13

16 0 0
                                    

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊
┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ˚★⋆。˚ ⋆
┊ ┊ ┊ ⋆
┊ ┊ ★⋆
┊ ◦
★⋆ ┊ . ˚
˚★

Liza reeled from what her teachers had told her. Her mom left because she needed to-- because she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she didn't. Suddenly, Grace's worries all made a lot more sense. Liza also had fallen in love with a Na'vi boy, and had never stood with the RDA's perspective. She'd barely spent any time on base lately, and it was plain to anyone who bothered to look that she was much happier on Pandora. The words of her mother's letter, which René had memorized, danced on the edge of her mind: "I firmly believe that it's up to her whether she stays at the RDA or lives with the Na'vi". This must have been the choice Neytiri was referring to.

Liza stared at Grace and René, in shock. She couldn't tell who she was upset with or why, but everything was a little too much for her right now. Deep down, she knew everyone was right. Conflict was starting, and she couldn't remain neutral. Still, the weight of her choice was too much pressure, especially considering she'd nearly been blown up less than twenty four hours earlier-- not to mention all that René and Grace had been hiding about her mom from her. "I need a minute," Liza said, then immediately turned on her heel and left. They didn't try to stop her as she limped along the trail, then whistled for Poppy one last time. She was willing to risk being trapped in another explosion; she just needed to talk to someone.

And she knew exactly who.

She swung her leg over Poppy, who gave her a trill in greeting. Commanding her ikran upwards, she scanned the forest, miraculously not crying. She mostly felt numb as she surveyed the trees, directing Poppy toward the sky right above the Muku River, where she and Vezo had been meeting every day for the past few weeks. But to her shock, as they finally arrived, he wasn't there.

Numbness sharpening to frustration, she swooped downward, gliding along the edge of the trees. No Vezo, no Vezo, no-- she did a double take. Yes Vezo. And all of her friends, too, in a circle in the clearing where she had recovered after falling off of the cliff.

Liza landed Poppy in the middle of their ring, disrupting all conversation. She dismounted and turned to Vezo, hurt swelling in her stomach. "So this is what you left me for? To have a private meeting with my friends?" She expected that there was a deeper explanation, but at that moment, she didn't care. Grace and René were liars, her friends had left her, she'd just survived an explosion, there were more to come, and she had the biggest decision of her life to make. She didn't care much about anything.

"No, Liza," Vezo started, but Sylwanin hushed him.

"Please, listen. I am so grateful you came." Sylwanin approached Liza, hope filling her eyes. "He told us you'd meet us here."

"What?"

Vezo nodded, tentatively stepping forward. Liza just looked at him.

"Actually, first he ran after us to yell at us for abandoning you." Neytiri interjected, holding back a laugh. "We... he was right. We said you could have followed us, but he told us to open our eyes to the situation you were in, and to think about it."

"We are truly sorry for leaving you," added Tsu'tey, who leaned against the tree nearest the river, "but we couldn't be in there any longer. I suspect you understand."

Liza nodded, the air leaving her lungs in one big whoosh as she understood what had happened. "Neytiri, you were right. I do have a choice to make. René and Grace told me some stuff after you all left, and... it's a lot for me to handle right now." She relayed all of the information to her friends, only leaving out the fact that she was in love with Vezo, until they all looked just as upset as she felt.

WildflowerWhere stories live. Discover now