Chapter Four – Examination

The cool air around her was progressively warmed up by the presence of the slowly emerging sun. Before beginning her test, she steadied herself, taking a deep breath in. Jinora felt the air enter her body filling her up and giving her a sense of balance and life. The air within this area of the island felt as though it was almost alive. There was a sense of energy she felt while manipulating the tiny particles, a silent hum that reverberated through the air, sympathetic to her graceful movements. The sensation of the air on her skin energised her and made her feel alive.

"Let's begin your test with your basic level Airbending skills," The head of the panel, Chiron, stated evenly.

Tier One through Twelve – Basic Airbending.

Jinora started demonstrating her basic level techniques with perfect control and poise, allowing strong gusts of air to pass elegantly from her fingertips. As she moved gracefully through the sequence of stances, she became increasingly aware of the energy surrounding her body. Jinora took advantage of its presence to flawlessly execute her demonstration of basic Airbending. The air acolytes had previously moved the spinning gates to the test area to examine her movements through the gates. She sinuously weaved through the spinning gates, using spiral movements to avoid the stark opposition of the gates. Her dexterity and vibrancy earned her some approving nods from a few of the senior acolytes. Her offensive and defensive forms were nothing short of incredible. Her ability to think quickly on her feet and dodge any attack thrown at her by Tenzin also earned her some more respect from the panel. Jinora knew that Tenzin was only throwing easy attacks at this point and that they would get a lot harder to block as the day progressed. Jinora didn't care at this point, she practically glowed with confidence. While the basic level forms were crucial to the test, they were not the part of the exam that she was worried about. Jinora had been practicing these forms since the day she was discovered to be an air bender. Although Jinora was confident now, a nagging voice at the back of her mind was telling her that towards the end of the exam she may start to struggle. She expelled the thought out of her head by internally naming the moves that she was making, increasing her focus on the task at hand. With one last flawlessly executed move, she finished her twelfth tier demonstration.

'Twelve down, Twenty four to go,' she thought to herself, exhaling quickly and straightening up to face the panel.

"A fantastic demonstration of your basic Airbending," praised Chiron with a humble smile. Jinora bowed politely to accept the compliment. "Please continue with your demonstration of intermediate level Airbending," He continued calmly.

Tier Thirteen through Twenty Four – Intermediate Airbending.

The intermediate section of the exam started much the same as the basic level except that some problems were starting to present themselves. This section of the exam was taking place in the hottest part of the day. The sweltering mid day sun was beating down on her relentlessly, creating small beads of perspiration which rolled down her face with her movements. The stinging feeling of sweat rolling down into her sensitive brown eyes was having a nasty effect on her concentration. If that wasn't bad enough, the sweltering heat of the sun had super heated the stone slabs underneath her feet, scalding them whenever she stood too long in one spot and making her feet blister. Despite all of the frustration and pain she was experiencing, Jinora was fiercely determined to show the same level of finesse and perfection that the panel of acolytes had seen her present in the first level of the test.

The intermediate section required Jinora to counter attacks and artfully dodge anything propelled at her by Tenzin. In this part of the test she was allowed the use of her glider to demonstrate her staff techniques. Unlike the basic test, Tenzin was now forcing Jinora to think quickly. He now had a look of mixed determination and pride in his eyes as he artfully challenged his daughter. All the attacks he was throwing at her were being expertly avoided or deflected by her brilliant display of Airbending skill. Tenzin tried to get the better of her by directing a blast of wind at her feet. Jinora responded by rapidly flying upwards with her glider whilst sending a strong gust of wind towards him. This caught him off guard, causing him to fall ungracefully on the hard stone floor. He quickly regained his composure and stood up to bow at his daughter, who landed effortlessly in front of him with a grin.

"Well done, Jinora," He said to her fondly, rising from his bow to meet her sparkling eyes.

'Twenty four down, twelve to go,' Jinora voiced to herself internally as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Jinora turned to face the panel with her eyes shining expectantly.

"Once again, we are most delighted by your Airbending prowess," Chiron spoke on behalf of the panel, "However; we already knew that you could do the first twenty four tiers. Now, the real test begins. After a ten minute break, we will start your Advanced Airbending test," He finished strongly.

By this stage of the day, the sun was starting to sink deeply behind Republic City, giving way to the faint twinkle of sunset stars. Before the test was able to start, the acolytes lit the many lamps that enclosed the area, casting their warm yellow light invitingly throughout the space. As she waited, the wind whispered softly around Jinora's frame, sending a slight chill over her body and causing the loose sections of her hair to dance gently beside her face. Looking towards Avatar Aang Memorial Island, she internally asked for her grandfather's help to get through the remaining sections of the test. Almost immediately after Jinora had asked this, she felt the hum of energy in the air grow stronger. It felt as though he was standing right there beside her. She wondered whether her father had picked up on the change and looked over to see. He didn't seem to acknowledge any change. With this silent gesture of support from Aang, she let an effervescent smile spread out over her face. Jinora was now ready to finish this.

"Let's start the last phase of your Airbending test. If you pass this section of the test, you will be allowed to go on to do the twenty four hour meditation to gain your mastery tattoos. If you should fail, you will not be eligible to retake this test until a year from today," Chiron explained seriously to Jinora.

Jinora visibly shuddered at the thought of having to wait a full year to retake her test. She became increasingly more determined to pass the last twelve tiers. 'Let's do this,' She thought in determination, in her mind, sounding like Korra.

Tier twenty five though thirty six – Advanced Airbending.

Starting the last twelve tiers felt like agony. The movements for such high level Airbending required a series of intricate and complicated moves that had to be done with extreme precision and in the exact order. It took all the remaining concentration and strength that she could muster to fluently execute the moves that Tenzin was calling out. Elaborate spirals of energised wind travelled from her skilfully positioned hands, creating strong gusts of wind that made the trees beside her bow in submission. She created an impeccably controlled hurricane which she used to propel her upwards to look over the entire island without damaging the ground or people below. Returning to the ground, she audaciously fought off her father's incredibly skilled attacks, sending equally elaborate assaults straight back at him. She darted swiftly around any resistance she met and managed to block anything she couldn't dodge with walls of impenetrable air. She quickened the pace by hopping on an air scooter and shooting expertly aimed attacks towards Tenzin. Jinora could feel herself gaining ground on her father and decided to exploit her advantage by using the opportunity to debut her own originally created move; Tier Thirty Six - The Air Dragon. Jinora masterfully created delicate streams of super compressed air which darkened to create a weaving bodied formation of a translucent dragon. The Air dragon proficiently ripped through the sky, delivering merciless propulsions of hot air towards the vulnerable master air bender, causing him to tumble across the hard ground stopping inches before almost tumbling down the stairs.

The panel observed the scene with eyes bulging and jaws scraping on the ground. The senior acolytes were utterly gobsmacked by what they had just witnessed. Jinora's air dragon flew through the air cleverly before disappearing in to thin air as though it had never existed. Tenzin stood up slowly and brushed himself off looking equally stunned by what just happened.

"That. Was. Incredible!" yelled one of the male air acolytes enthusiastically. The other members of the panel nodded vigorously in passionate agreement.

"I've never seen anything like it," Tenzin added in shock. "How did you even come up with that? You must teach it to me," He finished with an air of awe and pride. Jinora beamed at him, and then directed her eyes to the panel once again.

"Jinora," Chiron started, "After the full demonstration of the thirty six tiers of mastery, we are all in perfect agreement that you are ready to progress to the next stage of the test. The last step is in attaining your master status is to prove to us that your spirit is as strong as your bending. Take a half an hour break to prepare yourself for your twenty four hours of meditation. We will meet you at the meditation pavilion ten minutes before midnight," Chiron finished happily. With that, the air acolytes all stood and left down the stairs, giving congratulatory pats on Jinora's shoulder as they passed. The last to congratulate her was Tenzin.

"Jinora, I am so proud of you," Tenzin started, looking out towards Avatar Aang Memorial Island. "Your grandfather would have been very proud too," He said smiling down at his daughter before pulling her in to a warm fatherly hug.

"Now, you must hurry, you only have half an hour to get ready for your meditation," He added softly as he let her go with a smile. "I'll see you down there." Tenzin said encouragingly as he left his daughter where she was standing. He sent a wave of air to blow out the lanterns and descended quietly down the steep stairs.

Jinora breathed in deeply, relaxing her body in to a slouch for the first time all day. Smiling from ear to ear with exhausted eyes, Jinora looked up to the twinkling stars that littered the sky.

"Thank you, Aang" she praised out loud before quickly stretching her arms above her head. She grabbed her staff and spun it around to open her glider. Jinora ascended gracefully in to the sky and headed towards home to prepare for her meditation and get herself some well deserved food.

AN: This chapter was really difficult to write, sorry it took so long. I really hope you liked it. Get excited for the meditation! Please feel free to give me some feedback; I would really like to hear your opinion on the story and any ideas or constructive criticism you may have, It really helps me. Praise is good too :P

Hazelehm