OoM: Grace's school

[hallelujahpilot]

[slightly place-holdery]

Trudy likes dealing with Dr Louise Donnelly. She's more street than academy, which Trudy appreciates. But Louise is working the Na'vi near the coast, so today Trudy is just dropping her off.

Trudy doesn't even touch the ground, just hovers above it as Louise jumps out and runs out of the way. She turns and gives Trudy a cheerful salute, and then adjusts her pack slightly as she heads off. Once Louise is clear, Trudy raises Maya and turns in the air, heading back over the jungle.

Comments

[donthidemycigs]

Sylwanin and Neytiri say nothing, staring at Trudy as if the explanation is senseless. They exchange looks.

"Sa'nok!"

Grace lowers herself to the level of some of the smaller Na'vi children, greeting each personally and warmly. They greet her with questions about the day's curriculum and last week's lessons -- as well as questions about the strange Skyperson, of course. Some have never seen one up close before.

"Why do you fly?" Neytiri eventually asks Trudy.

Sylwanin remains silent, pacing a proud circle around the marine.

[hallelujahpilot]

For the moment, Trudy filters out the children's chatter - she's still paying attention to the tone, but she doesn't understand enough to bother trying to pay attention to the words.

(she did, she'd be entertained about the queries regarding the rough curls in her ponytail)

More of her attention is on Sylwanin, and Trudy's sure that the tension running through her is visible to the young warrior. But other than that, she gives no sign that Sylwanin's pacing is making her on edge.

"Why?" She asks Neytiri, a little taken back.

"Yes. Why?"

"...do you?"

The girl nods, and her sudden smile lights up her face, turning her from severe and off-putting to recognizably young and happy. "I ride Seze."

"Okay," Trudy says. "Why?"

"Because I am hunter."

Trudy regards her for a moment, and then she suddenly smiles herself. "Yeah, but that's like me saying I fly because I am a flier. You ever just...fly, for the sheer hell of it? I mean." Beat. "For the...fun, or joy, of flying?"

Neytiri cocks her head, and Sylwanin pauses in her pacing, large yellow eyes flicking between her sister's face and the Skyperson's.

"Yes," Neytiri says. "It- feel free. And there is fun."

"Exactly," Trudy says quietly, her smile crooked and fierce, all at once. "That's why I fly."