Tsaheylu - {the Bond}

3

The doctors had given their okay for me to get up and go out after some more tests. The boys didn't come back, instead Grace came by with her avatar to get me. She showed me around outside, giving me a more detailed tour of the avatar compound. It had a training ground and a big wooden house, probably where the avatars were staying. The last stop was the garden of the compound. There she threw me a fruit, which I recognized as Tìhawnuwll, or spartan. As I bit into it, it was just messy and I had to change my clothes.

"Hey kid."

"Norm."

"Let's go inside, it's night soon. We'll get you settled", Grace said and lead me inside the house.

Beds were lined up inside, with mosquito nets hanging over them. At the end of each bed was some kind of trunk, which didn't seem to fit into this house's interior at all.
I spotted Jake already in different clothes sitting on a bed, studying his braid. A few humans were  walking around.

"Come on everybody, quiet down! All right gang, lights out", Grace said loudly.

She pointed me towards a bed which didn't look like it was occupied yet. She began shooing the humans out.

"Don't play with that, you'll go blind", she told Jake.

"That's kinda freaky", I heard him mumble.

Grace shut the gate after every human was out and turned off the light. I tried my best to get comfortable on the bed, but it felt kind of hard.

"See ya' at dinner."

I closed my eyes. It seemed like I was passing that tunnel of nerves again, before I felt the foam beneath me, indicating that I was 'back' in my human body. A scientist opened the lid and welcomed me with a smile.

"Welcome back. You okay?"

"Never been better", I answered as I sat up.

The other avatar drivers were coming out as well. I stood up and slowly went over to Grace, trying to loose the stiffness in the mean time. She took us to the cafeteria for dinner. The way from the link room to the cafeteria was easier than the way from the cafeteria to the rooms we slept in. Despite just lying in the link and not doing, I was tired. And I felt pain in my back, especially in a lower part of my spine. Grace looked at me knowingly. She had made sure, before she left and after I arrived here, that my medication stock had been refilled. I ate a small portion of dinner, not feeling really hungry. After that I excused myself and went back to my room to sleep.

•~~~•

Early in the morning, Grace had us link to our avatars. We were scheduled to fly out for research purposes or something like that. She introduced us to Trudy, the one who was going to fly us out there. I was the first to link, so I took a little more time to get dressed and ready. When the other linked in with Grace, she rushed them to pack, before taking us to Trudy's chopper. Jake was sitting at the side with Wainfleet, each having a gun in their hands.
We soon left Hell's Gate and flew over the jungle. That was the only thing we saw for about thirty minutes, before we saw a part of a huge river. There was a beautiful bay nearby and a few Pandoran creature fly past us.
Trudy then spotted a meadow between the trees, so she slowly flew down.

Jake jumped out before the chopper even touched the ground. Wainfleet followed a few moments later. They both had their guns raised and warily eyes the trees. Graces was the next to get out. She went forward and used her necklace to speak to Trudy.

"Shut it down. We're gonna stay a while."

As the machine went quiet, I climbed out as well. Some of the plants tickled my legs. Like Grace, I was wearing a pair of shorts. I also wore a cropped shirt and a thin band that held back everything that was not in my braid.