"This is not a surprise." Ngeha said without turning around from where she sat at her desk in the hometree. "It was only days ago that Tsu'tey came with you here."

Alva held a hand over her aching ear. It had stopped bleeding a while back as she walked back to her home but as a reflex she kept it covered all the time. She chuckled and plopped down on the big table in the middle of the room.

"This time it's not my fault." Alva winked at the old Na'vi woman and brushed a hand through her tangled hair, aching for it to get brushed out and styled again. She also had to clean all of her bracelets and rings for they were covered in her blood and the metallic pieces of them would get spots and rust if she didn't fix it soon, but first she had to fix her ear.

"Skypeople do this?" Ngeha asked her after turning around to face her. "Drop hand so I can see ear."

Alva scratched her hand before slowly letting it fall into her lap, revealing the bloody mess that now was her ear, something that would never go away and would be a constant reminder of what he did to her. "How'd you know it was my ear?" She smiled.

Ngeha scoffed and rose from her chair-like seat. "It was clear. You have blood on neck and hand on ear." Her words were heavily accented, showing that she didn't spend much time learning the english language. Ngeha gave her a sceptical look and grabbed her ear, making Alva wince and shy away from her hold.

"Gentle!" She reminded the woman with her teeth clenched together as her sore ear was squished. "It's still really painful." Alva felt the wounds reopening and blood oozing out of the fresh cuts.

Ngeha picked up a wooden bowl and stirred a finger in the brown mixture that had a warm smell to it. The Na'vi woman hummed and brushed a finger along the broken ear, inspecting the damage there before swiping up some of the mixture on one finger and coating the biggest cut with it.

Alva sighed and slouched when she felt the mixture soothing her painful wounds. It felt cold and refreshing but had a slight sting to it that she suspected came from the cuts responding to the earthly mixture that suddenly drowned them. Her eyes watered as she thought back on them, how she had once again been betrayed by the people supposed to protect her and always have her back. Her back straightened when she thought about what she had gained from turning her back on them; Tsu'tey, Kida, Tru'iel, Jake, Grace, Ngeha and many more. If she hadn't rebelled against their cage then she would have never met her warrior, or her animal friend or aunt. Suddenly the pain wasn't as bad, her freedom had been paid for by blood and she would be damned if she would let a few cuts bring her down.

"That feels good." She whispered out as tension left her shoulders and her forehead smoothed out.

"It is what I used on your neck." Ngeha replied simply and smeared even more of the murky substance on her now numb ear. "Why humans do this?"

"The ear or the neck?" Alva asked before rolling her shoulders and grinning at the healer, her eyes dim.

"Both."

She shrugged before sighing and leaning forward. "The neck was for tracking me, I suppose, and to monitor all of the Na'vi places they didn't already know about. The ear-"

"The ear was for mark, no?" Ngeha connected the dots and nodded her head with a frown pulling her wrinkled face down. "Some Na'vi mark pa'li but not many, some mark ikran but not Omatikaya." She continued and set the bowl on the bed next to Alva's knees before turning around and walking back to her cluttered desk.

"Does it look ugly?" Alva asked in a childlike manner, staring down at her feet with a small self-conscious pout.

"No." Ngeha laughed, "like warrior." She gave the dreamwalker a proud smile that made her look a lot younger. "Like survivor. Eywa has blessed you. Now you will have to see Tsu'tey. I will pray that you calm his rage." The older woman rolled the last 'r' on 'rage' and gave Alva a wink before ushering the wounded female out of her room with a 'bye' and a swish of her curtains.

Alva gave the now shut curtains a bewildered look before shrugging, turning around and whistling a merry tune as she walked down the stairs.

---

She continued her whistling as she walked out of the kelutral and into the crowd of Na'vi outside of it. Her ear were stinging a bit while some other parts of it was a comfortable numb, but still serving as a reminder how one of her friends had taken a knife and carved into her because of her love for Pandora.

Her eyes scouted the crowds for Tsu'tey but so far she couldn't find her scowling warrior anywhere, or any of his friends that she had yet to talk to but had spied on several times. Alva shrugged and skipped away towards the forest where he spent most of his time away from the hometree. Alva slinked through the mess of Na'vi people preparing for the day's work and opportunities, waving to the ones she knew before she disappeared into the forest again. It came as a comfort to Alva to live in the forest without all the materialistic thinking that the humans back on earth had, and just surround herself with nature, people and Eywa all day long for the rest of her life and even after that when she had been embraced by Eywa again.

Alva stopped short in front of a tall tree before putting her hand on it and climbing up the thin tree, her motion sluggish and robotic but efficient all the same. Once she got to the top she touched her wet ear before jumping to a higher up branch on a thicker tree that could hold her weight even when running.

She saw a blue figure sitting on a branch a few trees away and she slowed down until she was barely making a sound even as the bark cracked under her feet. Unconsciously a happy smile grew on her weary face and her steps were light as she walked towards her teacher.

His back was ramrod straight as always and his legs hung over the edge of the branch. Tsu'tey was frowning, Alva realised with a regretful sigh, she wanted him to always be happy. Her head turned up to the branch above her and she nimbly reached towards it before pulling herself up just before Tsu'tey's head snapped towards her. Alva laid down flat on the branch, trying to make herself look as small as possible so he wouldn't see her unless he knew she was there.

Once he looked away from her she stood up again and snuck over the branch before crouching and swinging herself over to the branch just over his head, making sure to be as quiet as possible. She froze when her bracelet clicked but when he didn't move she assumed he didn't hear her, or at least was pretending to not have to amuse her, either way it was all the same to her. The branch she was on was a bit in front of him but still high enough that she wouldn't hit her head when she swung down, or low enough that he could see her if he didn't crane his head up to look directly at her.

Alva suppressed a giggle and went down on her knees with her back turned to Tsu'tey before curling her tail around the thin branch. She tightly pressed her feet on the underside of the branch so she wouldn't fall when she swung down before she tilted backwards with a giggle. Wind flew through her hair and made some of it get stuck in her mouth but she didn't mind. She laughed when she saw the startled look on Tsu'tey's face when she dropped down in front of his face with her arms flopping by her head and reaching towards him.

"Hello there." She giggled and patted him on the cheek before she swung backwards.

"Alva." He greeted stoically.

She swung back to him with her hands stretched out to him. "Catch me." Alva told him and wiggled her fingers before he grabbed her hands, making her stay in that position until she let go off the branch with her knees and swinging towards Tsu'tey's branch with her back first.

"Always." He muttered to her and pulled her up to sit next to him on the branch, face set in a heavy scowl.

Alva giggled and plopped down next to him, brushing her hands off on her thighs and swinging her legs back and forth over the edge. "So what are you doing out here? Are you upset?" She tilted her head and grinned at the warrior sitting besides her. "I wouldn't be very happy if someone hurt my warrior." She pulled a straight face before falling into giggles.

"I am not yours, demon." He hissed at her and turned his face away. His lips curled in disdain and he shook his head. "I am your teacher and after that I am nothing to you."

"That's not true. You will always be my strong warrior, Tsu'tey, and my best-friend in the whole wide world." She placed a hand on his shoulder, patting him before letting the hand fall down next to his, an invitation if he wanted to take it.

Tsu'tey frowned down at her before his eyes fell on her ear and his eyes lit up with bright-burning fires and lips curling up to show his sharp fangs. "Who did this to you?!" He snarled and reached out to touch the wounded ear, his fingers hesitant as he observed the mixture coating it.

"Quaritch." She breathed out and closed her eyes. "We match now, 'Sey." Alva grinned and reached towards his ear, tracing the scar there, imagining what it could have been that caused it. His fingers traced each of the curves that Quaritch had carved into it and she could feel his fingers shaking more with each new one he discovered. Alva saw how his body tensed up and how his chest heaved up and down in anger.

"Why did he do it?" He asked her, his voice coming out rough and painted black with held-back anger.

Alva shrugged and caught his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers in a bold move that Tsu'tey was too angry to even realise, though his fingers unconsciously tightened around hers. "Punishment for the tracker, I think, or so they could find me in a crowd of Na'vi if they needed to."

He growled and the hand not in hers curled into a tight fist that made his knuckles turn a light blue and shake as he tried to reign in his anger. "Pxasík." He snarled and ground his teeth. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes." She whispered and traced small circles on the hand she was still holding, using it to ground her to the moment and not float away. "Very much, but it's all good now." Alva beamed up at him, smiling gently with a slight blush coating her cheeks as he intensely stared at her.

"I will kill him." He swore to her, the promise shining clear in his eyes. "I will make it painful and long. He will beg for mercy but I will not give it to him, I will-"

Alva giggled and shook her head, dropping his hand to place hers on his cheek, seeing how his eyes flickered down to it before glaring at her. "You don't need to fight my battles, 'Sey. When the day of revenge comes I will do it myself, with the help of Eywa." She looked around in the forest, listening to the bird-like sounds calling out to her. "My strong warrior always looking out for me, protecting me against those who hurt me." Alva stroked his cheek before letting it drop to his face, knowing she was almost at the border of how much she could push him before he pushed back.

"He hurt you, I hurt him." He replied as if it was obvious. "Why do humans hurt their own?"

"I'm not one of them." She reminded him, looking away from him and at the horizon. "Not anymore. Sacrifices had to be made and that was one of them."

"Na'vi do not hurt each other, not like skypeople do. We war but with honor and duty, not to our own." He told her with absolute conviction in his voice, making her grin and curl her tail around her leg. "Here you will not be hurt like with demons. Here you will be a strong hunter." Tsu'tey thumped his chest.

Alva giggled and nodded. "Here I will be strong." She agreed and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling the way he was still shaking with anger. "You'll make sure of that, won't you, teacher?"

Tsu'tey briefly grinned at the name before his face set in stone once more. "I will teach you to be honorable hunter of the Omatikaya and one of the people, I will teach you how to be Na'vi. Then when you get mate he will teach you the rest." She heard a pang of regret or sadness in his voice but she shook it off as her imagination.

"What if I don't want a mate?" She asked him with a playful grin as she looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Then you will be strong hunter on your own." Tsu'tey responded with a nod. "You would have strong children, you are strong like a warrior." He gestured to her ear and neck before his fingers ghosted his own ear with a ghost wince.

"Ngeha said the same earlier when I went to see her. Are you sure you didn't talk to her before sulking off into the forest." Alva chuckled and cuddled closer to him. "Seems like you two share a lot of opinions, is all." She continued.

He looked at her weirdly. "No. I have not talked to Ngeha today."

"It was a joke." Alva explained, laughing at the look on his face. "You're so serious all the time, 'Sey." She continued before cuddling up to him as they watched the view of Pandora stretching out in front of them.