"What's her name?" Alva asked Tsu'tey while stroking a hand down the long, muscular neck of the pa'li.

"Wer'sei." Tsu'tey responded and took a step back from the pa'li. He nodded to the animal before snapping his head back to watch Alva as she introduced herself to the big animal she was petting.

The dreamwalker smiled and nodded at her teacher before turning around to give her full attention to the animal she was cuddling. Her now clean bracelets let out a tinkling sound as she stroked the animal's neck and back, standing on the tip of her toes to reach said back.

She heard Tsu'tey sigh before she heard his deep, masculine voice call back her attention to him. "Are you not... what is word?"

"Angry?" Alva suggested with an arched eyebrow and an easy grin pulling on her already upturned lips. "Why am I not angry? I thought it was obvious why, 'Sey."

He stared at her, face clouded in a hard mask she couldn't see through. Tsu'tey shifted on his feet and squared his shoulders as if he was expecting a blow at any given time.

"Why would I be angry? I forgave you the moment you did it." She whispered to him, fingers dancing along her bracelets as her voice went up a pitch. "There's no need for you to worry about it, my strong warrior. I know why you did it and it doesn't matter anymore."

"I hurt you." He asked but it came out as a statement, a flicker of a grimace flew across his face.

"No." She giggled and skipped up to him. "I told you already, I've already forgiven you for the words you said. Eywa did too." Alva danced around him, fingers occasionally reaching out to lightly brush against him. "I know why you did it, to protect yourself, and that's fine. Your duty and loyalty to your family comes first. I respect that and unless you mean what you say it can never hurt me." Alva stopped in front of him and briefly touched his cheek, feeling the way he clenched his jaw and turned his jaw up.

The hunter stared at her, face set in disbelief. "You are strange, demon." Tsu'tey told her before urging her to mount the impatient animal.

Alva shrugged off his hands and gracefully jumped up on the pa'li's back and connected their tswins without him needing to tell her. Some things are instinctual, making tsaheylu was one of them. "All the best people are." She grinned at him, "normal is boring, don't you think?"

His tail whipped around once before it stilled and the might hunter of the famed blue flute clan stepped towards her, eyes staring at the horse-like creature. His lips were slightly turned down and his eyes clouded with a veil. "Do you know how to ride pa'li?"

She shrugged and winked at him, eyes brushing down the animal's muscly back. "I know how to ride, but not pa'li." Awa giggled and bit her lower lip with a teasing smirk and shining eyes. "Will you teach me, mighty warrior?"

Tsu'tey blanched back at the tone in her voice before his usual frown grew on his lips, a defensive one and a shielding one. His eyes hardened but she didn't mind, it still showed that she affected him, and kept him on his toes. "You think in head." His finger pointed to his head and he motioned to the pa'li's. "Think walk and she will walk."

Alva nodded and leaned down towards the animal's head and closed her eyes. 'Walk', she thought gently, 'slowly', she added after realising how much she left up to interpretation, and she had no desire to be thrown off the majestic animal.

Wer'sei snorted and took a few cautious steps forward. Alva jumped a bit and clutched whatever she could but after a few more steps she calmed down and her movements became smooth and in tune with the animal's. Alva's legs stopped tingling and the rhythmic bumping that came from walking didn't push her up as much anymore. Her old riding skills from when she took a few riding lessons on horseback back on earth resurfaced. Before long Wer'sei and Alva was trotting around the stoic male, who was in teacher mode.

"Not that hard." She proudly told him, her chest puffed out and mouth stretched up in a happy grin. "Just like a horse."

Wer'sei neighed her disagreement and came to a grinding halt, making Alva giggle and fly forward. Tsu'tey scoffed and reached forward to touch the animal on the snout and whispered something under his breath in a soothing tone that made Alva's heart beat faster.

"Don't insult them." He turned away from the animal and up at Alva with the barest hint of amusement in his face. "They are nothing like your 'horses'."

Alva snorted and pushed Tsu'tey's hand away from Wer'sei's neck before placing her own there. The dreamwalker hummed to the animal, a similar tune to when she rescued Kida, before soft vocals tumbled into the rhythm, a rhythm with the animal's heart. "She's a good girl." She sang to Tsu'tey in a soft but still high-pitched, throaty voice. "I can feel the energy rushing through her, her every breath and every beat of her heart." Alva closed her eyes as she hit a high note after finishing her words. "I can feel the presence of Eywa through her, and through everything around me."

"You can walk but can you run?" Tsu'tey crossed his arms and stared at her down his nose. His chin turned up as he turned part of his face away from her as he tilted it upwards.

Alva snorted and brushed her hair back before smirking at him. 'Run', she thought to Wer'sei and threw him a victorious smirk when the pair galloped around him in a tense circle, drawing closer and closer to him, though he didn't move a single muscle. "Do you doubt me, Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan?"

"You are proud, dreamwalker." He told her and shook his head. "Arrogance is bad."

"I'm perfectly humble, dear Na'vi." She teased him and wetted her lips with a slip of her tongue. Her eyes held a spark and her bracelets clinked loudly with each powerful leap the pa'li made. "If anything you're the one who's arrogant."

"I am not arrogant." The last word sounded awkward as he fumbled around for a while, his face twisting up in a dissatisfied frown. "I am a hunter, a warrior of the Omaticaya." His chest puffed out and his stance widened.

Alva laughed and threw her head back. "Ah yes, Tsu'tey, my strong warrior." Wer'sei snorted and glanced over at the Na'vi man following their every move eagerly, his big eyes attentive and curious.

"Why do you call me yours?" He asked her suddenly, voice tentative.

Alva came to a halt and stared at him. "Because you are, silly."

Tsu'tey said nothing, only staring at her with his ears moving around indicisely. Alva stared back at him, making sure to stare into his eyes so he wouldn't doubt her words. He straightened up and frowned deeply at her before walking over to the other pa'li in the small clearing, a bigger male that towered over both Wer'sei and Alva.

He made tsaheylu with the giant beast and mounted it in one smooth, practiced movement that could only come from the years of practise he had. The animal whined softly at first but then impatiently stomped its right front hoof in the soft ground it had previously grazed.

"We will ride." Tsu'tey told her with an air of finality around him as he and the pa'li turned around and trotted in the opposite direction of there Alva was pointed.

She scoffed and trotted after him, her movements sloppy but controlled enough for her first time. "I thought that was what I was doing already."

"No, now we ride." He shot back without looking at her, navigating through the forest with the help of the pa'li. The pair jumped over a high branch that had fallen and Alva gulped before commanding her mount to do the same.

Alva yelped as they soared over the branch but giggled when they came back to the ground. Adrenaline rushed through her and her toes tingled from the height. Never before had she jumped that far, unless you counted when she ran in the tops of trees.

Wer'sei was panting softly as Alva sped up their pace so they could catch up to her teacher and his pa'li. The dreamwalker had a smile on her face, as she did most of the time, but there was something special for her that was connected with riding, be it a gentle pa'li or a mighty palulukan. A pang of longing hit her when she thought of Kida, of the feeling it gave her to rush around in the forest atop the mightiest of beasts, in control of every movement and yet so free.

"Did you know that Jake doesn't wash his hands after going to the bathroom?" Alva asked him after a few quiet moments of riding. "And I don't mean that he misses it sometimes, he never does it!" She turned her head around and stared at him as if it was unbelievable.

"What is bathroom?" Tsu'tey asked her, his face a mix of disinterest and amusement.

"Toilet. Bathroom. WC. Restroom. Hole in the ground you do your business in?" She tried to give him synonyms but he remained confused. "He poops and pees without washing his hands." Alva bluntly told him after her more subtle wordings didn't get through to the stubborn warrior. "Isn't that disgusting."

He gave her a disgusted look and looked ahead again. Tsu'tey looked at his own hands for a second before he scowled and placed them on the neck of the pa'li.

"I know right!" Alva exclaimed with her hands thrown dramatically in the air. "Like can you believe it? I know that doesn't transfer to his Avatar but what if he doesn't wash his hands in Avatar form?!"

"That is no good." He grumpily declared and sped up. "Will talk to Neytiri."

"When's our next na'vi lesson? People keep trying to talk to me and it's awkward." Alva complained and pouted before she turned to him, practically jumping in her seat. "After we finish riding can we practice? Pretty please?"

"No." He told her.

"Why not?" She asked him innocently with a matching head tilt.

Tsu'tey scoffed. "I said no. Listen, student."

Alva made an 'aha' sound and nodded her head. "You're playing that card, teacher."

"Be silent." Tsu'tey told her, practically snarling as his eyes flashed with anger and fingers tightening.

The dreamwalker shut her mouth and crossed her arms moodily. The rest of the ride was spent in silence until they could hear voices coming from the next clearing. It was one feminine voice, na'vi accent, and one masculine, perfect english. Alva's eyes lit up; they were going to see Neytiri and Jake.

Another hunter joined them and together they sailed through the forest until they broke through the forest line and entered the clearing the other pair was practicing in. They came just in time to hear Neytiri laugh as Jake was thrown off the pa'li and into the mud.

Alva giggled and galloped in front of the hunters. "Hey Neytiri, and Jake." She told them, looking down at Jake as she said his name with a teasing grin on her face. " How's it going down there?"

"Shut up." He told her with a glare on his face as he wiped off some of the mud on his face, looking at it with disdain.

She looked back to see Tsu'tey and the hunter thunder their way over, water splashing from the pa'lis hooves and bows held loosely in their hands. Jake tried to stand up just as Tsu'tey stopped in front of him. Alva and Wer'sei walked over to them. She looked at her teacher before smirking at Jake.

"You should go away." He told Jake, looking down on him in every way.

Jake stared back. "Nah, you'd miss me." He retorted, not knowing what exactly he was doing teasing, talking back to Tsu'tey. He turned to Neytiri. "I knew you could speak english." Jake said pointedly and wiped off some mud from his arm.

"" Tsu'tey told Neytiri, mocking Jake who was trying to scrape off some mud off his tongue with his muddy fingers. Neytiri looked to Alva before looking back at Tsu'tey.

"" Alva protested, defending herself before allowing a grin to grow on her lips. "Jake, step up your game. You've been doing this longer than me but I'm already ahead of you. Wouldn't want to disappoint the girl, eh? Eywa is watching you."

Neytiri grinned as she looked back at her student and Alva's eyes widened as she realised the fondness that was in Neytiri's eyes. A dangerous thing given where Jake's allegiances was. The female dreamwalker turned her pa'li around and without saying goodbye to either of her friends she threw them one last grin before galloping into the forest in front of her. She smiled as she heard the thundering of hooves behind her, knowing that her warrior had followed her.