mouth-to-mouth big brother." the two dreamwalkers said, huffing as they tried to catch their breath. After a few minutes of them just laying there on the beach trying to get some rest the female said to her brother "Never again." Her voice made her male companion's ears perk up as he panted from fatigue. "Trust me, never again sounds like a good idea." They both tiredly chuckled and laid there for a moment longer hoping to get a bit dry as the daylight began fading. The male groaned as he stood up, wearily leaning down to offer the woman a hand. "Come on Heaven, we gotta find cover."

The woman groaned as she grasped his outstretched hand. "Fine.. I'd hate to have to patch myself up if we left ourselves exposed.." She pulled herself up and looked around, doing a double take in a peculiar spot. "What's wrong?" He asked. She kept staring but shook her head, "Nothing.. Just wondering if those eyes have left.." The man waited a moment longer, tail twitching anxiously. "And..?" ".. Jury's still out.." She answered, squinting in hopes of seeing better but with the forest getting dark, it was a lost cause. "I'll let you know if they reach a verdict.." She said, grabbing a couple long, straight pieces of driftwood before she and her companion headed towards the forest.

In the trees however, the eyes kept watching. "She almost saw us. And she has been aware of our following since they came. She is skilled." A scoff could be heard, the female replying angrily, "And? It does not matter. They would have avoided being here if they had not disturbed the angtsík." "What do you suggest?" Silence, and then the female pulled her bow and arrow from her shoulder, the male following her lead. They saw that the two dreamwalkers had both stopped not too far from the beach and the man was using a metal knife to sharpen the pieces of driftwood the woman had grabbed into spears. The two hunters used this as an opportunity to sneak around and get in front of the trail the dreamwalkers were most likely to follow. They set themselves up on a tree branch that hung low above the trail. Sure enough a few minutes later the two strangers came walking along the trail, spears in hand, twitching and turning towards and at every noise they heard. The hunters laid themselves down on their bellies as the dreamwalkers walked right under the tree branch, not noticing them.

They both nocked an arrow in their bows and were about to let them fly when out of the corner of their eyes they both saw two woodsprite's floating towards the two of them before they landed on the tips of their arrows, stopping the hunters in their tracks. The woodsprites floated off, and in the next few seconds the two hunters looked at each other and with a slight nod they both took off in the direction of the dreamwalkers.

1st POV:

I was keeping an eye out for other animals that might wanna snack on us, and by the sound of the hyena like chattering and the sounds of the brush moving all around us, I'd say we were plenty of them. It was starting to get dark, and it was getting cooler in the growing evening. I tried to make myself warm, as I wrapped my tail around my waist and hugged myself as tight as I could. I looked back to see Jake take off his button down jacket and wrap it around the end of his spear before he drenched it in a pile of tree sap that had accumulated in a bowl shaped deformity on the tree trunk. "Jake, what the hell are you doing?" "What does it look like smart ass? If we don't get a fire going to keep away the animals we won't survive the night." He said as he pulled out a pack of matches that had somehow survived our little trip through the river. "Yeah but we also won't survive if you light that torch. It'll be like a beacon, and if you start a..." "I'm not going to start a forest fire." He said as he finally got one of the matches lit and set the torch ablaze.

He wiped the torch around to reveal a large pack of black, six legged animals with green eyes that were eyeing us like we were steaks. They somewhat resembled the Thanator from earlier except they were only about 6 feet long and stood knee high compared to our avatars. But just because they were smaller than our previous adversaries didn't mean they weren't just as terrifying. The fact that they were smaller was easily compensated by the fact that there must have been at least 15 of them, all trying to find a way to surround us, looking for an opportunity to strike." Viperwolves." I cursed, we did not have the means to defend ourselves, and this was gonna be a tough fight. 'Maybe I should have just stayed at the lab today?' I thought to myself as I gave up on the chance of our avatars surviving the night.

Jake and I simultaneously began to back away from the pack of hounds as they individually took snaps and growls towards us until we nearly backed into a tangle of tree roots. "GO Jake. GO." I yelled at my brother, gesturing for him to run through a narrow hole in the wall of roots before I myself followed. We just kept running as fast as we could, weaving between vines and giant tree roots trying to outrun the Viperwolves who were closely following. We came to a tiny clearing before we found our path blocked by three of the hellhounds who must have taken a shortcut through the trees to cut us off. We were now completely surrounded with no other options than to stand and fight.

We stood back to back, the spear in my hand, the torch in his, we feinted hits at the group, hoping to scare them off when one leaped at me. "Oh no you don't-!" I turned the spear sideways and it snapped its jaws around it, I threw it off and out of the way, it landed on its side with a yelp. "It really breaks my heart to have to kill them to stay alive." "You'd rather we become Viperwolf food?" Jake said, hitting another one in the side with the flames of his torch. "I tried to tell you not to light the torch but nooooo I'm just the egghead-!" I swung my spear at another viperwolf, catching it in the face with the side of the stick. 'At least those bo staff fighting lessons are coming in handy' I thought to myself as I remembered the techniques I had been taught. "I'm so sorry-!" "Don't apologize to them-!" Then they swarmed us.

We fought them off as best we could, kicking them away and ripping them off of each other but then one managed to trip me before attempting to leap on my face. I only barely managed to move my arm into place in time to intercept it's razor blade-like fangs from making contact with my head. It kept clawing at me with its claws as it sank it's fangs deeper into my left arm, my right arm being preoccupied with keeping it's claws away. "AHHH! JAKE!" I yelled out in pain, looking over to my right to see my brother in a similar situation, holding a viperwolf and it's snapping jaws up only inches from his face. All hope was lost for us.

Suddenly I felt the hound attached to my arm release it's fangs and it's body go limp as I looked up to see an arrow had pierced its side. I looked around just in time to see two Na'vi jump from a tree root and both letting an arrow fly in mid-air. It took only a few more seconds for them to either kill or scare off the remaining hounds. While they dispatched the viperwolves and scared the rest off, Jake sat me down by a tree and inspected my wounds. I hissed with pain, "Don't touch! It might get infected-!" "Well it's a good thing I kept some fabric and water on me, yeah?" He went to work, pulling a small bottle of water and a small roll of gauze out of his pants pocket. He cleaned my arm as best as he could, and wrapped it tightly without cutting off circulation.

I sighed in relief, "Excellent work Dr. Sully." He chuckled helping me stand, "Now we're even, just be happy I didn't punch you in the gut." I smiled tiredly at him before he went over to the stream the female Na'vi had thrown the torch into to extinguish it's flame. As he made his way out of the stream after retrieving his spear/torch his mouth began to sag as he stared at the plant life around him, eyes filled with wonder. The light the torch had been creating had made it impossible for us to see the glow being emitted by almost every plant and insect around us, which was now illuminating our surroundings far better than the torch had been. The whole forest looked like a static fireworks display, made of blazing shapes, and explosions of color. Even the freckles and dots on our bodies and the bodies of the Na'vi hunters were glowing in the dark, creating beautiful patterns across their bodies, we probably had similar patterns underneath our clothes.

I noticed the two Na'vi were praying over the animals bodies. I saw Jake go over to them and try to talk but they weren't interested, continuing to pray. I pulled him away from them, whispering. "They probably don't kill without it being necessary. They're sending the animals spirits to their deity." "They're praying for the things that almost killed us?" "They wouldn't have almost killed us if you had listened to me and not lit a torch." "Well I-!" He was cut off, seeing the two Na'vi standing and making their way elsewhere.

I was also about to walk away when I felt Jake grab my arm. "Where are you going?" He said. "We need to try and find our way back to the base, or at least a safe place to leave our avatars." I stated. "Why don't we just go with them?" he replied, gesturing towards our Na'vi saviors. "Just because they saved us doesn't mean their clan will be friendly to us. There's a good chance they might kill us." I said straight forward, but Jake's eyes remained determined. "And If we stay on our own the wildlife will definitely kill us." He sighed angrily, unable to argue with his logic. We had come to the ultimate fork in the trail, either we stay on our own and almost certainly get eaten, or we go to the Na'vi and possibly get our throats slit. I had to stop for a moment before I made up my mind "Ah hell, goddess help us...! Come on, before they get out of sight." I said, noticing that the hunters were about to disappear into the underbrush.

"Hey-wait a sec-!" My brother said, trying to get the female Na'vi's attention. "I-I just wanted to thank you for killing those things." I tried to reach out to stop Jake from saying that but it was too late as the female hunter quickly whipped around and hit him with her bow, knocking him clean off his feet. She then went on to lecture Jake in English about how he shouldn't be thankful for having to kill and how this was all our fault. 'You go girl' I thought as she finished her speech and resumed walking along a trail. Jake continued chasing down the female Na'vi until we came to a sheer cliff with a giant vine that connected it to an enormous tree about 30 yards out. The female hunter began walking along the vine without even blinking, my brother however almost lost his balance about half way, forcing the female Na'vi to help him regain his bearings before she began giving him another lecture.

I took the opportunity to take a break and catch my breath since I was more exhausted than I had previously thought possible. I looked back up at the Na'vi who was lecturing Jake, making me question where her friend went until I looked up and saw him. Crouched down on a low hanging branch, his tail flicking lazily just above my head, his bright yellow-green eyes watched me, and he had a small smile on his face. He had full cupid's bow lips, ample cheekbones, long eyelashes, and a strong built figure. I hated to say it but damn he was fine.

He watched me, curiosity in his eyes. I was vaguely aware of the woman shouting at my brother, when the Na'vi man jumped down gracefully from his perch, stopping in front of me. Though I was tall in my avatar, a good 9', he seemingly towered above me, though that might've just been the intensity of his presence. I could feel his surprise at my avatar's sapphire blue irises. It would be considered a birth defect amongst the people, blue eyes have never happened amongst the Na'vi as far as I knew. But I also knew that the Na'vi believed that some features one had could sometimes determine their destiny. He looked entranced, almost hypnotized and I would've looked down but his eyes held mine so intensely that it almost took my breath away. "Who are you?" He asked in Na'vi, making me suddenly conscious of how my own Na'vi sounded to native ears. 'Grace said it was all right..' "My name is Céleste Siana Sully. May the all mother smile upon our first meeting.." I said, my name sounded almost musical in Na'vi though it was hard to translate. He in turn placed a hand over his heart and bowed, "I am Kanin te laney Eynguo'itan, of the Omaticaya. Your Na'vi is good for an outsider." I responded with a small smile. "I still have much to learn."

He looked like he was going to say something when a small, white, fluffy jellyfish looking thing appeared in front of my face. I almost jumped away from it when two more appeared. And then 3 more, and then a large group of them floated down from out of nowhere and they seemed to swarm me. I laughed slightly with delight and incredulousness, I was covered in them, one had even landed on my nose. I noticed Jake had been covered as well, distinctly hearing the woman call them "Atokirina". "Woodsprites..?" I said to myself, watching as one landed in my hand, light as a feather. I could barely feel their weight as they seemed to give me little kisses, before floating off in sync into the air.

I looked at Jake, his woodsprites doing the same. We locked eyes as the woman and Kanin locked eyes. They nodded to each other, and Kanin looked at me, offered me a hand. "Come." He said, his accented English like velvet to my ears. 'Yes sir.' I thought, nodding and placing my hand in his. And just like that we took off.

With every step, every stride, every touch, the plants would light up. We hadn't gone 20 feet before my brother noticed this and started to slow down to try and touch every plant he could just to see them react. I was about to tell Jake to stop when suddenly an explosion of pain erupted from my left arm, from my bite from earlier. I had honestly completely forgotten about it but now the pain was so great it made my legs turn to jelly as they buckled at the knees. Luckily Kanin caught me mid fall and picked me up with one arm under my shoulders and swept up my feet with the other. Apparently he and his female companion had both failed to notice the bite on my arm before this as they both now possessed a look of terror on their faces.

"We must hurry." I heard the hunters say. And just like that we were off again, Kanin carrying me gracefully through the forest towards some unknown destination. At first I tried to summon the strength to stand but only managed to exert myself more to the point where I felt like I was about to pass out. At that point the thought of not having to walk on my poor exhausted feet was too much to pass up. (Especially in the arms of this 10' tall god? Goddess above.) He flew like the wind to catch up with Jake and his partner, and though I figured I was weighing him down a bit he didn't seem to be winded. From time to time I glanced up at him, taking in his features. His facial structure seemed soft but defined, framed by his long braided and beaded hair, the bioluminescent dots that decorated his face glowed brightly. 'He literally was cut from marble, you can't convince me otherwise.' I thought to myself, not sure I was seeing what I was seeing. I took to looking around us, smiling tiredly but awestruck at the lightshow that was the forest.

I hadn't seen an image this fantastic since, well, ever. There was no color, no shape, no pattern that wasn't included in the fluorescent natural wonder of the forest. Bright blues and greens, purples, I thought I saw orange catch my eye too but I was too tired to really observe everything. 'Why am I so tired..?' I figured I'd take a few minutes to rest in his arms, curling my face inward to his chest and trying to catch a few seconds of sleep when we came to a halt. I heard the Na'vi woman speak, "Tsu'tey what are you doing? They're our captives!" I looked up wearily to come face to face with the tip of a very sharp looking arrow. We were surrounded by hunters on direhorses, stern looking faces behind big bows and arrows. Kanin leaned down to my ear, "I suggest you stay still, they are not friendly like me." I looked at him with a small smile, his reassuring words enough to calm my nerves and I returned to putting my face in his chest.

"These demons are forbidden here, and I will kill them to teach the others a lesson." I heard the pull of a bowstring and I was going to make a feeble attempt when the woman said, "Stop! There has been a sign. This is a matter for the Tsahik." That seemed to do the trick, and with minimal grumbling and stony silence, they allowed us in. My tail quivered in anticipation, curling around what I thought was my leg. However Kanin's soft chuckle indicated that it was his arm that my tail wrapped around, much to my dismay and embarrassment. My ears flattened slightly, me murmuring an apology as my tail curled around my waist instead.

Their Hometree was enormous. From what I could see of it from within Kanin's arms it must have been at least a quarter mile tall. Right before we entered the inside of the tree's trunk I managed to stand up and walk, Tsu'tey's little 'almost shooting me' stunt from earlier giving me just enough of an adrenaline boost to walk on my own, at least for the time being. However, the instant I stood up I felt my hair get pulled back and a knife be put against my braid, or queue, as the natives called them. Whoever was holding my braid and the knife began guiding me towards the center of the Na'vi village, ready to cut my queue off at the slightest move, which from what I understood was one of the most painful experiences possible for the Na'vi.

As my brother and I made our way through the villagers did one of two things, they either cowered away from us, or they reached out to touch us. When we came to the center of the village, Jake and I were placed on the inner edge of a circle made by the people that had a fire in the center of it. There were glowing plants that acted as tight torches but the majority of the light was coming from the fire that was partially hidden behind an older looking Na'vi man. He wore a red necklace garment, and had feathers and beads woven into his hair. This seemed to be the olo'eyktan, only the clan leader and Tsahik of the clans wore red as it was a rare color among the Na'vi. The olo'eyktan spoke, his voice gruff and commanding. "Why do you bring these creatures here?" The woman spoke in turn, "We were going to kill them but there was a sign from Eywa." "I have said no dreamwalker will come here to offend our home! Their alien smell fills my nose." I would've chuckled but this was a serious thing happening.

I suddenly started to feel light headed as I started to lose my balance a little. Luckily Jake was right there at my side to help me stay standing, putting his arm around my waist and letting me put my weight on him for a few minutes until I regained enough strength to stand on my own again. The woman spoke again, "Father, many atokirina came to these aliens." Jake whispered to me, "What're they saying?" I whispered back, "She's trying to convince her father not to kill us." His eyes widened, "Her father?" I suspected he was going to try and introduce himself, but I placed a hand on his chest and shook my head, "Don't be a moron Jake, they don't shake hands as a greeting here. They might see that as a threat. They already don't like us as it is."

He nodded and a voice sounded from out of nowhere, "Step back!" A Na'vi woman wearing red jewelry came down from a staircase, the air about her was severe and as friendly as an executioner. I whispered to Jake, "That's the Tsahik, she's their spiritual leader.." The woman who I knew now was the daughter of the clan leader, turned to us, "That is mother, she is the Tsahik, the one who interprets the will of Eywa." Jake looked at me, a question on his face but I shushed him, indicating I'd tell him later. He nodded as she walked up to us, "I will take a look at these aliens." She said, unimpressed by our appearance. She walked around us, grabbed our tails loosely and observed Jake's face and then looked at me, recognition and surprise crossing her face, but as quick as it had come it was gone. She pulled out a sharp needle like tool, poked Jake in his chest and tasted his blood, and repeated the action with me.

She looked at us both for a minute before asking, "What are you called?" We looked at each other, nodded again and I spoke. "I am Céleste Siana Sully. This is my brother, Jake Sully." She looked at me with what I could only describe as quiet fascination. "Why have you come to us?" I went to answer when Jake cut me off. "We have come to learn. And my sister's been hurt while we were out in the forest, we were hoping for help." She replied, "We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup that is already full." Jake was quick to refute that, "My cup's empty trust me. Just ask Dr. Augustine, I'm no scientist." I couldn't help but chuckle a bit and chime in, "Today's events would agree with you, skxawng." I heard some slight chuckles from some of the surrounding clan members as he looked at me indignantly, and I smiled in his face as innocently as I could manage.

She caught my little bit of Na'vi, but didn't comment as she continued, "What are you?" "I don't know.. I was a marine, uh, a warrior..." The Tsahik suddenly cut him off. "A warrior? So you are one of the sky peoples soldiers who have killed many of our people." She half yelled, a look of anger appearing on her face. "No, No. I haven't been a sky people warrior for a long time. Not since I fought in the war back on Earth, back on our home planet. My human body was injured, making it impossible for me to fight." He said, to which the Tsahik's expression quickly went from anger to one of subtle surprise, which lead me to hypothesize that the Na'vi had never thought about humans fighting with other humans. I heard a scoff from behind the Tsahik, followed by the sound of Tsu'tey's voice. "A warrior! I could kill him easily!"

I glared at him and was about to bare my teeth in his direction but the leader stopped him, "No! This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have seen. We need to learn more about this one." The Tsahik nodded, much to Tsu'tey's dismay, and she looked like she was about to turn to me but that's when my body must have ran out of adrenaline at that very moment as the explosion of pain returned to my bite wound. I peeled over and fell to the ground as I gripped my left arm with my right, trying my best to hold back a scream of pain. I suddenly felt my brother's hands on my face as he held my head in his hands and looked into my eyes. "Heaven! Come on Heaven, stay with me! Don't leave me like this!" He said frantically as he looked around at the crowd of Na'vi, several of which had bows and/or spears all pointed at him after his sudden burst of movement. "I don't care if you kill me just please, save my sister." He half yelled at the clan leaders through a small stream of tears before turning back to me and rapidly patting my face to keep me awake.

"Bring her to my tent. We will decide her fate when she is well." I heard the Tsahik say. I suddenly felt myself being picked up by strong arms as I looked up and found myself in the arms of Kanin as he carried me to what I presumed to be the Tsahik's tent. "Tsahik? May I enter?" She called him in, and upon entering I felt a shudder go through me, the energy in here was palpable. She was the spiritual leader for a reason. The room itself was small but spacious, with a shelf-like structure on one side of the room, filled with what looked like different colored herbs and small ceramic jars, to a table and resting place on the other side. She looked up, spotting me. She motioned for him to put me down in front of her, and he went to wait outside. That's when I blacked out.

The next hour consisted of a series of short episodes of me drifting in and out of consciousness, my vision being blurry whenever I opened my eyes. I could barely make out the image of the Tsahik walking around the room of her tent, picking up various items and inserting them into my bite wound or making me drink it in my semi-conscious state. When I finally came to, I found myself still lying on the floor of the tent, feeling better than ever. Whatever the Tsahik had given me had both completely erased the pain from my bite wound (which was now wrapped in several layers of leaf bandages) and given my body a fresh boost of energy.

I looked around the room as I got myself up from the floor and saw the Tsahik sitting cross-legged on the floor a few feet from me in a meditative state. I, not wanting to interrupt her, elected to also sit down directly in front of her until she opened her eyes. "Thank you for not interrupting." She stated simply. "Thank you for saving my life." I responded. "Nantang bite contains venom. You are very strong to have remained awake as long as you did after being bitten." The Tsahik stated. She stared at me for a moment, her intense gaze seemed to see right through me.

"Your eyes.. I have not seen a Na'vi with eyes like these before.." I shrugged, unsure what to say, "I happen to be an exception.." She hummed in agreement, changing the subject, "How exactly were you injured?" She asked me. "A nantang bit me while I was protecting my brother." She nodded, "Your Na'vi is good. You learn this with the Sky People?" I nodded. "I studied for many years in hopes of being able to learn more about the people." I said before she once again decided to change the subject. "You and your brother have very strong, pure hearts. You were willing to get injured in the process of protecting him, and he was willing to let us kill him if it meant we would save you. This is something I have never seen amongst sky people." "I guess we're an exception to that too."

"I guess now you would like for me to tell you more about myself so you can decide whether or not I can stay?" I asked. "Yes, I would. But I would like to have a select few other clan members present for this." She said as she started making her way for the door to get the other clan members she had spoken of. "Understood Tsahik." "You can call me Mo'at." She said as she exited the tent.

Jake and Kanin were the first to arrive only seconds after Mo'at had gone to fetch the other clan members. Apparently the two of them hadn't left the outside of the tent since I went in. We were soon joined by the chief's daughter, Tsu'tey, and the olo'eyktan, along with a few others I didn't recognize who must have been members of the clan council. "Please, tell us what you are." The Olo'eyktan, whom I later learned to be named Eytukan, asked. "I am a scientist and a thing that sky people call a scholar. It means I specialize in the study of something. I have learned about different peoples and histories on our planet, and I have come to learn about your people as well. If you will have me." "If she is a scientist then that means her cup is already full. So she cannot learn our ways." Tsu'tey said in an attempt to get me banned from the clan before Jake spoke up in my defense.

"My sister's cup has never filled. They tried to fill it back home, but they didn't have anything new to teach her, so they sent her here." Mo'at nodded thoughtfully and answered, "We must learn about this one as well. Let us see if her cup can be filled by the People." She then turned to the leader's daughter, "Daughter, you will teach the warrior our ways, to speak and walk like we do." The daughter went to protest, "What? That's not fair I only-!" Tsahik turned to her, her tone final. "It has been decided!" The woman huffed angrily, her tail twitching as she glared at Jake. She then turned to my brother, "My daughter will teach you the ways. Learn well Jakesully. Let us see if we can cure your insanity." He nodded, and the clan leader nodded in approval, "The scholar will be taught by Kanin. I'm certain they will get along well enough for her to learn something." Out of the corner of my eye I saw a look of anticipation appear on my new teacher's face.

"Now, let's do something about your.. clothes. Then join us for dinner with the clan." I looked down and realized she was right. My T-shirt was ripped to hell and was barely keeping my chest covered. My shorts weren't much better. I looked up sheepishly, slightly embarrassed. Mo'at went over to a corner of the room and pulled out a wooden chest looking thing and pulled a loincloth out for Jake to change into, then another loincloth for me. Luckily she knew that we human women preferred to keep ourselves more covered since she also handed me a top. "Irayo Mo'at"

As Kanin led me to a spot to change I saw the chief's daughter leading Jake away, presumably also to a spot to change his clothes. "What is her name?" I asked Kanin, gesturing towards my brother's new teacher. "Her name is Neytiri. She is the daughter of Tsahik and Olo'eyktan." I nodded, "That makes her a princess, yes?" He nodded, "She is the youngest princess.. The older one died, as you are aware." I looked up at him confused as to how he would know, before I realized it, "You and Neytiri were the ones that watched us in the forest. Aren't you? That's how you were close enough to save us." He nodded with a smile. "You were very brave to avoid palulukan and to fight the nantang with so little. It was amusing to hear you call your brother a skxawng as well." I laughed a bit and saw we had approached an alcove, the entrance covered in leafy vines.

After I had changed, fixed my hair and joined Kanin, Neytiri, and Jake around the fire pit, they passed us a leaf filled with what looked like- "Hey this is pretty good. What is this?" I looked at Jake and did my best not to chuckle; he was happily eating the strange new food, with childlike fascination. Neytiri looked over, passive and apathetic. "We call it, teylu. It is what you call.. Beetle larvae?" His face dropped as he looked at the wriggling bits on his leaf and he looked at me like 'Are you seeing this right now?' I couldn't help but laugh, catching Neytiri's and Kanin's attention. Jake smiled at me, happy to see I wasn't going to fall victim to the viperwolf's bite. "Oh you should've seen your face, man! I wish I could've taken a picture."

I wiped an imaginary tear off my eye and he lightly punched me in my uninjured arm, "Yeah yeah, make fun of me will you? You try it." I looked at him, a challenge was presented, and I was never one to back down. I picked up a teylu, looked Jake square in his eye and popped it in my mouth, chewing deliberately to show I wasn't taking the easy route. My brows came together as I tried to figure out the taste, how familiar it was. It's texture was that of jumbo shrimp, but the taste reminded me of.. "Frog legs..? Escargot..?" I thought aloud to myself, not missing Jake's look of disbelief. "Aha! I've got it, it tastes like gator!" He facepalmed as Kanin laughed, "You have a creature back home that reminds you of teylu ?" I nodded, happily eating more of the steamed grubs along with fresh fruit and roasted veggies as I explained what gator was to my new friend and mentor.

"Alligators are a giant type of water living reptile with big, sharp teeth and strong jaws that could bite you in half without even trying." A look of surprise and curiosity appeared on Kanin's face. "And you eat them? Why would you risk death for some meat?" He asked. "Because their delicious, and they're one of the few remaining animals left on our world that is safe to eat." I now had the attention of Neytiri and Mo'at as well as Kanin. "What do you mean 'one of the few'? Do you not have many animals on your planet?" Mo'at asked. "No, I mean... We used to have more, decades ago, but there were just too many humans on the planet and not enough room for us to co-exist with the animals we shared the world with, leading us to destroy the last of there habitats to make more room for us. Almost all animals became extinct, with only a few exceptions that could survive on our polluted world, gators being one of them." I finished, to which everyone who had been listening sank back into there seats as they contemplated what a world without wildlife would be like.

After the meal was done and everyone went to bed, Kanin led me to what looked like a leaf hammock. He slid in his hammock easily, but I was a bit wary. "Are you sure it won't swing out from under me?" He nodded with an amused smile and reached for my hand, "Come, I will hold you so you will not fall." I bit my lip, I've smiled in his face enough times for one evening. I grabbed his hand and tentatively stepped in. The hammock wobbled a bit but with his help I slid in and sighed. The leaf was soft, and the sides of it pulled inward like a cocoon, it was nice. I looked up, Kanin watching my childish delight at figuring out my new sleeping arrangement.

I blushed and smiled, "W-We have something like this back home.." He hummed a 'oh yes?' in response. I nodded, turning over to face him a bit more. "Yes, it's called a hammock, it's a woven piece of fabric that is strung between two trees. People relax in them, read in them, sometimes they nap in them..." I looked around seeing the people above and below me laying down, soundly asleep. I looked at him shyly, a nervous chuckle bubbling up my throat. He continued to look at me, intrigue and fascination and curiousness swirled in his eyes. "Maybe we should sleep, yeah..?" I said, realizing this dream had to end at some point. He nodded and went to lay down when I stopped him, "Oh Kanin wait.. I might not wake up when you call me in the morning, I.. it's hard to explain, but I'll wake up as soon as I can.. But I'll be ready to go the minute I get up.. Okay?"

He gave me another smile, "Sleep well, Céleste." He closed his eyes and soon his breathing deepened, and he was asleep. I looked around one more time, grinning. I was really here. Among the People. 'I can't believe it.' I thought, and with that, I let my mind go, and felt the familiar pull from one body to the other. At first I couldn't open my eyes, I heard people calling my name but I still wasn't completely there. Suddenly, someone opened my eye and shined a light in it. I blinked rapidly and coughed, I felt breathless. "That's right, come on back Heaven." I heard Rylie's voice and with help I slowly sat up, "You and your brother were dug in there like ticks. What happened? Are your avatars safe?" The commanding voice of Grace asked. I looked and saw Jake in his wheelchair, and smiled at him. "Yeah Doc, and you are not going to believe where we are."

A/N: I know I said I wouldn't be posting this week since I was going on vacation but one of my family members got COVID making it impossible for us to fly. Also, I'm sorry for posting this chapter on a Sunday night instead of a Saturday morning, but like I said, life had other ideas. See you guys next week with my next chapter. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, comment and give me feedback. Your guy's opinions of my writing mean the world to me, whether it be giving me praise, or criticizing my work.

Translations

Kelutral = Hometree

Nantang = viperwolves

Irayo = Thank you