10

Tommorow morning, me, Grace and Norman were in the lab, packing suplies we would need for the day.

"We're going up into the mountains today. There's a mobile link up at Site 26, that we can work out of." Grace scoffed. "I'm sick of Quaritch and Selfridge micromanaging everything."

Miles wanted to watch everything we did from afar. Just yesterday, he waned me to get a scan up close of the tree, of every level. The tree was a home to the Navi. No one would want their home being recorded by strangers, or especially strangers like Quaritch and the others. We were finally building trust with the Navi, and Grace was concerned he was going to ruin it.

"The hallelujah mountains?" Norman asked, earning a nod from Grace. "Yess! The hallelujah mountains. Ever heard of them?" He barked at me.

"Actualy, I have. Neteyam told me. Too bad you found out about them from books, and I actually have a friend from out there." I smirked.

"I really don't understand why they chose you. You know nothing about Pandora!" He said.

I frowned, already getting annoyed at his childish behaviour. "You're being an asshat Norman. It's not my fault they chose me."

"If you kids are done with your fussing, we have to leave." grace said as she grabbed her stuff, making her way to Trudy. 

Norman and I shared one final glare, before following after her.

When we found Trudy, we loaded up her Samson, and prepared for the flight.

Norman and Trudy were sitting up front, while I sat behind Norman, and Grace sat besides Trudy. Graces and Normans unconcious Avatars were all the way in the back of the samson.

The samson was quite big, but compared to all the things e passed by it looked small.

"See those magnetic formations? We're getting close." Trudy said.

"Yup, we're in the flux vortex." Grace added.

I looked up, as the clouds started to clear, revealing the hallelujah mountains.

"Oh, my God." Norman and I said at the same time. I grabbed onto Normans seat, pulling myself forward to get a better view of the montains. I smiled at Grace in excitement.

"You should see your faces." Trudy smirked at us.

While we finally made it to Site 26, Trudy landed on the mountain it was being held at. "Thank you for flying air pandora." She said as she turned the samson off.

I quickly put on my mask, and went to the endge of the mountain to see the view.

I laughed in excitement, as you could see everything from up there, even the tree of life.

"Y/n, come here." Grace called out, and I did as she said. We went into the shack, Grace a bit ahead of us to prepare the gear.

I was walking besides Trudy, and she went to open up a fridge, revealing the photos of the Navi kids on the doors of the fridge. Honestly, Grace was most deffinetly playing nice to see the kids again. I smiled as I saw a picture of Neteyam and Loak. They were much younger here. Around 15 and 13 maybe.

When you think about it, I was put in the cryo at 15, so even tho I'm 21 I have my 15 year old body. That's not the case with my avatar tho, she looks way more grown up and pretty than I do.

"Okay, Y/n, take this one. It's the least glitchy." She said as she opened a link unit for me. I sat down, waiting for the next step. "Norman,  I need you to operate Y/n's link."

H groaned as he approached me. "Okay. Why are you mad at me?" I asked him.

"I've trained years for this, I speak the language fluently, and you get chased by a tiger and get chosen. And not to mention, you're the one here for the money, I'm here for better reasons." He said.

"Norman!" Grace said to him.

He glanced at me when he realised what he said. "Hey, I-" I cut him off.

"It's fine, just get me in my avatar body." I laid down. I was finally building a friendship with him, and its all going down the drain. "I just want you to know, it wasn't my choice." I said to him.

He sighed and closed the hood of my link unit.

When I woke up in my avatar body, I noticed Neteyam wasn't in his hammock.

"Good morning!" I heard from behind me, making me shit myself almost. It was just Tuk. She was braiding a few strands of my hair and putting beads on the ends. She laughed "Sorry for scaring you.."

I smiled. "It's okay. Do you maybe know where's Neteyam?"

She thought for a moment. "Oh, right. He said to meet you on the third level of the tree."

I nodded my head, and ruffled her hair before I got out of my hammock. I went up the tree, looking for him, until he finally came in sight. 

I wanted to jump scare him from behind, but it didn't work. "You're up late." He smirked as he turned around. 

I scoffed. "It's not easy living a double life."

"There's no time to waste. Come." He said as he started walking up the tree.

"The last time you said that I was almost killed by your dad." I yelled before following after him. 

He was climbing up the tree like a monkey, while I struggled. Regardless he still waited for me every time.

"Wait, I can't keep up!" I yelled.

He sighed as he grabbed my wrist pulling me up. "You have a lot to learn."

"No, I just don't have the strenght to do this."

"Then you will build it, and I'm here to help you." He said to me.

"You're quite good at this." I said as I watched him climb.

"You will be too, as time passes and as we train more." He looked down, grabbing my wrist again and pulling me up.

"Thanks teach'"

He winked at me in return. "Your legs are short." He said.

"Fuck you." He laughed at me as he watched me struggle again, a we climbed

"Wanna take a break?" He asked making me nod agressivly.

We sat on a huge branch which was a few steps away.

"Here." He said before tossing something like a bottle to me. 'Drink."

It was water. And it was the best water I've ever tried. You know when you get in the middle of the night to drink some water? This tasted even better. "Oh my god, water on earth is nothing like this."

He chuckled, before he took it from my hands drinking it. "You're a good student. You learn fast."

"Thanks teach'" I smiled, and he just nodded his head in response. There was a bit of awkward silence between us. "So, where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there."

I pouted snatching the water from him and drinking. He laughed at me. "What's so funny."

"You're such a sxwang, it's ridiculous." I looked at him, a bit confused. "It means moron."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Hey, It's nice to see you laugh. It's safe to say you dont hate me as much." I said before taking another sip, when suddenly he just snatched the water from me making me spill it on myself a little. "Hey!"

He stood up, and started walking away. "We can't waste any more time. Let's go." Neteyam was kind hearted, and a good person, but his mood swings got on my nerves.

One moment hes all nice to me, and the second hes this strict asshole. I decided to keep quiet and follow behind him.

We ended up going to the top of the tree, leaving me out of breath. It was a beautiful view from the top branches tho, but nothing like the mountains.

He gestured for me to stay behind him, as he made calling noises. Before I knew it, a huge dragon like creature flew to us. I gasped and laughed in excitement as it blew wind towards us with his wings.

"Holy shit!" I yelled.

"Do not look in her eye." Neteyam said as he put his hand out, gesturing for me to not step any closer. Quickly looking away from the eyes of the animal, I looked at her wings. It's skin was blue, and it had yellow and green spots and designs all over its body.

He fed a treat to the creature, stroking it's neck as it left happy shrieks."Tam tam, Tanzei.."

He made the bond with the creature, jumping on its back as it flapped it's wings. "What is that?" I asked.

"Ikran is not like horse. You may chose one Ikran, and he must chose you." He said putting something on his eyes, that looking like glasses to protect his eyes. "It will fly with only one hunter, his whole life." 

"When can I get one??" I asked Neteyam.

"When you're ready." He smiled, as he made a noise before flying off into the air. I sat on one of the branches, watching him fly.

The creature sure looked scary, but I couldn't wait to ride it one day. Until the, I have a lot to learn from Neteyam, and he might accept me as a friend until then.