Thank you all for the beautiful reviews. I'm so glad that my story's being so well-received by such intelligent people. I hope I can live up to your expectations, especially with this next chapter, which was a real pain to write because now I have to get the actual plot rolling.

Chapter Two: Visions and a Visitation

Night has fallen on our little village. In my family's house I am the only one still awake. Restlessness has taken its hold on me. I am lying on my futon, listening to the gentle rainfall test the strength of the thatch roof. I can hear Baba and Mama's snores on the other side of the thin wall separating our bedrooms. But these noises are not what keep me from sleep.

Something strange happened in the late afternoon. As usual Mama and I were preparing the evening meal. As I was washing the vegetables in a basin of cool water, I glanced out the window and saw Baba walking away from the house. This was nothing unusual. Everyday he likes to visit the gazebo near the pond and the potato fields. He stays there alone until Mama sends me to fetch him for supper. He goes there to spend time with Lihua and his son, his dead family. His other family. Baba has a way of knowing when there are spirits present that are not of this world. Everyone in the village knows it. It is his gift. I believe that he can actually sense when his dead wife and son visit him on a passing breeze or fall from the sky as raindrops.

Today I noticed that there was something different in Baba's demeanour. He seemed lost, as if he'd forgotten the way to the gazebo. His eyes stared out into the distance, yet seemed to see nothing. I watched him. Leaning on his cane, he forced himself to walk, but he seemed weakened as if he had doubled in age.

I turned to Mama, who had busied herself with setting water on the stove to boil. She seemed concerned with nothing except eventually putting a meal on the table. Knowing Mama, she would've forced Baba to rest in bed long ago if he was really ill. I did not think that Baba was sick. Something was disturbing him in his mind. I longed to find out, but I could not leave the house and follow him. Mama needed my assistance in the kitchen, so I stayed with her even after Baba disappeared from my view. While I worked I was burning with curiosity, as if someone had set fire to my insides. I worked at a faster pace than usual, hoping that if I finished early Mama would dismiss me sooner. Luck was on my side and everything I hoped for came to pass.

"Go and see your Baba, Lin. He will enjoy your company before it is time to eat."

"Yes, Mama," I answered her. When I stepped outside the house I was immediately refreshed by the light wind passing through. I raced down the path towards the gazebo, holding up my robe so that the bottom would not get dirty. Despite my tiny body I can sprint quickly, and I reached the gazebo in a matter of minutes.

Baba was there, but he did not see me right away. His body was very still and his eyes were closed as if he were in prayer. I stood watching him at the bottom of the small hill that led up to him, suddenly afraid that I was going to interrupt his peace. He had lit candles that gave off a sweet fragrance and filled the gazebo with light. I listened to the music of the wind chimes hanging above his head, and waited for something to happen.

Baba lifted his head and opened his eyes. I could see his face clearly from where I stood. His eyes were dark and watery, like the pond's surface at night. I didn't realize that I'd been holding my breath until after he began to speak. "My son...my son..."

I couldn't stop the tears from falling from my eyes. I had always cried silently, even as a cub, so my salty tears went unnoticed. My poor Baba was heartbroken, and my own young, fragile heart broke for him. Was my ghost brother nearby? Did my Baba feel his presence? I glanced around, although I didn't know what for. There was no one else around except for my Baba and me. But when the wind picked up I felt a chill alll around my body, but not an unfriendly one. It was as if I was being given a hug by a cold, unseen being. I swear that I did not imagine this feeling.

The fur on my face was damp from my tears. I dabbed the wet spots under my eyes with the sleeves of my robe. I continued to cry, and without warning I let out a loud, unexpected sob. Baba finally turned to look at me, and his face fell at the sight of my distress. "Lin! What has upset you?"

"I'm crying with you, Baba," I answered. He began to shed tears as well. He gestured for me to join him in the gazebo, but I quickly turned around and walked away instead. I felt guilty for disturbing him. The wind had now stopped, and the world stood still. It was my fault. I had intruded on his time with his other family. I had ruined his peace of mind.

He called after me, but I didn't return to him. Later at dinner neither of us said a word about what occurred between us. We were both too shaken by our own inner sadness and we didn't want to distress Mama, who knew nothing. When we departed for bed we looked into each other's faces with emotion and wonder but still said nothing. Now here I am.

I have grown tired and should probably rest. Sleep comes to me easily now, now that I have somewhat emptied my mind of its heavy burdens through deep thought. This is unsurprising, and as I slowly close my eyes I wonder if I will ever make myself sleep again without thinking at all.

I am asleep, yet I am awake.

I open my eyes. I quickly realize that I am not in my own bedroom. Instead I am surrounded by a pale blue mist. It is startlingly beautiful. I reach out to touch it, but it drifts away from my outstretched paw. I walk towards it, yet it still moves away from me. I am not alarmed by the presence of this unordinary fog. I know that I am dreaming. My vision is blurry and my body is drowsy in that way only possible during sleep. The mist cannot hurt me, but I am still fascinated. I continue to try and wave my hand through it, with no luck.

I suddenly hear soft footsteps. I feel them too. Someone is walking towards me, and I can feel each foreign step as a leap in my own stomach. I abandon my task of touching the lovely blue mist and look up. Through the mist there is a shadow, and I do not recognize its outline right away. It's not a panda's shadow. It is too small. It is even smaller than myself.

The shadow comes closer, and then it stops in its tracks. Now I can see what it is. It is a turtle, just like the ones from the illustrations in my books. I can see that he is quite an old turtle. He appears weak in body structure, but there is a certain strength in his paced movements. He is holding a staff, longer and lighter than the cane Baba depends on. I have never seen him before. I do not know who he is.

The turtle approaches me. I instinctively take a step back. Something in his wrinkled but friendly features tells me that he will bring me no harm, but he is a stranger to me and I don't know why he's here. Why has a turtle entered my dreams? I have never met or befriended anyone other than pandas, since I have never stepped outside Nianzu Village.

He smiles kindly at me. I politely return his smile. I do not know whether I should greet him first or wait for him to address me. Finally, he speaks first. "I can tell that you are a thinker by the way your mind is so full of fog. Even now you are thinking, and look how the fog grows!"

I look around, and he is right. As I was contemplating his presence in my dreams the blue fog had both darkened and thickened all around me, and I didn't even notice it until now. I can still see my strange visitor through it, and I am pretty sure that he can see me as well. "Who are you?"

He raises his hand, and the mist vanishes so quickly that it is as though it was never there. Suddenly we are standing inside Baba's gazebo, surrounded by water rushing from an unseen source. The waves splash against the stairs and sprays droplets on my robe. The turtle lifts his staff and taps Baba's precious wind chimes, which fill the empty silence with music. "My name is Oogway," he answers me at last. "I once breathed the air in this world as you do, but no longer. I have long past my time as a mortal being."

I do not understand, and he can read my confusion on my face. "We all wish to die peacefully, and I did so. Now I am a spirit of a paradise beyond your home."

"You are...dead?" I can barely believe what I am hearing. Have I gone mad? Am I being really being visited by a ghost? Or is this a trick of my imagination?

He nods. "Does this frighten you?"

"I am not frightened of you," I reply truthfully. "I do not believe that you have any reason to harm me."

"You have good judgement in character, Lin," he tells me. "And a sharp mind. This is why you are well suited to the honour I've come to bestow on you. The time has come for you to fulfill your destiny, and you will need special abilities to do so. I am going to make you a Dream Weaver."

I open my mouth to ask him what a Dream Weaver is, but he has already begun to explain. "A Dream Weaver is a mortal being with the power to detach their soul from their body, but only while sleeping. A Dream Weaver's soul can travel far distances and can enter the dreams of another, if the receiver has an open mind. A Dream Weaver may also speak to those whose dreams they have entered. These are powers unlike any others."

"Are you a Dream Weaver?"

"No," he replies. "I am a member of the Council of Spirits that resides over the world of the dead. We held a vote over whether or not you are a worthy candidate to become a Dream Weaver, and the final decision was in your favour. So I was granted permission to visit you in your dreams and teach everything you need to know."

"Why me, though?" I ask. "I am only thirteen-years-old. I know so little about the world outside my own village. I do not think I am the right person for this...position."

"My dear child, your youth and innocence are what make you perfect for this. You will not use your powers for the wrong reasons, since you have no evil or corruption in you."

"I don't think I am as pure as you perceive me," I retort. "I know a great deal about evil and corruption. My village was built on it."

"But such evil is not in you, Lin. Do you remember when you cried for your father this very afternoon? An evil person would not have shed such tears."

"You saw that?"

"Yes, from my seat on the Council. Your purity and kindness touched the hearts of all those present, and won you many votes. Do you know why your father was in such a state?"

"He mourns his first wife, Lihua, and my ghost brother. He felt them nearby."

"I'm afraid not, my child," he tells me, and I widen my eyes in surprise. "It was not the ghosts of his lost family he was feeling. Your brother was badly injured this afternoon. The tyrant Lord Shen nearly killed him, but he has been revived by the healing remedies of a soothsayer. Your father felt his son's pain like a blow to his own body, since the two are still spiritually connected."

"But...my brother is already dead!" I protest. "Lord Shen killed him long ago, before I was born!"

Oogway smiles affectionately and sympathetically at me, and suddenly I feel like I just said something very stupid. "He is...not dead?"

"Your ghost brother, as you call him, is very much alive. He is the Dragon Warrior, a great hero, and he has just achieved inner peace at very young age. His mind is now open to all the energies of the universe. I can tell by your face that you know where I am going with this, Lin. The time has come for you to meet him."

Lin doesn't have her powers yet. She officially gets them in the next chapter, and things will get fun from there. Please review.