Prologue
"I've realised that even though we should learn from those who came before us, we must also forge our own path...so that's why I've decided to keep the portals open. Humans can now physically enter the spirit world and spirits are free to roam our world" Korra stood confident in front of her audience. Republic city's rebuilding had stopped for the morning and its occupants had come out in droves to hear the explanation of yesterday's horror and calamity. "I will no longer be the bridge between worlds. Humans and spirits must learn to live together. My mission will always be to use Raava's light spirit to guide the world to peace and balance." She smiled. After all this time of thinking she wasn't good enough, she had saved the world. She was finally The Avatar, the one the world deserved.
"Harmonic convergence has caused a shift in the planet's energy. I can feel it...things will never be the same again...We are entering a new age!" The crowd screamed for Republic city's saviour once again. Korra raised her arms in the air, joining the celebration with the proud people of world. Korra's face dropped as a flash of blue and white seared before her eyes. She had gotten used to this kind of 'Avatar stuff' but it still had surprised her. The feeling had barely passed before it returned, but this time it was red and black. She screamed and dropped to her knees. Blinded by pain, the uproar of the crowd mixed with the unfamiliar panicked voice of her father slowly drifted away. She was gone before her head hit the stage.
"I'm afraid it's time Korra" Raava soothed comfortingly before she was drowned out by the sound of a screaming baby.
Chapter One
Jinora had been to Ba Sing Se before, albeit not it years, but the size of it always put her in state of awe. Growing up in Republic City, she always thought she was well versed in city life, but her home paled compared to the city stretched out past the horizon below her.
"Come on, let's head down Omaa" she called to her sky bison receiving a deep roar in reply. Jinora had not long ago become an air bending master but just because her two decades of training had finally paid off, didn't mean she had nothing to do. Granddaughter of Avatar Aang, she was still only one of two air bending masters in the world, meaning that there was never a dull moment. The other air bending master, her father Tenzin, was at home in Republic City finishing her siblings training. Jinora worried about him, he had never forgiven himself for the loss of Avatar Korra. It wasn't his fault but she was his student and he had always felt that he owed it to Aang. It was all Jinora could do to stop him resigning from his post representing the air nomads in Republic City but in the last few years she had finally grown up in his eyes, which is why she was here instead of him. She was here to see the Order of the White Lotus. Since the Hundred Year War they had reformed to keep the peace all over the world, and they had together worked to support the Avatar in training.
Omaa roared again. Jinora looked down to see the white lotus symbol stretched over the roof not too far in the distance. She smiled "Well done Omaa" she said with a smile "They should be waiting for us" As they descended the already gargantuan scrawling mass of the inner wall of the city expanded until Omaa gracefully drifted until a garden and saddled up against a large pile of hay. Jinora picked up her bag and staff off from Omaa's back and glided down towards her bison's face.
"Well done girl, you got us here!" She smiled and enjoyed a small rub of Omaa's nose.
"Master Jinora" came a voice from behind her. Jinora had not quite got used to being called master yet, but she was certainly glad to be getting used to it. "Master Musi" She smiled and bowed.
"Greetings from Ba Sing Se" The elderly man said kindly "Please follow me, you must be weary from your journey. Tea? ".
"Well Omaa did most of the work, but it is a long way from Republic City. I would love some" Jinora waved to her bison and followed the man inside. She was surprised to see the amount of members of the White Lotus there were inside, about a dozen people sat around an elongated table all donning the order's blue and white garb. Jinora felt quite out of place on her bordering bright orange and red air nomad outfit.
Jinora sat down at the space set aside for her, greeted the other White Lotus members and thankfully accepted the food and drink presented to her. "Let us get down to business, time is always against us." Master Musi began as he found himself a space at the table opposite Jinora. "As we all know the Avatar is lost. We were not prepared for the tragic loss of Avatar Korra but despite the spiritual difficulties she encountered in her final battle we believed that the cycle would indeed begin again. The last fourteen years we have been searching the Earth Kingdom and the colonies and we still have yet to find them. However there is still hope. Some of our spiritual advisers believe firmly that the Avatar lives or at least recently lived within the walls of Ba Sing Se, but we are unable to advance from there." Musi took it in turns to look at everyone in the meeting and finally rested he eyes back on Jinora. "This is where Master Jinora comes in. I have heard great things about you from your father, especially your connections with the spirit world. Will you help us Master Jinora?"
Jinora closed her eyes feeling for any signs of the streams of spiritual energies running through the streets. There was something, she could tell, but...the noise of the place, so many different people passing through every hour. Jinora felt so far from some of the air nomad fortresses she had called home over the years. The lower ring of the city was far from anything she had experienced anywhere else, even the rough areas of Republic City had Satomobiles and electricity. People say that Ba Sing Se hadn't changed all that much in the last hundred years. Jinora very much felt that she was in the past. Her musings were interrupted when a scruffy street urchin ran into her. As a master of air she was easily able to stay on her feet by deflecting him. Unfortunately the teen bounced straight of her and fell in the street. As he got up and brushed himself of, Jinora expected and apology but he just stared at her and asked "What's up with your weird clothes?" Jinora was about to reply when what looked like his scruffy brown-haired friend ran caught up. "Come on Shin, we are going to be late! They'll start without us!" She tugged at his clothes and as he started running off again she turned to look at Jinora with a pair of green eyes. "Sorry Miss, gotta run" And with a smile she took off at quite a speed. Intrigued Jinora tried to follow but inexperience of navigating the busy streets and her adult frame prevented from catching up with them. "Good thing I can cheat" She muttered as she kicked the wings of her staff out and took off.
Managing to stay mostly out of sight she followed the pair of kids to a courtyard in one of the more rough areas. The pair of them snuck through a gate in between two buildings as Jinora landed on one of the adjacent ones above. As she climbed over the roof of the building she was slightly confused at what she was seeing. Children of all ages surrounded a large square-ish outline in the middle of a slightly larger courtyard. Within it resided small piles of rocks and several buckets with more sets of lines going across it. The sight continued to puzzle her for a few more moments until the crowd backed off a small amount and three older kids took each side, two of these Jinora recognised as the ones she had followed here. The realisation hit her with a small mouth-drop "Pro-bending?" she whispered incredulously. She knew it from Republic City, it was a game based on bending the elements as a sport. Each team had to knock each other's team off the 'ring' as it was there. Jinora had never played it, though it wasn't designed for air benders, but each team had a member of every other element: water earth and fire.
Another slightly older kid from the sidelines whistled and the match kicked off. Jinora's mouth once again fell open. These kids were giving almost as good and some of the tournament ready teams from republic city and they were doing all without the standard safety equipment. It worried Jinora and she was sure that if her Dad was here he'd try and put an end to it. Though it was likely they would have done it before and they would do it again despite anything she could say. She watched as the girl from earlier hold her own against most of the opposing teams attacks. She didn't look too old but her earth bending was fast, she was blocking so many attacks and never missed an opening. Suddenly Shin came from behind her rock wall unleashed a stream of water catching the enemy team in the faces knocking them all to the floor. "Pretty sure that's cheating" Jinora muttered with a smile. The whistle came for the end of the round and the players un-tensed. Musi suddenly came into her head and she remembered why she was there. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate again. Her mind was clearer up the roof, away from the busy streets. Again there was something not too far away but nothing strong. In the distance, towards the higher tiers of the city she seemed to sense something.
By the time Jinora opened her eyes again the next round was well on the way and her focus went back on to the two benders from earlier who seemed to be using the same tactic. The opposing team seemed none the wiser however and Shin appeared from behind the girl again he let loose another stream of water, but much harder this time, and knocked the team right out of the drawn pitch. Shin threw his hands up in the air in awe though the girl looked much less impressed. "Have to be getting on anyway" Jinora told herself. She stood up and flicked her staff's wings out catching the troubled gaze of the girl. Jinora smiled back before she took off high in the air.
"No way!" Jinora found it hard to conceal her excitement. She had been following the smallest amount of spirit energy for hours in a desperate hope and she had finally tracked it to here: The Jasmine Dragon. It was a tea shop founded by a very dear friend of hers. When he used to live in the physical world he spent his retirement here, but that was a long time ago. These days she would like nothing better than to visit Iroh and his friends in the spirit world. Jinora was now in the Upper Tier of Ba Sing Se, miles from the sights of markets and street-bending. Everything was very modern here, much the parts of home she was used to. Jinora grinned with excitement and ran inside. The best tea shop in Ba Sing Se lived up to its name and the place was almost full with customers wanted the finest made tea around. As Jinora sat down at the only free table a kindly looking woman came over. "I'll have a Jasmine Tea please" Jinora asked nicely.
"Certainly Madame" she bowed "Please ask my son if you need anything" She smiled again and Jinora bowed her head in thanks. She closed her eyes to explore the spiritual energies once again. This place did seem like a spiritual hot-spot of Ba Sing Se, though she would expect nothing less from Iroh's tea shop. A sudden shift in energies made her jump back into the room again.
"Your tea Madame" came a voice from beside her. This time it wasn't the kindly woman, but an older child. His dark hair was smoothed to one side to try and match the posh tea shop he was in. He smiled non-convincingly and departed his blue-grey eyes turning to the rest of the customers. Jinora's heart skipped a beat. "How old is he? Could he be...?" she thought as excitement started to rise within her. "Raava?" She said aloud. A lot of thought had gone into thinking of something to say to a possible avatar if she found them. She was sure whoever they were, they would recognise that name. The boy turned to look Jinora right in the eye. "Excuse me?" He said in a slightly mystified voice.
"Sorry, you remind me of someone I once knew. What is your name?" Jinora asked.
"Yi" He replied in a quiet voice.
"How old are you Yi?" She asked, excitement building within her.
"Fourteen" Yi responded.
"Nice to meet you Yi" she said with a small grin. She had to get back and talk with the Order. She could barely contain herself as she finished her tea. Jinora stood up and headed towards Yi's mother behind the counter and dropped a couple of copper pieces in her hand for payment. "Greetings, I am Master Jinora: Granddaughter of Avatar Aang" Jinora bowed. "The Order of the White Lotus would very much like to meet you and your son. When do you close?"
"I think I've found them!" Jinora came crashing through the door of the order's front day. Most of the members had gone home, just a few remained. Musi looked up from the parchment he was writing on "Really?! Already?" Jinora could tell he wasn't the type of elder who excited easily but she noticed his eyes light up. "How do I know if it is really him?" Jinora asked. It had been something on her mind over here. There didn't seem to be anyway to know for sure until they saw him bend another element. Musi rushed towards a cupboard in the corner of a room. "We came prepared for this" He said quickly, pulling various items out of the cupboard and discarding them on the floor. "Avatar Korra claimed that the link to the previous Avatar's had been broken, and that has neither proved to true or false, but the boy should have links to Korra within him" He exhaled as he pulled out a wooden box out of the cupboard and rested it on the table. "This box contains precious items that various avatars have held dear and different items we could find linked to Avatar Korra. However we can't know until physical proof shows itself."
"Thanks Master Musi" Jinora, still excited, went to grab the box from the table.
"Hang on Jinora, we need to alert the councils of the White Lotus and arrange a meeting with the Avatar" Musi held his hand out to stop her.
"Do we have to? You said yourself that time was running out" Jinora was slightly annoyed with Musi's outbreak and gave him a bit of a stare. He hesitated. "Your right Master Jinora, I apologize." He bowed "It's just it has been fourteen years and I don't want to rush it. However you are Tenzin's daughter and you alone have found the avatar." Jinora felt sorry for the old man, he had been waiting for this moment and now it wasn't his. She bowed to him and picked up the box on the table and rushed back out again."Omaa?" She called, getting a roar in response from around the corner. Jinora took air bending jump, landing on her sky bison's back. "Yip Yip".
The cross city journey took less time than it had taken her alone on her glider, but even on Omaa it took ages. Or at least seemed like it, Jinora could barely contain herself. Even with the demise of Korra, she had left peace with the world and it had lasted many years. But recently trouble had started stirring west of there: humans and spirits had started making trouble again, especially in the small towns and villages where spirits could easily wander in. They liked to live in the wild away from the heavy civilisation of places like Ba Sing Se. Omaa roared and landed right outside The Jasmine Dragon with a heavy thud catching the attention of many passers-by of the Upper Tier. "Thanks Omaa" Jinora glided down of her back and headed for the tea shop.
When she got inside Yi and his mother were sat waiting for him. The rest of the shop was now empty. Jinora put the box of things on the table in front of them. "Welcome back Master Jinora. Excuse me for not introducing myself earlier, I am Yuma and I am looking after The Jasmine Dragon for my brother." She turned to her son "Can you put some tea on Yi?" Yuma smiled as her son disappeared to the kitchen in the back. She dropped her smile for concern as she turned to Jinora. "What is this about Master Jinora?" She asked with more concern.
"It is possible that your son is the next avatar!" Jinora exclaimed quietly with excitement. Yuma's gaze did not falter, and the concern on her face continued.
"That's what I thought" She sighed and put her head in her hands. "He's always been different; it makes a lot of sense. He has always been heading for greater things but..." Her voice faltered "..He's all I have left." Yuma looked back up at Jinora, and the air nomad noticed a tear welling in the mother's eye. Jinora put her hand on Yuma's shoulder in comfort but was distracted by the sight of Yi coming back from the kitchen. Yuma wiped her eye and turned to smile at Yi. "Thanks Son. This is a very important lady and she wants to test you. You know I've always said you were special? Well this is where you prove it!" She smiled completely masking her previously shown worries. Yi's face turned from his generally confused look to a warm one much like his mother's. Jinora opened the wooden box in front of her as Yi poured out the tea. "Alright Yi, all we need you to do is see if you recognise any of these things we have in this box. Be honest, the outcome doesn't matter." She thought about spilling the boxes' contents out on the table but decided it would make sense if Yi went through the stuff himself. She slid the box across the table. Yi stared down into the box with a blank expression on his face. After a few moments he gingerly placed his hand inside the box and started pulling out various items. He picked a red scarf without much thought placed it on the table, followed by a few little wooden items that Jinora knew where ancient air nomad toys used by different avatars. Suddenly Yi's face went to almost concern when he retrieved something from the box. He picked up a photo and held before his gaze for a while in concentration.
"I recognise him" Yi said in a matter-of-factly voice and held the photo out to Jinora. She took it off him as Yi went back to the box. Jinora couldn't help but to let a small smile out. The picture Yi had handed her was of Tonraq: Avatar Korra's father. There was very little chance of Yi recognising him from anything but his link to his previous life. "That's it I think" Yi said "Is that okay?" He sounded slightly worried like he had let her down. "Of course!" Jinora felt for the boy "You did so well!" Jinora turned to look at Yuma, but she could tell the mother understood. "We'll meet you at the outer ring tomorrow afternoon" Yuma looked sad again "I know where the Order building is" Yi looked more confused than normal but Jinora got the hint. "Okay I shall leave you two to it. Goodnight" She bowed and headed for the door. On the way back on Omaa she couldn't help but feel for the mother, Yi had long journeys ahead of him and it might be a long time before he got to see his mother again. It was late by the time Jinora got back and only Musi was still up waiting for her. She explained what had happened and bid him goodnight before she took to one of the guest rooms prepared for her and slipped off to her well deserved dreams.
Jinora dreamed of Yi that night. She dreamed of their meeting except she wasn't Jinora, she was Yuma. She watched as Yi left the walls of Ba Sing Se alone. At first she was proud, but then she changed her mind, she wanted her son back "Yi!" she called but he turn around "Yi!" she called, louder this time. She needed her son. "YIIIII!" She was screaming and shouting this time, tears welling in her eyes. Suddenly she wasn't Yuma at all; she was Jinora, but only ten years old, pushing through the people on the street that couldn't see her. It wasn't Yi anymore either; it was Korra, now marching into the sunset without her "KORRAAA!" She was too late this time Korra had nearly reached the horizon"KORRA PLEASE COME BACK..." She was gone. Jinora curled into a ball in the middle of the street, no one was noticing her and she closed her eyes.
Jinora opened her eyes and gasped. Master Musi was bent over her shaking her. "Jinora!" he was calling in excitement. He seemed in a very different mood than he was the previous night "We have so much stuff to do before they arrive!" He smiled.
"Yeah yeah, give me ten minutes" Jinora waved her hand to signal him to go away.
"Okay you have ten minutes!" He said sounding less than impressed.
"Euurgh" Jinora sighed pulling the cover over her face.
Ten minutes later Jinora was up and ready sat back in the meeting room still rubbing her eyes. Many o f the other members of the order had turned up and she greeted them. Musi was once again sitting directly opposite to her, though this time looking a lot more positive. "We've done it! We've found the Avatar! All thanks to Master Jinora." Musi waved his arms at Jinora as the rest of the meeting silently celebrated. "The Avatar will be here soon to hand his training over to us. This morning I have been doing some reconnaissance on our new friend to see how we should progress. It turns out that Yi has been attending earth bending lessons since he was 6 and is the top of his class. I spoke to his teacher and he claims there's not much too still be taught. That is why I have decided that we should send him straight to the Fire Nation at once to learn his second element." Musi dropped the excitement for more solemn tones. " As I was saying in our last meeting, time is against us. Once again the balance is shifting in the world and it will not be long before the world needs its new Avatar. Master Jinora will you fly Yi to the Fire Nation?"
"Of course Master Miso" Jinora bowed her head. "I will protect the boy until he reaches his next master."
"Omaa, yip yip!" Jinora called and her sky bison slowly climbed into the air. She sat with Yi as they both waved at the disappearing metropolis of Ba Sing Se below them. Jinora could just still see the outline of Yuma and Musi on the ground below. Yi's hand dropped to his side. "Are you okay?" Jinora asked. She found Yi's lack of facial emotions hard to read sometimes. He turned to look at her with a slight concerned look. "I guess everyone has to leave home some day".