Chapter Text
Prologue
After years of watching Pandora pass by in orbit, Veyra thought she was prepared for the life awaiting her on its surface.
She spent her childhood staring out large quartz-glass windows, eyes wide with wonder as the bright flares of spacecraft passed by, transporting humans between interstellar stations and the vibrant, alien moon. Every time a new shuttle came to Voyager-2, Veyra sought them out and asked question after question, grasping for new stories and longing to experience the foreign world herself.
They warned her of its dangers— the deceptive beauty of the luminous forests and the fearsome creatures that lived there. They told her about the Na’vi and how fiercely they fought against the RDA’s occupation. She had frowned at that, thinking ‘Of course they fight us, it’s their home.' At the time, Veyra didn’t understand how significant that fleeting thought was.
Despite everything she learned about Pandora from textbooks and video logs, nothing could have prepared her for what she found when she finally reached its surface many years later— a family, a home, and a way back to herself.
Astra inclinant, sed non obligant
(Though the stars incline us, they do not bind us)
Chapter 1: The Girl from the Stars
The soft morning light was just beginning to break over the horizon when Veyra finished packing her rucksack. She was in her personal quarters— a simple and sparsely decorated room nestled deep within the confines of the SecOps compound in Bridgehead.
Although she had lived there for several months, the room’s contents had little to show for it. There was a worn-out mattress shoved in the corner with a single pillow and an old, threadbare blanket thrown messily across it. Beneath the window was a desk, its shelves groaning under the weight of thick textbooks and well-loved novels from a time long passed. Some of the books lay overflowing onto the floor; their stories escaping into the otherwise lifeless place. A small dresser, now basically empty, and a lightly tarnished mirror sat on the other side of the room. An old acoustic guitar rested against the wall, faintly illuminated by the dim rays of sunrise.
Veyra glanced around the nearly barren room, feeling the weight of memories, of everything that had happened there— the good and the bad.
Mostly bad.
She knew she wasn’t going to miss it.
The only truly personal items that she owned had already been packed away into her rucksack— a small collection of old print photographs, a thin bracelet of colorful stone beads made for a wrist much smaller than her own, and a handheld module in which she had recorded nearly everything she’d ever learned. A habit from her old life that she’d never been able to shake.
Lastly, she grabbed her newly acquired MPX from her desk, onto which she had wasted no time downloading all of her favorite songs from various decades on Earth. SecOps had finally allowed her to keep one of the old, beaten-up music players after they received a shipment of newer models for on-site personnel. It was one of the only actually good things that had happened in months.
As she turned to leave, Veyra caught a glimpse of deep blue in the mirror. The sight of an alien body no longer surprised her the way it once had. It had been hers for years now and she’d become quite comfortable living in it. Her limbs, while longer and more nimble than she’d grown up with, still automatically obeyed the subconscious electric impulses that commanded her to pause and watch the reflection.
But the haunted expression staring back from pale green eyes still unnerved her. The shine of curiosity that had been a constant presence in her adolescence was gone. For months, it had felt like she was looking at a ghost— only a shadow of the person she used to be.
Veyra quickly averted her gaze. She gripped the strap of her rucksack and tossed it over her shoulder, already clothed in an RDA-issued uniform. An AAS-RO2 mask hung around her neck to provide CO₂- rich air every few minutes.
She walked out of the room without a backward glance, letting the door slide shut behind her. The heavy clunk of her boots against the metal floor sounded just the same as any other morning, but she couldn't help the feeling that each footfall held a resounding finality of her time in these halls.
Distracted by her thoughts, Veyra nearly collided with another Recom as he rushed into the barracks. Watson's carefree grin stretched across his face when he spotted her, steadying them both with a large blue hand on her upper arm. He dropped it quickly before she had a chance to tense up.
“Hey, Veyra! Ready for your first tour on the outside?” His voice was far too cheerful for the early morning hour.
Veyra's lips twitched up slightly. “Like I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life," she replied with quiet sarcasm, though the humor would be lost on her companion. Then, noticing that he was heading in the wrong direction, “Aren’t we meeting at the west gate at 0600?"
Watson nodded somewhat sheepishly. “Yeah, forgot some of my gear. I'm just grabbing that and then I'll catch up!" he explained while walking backwards towards the barracks. He gave her a wide, dimpled smile. "And you know, if you get too scared out there, you can always hold my hand." He crossed his hands over his heart, dark gold eyes wide with exaggerated concern.
“No thanks, I’d rather die actually,” she answered flatly, her deadpan delivery making him laugh as he jogged into the barracks.
Veyra snorted under her breath as he disappeared around the corner, smiling despite herself. Watson had always been good at getting her out of her own head, even when company was the last thing she wanted. The idea of never seeing him again was strange, but the slight regret of losing her last friend in Bridgehead wasn't enough to change her mind.
As she finally made her way out of SecOps’ interior housing zone and into the open atmosphere, Veyra pulled the mask from her face and paused to savor the first deep inhale through her nose. A shiver of anticipation whispered across her skin and she hastened her way through the loud bustle of the fledging city, several hexbots skittering past her as they expanded the already towering grey skyline of metal and concrete.
Bridgehead had been underway for over a year, ever since a massive fleet of RDA spacecraft had entered Pandora’s atmosphere and set fire to the world. The burning had scorched away miles and miles of land for the RDA to start building their new base of operations. It had been a purposefully brutal declaration— humans had returned, and they were going to destroy anything that got in their way.
A year before Veyra was born, the conflict between mankind and the Na’vi had reached a flash point when the home of an Omatikaya clan was destroyed by gunships, all because the RDA wanted to mine the unobtanium deposits beneath its roots. These days, the name Jake Sully was famous among mankind living aboard the interstellar stations as well as back on Earth. The story of the Marine-turned-Avatar-turned Na’vi had spread like wildfire; everyone knew how he defected to the native clans and instead fought against the RDA, eventually driving humanity out of Pandora.
At least for a while.
The government had tried to keep the narrative of the First Pandoran War under their control. The RDA claimed that the indigenous clans incited the violence, and they denied the atrocities that SecOps committed against the Na'vi. But some humans, including young Veyra when she first came across reports detailing the events of the war, had been skeptical of this claim.
After all, history had shown— time and time again— the capacity that mankind had for greed and cruelty and violence.
Veyra witnessed this first-hand after being taken by SecOps. When, at 10 years old, she landed on Pandora in a discrete shuttle and was dumped at a concealed underground compound.
Although the majority of their forces had returned to Pandora alongside the fleet, the RDA had already established a few small, covert outpost on the exomoon a handful of years earlier. These hidden compounds were used to re-establish high priority, non-invasive activity on Pandora, including the specialized SecOps program in which Veyra had found herself— unwillingly— enlisted in.
That had been seven years ago. But to Veyra it felt like a lifetime.
She grew up believing that hundreds of kilometers and a thick panel of tempered glass would always lie between Pandora and herself. She especially never predicted that, following her unexpected arrival on the mysterious exomoon, she would feel even farther away than before.
At least from the spacecraft she had called home, Veyra could watch Pandora and its sister moons orbiting among the distant blanket of stars. But she couldn't see anything from the subterranean lab where she spent the final years of her childhood. No stars, no moons, no friendly or familiar faces.
Even after relocating to Bridgehead a few months ago, Veyra rarely got to be outside— she was telling the truth that it felt like she’d been waiting for this day her entire life.
Today, she was finally going to see the forests of Pandora with her own eyes, without any walls or fences in her way. She would breathe in the fresh open air, untainted by human pollution and perfectly suited to her new highly-adapted lungs. She would finally break free from the place that had been her cage for the last seven years.
Today, she would join the other Recoms in her first mission outside the RDA perimeter. Personally, Veyra thought it was long overdue.
She was the first person to have her consciousness permanently transferred into an avatar, after all.
When she reached the western gate, Veyra's contemplative gaze lifted past the city’s monotonous concrete framework and into the boundless, untamed forest far beyond it’s walls.
The lush green canopy stretched for miles, as far as the eye could see. Barely visible through the early morning haze, Veyra's squinted at the distant figures flitting through the sky just above the treetops. Then her face lit up with joy for the first time in so long.
Forest banshee! she realized excitedly, her boots faltering on the asphalt as she stopped short to watch their agile maneuvers.
She remembered reading about the small, aerial predators in a textbook on Pandora's native wildlife, pouring over the colorful images beneath the cover of her weathered blanket in an attempt to conceal the glow from her flashlight.
Forest banshee, or ikranay, were smaller than their mountain-dwelling cousins whom the Na’vi were known to ride. They were solitary hunters, but every once in a while they could be seen gathering together in large flocks. Their evasive nature meant that the behavior hadn't been confirmed by xenozoologists yet, but it was theorized to be some kind of migration pattern.
Nevertheless, Veyra knew they must be beautiful— and fearsome— to behold up close. Her whole body hummed with excitement at the wonders she might finally get to see beyond the gate.
“Hurry the hell up, soldiers! We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and I'm not waiting around for you!”
The sudden booming voice of Sergeant Rhodes startled Veyra out of her reverie.
The man was standing near the barricaded metal gate with their small unit of Recom soldiers assembled around him. A pair of huge, armored all-terrain vehicles, fully equipped with bullet-proof glass and mounted artillery units, were situated in front of the gate.
Veyra’s eyebrows shot up and she huffed out a sharp laugh. “That must be my ride out of here,” she murmured with mild amusement.
The ATVs seemed like overkill to her, but maybe that didn't really count for much considering she’d never actually been outside Bridgehead's walls. Still, she grimaced at the war machines as she approached.
Sergeant Rhodes' impatient glare locked on her from his vantage point standing atop one of the vehicles.
“Let's go, Kazimieras!"
Veyra didn’t quite stop the annoyance from showing on her face, but she managed to bite her tongue before it could get her into trouble.
"Yes, sir," she replied reflexively, quickening her steps. Over the years, she had learned the hard way that Rhodes was not a man you wanted to piss off.
"Get a move on, Watson, unless you want to run behind the trucks all day!" the Sergeant barked out as the final member of their team appeared several meters behind Veyra.
"Yes, sir!" Watson yelled back quickly, rushing to catch up with her as the other four Recoms were already loading their supplies into the ATVs.
Once their whole unit was within earshot, the Sergeant began reciting the operation brief that they had all received a few days prior. A potential breach in their outermost perimeter had started to become increasingly worrisome, so SecOps decided it was time to send out their ‘specialized’ team.
Veyra's eyes dulled, her face slipping into a carefully blank expression as she stared up at the man. His words became muffled and distant as memories of what she and Emma had endured at his hands resurfaced in her mind.
The grief came first, then the rage.
Sergeant Rhodes was the leader of the Recom unit and the sole reason that Veyra was caught up in SecOps' mess to begin with. He was harsh and battle-hardened from a lifetime at war both on Pandora and on Earth. Decades of conflict had scarred him, molded him into the formidable soldier he was now.
Unfortunately, great soldiers don't always make great leaders. Or great fathers. Emy had suffered the most for that.
Her younger self might have given Rhodes the benefit of the doubt or even tried to empathize with him after all the trauma and death he had surely witnessed in his own life. But after everything that Veyra had been through because of him— after what he let happen to Emma— she just couldn't forgive that.
Emma had been more than just her best friend. She had been like a little sister, and the only thing that had kept Veyra strong during their darkest years in the subterranean Project Phoenix compound.
Then... the accident happened. Emma was gone and so much of Veyra had been ripped away with her. After all these months, she was still trying to stitch what was left of herself back together.
She held onto that feeling, letting it spark hotter and hotter. Sometimes it felt like resentment was all she had left to keep her going. The anger had been her constant companion for the last few months, simmering under her skin and threatening to boil over at any moment.
He had taken Veyra away from the only home she had ever known. He kept her underground, strapped down with her body being poked and prodded like a science experiment. He hadn’t cared about the pain or the fear he was inflicting. He hadn’t cared about the consequences.
Not even when Emma, his own daughter, was the one who paid the price.
ISV Voyager-2 was Veyra’s home for 10 years. It was one of many interstellar starships that hovered just outside Pandora's atmosphere, and it functioned as both a supply station and a SciOps research hub.
Her mother had been an astrostructural engineer, overseeing the maintenance of shuttles that traveled between the exomoon and nearby starships.
The small community of engineers and scientists that raised Veyra would often tell her stories about her mom. She assumed it was so that she could feel like she knew the woman in some small way, but just hearing stories about her paled in comparison to the real thing.
“She was funny, you know. Smart and hard working. She could be unreasonably stubborn, too.” Dr. Morales' smirked and shot a pointed glance at the young girl seated beside her.
Dr. Michelle Morales was an astrophysicist, a middle-aged woman with quick wit and laugh lines, and she had been her mother's best friend.
Veyra rolled her eyes at the jest, but a smile tugged at her lips regardless. She had been helping the woman analyze meteorite fragments but, like it so often did, their conversation drifted to a time when her mom was still around.
”And she was kind. Being around her just made you feel warm. Like a big hug.” Dr. Morales glanced down at Veyra with fondness, her dark eyes shining. She swallowed her rising emotions and set aside her pen, gently brushing her fingers through the girl's messy brown waves.
Veyra's throat tightened and she dropped her gaze, willing away the tears that threatened to pool in her pale green irises.
“She was loved by everyone who knew her, Veyra,” the woman said softly. “She would be so, so proud of you.”
“You really think so?” Veyra whispered, her voice hopeful despite the pain. Dr. Morales continued stroking her hair, quietly wiping away a single salty tear.
”Without a doubt, sweetheart. She loved you to the very ends of the universe.”
When she was young, Veyra couldn’t really decide if she liked hearing stories about her mom or not. She would close her eyes and imagine this kind, funny, stubborn mother that she would never truly know. She was always left with an even bigger emptiness, an ache in her chest that yearned for the family she never really had.
Her mother and father had only been together for a few months when they received orders that he was being rotated back to Earth. They chose to simply enjoy the time they had left together and parted ways when their time was up, knowing how unlikely it was that they would ever see each other again. They said their goodbyes and that was the end of it.
Then, several weeks later, Veyra’s mother discovered that she was pregnant.
As a general rule, reproduction was discouraged among RDA personnel. There were finite resources available so far away from Earth, everything carefully calculated to sustain only the people stationed there. As a result, Veyra was one of very few children who had been born on an interstellar spacecraft.
Although the pregnancy was unexpected, Veyra’s mother was so happy to be welcoming a little baby girl into her life. The whole lab celebrated with her when she announced the news and they eagerly awaited baby’s arrival.
But after complications resulted in premature labor and an emergency operation, Veyra was left alone.
Her father was 4.37 light years away and her mother was even further than that.
Not that she wasn’t grateful for the people she did have. Dr. Morales and the others had always been good to her. There weren’t any other children on their ship, but they did their best to give her a normal childhood; playing with her, teaching her to walk and talk, and even retrofitting a section of the lab into a daycare so they could easily watch over her while maintaining their duties. Veyra grew up observing, reading, and learning from everyone around her.
She learned from the countless hours of documentaries and video logs stored in the Voyager’s database. She learned from the engineers and scientists about their jobs, what life had been like back on Earth, and how their work had brought them to the Polyphemus star system.
Among them was Samuel, a young gravimetric engineer who had been the newest addition to their lab before she was taken. Samuel had brought an old acoustic guitar with him from Earth, and he would sometimes play for the crew. When Veyra showed an interest in music, he had even started to teach her.
She learned about Earth and the events that led to its demise. Climate crisis, deforestation, and overpopulation had resulted in a dying planet which would eventually become completely uninhabitable.
When 8-year-old Veyra had asked Dr. Morales what would happen to Pandora when more humans began settling there, the woman had stared at her, momentarily stunned.
“What makes you ask that?" she asked finally, a faint frown tugging at her brow.
Veyra blinked up at her with wide, curious eyes. “I found an old documentary in the archives. It was about the last few hundred years on Earth. All the mining and cutting down trees— that’s how it started, isn’t it?”
Dr. Morales hesitated. Of course she wanted to preserve some sense of childhood innocence, but ultimately, there was no point in lying. Veyra would find out the truth one way or another eventually.
“Yes, sweetheart. That’s how it started.”
Veyra made new discoveries each day, rifling through textbooks and video logs. She poured through all of the research that she could find about Pandora and its sister moons, the bioluminescent forests, the arid deserts, and the wonders swimming in its deepest oceans.
She even tried to teach herself Na'vi using the scarce linguistic references that she came across, but that proved to be too difficult when she had limited ways of knowing the correct pronunciations. Moreover, she became enamored with the beauty of Pandora's landscapes and its otherworldly creatures, captivated by the thought of seeing it all for herself one day.
That’s how she spent the first 10 years of her life— learning everything she could about the world passing by outside her window, just out of reach. And, of course, documenting it all in her personal memory module. The handheld MnemoMod had been a birthday present when she was only 4 years old. She had grown up with scientists, after all, and it’s like Dr. Morales always said: good science is good documentation.
After being raised alongside engineers and researchers who prepared her for a promising future aboard the starship, Veyra thought she would be content with that life. Happy, even.
Everything changed when the leader of an experimental SecOps program heard about a young, orphaned girl living in orbit above Pandora.
When her mother died in childbirth, Veyra became a ward of the RDA. With no parent to claim her she legally became property of the administration. For so many years, it had been of little consequence to her day-to-day life. She barely even gave it any thought.
That changed when Sergeant Thomas Rhodes decided that 10-year-old Veyra would be more useful to the RDA as a test subject than as a researcher in training. Rhodes petitioned several RDA executives until he was granted his wish— that Veyra be transferred to SecOps and designated to the first human trial for the soul transfer technology.
Project Phoenix was imperative to humanity’s success on Pandora, after all.
It had been truly groundbreaking technology. The RDA needed a way to ensure victory on their next occupation attempt. If they were ever going to succeed in terraforming and colonizing Pandora, they needed to expand their operations without every living creature on the exomoon attacking them.
Thus, Project Phoenix was born from the ashes of the Avatar Program.
The only issue was that simulated soul transfer models kept coming back with the same result— the host wouldn't survive the transfer.
That’s where Veyra came in.
As a child, she was an ideal test subject for quickly developing an avatar body that would mature alongside her and be completely in tune with her nervous system. As property of the RDA, there was nothing stopping them from attempting the first Soul Drive transfer on her— and nobody to report to if something went wrong.
When Dr. Morales and the others were told that SecOps wanted Veyra, they tried to fight against it. They spent weeks negotiating with the RDA administration. Dr. Morales tried to adopt Veyra so that she had some legal justification for keeping her with them. SecOps wouldn't even tell the crew exactly why they wanted her, claiming it was classified information.
But despite their best efforts, Voyager-2 received an official transmission mandating that Veyra report to SecOps headquarters on Pandora immediately. A shuttle was en route to take her away.
That day, Dr. Morales approached Veyra's bunk with a heavy heart.
She tried to explain what was happening despite not completely understanding it herself. "I know you're probably feeling confused and worried, but it's going to be alr-"
"Are you serious?!" Veyra interrupted, jumping to her feet. "I never thought I would actually get to go there! I'm really going? Do you think I'll get to see the forest? And the mountain banshee!?"
Veyra’s bright laughter echoed off the aluminum walls, long brown waves bouncing around her face as she could barely contain her excitement. It was everything she had dreamed about for years!
When Dr. Morales didn't respond with equal enthusiasm, Veyra stared at her in confusion.
"What's wrong?" she asked, lightly tugging on the woman's arm. Dr. Morales knew how badly she longed to see the bioluminescent forests and the colorful creatures. So why wasn’t she happy for her?
Dr. Morales’ eyes softened, watching Veyra with a woeful smile. But there was only dread coiling deep in her gut. She sat down on Veyra's bed and patted the space beside her.
“Look at me, Veyra. I need to tell you something and I need you to listen carefully," she explained quietly.
Veyra settled down and stared up at her warily. The woman released a heavy sigh.
“You’re going to a dangerous place, and you’re going to be surrounded by dangerous people.” Dr. Morales kept her pensive brown eyes locked on Veyra’s, holding the girl's small hands in her own.
”I need you to promise me that you’ll be careful. The people down there aren’t like me or anyone else you’ve grown up with here. They aren’t letting me go with you, so you have to promise me that you’ll watch your back. That you’ll keep your wits about you and stay strong, no matter what.”
Veyra felt the weight of the words settle into her bones. She held Dr. Morales' gaze, her grip tightening around the older woman's hands. Despite the curiosity that still fluttered within her, the fear in Dr. Morales’ words made a shiver run down her spine.
“I promise I’ll be careful," she answered just as seriously. Her small fingers twitched nervously.
“I... I don’t want to hurt anybody either,” she admitted quietly, imagining the videos she had seen of soldiers fighting, of explosions and gunshots as the forest burned around them. Just the thought of it made her stomach churn.
Dr. Morales pulled her into a quick, tight hug. “Don’t worry, sweetie. You won’t have to hurt anyone.”
She gave the girl her most reassuring smile, ignoring the fact that she had no idea if it was a lie or not. For Veyra's sake, if not for her own.
“You're going to be just fine. I know it."
The woman could feel her eyes welling up with tears. She quickly blinked them away, then reached down to tickle Veyra’s side, causing her to squeal.
Dr. Morales grinned at the girl’s cheerful, carefree laughter and tried to commit the sound to memory.
“Just be really bad at everything they ask you to do, and maybe they’ll send you right back to us!” the older woman teased, sending the girl into another fit of giggles.
They stayed nestled together even after their laughter settled down, wrapped around each other tight. Neither of them had been ready to let go.
That was Veyra’s last night on the Voyager. She had packed a bag with her meager belongings and said her goodbyes. The crew made a special dinner, and they all made time to eat together. Everyone was stuffed into the tiny dining hall, telling stories and joking and filling Veyra with as many happy memories as her 10-year-old mind could hold.
As the night drew to a close, the crew sat together and listened to Samuel play his guitar. She still remembered the gentle melody he had plucked from the strings.
Veyra had laid her head against Dr. Morales' shoulder, her tired eyes drawn to the endless twinkling stars outside the window, knowing that it might be the last time she ever did this.
Everything was about to change.
Beneath the western gate, Veyra’s attention drifted away from Sergeant Rhodes and towards the sky. The brightest stars were still faintly visible amidst the early morning light. She knew it was highly improbable, but still she imagined that she could see the glint of metal orbiting far above her in space.
Veyra hadn’t heard from anyone on Voyager-2 since she left. She often wondered if they had ever tried to get in contact with her; if they had sent transmissions down to the SecOps comm tower that went unanswered. How long would Dr. Morales have tried to reach her, only to be met with silence, before she eventually gave up?
Chest feeling uncomfortably tight, Veyra pushed aside those thoughts and forced herself to focus on the present. This was her chance to break free; to see the things she had been dreaming about her whole life; to carve a new path for herself beyond SecOps' restraints and the confines of her past.
As Sergeant Rhodes continued his briefing— follow his rules, listen to his orders, everyone else shut the hell up, blah blah blah— Veyra and the others finished loading their supplies onto the ATVs.
Once everything was packed, the Recom’s settled themselves into the massive vehicles. Veyra swung herself into the backseat beside Watson, purposefully choosing the one where Rhodes was not stationing himself at the wheel.
Strapping herself into the seat and slumping down to get more comfortable, Veyra surveyed the rest of her unit. Their bodies almost perfectly mimicked the Na’vi; strong and lean and striped with unique patterns. Dark hair and long, thick braids emerged from the base of their skulls, designed to cover their vulnerable neural queues. Her own hair was left mostly unbraided, dark locks cascading down her shoulders in waves while the top half was loosely tied back alongside her braided queue. Curly wisps escaped from the tie, messily framing her high cheekbones.
Veyra was mulling over the idea that the Recom soldiers might actually pass for native Na’vi if not for their RDA uniforms and weapons. Then, Dominic's gruff voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Hell yeah baby, let’s go fuck some shit up!” he jeered, pumping his rifle into the air and whooping loudly. Some of the others laughed and howled obscenities with him.
Veyra's nose wrinkled in revulsion. Turning away to hide her grimace, she surmised that even without the RDA uniforms branding them as imposters, their general attitude and behavior would be a dead giveaway.
Apprehension swelled in her stomach when she remembered that, while unlikely, confrontation with the nearby Na'vi clan was a real possibility. The other Recoms in her unit had been soldiers before being recruited to Project Phoenix, but all of her combat experience came from training and theoretical knowledge. Sergeant Rhodes had decided a simple perimeter sweep was the perfect opportunity for Veyra to get some real exposure. 'Take away her training wheels' were his exact words.
A deafening rumble filled the air as the ATV's roared to life, the powerful engine making her seat tremble beneath her. The enormous gate screeched open at the Sergeant's radio command, and Veyra staggered slightly in her seat when the huge vehicles lurched forwards. Watson caught her eye and offered a reassuring smile.
They had a long ride through the barren strip of earth that surrounded Bridgehead before they reached the edge of the forest.
Veyra peered over her shoulder, watching the city grow smaller and smaller. Because no matter what happened out there, she was never coming back.
At that moment, Veyra knew that for the second time in her life everything was about to change.