"Freedom at last" Alva murmured with a happy grin on her face as she stared at the small blob on the ground that was Hell's Gate. She picked up the handful of seeds she had collected from inside the walls and shook them slightly in her hand. "Goodbye cage and hello freedom." She gentle turned her hand so that the various seeds tipped out up her cupped hand and fell down towards the green forest below them.

Alva sat down on the flooring of the helicopter she was in and placed her legs over the edge. Her toes tingled from the height, making her smile, she had never been so high up before and so far she was loving it. The avatar began swinging her legs back and forth while staring at the flourishing forest beneath her feet. The seeds would hopefully land someplace they can grow into a beautiful plant, just as she would if she was allowed to leave her cage.

She stared mesmerized at the different animals they flew by, the flying ones in different shapes and colors that would lean even the most beautiful and colorful animal back on earth green with envy, and the grazing animals on the ground that was both of magnificent size and so small that she could barely see them from where she was, even with the low height that they were flying at. She could see a flock of angtsìk drinking from a river, and she could see a lone yerik eagerly waiting for its turn behind the giant creatures. Alva sighed happily, Pandora for her was heaven.

They flew over a great lake that was surrounded by green trees and a wide waterfall that provided a much needed break from the harsh sounds from the helicopter.The fkios that was flying over the lake next to them screeched at them, their purple skin making them stand out of from the rest of the green and blue of this part of the forest. Alva stretched out a hand towards the leader of the pack of bird like creatures and it screeched defiantly before gliding softly under the palm of her hand. The avatar beamed, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Alva be careful!" Grace called out to her, her voice was just barely louder than the sound of the helicopter but Alva could hear her clearly through the communication devices they had. The older woman was stunned when she saw the animals coming to Alva and letting her touch them, that they came willingly.

"They won't hurt me" Alva called back while pressing the button she had on her neck, her eyes were still fixated on the nature surrounding her. It was as if she had zoned out all of them and instead only saw Pandora. "See" She whispered and stroked a hand down the fkio's neck before it flew off to join its family that crooned softly at it.

"Just because one of them is friendly doesn't mean all of them are." Grace warned in a harsh, scolding voice though the warning fell on deaf ears. The scientist had to physically restrain herself from reaching over and slapping Alva's hand away from touching everything that flew past or came up to her. "Are you going to do this with everything you see? What if you see a pack of hungry nantangs? Are you going to pet them too?"

"Silly Grace" Alva giggled, the sound light and breathy. She tucked her hands back to her sides but her legs kept kicking in tune to a song only she could hear. "I'm not stupid, of course I won't try to pet the hungry nantangs. I'll feed them instead!" She declared proud, her chest puffing up slightly and her chin turning up to the sky.

All of the people in the helicopter facepalmed in unison, matching sighs filling the noisy air. Alva tuned them out, she had long since learnt that people didn't like her because of her being different and that they didn't understand her. People fear what they can't understand, her grandmother would always tell her after Alva came home upset because of other children or even teachers being mean to her. The pack of fkios flew away and the end of the clear blue water came.

The avatars and humans flew past great big trees that were bigger than anything Alva had ever seen before, and she couldn't even imagine how big they were when she stood on the ground i front of one of them. She could just imagine seeing the dark bark with twinges off green to it and with vines, flowers and other things snaking along the branches and thick trunk of it. She wouldn't be able to see the end of it even if she craned her neck all the way, she imagined that all she would see was the trunk just going on forever. The trees below the taller trees looked like baby trees that were still growing and reaching for the sky but she knew that even those trees that looked small now were bigger than any tree on Earth.

Trudy lowered the helicopter slightly to give them a better view of the talioangs that were crossing the watery ground in a big pack. Alva saw them before any of the others (with the exception of Trudy), which surprised her given that Grace had been an avatar much longer than her and should be much more attuned to her Na'vi senses.

"Sturmbeest herd coming up on your right" Trudy informed the other drivers and her companion with a slight smirk tugging on her face.

"Got it, thanks" Grace responded and pointed at said herd of sturmbeests, making Norm push his way past the only other human in the helicopter to get a glimpse of the animals before they fly past them. "Looks like the bull, a dozen cows and some juveniles"

The bull bellowed loudly as if he could hear them talking about him and his impressive herd. They flew past the animals fast, giving Alva not a lot of time to watch the animals. She almost frowned at that but quickly pushed that away and replaced it with a grin because she had seen the animals.

They flew down the waterfall and Alva had to physically restrain herself to keep herself from reaching out and touching the rushing water right in front of her face. If it had been just that one waterfall she could probably have done it, but Trudy decided to fly right next to the other waterfalls next to the one they went down from. This time she couldn't help herself from tentative hand out to sweep through the foamy water.

"Alva!" Grace barked irritated at her, making her sheepishly smile at the woman and moved back inside the helicopter. Grace glared at her with a clear threat in her eyes. "Keep your hands and feet inside the helicopter"

In response to the scolding Alva did a thumbs up, curled into a little ball on the floor and wrapped her arms and tail around herself. "Is this good enough?"

"Yes, now stay that way until we get to the ground" Grace snapped at the curled up avatar, while pinching the bridge of her nose in between two fingers. She hoped that they would land soon so that she wouldn't have to worry about Alva falling out of the helicopter and possibly kill her avatar.

Alva tried to contain the giggle that was threatening to come out but little parts of it managed to sneak past her lips and out into the tense air. "I can't wait to land"

---

Some lone yerik hopped away from the spot Trudy had decided to land on. It was only now that Alva realised how big everything on Pandora really was. The helicopter that looked huge when in human form was nothing against even the smallest of trees on Pandora. The area that they landed in was green...and green... and more green. It was like they were stepping into an ocean of green and the only thing to break that green was brown tones on roots and trees. Alva wasn't complaining, she thought it was beautiful, and she was happy to be free of the cage that is Hell's Gate. She dreaded going back for now she knew freedom and would never come close to settling in captivity.

It had gone quiet in the helicopter after Grace scolded Alva and the silence was only broken now by the sound of Jake loading his gun, not that Alva understood why he would ever need one, but she understood that not all could understand Pandora like her.

As soon as the helicopter touched the ground both she and Jake jumped off the flying machine, with Jake immediately scouting the area with his gun loaded and ready to kill what he thought didn't deserve to live anymore. Alva on the other hand stretched her body, leaning backwards as far as she could go, which was far because of all her years of doing limbo dances on parties. She groaned her satisfaction after a several loud pops and cracks from her stiff limbs. "That was a nice one" She commented after a particularly loud one that felt like heaven when it popped.

Next the only human except for the pilot jumped out of the helicopter and much like Jake had his gun raised and ready, only this one was human sized and looked as threatening as a baby ant wearing a hat. The grass that barely came up to the avatars waist, or in Alva's case, to her waist, reached almost all the way up to the human's neck. That little fact made Alva wonder what kind of protection he could actually provide against whatever threat Grace wanted to be protected against, maybe the Na'vi? but they would manage to kill them within seconds, with or without the human with the baby gun.

Grace motioned for Trudy to shut down the helicopter but when she realised the pilot either didn't care to understand what she was doing or actually didn't see she pressed a hand to her communicator. "Shut it down. We're gonna stay a while."

Trudy obeyed and shut the noisy machine down which slowly made it less loud and less windy. Alva's hair fluttered and flew in the wind caused by the rotor blades and she sputtered slightly when some of her curls found their way into her mouth.

"Norm! Your pack." Grace loudly told Norm who had forgotten his backpack on the helicopter. The scientist, and the other avatars (Except for Alva, who refused to change clothes) had changed into more fitting clothes, not that the new ones helped camouflaging them or anything. Grace had tied a piece of fabric, that was the same color as her shirt, and had tied it as a bandana. All the Avatars had changed into sand or beige colored clothes, and wore shoes for some reason that was beyond Alva.

"Stay with the ship. One idiot with a gun is enough" Grace told the human who tried to follow them. She already had Jake, she didn't need more guns with her.

"You the man, doc" The human muttered and walked back to stay with Trudy and the helicopter.

Alva lightly pushed the man before following after the rest of the avatar gang that had already begun their walk, without telling her, might she add. She jogged past an already out of breath Norm who only looked at her with blank eyes that had just a little bit of a hint of frustration to them, and Grace who only stared at her with those stern eyes she always had. She walked calmly next to Jake who was looking tense and skittish, he told her ones that there was no such thing as an ex marine, and it was only now that she was slightly beginning to understand what he meant.

She was tempted to scare him but reigned herself in, she didn't fancy getting herself shot on her first time outside of the prison walls. Bugs flew all around them but didn't seem interested in biting either of them, except for Jake who had a couple of bugs on him. As they walked further into the forest the more exotic things seemed to appear: two big red curly things that Alva thought looked exactly like a mix between a lobster tails and an octopus tentacle, and flowers of all different colors, some that she had never even thought could belong on a flower.

The cooing of a syaksyuk made Jake flinch and direct his gun towards in one fast, practised movement. He followed the movement of the blue and green animal with cautious eyes. The prolemuris squealed and stared at the armed avatar while hanging onto a branch with its four arms, staring right into his souls with those big orange eyes.

"Prolemuris. They're not aggressive" Grace told Jake and they both watched as the animals swung away from the scene. "Relax, marine. You're making me nervous" She snapped at him and pushed down his gun before pushing her way past him and took up the lead.

"Why do you need guns anyways?" Alva asked after breaking away from the staring contest she had with one of the older syaksyuk whose curiosity for the avatar had made him stop midchew and stare right at her.

"For protection" Grace almost snapped at the younger avatar but barely held it together. They had only been walking in the forest, or jungle, for about 15 minutes and she was already at the end of her patience with both Jake and Alva.

Alva shook her head, she's safer than she had ever been and here they were talking about guns being protection? Even she knew that those guns wouldn't do anything against barely anything on Pandora, much less the things that would actually attack them. "Protection against what? Why would anything attack us?"

"Listen, Alva, I don't know what people told you but Pandora is a very dangerous place." Jake butted in before Grace could, which earned him a look that he assumed was the closest to gratitude he would ever receive from the stone cold woman.

"I don't get it" Alva responded but after the look they all sent her she swallowed the rest of her question and instead chose to skip ahead of them.

After awhile of silence, one that that group seemed to fall into a lot, Norm decided to ask a question that had been burning in his mind. "So, how will they know we're here"

Alva who was battling to crawl under a low fallen branch stopped momentarily in her pursuit to get to the other side but after hearing the question she wiggled on. It was obvious that the Na'vi already knew they were there. It's not like you can just wander around in their forest without them knowing it, they could kill them whenever they wanted and they would never see it coming. Alva perked up after the almost bad thought and instead focused on the part where the Na'vi was near. It sent a thrilling sensation down to her stomach and every one of her nerves prick with the sensation of being watched.

"I'm sure they're watching us right now." Grace replied and Alva nodded her head in agreement but didn't comment so the rest probably didn't even notice. Grace was pushing away branches from her face but never once did her eyes stop wandering around them, searching for Na'vi or other animals that might prove interesting. Despite how much of an expert people claimed Grace to be of Pandora, Alva could see that while Grace knew more about all of them she still wasn't an expert or even close to one. You could only be an expert if you lived lived on Pandora, like one of the animals or Na'vi.

"Keep moving, Norm" Jake told the avatar who was falling behind from the group. "You too, Alva"

Alva, who had just managed to squeeze herself out on the other side of the branch grinned at the man, showcasing her pearly whites and nodded fervently. "Sir, yes, sir" She even laid a hand to her forehead in a salute as she said the cliché sentence. She skipped over to where they were walking and mocked the serious look Jake had on his face and then chuckled at the sour look he sent her in return.

Grace was already ahead of them by the time they were walking faster. "Keep up, guys!" The oldest of the avatar called back to them enthusiastically.

When Alva and the boys catched up to her she was already drooling over one of the roots she had found on one of the big trees in the area they were in. She had pulled out a big syringe looking thing that was connected to the tablet that Norm had in his backpack that would show them how the inside of the root looked.

Alva didn't pay any attention to what they were doing and was instead dancing around the forest, lifting rocks and climbing on branches that she thought looked interesting and pretty. She had no idea why they chose her to go with them, she contributed with literally nothing, she didn't have a gun, which meant she couldn't protect them against their imaginary threat, and she wasn't into science so she didn't have any science training, which meant that she couldn't help them with that either. She had no idea why she was there, not that she was complaining, of course.

"Where are you going, Jake?" She asked him suddenly, hanging down from a branch above him. She had noticed he was walking away as soon as Norm and Grace started talking science and she couldn't help her curiosity.

"Jesus christ!" He whisper-yelled at her when she dropped down in front of him. "I'm just going to check over here for any threats"

She danged in the branch by her tail now and swung back and forth like one of the animals she had once seen in a movie back on earth. A monkey? Maybe, she couldn't remember what it was. Alva reached out for this shoulders and pulled herself closer to him before she opened her mouth to reply. "Can I join you? They're talking science and I don't know that language"

Jake blew out some air from his nose, making Alva wrinkle her nose in confusion as to why that would be his reaction. "Sure, but you have to stay close to me. Got it?"

"Got it"