It was confusing why the anthro thanator wanted Asim to accompany her to the same place. The Tree of Voices being the place, but he knew that soon the reason would be given.

The scenery of the beautiful place hasn't changed since the last time Asim was here with Layontsin. In fact it looked the same as before, filled with light and with life all around them. The woodsprite continued to float around, swimming in the air as they traveled around gracefully. Above the place in the night sky, the large blue gas giant, Polyphemus, along with several of the other moons visible, helped light up the forest night. Layontsin and Asim traveled across the forest ground, making their way towards the sacred glowing trees up ahead. The anthro thanator sped up a little as she looked back at Asim and smiled, letting out a chuckle as if she were instigating Asim to catch up to her. Which worked as Asim gave a smirk and sped up to catch up with her, not worried about anything now. When Asim got close, Asim used his hand to tug on the flat tail from the anthro thanator, making her yelp a little and turn at him with a glare. They momentarily stopped as Asim made an innocent gesture, not dropping his smile as Layontsin stared at him. The anthro thanator didn't lash at him, but instead continued to smile and then nudge him with her tail before they both resumed traveling. Once they made their way over the river that surrounded the place thanks to the root bridges, they began to slow down and eventually stop. "So...why did you bring me here again?" Asim asked, curious as they have already arrived at the place once again. The anthro thanator glanced back at him and gestures with some of her four hands to follow her as she made her way around the trees, Asim resuming following her.

They slowly walked into the large group of glowing trees until they came upon the largest of the bunch at the center. It was bigger than the rest, but way smaller than the Tree of Souls. Layontsin went to that tree and sat down near the base of it, looking to the side at Asim and gesturing him to sit with her. So, obeying, Asim made his way and sat down in front of the anthro thanator, settling down comfortably. "Now that you are part of the clan, I wanted to tell you something. It is very important, and I am not sure if I have told you." Layontsin said to Asim. "What is it that you wanted to tell me?" Asim said to the anthro thanator. Layontsin paused for a moment, observing the woodsprites that slowly floated around the place they were in. "Asim...you have grown to be very important to me. At the start, I didn't care a single bit if something happened to you. Now...it's different. I care about you. And...I....I have grown to love you. As a mate." Layontsin said, face seeming flustered as her tail twitched nervously behind her. This didn't come to a surprise to Asim, as he himself and Mikhail have already known about that. Yet, hearing this confirmation from Layontsin herself, was a bit more surprising than before. However, Asim understood; she was like him, trying to find a connection with one another despite being vastly different from each other. Now, things were more clear now as the majority of his doubts and worries were cast aside. This wasn't something related to what he has been trained to do or something he should avoid. What mattered now was what he chose for himself like he and his friends have done long ago. So yes, thanks to what he has gone through and that he has been given a chance at a free life like the rest, Asim came to one conclusion:

Compassion and love that he has grown to feel once again were now within the reach of understanding. And Asim truly liked it.

The sudden rambling of the anthro thanator is what snapped Asim away from his mind zoning out. "If you still think that I am not worthy of being your mate, that is fine. There are others in the clan that can be good mates. Or, if there is any luck, we can go out far and find a good skyperson—" Layontsin began, becoming excursive as she looked down and clenched her hands a bit, before Asim reached to her hands to stop her. He held on to her hands tightly in order to stop her from continuing, successfully making her look at his face again. "Stop it. Please. Layontsin. I...don't want anyone else, be it na'vi or another human." Asim said, loosening his grip on the anthro thanator's arms and moving them to hold her palms. "Really? Then...if I choose you...then what would you say?" Layontsin asked as she looked him in the eyes. Her predatory eyes were softened once again, and were noticed that they still had some doubt in them. It was then that Asim understood that she wanted him to confirm that he loved her. So, moving his hands to hold the anthro thanator's hands up a little, he gave a nod at her as to say "Yes. I choose you as well". When Asim saw Layontsin see this, he noticed all her worries that were shown in her face vanish in an instant. Then she opened her mouth to speak, and to his surprise she spoke in the best learned English she could:

"I. See. You" she said, smiling in the most proud she has ever been seen.

Asim heard her words and smiled brightly, understanding her completely and the meaning behind those words. "I see you too, Layontsin. More clearly than ever." Asim replied to her. In response to this, the anthro thanator gave what seemed to be a happy growl before suddenly pulling him into a large and tight hug. A breath nearly escaped Asim, but he managed to chuckle and be endeared by this whole gesture of affection. While she hugged him, Asim moved his hands to slowly hug her back in the proper manner so that their embrace could be complete. After a moment Layontsin let go of the hug, but still kept her hands behind Asim. She looked down at him before moving her snout to nuzzle his face and then give him a lick with her tongue. This made Asim giggle a bit as he felt the wet tongue coat his head with a bit of saliva, making him feel queasy but in a good way. "Still feels gross but I'll allow it." Asim said with a chuckle, not dropping his smile a bit. Right after that, he was hesitant about his part of showing affection like Layontsin did, but he went for it anyway. It was as Mikhail instructed him, even if was weird when it should be normal, when he moved his head more closer to her snout one more and gave it a small kiss on the side. It was more accurately a peck on the side of Layontsin's snout, as she didn't have frontal lips and her long and sharp teeth were exposed, but for her it worked. She gave the best smile she had and then hugged him again tightly with all four arms, giving a deep purring noise as he did the same while she nuzzle his head. Some woodsprites began to descend towards them and gently perch on them, like they did when Asim first arrived at the Anurai clan village. "I guess Eywa really likes us being together." Asim said, Layontsin looking at the woodsprites and nodding slightly in agreement.

They sat there for a long moment in the embrace before she separated momentarily and looked down at him once more, woodsprites floating off. Her hand then reached back to her head and she pulled fourth her braid, her main queue, and moved her hand to the tip. There, the small pink tendrils started to emerge from her hair again, and she looked down at his hand before picking it up with another of her hands. She was about to place it there so that the tendrils could connect with his hand, Asim watching her curiously, when she stopped. "What's wrong?" Asim asked her as he didn't pull away his hands from hers, watching how his five-fingered hand was smaller than her clawed four-fingered hand. "The last time I did this...I saw your painful memories. I am not sure if it will happen again. This is needed to cement our bond as mates." Layontsin explained, sadness spreading across her face. "Hey. Don't worry. If it happens, I'll try to only show the good memories. If I can, that is. But I'm sure that it won't happen now." Asim assured her, rubbing her arm to soothe her. Layontsin nodded slightly and moved the small waving tendrils from her queue tip closer to his hand until they latched onto the side and some of his fingers. When she did that, Asim tensed up as he took in a breath and felt a new feeling course through his body. It felt like a warm current was spreading across each inch of his nerves, changing them to make him feel something new and greater than before as he closed his eyes. When he finished processing this, he began to realize that it was Layontsin that he was feeling and everything from her.

The breathing, the muscles of every limb, the heartbeat, the blood pumping through the veins, the temperature of the skin, the thoughts, basically everything, from the anthro thanator, was being shared by the connection that her queue was giving through Asim's hand nerves. It still puzzled him how that worked, the thing with his hands and how he could breathe the air of the planet, but since he got the answers he really couldn't afford to care anymore. This feeling was unlike anything he has experienced before, and he liked it. When Asim opened his eyes looked up at Layontsin, she too had her eyes closed and had one of her four hands placed on his chest. It was evident that the anthro thanator was feeling him in return thanks to the connection that they made, felling everything about him as she felt his heartbeat with her hand. She opened her eyes again and smiled, as if knowing what he was thinking of her at that moment. "Your heart...is stronger than I thought. And it is beautiful." Layontsin said, rubbing her hand that was over Asim's chest in a gentle manner. He chuckled and smiled, moving his hand and placing it over her chest in return. The heartbeat from the anthro thanator was felt, being strong and palpable. And now that Asim was feeling it, it felt like it was slowing down so that it was in sync with his heartbeat. Asim couldn't help but breathe out in awe as he too began to rub the chest of the anthro thanator, feeling her strength inside. "You have a strong heart too. It's so big and amazing." Asim told Layontsin, making her smile and her tail swish gently in pride.

After a moment she pulled her queue away from his hand, the small tendrils from it disconnecting from his hand as both relaxed and returned to normal. "Now we are mates. For the rest of our lives." Layontsin said, Asim smiling and nodding. "So...that was it? What else do we do?" Asim asked later as she started to stand up. "That is easy. We now mate together, so that we may have children." Layontsin said in a calm manner, making Asim flinch and almost fall back. This wasn't expected for him as he now remembered something taught to him and the others about such...sensitive subject. The thing that made him queasy was the way that Layontsin said in an easy manner about doing..."IT" together, right there and now. Asim got extremely flustered that he didn't notice his face starting to turn hot and that Layontsin was speaking to him. "Asim...are you alright? Did I say something wrong?" Layontsin asked, cupping his head in between her large hands. "No! No. It's just that...it's unexpected. And...I am not sure if I am ready for that sort of thing..." he said to her, holding on to her arms and expressing his doubts. Layontsin understood what he said plainly and nodded later, not liking disappointed in any way. "It's alright. We can do it another time. When you are ready." Layontsin said, nuzzling his head and giving it another affectionate lick. Asim exhaled in relief as he saw that the anthro thanator understood him, making him nod. "How about we swim?" Layontsin proposed, letting go of Asim's head and backing away from him to start walking away. "Swim?" Asim asked, puzzled as he began to follow her. Both walked across the glowing trees again until they arrived at the border of the place, where the river flowed and made way into a lake. The plants underwater glowed continuously, showing what laid beneath like other plants and small fish. It looked tempting to get in, but Asim still wasn't so sure about it. Also, he turned around and looked up at the night sky where the large blue gas giant and the other moons were situated. "I'm not sure if it's getting late or something. Shouldn't we go back and take the swim in the day...?" Asim asked as he turned around to face Layontsin again.

When he finished turning around, he noticed with a start that the anthro thanator was taking off the last parts of her native clothing.

"WOAH! Hoh—okay! You didn't have to do that! You could have warned me." Asim said, quickly adverting his eyes away from gazing at the anthro thanator's exposed body. He covered his eyes with his hands, feeling that his face skin was starting to heat up again. After a moment he felt one of Layontsin's hand pull him back to face her, and he just peeked a tiny bit to see her face. "It's alright. You can see me. It's natural to swim like this. Is it not in your home?" Layontsin asked, tilting her head questioningly. "N-No! Of course it is when bathing...but...not out in the open..." Asim tried to explain, failing as he was too flustered to even look at Layontsin fully. "With all your clothes? How will you feel the water? Just...please. Swim with me." Layontsin said softly in an assuring manner, rubbing his shoulders. Asim was really hesitant, as all of his thoughts telling him not to, before he finally relented so that he wouldn't anger Layontsin. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it...(this is so embarrassing)" Asim said as he turned around, heading towards the back of a tree to start loosening and taking off his clothes.

Finally he was free from all his equipment and clothes...except the clothes that shielded his more intimate areas. "Okay. I'm ready." Asim said as he walked over to the shore where Layontsin was, the anthro thanator smiling and starting to wade into the waters of the lake. Asim took his time to enter as it was cold at first, but gradually it felt warm as he ventured deeper. Soon he was chest-deep into the waters with Layontsin as both of them started to swim. And...in all honesty...it felt good to swim in the lake as Asim felt that his skin was starting to soothe a bit more thanks to the warm waters. He smiled and began to swim around more confidently, Layontsin observing him and smiling as she swam around the lake with him. "See? It's not bad." the anthro thanator said as she swam in front of Asim. "Yes. I see now." Asim said in response, stopping to float in the water. Layontsin also stopped to float, and then submerged her head underwater for a moment before re-emerging again and shaking her head. Water droplets showered over Asim's dry body section, making him shield himself with his arms. "Hey! Watch it!" Asim said with a chuckle, trembling a bit because of the cold water having coated his dry skin. Noticing that the water was cold for his dry skin, Layontsin narrowed her eyes and gave Asim a sly grin. "No...don't you dare..." he warned as he noticed the face of the anthro thanator and shook his head, but she didn't listen. With the two hands of her left side, Layontsin moved them swiftly and threw a cascade of water towards Asim, drenching his upper half that wasn't wet. The sudden coldness of the water made Asim gasp and freeze up a bit, muscles tensing as he flinched.

Once he recovered, Asim sputtered out some of the water that had gotten in his mouth and glared at the anthro thanator. "Okay. Now you asked for it" he said to Layontsin before he suddenly did the same like she did to drench him. The anthro thanator giggled and laughed as she shielded herself with her four arms, and then counterattacked with the same thing. From then on it was a game of trying to drench each other the most, swimming around and even trying to tackle one another. Asim enjoyed this game very much as he felt the most playful than he has ever been. The anthro thanator was also seen the same as she continued being playful with him, until eventually both of them began to tire out. Layontsin moved so that now she was resting over the water, body laid flat and floating. Asim swam over to her and climbed over the anthro thanator a bit as she became a flotation platform, the creature not minding that and instead liking it. He laid down over Layontsin and made himself comfortable, hugging the anthro thanator and resting his head over her chest. Layontsin let out her rumbling purr in response as she moved a set of hands to hug Asim while rubbing his back and head. He closed his eyes for a long moment, hearing the heartbeat in the creature's chest once more and feeling soothed by it. "Thank you, Layontsin. For letting me stay with you." Asim said softly, barely a whisper as both of them floated towards the shore. "Thank you, Asim. I too feel grateful for you coming into my life." Layontsin said in response, nuzzling Asim and continuing to rub him. Asim smiled and continued to hold on to the anthro thanator a long time before both decided to go out the water and lay down under a glowing tree, settling down comfortably before closing his eyes once more. Layontsin didn't go recover her clothings as it was warm in the forest during the night, and Asim did the same as he didn't care at all as well. All he wanted to do was to remain close to Layontsin and never separate, feeling that the place where he was there and now was unlike anything pleasant felt before. It brought him a sense of true peace, not a temporary one, and also a feeling of belonging after a long search that he didn't knew he or his friends were making. Now it was different; even if what they found was not what they expected, the main goal had been achieved. A place to call home, where everyone could be free and happy, as well as being together with them permanently.

When he opened his eyes again to stare at the stars in the night sky, Asim felt finally whole. Now he understood that his old life had ended...and a new one was just beginning.