Rough currents pull her down stream, tossing her about until she's so disoriented that she can't figure out which way to go in order to break through the water. Elena flounders as she tries to straighten herself out; even if she ends up hitting the riverbed at least she'd know which way to go from there, right? Lungs burning Elena kicks and pulls herself through the water with cupped hands, desperate to find her way out of the murky blue waters of the river before her body forces her to take in the lungful of air that her body so desperately needs. There are dark spots popping up in her vision, her legs feel heavy, and Elena's pretty sure she's going to die a very unpleasant death until her fingers sink into sand and grit and mud. The Riverbank. She aches to breath as she straightens herself out and kicks off the muddy ground, propelling herself through the water and to the surface where she breaks the water with a painful sounding heave of a gasp.

She paddles her way over to the edge of the river. Slender fingers dig into the bank, sinking deep into the mud and allowing Elena a bit of leverage to haul herself out of the water and up into the grass growing along the bank. There's a disorienting moment where in Elena tries to see if she's gotten herself injured in some way but she's still catching her breath and focusing is much too difficult at the moment. So she coughs as she curls up in the grass, water spilling from between her lips to add more water to the damp soil beneath her.

About five feet away Jake doesn't sound like he's doing much better.

Elena can't bring herself to really care that they're both in a rather vulnerable position, she's just happy they're alive and not scattered around the jungle floor in little bloody bits that Grace and Norm were going to have to take back to the base. She's woman enough to admit that it had been a close one. If they hadn't made it to the waterfall when they did it's likely the two of them would have ended up dead... Well, one of them anyway. Elena doesn't want to think about it and so she finishes catching her breath, rises to her feet, and makes her way over to where Jake is slowly pushing himself to his.

"We should get up into the trees. It'll be better shelter from most predators and - what are you doing?" Elena asks as Jake grabs her hand and drags her off into the jungle.

Marines, Elena knows, are good at surviving. But there's a difference here between surviving and being stupid. Unfortunately for Jake he's not listening to the scientist, the woman who's gone through years of training, the one who knows the fauna and animals on this planet like the back of her hand. Running off into the jungle half-cocked isn't going to get them anywhere but into trouble. She tugs at his grip, pulls her elbow back enough to put a strain on his fingers, but she doesn't have enough strength to break his hold on her. They stumble through the foliage around them as Jake has no idea where he's going and won't take a moment to listen to Elena's demands that he get his head out of his ass and listen to her so that they can come up with a suitable plan. Eventually Jake must tire out because he pulls Elena under a cluster of leaves and forces her down into a crouch while he goes to work doing... whatever it is he's doing.

Elena watches as he cuts the end of a sapling down to a sharp point before she gently places her hand over his to stop his frantic cutting.

"Jake, we need to get up into the trees." Elena breathes, careful to keep her voice low in the hopes that it will soothe Jake's obviously frazzled nerves.

His knuckles go pale as his grip on his improvised weapon tightens, a muscle flutters in his jaw, and for a moment Elena wonders if he's just going to ignore her. With a huff of displeasure Elena snatches the makeshift spear from his hands and scowls at him when he hisses in protest.

"Jake, you need to take a deep breath and think about this with a clear head." Elena says.

Something in the trees screeches and the pinpricks of sunlight managing to slip through the leaves disappear from view as branches shift and sway. Jake swears under his breath, body falling into a crouch as he stares above his head at the trees, when he decides nothing's coming for his head Jake rises and looks back at her with big, worried eyes. Elena sighs as she moves to push some of the hair that's come out of her braid out of her face. For a long moment neither of them say anything and opt to stare at each other in the near-ominous silence of the jungle around them. Jake deflates first, his shoulders falling as the tension leaves him in a rush of air past his teeth, Elena allows herself to relax a bit once she's certain he isn't going to go back to his task of making improvised weaponry.

"So what do we do?" Jake asks, probably more for Elena's benefit than his own.

"They'll probably head back to base when the sun sets so we need to find a safe place to hunker down for the night, because I have a feeling Grace is going to pull us out the moment she gets the opportunity."

And there are worse things than angry Thanator's roaming the jungle.

"So what? We just wander around?"

Elena rolls her eyes and snaps back with, "It's either that or make for the trees."

The man across from her casts a look up at the canopy above their heads and seems to pale a bit at the notion of climbing up the ancient trees for even a hope at general cover. Elena thinks that maybe if they were closer to the edge of the forest they'd have an easier time, hell, they could have gone back to the old school but that would require either of them knowing how to get there and unfortunately Elena has no clue how to get to the school or the clearing they landed in from where they're at currently. So their options are either climb the trees or trek through the jungle until they find a safe place to hide their avatars. Max is totally going to rip her a new one when they see each other again.

After several moments of discussion Jake and Elena decide to find something a little closer to the ground and take off walking in the general direction the river had been flowing. Jake had muttered water damaging the few useful tools in Elena's pack to which Elena had called him a jack ass. After that the two of them lapse into somewhat tense silence as they make their way through the jungle.

Slowly, so slowly that it's almost unnoticeable until it's too late, the sky begins to darken and there's been no hint of safe coverage for Elena and Jake to hunker down in for the night. At first, neither of them panic, not until the shadows begin to bleed into true darkness and something begins slinking through the inky-blackness behind them, around them. It's enough to put Jake on edge and enough to make Elena actually wish she'd brought some sort of weapon should she need it. There's a noise behind them and Jake and Elena whip around just in time to see a pair of eyes glint back at them in the barely-there-light of the setting sun.

They need to get into the trees.

When Elena turns to tell Jake this she finds he's already ripped the bottom part of his shirt off and has wrapped it around the pointed edge of his spear, he soaks the end in tree sap that's collected in an outgrowth of a tree near them before he falls to his knees and goes digging through his pockets.

"Jake, what are you doing?" Elena's voice is a hiss because she already knows. "We don't need a fire."

Because the fun fact about Pandora is everything has an aspect of bioluminescence to it. Elena's only had the pleasure of seeing pictures of the plants of Pandora lit up during the night hours but at least she'd known it was something that happens. Clearly no one bothered to tell Jake about this incredibly cool trick of evolution and now she's got to find a way to convince him to- "Run!"

Elena grunts as she's once again dragged through the jungle by Jake, the terrifying yipping from the shadows telling Elena that no amount of climbing or running is going to get them out of this mess. Shit, shit, shit. Elena stumbles as Jake hauls her up onto a fallen trunk that cuts over a stream in a desperate attempt to outrun their predators which ends up being a fool's hope as the viperwolves have them cornered. They are so unbelievably fucked.

"Got any ideas?" Jake demands as the pack converges, slinking closer to the light and yipping viciously.

This is honestly Elena's dream and her nightmare all at once.

"Uh, no, not really."

Jake swears and swings his torch at one of the viperwolves while Elena presses herself closer so that they're back-to-back while also keeping an eye on the masses coming at them from behind. She startles at the pained, high-pitched screech that comes from behind her but doesn't turn to look at what's going on as she's locked eyes with one of the viperwolves in front of her and is currently stuck in a stare down that she can't get out of for fear of the predator across from her pouncing. The last thing she needs is one or more of them going for her extremities or her throat.

"I don't have all goddamn night!" she hears Jake yell, "Come on! Come on!"

Elena barely has enough time to duck out of the way as the viperwolves attack. They charge as a unit, blurs of liquid shadow with blazing eyes and too many teeth, Elena tries to think of anything she can that might get them out of this situation but nothing comes to mind and then Jake is being taken to the ground, his torch ripped out of his hands and tossed aside by the Viperwolf that has him pinned to the ground. It's a terrifying thing, watching a friend stare death in the face, and for some reason Elena feels like a goddamn hero. Which she's learned from every horror movie ever is a terrible thing to feel. It usually gets a person killed.

Acting on pure adrenaline and a need to not die Elena does the first thing that comes to mind; she yells.

"Stop!"

Miraculously the viperwolf, whose teeth were inches from Jake's throat, stops short and then promptly whips around to glare are her along with the rest of the pack. It never occurred to her that they'd been focused on the main threat and had kept their eye on her as a prey animal but had prioritized the biggest threat to their hunt. Elena feels incredibly unsafe under their scrutiny but she stands tall and continues on like she would have with the little street dog she'd found living near her house... Well, no, not like the dog that had lived in the alley. He'd been frightened and distant but he'd never once been aggressive toward her so Elena had never had to speak to him in anything other than a gentle, soothing coo. These are not a dog, they are not domesticated, all they know is kill-or-be-killed and Elena's not going to be able to show weakness here or it'll get her and Jake killed.

"Aparate! Back off!" She snarls at it, them, and all she gets in response is a menacing growl to which Elena hisses. "Now!"

The viperwolf pinning Jake doesn't move but it does go incredibly still, like it understands what she's saying and is genuinely considering the threat she presents to it and it's pack mates, and clearly it's not a very big one, if any sort of threat at all. Elena's a scientist, not a marine, she doesn't know how to fight and she's never killed anything in her life. If the viperwolves decide to kill her then that's it, she and Jake are goners.

Thunk!

And arrow lodges itself in the viperwolf's chest; longer than her other body's arm and made of pale wood, staining red where it meets the skin of the viperwolf, leading up to brightly colored fletching fluttering slightly in the wind as the creature falls to the ground and doesn't move again. Elena looks up just in time to see a Na'vi female come flying out of the trees like some sort of forest nymph warrior woman, she notches another arrow and fires at another viperwolf just before she lands above Jake in a crouch. Elena yelps at one of the viperwolves shoots by her, close enough that it's flank brushes against Elena's leg, to charge at the Na'vi female. There's nothing she can do but watch as the Na'vi female swings her bow down to crack it against the head of the lunging viperwolf only to be taken to the ground by another, thankfully she rolls out from under the beast and slips her knife free in time to sink the blade between the ribs of the animal.

Elena wishes she had some sort of weapon to defend herself with but all she's got is her voice and so she allows her body to pull down into a crouch, lips curling back over sharpened teeth, and lets out a low string of growls that cause a few of the viperwolves to go incredibly still before they whip around to face her. It's enough of a distraction for Jake and the Na'vi woman to find their footing and chase off the rest of the viperwolves. There's a strange sound coming from where Jake is, a sort of half-choked whimper. When Elena turns to look... well, she doesn't like what she finds.

Jake is laid out on top of one of the viperwolves, broad hands wrapped tightly around its throat as he bears down on it with his own significant body weight, and the creature thrashes a bit as it chokes to death beneath Jake's grip. Elena's stomach rolls as she watches those bright green eyes begin to dim.

"Jake, stop!" she demands as she marches closer in a half-thought-out attempt to pry him off of the viperwolf, "Let it go! It's not going to attack us now! They hunt in packs, Jake, it's alone now!"

Still a threat of course but no where near dangerous enough for Jake to resort to such a barbaric way of putting it down.

The marine twists his head to glare at her but doesn't pull his hands away from the creature's neck. Elena begins to panic a bit as there's no way she's going to be able to get Jake off of the viperwolf without putting in some serious effort and it's obvious that the poor thing isn't going to make it that long.

"Jake, please let it go." She begs, eyes welling with hot tears that threaten to spill over her cheeks.

It's what truly catches Jake's attention. He lifts some of his weight off of the creature, his discomfort with the situation quite clear, before pulling his hands off its shiny throat and pushing his body weight off of it. There's a rustling behind them- probably the Na'vi female preparing to save Elena's life or Jake's- but the viperwolf ignores it in its desperate scramble to make it to the cover of the trees hidden in the shadows around them.

Once it's gone a tenseness falls over those remaining.

Turning to face the Na'vi female Elena watches as she stalks over to the torch and tosses it into the stream as Jake protests loudly before crossing over to the critically injured viperwolf Jake had managed to stab that's still struggling to survive. It's a pitiful sight; the poor thing paws at the air and tries to raise its head as the Na'vi moves closer but with no where to go and no way to flee it's forced to endure a few more moments of agony before it's put out of it's misery.

"Forgive me, my brother." The Na'vi female says as she touches her fingers to its head, then she's up and moving to retrieve her arrows.

"Look, um, I know you probably don't understand this. But- thanks- thank you. I, we, owe you." Jake says, eyes wide and bright in the blue and green light put off by the plants around them.

"Forgive me," she's praying over another slain animal, "may your spirit run with the Great Mother."

"We would have been screwed if you hadn't come along." Jake continues only to be ignores as the female rises and begins walking away. She must have been following them for some time. Impossible to know how long, really, but Elena would venture to guess that she'd been watching since either the school or the river. "Hey wait. Wait! Where you goin'?"

Elena watches, completely dumbfounded, as Jake takes a few half-jogged steps in the direction of the female that has begun stalking away from them. He stumbles through some plants in his attempt to follow her and Elena realizes that he's not going to stop, and so she chases after the idiot with a muttered curse and silent prayer.

"Slow down a second will you? I just want to thank you for killing those-" he places his hand on her shoulder and before Elena can call out a warning the Na'vi female is whipping around and slapping him upside the head with her bow which lays Jake out in the dirt.

It would be funny if the other female weren't so incredibly angry looking.

"Don't thank! You don't thank for this! This is sad! Very sad, only." The other female snarls out, her English heavy but clear.

Beautiful, Elena thinks it's beautiful.

"Ok," Jake tries to appease, "I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

The Na'vi female's lips curl a bit as she points back at the dead viperwolves littered across the ground behind them. Her eyes are not directed at Elena but the driver isn't foolish enough to think she's exempt from whatever it is their reluctant savior is about to say. Hell, she'll probably end up agreeing with the other female.

"All this is your fault! They did not need to die."

Indignant, Jake offers their savior a look and snaps back, "They attacked us! How are we the bad guys here?"

She, the Na'vi woman, silences Jake by pushing the tip of her bow into his throat. Elena forces herself a step closer in preparation to intervene but stops when she's shot a look by the other female.

"Your fault! You are like baby, making noise, don't know what to do. You should not come here, all of you! You only come and make problems. Only."

And it's not a lie. How many times have humans and drivers caused problems for the Na'vi, accidentally or otherwise. Elena's not stupid. She knows she's here on Pandora for selfish reasons; she wants to learn, to experience, to be part of something bigger than herself, yes, but at what cost? The Na'vi do not want them here. The RDA only wants the minerals they can harvest on Pandora. The humans back on Earth have other things to worry about than the difficulties their actions are putting on the lives of those who call Pandora home. It's not unfair of the female to say they should leave, to claim humans only cause problems, because they should and they do but they won't. And she knows that. So she lashes out with cutting words and maybe even her weapons. How else is she supposed to defend herself or her people?

"Ok, fine, you love your little forest friends," Jake snarls as he rises from the ground, "so why not let them kill my ass? Why not let them kill Elena? What's the thinking?"

The female looks away, suddenly her face conveys a reluctance and confusion that Elena understands intimately, before she turns and meets Jake's eye for the first time tonight.

"Why save you."

"Yes, why save us?"

"You have strong heart. No fear." and this time she cuts her gaze toward Elena who feels awkward at finally being acknowledged by the female in a way that isn't aggressive. "But stupid! Ignorant like a child."

Happy feeling gone.

Jake follows, again, when the female turns and walks off and only pauses long enough to motion Elena to follow after him. Like she's stupid enough to actually linger around fresh kills in the middle of the jungle. It's almost enough to cause her to feel offended at Jake's audacity. She is, after all, the one who actually went through the training for the program and while she might not have a military background she isn't so unaware that she'd just stay somewhere she might end up killed.

"If I'm so ignorant, maybe you should teach me." Jake calls.

"Sky people can not learn. You so not See." Their rescuer snaps back as if she's repeating something for the hundredth time before she leaps up onto an elevated tree root.

Feeling vindictive, Elena slips around Jake and takes the leap easily and pauses long enough to turn and raise a hairless brow at her non-scientist friend. He hesitates another moment before taking the leap himself, landing steadily on both feet and looking around with a wide eyed, "Whoooaaa." He runs to catch up to their savior, grabbing Elena's wrist as he passes.

"Then teach us to See."

Ahead of them the female stops which causes Jake to almost run into her.

"No one can teach you to See." is all she says before she takes off at a trot toward a large root that twists and bends over a large gorge.

Elena's thinking of something to say, something smart and philosophical, something to make the Na'vi woman at least listen to them but nothing good comes to mind as Jake trots her over the gorge.

"Hey, slow down. Look, I think we just got off on the wrong foot and-" he looks down, realizes how high up they are, swallows, and continues, "-you just have to get to know me, us. I'm Jake. Jake Sull-"

Something catches the spear he'd grabbed at some point and spins him off balance. Elena grits her teeth as she adjusts her grip, bends her knees, and pulls him away from the edge of the root with all the patience of a put-out parent. He offers her a wide grin and turns back toward their rescuer who has stepped closer to help. When she realizes that she's not needed the Na'vi female sneers.

"We need your help." Jake says and Elena glares at him before shoving him aside.

"Please."

"You should not be here."

"So take us with you!" Jake calls.

"No. Go back."

Movement from the corner of Elena's eye makes her pull back from Jake and the female, who have begun having some sort of strange silent argument, and moves further down the root to get a better look at the- oh. Breath catching in her throat Elena reaches up and allows the woodsprite closest to her to dance across the tips of her fingers. They look like dandelion seeds, but bigger, and they dance through the air like tiny ballerinas; gleaming and shining and pulsing in the air around them. One brushes her cheeks, another catches in her hair, more drift off while some linger on various parts of her body. Someone is talking behind her, Jake or their savior, but Elena is distracted by the pulsing seedlings brushing her skin.

The warmth that follows them seems familiar, feels like home, and there's a distinct call of something in her blood that makes Elena's bones quiver with wonder. The woodsprite dancing across her knuckles flutters happily as it bounces into the air and drifts closer, closer, closer until Elena is forced to tip her head back so that it can rest on the bridge of her nose between her eyes.

She remembers something from a dream: bright light, warmth, a mother's voice.

Suddenly there is a hand closing delicately around her wrist and the woodsprites- Atokirina- shoot off and away from her in a flutter of white light and pulsing warmth that leaves Elena suddenly breathless.

"You good, Fierro?" Jake asks.

"Yeah. I'm good."

Great, excellent, did you not feel that?

"Come! Quickly, come!" Their savior commands as she passes Elena and Jake.

She seems agitated, Elena doesn't understand why. Well, technically she does but emotionally there's no connection between the way she feels currently and the way the Na'vi female so clearly does.

Sluggishly, Elena follows after the female. She's careful to never stray more than a few feet from either Jake or their strange new not-friend, but she allows herself to experience the jungle in ways she wouldn't have been able to if she'd stayed with Grace and Norm or hadn't gotten separated from the group with Jake. Everything is awake and alive and thrumming with life like Earth hasn't in years. It's untouched and wild and Elena marvels as she's guided through the jungle toward whatever it is their savior wants them to see.