I always wondered what it would be like. To just escape. To leave behind all worries and pain. To know nothing but bliss. And live in another realm that knows no evil.
It would be paradise.
As I lay here on the soft, green grass, I stare up at the stars. Wondering what it would be like to be as free as they are. To gaze upon what they have, and hold their power. To be enriched with their energy.
It astonishes me, because the cosmos know no boundaries.
I have always found myself in awe of how large the world is, and beyond that. Yet, sometimes I feel as if we are all connected. As if we are all one. But war and hatred quickly tear us apart. It's sad, really. But it is what keeps everything in balance. It is reality.
I hear the gentle pad of my mother's footsteps nearing me, and it snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Jinora, please come inside. The winds are picking up, I expect it will be storming soon. Dinner is ready."
I reluctantly stood up and followed my mom to the dining room inside of the air temple.
Today is a rather special day. It is the anniversary of the victory of my grandfather, Avatar Aang. On this day, many years ago, he defeated Fire Lord Ozai and brought peace to all of the nations, later founding our home, Republic City. My family has a tradition of celebrating this day every year.
I take in the smells of the cuisine from all four nations. This year we are having fire nation buns, bread, and watermelon juice, earth kingdom bean curd puffs and tea, watertribe seaweed noodles, and egg custard tart, a special air nomad dish, and a favorite of Aang's.
My father says a prayer and we quickly get to eating the delicious delicacies.
"Woo hoo! Food!" Ikki says as she quickly gets started on her seaweed noodles.
Bolin looked like he had never seen food before.
Meelo does the same and starts stuffing his face, while dropping food all over and around him.
I giggled at the sight of it and my mother just sighed.
"Meelo will you please at least try to get the food in your mouth instead of wearing it? It's a special occasion."
Meelo was too intent on the food to answer her.
My father stood, with a glass in hand, and spoke next..
"Now let's not forget what today is. It is a celebration of my father and your grandfather, honoring what he did for all four nations. Without his bravery, skill, and heart, there would be no United Republic. I know it is alarming to think about, but the whole world might be fire nation today if it weren't for him. So let us remember what a great person and avatar he was to his people, and never forget."
He raised his glass.
"To Avatar Aang."
The rest of us stood up and did the same.
"To Aang!" We all said, beaming.
"And to Korra, Aang's legacy," my mother said.
"To Korra!" We said again.
Korra blushed. "Thanks guys."
We all sat back down and enjoyed the rest of our meals.
Asami and I helped clean the dishes afterwards, Bolin was in charge of feeding Naga and Pabu, and Mako volunteered to clean up Meelo's mess, but didn't know what he was in for.
"How does such a little boy make such a big mess?" Mako said, in wonder.
"Oh, if you think that's bad, you haven't seen anything yet," I said half jokingly, half serious.
"No kidding?" He said a little worried.
As soon as I finished cleaning and drying the last glass, I was off to brush Naga. With Korra being the avatar and all, she usually doesn't have time to brush Naga, which is why she entrusts me with it. Now that Naga is in a warmer climate than she is used to, she sheds a lot.
"Hey Bolin," I said as I walked over to Naga, who was furiously lapping up her water.
"Oh, hey, Jinora!" He called as he was feeding Pabu.
I started to brush Naga, but she was too fixated on her water to cooperate.
"Um, Bolin.. how long had it been since you gave her water?"
"Oh.. you know.. I kinda forgot to give her water yesterday..." his voice trailed off.
I shook my head.
"Bolin, you could damage her health by neglecting her like that. She needs water just as you do. What if you had to go without water because someone was too careless to remember to give you any?"
"Hey. Hey. I got, okay? It won't happen again.." with that said he walked out with Pabu.
"I'm sorry, Naga," I said softly, and patted her on her back.
After all the cleaning and brushing had been done, it was late and everyone was tired. The air temple became silent, as it was past the usual time the air acolytes normally went to bed. I silently walked to my room, careful not to wake anyone that was already asleep. I got out of my clothes and threw on my favorite night gown. It was a comfortable satin fabric and the color was white with a hint of pink, creating a perfect pearl color.
I quickly jumped into my warm, inviting bed. A polar opposite from the freezing wooden floor beneath me.
My mind wondered for a while until I finally drifted off into a quiet slumber.
I was motionless, sitting atop a hill, when thunder boomed and lightning surged in networks of veins all around me. Wind rolled all around, but I was untouched and still. I tried to move, but couldn't, as if my nerves had been severed from my brain. I felt paralyzed and terrified.
Suddenly, the world started spinning, all except for me and the hill. Strange hisses echoed throughout the dark purple sky and the hill disappeared. I fell into pure nothingness and regained control over my body.
As I continued to drop, I thrashed and tried to scream, but I made no sound. The only sounds were the sounds of air in my ear and my heart pounding in my chest. It seemed as if it would never end. It went on and on, every second of it brought more painful fear to my mind.
I stopped falling and slowly sunk into a clear, gel-like substance. I saw laurel trees and variations of plant life growing all around me. Sunlight shone on them and they grew under the warmth of its rays. As quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. A claw ripped through the middle of the landscape and tore the vision in half as it dissolved into nothing.
The gel had dissolved with it and left me on where the ground should have been, covered in it.
I was surrounded by darkness.
I slowly stood up, shaking and cautious of what would happen next.
A black and white figure appeared in the distance.
Realizing it was charging toward me, I took off running in the opposite direction.
It was too fast, and I knew it would catch up, so I had to try something different.
It let out a terrible, high pitched cry as I watched it continue to charge toward me.
As it came closer, I got a better look at it. It was huge, with razor sharp teeth that gnashed as it neared.
When it got into close enough reach, I had to act fast. I quickly went through the fast motions of the most destructive air bending move I knew.
Nothing happened.
I tried again. Nothing.
What happened to my airbending?
I panicked as it got closer, and there was nothing I could do but wait for it to catch up with me. As it came charging at me, I could hear the desperate growls. The low growls that made every inch of my body shudder.
Then, it came into contact. It knocked me down and its teeth towered over me, then plunged down.
I screamed the loudest, most horrified scream I had ever thought anyone capable of doing, with tears streaming down my face.
As my vision cleared, I realized that I was in my room, sitting in my bed.
Relief flowed through my body as I realized it had only been a nightmare.
I heard movement and knew that I had woken many people up. Fast, heavy footsteps neared my room and my sister along with some other air acolytes burst into my room.
"Are you okay?" One of them called out. They all looked worried, but comforted when they saw me.
"Yes, I'm fine. It was a only a terrible nightmare. I am so sorry for waking you all up." I was obviously embarrassed.
Ikki ran up to me, wide eyed and alert. "You scared me! I've never heard anyone scream so loud!"
"I.. I'm really sorry Ikki," I said. My breathing was fast.
One of the acolytes stepped closer to me and the rest, including Ikki, filed out of my room.
It was Tao, a middle aged, more spiritual air acolyte. She had honey brown hair that reached her waist, though normally put up into a bun.
"Just get some rest, there's no need to be sorry about it. We all get bad dreams at times."
"It was just so horrible. In it, there was some sort of a black and white monster hunting me. And I tried to protect myself with airbending, but I couldn't airbend."
Her eyes widened and her feet shifted.
"Well, it's alright now," she assured me.
"Just don't think about it and go back to sleep."
I did just that.
The next day went by as it usually does. I had finished my chores and airbending practice, and was walking over to the courtyard to meditate, when someone called my name.
Turning to see who it was, I spotted Tao walking toward me.
"Hello, Tao," I said curtly, and with surprise.
"Greetings, Jinora. Is everything going alright today?"
"Yes, why wouldn't everything be alright? It was just a nightmare last night, after all."
Since when did she care?
"Of course." She smiled. "Would you mind joining me for tea?"
Though it was unusual, I accepted her offer, because declining would have seemed rude.
We went inside to the dining hall, which was busy.
She gestured for me to sit with her at a table near far end of the room.
"Excuse me if it seems rude to ask, but why did you invite me for tea? We hardly ever talk. Did I do something wrong?"
She let out a small laugh and poured me a cup of jasmine tea. "Oh no, you've done nothing wrong. Don't worry. I just thought we could talk about that nightmare last night. I am an expert in interpreting dreams, after all, and thought you might want to know what it meant."
I pressed my lips together. It was only a bad dream, she said so herself. So why does it seem like she's trying to get at something?
"Sure."
She smiled. "Excellent!"
After taking a sip of her tea, she began again. "The black and white monster you saw, do you remember anything about how it acted?"
"I remember that it acted desperate to get to me, and that it was angry at me. But I don't know why..." my voice trailed off. "Oh, and I also remember that it had huge, razor snap teeth, and it had such a shrill cry."
"Hmm." Tao looked deep in thought as her dark eyes shifted from side to side, hands under her chin. "And you couldn't airbend?"
"Not the slightest bit."
"Do you remember anything about your appearance in your dream?" Now she was pressing me.
I raised a questionable eyebrow. "I looked the same."
"Oh.. I see. Anything else about your dream that you think was out of the ordinary?"
"Well, everything was out of the ordinary. But I do remember watching plants grow all around me, as if weeks were passing by in seconds."
"That's very interesting. I will have to have some time to decipher what all of this means." Without asking, she picked up my tea cup and stared into it.
She looked sick.
"Please excuse me."
Tao quickly dropped the cup and unsteadily got up and exited the room, leaving me alone at the table except for the tea.
I narrowed my eyes. "Well, that was weird."
My father walked in and scoped the room, until his gaze fell on me.
"Oh, there you are." He looked relieved.
He rubbed his hand down his face and he met me at the table.
"Where were you? You told me you were going to meditate."
He sat down where Tao had been.
"I'm sorry, Dad. Tao invited me to have tea with h-" I was cut off.
"Jinora, I thought I had told you this before. Tao is a little.. different. You shouldn't be around her too much."
"I know," I said flatly. "She asked me to join her and I didn't want to be rude. She kept asking me about a nightmare I had last night."
He shook his head. "She's always asking about people's dreams. Like she's looking for something."
He stood up and I followed him out.
"Your mother wants help with cooking the rice for tonight. You should probably go find her. I have a brief council meeting to attend."
I sighed, but obeyed. "Yes, father."
'Like she's looking for something.'
Whatever she's looking for, I don't have it.