Growing Up

We went to see Ko the Face-Stealer. I don't know if I've ever been so scared. There was a part of me that wanted to stay behind, that was happy when Kara told me I couldn't go.

But how could I let her go through that without me? How could she ask me to stay behind? I've faced the same dangers everyone else has!

I understand why she she did that. I really do. She doesn't want me to get hurt. And I know how mad she was when Kaizen and Jia spoke up for me. It doesn't matter that Kara was wearing a mask; I've been around her too long to not know when she's angry!

But you know what? I think I did have to come, and I'm not sorry about how mad she was. Because I learned something really important in the spirit world. I learned that sometimes, things aren't going to be okay. Jia would have died. Ko would have let her die, just because he startled her. He may not be evil, but he's not a good spirit, and I helped us make a deal with him to save Jia's life. One task, every year, for the rest of our lives. Eradicating bloodbenders.

Which is going to meaning killing more people. People like Iluk. Because some people can't be reasoned with. Iluk was so angry! She would have killed us, was practically killing poor Mookiechops Senior just to get to us! I hope that the other bloodbenders will be less crazy. I can't imagine there are many people that crazy in the first place. Bloodbending is really, really creepy, but I don't know if I can actually kill anybody....

At least I got to see Gyatso and most of my other friends. And Abbot Shen said I can come back to the temple when all this is done! I think I'm ready to learn all the boring stuff I wasn't grown up enough to understand before. Don't get me wrong--frog-crane wrestling is still way more fun than sitting in a classroom for hours. But there's more than just fun stuff in life.

I'll never be all serious, like Kara is, but I'm not so scared of growing up anymore. Because growing up means living life, and what's more fun than that?!

Blank Pages

We're in the Si Wong Desert now, headed for the library of Wan Shi Tong. We're going to give him the scrolls, so they can be safe from the Iron Empire. We made a huge sign in the spirit world, and we're waiting for the fox spirits to come show us the way to the library. It's all terribly exciting.

I keep thinking about Iluk, though. I know, I know, I shouldn't worry about that. I just can't forget how angry she was, for something that happened 20 years ago. The men we fought in the forest weren't the same men, they weren't even really Chin's men. The Iron Empire has it's own agenda. But she would have killed them all, using that awful blood bending.

I guess what I really keep wondering is: what is it about love that turns sour when it's gone? I can't imagine killing anybody, even if they hurt my family. Oh, I'd be mad, and so so sad. Like when Aunt Kin died. I was so angry with her, even through the grief. How could she leave Kara to deal with so much on her own?

Maybe it is different when the people you love are murdered. But no... Kaizen's family died in a storm, and he's so bitter now. They weren't murdered, but it seems like he needs to blame someone. He blamed the spirits. Then he had that talk with Kara, and now he's saying that destiny means it was his fault, or his family's fault.

Why do things always have to be someone or something's fault? I think Kara didn't really explain it well, but I don't know, 'cause I was asleep until Kaizen started yelling. I don't think I helped, I was so tired, but I didn't want Kaizen to be so mad anymore.

What is destiny? I don't know. Maybe that's something they teach the more advanced students at the Temples. Or maybe I missed that lesson playing Frog-Crane Wrestling with Gyatso and the other kids. I don't know that it's so important. Even with Kara's cards, and her visions, we don't really know what's going to happen to us. We're born, we live, we die. What's in between is really up to us!

It's an adventure! Every day is like a blank scroll, waiting to be filled. And if some force has already written something on that page, then we still have to write the befores and afters.

I know what I'm going to write on my pages. As much good stuff as I can!

The Quest begins...

So much has happened, I don’t even know where to start! Back in Xen Wei, I went to the Spirit World! Not by myself, I couldn't have done that. No, Song Lu came and spoke to us, and Kara took us into the Spirit Lands and we flew on the Heron's back! It would have been the greatest thing ever, but Song Lu was showing us spiritual unrest in the world. It was pretty upsetting.

And it's up to us to fix it! You know the folks I talked about before? Well, they're all here with me and Kara. Because the next Avatar is just a baby, and whoever it is certainly can't fix things like this yet.

The first place we've traveled to is Qingdao, which is still in the Fire Nation. It's a lot bigger than Xen Wei, which is good and bad. Good, because there are markets here. Bad, because are bars here, and Kaizen's a "drown your sorrows" type of guy. I can't believe the things he's willing to eat just so he'll have money left for booze. Sometimes I wonder if he would eat at all, if there was a choice between the two.

I'm not stupid, I know there's a reason for the way he is. But Rin lost practically everything, and she's okay. She's way less scary than I first thought. She taught me to play cinderball! Jia lost her boyfriend. And Kara's lost so much... although she's pretty gloomy sometimes. Sometimes I'll say the stupidest thing I can think of, just to get her to smile. But they haven't given up hope, not like Kaizen seems to have done.

But I won't say that I don't want Kaizen with us, because I'd be lying. He's a really powerful firebender, and he's good at talking to people. When he's sober. Sober-ish. Kara said he used to be a teacher, and it shows. And it's not just him, it's the other girls too. Kaizen keeps saying he doesn't believe in fate, but how else would a group like ours have come together? It's like we just fit together. Mostly.

Anyway, back to Qingdao. So there were these spirits possessing people and trying to get to the city magistrate, but it turns out the the magistrate told some soldiers they could dig up the cemetery! How awful is that?! So we went to the cemetery, and the soldiers are some remnant of Chin's army, they call themselves the Iron Empire and want to banish the spirits. We beat this lot, but there's more of them. It's going to be Trouble!

Plus Kara thinks we might have to go see a spirit called Koh the Face-stealer. She doesn't want me there, which stings a little. I'm not a little kid anymore, and I've helped out a lot. It was my idea to show the angry Qingdao spirits that we were trying to help, and it worked!

I hope that the majordomo can pay us. I don't really care a lot about money, but Kara said she'd buy me a lemur-bat. That'd be nice, and I have a name all picked out--but I think it'll have to wait. We don't even have enough for food right now. All I have left is a wilted bunch of leeks, half a daikon, and a small bag of rice. I'd even eat stewed sea prunes at this point.

Xen Wei

Kara was right again. There definitely was something in Xen Wei for us--we helped a spirit named Song Lu! I wonder if the heron spirit will ever run into Jovo. I hope he puts in a good word for Kara, because without her, his shrine would never have been built properly!

It's kind of nice, helping people out like this. It's hard work, but it's nice. I think we made some friends, too. There's Rin, who's from Xen Wei, and she has the cutest little dragon dove. Katsu's a little shy, but I'll make friends with him, you'll see! Rin's a little prickly. Actually, she scares me a little. She's pretty intense.

Then there's Jia, who I got to chat with for a while while we took the slooooow route back to Xen Wei from the bandit village. She's nice, but she seems a little sad. She enjoys life, and the sadness isn't painful--like Kaizen's--but I can still see it. Maybe it's just Xen Wei, though. She lost someone from here. And she likes pie! She should go to the Eastern Air Temple--they make the best pies anywhere!

Yeah, Kaizen. Wow. Kara says she knows him from a long time ago, but when I asked her she got all dreary and mysterious. Like she does sometimes. He's not a mean person, but he's not going out of his way to be pleasant to anyone. He does, however, have the coolest friend ever. A dragon! He's huge, and has one eye, and his whiskers have gone grey so he must be really old. Scorch, not Kaizen.

And Rong Bei Fong, who's the first noble I've ever met. She's really nice, I can't see why everyone badmouths the nobility all the time. Her clothes are so pretty! I hope that I can have a dress like that someday, but I'll never be able to keep it as clean as she does. Even in the middle of the forest after sleeping in a muddy hole. Being an Earthbender must really cut down on the laundry!

Kara keeps saying that there's something else going on, that Song Lu's shrine was just the beginning of some bigger adventure. Well, she didn't say it like that. Whatever it is, I hope it starts soon. Xen Wei's going to be a nice little town, but I haven't flown in DAYS! It's starting to get a little boring here, just building stuff.

The Beginning

I was born on the back of a sky bison. My mother always said that explained everything, rolling her eyes at the other adults, who nodded quietly. I’m not sure what she meant by that. Anyway, our caravan was coming back from a trip to the Southern Water Tribe. I wasn’t due yet, but out I came. Miles of water in every direction, and my parents panicked as could be.

But everything turned out great! I mean, I’m still here, right? That story’s pretty boring anyway. My gran loves to tell it, but I usually fall asleep.

There’s a better one, about the time I got lost in the swamp. I was just a little kid then, maybe about eight, and I’d been following this butterfly mouse that had the brightest blue wings ever! Next thing I knew, it was getting dark, and the nice open forest had changed to a dank swamp. I didn’t know the area at all, because the caravan had never been there. We traveled all the time, so I didn’t really know any place very well.

At first it was wonderful! There were all these fireflies, and I pretended I was in the Spirit World. But then I was getting a little scared. There were all sorts of strange noises, splashing and croaks and growls. At one point, I heard this horrible shriek! I looked around, but all I ever saw was this funny little bird.

By the time it got really dark, I was really lost and hungry. I was only a little scared, though, because I was sure that Nini—my parents’ sky bison—would find me the next morning. This part of the story is a little dull, because nothing much happened except I shivered a lot and cried a bit.

But then I heard someone talking to me! I looked up and there was the strangest person I’d ever seen. And that’s saying something, because our caravan has been to some really strange places, like that village where they juggle geese. It was a man dressed in barely anything, which made me giggle, and his hat was made of leaves.

He had a lady with him too, and she started fussing over me something fierce. I guess I was pretty dirty, and I had been crying. But the best part was that Bao and Anh—those were their names—took me back to their village and gave me dinner. Then the next morning, they took me to the edge of the swamp, where Nini and my parents found me. Boy, were they happy to see me! I didn’t even get yelled at, they were so surprised to see Bao and Anh!

The best thing that happened to me so far is getting my Airbending. I was so surprised the first time I did anything, because I was way past the age most kids start. My mom just said it must have had something to do with me being born early, which never made any sense to me. Unless somehow I had to balance out that extra time being alive with extra time not Airbending.

Anyway, as soon as I started showing off what I could do, my parents packed me off to the Eastern Air Temple. I thought it would be fun, learning how to fly and stuff. Mostly, we meditated. But I have some great friends there, like Gyatso. He taught me how to skip class, and which of the teachers make the best pies, and how to Airbend a pie off a windowsill without anyone noticing!

It wasn’t always boring, but it was so hard to stay in one place instead traveling all the time. And it was even harder to sit in class and meditate. Learning wasn’t so bad—there’s some great stories about Avatar Kyoshi!—and the martial arts were really fun. Still, the longer I stayed at the Temple, the harder it was not to ask to go home.

Just when I though I couldn’t take it anymore, my saviors came! My saviors, of course, were my Aunt Kin Li, and my cousin, Kara. I didn’t know they were relations at first, I was just trying to sneak off to meet some other kids at a waterfall a few miles away—we were going to see who could fly closest without getting wet!

But one of the monks caught me, and he took my glider staff. Busted! I couldn’t join the other kids, and I knew I’d get extra chores for ducking class. Then this lady appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my glider from Monk Jinpa , and bundled me onto her sky-bison. It was so exciting! I thought for sure the monks would catch us, but Aisa sure was a champion flyer!

I was going to thank the lady and ask her to drop me off at the waterfall, but then she said she was my aunt. I was pretty surprised. I mean, I know that my mom had a sister, but I’d always thought she died. No one really talked about her in the caravan. Gran was telling a story once, and she was all caught up in it. She turned to my mother and said, “Sing Li, do you remember, it was then that your sister—“

But I never heard the end of that story. Gran shut up real fast, my mom was sort of angry and sad at the same time, and everyone else looked uncomfortable. Especially my dad. I know why now, of course. Because Aunt Kin Li ran away with my mom’s first boyfriend.

That was one of the best summers ever. The monks finally caught up to us, but not before Kara and I got to spend months together, free as the wind! She and my aunt had spent a lot of time traveling too, and we had so many years to catch up on. I was sad to go back to the Temple, but they promised to come back the next summer. The monks were glad I hadn’t actually been kidnapped, but not glad enough for me to get out of classes.

So it went, me spending the summers with Kara and my aunt and the rest of the year learning Airbending. I even have my very own sky bison, Shishu. She’s wonderful, one of my best friends. She and Aisa were so much fun to watch! Until two years ago. They were late coming to meet me, and I was getting worried. I wondered if they were in prison—Aunt Kin Li wasn’t the most upstanding citizen. Don’t get me wrong! I loved her, she was my aunt—but I learned some really shady stuff during those summers.

But it was worse than that. Much, much worse. Aunt Kin Li was dead. She’d hanged herself, because she’d gotten in trouble with a spirit. Aisa was dead, too, from an illness the spirit sent. And Kara is still in trouble. She’s got all these weird marks, like tattoos, from when the spirit possessed her. It’s still chasing her, trying to get revenge for something Aunt Kin Li was pretty stupid about. It’s not fair—she wasn’t a bad person, she was just greedy and a bit short-sighted. She and Aisa shouldn’t have died, and Kara shouldn’t have to suffer for a mistake.

I couldn’t leave Kara all by herself. I just couldn’t. So I snuck back to the Temple grounds and gave a note to Gyatso for the monks. I didn’t want them to come after me. I couldn’t just spend a summer with Kara and then leave her. So we’ve been traveling together even since. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s usually pretty exciting.

Someday I’ll go back to the Temple, but I won’t leave Kara until she’s gotten Jovo off her back. Shishu and I, we’re pretty much all the family Kara’s got, especially since my mom won’t even say Kin Li’s name. But Kara’s got a pretty good lead—she says there’s a village in the Fire Nation, some sort of relief effort for that awful plague. And that’s where the answer may lie. So, that’s where we’re going.