Miyu left quietly and told the attendants that the princess was asleep. Then, once she had taken care of her cousin, she told the ladies behind the front desk what she wanted to do and followed them into the pedicure room.

Alethea, who was sleeping soundly, all of a sudden flipped onto her side as if she was jabbed by something hard. In fact, Alethea's dream had just turned to a nightmare.

She had been dreaming of how happy her family was, but then all of a sudden her father turned violent and started to hit her. This, of course, was a dream, but Alethea didn't know that, so she tried to protect herself.

Suddenly, she was alone in a dark room. She started to call out for Alexei, but there was no answer. As she started to look around, she noticed she was in a swamp and that there was a blue monkey meditating on top of a hill. She sloshed through the swamp to ask the monkey where she was, for she was completely disoriented.

When she tapped the monkey on the shoulder, it opened one eye hesitantly then started yelling at her. "Leave me alone! Can't you see that I'm meditating?" Alethea shrank back and realized that this didn't feel like a dream for one thing and secondly, it hurt when she pinched herself.

She got up her courage to yell back at the monkey, who by this point had closed his eye again and turned around, "I'm sorry that I have no idea where I am; could you please enlighten me?"

The monkey looked at her and said, "You are in the spirit world; there are you happy? Now leave me alone, girl." With that, he leaped away, leaving Alethea there completely dumbstruck. Alethea had no idea why she was in the spirit world, for as far as she knew she wasn't dead.

"Alethea, it is good to see you again!" boomed a voice from behind her. She turned around thinking that the voice sounded familiar. When she had turned around completely, she saw her Great-Uncle Iroh standing there with his arms wide open. She didn't think, she just ran straight in to his arms and nuzzled into his stomach.

"Mhmhmmnhnmhnhmnmhn?" mumbled Alethea into his stomach.

He pulled her away from his stomach and asked, "What?" with a huge smile on his face.

She took a deep breath then said slower, "Why am I here? I'm not dead am I?" Iroh just chuckled, shook his head, and told her that she wasn't dead. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good," was all she said.

"As for the other question, that will be answered in due time. But I want to know how you are doing, Ali." He patted the ground next to a stump as he sat down. "The best thing about the Spirit World is there is no pain!" he chuckled as they sat down together. For the next hour (or so it seemed Alethea, but she wasn't sure how time went in the spirit world) she told of everything that had happened since Iroh's funeral (which was a while ago) up to the spa.

The whole time Iroh was showing the correct emotion for every story and nodding empathetically through the entire tale. At the parts with Zuko and Mai, he frowned very deeply and muttered to himself.

When she was done, he got up and told her that she would find out why she was here soon, "But, right now stay right behind me, as not everything in the Spirit World is wholesome and nice."

"You mean like the Face-stealer, right?" asked Alethea.

"Yes, my dear, exactly like that," replied Iroh like a Grandfather would tell his young granddaughter something of utmost seriousness. She clutched the back of his robes as if she was five and stayed close behind him as he lead the way through the unknown swamp. They mostly stayed on the grass and stayed away from the caves.

They came all of sudden to a forest in the middle of the swamp. Iroh told Alethea to stay where she was until he came out. "I will be back, do not worry, my little dumpling." Then he walked into the forest and disappeared from view.

Alethea sat down because she had no idea how long her Great-Uncle would be. She found the ground very soft and squishy. She leaped up with a shriek feeling like her back got poked with a slimy tentacle, almost like the octopuses she had seen in the Northern Water Tribe. She looked down and it was still grass, with no trace of anything that could give her a feeling that weird. She also felt her back, just in case.

"What are you doing?" a strange voice asked as a shiver ran up her spine. Alethea gasped and fearing the face stealer, she cleared her face of any emotion.

"What do you want?" she said through clenched teeth, not daring to move any muscles in her face. "I haven't done anything, and I was told to wait here," she stated as she looked around not seeing where the voice was coming from.

"Nothing, I just want to know what your name is, darling," continued the spirit's voice. It was a very musical voice that was fading in and out like it wanted her to follow it. Alethea almost moved her feet from the spot where she was standing, but a voice in her head said that would be a very bad choice to make.

"Bye, dear child! I hope we will meet again soon!" and the voice disappeared at soon. Alethea turned around at a noise and saw her Great-Uncle Iroh walk out of the forest.

He had something in his hands, and he was holding it almost like some eight-year-old who had found a spotted tree frog and wanted to show it to his friends. She ran over to him and as he was about to speak, she cut in and told him about the voice she had heard while he was in the forest. His brow furrowed, but told Alethea to be wary of it.

Then he said, "My dear one, I have something for you that is very special. It is a spirit animal called a Kali-snake that will morph to any animal that you want or need. I found this one, and I found that it was attuned to you from its birth. Take care of it very well! It is one of a kind, and only the Avatar has anything like it. Once you take it you have to change your name, is that alright, my little butterfly?" Once Alethea nodded he continued on, "The name change will all be worked out once you take this being."

"Thank you, General Iroh," Alethea said solemnly as she bowed one fist in the other. Then she held out her hands and he placed the Kali-snake into Alethea's waiting hands.

The Kali-snake opened one eye and they locked eyes. Your new name is Katilina. My name is Alenina, Nina for short. She then closed her eye again and promptly fell back to sleep. Katilina looked up at Iroh and said simply, "Katilina."