Descendants of The Wind:
Chapter 1: Mural
Death.
The very process of the slow departure of the spirit from the body has had this name for centuries, an ancient process pertaining to all life in the cosmos. The slow process that begins the day you are born, and ends with the completed process of the Eight Cycles of Simultaneous Dissolution. The Four Elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, have an eternal connection to this procedure that every living thing must undergo at some point in time. But the element with the strongest connection to this process is Air, or wind.
Earth, the first cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
The body becomes very thin, limbs loose; sense that body is sinking under the earth. Aggregate of forms, the limbs become smaller, body becomes weak and powerless. Basic mirror-like wisdom, sight becomes unclear and dark. Eye sense, one cannot open or close eyes. Colours and shapes, the natural glow of the body diminishes; one's strength is consumed.
Water, the second cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
Saliva, sweat, urine, blood and regenerative fluid dry greatly. Aggregate of feelings, body consciousness can no longer experience the three types of feelings that accompany sense consciousnesses, pain, pleasure, and neutrality. Basic wisdom of equality, one is no longer mindful of the feelings accompanying the mental consciousness. Ear sense, one no longer hears external or internal sounds. Sounds, sounds in ears no longer arise.
Fire, the third cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
One cannot digest food or drink. Aggregate of discrimination, one is no longer mindful of affairs of close persons. Basic wisdom of analysis, one can no longer remember the names of close persons. Nose sense, inhalation weak, exhalation strong and lengthy. Odours, one cannot smell.
Air, the fourth cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
The ten winds move to the heart; inhalation and exhalation ceases. Aggregate of compositional factors, one cannot perform physical actions. Basic wisdom of achieving activities, one is no longer mindful of external worldly activities, purposes and so forth. Tongue sense, tongue becomes thick and short; root of tongue becomes blue. Tastes, one cannot experience tastes. Body sense and tangible objects, one cannot experience smoothness or roughness.
These first four cycles of the process are all interconnected and have a strong eternal bond with one another that can never be destroyed, the four elements may be separate physically, but spiritually they are all one in the same, part of the circle that life forever walks around.
The Fifth through the Eighth cycles of simultaneous dissolution unlike the first four are strongly related to the internal happenings of the body at death's door, and are all related to the wind or air. By the start of the Fifth cycle, the mind starts to dissolve, in the sense that coarser types cease and subtler minds become manifest. First, conceptuality ceases, dissolving into a mind of white appearance, It, in turn, dissolves into a heightened mind of red appearance, which then dissolves into a mind of black appearance. At this point all that appears is an emptiness filled by blackness, during which the person eventually becomes unconscious. In time this is cleared away, leaving a totally clear emptiness (the mind of clear light).
The Fifth cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
Winds in right and left channels above the heart enter the central channel at top of head, at first, burning butter-lamp; then, clear emptiness filled with white light.
The Sixth cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
Winds in the right and left channels below the heart enter the central channel at the base of the spine, very clear emptiness filled with red light.
The Seventh cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
Upper and lower winds gather at heart; then winds enter drop at heart, at first, emptiness filled with thick darkness; then as if swooning unconsciously.
The Eighth cycle of simultaneous dissolution.
All winds dissolve into the very subtle life-bearing wind in the indestructible drop at the heart, very clear emptiness free of the white, red and black appearances - the mind of clear light of death.
Departure.
Korra layed on the blueish-gray rocky ground that consumed the surrounding area about the tree of life, under the the arch of the connected bridges of the spirit and physical worlds, she could feel the energy from them melding together, she was grasping for any sort of strength she had left, as Raava was being slashed repeatedly by Unalaq. She could feel her connection to all of her past lives slowly fading, being severed by the second… It was like part of her whole being was being stripped away from existence, and every time she felt more and more connections being broken it sent a sharp pain to the very core of her being. To her it seemed that all hope was lost, she had no clue what implications her losing her connections had for the future of the Avatar… and then it happened, she could see it visually this time, Avatar Wan's connection had broken, his body fading away into little yellow particles of spiritual energy. She was now the first and last Avatar as far as she was concerned.
Later when Korra bonds with Raava once more.
The calm after the battle had been quite sudden, Unalaq was erased and everything settled down almost instantly, the wild waves of the ocean in the physical world slowing to their natural flow, and the skies of both worlds returning to their original shade, both worlds balance was beginning to restore.
"Now that you're bonded with Raava once again, are you also re-connected to your past lives?" Tenzin asked calmly, silently fearing the worst.
"No, I think that link is gone forever." Korra responded, defeat obvious in her voice. The loss of the connection was perhaps the biggest ramification of the battle. Though she secretly had hope she was wrong, she had little hope after everything that had transpired in the last few days. Though one thing did leave a small feeling of hope in everyone's chest, the battle was over. And they could hopefully move on.
Later that night, something woke Korra from her slumber.
She didn't know what caused the sudden awakening from her sleep, but she felt like she had sensed something… familiar from within her. It seemed to have disappeared, but she knew she felt something. She couldn't quite put the weird surge of spiritual energy into words, but she knew one thing… it felt like the same energy that had been fading out of her as she lost the connection to her previous lives.
Not knowing quite what to do with this information, Korra decided to head outside and attempt to meditate to see if she could connect with the familiar presence. She sat down on a mat on her balcony and got into lotus position and closed her eyes.
Then she felt a presence… him… Aang, the only Avatar she had been able to successfully communicate with.
And then it was gone, just like that, but she did sense him. Korra opened her eyes with a giant smile on her face, a glimmer of hope reappearing for the first time in the last three weeks time in her eyes. She didn't know what to do with this information or exactly what it meant, but one thing was obvious, Aang's spirit was still out there and trying to reach out and communicate to her, her predecessors spirits were not completely destroyed, they were still out there somewhere…somehow.
So, with the calm night breeze and the glow of the bright full moon's light against her face, she re-entered the lotus position and felt her Avatar State start to take over.
A giant gust of wind surged out of Korra's body, the sheer force of the blast of air rattled the entire building, items fell of shelfs, wood creaked, and the ground shook ever so slightly, it was safe to say it woke the entire island.
Lights shot on all down the hallway, Tenzin and Pema's room, Jinora's room, and Ikki's room, the only room that remained darkened was Meelo's… being the heavy and loud sleeper that he was.
Tenzin and the two kids ran towards Korra's room where they assumed the powerful blast of air had come from.
They all arrived at the same time, and of course Korra was already deep within Meditation, her eyes glowing the mysterious white hue that came with entering the Avatar state.
"What is she doing?" Ikki asked tiredly rubbing her eyes, but with a hint of curiosity that was rather unavoidable in a situation like this, after all although Korra had figured out airbending she still didn't use it too often and it had never been that powerful, let alone the fact that Korra of all people was meditating.
"I can't believe she's meditating… but why?" Tenzin asked, also quite tired from the day's events and of course from being woken at three in the morning.
Korra's body was as stiff as a tree, but had an eerie calmness and focus to it that rarely radiated from the young Avatar.
"I sense a lot of spiritual energy in this room" Jinora stated as she began to wonder around the room curiously.
"Well yeah she is in the Avatar state Jinora!" Ikki replied cockily, trying to brush off Jinora's curiosity as unhelpful and obvious.
"More than usual." Jinora added with a sigh, before stopping in front of Korra's still form.
"It's quite rare to unwillingly bend while in Meditation, something must be happening inside her mind." Tenzin continued on Jinora's theory thoughtfully.
"Well if she airbent do you think it could be related to Grandpa?" Ikki suggested, though with a hint of doubt in her mind, knowing that Korra had supposedly lost connection with her previous lives.
"You don't think…?" Tenzin started, but was politely interrupted by Jinora.
"That actually is quite possible, Dad, you remember Aang telling you about his experience with the Avatar state don't you? He mentioned that a few times when having big revelations he would unwillingly bend while in meditation, notably when talking with Roku… that's what you told me at least." Jinora said with a familiar articulation she always seemed to have.
"Aang could still be out there…" was all Tenzin said in response, hope evident in his voice, and a few tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"Hello, Korra." A familiar voice said, in a jolly and wise tone.
Korra examined her surroundings, she was definitely in the spirit world, but nothing around her was familiar. The grass beneath her feet was a yellowy-orange, and she was surrounded in tall dark wooden trees with magenta shaded leaves, and she observed a few small tiny spirits wandering around in the distance, they were of baby blue, and light yellow coloring, and looked like bunnies but with a few extra features.
After her mind got a grasp of where she was, she registered the person's familiar voice who had just greeted her, she was still in Lotus position at this point and had now shot to her feet.
"Iroh?!" Korra exclaimed with both excitement and a bit of confusion, she had been expecting Aang afterall.
"Expecting someone else?" Iroh asked with a slight knowing grin forming on his face.
"Sort of…" Korra lamented, lowering her head slightly.
"I think you will find that your next journey will lead you to the answers you seek." Iroh continued mysteriously, he had his "wise" tone on now.
"Next journey..? I just got done erasing Vaatu!" Korra complained, raising her arms up in the air to further communicate her annoyance.
Iroh simply chuckled at this, understanding the Avatar's internal struggle, having known her predecessor personally. "Don't worry young one, I think you will come to find that this journey will be very rewarding to you, and will require less work on your end." he tried to explain it compellingly as to not make her disapproval of the idea before she even knew what it was.
"Ok, so what is this supposed 'next journey'?" Korra asked, with the beginning of a mocking tone, putting her hands on her hips.
"Harmonic Convergence will cause a great shift in the balance of your world, and if you are to adapt well to the changes that are to come you must know the history of their demise." Iroh started, mysteriously.
"A shift in the world? People's history? Their demise?! What are you talking about?" Korra interrupted confusion obvious in her tone.
"You will find your answers at the Southern Air Temple." Iroh added simply.
The Southern Air Temple? What kind of "answers" could I possibly find there? Was Korra's only thoughts, before looking back to the wise old man in front of her, to see nothing in his place, besides the copper colored grass that encompassed the forest she was currently in the center of.
Korra then returned to the physical world, her eyes fluttered open slowly as she refamiliarized herself with her surroundings.
However, what she wasn't expecting for the room in front of her to have three people standing in it, obviously waiting patiently for her to return from her meditative state.
"Tenzin? Jinora? Ikki? What are you guys doing here? How did you know I was meditating-" Korra bombarded them with statements full of questions.
"You woke us up with your airbending!" Ikki interrupted Korra's freak out annoyed.
"What? I didn't airbend." Korra replied with clear confusion.
"Perhaps not willingly." Tenzin added, before continuing
"Aang had told me of times when he subconsciously bent an element while in meditation, all of which happened when discussing something with a previous life…"
"Were you communicating with Aang?"
"Not exactly…" Korra responded reluctantly, great now their hopes are up that Aang is back.
"Then what happened?" Jinora questioned in response, confusion had replaced her earlier confidence about the situation.
"I did feel Aang's presence, but it was really brief… After that I entered the spirit world and actually talked to Iroh, he told me to go to the Southern Air Temple to get the 'answers I seek' I don't really know what he means but It sounded important."
"The presence of Aang you felt might have been what caused the brief surge of air from your body, and the fact that Iroh wants you to travel to the Southern Temple is probably not a coincidence… I would say the two encounters are related somehow." Jinora suggested.
"That would make sense…" Tenzin responded under his breath.
"Well, the only answers I'm currently 'seeking' are what that strange familiar presence of Aang was, maybe by traveling to his old home I can reconnect with him somehow?" Korra's voice was full of both wonder for the many unanswered questions, and hope for the possibility of her being able to reconnect with Aang's spirit, something which she thought would only be a thing of dreams for the rest of her life.
"That seems likely." was all Tenzin said in response.
Ikki then finally spoke again, "So… family bison trip?" she asked excitedly, a wide smile forming on her face.
"We were just at the temples Ikki, you kids don't need to go again." Tenzin responded, shattering Ikki's smile.
"Fine…" was all Ikki said in response, now losing interest in the topic and leaving the room to get more sleep.
Through this whole conversation, Jinora had been waiting patiently to voice her thoughts, while Korra was standing there confused.
"I think I should join you and Korra Dad." Jinora started, paused a second to gage Tenzin's reaction.
"...and why is that?" was all he asked.
"Because I have the strongest spiritual connection out of anyone here! I might be able to help somehow." Jinora finished her statement logically, though really she just wanted to go to the temples and explore more.
"I think that's a good Idea." Korra backed her up.
"Alright then it's settled, lets all get some sleep and tomorrow morning we can pack and leave for the Southern Air Temple." Tenzin responded, before heading out of the room to get some sleep, Jinora followed closely behind with an excited expression on her face.
Korra was quite eager to know what sort of 'answers' she would find at the temple, but thought it best that she get some more rest for tomorrow's rather long trip on Oogie.
She went back to the side of her bed and pet Naga behind the ear for a second before laying back down underneath the thin white covers, and let her drowsiness consume her for the 2nd time that night, the full moons dim light still shining through the window from the balcony.
Korra woke up quite early despite being up for quite a while last night, the pinks and oranges of the sunrise were seeping past the curtains and gave the room a peculiar hue. She decided to pack a few things in a bag because she wasn't sure exactly how long it would take to find the 'answers' Iroh had spoken of.
She got done packing some extra clothes, and some snacks. She couldn't pack her usual sleeping bag and a few other specific clothes items due to them having animal products, she wanted to be respectful.
She closed her bag and was about to exit the door when Naga suddenly perked up and nudged her with his head, Korra simply pet her in return, this however wasn't what Naga's goal had been. Naga then completely tackled Korra to the floor so that she fell right in front of the Polar bear Dog treats.
"Ohh I see." Korra said as she got off the floor and a understanding grin formed on her face.
She grabbed the box and tossed Naga 5 treats, seeing as how she would be gone for who knows how long, and proceeded out the door.
When she arrived outside at the front of the Island, Tenzin was already there getting Oogi ready for the long journey, Jinora however was nowhere to be seen as of yet.
"Ah Korra, I'm glad you're finally up we are leaving here shortly." Tenzin said without even looking back at her, all of his attention on the Flying Bison
"Uh.. Alright, where is Jinora?" Korra asked, still quite tired.
"Oh she is meditating, she should be done shortly and then we can head off, are you packed?"
"Yep!" Korra said as she tossed Tenzin her bag, which he then tossed up and tied to the back of Oogi's saddle.
"Alright then, that's the last of the luggage."
"Hey Korra! Hey Dad! Are we all set?" Jinora yelled from across the island as she headed their way.
"Perfect timing Jinora, we were just about to head off." Tenzin responded as she got closer.
"Sweet I can't wait! I haven't been to the Southern Temple in so long! You really should take me more Dad." Jinora exclaimed excitedly as she airbent herself on Oogi's saddle.
"I wonder what kind of new rooms I will find this time!" Jinora continued to ramble on as Tenzin airbent onto Oogi's head and Korra joined her in the saddle.
Pema, Ikki, and Meelo then exited the House to see them off.
"Bye, Be safe Jinora!" Pema said to both Tenzin and Jinora equally.
"Bring us back souvenirs!" Ikki and Meelo said simultaneously.
"I will be sure to do that, alright?" Korra yelled down, waving as Oogi took flight.
Before they got too far away from the island, Tenzin yelled down "We should not be too long, be back soon!" and so they were off to the Southern Temple, all three of them anxious to see what 'answers' Korra might find there, and holding on to the hope that Aang was still out there somewhere.
They had been flying for two days now over the enchanting deep blue Ocean that surrounded the southern area of the world, and they were nearing the Southern Air Temple, only having a few hours left on the journey.
They had entered the Patola Mountain Range, the change from the vast blue ocean with open sky for miles, to the tall commanding pillar like mountains with grays and greens, was quite a drastic one for the group, but most of all Oogi who had to go from pretty much drifting to being awake and alert, dodging giant columns of stone every few minutes.
But thankfully, they arrived at the Temple not too long after entering the mountain range, and soon landed on one of the many landing pads that surrounded all Air Temples, and gave Oogi off to the Acolytes so they could take care of and feed him.
The temple was relatively similar to how it had looked a hundred years ago architecturally at least, though it certainly had much more life, a tall tower of bright white sat its center, rows of silver and blue spiraling up to the roof. Large jagged pathways winded their way through the peaks and vegetation, with other blue peaked towers reaching high up scraping the sky. The only major difference to the overall structure of the temple was the addition of a few bridges that connected to surrounding mountains, along with a path down to the ocean since the Acolytes couldn't airbend.
The three of them were greeted by a man named Gelu, he was the head Acolyte, or so Tenzin had informed them earlier on in their trip. He was definitely quite a bit older than the rest of the Acolytes at the temple, his hair gray and a long and skinny beard reaching all the way down to his hips, his back was hunched over making him seem quite short and stubby, his eyes were squinted and his head of course bald.
His tone was friendly and excited as he welcomed them to the Temple, likely ecstatic to meet Avatar and of course to see Tenzin and Jinora for the first time in a while. Though his age was obvious as he spoke, Korra wondered how old this man truly was, considering the possibility he might have been one of the first Acolytes Avatar Aang had recruited.
"Master Tenzin, What a welcomed surprise to have you and Jinora back here at last! And I see you even brought Avatar Korra with you."
"Nice to meet you Acolyte Gelu." Korra said simply, putting her fists together and bowing.
He returned the gesture, "Likewise, Avatar Korra." he ended the sentiment with a small friendly smile.
As he began to lead the group around the temple, mainly for Korra's sake, he talked about the different burials and spiritual areas throughout the temple, though one stuck out to Korra for some reason.
"There are many Spiritual places throughout the Temple, along with a multitude of murals for past Masters, Acolytes, Avatars, and of course for those who were taken from us during the 100 year war." His voice took on a saddened tone as he described the last group of murals, and the group also took on a slight frown at the reminder of what happened over 150 years ago, but still affected the world immensely to this day.
Tenzin, Jinora, and Korra silently agreed it was best to stay silent for now and listen to him talk about the different notable locations throughout the surrounding mountains.
After about 3 hours of wandering around, seeing sights, meeting Acolytes, and going to see the bands of Bison that called the Patola mountains their home. They arrived at their final destination, where they saw a familiar waterbender in the distance.
"Mom?" Tenzin questioned and was surprised to see her here, though silently scolding himself as he remembered the time of year.
"Grandma!" Jinora quickly airbent herself forward and embraced Katara.
"Master Katara?" Korra was of course also surprised, though she guessed it made sense that Katara would visit the home of her husband from time to time.
"Jinora, Korra, Tenzin, what a nice surprise to see you here, I take it you're equally surprised? She joked.
She was wearing her signature blue outfit, and two necklaces around her neck, one a light blue water tribe insignia, and a longer one that was amber colored and looked like a mix of the air and water tribe logos.
"It completely passed my mind that it was the time of year you come here." Tenzin had a smile on his face as he hugged his mother.
"I'm so excited you're here Grandma! With Meelo and Ikki gone you can tell me tons of stories!" Jinora was jumping 10 feet in the air with joy at this point, a rare sight to see on the usually quite calm and collected young teen.
"I would be happy too." Katara chuckled a bit.
"I didn't know you visited the Temple's Katara every year." Korra said as she also hugged Katara, though with less passion than that of Tenzin and Jinora.
"Remember the two month break you got every year when I was training you?" Katara recalled with a smile.
"Is that where you went?! I thought that break was you being nice to me." Korra exclaimed, slightly facepalming.
"It was both really, you were still young, a break did good for you." Katara then returned her attention to the Marble mural that lay ahead, it was a magnificent piece, probably the most beautiful thing in the whole temple. There was an Air nomad logo carved into a giant block of Marble that sat in the center of the piece, and on top of it stood a depiction of a generic Old Master, along with a young boy monk to his side, the orangish red part of their outfit was the only coloured part of the statue, representing the spilt blood. Surrounding the center piece of marble, lay a field of bright green grass full of Wind Daisies and small marble statues of Flying Bison. The perimeter of the Mural was surrounded by light pink cherry blossom trees, and the ground was lightly sprinkled with the fallen leaves, It truly was both a beautiful yet saddening sight.
"It's beautiful." Korra said as she slowly admired the piece.
"There are three similar Murals at each of the four original temples, the Southern and Northern temples have this Mural, while the Western and Eastern have one that depicts female Monks instead of males" Katara informed.
Katara then got on her knees in front of the centerpiece once more and gave respect, Tenzin and Jinora followed, with Korra closely behind. The four sat there for a good five minutes, before getting up to catch up a bit.
"So, what brings all of you here?" Katara asked with interest.
"Well, I'm sure you heard about the chaos in Republic City by now, and how I defeated Unalaq." Korra began.
"Of course."
Korra wasn't sure how to approach the oncoming topic, how would Katara react to the fact that Korra may have lost connection to Aang's spirit once and for all?
"The thing is… even though I won in the end, Unalaq really messed me up. I lost my connection to my past spirits." Korra grew quiet as she completed the sentence. She couldn't imagine how much grief Katara held, she had heard stories of how she lost her Mother at such a young age paired that up with her Grandma dying shortly after the war, he father dying a year after she married, and then of course her Brother Councilman Sokka dying to protect her… and then Aang dying and that being the cause of Korra existing in the first place? Korra couldn't understand how Katara did not hold any resentment towards her.
"What? You lost connection to the past Avatars? How?" Katara's face took on a worried look more than anything, but as Tenzin, Jinora, and Korra looked on they could see her sadness at the news.
"Unalaq separated the Avatar spirit from my body temporarily, and when I got it back the connections were lost, but that's actually why we are here."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, still sad yet hopeful that they were here because of that loss.
"Harmonic Convergence will cause a great shift in the balance of your world, and if you are to adapt well to the changes that are to come you must know the history of their demise." Korra remembered what Iroh had told her in the spirit world, and how she thought she felt Aang's presence all those days ago.
"Well shortly after that happened, I had a vision and entered the Spirit World, I met Iroh there and he told me I would find answers at the temple… and I also thought I felt Aang's presence, like he was trying to communicate with me or something."
"So there might be a possibility of you reconnecting with your past lives?" Katara was now interested in the workings of the Avatar spirit, something which Aang had tried to delve deeper into but never found many answers even through days of meditation.
Tenzin then spoke up, "We don't know anything for sure, but based on what Korra has told us we think it could be possible."
Jinora agreed silently with a nod.
"Iroh also mentioned that the world would soon change due to Harmonic Convergence, whatever that means." Korra added.
"It's likely related to the Avatar or Airbenders if he wanted you to come here." Jinora began to theorize.
"Iroh also mentioned I had to 'learn the history of their demise' which I assume means the Airbenders… and if this is the Mural for those who were killed in the 100 year war this has to be the best place right?"
"I can't think of a better one," Tenzin agreed.
"Well, I will leave you to that then, Jinora would you like to accompany me and I can tell whatever stories you wish?" Katara asked with a smile.
"Definitely." Jinora said quite plainly, trying to hide her excitement.
"Alright then, we should get going and let Korra focus, I will see you two later… good luck Korra."
"Thanks Master Katara." Korra bowed as Katara left.
"Shall we get going then?" Tenzin asked.
Korra nodded in agreement, and they got to work.
"So… Do you have any idea what I'm supposed to do? I'm not really used to the whole having visions part of the job." Korra explained, as she continued wandering around the Mural with closer examination.
"I can't say I have straight answers for you, it's often something you must figure out yourself, However…" Tenzin began before he was interrupted.
"However what?" Korra cut in, looking his direction with a rather peculiar look on her face.
Tenzin sighed, before continuing, "However… A Lot of the time in situations like this one, simply meditating in front of the Mural allows you to have a spiritual link, sometimes you might have to touch it and other times it can be vastly more complicated."
Before he had even finished explaining the possible solutions to Korra's little predicament she had already sat herself in Lotus position in the center of the Mural, right between a group of Wind Daisies and a few Bison statues, the giant Air Nomad insignia layed three feet behind where she sat.
Alright Korra, you can do this… just meditate and try to make some sort of spiritual link… that's all.
And with that, she put her fists together, shut her eyes lightly, and attempted to connect with the spiritual energy that consumed the air around the mural.
She could feel the spiritual energy surrounding her, the current of the energy matching that of the wind. It moved around slowly and gracefully but never leaving the airspace that surrounded the Mural, she could see the energy as if it was a physical being, it had hues of Yellow and Orange, the colors were faint yet she felt as if the small balls of energy contained the spirits of hundreds of beings. The way it moved reminded her of her lesson about being a 'leaf' in the wind, it was definitely of air nomad origin.
She felt all this, she could even see it visually… but she couldn't grasp it, she couldn't reach out and connect to whatever lay on the inner layers of the aura, she couldn't break through that 2nd boundary that blocked her from accessing what the spiritual energy had to offer.
Korra's eyes fluttered open, and her hands fell to her side in defeat.
Tenzin noticed it had only been about five minutes, and asked "Did you see anything? Sense anything?" he was more curious than concerned at this point, it was still early on and it was only her first try, plus Korra wasn't exactly famous for being super spiritual.
Korra hesitated for a second before answering, "Yeah, I did actually. I saw this Yellowy Orangey coloured ball of energy that flowed with the wind, I could sense the spirits that made it up… but I just couldn't break through that next wall." She ended her explanation with a disappointed sigh.
"That's good, don't be hard on yourself. Even Aang rarely got further than that after just one attempt at mediation." Tenzin added, trying to cheer her up a bit, as they still had quite a long road ahead of trial and error.
Korra attempted meditating again and again, switching up where she sat, touching certain parts of the mural, Tenzin giving her ideas and pointers along the way. They had been at it for a little over three hours now, just like Tenzin had predicted… lots of trial and error was involved with this process.
The sun was getting low in the sky, the pinks and oranges started to appear in the sky, most of the acolytes had gone to bed in the dorms, and Korra and Tenzin still hadn't made much more progress.
Korra exited another attempt at meditation, growing frustrated she was about to kick one of the small Sky Bison statues that lay low to the ground, but quickly stopped herself remembering where she was.
"Ergh! I'm getting nowhere…" Korra said angrily.
"Yes… it is quite a predicament." was all Tenzin had said in response, as he walked over to analyze the Mural once more.
As Tenzin got lost in thought as he wandered around the Mural aimlessly for what seemed like the tenth time that day, Korra decided she would take a break and sat down on a stone bench a few feet away, she let out a defeated huff, before she realized she heard footsteps. Tenzin must have heard them too as they both looked the same way at nearly the same moment, and saw Jinora approaching them.
"I'm assuming you haven't had any luck yet?" She guessed as she got closer.
"Nope." Korra replied rather shortly.
"I'm not sure what's wrong if I'm being honest, Korra has perfect form and has been getting some visions, but she hasn't been able to break through the Worldly barrier."
"Hmm.." Jinora hummed curiously as she approached the Mural, analyzing it like Tenzin had been doing moments earlier.
"Is this moonlight gem?" Jinora asked as she noticed that the indented Air Nomad insignia's inward layer of 'marble' looked more like a pearly color, and had a small sparkle that seemed to differentiate from the rest of the Statue.
"Moonlight gem?" Korra asked, as she got up to come see what Jinora was talking about.
"Spirits Jinora, you're right, this could mean…" Tenzin trailed off.
"It could mean that when the moon is all the way up in the sky, the Air Nomad engraving will glow because of the Moonlight gem, it could be the time you're meant to crossover." Jinora finished for him.
"It's worth a shot I guess." was all Korra had to say, before she went back to sit on the stone bench, now opting to wait until the Moon got to the Middle of the sky. Tenzin and Jinora soon joined her.
Another two hours passed before the Moon was significantly upward in the obsidian black sky, and Korra noticed the insignia start to glow a mystical white color, with a small shading of light blue added to its shine.
"It's beautiful…" Korra started, as she got up from the bench and walked toward the center of the Mural once more.
"Wow… it's so pretty." Jinora added.
"I cant believe I didn't know about this." was all Tenzin said, as he put his right hand up to the statue, feeling the glow emit from it.
"Welp, now is the time I guess." Korra announced, as she got back to business.
She got back on the grass in Lotus position, put her fists together, and her eyes started to glow.
She saw it again, the yellow and orange orb of spiritual energy flowing with the wind, it seemed even more powerful this time as the spiritual energy she felt seemed heightened this time around. She noticed that this time there was a physical floor, it was made up of bluish gray rock, and the sky was made up of light pinks and yellows. The image before her was stunning.
She began walking towards the orb that followed the wind, and soon she had gotten closer to the mass of energy than she had ever before. She reached out to grab it and felt it consume her entire body.
It had been fifteen minutes in the physical world, and Korra still hasn't come out, three times as long as any other attempt that day, which could only mean one thing.
"She did it." both Tenzin and Jinora said at once, with hushed voices.
And there we go, the first chapter is done, from here on out the plot will move forward more and the story will truly start to begin! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Not exactly sure how I will structure the chapters from here on out, I might do the whole rest of the story in one HUGE chapter or I might split it up, whatever I decide will determine when this thing will update.
Feel free to suggest ideas you might have for this fic's upcoming events as I'm always up for concepts and ideas to fit somewhere in this story!
I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER OR AVATAR: LEGEND OF KORRA OR AVATAR STUDIOS, THOUGH IT WOULD BE NICE!