The sheer height of the Omaticaya kelutral was unbelievable. It was twice or even thrice as tall as the tallest trees around, and each pillar as thick as five of them, all twisting together to form the natives' home. It was supposed by mangrove-like roots twisting around the base of it, and though it looked like the pillars twisted into just one, Alva imagined the inside was quite different. Just like on the helicopter ride with the angtsìk, the pa'li looked like specks of dust when compared to the village. Though Grace had told her it was actually several trees grown together into one. Alva couldn't tell where one ended and where the other began.

The last of the na'vi riding a pa'li rode past her and she pulled herself up from the ledge, cold water soaking into her clothes, but she trudged on down the worn path towards where Jake was held. She took a deep breath as it finally hit her what she was attempting to pull off. She was going to walk among them -- like one of them to spy on them. Thankfully the dirty ground she had crawled through had coated the human fabrics of her clothing and made them unrecognizable, now they passed as slightly more modest native garbs as the dried mud gave them more earthy tones

Alva hummed an old Na'vi melody she had heard Grace sing in her sleep once during a long night in the lab. She never had the courage to ask the older woman about it as it would no doubt open old wounds. Thankfully the natives around the path didn't think too much of her, observing her for a second before turning to mutter about her being odd to their peers. Never had she been so thankful for being labeled that as just then.

The closer she got to the opening of the hometree the louder the cacophony of voices joined together in mutual outrage and curiosity grew. A large mass of them stood in the hallowed entrance of the tree, appearing to be staring at Jake as he was pulled to the front by the warriors. Alva sighed and carried on, hoping to Eywa that her poor people skills and tendency to blend into the shadows would allow her to go unseen amongst the people as the extra finger and toe would give her away even if her other physical differences didn't.

Her brisk steps turned into a jog and she slipped into the crowd by the biggest gap between the roots. Alva nodded and inclined her head to some of the villagers that greeted her, thinking nothing of the unfamiliar face, though it wasn't too strange as the clan was a relatively large one.

The insides of the great tree is lit up by glowing insects shoved into sturmbeest bladders, and large cooking-fires, some of which already displayed flayed hexapedes for the night's dinner. They were slowly cooking over the fire, a couple of na'vi cooks basting them in some liquid every so often as they turned the log the meat was impaled on. In the middle of the fires was the helical core of the tree, their staircase, she guessed, in front of which Jake, Tsu'tey and the female na'vi stood.

Some of the natives gave her strange looks, probably because of the oddly large amount of jewelry she had taken to decorating both her forms with. She hadn't thought of that, that that sort of thing held meaning among them.

Alva slipped past several of the na'vi and stood as close to Jake as she could without attracting too much attention. She found herself focusing on Tsu'tey again. He was speaking to two other male na'vi; both of them short but one of them significantly higher in rank than both of them. Behind the na'vi donning a shoulder-covering made of colorful feathers and a headband with some kind of bone or tooth, was a large toruk skull mounted on a pole. It had its own fire hissing under it, casting long shadows on the pale white bones.

Her wrist begun shaking but no sound came from her bracelets that were trapped beneath a thick layer of mud. Her dreamy looking eyes widened slightly but she took a few calming breaths that made them get back to the normal size. Her eyes were drawn to Tsu'tey's chest, which was strong, toned and filled with shining dots. The patterns calmed her down as she traced some of her own while counting his.

"Father." The na'vi woman greeted the stern-faced man, whose face was growing clouded with anger. "I see you."

The male na'vi walked down the petite mound to join his daughter and Jake, who had been pushed behind the woman. He smirks but Jake mistakes it for a smile and grins back, only for it to fall when he catches Tsu'tey's glare from over the male na'vi's broad shoulders.

"Why do you bring this creature here?" He asked her, scoffing at the avatar driver, eyes sizing him up and being none-too impressed with what he found.

"I was going to kill him," she defended herself. "But there was a sign from Eywa."

He glowers at her. "I have said no dreamwalkers will come here, to offend our home! His alien smell fills my nose."

Tsu'tey and a couple of other na'vi who heard the man's words chuckled loudly.

"What's he saying?" Jake asks the native woman.

The woman didn't react to her father's taunts, instead speaking again. "Father, many atokirina came to this alien."

"What's going on?" Jake asked again, tired eyes flickering around the group of unfamiliar faces.

"My father is deciding whether to kill you." She responded with a rough, lilted accent.

"Your father?" Jake echoes. "It's nice to meet you, sir." He steps forward with his right hand stretched out for a handshake when the woman next to him pushes him back with a sharp 'no!'.

The hunters restrained him again, one of them laying their curved blade against his throat, more of them on the way to subdue him for the offense when a loud, commanding voice thundered across the hollowed space.

"Get back!" She orders them. The newly arrived native woman was walking down the staircase and she wore equally as expressive and elaborate clothing as the native woman's father. The Olo'eyktan and Tsahìk then, Alva realized. "I will look at this alien."

A silence falls upon the people at her arrival.

"She is Tsahìk. The one who interprets the will of Eywa." The matriarch's daughter explains to Jake.

"Who's Eywa?" Jake then asks but the woman wasn't answering as she had kneeled before the woman she called mother.

The Tsahìk circled him twice, once without touching him and the other she grabbed both his queue and tail, twirling it around her hand before letting it fall. "What are you called?" She asked him in English.

"Jake Sully."

From the headdress she pulled a thorn-like dagger from its scabbard and with it she cut his chest. Jake recoils, fingers pressed against the wound there. The Tsahìk rubs some of it between her fingers before dragging the thorn to leave the blood on her tongue.

"Why did you come to us?" She loudly asked.

"I came to learn." Jake replied.

She returns the thorn to its home. "We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup that is already empty."

"Well, my cup is empty, trust me." Jake implores her. "Just ask Grace Augustine. I'm no scientist."

If the Tsahìk recognized the name she didn't let it show on her face. "What are you then?"

Jake wetted his lips with the tip of his tongue as he fumbled for an answer. "I don't know. I was a Marine. Of the... Jarhead Clan."

"A warrior!" Tsu'tey exclaimed from his position by the other na'vi warrior. "I could kill him easily!" He raised his bow as he gestured to Jake, but was stopped by the Olo'eyktan pressing a hand against his chest.

"No! This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have seen. We need to learn more about him."

"My daughter." The Tsahìk said and the other na'vi woman rose from her kneeled position. "You will teach him our ways, to speak and walk as we do."

The Tsahìk's daughter's mouth fell open in shock and then anger. "Why me? That's not fair! I only-" when her mother raised a hand the daughter hissed in annoyance but didn't further protest the decision.

"It is decided. My daughter will teach you our ways. Learn well JakeSully. We will see if your insanity can be cured." She glared at him, a silent challenge in the green depths of her eyes.

Jake inclined his head and the older na'vi woman turned to face her daughter again. "He is your responsibility."

The daughter nods and grips Jake's arm, pulling him away from her family and Alva, who could only stare helplessly as he was dragged away from her.

"So it's all good?" He asked her. "You and me-"

"Do not speak." His new teacher hissed at him.

If anyone asked how Alva had managed to come this far, she wouldn't have an answer for them. Somehow she had managed to follow the flow of na'vi up to the second level just in time for dinner. Jake wasn't there but Alva figured his new teacher wasn't going to kill him just yet, not after the very public spectacle she had made when she brought him home.

"Here," one of the na'vi women she had followed passed a wooden bowl with water and a cloth. "You should clean up before dinner."

"Thank you." Alva inclined her head and accepted the bowl, wincing when the woman caught sight of the extra fingers, only to sigh in relief when she didn't comment on it.

The tepid water and the smooth cloth felt like heaven on her abused skin. Blood and mud alike washed off after she scrubbed at it with more force than she ought to have as it left the skin raw and stinging. But she was clean and none of the scrapes would get infected by anything she had pulled herself through. Alva placed the bowl on the floor next to her, letting her hands rest in her lap as she sat cross-legged by the fires.

She was later joined by more of the na'vi people who seemed to flow into the room in large groups. Tsu'tey and the two clan leaders along with the still unnamed other warrior walked in some time later after the food was starting to appear on the stones by the bigger fires. None of them even so much as glanced in her direction so she wasn't caught yet.

The same na'vi who had given her the water passed her a leaf with some bugs on it. "Teylu," she told Alva when she noticed the pointed glances. "It is good. Try some."

"Thanks." Alva adjusted the leaf in her lap, a shiver running through her back when the larvae rolled to the other side of it. She wasn't normally so squeamish but the day had been long and she hadn't quite adjusted to the Pandoran diet yet.

Some singers emerged from the crowds after they had their fill and the silence was replaced by a slow beating of drums and soft vocals. Alva hadn't heard the song before but she understood enough of it to tell the tale of the first Toruk Makto, but she didn't understand the details and so was left in the dark for most of it.

The teylu wasn't half bad, she grumbled to herself as she bit into one. It was an odd texture but the taste was fine, better than she had expected.

She was about to grab another leaf when Jake and his teacher entered the room. The song fell silent and everyone stared at him. Her included.

"Good evening." He stammered. "Please don't get up."

Alva hissed under her breath, shifting in her seat. Luckily the singers weren't too bothered by Jake's alien smell and started singing again shortly after he and his guide sat down in the circle.

"These aliens try to look like people, but they can't." Tsu'tey muttered to the clan leaders, a smirk on his face that only widened as Jake managed to sit down on one of the villager's tail. "He cannot control this body."

"He seems dim to me. And his eyes are too small." The Tsahìk agreed. "Neytiri will test this warrior. He may learn nothing but we will learn much."

Neytiri, Alva echoed in her mind. So that was her name.

"You speak the truth. We must understand these skypeople if we are to drive them out," the Olo'eyktan said.

"I say she will kill him." The warrior to the right of Tsu'tey nudged Tsu'tey's shoulder with a wide-grin.

Alva shifted in her seat so that she could poke the na'vi woman in the thigh. The woman was slow to react to the touch but eventually turned her head to look at Alva. "Who's that?" She asked, pointing at the unnamed warrior.

"That is Ramtew te Rlluhä Tru'iel'itan. He will be the next Olo'eyktan." She said, "Why are you here?"

"To protect Jake, and to live my life free of chains." Alva was surprised to see the grin on the na'vi woman's face before she responded with one of her own.

"Yes, that is your destiny." She declared. "You will join me and my family later tonight to sleep. We will hide your... oddities."