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"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."
-Anonymous
As the sun rose the next day, I found myself in the gym. It wasn't an uncommon experience for me, ever since the accident, the gym had become my safe haven - especially back on Earth. The track that my feet pounded against was gray and worn, but it still served its purpose. There were benches and weights scattered throughout the area as well but none of them suited my needs. I needed to run away from the world I had found myself in.
When I stopped to take a sip of water and calm my raging body, an unfamiliar woman approached me, "Trudy Chacon. Nice to meet 'cha." She had beautiful brown hair, bright eyes, and was almost shorter than me - which was a feat in itself.
"Aiyana." I took her outstretched hand and shook it briefly.
"The Huntress, right?" I nodded vaguely not really wanting to open that can of worms today, "I've heard 'bout you. That accident sent you far back, huh? Playing with the science geeks now?" Trudy sent a wicked smirk my way.
"I suppose you could say that," I muttered as I brought my hand to wipe the sweat from my brow.
"Anyways," Trudy looked down at her nails and, to my relief, changed the subject, "I'm here to get you for the mission. You get to come out with us today." Mission? A giddy sense of excitement bubbled in the pit of my stomach. They were going to let us go out in our Avatar bodies. With a quick nod to Trudy, I bounded into the locker room to change.
"Start calibrating. We're on the flight line in ten minutes," Grace's voice echoed into the hallway outside of the Link Room. I paused after stepping through the doorway, but it was enough time for Grace to notice my still form. "Nice of you to join us, Aiyana. Thought you weren't going to make it." Grace gave me a fleeting glance with her cold eyes.
"I was just running late, ma'am. My sincerest apologies." Through my life, I had certainly learned how to suck up to someone.
She gave me a sideways glance, analyzing my response, "Get in your pod, kid." And I did not resist. Traveling to my Avatar body was just as strange as it was the first time, but I'd like to think that I was getting used to it. This time, however, I didn't wake up on a gurney, but in the hammock I had fallen asleep in last night.
Being back in the air was simply amazing. I had trained as a pilot for a while before becoming a sniper so the sky was familiar to me. But the skies of Earth could hardly compare to the skies of Pandora. Mountains stretched far into the distance, aerial animals flew through the sky and multi-colored plants climbed out from under the tree line. Waterfalls were scattered through the mountains and large lakes stretched down below us. Trudy, who turned out to be our piolet was pointing out interesting creatures as we passed them.
