"I'm so proud of you, Alva." Grace had told her before the heavy lid of the linking device shut.

The stoic woman's approval and pride didn't send that familiar feeling of happiness that it used to. Alva had nodded once with a tight smile but otherwise felt nothing at the woman's words, that if anything scared her. When did Grace's opinion of her stopped mattering?

The day of her iknimaya was a long awaited one and she had spent her last days as just Alva training in every way she could. She trained her hand-to-hand combat with Tsu'tey, Tru'iel and her new friend Vek. She trained her bow skills for the first hunt on her ikran, she did arm workouts to strengthen the muscles there for when she had to capture her ikran and she meditated for her uniltaron.

Vek was a short Na'vi who was second in charge of the cooking in the clan and it was his mother who was in charge of the whole operation. They had met when she tried to steal some fresh yovo fruits from a wrapping on top of one of the shelves in the main cooking area. At first Vek had been upset that someone tried to steal his snacks but after she gave the fruits back to him he calmed down and over the course of the days they had grown to be friends. He wasn't as strong as the others or as skilled but Alva needed the variety of fighting styles.

Neytiri had helped braid her hair in a style similar to hers, and placed different colored beads and flowers in the thin braids. Alva's scalp had pulled and burned uncomfortably for a bit but she slowly got used to the feeling of having tight braids again.

"Good luck." Neytiri had whispered to her after finishing the braids.

"Thank you." Alva had responded shakily. She was already nervous but she appreciated Neytiri's kind words.

Now she stood staring at the group of Na'vi already on top of their pa'lis with a blank look in her eyes and lips stretched into a thin line. Where was Tsu'tey? Where was her strong warrior? Alva bit her lip as worry gnawed at her. He wouldn't miss this big moment, would he?

All her worries went away when his voice sounded behind her. "Why are you not on pa'li?"

"Tsu'tey." She smiled and spun around. Alva clapped her hands together and looked him up and down, appreciating the clothes he was wearing and the proud expression on his face that was mixed with slight irritation. "I was waiting for you."

He inclined his head before ordering one of his other students to bring over two pa'lis for them. Tsu'tey turned slightly towards her and hesitated for a second before speaking. "Are you....excited for iknimaya?"

Alva giggled and nodded fervently. "Extremely. I'll finally get my own ikran." She gushed and spun around in an excited circle, making some of the present Na'vi shoot her weird glances. "Oh, 'Sey, think of the adventures we'll have."

For a split second fear flashed in his eyes before he mounted his pa'li. He shot her one last uncomfortable look that was mixed with amusement before he escaped her. Alva shrugged and got up on her own pa'li, used to the strangeness of her teacher and his flighty behaviour.

"Let's go catch some ikrans!" She called out to the others before galloping after her escaping teacher and friend. "I call dibs on being first!"

---

Stones fell off the mountain that they and their loyal pa'li were steadily climbing. Nerves tingle in Alva's stomach and a constant grimace was on her face. Usually she was fine with heights and all of this but the tingling in her body from the height mixed with the nervosity was not a good mix and all she was left with was a permanent urge to throw up.

No one was talking during the ride. She assumed they were all as nervous as her. Not many Na'vi failed their iknimaya but the fear was still there. What if no ikran chose them? What if they failed in making tsaheylu? They had trained all their lives for this and Alva hadn't. She felt almost undeserving of their place there, like she wasn't ready.

She knew what the next step after this would be- uniltaron, the dreamhunt. No dreamwalker had gone through it before and that thought both scared and excited her. She would be a lot of firsts, including this one and uniltaron. A worrying thought that she couldn't let go of was that even the Na'vi themselves sometimes die during this rite of passage and that made her wonder what her chances were. Of course she wasn't afraid of dying, she had been looking forward to meeting Eywa in person, but death wasn't something that she actively sought out. Alva would die when she was meant to, and if that was sooner rather than later then so be it.

She craned her head up to look at the floating mountains of Pandora. They were infamous even on Earth for their beauty but the few pictures the RDA had gotten off them didn't do them justice. Clear blue sky with not one hint of a cloud anywhere, bright, warm sun and a cool refreshing breeze. The mountains themselves were huge, these more so than the one they had set up camp on, and had long, strong vines hanging off the bottom and ends of the gigantic rocks. Some of them had mist floating around and waterfalls pouring over the edges. They cast big shadows over the company of Na'vi and Alva as they slowly made their way up. Some of the bigger ones had smaller rocks attached to them by branches, roots and vines, some of them even having several small ones that almost resembled stairs. The name was fitting; Iknimaya- stairway to heaven. Alva could see and hear some of the screeching ikran and the outlines of some that lounged in the sun on various mountain. The Mons Veritatis mountain had many roots, vines and crawling plants that had grown together and had almost sewn together to create pathways and binding smaller floating islands together that allowed the Na'vi to climb to the top and bond with an ikran.

Alva looked down at the bountiful forest beneath her and immediately felt that tell-tale tingling in her toes that slowly spread through her legs and to the tips of her fingers. Most of what she could see was the crowns of trees, green as they come, the occasional meadow that hinted at the beauty that the trees hid, large bodies of water with several specks that could only be animals around and in them, mountains that stretched towards the sky but was bound to the ground, never to fly amongst their family.

"You are afraid of height?" One of Tsu'tey's other students asked with a mocking tone in his voice. "" He called out to his friends when she didn't respond. She was too busy taking in the views to be concerned with his childish behaviour.

"" She shot back with an irritated flick of her tail. ""

The Na'vi male cackled and looked at his friends who all laughed with him, and at her. ""

"." Alva sent him a forced smile and returned to watching Pandora.

"." One of the others in the group commented neutrally.

The same male from before chuckled. "" His friends chimed in laughing.

Alva sighed at their comments. "" The last sentence had a slight hiss at the end. She was tired of people underestimating her or judging her based on the small things.

The laughing stopped and tense silence took its place.

"." One of the shyer ones broke the silence, apologetic at the way they behaved. ""

"" Alva whispered and clenched her hands. "" She winced when even she could hear how badly that came out. "You don't have to be mean about it." Alva continued in english, not in the mood to entertain the others any more.

Silence fell upon the group again and Alva was left to her thoughts once more. This time it was about herself, how she had changed in the small time she had been with the Na'vi- how freedom had changed her and how confident she had gotten. Nowadays she barely had the need for her mind to take her away to happier places. It shocked her how much she had come out of her shell, a good shock.

They reached the part where the pa'li couldn't take them any further and they all dismounted and watched the pa'li begin the trek home. It fascinated her how they always seemed to find home no matter where in the forest you left them.

Tsu'tey took his place at the front and pointed to the vines that hung from the closest mountain with a stern look on his face. Alva resisted the urge to itch her forehead in fear of ruining the beautiful yellow v that had been painted there.

""

Alva had zoned out and now she had no idea what he had told them to do. She nodded anyways and watched as her teacher jumped off the mountain top and grabbed one of the vines that were moving closer to them. Her heart skipped a beat before he safely grabbed a hold of it. It was in things like this that Alva saw the sheer strength he carried and the instinctual way he moved in the forest and everywhere.

One by one the Na'vi students jumped off the mountain top until only Alva was left. She gulped and stared at them. For the first time in awhile she was scared. Her arms still weren't strong and compared to the others she couldn't jump as far. Though she was used to jumping around in the forest and this couldn't be that much different, could it?

Alva gulped and forced herself forward, pushing through her almost crippling fear. Her steps got faster until she was running and before long she had jumped off the ground. The feeling of freefalling in this way was unlike the secure feeling she had when falling in the forest. In the forest she would be caught by either branches or the harsh, unforgiving forest ground but up here she would fall to her death before anyone could catch her.

Panic started to build in her chest as she watched herself come closer and closer to the vine as if time had slowed down. Her breathing had grown short and shallow but a rush of adrenaline and excitement still pulsed through her body. Like many times before the feeling of fear turned into excitement and she instead of the steady sense of fear and panic she now felt them ebb away and feelings of laughter and such took their place.

Time snapped back into place just as Alva touched the thick vine. With an audible 'oof' she swung forward, gripping it all she could. It was then she realised that she was hysterically laughing and that her shortness of breath was not out of fear but out of fun.

Tsu'tey shot her a concerned look and then nodded before climbing up the vine. Alva followed suit quickly, climbing was her thing after all.

---

The rest of the journey to the ikran nests were done in silence but they could all feel the nervosity and excitement fill them as they got closer and closer. The closest Alva had gotten to one of the winged animals was when Tsu'tey had shown her Yllä- his grumpy ikran who seriously needed to go out flying more often.

The mountain that held the main colonies of the mountain banshees and the banshee rookery where they would search for their ikrans. It had a gigantic waterfall that connected to the small grotto they stood in. It created a thick mist around them that clouded the mountain from view. The screeching of the animals were the loudest here and by Eywa there were a lot of them. Must have been hundreds of ikrans in this place alone, let alone on the whole mountain.

Alva couldn't stand still. The rush from before still surged through her veins and coupled with her usual restlessness this was a recipe for disaster. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were already dirty but she was smiling like usual.

"Can I go first?" She asked Tsu'tey with her best puppy eyes. She was practically bouncing on her feet and swinging the meresh'ti cau'pla- banshee catcher, around her hands. Usually the Na'vi would train for years to use it correctly but she was going to wing it, like she did with everything else. She had gotten this far after all.

He glared at her for interrupting him but nodded yes anyways.

Alva thanked him before throwing her arms carelessly around him and bounding off on the thin ledge that would take her to the main area where the ikrans hung out. For once she had chosen to wear none of her bracelets, or rings or anklet and she was feeling very naked and exposed without them.

There weren't as many ikrans waiting on the big platform when she stepped off the ledge. Still it was crowded and it was practically a sea of different colors coming from them. There were ones that held stunning shades of blues, greens and purples and then there were those that held darker shades of brown, grey and black. They were all beautiful, she decided. All different color combinations and sizes.

The banshee catcher weighed a ton in her shaking hands but at the moment she felt no fear, only excitement. The others had joined her on the platform now and she could hear the advices and encouragements they were shouting.

"Remember tsaheylu, Alva!" Tsu'tey had reminded her. He was tense and constantly moved around as they watched over her.

Alva skipped forward and pouted when she saw so many of the ikrans move away from her. There was one particularly stunning one, it was average in size but had the nicest shade of light green that she had ever seen. She was sad to see it go.

It took a few minutes of moving around the platform before she literally stumbled upon her ikran. It was Alva let out a soft gasp as it screeched at her and got up. The main color of it was a deep, smooth indigo that stretched across the long wings, covered most of the body but stopped where the head began. It had teal and a so dark blue that it almost appeared black stripes and shapes on the body and wings and in a beautiful blend from indigo the blue covered the head of her ikran. It was even more stunning than she had imagined. It had steely grey eyes with faint golden flecks in the middle and they were narrowed into a harsh glare.

Alva took a step backwards in shock but at the sound of Tsu'tey's disapproving snarl she stepped closer again. She corrected her stance and swung the banshee catcher once in her hand before she with a battle cry jumped at it.

They tumbled together on the ground. She kicked and tried to push it off of her as it fell slightly on top of her left leg, restricting her movement. It hissed at her and snapped its jaws at her face. Alva recoiled and with a strong push forced it to get back on its stomach. Immediately she tried to wrap the catcher around its snapping jaws and eyes but the ikran kept twisting and turning.

It threw its head back at her and Alva fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Her ikran got up fast and turned towards her, lunging with the talons first. She rolled to the side, once, twice as the beast tried to scratch her before she forced herself back on her feet. Alva exhaled sharply, staring the beast straight in the eyes, crouching slightly before she once more jumped towards it. This time she managed to get on its back and lock her legs around its head enough so that she could force it back on the ground after it tried to lift off the ground. It snarled, hissed, screeched and yelped but Alva wouldn't let go until tsaheylu had been made.

It was then that Alva realised that she had forgotten her catcher in the rolling earlier and she now had no way of controlling it. She screwed her eyes shut and groaned loudly. Tsu'tey had asked her to do two things and two things only: DON'T LOSE THE BANSHEE CATCHER and DON'T FORGET TO MAKE TSAHEYLU. And what did she do? She lost the banshee catcher and now she sat on its back like a dumb fool.

It was the sharp bucking of the ikran beneath her that brought her back into the present. Ignoring the sharp yells of the others she decided to make tsaheylu without the banshee catcher. It could either be the thing that saved her or the very thing that killed her.

Alva made sure that she had a good grip on the ikran before she reached behind her and grabbed her tswin much less gentler than she should have but the sharp twinge of pain was barely felt. Still struggling against the bucking and twisting ikran she shakily brought her tswin forward and attempted to make tsaheylu.

It took several tries and the more time that passed by the more frustrated she got. Alva was on the verge of tears when she finally brought the two tswins together and formed the bond. The ikran fell lack to the ground, its breathing steadying and fight dwindling away.

Alva panted heavily and cursed every god she knew the name of. Her legs were burning, no scratch that, her whole body was burning and she knew that she would spend the whole next day in bed sleeping it off.

She had barely any time to get used to the feeling of being bonded with her ikran, feeling the way it breathed, the way it moved, the way it screeched softly and the way it begged to fly, before Tsu'tey had ran towards her and practically pushed both her and her ikran off the platform.

With a scream of pure excitement Alva and her ikran dived from the mountain and into the sky.

AN: This is a long one and Alva finally passed her iknimaya:))