Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. :(

Flashback

I stroked the brush across the canvas, concentrating. The melody of the quiet music player on my nightstand drifted through my ears, mirroring the mood of my painting.

It was probably past midnight, but I hadn't checked the time since I'd first started the painting, and when I painted, my perception of time completely dissipated and I was lost into a world of creativity. Helen had bought the canvas, worrying that I had too much time in between her schooling me and teaching me about Pandora. My daily activities were pretty limited, seeing how the RDA base wasn't exactly a play ground, so I'd taken to painting, not only to pass the time but to express my imagination.

I stood painting in my bedroom inside my barrack, or what Helen liked to call, my dorm, because that was basically what it looked like.

It was kept ventilated by the air from Pandora, my natural breathing air and so it was separated from the human's living space. I'd grown up in this barrack and therefore had personalized it to fit me. In the center of my bedroom was a 10 and 1/2 foot long bed, the perfect length for my comfort. Everything else in the room was customized for my Na'vi sized body. My desk, my chair, the night stand. Even my canvas was taller than one that a human would use. There was a small hallway leading out of my bedroom and into an also small living room that connected to an equally small kitchen area. Not that I really ever used the kitchen; Helen always supplied my food.

I dipped the brush back into the midnight blue paint then continued to stroke the brush over the canvas.

I was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door. It caused my hand to jump from the surprise and swipe across the front of my shirt. Crap, I should have worn a smock like Helen told me to.

"Coming," I called as I placed the brush into a cup of water. I figured it was Helen at the door. She often checked in on me at night, with her motherly ways, and probably had seen the lights shining through my windows. "Why haven't you gone to bed yet? You need to be up early tomorrow for your lessons," I could practically hear her voice say.

I quickly wiped my fingers on a rag and went into the hallway and to my front door.

When I opened the door I was surprised to see Ray's face greet me.

"Ray?" I greeted surprised.

"Hey Jess," he nodded before walking under my arm and into my living room. Of course he didn't have to duck under my arm seeing how I was almost 3 feet taller than him.

"What are doing here?" I asked as I watched him settle himself at my couch and pulled his huge backpack off his shoulders. It wasn't exactly a normal occurrence for him to show up at my door unexpectedly past midnight. I walked around the couch to plop down next to him.

He fidgeted through his bag looking for something, ignoring my question and glanced at me before saying, "Didn't Helen tell you to always wear a smock while painting?" he asked distractedly noticing the paint smeared across the front of my pajama shirt.

I grumbled something about not being able to find it before rising to go to my bathroom. Swiping another shirt out of my dresser on my way to the bathroom, I shrugged out of the shirt I was wearing and closed the bathroom door behind me. I pulled the clean white t-shirt on and set my other one under the faucet before it could stain. After adding some oxy-clean, I left the bathroom and found Ray just entering my bedroom with some type of container in his hand. It probably contained the latest thing he'd discovered on one of his grand adventures through Pandora. Yes, I was jealous.

"What's that?" I asked curiously coming closer for a better look.

"The reason why I'm here." He grinned, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. I peered closer. It looked like a normal container. It sort of looked like tuba wear that you put leftover food in except it was completely black so I couldn't see what was inside.

"Oh Ray! You brought left over spaghetti," I teased reaching for the container. He quickly jerked it out of my reach.

"You can't tell Helen about this." he said seriously, dropping the grin. My curiosity peeked.

"Ok, I cross my heart hope to die," I said quickly.

"You know how Helen is a tree hugger and all. She'd have my head if she knew I brought back an actual specimen from Pandora." he said, explaining his reasoning. We both knew how much Helen cared about the environment.

My eyes widened. "There's an actually creature in there?" It looked too small to contain an animal though.

He nodded slowly, his grin returning along with his dimple. Slowly he spread his fingers over the top and pulled back slightly. I bent forward to peak into the container but it was too dark to see.

"I can t see it,"

"Well I can't open it all the way,"

"Why not?"

"Because it took me over an hour to catch the thing."

I raised my eyebrows. Well he certainly had a lot of time on his hands. Did he get payed by the hour? "Can I hold it so I can get a better look?" I asked.

He nodded hesitantly and handed it to me. "Be careful."

The container felt light in my hands. Not able to bare the suspense any longer, I pulled the edge of the lid open a crack and peeked. A faint glow shined inside but I still couldn't make out what it was. I cracked it open a little bit wider.

My bad.

Within a half second the thing shot out of the container. I gasped as the small white creature glided through the air like a jellyfish in water. It was beautiful.

"What is it?" I asked in awe stretching my hand out towards it. The small creature glided its way to me and perched on the tip of my finger. I shivered at the silky feeling.

"A seed," He answered watching me interact with the small creature. "A seed from the Tree of Voices."

Utral Aymokriy ...

It was so exquisite looking. The most graceful and beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Slowly, Ray picked up the container I'd discarded on the side of my bed and brought it to the seed. In one quick motion he snapped it closed around the creature.

"Took me over an hour before to catch and now only seconds. I guess it liked you." He noted.

"Are you going to free it?"

He nodded quickly. "I just wanted you to see it. Remember don't tell Hele-" he trailed off as his eyes wondered to something behind me.

I turned on the bed to see he'd been staring at my painting. I glanced back at him as he stood from the bed and crossed to the canvas, his eyes never leaving it. Ray and I both shared an equal love for art and painting.

"You did this?" he whispered, his eyes turning to mine, suddenly intense.

I could feel my face heat up. "I know it's not very good, I-"

"No it's beautiful, it's just...how. How could you paint this? You've never even..." he trailed off in his thoughts.

I looked up at the painting. I hadn't really been thinking about what I'd been painting. I was just expressing myself in the painting. It was a portrait of a simple waterfall.

"What is it Ray?" I asked, confused by the way he was acting.

He stared at the painting for a moment before answering.

"It's Pandora."

End of Flashback

I jerked awake... and almost toppled over. I felt a strong arm tighten around my waist.

"Careful," Gar'han's voice said from behind me. We were still on the direhorse but the sun had fallen and it was now night time.

My muscles felt stiff. I wondered how long I'd been asleep. I remembered stopping a few times to give the horse a break and once to eat.

"Can we take a break?" I asked, my voice coming out whinier then I ment.

The direhorse slowed to a stop and Gar'han climbed off gracefully. He held out his arms to assist me down the horse and I clambered down, wincing once when I bumped my injured arm against the horse.

"Does it hurt?" he asked. If I didn't know Gar'han better I'd say he was worried about me.

"No, it feels like heaven," I grumbled. Did I mention I'm a bit sarcastic when I first wake up?

"You know Gar'han, when you said we were going somewhere I didn't know you meant that we would be gone for the entire day," I grouched as I arched my back in a stretch. I smiled when I heard a satisfying crack in my back bone.

Gar'han rolled his eyes at me, "You'll thank me."

I wondered what exactly I was expecting when we reached the Tree of Voices. I wasn't sure if the connection would work for me. I wasn't actually a Na'vi, just a DNA copy. But then again, I was able to connect with direhorse's so why not the Tree of Voices? And if the connection did work, what exactly would happen? Was it just going to tell me hey sorry but Tali isn't your mom, or was it just going to reject me because I was the product of humans? A better question was, why was I even bothering with this? I knew the outcome; I wasn't the daughter of Tali.

Then what would happen?

Tali would be devastated, that's what would happen. Then I would have to set out in search of the RDA base. Alone.

Just as these thoughts passed through my head a small familiar white creature floated into view. A Seed. For the briefest moment, I considered if this could be the same seed that Ray had shown me only a month ago. Just as quickly as the thought had come it vanished. The chances were highly unlikely.

The white seed floated towards me and I extended my fingers for it to land on. Its silky tendrils settled onto my palm.

I turned to Gar'han. He was watching the me with mild curiosity. "We're close, aren't we?" I asked.

He nodded. "We should keep going now."

I nodded and the glowing seed drifted off of my hand and into the air. Just as the seed disappeared into the distance, we settled back onto Gar'han's direhorse and continued our travel to the Tree of Voices.

I thought about Gar'han. What were his intentions? And what was he going to do when it was proved that I wasn't Tali's daughter?

Gar'han was tricky to figure out. At times, I could swear he didn't like me. Or at least I annoyed him. And other times, he would let another side of himself show. The side that worried about me and cared about me.

I felt Gar'han nudge me, interrupting me from my thoughts. "Utral Aymokriy ." He indicated by pointing his finger.

Off in the distance below stood the Tree of Voices.

My eyes widened at the site of the great tree. The pictures Helen had shown me had not done the Tree justice at all. The picture had not captured the vibrant white of the giant willow like tree. It had also failed in capturing the spiritual essence that radiated from it. I knew immediately that I was looking at the heart of Pandora.

As we drew closer to the grand tree, my awe increased. Finally we reached the base of the rocks that surrounded it.

Gar'han slid off then helped me down.

Suddenly I felt like this was a bad idea. It felt as though what I was about to do was disrespectful to the tree and even more important, Eywa. I knew I wasn't Tali's daughter. So why was I bothering with this? Would the tree feel that I was making a joke of it?

I remained frozen until I felt Gar'han's hand lightly touch my shoulder. "You've came this far," he said encouragingly.

I nodded but did not move. He was right. I hadn't come this far just to chicken out. I just didn't want to go alone. "Come with me?" I asked abruptly turning to him.

He nodded. "I'll be right behind you," he affirmed before giving me a light push in the direction of the tree.

There was something I still needed to ask though. I turned around to face him. "When this...this thing tells me that I'm not Tali's daughter, what are you going to do?" I asked. I needed to know.

Instead of answering my question he said, "Almah is always right," then took my hand in his, and led me up the stones of the tree. As we ascended, we were shrouded by the tree's willow like limbs.

We continued to walk until we completely cloaked by the trees willow branches. I gazed around me and wonder. Hesitantly I brought my hand forward and lightly touched one of hanging tendrils. It was soft.

I looked up at Gar'han as if checking to see if he was still there. He nodded encouragingly.

Slowly I drew from the nape of my neck, my long queue.

Ever so slowly I brought the tip up and finally closed the distance between it and the tendrils of the tree.

And in that moment I experienced something other-worldly.

As if I couldn't control my own body, my eyelids slammed shut.

I was no longer standing next to Gar'han with his hand in mine.

I was no longer even at Utral Aymokriy

I was in the past. I could feel it.

Then I began to see...

Images, faces, clips, actions all in a rushed blur. I was seeing the past!

They all blurred so fast not giving me a chance to study them. I saw faces of Na'vi long since dead.

Ancestors?

Then it hit me. And I felt as though a brick had been thrown at my chest.

My Ancestors.

As soon as this realization struck me, the images slowed to a stop and everything was pitch black.

Suddenly my ears were being bombarded by the loud noise of a woman screaming in pain. I winced. I could almost feel the woman's pain.

The darkness was beginning to fade away and I found myself in a room...an alcove. Was I in Homehill?

The screaming persisted.

My eyes immediately locked on a group of female Na'vi huddled over something...the source of the screaming. What was that they were huddled over? I took a few steps forward.

I heard one of the women Na'vi gasp and then suddenly the screaming of the woman blended into the sound of crying...

The sound of a baby crying.

This woman had just given birth!

The woman's screaming was choked off into heavy breathing.

"Give her to me," A voice, hoarse from screaming, breathed. A familiar voice.

"What are you going to name her?" A woman Na'vi asked.

There was a moment of silence. I stepped closer hoping for a better look of the woman who had just given birth. I tried to move past the women, but the women sat as barriers between me and the mystery woman.

"Jeslyn," the voice whispered.

Just as the female Na'vi in front of me leaned forward to reveal the face of the woman, my vision was cut away.

And suddenly I was back at Utral Aymokriy .

I gasped in shock.

It had been Tali's face.

"Jessy," came Gar'han's alarmed voice.

But his voice was drowned out by my racing pulse behind my ears.

My world had been I'd known to be true about myself was lie. I'd been living a lie. I wanted to deny...to fight it. But I couldn't. The truth had been slapped in my face. There was no denying, no fighting it.

I wasn't a man-made item, a science experiment, part of the RDA's property.

Suddenly I felt large hands on my face shaking me. "Jessy!" Gar'han repeated.

I snapped out of my stupor and met his eyes. I was like him, I realized. A Na'vi.

A native.

"What did you see?" he asked.

I shook my head and slipped out of his grasp. How could I explain that my world had suddenly been flipped upside down?

What was I going to do? I shakily pulled a strand of hair behind my ear.

My mind singled in on one question.

Why?

Why would they tell me that I was made from Na'vi blood when I was actually native born? Why would they do this! There had to be a mistake. This couldn't have been intentional! I just couldn't see any reason for it.

"She's your sa'nok isn't she?" Gar'han stated quietly.

I nodded mutely. I had a mother. And a father...this was all so strange and backwards. I felt sick.

"Let's go," Gar'han murmured leading me out of the drooping branches and back to his direhorse. Just like before, he lifted me effortlessly onto the horse and settled in behind me. The direhorse took off.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed before we came to a stop. Probably only a few minutes. Gar'han slid off the horse and helped me down.

I was spaced out.

Thoughts were shuffling through my head, unorganized. Was I really kidnapped the way Tali had said or was it just one big accident? I didn't want to believe the first but how could this be an accident? It wasn't like I just dropped down into the RDA base. Someone had to have taken me. But who and of course why? I wondered what Helen's reaction would be when I told her. She couldn't already know or she would have told me. I wondered Ray's reaction...

"You need to get some sleep," Gar'han said, interrupting my thoughts. My eyes snapped up to him.

We were in some kind of cave. How many random caves were there in Pandora? I looked at the large opening to the cave where Gar'han's horse stood relaxed.

I hadn't even noticed that we'd walked in here. Like I said, I was spaced out. I turned back to Gar'han.

"I slept all day," I mumbled. Although this was true, I felt drained and could use some sleep. I set my head against the cave wall and closed my eyes, not really going to sleep.

Just thinking...about how crazy this day had been. Or maybe just how crazy these last few weeks had been in general. I slid down the cave wall until my head was on the ground.

As I drifted to sleep the last thing I felt was the soft brush of a blanket being placed on top of me.

When I opened my eyes again it was daytime. I blinked a few times, letting my eyes adjust to the sun-lit cave.

It wasn't until after I'd yawned and stretched that I noticed I was alone.

"Gar'han?" I called. The cave was empty. I quickly brushed the fur blanket aside and climbed to my feet. I rushed to the cave entrance.

The direhorse stood, drinking sap from a plant, uninterested in my state of panic. So he'd left his horse? I shielded my eyes from the sun as I gazed around. All I saw was Pandora flora. No Gar'han. In my peripheral vision I noticed some objects hovering in the sky.

My eyes snapped up to the sky and I gasped. Floating in the sky were islands! I recalled from my studies what these mountains were called; The Hallelujah Mountains. I never found this topic interesting. The only thing I really recalled was that they contained a shit load of unobtanium.

Just then I noticed Gar'han approaching.

"How's the arm?" He asked.

"Better," I answered. "Where did you go?" I asked, not mentioning how I'd slightly panicked.

"I got breakfast," he answered pulling to large melons from his satchel that hung around his shoulder.

My face brightened. I was starved.

We sat down at the entrance of the cave and ate in silence.

I could feel that I was purposely not thinking about what had happened yesterday...what I'd discovered. It just leads to too many questions that I couldn't answer. I had to find the answers for myself.

"I have to go back," I said more to myself then to Gar'han.

His eyes shot up to mine.

"There had to some mistakes, they couldn't have-"

I was cut off by an angry sound that came from the back of Gar'han's throat. "Would you stop making excuses for them," he exclaimed standing up. "You still don't see it!" he said searching my eyes for I don't know what. I blinked at him. He was being a bit insensitive to my situation.

"See what?" I asked simply.

He furrowed his brow as if trying to understand me. "They lied to you Jessy. They told you that you were something that you weren't-"

"Stop," I ground out, standing up also. I wanted to shut what he was saying out. I glared at him. "It's not my fault you hate humans so much. That has nothing to do with me. I trust them."

I wasn't sure but I could have sworn I saw a fire ignite behind his golden eyes. "You trust them. After what you just discovered, you trust them."

"Yes."

"Jessy, open your eyes! You need to underst-"

"I know! That's why need to go back! Because I don't understand anything at all. And neither do you. So why don't you just..." I wasn't sure how to say shut the hell up in the Na'vi language. "Go somewhere..." I finished lamely, waving my arms in the direction of his direhorse. I looked away from his angry eyes and fiddled with the bracelet on my wrist that Fara had made for me. Immediately felt guilty. Here he was trying to help me and I was being a bitch.

He stayed quiet.

I sighed, feeling bad. "Sorry," I muttered. "I know you trying to help." I said looking up at him. I didn't really understand why he was trying to help me in the first place or why he even cared. I wasn't even sure why he didn't absolutely hate me. I was the very essence of a human. I acted, behaved, and spoke like them.

"Fara told me about why you hate humans." I said impulsively. I avoided looking up at his eyes. "So I guess I can't really blame you," I mumbled.

At that moment rain began to fall in buckets. My hair instantly became drenched.

A few more moments passed before he said quietly, "We should get moving." Completely ignoring what I'd said. Which kind of irritated me.

He turned his back to me and began packing up the direhorse. I crossed my arms...well crossed one arm over the wounded one. "You know what I don't get?" I asked tapping my foot, irritated that he was still ignoring me.

"Why do you care?" I asked. He ignored me. Ass. "Why do you care about if I trust them, or if I'm going back, or if I understand? Why do you care about me?"

"Let's go," he said quietly holding a hand out to me.

"No, not until you tell me why. You should hate me! I'm everything you hate! I'm the very essence of a human. Just quit acting like you gives a damn."

"I said lets go," he repeated, deathly calm.

"Kehe," no I said raising my chin defiantly.

Suddenly he was standing over me. One second he was beside his direhorse, the next he was towering over me, a bit intimidating, might I add. Heavy beads of rain splashed against his not so calm face. He leaned closer to my face until I could feel the heat from his skin. Rain ran down the sharp plains of his face.

"I don t know why I care," He ground out slowly.

And suddenly my lips were on his.

I'm not sure what made me do it. Maybe because he'd just somewhat established that he cared about me. It could have been because of the stress. Or maybe it was his proximity. Hell it could have even been the weather!

All I knew was that the feeling of my lips on his felt amazing.

He was the first male I'd kissed in my entire life. Did I kiss him because he cared about me? I knew plenty of men who cared about me. No, it had to run deeper than that. But how deep could it run? I'd only known him for a few weeks.

He immediately stiffened.

That alone should have stopped me...but it didn't. My lips felt so right against his. His lips were even softer then they looked.

What about Ray? A voice asked in my head.

Ray who?

I pulled myself closer to him until there was no space left between our soaking wet bodies and latched my arms around his neck.

That also felt amazing.

I never thought that I'd be thankful for the skimpy clothes that the Na'vi wore. But if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been feeling practically every inch of our skin being pressed together.

I could have swore, I felt every muscle in his body tighten.

"Jessy ftang!"stop he choked out, jerking away abruptly. I missed the warmth of his body.

"Why," I breathed, still feeling heated from kissing him.

"I could give you a million reasons why," he whispered, sagging against a tree as though he was fatigued.

I felt an unfamiliar feeling start to set in my stomach. Rejection?

He took a deep breath and stood straight, "We're leaving." he said grabbing me by the elbow and dragging me to the direhorse.

"But it's raining," I protested weakly.

Ignoring me, he lifted me onto the horse and leaped on behind me. After attaching his queue, he scooted back a little, leaving much needed space between us.

Just as the direhorse broke into a trot the sound of bullet being shot echoed through the forest.

I jumped in shock.

A bullet?

A gun?

A human!

Gar'han slowed the horse to a stop. I leaned back to see his face. His head was tilted to the sound of the bullet with one ear perked up.

"Did y-" I began.

"Shhh!"

Oh, ok.

Suddenly the sound of another bullet being shot reverberated through the rainy forest.

My eyes widened.

Gar'han slid off the horse and slung his bow over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to climb down also without much luck.

"No stay put, I'll be right back."

"But-"

"Stay," he repeated as though I was a dog, and then jogged away, disappearing into the forest.

What the hell? He thought I was going to stay?

He should have known better than that.

With much effort, I clambered down the direhorse and landed safely on the ground.

As soon as I was on my feet, I was running in the direction Gar'han had left.

I dashed through the forest in search of him. He couldn't have gone too far, right?

With a wave of relief I spotted Gar'han, crouched far above on the limb of a tall tree. He sure could climb fast.

He had his bow pulled tight...ready to shoot. His eyes were narrowed at something below.

I followed his gaze to see another male Na vi, right in the path of Gar'han's arrow, standing with a gun in his hand...aiming at Gar'han.

He had a gun! My eyes widened as I studied this Na'vi closer.

He had smaller eyes then a normal Na'vi.

He had five fingers instead of four.

He was wearing human clothes. They were tattered and covered in mud, but they were human clothes none the less.

I gasped as I suddenly realized that this wasn't a Na'vi at all.

Just as the sound left my mouth the male's eyes locked on mine.

Those eyes. They were familiar. I knew those eyes!

At first the eyes locked on mine with panic. Behind them I could read "Oh shit I'm out numbered," Before they widened.

As if in amazement...

Oh.

My.

God.

Ray.

Just as Ray grinned and his dimple pierced his left cheek, one thought zoned through my head.

The Avatar program had been a success.

Thanks for reading!

Warning: Next chapter is rated M. So if you not mature don't read it.