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She lead the man to a place surrounded by trees, in the night giving off a light pink glow. She pointed to a tree before taking a running start and climbing up the roots to a large branch.
"We will be safer up here" she said, climbing up another set of branches, "Your branch will be that one," her fingers pointing to the branch below her own.
"How come I don't get the top?" He asked, trying to climb the tree but miserably failing.
"Because you cannot climb very well, this is an easier branch to reach" she shrugged, setting up her bed using large leaves she plucked from the tree.
"How do I make that thing?" He asked, again like a child. She huffed, obviously irritated.
"Pluck the leaves and lay them down." She said, taking a few for him.
"There," she said, "make it yourself" laying her head on the leaf closer to the tree trunk, immediately falling asleep.
He watched as she entered a deep sleep within a matter of seconds, was she really that tired?
He thought her hair was beautiful, his eyes drifting from her face to her arm. A tattoo caught her eye, the design intriguing him.
He sat up against the trunk and pressed his intercom, "Lyle," he called, "Lyle do you copy" he hissed, trying not to wake her.
In his lap he held the leaves she gave him, trying to leave his message for Lyle before falling asleep.
"Colonel," he heard Lyle's voice in his ear.
"Lyle, listen to me carefully," he said, "I got her to teach me, I will be MIA for some time, do not inform the RDA of my disappearance, I have a plan and I don't want them screwing shit up." His voice was low, whispering.
"I copy sir," he heard Lyle rustling around, "I know a base where I can camp, I will wait there for you Boss man" Lyle chuckled, getting into his sleeping bag.
"Always loyal aren't you Lyle," Quaritch chuckled, "goodnight, I will inform you as soon as possible, this is Colonel Miles Quaritch signing off, for now" he joked, turning off his intercom.
He made his makeshift bed on the branch, hiding his intercom under the leaves, trying to get comfortable. He stared at the girl above her, getting into a similar position. This is quite comfortable.
Now there in the tree, slept the last two people you'd think would ever tolerate each other.
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Lei'wa's eyes fluttered open, the sunlight peeking through the trees casting a light in their secluded area. sitting up on the branch she peered over the edge to see the man still asleep.
"wake up" she hissed, sliding from her branch to his, poking his arm.
"I'm up, whats the rush" he grumbled, rubbing his eyes and turning over to face her.
She was crouched on the unoccupied part of his branch, an irritated look on her face as she eyed his clothes. "You need to change," she said, "First task, make your new clothes, your weird, sky people demon clothes don't help here." she stood up, reaching up to her branch to take some rope and cloth she had packed, pulling some small leaves from the tree.
She got to work, he watched as she made an intricate design with the rope, looping it through the cloth. She attached leaves to the sides to make it special before handing it to him, "This part goes around your tail," she pointed to the rope in an intricate design, "this part is the front, it has an extra layer inside for coverage." she jumped from the branch, landing swiftly on the ground, "hurry up and change," she walked to the small stream that passed through their camp.
Miles struggled to pull up the cloth, trying to make sure it fit properly. He stretched his limbs, he never felt this exposed in clothing.
He climbed down the tree timidly, adjusting his cloth as he climbed down. That was a stupid decision as he lost his balance and fell backwards. The noise alerted Lei'wa who looked back from where she was sat washing her face.
"Why do you make so much noise," she hissed, standing up and walking to him.
"Get up," she said, standing above him.
"Maybe you should help me, sweetheart" he winked, raising his eyebrows.
"Skxawng," she muttered under her breath walking away from him.
He chuckled, before pushing himself up, she looked back at his loud footsteps, "are you stupid?" She asked, already irritated this early in the morning, "take off your shoes" she began to mutter curse words as he took off his shoes and put them to the side.
"This is so weird," he mumbled, letting his feet dig into the grass.
"Deal with it." She hissed, "first lesson, climbing" she pointed to a large tree that towered above them, "lets go."
She began to climb up the roots and onto low branches before pushing herself up onto higher ones, Miles watched in amazement as she made it to the top within a matter of seconds, taking a seat on the highest branch.
"Now your turn," she yelled from the top of the tree, watching as he struggled to make it past the lowest branch.
"Arm strength, what are your muscles for if you won't even use them?" She grumbled, rolling her eyes at him.
His ears perked up at this idea, she watched as his muscles flexed every time he pulled himself up. Her eyes followed his movements. When she caught herself staring she would pinch herself to snap back to reality.
She watched as he struggled to get over the last branch, a small laugh escaping her lips.
He looked up, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, "you laughing, sweetheart?" He asked, trying even harder to pull himself up.
He finally was able to sit up on the branch, taking a deep breath and peering over the edge, "Holy shit, I climbed that?" He pondered, looking at Lei'wa with a smile.
She looked at him, "it took you longer than a 6 year old child, again." She said, pointing to the bottom, "go down and start again" she ordered.
He groaned in annoyance and slid down the trunk. He began to climb once more, trying to get up faster.
"Again."
He repeated the climb.
"Again, move faster."
He grumbled in frustration, climbing up again.
"Again. Use your core," she patted her stomach before slapping his, "go."
"This shit is more tiring than my workouts," he mumbled, climbing up again.
"Faster." She hissed, pointing down to the ground. Deep down she was laughing at this, it was not everyday you had the opportunity to piss off a dream walker.
"Agai-" she was about to order as he breathed angrily next to her.
"No." He hissed, looking at her, panting.
"You listen to me, you are in my territory, you're lucky I didn't kill you when I had the chance. Now again." She commanded, forcing him down the tree.
Finally he made it up in faster time, he looked at her, "are we done now," he asked, wiping his forehead.
"Yes, come, now we hunt" she said, sliding down the tree and to the body of water below. He groaned in annoyance as he made the trip down the tree for what felt like the millionth time this afternoon.
"We will focus on small animals, gradually getting larger over time, alright?" She asked, looking at him.
"Alright," he rubbed his eyes of tiredness.
She pulled out two daggers, handing one to him, "I will demonstrate, you will follow." She said, turning to the water, looking for her prey.
She spotted a medium sized fish swimming along the river. He watched as she got down on her hands and knees and inched closer, her hand reaching out slowly. Just as it was about to swim past she grabbed its tail and pulled it out of the water and onto the grass.
The fish flapped around aimlessly, its eyes widening. She held it down before stabbing the flesh and twisting it inside.
"All energy is only borrowed," she explained, holding the knife in place until the fish stopped flapping, "Once their time has come to an end it must be returned to Eywa," she said, whispering the same foreign words she had said the night before, pulling out the knife.
"Who is this Ey-waa ?" He asked, butchering the pronunciation, she looked at him rolling her eyes.
"Eywa, is our mother, she is Pandora," she pushed aside her catch, "your turn," pointing in the direction of the water.
He sighed, leaning over the water not as gracefully as she did, watching for fish. He saw one swimming up the stream, he prepared himself to launch forward. As the fish was about to pass he lurched forward just as Lei'wa did but he was too slow, he launched himself into the water.
Lei'wa couldn't hold her laughter, falling back onto the grass.
"Shut up," Miles snarled, wiping his face.
"Great job Lyle," she said, looking at the man.
"My name isn't Lyle, where did you get that from?" He chuckled, looking at her.
"I kept hearing it yesterday when I was watching you," she shrugged, "I just assumed you were him, you never told me your name," she sat up on her elbows, looking at him.
"My name is Miles," he said, eyeing the fish on her side.
"Miles," she whispered, sitting up, "Lets eat, I'm hungry," she moved on, standing up and grabbing the fish.
"You can make a simple fire right? Or is that a hard task" She asked, not bothering to look over her shoulder as she failed to hold in a laugh, recalling his miserable attempt to light a simple fire using sky people technology.
"I try, wait what was that laugh?" He said, catching up to her.
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A/N
This is the third chapter of this fanfiction!! Although Quaritch has done some bad things in the movies, I want to give him a redemption arc! What do you all think of this?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took an extremely long time to write 😭
UNEDITED