This is the moment, Nima thought to herself. This is the moment I finally become a part of the Air Nation.
"Nima, please rise." Master Choden called to her. Head bowed and still hooded, she rose slowly. Two other airbending masters filled the room with incense. They guided the air in circular motions around the temple room, letting the breeze brush the chimes that hung from the ceiling.
She could see her parents from just under the edge of her hood. They sat in the larger part of the room, smiling at her.
Master Choden approached her now. Behind him, Nima could see a young monk holding a wooden bowl filled with oil. The master stopped in front of her and pulled out a carved wooden necklace from his robes. He picked up her hand and laid the pendant onto her palm, letting the beaded cords drape on either side.
Nima looked up at him and grinned, though she wasn't sure he saw it. Being ten, her shoulder only came up to his waist and the hood hid most of her face.
"This necklace symbolizes your connection to the people of the Air Nation through birth." Master Choden lifted the hood off of her head, revealing a polygonal tattoo. It came down the center of her head, ending on her forehead where a single dot stood, directly on her light chakra. "These tattoos symbolize your connection to the air." He turned and dipped his hands into the oil the young monk was holding out to him. He placed his thumbs at the center of the tattoo on the crown of her head, where her thought chakra resided. With oil dripping from his fingertips, he traced the freshly inked skin. Dragging his thumbs to her forehead, he came to the bottom of her tattoo. Then he continued "- your connection to others who carry the gift of wind." He then dabbed a bit of oil on the dot before pulling his hands away.
"It has been an honor to anoint the head of one so young, Master Nima." Master Choden bowed in respect. Nima made a fist and clasped her other hand around it, bowing low in return.
Nima's younger sister, Tahna, ran into the room through the doorway that led outside. Squealing with glee, the six year old ran across the room and up the couple of steps that separated Nima from her parents.
"Nima's an airbender now!" Tahna shouted, her arms now tightly wrapped around her sister's waist.
"Tahna! Get down from there." Their mother reprimanded.
The little girl, still bouncing, climbed down the stairs and ran to her parents. Nima followed a few steps behind.
"Nima, why don't you take your sister outside. Maybe go play for a bit." Before they knew it, they were being scooted out the door.
The fresh air filled Nima's lungs as she stepped outside. She had found the fragrances inside the small temple to be overpowering.
Nima and her sister began to climb a trail even farther up the mountain. Well, it wasn't quite a mountain, but it was the biggest hill she had even seen. She could see for miles up there and it made her feel closer to her element. For once she could fly down from somewhere instead of flying up. Nima had always found falling to give a more exciting sensation that flying itself. Not that she would ever tell anyone that. She was strange enough as it was, she didn't need to add useless forms of airbending to the list.
"Nini, why'd you have to take all your hair out?" Tahna stared at Nima's head as she asked.
Nima had forgotten for a moment that she had a shaved head, and how strange she must look. She hadn't even seen her tattoo yet. The more she thought about it, the better she could feel the wind, respond to it. "Well," she began, "I had to take it off so that Master Choden could put these markings on the top of my head, where my hair would normally be."
Tahna scrunched up her nose the same way she always did when forced to drink tea. She still hadn't seemed to acquire a taste for it yet. "I won't do that. When I get my tattoo's, I'll just make them do it with my hair on."
"Good luck with that." She smiled at her little sister. Her and her beautiful, curly, chocolate brown hair. It would be a shame to cut off such beautiful locks. But, as far as Nima could tell, it was worth it.
The little girl hopped up to a swing on the side of the path. Putting her arms out, Nima picked her up and lifted her onto it. It was a small piece of wood suspended by two ropes attached to a strong oak tree. Pushing her sister back and forth, she let her mind wander. From the tree, to the ceremony, to the trip home, then she remembered. She had intended to ask her parents if they could make a detour on their journey home to The Great Canyon. This might be the closest she would ever get to it in her entire life!
Turning, she ran back down the path. "Tah, I'll be right back!" She yelled back towards her sister, still swinging back and forth.
She let the wind carry her feet faster down the trail. She approached the hut that had been converted into a temple. She slowed down, for fear she might be reprimanded just as her sister had been if she were to burst in running.
She could hear her father speaking "Nima's dreams have been getting worse though."
Nima stopped in her tracks at the mention of her name. She leaned closer to the doorway, but didn't dare step in front of it.
"What kinds of dreams?" It was the voice of Master Choden.
"Dreams with…" her father trailed off, a hint of embarrassment in his tone. "Dreams with Spirits in them." He continued.
"Spirits? Yonten, I think you're overreacting. Any child who has heard the stories of the dark spirits that plagued us so long ago is bound to have nightmares from time to time."
"But they aren't nightmares!" Nima's mother interrupted. "She was five when she first told us about them. It was one of the first times she successfully meditated with us. When we were finished, she told us she had been to see spirits." Her voice shook as she spoke. "We told her she must have fallen asleep and dreamed them up. But then she just insisted she had seen them, and said they were her friends."
"And when did this last take place?" Choden asked.
"Well, as she got older, the dreams got more elaborate. She started talking about visiting green fields with butterflies the size of huts! And she always spoke of a lake." Her mother continued.
"We stopped asking her about the dreams, or... visions, a couple years ago. We hoped that maybe she would stop thinking about them, and thus stop dreaming about them." Yonten added in.
"Yonten, Dawa, I want you to listen to me carefully. You need to ask her when her last spirit dream was. If she's still having them, have her shorten her meditation sessions. See if you can distract her from these dreams and keep her from seeing whatever it is she's envisioning. I've never heard of anything like this. And with Wan gone, I fear what the spirits might have in mind for that little girl."
Nima turned and started walking back down the path, her mind racing. I always knew I was different, she thought, but I didn't think I was alone. I can't be the only one who visits the Spirit World… I.. don't.. want to be special. I don't want to be different.