Awa had no idea why she had been forced to come on this cursed hunting trip, much less why she had to be stuck to Tsu'tey on top of that. The wind was howling and the rain came down hard on the two, less than pleased, hunters. Awa who flinched at his every move and Tsu'tey who had more respect for maggots than he did her, or so she imagined at least. It was difficult to even try to force herself to imagine he held even a shred of respect for her with the way he kept on sneering and glaring at her. This hunting trip was doomed from the start.

The day's target had been a group of talioang - sturm beasts. Tsu'tey and her would be tracking the herd from one side, and the two other groups of hunters would be tracking two other herds. It was never a certainty that each group would bring anything back to the clan but it was a shared honor.

The two had been walking in tense silence for ten minutes with only the sounds of the forest around them and the heavy thuds from Awa's feet, breaking it up. She could count on one hand the number of times the two of them had been alone. Truly alone, and it never ended well when they were. Despite Atxa and Ngeha's speeches and scoldings, Awa struggled to not take Tsu'tey's harsh words personally. Dreamwalker or not, he had no right to treat her that way and she was tired of everyone trying to convince her just to take it - that he had a right to say what he wanted and do what he wanted and she was expected to keep a smile on her face and somehow convince him not to hate her. She was sick of it and she was tired of pretending like she wasn't.

It wasn't often that Awa wished she was anywhere but in the luscious forests of Pandora, but as her foot sunk into a deep, wet puddle of mudd she wished she was back at base, cuddled into a warm blanket, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" She sighed.

Tsu'tey scoffed but kept on walking, mumbling curses under his breath.

"Are we doing this again? The silent treatment?"

"Kehe!" Tsu'tey snarled, twirling around to face her, his face twisted into anger. "You will scare the prey, dreamwalker."

Awa stared at him mutely for a minute before nodding , "right."

Once more, she cursed Atxa for leaving her, again. He knew she wasn't ready, and at this point Awa was half-convinced she accidentally offended him somehow and him leaving her with Tsu'tey was his twisted revenge.

There was a roar in the distance, too far to really tell what animal but too close for comfort. Not only were animals on Pandora big but the predators were also fast, particularly the palulukan. Any animal that put that much terror in the hearts of the natives was a nightmare in her eyes.

"I could swear that we've been here before," she mumbled, kicking a rock. "The tracks are gone, Tsu'tey. Maybe we should head back?"

He shook his head. "There's still time."

The green colors of Pandora slowly shifted to purple and blues as the sun went down. They were a couple of hours into the hunt but there still wasn't any sign of the prey, and Awa had a guess the reason for that was that Tsu'tey wasn't going to admit to her or him that he got distracted and lost the trail. She knew they weren't lost and that Tsu'tey could find the hometree even with his eyes closed, but being out in the forest during the night like this made her nervous. She wasn't a warrior like him, she barely knew anything practical about Pandora beyond what books could teach her, and maybe that's where it all went wrong. Her arrogance was what got her in trouble - maybe she didn't know as much as she thought she did.

Tsu'tey kept on trying to find the trail even though they both knew it was at least an hour behind them. He didn't let that stop him, though, and Awa suspected that Tsu'tey was trying to find a new trail. Well, there was more than one reason that she hadn't gotten as far in her training as she should've and maybe this was one of them. She wasn't looking at what he was doing.

"Are you even paying attention?" Tsu'tey asked, or rather, barked at her when she kept on walking even after he stopped. "You will never survive your training." He shook his head but his face gave nothing away.

"Maybe I don't want to," it slipped out before she could stop it and by the way Tsu'tey tensed he hadn't expected that to be her answer. "Just- just ignore me." Not like ignoring her would be a problem, he was the best at it.

But the one time she wanted him to leave her alone was also the one time he wouldn't. "How am I meant to tell Atxa that his student doesn't wish to live past his lessons? That he's wasting his time on a lost cause?"

"You don't," she said simply. "Why do you care anyways?"

"I don't."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're looking very bothered for someone who says he doesn't care." Awa sighed. It was as if something had burst inside her and she couldn't control the sudden onslaught of emotion. "There's no point to it. Everyone hates me and I've burnt every bridge to my old life but my new one won't accept me. I get that my people have- is doing bad things, inhumane things, but I haven't done those things and the cruel treatment hurts. Words hurt," she forced out, "every glare, every scoff, every insult - it all hurts, Tsu'tey, and you're all expecting me to just take it! 'Oh you haven't proven yourself, Awa', 'Your people are hurting us, Awa', 'You just need to show you're not like them, Awa'. I'm tired of it!" Awa exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I've done nothing to deserve this! I've done everything you've asked of me! I don't even fight back and all I get is people telling me I'm in the wrong!"

Tsu'tey stared at her in silence with wide eyes.

"And of course you've got nothing to say!" Awa screamed at him, tears pooling in her eyes. "I've been bending backwards for you all but all I get is that I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy! You blame me for wanting to end it when I have no reason to continue."

"You have Atxa and Ngeha," he argued, voice quiet.

"Out of pity," Awa snarled. "Atxa only offered to train me because I have visions and Ngeha is his mate. I have no one," she staggered back and dropped to the ground. "Leave," She mumbled and buried her face in her arms.

Awa heard him walk away and if anything him walking away from her hurt more than any cruel word he ever said to her. She didn't want to die, not truly, but sometimes she got so into her head she saw no point of even trying. Tsu'tey wasn't at fault, not for all of it but she didn't feel guilty for screaming at him, or for telling him. He needed to know that she wouldn't let them walk all over her anymore.

She was half expecting Tsu'tey to come back and get her but as time went on she realized that maybe he really left her there. The one time she didn't mean what she said was the one time he actually listened.

Awa got back up on her feet, dried her face and started the long walk home. If one good came out of this cursed hunting trip it was that she could show Atxa that her sense of direction had improved. If she found her way back, that is.

She hadn't gotten far before she heard a loud roar and muted screaming. Awa's eyes widened and she ran towards the sound, pushing branches and leaves out of the way. Her heart was beating like a tattoo against her ribs and her breath was coming out in sharp pants. Whoever was out there was in trouble.

She pushed herself to run faster than she ever had before. She leapt over fallen trees and forced herself through the forest. The screaming had stopped but that worried her more. Was it someone she knew? Awa was running on sheer fear and desperation, her breakdown long forgotten as she raced against time.

It all came to a stop when she entered a large clearing. Awa came to an abrupt stop, almost falling over as her heart jumped to her throat. A thanator was clawing at a fallen tree, claws swiping left and right as it dug. She almost couldn't breathe through the panic that gripped her. That roar before... was it the same?

It wasn't until she saw a flash of blue that she reacted and even then it was almost like she was on auto-pilot. Last time she came face to face with a palulukan she had almost lost her teacher and a good chunk of the already non-existent respect that Tsu'tey had for her. The native in the tree was crawling away from the hole the palulukan made. Awa was too far away to see who it was.

She forced herself to keep on moving closer, a useless arrow in hand. Awa had lost her bow sometime during her crying but it wasn't the time to cry about spilled milk, it was time to be cunning and figure out a way to save whoever that was. She crouched down, though she doubted she needed to by the way the palulukan was focused on catching the na'vi.

Awa almost couldn't believe that she was still alive when she was but a meter or two away from the animal. She could see the way its muscles flexed and she could hear its labored breathing as it tore into the wood. She glanced at the arrow in her hand and then at the palulukan, sorrow gripping her heart.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten and then jumped on the palulukan before she could change her mind. It reared up, snarling as it felt the weight on its back, almost making Awa fall off before she got a good grip on its leather-like skin. The palulukan backed away from the tree and got up on its back feet, trying to shake her off but she was dug in like a tick, when suddenly she saw a flash of blue and then his eyes.

Tsu'tey.

He was staring at her wide-eyed, bow held slack in his hand. She was almost thrown off during their stare-down but she tore her eyes away from him. So he hadn't abandoned her, not really. Getting hunted by a thanator is a sure way to be delayed. Awa shook her head and focused on her task. She dragged herself up its back, stopping when it bucked, climbing when it came down to find balance, until she was close enough to stick her arrow into one of its eyes.

The pain-filled roar it let out almost made her throw up, but it had to be done. She had to save him. It was that desperation that drove her to push it in further until she was violently thrown off. The palulukan whimpered pitfully and ran off into the forest, and Awa's heart ached at the sight, wanting nothing more than to run right after and make it alright.

Instead she looked to where he stood, and pushed herself to her feet.

"You're welcome," Awa told him with a shaky voice. The longer he stared at her the more nervous she got. Was this a typical reaction to being saved?

Tsu'tey was fine, beyond a few scrapes and cuts from the chase he wasn't hurt, well apart from his pride maybe. But still he kept quiet and only kept on staring at her instead of responding, not even a passive aggressive comment slipped past his lips. He looked at her almost as if seeing her in a new light, and she'd be lying if she said it didn't unnerve her.