I was standing on a mountain, which was lifeless and gray. I trecked up the dull mountain until I reached its peak. It was bitterly cold and frostbite threatened me. I ran to the edge and looked down on the opposite side of the mountain I came up. Before me there was a beautiful vista, stretching far and wide. There were crystal clear ponds with lightly shaded green lily pads, gorgeous meadows of fire and panda lillies, and rows of perfect cherry blossom trees.

I reached behind me and pulled my glider off of my back. I opened it as I raised it over my head and kicked off of the mountain peak.

When I landed, I was instantly engulfed in the warmth of the sun. I lay my glider on the soft, green grass and observe the surreal beauty around me.

"It's amazing," I breathed to myself.

Euphoria seemed to be in the air, and with happiness swelling inside me, I ran through the beautiful flowers. I had never seen anything like this before.

I placed a panda lily in my hair and danced over to the large pond. There were hundreds of koi fish, all healthy and glowing. Smooth, small waves lapped at my feet as they gently swam and mingled between each other.

I crouched down and dipped my fingers into the water. It was warm and inviting. I stood up and waded knee deep into the calm water. The koi tickled my feet and I giggled with joy.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was strong and the grip was tight.

"It's perfect isn't it?" The voice was feminine.

I didn't look back. I didn't feel the need to.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter where, Jinora. All you need to worry about is how to get out of here." The voice turned urgent.

"Why? This place is-"

"This place is not what it seems. It is dangerous, and you must go." The voice now sounded as if on the verge of pleading.

I turned around to face her, but as I did, the hand left my shoulder and no one was there, except the silhouette of the black and white monster that had plagued my previous dreams.


I woke up to Ikki banging on my door.

"JIIIINOOORRRAAA!"

I heard the door open and Ikki's light steps coming toward me.

"I'm awake, Ikki." I opened one eye to look at her.

"You overslept! Bolin said that if you don't eat your breakfast, he will," She said swiftly, and quickly exited the room.

I got out of bed with no trouble. I was well rested and woke up with a positive attitude.

After washing up and changing into my clothes, I headed to the dining room for breakfast.

No one was there except for my mother who was cradling my newborn brother, Rohan. She was humming something and her eyes were fixed on him. He has piercing green eyes, though I have no clue who he gets them from. Gran Gran said that he would be a strong airbender. I hope he's a waterbender, personally. After all, it is a possibility.

"Morning," my mother said to me without taking her eyes off of him.

"Good morning."

I sat in silence(besides my moms humming) and enjoyed my breakfast of fruit before cleaning my dishes and walking to our music room.

It had always been one of my favorite rooms in the air temple. It has red walls with gold trim and gold dancing dragons all around the walls. The floor was the same, plain wood as the rest of the floors were.

I walked across the room to a wooden box with a topaz gem decorating the top of it, and slowly opened it. Inside was my dark cherry wood flute. I've been learning to play for a couple of months now and know a few songs by heart.

I chose an old blue chair next to an open window, and tucked my legs in. It had a beautiful view of republic city.

I began playing the smooth, wooden instrument when Ikki entered.

"Ohh! You're playing my favorite song?" She asked excitedly.

I nodded and continued playing, while she stood next to me and began to sway and sing on key with the notes of the flute.

"Winter, spring, summer, and fall. Winter, spring, summer, and fall."

Her voice is always like silk when she sings, and carries beautifully, despite her usual tone.

"Four seasons, four loves. Four seasons, for love."

She smiled and looked at me. "I wish I could play that good."

I smiled back at her, acknowledging the compliment. "Ikki, I don't think it matters how well you can play when you have a voice like that."

She looked pleased and her face turned more serious. "Oh yeah, I forgot! Dad sent me up here to tell you that we're starting airbending practice early today."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably because he has a council meeting later or something like that." Dad is always off doing something.

"Okay.." I sighed and placed my flute back in it's wooden box.

After airbending practice, I went to the garden to meditate. It was small, but it was a garden nonetheless.

We had never grown any vegetables or fruit in the garden, but instead grew numbers of rare plant species from vines to flowers.

I went through the white marble arch entrance and sat on the edge of a gray fountain in the center. Vines wrapped themselves up and down the fountain and small purple flowers began to bloom on them.

I got in my position with my legs crossed and tucked, then cleared my mind.

Only the sound of chirping birds went through my mind.

I was at peace.

Suddenly, visions and flashes of shades of blue entered my previously peaceful mind.

"Jinora..." a strange, hypnotic voice said.

"Jinora we need you." The voice trailed away, and the black and white monster from my nightmare a few nights before showed up. This time it looked calm, or at least as calm as the frightening monster could appear to be. It looked as if it was beckoning me to follow, but where to? It had a strange glint of mystery in its eye, which only made me curious about where it wanted to take me.

I opened my eyes, feeling dazed and confused.

I have an imagination, that's for sure.

I heard the snaps of twigs and scuffle of leaves behind me, and heard footsteps coming towards me. I looked back to see Tao with a forced smile.

"Hello, Jinora." Something was off about her.

"Um.. Hello," I said in a questioning tone.

"Forgive me for leaving in such a rude way the other day. I was just overcome with a bit of shock."

Trying to fake interest, I kept the conversation going. "Shocked? Why were you shocked?"

She was fidgeting. "Well.. when I looked into your tea cup, I saw something that may shock you as well."

"Go on," I pushed.

She placed her hand on top of mine and looked into my eyes with concern. "I saw a bat and a claw."

"So?" I now felt like she was wasting my time.

"So, it means you better be careful about the company you keep. Keep an extra eye on your friends, Jinora."

"You're telling me you 'read' my tea?"

She nodded.

I shook my head and smiled out of annoyance. "I don't believe in that stuff."

"I'm warning you, Jinora." She was being fully serious.

"My dad is probably looking for me," I said quickly as I jumped off of the fountain and headed towards the temple.


"This looks great. Thanks for cooking, Pema," Asami said as she grabbed a roll.

Dinner was the same almost everyday. We eat, we share about our day, we laugh, and we tell stories.

Meelo had just finished telling Dad about a caterpillar he found outside earlier.

He spread his arms out and exclaimed, "It was this big!" Then, he went back to his food.

My father flatly, but amused said, "that's nice, Meelo."

He turned to me expectantly. I guess he wants me to tell about my day now.

I sat up straight and shrugged my shoulders. "It was just a regular day, I guess. Played my flute, did some airbending, help feed the animals, and read a little."

He nodded his head as if interested then turned toward Korra, who opened her mouth before I unintentionally interrupted. "Oh yeah!" I twisted my mouth as I tried to remember my encounter with Tao. "Today, while I was meditating in the garden, Tao went up to me worried and told me to 'be careful about the company I keep' or something like that." I rubbed my head and continued, "she said she 'read it in my tea'. She looked like she knew something, but she also seemed a little off today." I looked at my dad, awaiting a reply.

He shook his head. "I thought I told you to stay away from her. That woman is off every day." He turned to my mother. "I don't like her poisoning my children's minds, Pema."

"Now, don't you think it's a little extreme to say that she's poisoning their minds, dear?" She looked at him with a questionable expression.

He sighed and looked down at the table. "Maybe it is. I'm just worn out from work is all. I still say they shouldn't have much to do with her, though."

She nodded.

"Daddy, she approached me. I left when I could. I'm not very comfortable around her as it is, so you have nothing to worry about." After I assured him and was finished with dinner, I helped Asami do the dishes while my mother fed Rohan.

He's a happy baby, always giggling and smiling. Whenever there's an argument or dispute, he's the one to ease the tension.

After the dishes were done, Asami asked if I wanted to go on a walk around the island with her. I kindly declined and told her I had other things to do, so she took Ikki instead.

Now was the perfect time to figure out what my dreams and visions were about.

I went down the main hall, and up the stairs to the third floor, which housed a great library with a massive expansion of different genres of books.

But I wasn't looking for a good read, I was going to research. I was going to find out who or what the frightening black and white creature was.

I started looking in the education section.

Tales of a Misfortunate Fortuneteller.

Not what I need.

Water Whip and Other Great Bending Strategies.

Nope.

The Spirit World: A Look From the Inside.

Perfect. If what I have been seeing is some kind of spirit, this is the book for me.

I grabbed the book and chose a worn red living chair next to the bookcase.

I opened it, and as I began reading, I discovered it was written by Avatar Aang himself.

There were many, many pages to look through and words to read, so I relied on the pictures. Flipping through the pages, I found what I was looking for. In the middle of the page was the same creature that kept wondering in my dreams. Over the picture was bold ink that I read to myself.

"Hei Bai.." my voice trailed. I heard stories of Hei Bai before, about it's razor sharp teeth and destructive screams.

Why hadn't I put all of this together?

Under the picture was information about the beast.

I scanned through the words and found out that Hei Bai is an ancient, male spirit. He is protective and strong, and when angry, takes the form of a six legged destructive monster who is extremely fast and can produce sonic screams capable of demolishing whole buildings. When his anger has subsided, he takes the form of a giant panda, who can be friendly and helpful.

Next to the text was a small picture of a seemingly innocent panda.

I breathed out and said to myself, "I might need this." I tucked it under my arm and went back downstairs to my room and put the book on my nightstand.

Ikki waltzed in with no warning and noticed it . "Ooh, what's that?" She asked, peering closer.

"A book." I said flatly.

"Oh, a book. For reading." She lost interest and danced back out of my room.

I pulled off my day clothes and threw on my night gown. With one final glance at the book, I laid down and drifted into a peaceful slumber.