She gasped. A small breeze passed through her trembling body, moonlight spilling from her small window, into the darkened room and on her bedspread. The ceiling was bare and dull. She could see it clearly now, she was in her room. It was just a dream.
She frowned as she sat up, trying to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. To her surprise she felt her eyes sore with dried crusted tears on her cheeks. Was she really crying in her sleep?
That was not normal, especially for Korra. She immediately found no reason for her to be sad or to be crying like a baby in her sleep. No, no reason at all. Now if she could only remember what the dream was about, maybe she could make sense to herself and then go back to get much needed rest.
Korra lay back on her bed, seeing her polar bear-dog's body rise and fall with each breath she took. Naga would have sensed Korra's uneasiness but for some reason her loyal friend lay somber asleep on the wooden floor. This is not normal, Korra thought as she tried to recollect her dream, this was… my fault.
"Good… er… morning… Korra," Pema greeted unsurely as she saw the young avatar trudge through the eating area of the home. She was not in her usual get-up-and-go state; she seemed tired and even depressed.
"Korra, is everything alright?" Tenzin asked, his face etched with worry.
"Look I know you're not much of a morning person," Pema said quite seriously as she served Tenzin tea. "But this unusual, even for you,"
Korra didn't answer; she played with her breakfast already served on her area of the table.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Jinora asked as she thinly smiled. "Sometimes bad dreams can keep us awake at night,"
"Ooo! I had a bad dream once!" Ikki squealed. "It was a scary bad dream. Mommy, Daddy and Jinora were in it. Oh and also Korra and Meelo and we were all being chased by this mean nasty-"
"Not now Ikki," Tenzin frowned.
Ikki pouted and crossed her arms. Meelo swallowed his food quickly. "The baby didn't let you sleep huh?" he said.
"Oh! Yes was that it?" Pema cried, she sat down next to Korra. "I'm sorry Korra but Rohan wouldn't stop fidgeting last night, I think he had colic. It's a good thing he settled down now. The poor baby couldn't stop crying-"
"Crying?" Korra mumbled.
"What was that?" Tenzin asked.
"Crying," Korra repeated. "I heard someone crying,"
"Was it Rohan?" Pema asked.
"No, it wasn't," Korra brightened up. "It was a little boy crying. Yeah, I remember now. I was dreaming about a little boy crying for help. I think he was lost. I don't know why,"
Tenzin could now see the dark circles under Korra's eyes. He knows it wasn't just a random dream; something inside was bothering her, but what?
"How did the little boy look like?" Pema asked. "Maybe he was someone you know."
Korra nodded her head softly "For what I remember, he looked scared and he was coming to me for help," Korra frowned. "I have a strange feeling that I know him personally but I can't recognize him… maybe he is some kind of spirit?"
Tenzin seemed perplexed. "Perhaps you do know the boy in the physical world, but I doubt he can be contacting you from the spiritual world," he said as he stroked his beard. "There can be many reasons why this unknown boy has appeared to you in your dreams. Did you dream of anything else?"
Korra lowered her head. "No, not much but I did wake up crying,"
"This is unusual," Tenzin mused. "When was the last time you had contact with Avatar Aang?"
Korra rolled a piece of fruit around her plate. "When he restored my bending,"
"Maybe you should consult this with him," Tenzin said. "He is the one with deeper knowledge of the spirit world. You are a fully realized avatar now; you can summon him whenever you need help. He can probably interpret your dream,"
Korra sat up as her tired eyes met Tenzin's "Really? How?"
"Meditating of course," Tenzin assured.
Korra slumped in her seat again. "It's gonna be a long day," she closed her eyes.
Tenzin led Korra into the south garden area of the Air Temple home. It had a perfect view of the outgoing harbor and was the most quiet and secluded place in the island. Korra suddenly felt at ease here and noticed the stonework in the place had etched symbols of the four elements.
"Whenever Avatar Aang had a stressful day he would come here and meditate for a while," Tenzin remarked. "You should try to make contact with him here,"
"It's so quiet here," Korra said, looking around and noticing a small pond filled with koi fish. "Too quiet,"
"It was his favorite place in the whole island," Tenzin smiled, most likely reminiscing his childhood years. "Well, I better be going now, I have a council meeting in half an hour. Good luck,"
Tenzin exited through a stone gate leading to a small path around the island. Korra stood on the grass under the shade of an aging cherry blossom tree. She sat down and made herself comfortable.
"I hope making contacting with you can be as easy as letting one tear fall this time," Korra chuckled. "All of this for a strange dream," She focused on the air symbol carved on a stone slab in the middle of the pond. She closed her eyes and let herself go…
Korra opened her eyes. She wasn't on the island anymore. A heavy mist surrounded her. Falling cherry blossoms drifted around her and melted on her cheek. Everything seemed green, like the part of the island she meditated in. She looked down and she noticed that she was standing on water with large koi fish swimming around her feet. They had patterns of bright reds, blues, yellows and even greens. Transfixed by their graceful swimming, she held out her hand and tried to touch one. But when she reached down they got startled and rippled the water with their long skeletal fins. Korra noticed as the water settled down, her reflection transformed into the image of her past life.
"Aang," she breathed.
"Hello Korra," a warm voice greeted.
Korra looked up and saw the past avatar smiling lovingly at her. "You finally made it," he remarked.
"It so good to see you! It's actually coming along easily now, this whole meditating thing," Korra grinned. "Um, where exactly am I?" She twisted and turned as she saw that her body was transparently blue and misty in a ghostly form.
"You are in the Spirit World, in a parallel realm of my garden," Aang explained.
"Is your whole garden covered in water?" Korra asked as she nearly stepped on a fish.
"Let's just say water is my second favorite element," Aang smiled. "Come, let me show you around,"
"Actually," Korra pointed out. "I wanted to ask you something really quick,"
Aang smile suddenly faded. "Something's troubling you,"
"Well, yeah," Korra said. "I've been dreaming something for a few nights now, and it's starting to bug me. A lot."
"What was your dream about?" Aang asked.
"It funny," Korra started. "Because when I was telling Tenzin when I what I was dreaming about, I couldn't remember a thing. But now that I am here with you I can picture exactly what I was dreaming,"
Aang walked up closer to Korra. "When we dream at night, it is as if we have another opportunity to connect to the spirit world," he explained. "Our spiritual form is opened because we are at peace and relaxed with ourselves. It makes it easier for any spiritual entity to come to us at night and try to make contact with us,"
"So what if that spiritual entity thing is a boy, a little boy," Korra said. "He was scared, hurt and lost,"
Aang went silent and lowered his head. "I have a feeling that you know this little boy,"
"Exactly what I thought!" Korra exclaimed. "But I don't know who! Its driving me crazy!"
Startled, the fishes swam away at her voice and suddenly Korra noticed that she was on top of a green hill, the mist had disappeared and she found herself staring into an endless mass of a quiet grassy field with scattered tall pointed mountains and a few small trees.
Aang placed his hands on Korra's shoulder and she calmed down. "Where are we?" she asked.
"Isn't this part of your dream?" Aang remarked.
Korra walked to the end of the hill and opened her mouth in awe as she recognized every part of the scene. "Yeah!" Korra gasped. "This what I was dreaming about,"
"But not all that you were dreaming," Aang said.
Korra saw that in the bottom of the hill there was a cheerful young boy running around with a kite in the shape of a red carp trailing in the sky behind him. He was laughing and having much fun with himself. Korra smiled warmly as she heard the echoing laughter of the boy filling the fields. It was followed by another voice, a much younger one, laughing along with the young boy but Korra couldn't tell where it came from.
She noticed the boy run up to the hill she was standing in and stopped in front of her. The kite that flew overhead was spinning and changing direction, even though there wasn't even a breeze. Korra faced the boy breathlessly, and stared at the features of the boy. Golden eyes, black hair combed in a strange way, a red scarf wrapped around his neck, the boy stared at Korra back, emotionless and with no fear. Suddenly the kite seemed to catch fire and it fell to the ground setting the fields ablaze. Korra watched in horror as the little boy screamed for help.
"Help! Mommy, where are you? Help!" the boy cried. "Somebody please!"
Korra could only watch helplessly as the boy was trapped in a ring of fire.
"I'm right here!" Korra yelled. "I am right here! It's alright!"
"Mom! Mommy!" the little boy yelled. "Mommy, where are you?" He started to cry bitterly.
"I'm right here!" Korra yelled as a tear ran down her cheek. "I'm right here! It's alright! I'm right here!"
"Mom!" the last of the little boy's cries was heard as Korra watched him being engulfed in the flames.
Korra covered her face, a hand softly touching her shoulder. "It's my fault, it's my fault, it's all my fault," Korra whispered.
She turned and saw Aang look at her with worried eyes. He sighed, "It is worse than I thought,"
note: just saying that this story takes place in the midst of a great time gap between the last episode and the next season. in spite of everything, im looking forward to the next season!
honest reviews are greatly appreciated! :3 cheers!