This is a companion piece to my multi-chapter story "The Beauty Way" (that story is rated M for language and mature content). It provides some insight into what happened between Grace and her younger sister Nora.

Please tell me what you think! I might do another one. Ideas are starting to flow again and I'll try to get them out before JC releases his Avatar novel and changes all the canon (which is going to totally take the wind out of my sails!).

Many thanks to James Cameron, who owns Avatar and the movie characters.

Parting Ways

The two sisters stood staring at each other. Grace's expression was one of disbelief. Nora's was purely defensive.

"You've got to be kidding," Grace said.

"I'm dead serious," Nora replied.

"You're going to leave the RDA? Because you think...

"Don't..."

"...you can actually reboot the ecosystems on Earth?"

"...belittle my idea."

There was a pause as Grace realized just how serious her little sister was. "You've lost it, sis."

"There you go minimizing me yet again."

"I'm not minimizing you. I just think you're reaching beyond reality here."

For a moment, Nora thought she might cry. A swelling in her throat formed and she swallowed hard to stifle it. "You never, ever take me seriously."

"That's not true." Grace looked past Nora's shoulder as she said this and saw a couple of people strolling slowly by in the hallway outside of her office. They were trying their best but failing to avert their eyes away from her. Annoyed, she walked quickly toward the door and deftly slammed the palm of her hand on a small row of buttons. While it looked like she hit all the buttons on the panel, she managed to press only one, the one that controlled the blinds to the window that gave anyone walking by in the hallway a clear view of what was going on inside her office. Once the blinds sealed shut and they were in total privacy, Grace walked around Nora and sat behind her desk. "That's better," she muttered to herself. "I don't know who opened those to begin with." Grace looked blankly at her desk.

"Well?" Nora prodded.

"You can't leave. I need you for the Avatar Program."

"I'm not interested," Nora replied, her voice starting to shake.

"There is no way you are going to leave here to start some project that doesn't have a chance in hell of succeeding."

Nora glared at Grace as anger quickly replaced her near tears. The swelling in her throat didn't subside, however. "Thanks, Grace. Thanks for the confidence, thanks for the support."

"You do know that getting even one plot of land large enough to do what you want to do is going to be next to impossible. And...well, crap! Nora. We shouldn't even be talking about this here. If the upper brass get wind of this..."

"They can't stop me. I'm going after land the RDA has no control over. And I'll be long out of this company by then."

Truly beginning to see that her sister was not going to let this go, Grace let out a small sigh then sat down. She pushed the translucent computer screen aside before restlessly sitting back in her chair for a brief moment. Then the she leaned forward, cupped her hands together and rested her chin on them. "These microorganisms...it's really difficult to..."

Nora raised her hand to silence Grace. "This isn't new science, Grace. It's just been long ignored. There are people out there who know what they are doing in this area. I've talked to them."

"May I ask who?" said Grace.

"Dr. Michael Robertson, for one. He's absolutely certain it could be done on some level. In fact, he agrees with me that nature herself is desperately trying to work her magic even now as we talk. We just need to give it a chance."

Casting her eyes downward, Grace lowered her hands to the desk. With her right hand she tapped lightly. It resonated thunderously in Nora's ears. "I have no doubt you could gather a team together to tackle this idea of yours. But securing the land. That alone is going to take you years. Do you really think you could sell this idea to someone? You wouldn't be able to afford to buy even one acre now and you'll need a heck of a lot more than that to do what you want to do."

"Well, they'd have to donate the land..."

"You're dreaming."

"No I'm not! There are people out there who want to see the water and land cleaned up in and around the cities. There just isn't anyone helping them."

"People don't care. If they did, they would be coming to us for help."

"Grace, they aren't coming to us because we ARE working for the RDA."

At this, the xenobotanist paused and looked her virologist sister squarely in the eyes. "I need you to come to Pandora with me. I want you to help build the school, to help us communicate with the Na'vi and learn about their world. We could learn so much more from them, about them, about this moon that is teeming with such gorgeous and vibrant life..."

"I don't want to go," Nora interrupted. There was a slight twinge in her voice that gave away a nervousness.

Grace picked up on it. "You won't have to worry about your claustrophobia," she said soothingly.

"Look, ok..." Nora shifted uneasily. "I have thought of that, but it's not the overriding factor here. I don't want to go because I'm not interested in exploring Pandora. Besides, all the RDA wants us scientists for is to find a way to get to unlimited amounts of unobtanium. How does that help solve our problems here on Earth?"

"I don't think our problems here can be solved without Pandora, sis. True, it seems unobtanium is the most important thing here but without that, we would have never discovered the Na'vi. We're not alone in this vast, deep universe and I find comfort in that. I find these people to be extremely interesting and I want to share knowledge with them, study their culture and their moon."

Nora crossed her arms while she listened to Grace. "But I...don't," she said flatly.

"Well, I guess that's the difference between you and me, Nora. I don't understand how you could want to stay here. There are people of all walks of life clamoring to get a seat on the next ISV out of here."

"They can have mine."

"Dammit, Nora! You don't have any idea what I have done to secure you a position in the Avatar Program. I've made a significant investment in you to be a part of it and..."

"And you don't give a rat's ass about what I want! This isn't about you or your Avatar Program. It's about ME! There is something inside of me that tells me there is life beyond the lacework of maglevs and the concrete walls and the stench of trash strewn about the cities. It is there...beyond the grey and haze. We have to look for it, help it, use our heads and hearts, whatever we've got, to nurture it back. The Na'vi have their world, we have ours. We can't live on Pandora. We can't even breathe the air there without exomasks!"

"In case you forgot, it's Exomask Awareness Day today," Grace replied cooly.

"Oh...You..." Nora stammered angrily, balling her fists.

Grace raised her hand up in defense. "Sorry, sorry."

"I'm done here," Nora said as she turned and made her way to the door.

"Wait," Grace suddenly pleaded. "Don't go yet." Nora stopped but didn't turn to face her sister. "What must I do to get you to stay?"

Exhaling slowly, Nora turned and answered, "There is nothing you can do. This place has just simply worn me out. I've exhausted my work with the counter virus and though it makes the RDA billions of dollars, credit is hardly given."

"Don't be silly. They know what you've done. You could go anywhere in this company."

"But there isn't anything else that interests me here. I just want to do my thing. That's all."

"You'll never get back in here, you know."

"I really don't care, Grace. If I never see the likes of Conrad Olson, Parker Selfridge, or Cordell Lovecraft again, I'll be one damn happy scientist."

Grace took an extra second to think about that. "My loyalties aren't to the RDA like theirs, you know."

"I know that. I know what you are trying to do. You are a true scientist who cares about the truth, the facts. That's why I think you should leave the RDA. Shed all this corporate bs. Do something meaningful to help change the direction our planet has taken."

"What I am doing is meaningful."

"But, it seems like you are turning your back on the people of this planet."

"In what way?"

"By doing the bidding of the RDA. They're only after the unobtanium. They don't care what it takes to get it. And this reliance on it, it's only feeding the beast here. I don't see how getting to know the Na'vi is going to change what the RDA is truly after. And it certainly isn't going to change our reliance on unobtanium."

"I'm a xenobotanist, for God's sake," Grace responded in an agitated tone. "And I happen to be one of the leading experts when it comes to studying Pandora. But it's all been done from 4.3 light years away. Now I have the opportunity of my lifetime and I'm going to take it. I'm not going to stay here on this lousy excuse for a planet to partake in some whacked out 'save the Earth' project of yours."

Nora felt like her sister just stabbed her in the heart. While she was always hard on her, this was well beyond how Grace usually talked to her. Seeing Nora's expression sadden slightly, Grace became quite suddenly regretful of her choice of words. "I didn't mean that. What I meant was, I see more opportunity and success in going to Pandora than staying here. And I want you to come with me."

"It's not going to happen. I don't want to deal with the idiots at the top. Many of them act as if they don't even like us!"

"You won't have to. I'll do what I can to keep you in the labs and away from the bureaucracy. I've hired a great young doctor named Max Patel. You and he can work together and stay under the radar. I promise."

Nora cast her gaze down. It wouldn't be enough. She knew as soon as she stepped foot on Pandora, she would never get back to Earth again to work on her own project. "I can't, Grace. I've got to strike out on my own. And I've got to do it now."

Grace once again stared at her sister, hoping to see something in her face that said, "try again and I'll stay," but she saw only determination along with an annoying stubbornness that she was certain Nora inherited from their father. "Fine. I can't say I understand it, but I'll respect your decision." The room became thick from the unspoken emotion surfacing. "Let me throw this out there," Grace continued while stifling back the swelling in her throat. "If you ever change your mind, you'll be welcomed into the Avatar Program."

"I thought you said I'd never get back in here."

"Not without my intervention you wouldn't. You've got an unlimited open invitation. It's the least I can do."

"If you're trying to put me on some sort of guilt trip it's not going to work."

"If it would get you to change your mind..."

"No."

"You know, there might be a day when you find yourself on Pandora. And I guarantee you, it will change your life."

"How can you know that? You have yet to step foot on that soil."

"I've studied it enough to know."

"Well, it looks like a terribly uninviting place to me."

"That's where you're wrong, little sister. That's where you're wrong."

Nora grinned and let out a small laugh at Grace's reminder that she was her "little" sister. "Goodbye, Gracie," was all she could say as tears finally welled in her eyes. Then she quickly turned around, opened the door and left.

Grace's eyes locked on the placed where Nora had just stood. In the deafening quiet of her office, she sat very still, unsettled and uncertain as to whether or not she would ever see her little sister again.