The dreamwalker focused her eyes on the target that had been hung by her teacher a fair distance away. The soft wind made it swing gently from the branch it hung from. It had been painted green and brown so that it would blend in with the environment around them. The choice of colors had been her teacher's idea, seeing how he had a lot of experience training the younger Na'vi.

Her teacher stood close enough that she could hear the sharp exhales and exasperated inhales he released whenever she did something wrong, or the short puffs of air he let out when she managed to get reactions out of him. Tsu'tey would deny it of course, but she knew what it was.

"Relax your stomach." He told her, pressing the tips of his warm fingers into the middle of her stomach. "Is too tense."

Alva tried to relax her stomach but his fingers kept her tense. She chuckled and looked down on her bow to hide the slight purple blush that was growing at the apples of her cheeks. Tsu'tey huffed and pushed harder in an impatient way that was showing on his face.

"Tawtute is lazy." He growled and stepped away.

"Not lazy, it's just hard to relax when you're shoving your fingers into my stomach, 'Sey." She told him airily and as soon as his fingers left her stomach she relaxed. Alva looked over at him as if to say 'I told you so' and he glared at her in return.

The Na'vi warrior scoffed and took a few steps forward, grabbed her hand and placed it on his defined stomach. Alva stared wide-eyed up at him, not being able to help that her fingers had already started to trace the skin she had been offered. He stared down at her before grabbing his own bow and in one quick, skilled motion he pulled it, nocked an arrow and hit bullseye on the target, all with his stomach relaxed.

"See, lazy." He told her and stepped away from her once again.

Alva scoffed playfully and sent him a faux glare. "I blame you for that. You're the one who's supposed to teach me and all that." She teased him in a sing-song tone, watching his eye twitch and his tail swing behind him. "At this pace I'll never make it to my iknimaya."

"No student of mine has ever failed before." He declared proudly and defiantly to her statement. "The leaf will not fail, I will make sure of this."

The dreamwalker smiled at his words before looking away once more, his words touching her more than what she had thought they would. "You're trying to get me ready before Jake is, aren't you?"

"Yes" He replied without hesitation, his eyes strong against her turned cheek. "He should not be here." Tsu'tey didn't flinch away from her questioning look, instead he seemed to embrace it. "He cannot see, he is like stone, you are like leaf. Different. JakeSully does not deserve the honor we have given him."

"And I do?" Alva asked in a rare whisper, her eyes a bit challenging and insecure as she looked at him for an answer. "I don't think I can kill an animal, 'Sey. I'm weak."

He sighed out his nose and took a few frigid steps towards his student. "Bug is not weak. It is not wrong to not want to kill animals, the Na'vi only do it when we need to. We live in balance with nature and Eywa, it gives me pride to see student respect and honor that."

Alva nodded and pulled back the string to her bow again. They had started using arrows this lesson but she hadn't been allowed to let one go yet, he said it was too dangerous as she could barely handle the bow without an arrow in it, much less with one. So far she had almost shot the arrow three times, one of them towards her teacher, one of them towards herself and the other one into some random bushes. Her arms were aching and her head pulsing. It had been a long time since she had been allowed to rest and it was taking its toll as the sun kept glaring down at them relentlessly.

"So you like me better than Jake?" She teased him, her eyes sparkling in amusement as he shook his head.

"Yes, ma student." He responded. "No one likes Jake." Tsu'tey said as if it was common information before he grinned. "Could be that he is ugly."

Alva gaped at him before bursting out into laughter. "Did you just make a joke?" Her eyes were wide with surprise and wonder as her body kept shaking with laughter. "That's golden!"

He stared at her as if she was crazy before he shook his head. His ears were flickering back and forth and his tail waved uncertainly behind him as he stared at her. "Yes. I made joke. Did you not like it?" Tsu'tey asked slowly before schooling his features and letting his voice take on that cold tone he usually had.

"Of course I did! It was amazing." She kept on laughing despite the joke not being that funny. It was just so unbelievable that Tsu'tey, the frigid and cold hunter of the Omatikaya clan would make a joke. A joke to her nonetheless. She hadn't expected it and now she couldn't stop laughing because of it. "'Sey don't be like that." Alva dragged out the last 'a' when she noticed the look on his face and the guarded posture. "I like it. You should joke more." Her heart warmed at the thought that he was starting to feel comfortable enough around her to joke and be more himself.

He nodded curtly and then pushed the bow in her arms again. The joking atmosphere around them was gone and the professional teaching one was back. "Stop being lazy, Alva. We do not have much time until the next iknimaya."

"I know." She sighed. Her body was aching from laughing but she embraced it. It was the first time he had made a real joke, and the surprise of it still lingered around them. "But we'll be fine." She continued in a peppy way, back to her normal cheery attitude as she bounced around on her feet. "I will be the best at archery and get the prettiest ikran."

Tsu'tey didn't answer her and instead gestured to the target. He was back in his teacher mode and had no time for childish displays and jokes. They had so much to do and so little time to do it.

Alva shrugged and got into the right position that she had spent gruelling long hours learning before notching one of the arrows she had been given. The arrows had a blunter tip that were usually used with the youngest of the Na'vi to make sure they didn't hurt themselves too badly during training. Given that Alva wasn't far in front of the level of skills the children had, Tsu'tey had decided that it was only right that she too would practice with blunt arrows that would barely pierce the skin.

When she let go off the string it slapped against her underarm and she jumped away from it with a flinch. Alva let out an 'ow' and rubbed the spot with a deep pout. Several bruises had painted her arms in different shades of purple and dark blue.

"When does that stop hurting?" She asked her teacher in a petulant way, stomping her foot lightly against the soft ground.

Tsu'tey snorted and pushed himself off the tree he had been leaning on. "Never. That is why bug must learn to not do that." He gestured to the string that had slapped against the sensitive skin. "It is own fault it hurt."

"Yeah, yeah." Alva muttered and rubbed her arm some more. "What is iknimaya anyways, I think I slept through that class."

His piercing eyes met hers. "It is when student becomes hunter. Ikran makto. Banshee Rider. We will travel on pa'li to Ayram alusìng, the hallelujah mountains." Tsu'tey spun a stick around his fingers as his eyes flickered to and from her and the trees around them. "There you will walk amongst the ikran and one of them will choose you."

"How will I know that the ikran chooses me?" Alva eagerly asked, her eyes practically bugging out of her eyes as she leaned forward.

"It will try to kill you." He shortly responded and looked up at the sky. "You will make tsaheylu and then fly. After that you are ikran makto and no longer student." Tsu'tey placed the stick down on one of the lower branches on the big tree he was formerly leaning on.

Alva nodded and hummed. "When I become-uh- Ikran makto, will I be one of the people?"

"No." He told her before continuing, "you will then go through uniltaron. If you survive the last test then you will be one of the people. You will make bow out of kelutral wood, hometree wood, and then you may choose mate." His voice grew cold towards the end which made Alva spin her bracelets around her wrist in confusion. "If you accept then there will be a mating ceremony before you are bonded for life."

"Who says I even want a mate?" She responded, trying to lighten the mood once she realised how down he had gotten. "Maybe I want to live alone for the rest of my life in a random tree somewhere around here. Maybe I might even come visit you from time to time. Can't abandon my strong warrior." Alva smirked and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Shoot arrow and then talk about mate." He barked at her roughly, his braid swinging behind him as he strode towards her quickly. "We have wasted much time with your foolishness."

Alva shrugged and grabbed her bow and arrow from the forest ground. "The way I see it you were just teaching me more about Na'vi traditions, culture and rituals. How am I supposed to prepare myself for my iknimaya if I don't even know what it is." She responded with a lilt at the end and a pointed look.

"Shoot." The warrior gruffed out with a scowl on his face. "Demon should stop talking so much or I will kill you myself to avoid shame when you fail iknimaya."

"You just said I'd do it." She pressed, trying to figure out how much she could press him that day and when she had to back away. It was a constant game of tug with the honored Na'vi and if she pressed too much she might be forced back to square one.

Tsu'tey snapped his head around to her and gave her the most annoyed scowl he had ever given her. A line was about to be crossed. "Shoot."

Alva looked away from him, shame bubbling up inside of her. He was a respectful warrior that deserved respect, something she didn't give him enough of as she tried to break through his walls.

"Sorry, karyu" She responded and fixed her stance. Alva's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to where Tsu'tey stood. His arms were crossed over his chest, his shoulders squared and face set in a heavy scowl that screamed disappointment.

Without hesitating Alva drew her bow with the arrow in it and let go off the arrow. It soared towards the target with great speed but almost as soon as it flew it fell down to the ground. Useless.

"Do it again." Her teacher commanded her.

Alva picked up the arrow in short sluggish movements while telling herself to stay positive and not let the failure get to her. Still her face threatened to fall and her chest became heavy. She fought on, forcing the negative emotions down where they came from, locking them up in the golden cage she had built for them. The arrow slipped through her fingers once and the cage rattled. A groan escaped her.

She walked back to her original position and drew her bow again. This time she was intent on hitting the target, if only to prove to Tsu'tey that she was a good student and valued his time. This time she could draw it with ease. Alva inhaled deeply and in tune with her next exhale she let the arrow fly. The green and brown of it made it barely stand out against its surroundings.

Alva held her breath as the arrow flew towards the target but once again the arrow fell flat against the ground. Her shoulders sank together but she forced herself to smile, knowing that if she didn't she'd let all of those bad emotions out. She would not succumb to them.

"Try again." Tsu'tey urged her, this time his voice held a patient and kind tone to it, and his eyes had softened significantly. "No Na'vi is expert at archery from birth. It all comes from training. Mistakes are good, ma Alva."

The dreamwalker nodded and grabbed the arrow again. This time she walked a bit straighter and a burst of confidence hit her after his reassurance that even the natives weren't perfect at it from the start. "Thank you." She whispered, smiling shyly at the handsome teacher.

He nodded but said nothing.

Alva once again took her position in front of the target. It somehow seemed to be closer now than before, and the shape of it more defined than before. She narrowed her eyes before shrugging. If it moved then it moved. The arrow was nocked and the bow drew in decent motions. Not bad but not very good either. Alva closed her eyes, inhaled and tried to clear her mind that had been clouded. Slowly it all ebbed away and all she felt was silence and the comfort of Eywa around her. She imagined that Eywa was singing her reassurance in the wind that kissed her cheeks and wished her luck with the slightly less intense sunshine.

She looked at him once more before exhaling and letting the arrow fly once more. Alva held her breath tensely as she watched it make its way towards its intended target. So far it hadn't dropped down, and that filled her with hope. A scene that most likely only lasted seconds felt like minutes to her, every single move of the arrow felt like strong currents and every spike of excitement felt like lightning.

It fell. Again. Just a small bit away from the distance it fell down. Almost there but still not yet. Alva sighed but still felt pride fill her that she had at least managed to almost hit it. That was more than she had expected for herself. Alva looked at her teacher, expecting him to look at her with disapproval but all she could see was his blank face with just a hint of pride in his eyes. The urge to hug him hit her but she resisted. She had pushed him too much already and she wasn't sure he was ready for that yet. Instead she stood there with her mouth open, hair a mess and bow still clenched tightly in her hands. Maybe there was hope after all, she thought as she stood there in that clearing with her teacher, two bows and only the soft sounds of the wind caressing the trees sounding around them.