MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

N I N E

I wake with a groan in the link. Grace. Norm. Trudy. Jake. I hear them. Grace, she sighs and sobs once, very motherly. Weird for Grace. Norm just gasps and laughs. Jake mumbles out a "Jesus Christ." Trudy chuckles and I hear a set of footsteps and wheels leaving.

"You had us scared," Grace says. I don't even know if I'm facing her or not. She sighs and sets her head on my stomach. "You were in that link for sixteen hours. That's not humanely possible. But, you did. What happened?"

"You ain't gon' believe this, Grace," I say, laughing happily. I was tired, but they had to hear this.

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Once everyone had heard the story, laughed, and cried (Grace and Norm), we went to bed. Norm carried me to my bunk. Once he sat me down, I stretched.

"You're so lucky, Iris," Norm said sadly. "Me, I'm just the nerd who takes samples... "

"You're so lucky, Norm. I almost died four times in the last two days. And I'd LOVE to trade places. Tsu'tey can't choose a mood, Grace is always on me, Neytiri and Jake flirt waaaay too much, and they want to teach me to be a mother."

"Are you serious?! That's hilarious!"

"Nu uh! That's no fair you get to laugh! I'd hit you if I could see you."

"Well, I'm right here. Hit me."

He had placed his hands beside my thighs to say he was right there. I kick forward and hit two valuable objects. He groaned and his weight sunk to the floor. Or I think so.

I laughed. Then, I slipped under my covers. Then, rolled towards the wall. I heard Norm climb into his bunk across the way.

"Night Normie," I say happily.

"Night Ellie," Norm says. It makes me feel my face heat up, for some reason. Weird...

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My head hurts slightly as I wake in my avatar body. Norm helped me do everything this morning again. I was glad, he was an amazing friend of mine. I sat up and found I wasn't in my hammock. I was on the ground. Then, I felt something shuffle and pull me closer by my waist. More like someone...

I look down and find Tsu'tey snuggled into my side. His arms are tight around my waist. Not too tight, just comfortable. He nuzzles my side and I feel my whole body heat up. He yawns and moves to sit up. I immediately act as if I was asleep.

He freaks, but holds his mouth. I resist the urge to chuckle. Then, I hear him mumble something incoherent. Then, a few flustered gibberish words.

"What am I doing," Tsu'tey asks himself, shaking his head. I yawn and sit up like I just woke. He stands abruptly, actually scaring me.

I jump, but sigh as his face softens the tiniest bit. He holds a hand out. I take it greatfully. He let's go as soon as I was standing, and then he's walking off. He calls out to his Ikran, and it flies down from the trees. He orders me to stay here, and then he flies off.

Of course, I don't stay there. I head towards the floating mountains. Once they're above me, I begin climbing a cliff. Once I'm up at its peak, I snatch a vine and swing across to a smaller floating island. I then grab another vine and climb it to a passing island. I do this little trick for about another hour. Until I hear the Ikran in the distance. Then, I think about where I'm actually going. Ooh Rah.

What possessed me to come here is no clue of mine. But, once I was on top of the long line of small floating boulders, I snatched another vine and began to climb up. Once I got up, I went into the cave. I could see why I was needed up here. There was an Ikran, dark black with only silver eyes and highlights. He looked awesome.

It's wing webbing was torn slightly. I wondered how he made it. I remember Neytiri telling me about his kind of Ikran, longer, faster, either brighter or darker, they call them Hufwe Macto. It means Wind Rider in Na'vi.

It hisses as I come closer. I instinctively reach for my sticky vine. It isn't there. The beast thankfully settles down and makes a crying noise, like a painful remorseful noise. I step closer and it shuffles slightly. Once I'm close enough, I see the bite mark clear as day. Toruk almost got him, it seems.

I reach in my pocket and pull out a bone needle that Mo'at gave me for emergencies. I'm glad she let me keep my shorts. My top ripped not long ago. Glad she was the only one around. I'm done being flustered in front of the natives.

I grab the needle and the thread attached, and begin stitching it's wing. It hisses every time I insert and pull out the needle. Eventually, though, I am done. It stands, giving off a more friendly aura than before. It taps it's head against my chest, and then flies off. It really is fast.

As soon as it's gone, I hear an "Ai ai" and look tee Tsu'tey and Neytiri. She looks worried and dumbfounded. Tsu'tey is mad as ever. Oh well, he'll get over it. I hope. He's always mad at me, it seems....