~.* Bonded for Life *.~

.* 7 *.

Day after day, Jake and I would attend to the ikrans, mine named 'Om*, and it was the best part of our day other than learning more and more about Pandora from our dedicated teacher.

"Jake, you were flying so fast, when you banked left, I felt the wind!" I demostrated with my arm, making a quick curving motion.

"Yeah, I banked so hard!" He responded, making me chuckle at his enthusiasm. Neytiri looked at me with a glance, but I rolled my eyes at her, knowing what her silent communication was telling me.

We even had ourselves some flying gear, our own goggles, new decorative necklaces, bracelets on my biceps, woven cuffs on my forearms, a blade strapped to my hip, and even some fabric to protect my calves - I didn't want the thigh ones, I was quite sensitive there.

We would dive off the edge of cliffs, looking at each other  to see who could be quicker, but it often ended in a tie, and us laughing with excitement for the flight home.

At one point, Neytiri showed me and Jake the Tree of Souls, and I knew that when we got back to the lab, Mom would give the marine a full run down of the history and culture before I even could ask if he had any questions.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ.

"The Tree of Souls... It's their most sacred place." Mom was almost lecturing Jake, who was as clueless as ever. We were sat in the shack, getting nagged by Mom, although I know that it was because she was impressed we were even shown this sanctuary.

"See the flux vortex in these false colour images?" Mom pointed to the vast blue glow that surrounded the Tree of Souls, it was incredible, especially since she would always talk about how fascinating the planet was.

"Yeah, that's what messes up my flight instruments..." Trudy chuckled, making Norm look back at her with a smirk.

"There is something really interesting going on in there biologically." Mom continued to stare at the screen. I had rested my forearm gently on Jake's shoulder so I could lean down to the screen's level, he didn't seem to mind at all thankfully. "I would die to get samples... Outsiders are strictly forbidden... You lucky swines." Mom turned to me and Jake, giving me a smile, but Jake a shocked expression.

I chuckles, looking down at Jake, making him look up at me with a half smile. At this point, both of us were very tired, we had basically spent all of our days in our avatars, we would only rest our human bodies so we could drive our blue vessels well. His facial hair had grown out, and my hair had grown longer enough for Mom to notice I hadn't kept it the way I usually would.

But of course, it didn't matter, we needed to get back to our vessels and live as na'vi.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ.

We had mounted our ikran's once again, it had become a daily task that no matter how many times we did it, we could never bore ourselves with it. Flying 'Om was enough to make me feel like this was my true body, and that the real me wasn't lying in a metal tube, using it's brain to keep this version of me going.

Jake and I flew around, happy and content. That was when we got interrupted by Toruk, a vicious beast similar to an ikran, but much, much bigger. It was coloured a fiery red and orange, and had a skull that couldn't be compared to anything on Earth.

All I had heard was Jake yell "Dive!" Before I realised I was racing down, away from a terrifying toruk. I began to follow the marine, who despite had a rocky start with his ikran, was most definitely more skilled at dodging trees than me. I was able to follow him, knowing he could get us out safe.

We flew into the forest, swaying between tree trunks, until thankfully the toruk had caught itself in a tight space, and decided to return to the skies. Every thump of its wings made the impact of a helicopter, but gracefully left us along on the trees.