sigh So yeah, sorry it's taken soooo long to update. et's just say... holy cow life's hectic. Enjoy! And thanks for being so understanding and patient!

Chapter 3

I lay still on the cot as the night began to fade into morning. I hadn't slept. I was still recovering from the shock of it all. I was in some kind of strange place where everything I had once known was turned upside down.

It was like I was Alice in wonderland, falling down the rabbit hole. Only instead of a rabbit and a mad hater, I had Touya and his wife Aya.

I looked out the window. The sun was slowly coming up from the horizon, like a thin stroke of red paint over the green grass. This place was strange and it was even stranger how I'd gotten here.

It hit me.

That Pop up.

Was that it?

"Wakey wakey!"

I screamed as the little girl jumped on to my stomach.

"Lin! Please, I don't want to see what I ate last night again." I rubbed my eyes and looked at the livingly little girl who sat beside me. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun on top of her head.

"I'm sorry Jade." She said meekly. I couldn't help but smile, she was just so cute. "It's alright Lin. Now, why are you up so early?" I asked.

"Today Aunt Wu is going to make a cloud predication! Don't you want to see it?" I stretched out my arms and yawned. "It is a bit early Lin." I stood up and went to the window. The village was packed with people now, I hadn't noticed them before. They were all talking and looking up at the clouds. Again, all wearing shades of green, yellow, and some light purples here and there. How strange.

"But she only does a cloud predication once every year. We have to hear what she has to say. Don't you like to know the future before it happens?" I frowned.

"Not exactly." I said.

"Well Aunt Wu is amazing, whatever she predicts happens. She is psychic Jade. Maybe if you go to her she will tell you who you'll marry." I tried to look at Lin whose eyes bored into my soul. "Look, I'd rather not know what is going to happen before it does; I like things to just…happen. You know like destiny." I leaned my arms against the window ledge and looked through the crowds of people. "Suit yourself." She said sighing. I listened for her to leave and then when I was sure I slumped my shoulders.

"Psychic, yea right." I looked up at the clouds, all of which looked the same, pump and pillow like. It just made me miss home even more. How was I getting home anyway?

I had been wearing the clothes Aya had given me the night before. It was a kind gesture for her to give them too me, a stranger in her home, but they didn't fit me quite right. The only things that really did fit me were the leather boots that Touya had found and let me have.

Now, I pulled them on and walked toward a mirror. Aya had insisted on pulling my hair up into a strange design, an extremely hair ponytail with ribbons separating the hair into small sections. Don't get me wrong, I did like my new hair style but for now, I wanted to feel more at home here so I pulled it out of the silk ribbons and let my hair fall down onto my shoulders. I took one of the green ribbons and tied it behind my head like a headband. "There you go." I said smiling. "That's as good as it's going to get."

I walked out of the some house and looked outside. The air was crisp and warm like spring. "Look its Aunt Wu!" Some one shouted from the crowds and where soon followed by cheers.

An elderly woman with grey hair and a strange outfit, walked up to a platform. She had a weird hair ornament by her forehead, sort of like a crescent moon and a round circle on top. She bowed and extended her arms to the sky. "Let's see, star shaped cloud, a child will be born with great beauty." The woman looked down at a couple. The woman was pregnant. "She's a girl." Aunt Wu said winking at her. The Man and Woman cried out for joy.

"Cloud shaped like a ram…love will be prosperous in our village." She said happily. "And finally a cumulus cloud with a twisted knob coming off the end of it… the village will not be destroyed by volcano this year!" The crowd cheered happily. Aunt Wu smiled as she slowly walked down from the platform. "Did you hear that Jade, the volcano will not destroy the village!" Kun said happily as he ran up to me. "That's good, but do you really believe in this psychic stuff." He smiled. "Of course!" he ran away happily, joining his sister in a happy dance.

I could only stand and watch as the village people danced for joy. I had no idea where I was or how I was getting home yet. I sighed and stepped into the crowd. If this woman was suppose to be psychic maybe she could tell me how I got here.

She was standing beside the dais, talking to Touya.

"Touya?"

He turned around, startled.

"Oh, Jade, just the person I was looking for. Jade, this is Madam Wu; she is a foreseer of the future." She bowed in greeting and I could only follow. "So I have heard." I said in a gentle whisper so she wouldn't hear.

"This child, I sense a strange presence in her." Aunt Wu stepped closer toward me, her eyes meeting mine. "What did you say your name was?" she asked. "Je…Jade." I said, stumbling on the word for a moment.

She gave me a questioning look, but then as if to throw the thought aside she shook her head.

"Well, you come with me." She said simply, gesturing for me to follow her.

I looked up at Touya who had his hands folded together. He looked toward the sky, his eyes transfixed. "Touya, what's going on?" I asked tugged lightly at his arm sleeve. He let out a sigh and his head fell in my direction. "Go with Aunt Wu, I believe she will give you all the answers you've been looking for." With that, he walked away, leaving me in front of the Aunt Wu's psychic domain.

It was a small hut but something about it drew me nearer. A presence, I sensed it, the electric tingle running down my fingertips. Touya was right; Aunt Wu might just have the answers to my questions.

Just as I was about to walk to the small building, a girl ran out quickly smacking into me and sending me toward the ground. The bucket of water that she had in her hands fell down onto my head with a clunk and a splash of fresh water caressed my forehead and trickled down my cheeks. Slowly is sipped down into my mouth.

I spat out the water and rubbed my eyes.

The girl stood over me, her high black pigtails dangling under her. "I'm so sorry! Here let me help you." I took the metal bucket off my head as she extended a helping hand. "I'm afraid I don't always look where I'm going. Here, come inside and I'll help you dry off.' The girl took my hand and led me into the building.

The whole place smelled of herbal incense and lavender. "Sit down and make you're self at home." I kept looking around as I slowly placed myself at a small chair in the center of the room. "Would you like some of Aunt Wu famous Curd Puffs?" The girl asked from a far distance that I assumed was their kitchen.

"No I'm fine," I called. I looked at the ceiling quickly. In the very center was a strange painting of a man standing among the mighty waves of the ocean. He seemed to be controlling them. But it wasn't the water that caught my attention, it was the man himself. Hadn't I seen him before somewhere? I gazed into the dark red tinted eyes of the man and felt their hypnotic power upon me. The same eyes flashed before my mind, except they were real, human eyes staring at me.

"Are you alright?"

Startled I turned my gaze away from the painting and down at the young girl who I now assumed to be about two years my minor. "Yes I'm fine, say what is your name?" I asked casually.

The girl smiled as she placed the tray of tea on a small table before us. "Meng, what's your name?"

"Jade." I said caressing the smooth crystal around my neck.

"That's a pretty name." Meng said smiling brightly.

"Oh gosh, look at me. I' soaked aren't I?" I said realizing the dampness on my shoulders. "I'm sorry. Here." Meng handed me a towel for me to dry off with. I smiled and thanked her for all her help.

"While you're here, maybe Aunt Wu should read your palms for you. She's amazing! And I should know, I'm here apprentice." Meng said proudly.

"Apprentice eh? How about you do a little reading on me?" Meng swallowed hard, as if my question was unexpected. "Well… I'm not all that…"

The paper door slid open and the woman I now knew as Aunt Wu glided toward us. It was like her feet didn't even touch the ground.

"Meng, I see you've met Jade, your new fellow apprentice."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "Hold up, did you just say I was going to be… you're apprentice… here... a psychic's apprentice!" My head began to spin for a moment. "Wake up Jess! You're dreaming, why I hadn't thought of that before. This is all a dream!" I smacked the side of my mind several times, as if I were trying to remove water from my ears.

The two of them shared dumbfounded stares as I walked around in circles chanting, "All a dream all, a dream."

"Aunt Wu, I think Jade is suffering from spring fever. Don't you think so too?" Meng backed away from me as I pranced away like a made man. "No sweetie, she's only going through shock. Why don't you show her to her room and let her get settled in." Meng bowed and walked my way.

"Come on Jade; let's go to your new room. We get to share a room, its really nice, we have a view of the volcano and everything…" But I wasn't listening to what Meng was saying. It was a dream, it had to be. I pinched my arm several times, hoping to trigger an ounce a pain to my real form and wake myself up from this nightmare.

Nothing happened.

Meng took my hand and led me away into the back to the small house. There were Chinese symbols everywhere along with other symbols I did not recognize. "Earth… someone mentioned to me before that this was… the Earth nation." I said running my fingers along the stone walls as we walked. Meng giggled. "Of course silly, what did you expect the fire nation?" I stopped and looked at my clothing, all green, and earth tones.

"Meng, it seems a lot of people don't like these fire nation guys. Why is that?" I asked curiously. Meng stopped, her back turned away from me. "The fire nation kills people." She turned to me, her face no longer cheerful but a shadow of grimness hung over her. "How can you not know that?" she asked in what seemed like a shaken voice. "I… I don't Meng…I don't have such good Memory." I paused and looked down at my trembling hands. They were pale and cold, like a ghost had just walked past me.

"We are at war with them." I nodded and spoke, "For 100 years."

"Then how can you ask why people hate them so much, they are evil." Something in the back of my head told me something was wrong. I shook my head quickly to remove the strange and foreign thought. "What is it?" I smiled at the young girl, who had regained her cheerful demeanor. "It's nothing."

As she lead me into the room, showing off the beautiful fans placed on her wall and her mother's kimono that hung in the closet, I was only haunted by the two red tinted eyes. They gazed upon me like they had something urgent to tell me, something that couldn't wait. If this wasn't a dream and I was really stuck here then that meant that I was put here for a reason. And As I slowly drifted to sleep in my new home, I felt the beckoning of a foreseeing dream, slowly ensnaring my conscious mind and luring me into the world of the unknown but soon to be.