Jinora just wanted to want to read. That's it. That's all. She just wanted to be able to sit there and read her little history textbook to learn a little more about the fundamental well-being of an airbender's spiritual self so she could become a little more adept at her element. That was it. But no, she thought wistfully, she didn't like just reading anymore. She wanted to apply herself to real life situations and real life problems and do things herself instead of vicariously through literature.
Jinora was sitting quietly on the edge of a low cliff at the end of Air Temple Island. In between daydreaming new airbender tricks and reading snippets of her book, she looked out over the water to Republic City and sighed. Part of her wanted to just sit there and read like she knew she should, and the other part wished for something to do. No, Jinora pushed the longing away. She didn't need to go into the city, and she didn't need adventure. She was safe on the isolated little island, the tiny, little,boring island. Finally, Jinora couldn't take it anymore. She snapped her book shut and left her perch on the cliff. She could read the book another day; it's not like the book was going anywhere.
She walked slowly back to the house to grab her glider, making sure to tell her mother that she was going off to watch Korra train. Her mother was fine with it, but Jinora knew that her father would be worried sick and very cross with her. Whatever, at least Jinora wasn't lying about it; she just wanted something to do.
She took a running start and gathered up the wind behind her with one arm, then opened up her glider and flew off before either of her siblings saw. It was only a few moments before Jinora had reached the opposing shore, but instead of landing like she knew she should have, she decided to swoop up just a little bit higher in order to get a bird's-eye view of the city.
"The city is so pretty up here." Jinora mused, "I wonder if anyone else's seen it like this."
As she continued to think, it dawned on her that of course people have seen a bird's-eye view of the city before. There were the metal-benders on the police force, the ones flying around in hovercraft. They've seen it before, haven't they? But maybe they were always on missions. Maybe they were all too focused on watching the bad parts of the city to see the whole, overall greatness of it? Thinking that made Jinora feel special. Here she was, just a child, but the first one to fly over Republic City and the only one to know how beautiful it really is, with the gridlike pattern of the streets, the random, reflective panels on the rooftops shining in the sun; it was her secret, her very first important secret, and no one else would know.
Silently, she landed on the rooftop of the gyms where the Fire Ferrets trained. For a moment, she stood on the edge of the building, just looking down at all the tiny people and wondering how all of them go around, not knowing how amazing the city they live in really is, when a rough, dirty hand gripped her shoulder.