Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

88

Despite its size there was enough noise emanating from the school that any passer by would have thought that it held a hundred children, not thirty five.

Grace sat on a table at the front of the classroom, her long blue legs crossed. She couldn't hold in her laughter as the Na'vi children in front of her grabbed hold of their ears just like she had moments ago. "And what are these?" She asked.

"Ears!" The class chorused.

Ivory swore under her breath as she dug through her ruck in a fruitless search for her missing hairbrush. Even though she was in the barracks there were no spares available, the troop travelled light and the general had deemed anything except food, water and soap unnecessary.

"What's up?" Brianna asked, looking up from the jacket that she was mending at the sound of Ivory's loud sigh.

"I've lost my fucking hairbrush." The woman grumbled.

Brianna tossed her sewing to one side and reached under her bed, dragging her ruck out. She unzipped the bag and pulled her own brush out, pressing it into Ivory's hand. "Use mine," she said easily.

"Thanks." Ivory couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face. Personal possessions were scarce in the military and the fact that Brianna had shared hers made the woman feel unexpectedly warm towards her.

Grace couldn't keep the smile off of her face as a small crowd of children gathered around her, catching hold of her skinny beaded plaits and proudly thrusting their latest weaving at her.

"And what's this?" She asked, cradling one of the closest children's creations in her enormous blue hands.

"A doll! It's meant to be you. It's got the same necklace, see?"  The child reached out lifted the carefully knotted fibres that hung around the doll's neck so that the older woman could admire them.

"It's beautiful." Grace chucked the child under the chin.

"It's for you."

"To keep? Are you sure?"  Grace asked. 

The child nodded firmly. "You teach me every day, I want you to have it. I made it for you."

"Thank you." Grace carefully put the doll down by her feet and pulled the child into a tight hug. "I love it."

Grace thought she was going to be sick. Sylwanin lay crumpled in the doorway of the small schoolroom, the side of her face soaked with crimson as her chest rose and fell in time with her ragged gasps.

"Go! Get out! Run!" Grace screamed over the rising noise. She pushed the closest children towards the exit. "Run! Don't look back! Just get out of here!"

Neytiri stood still, a shaking hand pressed against her mouth, completely oblivious to the chaos that was erupting around her.

"Neytiri you have to go!" Grace lifted a sobbing child off of the floor and thrust him at one of the teenagers who were pushing each other up and out of the window.

Another loud hail of gunfire echoed throughout the small room but Neytiri still didn't move.

"Go! Get out of here!" Grace did her best to place herself between the troopers and the students.

One of the soldiers raised their rifle, aiming it at Neytiri with a carefully trained eye.

Grace didn't hesitate. She pushed Neytiri behind her and then-

Ivory struggled to hold back her laughter as her cousin staggered across the ice, her bright pink skates sliding out from underneath her every few steps.

"Do you want some help?"

"No, I can do it myself." The child said insistently "I-" the rest of her sentence died on her lips as she fell backwards with a thud. She bit her lip, her eyes welling with tears.

"Christ Sofia, are you okay?" Ivory shot over to her cousin's side, barely noticing as she almost knocked a man flying.

"I'm fine." Sofia's voice cracked and she dragged the sleeve of her puffy purple coat across her face.

"No you're not." Ivory gently brushed her cousin's hair away from her face. "It's okay if you're crying."

"Did you cry a lot when you hurt your face?"

"A bit." Ivory said truthfully, unconsciously moving a hand to the ugly red line that ran down her cheek. "But that's okay, crying doesn't make you any less brave. Come on, we'll go find you a bandaid. I think I might even have some pink ones in my bag."

"What happened to your face?" Sofia pressed as Ivory bent down and picked her up, carrying her off of the ice rink with difficulty. "How did you hurt it? It didn't look like that before."

"I know. I fell over and scratched it but I got some bandaids on it and better now."

"Like when Tigger scratched your arms up?"

The woman let out a shaky breath. "Just like that."

A/N: Hello please enjoy a horrifically late update retrospective chapter. Happy autumn.