Now we start getting into more of Jinora's side of the story

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The First Avatar

Book 2: Envy

Chapter 05: The Sleep Walker

It was odd for Silver to be flying through the sky without her Air Spirits. Usually, she'd summon them to allow her to glide and soar as much as she wanted; enjoying the wind in her hair and the sensation of freedom that came with the open skies.

And while that feeling was still present on the back of Oogi the Sky Bison, it wasn't as strong as it used to be. Still, at least the company of Tenzin's family was a nice thing to have whilst flying over the clouds.

Meelo and Ikki were playing some kind of game with a pack of cards while their mother nursed little Rohan. Tenzin was keeping his eyes on the sky and for some reason, Jinora had decided to sit close to Silver.

"Jinora, are you alright? You don't seem as lively this morning." Silver said.

The airbender shrugged. "I didn't sleep so good. I had a REALLY bad dream, but I can't remember it anymore."

"Hmm, it's odd that it's bothering you when you can't remember it. Then again, sometimes the things that we forget in our minds stay in our hearts."

Jinora frowned. "I wish my heart would forget as well. All I can remember is the eyes. Big grey eyes in every dream. They're gentle, but fierce and every dream they get worse. They grow darker and more wild. I'm afraid the man is going to kill someone."

Silver frowned. "The man from your dreams? Has he said he wants to kill someone? Does he speak to you?"

"Yes, he does sometimes. Sometimes he just listens to me talking and other times he talks himself. He tells me random things about past Avatars, but the worst is when he tells me how he's going to kill people. He said he'd tear apart my family and Team Avatar… and that he'd leave only me and Korra."

"Oh my dear…" Silver hugged the girl, seeing her begin to tear up. "I know it's scary, but they're just dreams. There is no way that Korra or I will let anyone hurt you or your family. I'll protect you." she assured her.

Pema and Tenzin had worried expressions as they listened, and Meelo and Ikki had quieted their game.

"Do you promise?" Jinora asked.

Silver smiled. "Yes. On my honour and life as an Avatar and a human being, I'll give you my solemn oath to protect you, your family, Korra and all of Team Avatar. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Thanks Silver. Korra was right, you are a really nice person."

Silver blushed a bit. "Korra said that?"

"Yeah. Whenever we're up in the morning really early, we talk about stuff. She talks about you a lot! She says that Republic City wouldn't have fallen to Amon and Tan if you hadn't arrived to help her."

Silver giggled at this. "She would have managed against Amon. But Tan would have been too much for her; so I would have had to help her there."

"That's something I've been meaning to ask you." Tenzin piped up. "You were alive through the lives of every avatar between you and Korra, yet you never interfered until their deaths. Why did you decide to spend so much time with Korra?"

"Korra is the one I've selected as my successor. When the Black Spirits are all defeated and Korra is a fully-realised Avatar, she will take my place as the guardian of the Avatar Cycle. She'll be the First Avatar of a new cycle." Silver said, smiling to herself.

Tenzin's eyes widened. "Are you being serious? Korra will be the new First Avatar? But how?"

"All in good time. Now where did Kya and Bumi go? I thought they were coming too." Silver said, changing the subject.

"There wasn't enough room on Oogi for them and you, and Jinora asked for you. They're on another Bison a short ways behind us." Tenzin answered, deciding not to press the issue of Korra as successor. He had already learned not to try and get blood from this particular stone.

Silver could just imagine the pouting faces of Tenzin's siblings, but they'd understand… Jinora had become quite reliant on Korra the last few weeks, and Silver was a good substitute.

The rest of the trip to the Southern Air Temple passed relatively quietly, with Silver playing the card game with Ikki while Meelo and Jinora watched, cheering for the two of them to beat the other. Pema and Tenzin smiled happily and before they all knew it, they were touching down outside the Southern Air Temple, being met by a collection of Air Monks. The acolytes at Tenzin's Air Temple were still in training to be full monks, and when they were complete in their training, they went to the Temples to fulfil their spiritual duties.

The first monk to greet them was an old man, clean shaven and wearing normal air monk clothing with a large wooden staff which supported the frail man.

"Abbot Song, I'm so glad to see you again." Tenzin smiled, giving an airbender bow.

"Little Tenzin has certainly grown! It seems like only yesterday that you were first coming here with your father, and now you have four children of your own! And who is this? I may be old, but this can't be Pema." The Abbot said, looking at Silver.

"My name is Silver. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She said, bowing respectfully.

"Yes yes, it's nice to meet you as well. I must say, we were expecting to see Avatar Korra as well. Was she delayed?"

"Yes Abbot. She was delayed by business at the South Pole. She'll be along when it's finished." Tenzin said.

Abbot Song stroked his chin. "So, I was correct. I sensed a great evil force building in the core of the South. If the young Avatar is handling it though, I suspect we won't have to worry. How long will you be staying?"

Tenzin looked unsure. "We don't know for sure. We planned on spending seven days at each temple, but with Korra gone, we don't want her to miss out, so we'll stay seven days after she arrives."

The old monk smiled. "Very well. We are always happy to have the children and grandchildren of Avatar Aang, as well as your interesting guest."

Tenzin's family were shown to their rooms by an entourage of monks, all of whom were very impressed with and eager to please the airbenders. Silver was tempted to airbend as well to make all of these monks scream with joy, but decided against it. If too many people knew that more than one Avatar was running around, it would make things difficult for both Silver and Korra.

Not long after the holiday-makers had gotten themselves comfortable, Kya and Bumi arrived, wearing a scowl and a smirk respectively.

"You don't look too pleased Kya." Tenzin noted.

"Bumi was making bad jokes and puns for the whole trip. I've never wanted to push him off a bison this much! Not even that time he stuck fermented lychee berries in my sock draw.

"I remember that… the whole temple smelt like a brewery for weeks." Tenzin said, wrinkling his nose.

Silver chuckled and put an arm around Bumi. "So, you're a prankster huh? You'll have to tell me some of these stories."

"Why on earth would you want to know that!? Bumi was, and still is a monster when it comes to pranks! He never knew when he was going too far." Tenzin said, his eyes wide at the prospect of the First Avatar assisting his pranks.

"I don't want to cause trouble, they might make good tests to keep Korra and her friends on their toes. If she really is going to open the Spirit Portals, a lot of nasties are going to come pouring out." Silver smirked.

"It sounds like the time I was tasked with taking out some insurgents in Si Wong Desert!" Bumi began. "There I was, with less than a dozen men, and we were faced with a monumental sand castle that the enemy had armed with all kinds of booby traps! Instead of going inside, we used up all our water to make the foundations soggy, and bring it down on their heads! They all came out screaming and covered in wet sand! We would have caught all of them, but we were stopped by Gabara-ROK-ze."

Silver looked both amazed and confused. "Who's Gabara- whatever?"

"A giant sand worm. Ate two of my men and an entire herd of camel cows."

Tenzin and Kya exchanged looks of irritation; having heard Bumi's tall tales for years. Silver wasn't so sure they were just stories though… regardless, she decided to indulge Bumi and spent the rest of the day with Jinora, listening to the stories while Meelo and Ikki played with the acolytes and lemurs. Tenzin even spent some time helping Meelo train them!

The day quickly gave way to night and the time for sleep came to everyone. Since it was a vacation, the kids went to bed at the same time as their parents and as the night went on, the monks all went to bed as well. No one in the temple remained awake; save for one.

Silver borrowed a stool from kitchens and placed in outside the door to the kids' bedroom. She was waiting and listening intently for any murmuring or movement; hoping to learn anything she can about Jinora's nightmares. For the first few hours, Silver sat alone and in silence, with only Meelo's snoring and the chattering of lemurs to be heard. It wasn't until nearly two in the morning that any movement was heard.

Silver watched as the door handle turned and the bedroom door was gently opened. Jinora gently walked out of the room, still wearing her night gown, and began walking down the hall, directly past Silver.

The First Avatar raised an eyebrow as Jinora seemed to completely miss her as she walked down the hall. Silver called out to her quietly, but there was no response. Having a feeling in her stomach, Silver caught up with and passed Jinora; seeing the girl's eyes open but glazed over, like she wasn't really awake.

"A Sleep walker?"

She knew it was dangerous to wake a sleep walker, as they could hurt themselves, so Silver followed behind the girl quietly; leaving no sound but the slapping of Jinora's bare feet on the stone floor. She walked all the way to one of the temple's sacred places; the Avatar Statue Room. Jinora walked straight into the spiral in the centre of the room and then airbent herself up, all the way to the top floor. Silver used the Air Spirits to gently fly up behind her. At the very top of the long spiral room, she found Jinora standing in front of two statues, holding hands with each other and with a strangely shaped spirit wrapped around them both.

"That's me and Wan." Silver said out loud. Jinora turned around and began to walk down the spiral pathway, tapping each statue with her finger as she went. Silver followed behind her, curious as to what was compelling her to do this. Eventually, Jinora stopped at a statue; one of an airbending Avatar.

Not that you could tell by looking at it.

Silver only knew which Avatar it was because there was a Fire avatar preceding it and a water one succeeding it. The statue itself was wrapped tightly in a white cloth, which was held securely in place by a mess of heavy steel chains. All of this was held together by a paper talisman; inscribed with a series of ancient characters that hadn't been used by anyone since before the age of bending.

The white haired Avatar spent so much time looking at this wrapped up statue that she forgot Jinora…until she began to pull at the chains. Silver's eyes widened and she quickly leapt at Jinora and pulled her away from the chains. The girl released a kind of grumbled curse in an uncharacteristic voice before simply passing out again. Silver sighed with relief. The talisman on the chains would stop the statue from being revealed to those with evil hearts, but Jinora was no such person.

Returning Jinora to her bed, Silver quickly roused Tenzin from his bed and brought him to the statue, telling him of what happened as they went.

"My daughter sleepwalked her way in here and then tried to unseal the statue? Why? And who is this Avatar anyway?" Tenzin asked, sleepy but still very concerned.

"I don't think Korra meeting a man named Tensa was a coincidence. I think he might be THE Tensa. The man so evil that he was thrown out of the Avatar Cycle." Silver stated, feeling very unnerved by all this.

"What does that have to do with my daughter? And how can a man be ejected from the Avatar Cycle?"

Silver sighed. "If an Avatar is deemed corrupt by myself, the Divine Spirit that lies within the Avatars and all previous Avatars, they can be removed from the cycle post mortem. Avatars remain connected to each other because a tiny part of their spirits is transformed by the Divine Spirit. If that transformed piece is removed or otherwise nullified, their connection is broken."

Tenzin nodded in understanding. "So what does this evil spirit want with my daughter, or these statues?"

"After Tensa was killed by Kye, we feared his spirit would escape the Spirit World. I bound portions of his spirit to the four statues of him scattered across the Air Temples and then sealed them up so they couldn't be destroyed. When Korra opens the Spirit Portals, he may be able to simply comeback here without destroying the statues. But if I'm right, he already has. The statues bind his power of Water, Earth and Fire, leaving him with only his birth element of Air. With the fourth statue, which is actually this one, we bound his ability to energybend. I think Tensa is using Jinora's dreams to control her and unseal the statues." Silver explained.

Tenzin's expression hardened. "This man needs to be hunted down and brought to justice. I won't allow anyone to threaten my family!"

"Calm yourself. I know how this feels for you, but Jinora isn't in any danger. Tensa, while evil in many ways, would never harm children, nor anyone he judges to be innocent."

"So what do we do? Should we stop Korra?"

"No." the First Avatar scowled, wishing she could say yes. "The portal was closed and he still slipped back into our world. Opening it won't be any more dangerous now that we know Tensa is here."

Tenzin began to look worried. There was a lot of fear in Silver's voice and it was beginning to unnerve the monk. "What is it that you aren't telling me?" he asked.

"Necros has shown himself to Korra. Tensa has shown himself to Korra… of the Three Legendary Black Robes, only one remains hidden. Hao of Pride and the strongest Black Spirit."

"Black Robes?"

Silver nodded. "In the age before bending, there were three elemental warlords that served each of the Mortal Element clans of Lion Turtles. These collective twelve warlords were called the Twelve Robes of Izanagi. They alone possessed bending in their bodies, with everyone else getting it from the Lion Turtles. Over time, the people of the world began to give the name of Black Robe to people who were as great as the Twelve Robes, but with a soul as black as the night sky. Only three people were ever strong enough; Hao and Necros were two, but Tensa killed and replaced the third."

"Korra is going to have to face all three, isn't she?" Tenzin asked, filled with dread for his student.

"Yes she is. I am the First Avatar, and so it is my job to prepare her for what is to come. But soon, Korra will need to meet Wan. For this threat; she'll need both First Avatars."

Avatar Extras

Trivia

1. Out of all the characters, I view Jinora, Korra and Silver as the main three protagonists if this story.

2. Originally, this chapter ended with a fight between Tensa and Silver, but i didn't want to reveal his true powers too soon.

3. Korra being Silver's successor and the founder of a new cycle has been implied before this point.

4. There is an important connection between Tensa and Kye, but what that connection is will wait until later. It might not be what you expect...

5. The Twelve Robes of Izanagi was based on the Original twelve elemental lords that were mentioned in the second chapter of my first story. it never went anywhere and turned into filler, but they will be much more important this time around; replacing the previous Paragons.