Her Snowy Hair

TWO

Grace smiled down at the young woman that she considered her as her daughter. "Right now if you want to, I know that you're ready."  I smiled and asked her to lead me to the link pods. I didn't even want to let my dad know that I was here but soon I heard the loud heavy set footsteps of my father rushing through the maze of tanks in this room. "Kodiak, why didn't you let me know that you got here. Ive been waiting 6 years for this." He said. Most heard a father excited to see his daughter, but she saw a man, who despite his kind sounding voice saw the teeth that were clenching and the tense stature. "I was told that my Avatar was ready and I just got really excited, Im sorry." I said honestly. He nodded and walked closer. "Well im glad that you're here Kodi." He said gently, pulling me into a nice embrace, almost tricking me into thinking that he still cared.

He pulled away and said that he needed to take care of something so he left. I shook my head when his back was turned and walked back to the link pod. I got ready and all laid down as the were moving my Avatar to the testing room. "Alright, remember to take it slow at first, I know your excited but you gotta take it slow." Grace said gently, while rubbing my shoulder. I nodded and smiled while she slowly closed the lid. I closed my eyes when the lid closed, just waiting to be linked already. The link pod was sound proofed so that you can't have anything distract you when you are in there.

After a few seconds of the nice, pure silence, I opened my eyes again. This time though I didn't see the lid of the link pod, I saw the ceiling of the prep room. A woman dressed in all white came over and checked my eyes and hearing to see if they responded as they were supposed too. After passing those tests, I sat up, feeling very excited. I was told that I neded to slow down but I knew that I was ready. I gently stood up and kept my balance with the help of my tail. After swishing it around a little bit I pulled the wires off and the tubes out. I saw the door that presumable led to the outside of the room that I was currently in. I heard the shouts and calls for me to sit back down but I was far to excited to stop what I was doing. I was met with the bright light of the beautiful scape of Pandora.

I saw a basketball court but there was no one on it. Which made sense because no other Avatar was ready other than Grace's. I started running when I noticed that the testers were chasing after me. I was a little bit shaky on my legs when I started to run, but after a few strides I got the hang of it. I took off, I was faster than ever and I took in the world around me as I rushed past. I stopped when I saw another Avatar, it was Grace and I knew that I was slightly taller than she was. I knew that I was right when I thought that I was taller than most were going to be but then again I was more developed than the rest of them were.

I smiled and ran over to Grace to give her a hug. She  wrapped her arms around me and I did the same when she pulled me closer to the old building. I remember her telling me about this, it was school that she had built to teach the natives how to speak english. She also told me what had happened here and why they were having such a hard time bonding with the natives again. I shook my head slowly knowing that my father was probably the one that lead the attack. I felt the warm tears sliding down my face. I wasn't there but I could very much feel the pain that was still here.

There was some part of me that needed to go beyond this place. Like something was dragging me somewhere, and I knew that I would need to follow it or I would go insane. I shook my head and turned back to the main part of the room where Grace stood holding a necklace of some kind.  She walked over closer to me, and gently placed the necklace around my neck. She smiled and took a few steps back. "It was made for me by a little girl I used to teach. She made it because it is how the littles showed that they cared. They made each other necklaces, so she made me one." I smiled as she told me the story of the piece that she put around my neck.

I gently placed my hand over it and smiled. "Her name was Inaryi, wasn't it?" I asked Grace. Her eyes went wide and her head snapped up in my direction. "How did you know that?" She asked amazed. I shrugged and told her that I just felt it when I put my hand over it. She looked at me with a wide smile. " I already know that you are going to be very close with the people. They just need to know you, trust you, and they will fall in love. I just know it." She said with a small, soft smile on her face. I smiled back at her and pulled her close to me. "Are you sure. Like you really think that I will be one of the people some day." I asked in disbelief. She nodded and leaned just slightly back. "I know that you will be a very vital person for saving the people. If they dont love you, I dont even want to know what would happen. You will save them, just remember that. And when they bring you in, forget everything that you think that you know. They are going to teach you as if you were one of their own." I smiled when she finished. She led me out of the old school building, and to some of the training grounds that they had built prematurly and she had me run it for a few hours. She wanted me to build up my dexterity and agility.

After that I went to lay down in one of the beds in the school. I closed my eyes and when they opened this time, I saw the cool white of the link pod. I smiled and took a full breath, letting it go again then got out. I saw Grace there waiting for me with a smile on her face. "How was it." She asked me though I knew that she already knew what my answer was going to be. "When can I go back?" I asked her eagerly. She then told me that for the first week I should only go in for about half a day max and that I need to rest and take a tour around the entire complex for the rest of the day. I nodded and listened, after all she was only looking out for me. I followed her around as she showed me around for the day. I stopped smiling when we had to go through the part of the institution that my father lead.