Book 1: Souls Chapter 2: Meeting Master Jinora

We reached the bottom edge of the when one by one we got off of Lahu, soaked but Hena used her airbending to dry us all off. "Wait here Lahu! We'll be back soon!" I called out to the sea. Toka stood up and brushed stray grass blades off of his pants. "Okay...What now?" Hena turned and shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? All I'm doing is making it here before my deadline." We all looked over at her in confusion. "You're her apprentice. Shouldn't you know where she is?" The sun on my back was warm, but unfortunately it was slowly setting. "Hello, this is JINORA. I can't predict her every move." We all agreed, well, except for Po who was hangin' out with a sky bison, I guess.

Hena walked across the concrete to the huge wooden doors in the front of the temple. I gasped. "Those are airbender doors aren't they?" I asked. Hena kind of smiled and raised her arms. "Stand back." She brought her arms down and blasted air through three carvings on the door. Each one turned over, unlocking the door. Hena slowed down her air blasts until it stopped. Hena put her hands on her hips and said, "Lets go in." I called for Po and waved him over. "What's goin' on?" he asked. We got him up to speed about finding Master Jinora and opening the doors, and we made our way inside.

Our footsteps echoed as we walked down the marble floors. The temple obviously had been upgraded over the years. The silence was louder than our footsteps, so I dropped backed up to the back of the group to talk to Po. "Hey, so, what's on your mind?" I asked. Po sighed. "I'm not sure about this, Yuki. I've never been anywhere besides Ba Sing Se, so you could understand how little I trust anyone else." I nodded. "I'm sorry to drag you around like this. I know this is our first trip out of the Earth Nation, but I somehow feel more in shock than excited. It's kinda like when you bite your tongue. It's not comfortable, but you just gotta suck it up, I guess." Po laughed. "You should catch up. I'll stay behind. You know how I like being alone with my thoughts." he said. I chuckled and picked up speed.

"Master Jinora!" Hena called out. "I'm here with the Avatar and her friends!" We all stopped in the middle of a corridor, silencing ourselves to listen for footsteps. "If you're trying to find me, standing around and waiting won't help." We all turned around at the sound of a woman's voice. Her brown hair was waist length, and had a blue, faded arrow on her forehead. "Are you..." I began. She smiled warmly. "I am Master Jinora. Welcome to the Northern Air Temple."

**IN THE DINING HALL**

We all sat down in a warm room with plates full of cooked food. I looked around the dinner table and saw Toka silently crying over his plate. "Toka, what's the matter?" I asked. He looked up at me and whispered "There's no meat on my plate..." I rolled my eyes. "You know that they're vegetarians, why are you crying?" Po asked. Toka dramatically held his hand up to silence him. Master Jinora walked in and sat down at the table. "How are you all enjoying your food?" I smiled. "It's good! But, Toka isn't really used to vegetarian meals. I'm sure he loves it! Right?" I turned to him with face that meant he was supposed to agree. "I-I love the lychee nuts!" he said.

Master Jinora nodded. She scanned the room with her eyes and they seemed to land on Po. "You're awfully quiet." Po looked up from his egg custard tart. "I have nothing left to say." She nodded. "You seem like a fine young man. Have you got a girlfriend at home?" I flinched. Po's never talked about girls before. Po straightened his back and smiled. "No, ma'am. I've got my sister and my arrows. That's all I need." "Thanks Po." I replied.

"And you," Master Jinora nodded towards Hena. "When Yuki is done eating, take her to the gates. Your uncle is there waiting." Hena's face lit up. "Hurry up, Yuki, you gotta meet my uncle!" As I was taking my last bite, she grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. "Wait a minute Hena, take the watertribe boy and her brother, too." She came back and hurried everyone out the door.

**OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE**

"What are these?" I asked Hena. Toka squinted as we walked closer. He gasped. "It's the spinning gates!" he exlcaimed. "That's right!" Hena said, stopping in front of the artifact. "I-I have to go through that thing?" "You sure do." Said a voice. *What is it with these air nomads and their mysterious entrances?!* He stepped out of the door on the side of the temple. He bowed and introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Master Meelo. How was the food by the way? I absolutely love my sister's cooking!" It felt like I was already familiar with him. "Do I know you from somewhere?" He rubbed his head like he was thinking. "Only from your past life, I guess. But speaking of which, it's an absolute honor to be in the presence of an old friend! Tell me, do ya still like my cong banging?"

"I'll go get it!" He jumped to go look for his instrument with a woosh of air under his feet. Hena was laughing in the back. "My uncle is so silly, but in the good way! Anyways, lets get you started." She led me to the gates and gestured for me to watch. She blew a long breeze into and out of the gates. They started spinning faster from the wind. Po held up his hands to stop me before I went in. "Hold up, you sure this is safe? It looks like the gates are gonna snap her in half!" He said to Hena. She turned and put her hands on her hips. "You have to weave your way through the gates like an airbender. Light movements, you let the wind carry you. don't carry the wind. Or as my uncle always says, 'Be the leaf'. Probably something a *nonbender* wouldn't understand."

I turned to Hena and stomped my foot on the ground sending rocks levitating midair. "Do NOT talk to him that way! I may not be able to go into the avatar state, but I will mess you up just the same!" I said gritting my teeth. I walked over to Po and stood in front of him. "Insult another one of my friends again and we're leaving!" Po put his arm in front of me to hold me back. "Stop, it's fine. I'm used to it by now. Just, go do your airbender spinny gate thing." I sighed, but had to let it go. "Ok, ok. You guys don't have to stay if you don't want to." Toka walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. "It's ok, we'll stay. It's not like we have anything else to do."

I turned to the gates and hesitated. "Wait." I said loudly enough for all four of us to hear. "I'm not doing it." Hena threw up her hands. "What do you mean your not doing it?" Toka grabbed my arm. "Is there something wrong?" Po cocked his head in confusion. "Oh don't worry, I'll do it..." I started. "When Hena apologizes to Po." Po heaved a sigh. "I told you it's not that big of a deal, just drop it." I shook my head. "Do you think I'll just dismiss this? All I'm asking is for an apology. We haven't even been here a whole day and I'm already regretting it." Hena sighed. "Ok, ok. Po...I'm sorry I insulted you. I didn't mean what I said." Po raised his hand over his face to keep the warm sun from nearly blinding him. "Its all good."

She blew a second breeze through the gates. *Let the wind carry you,* I thought. I ran forward and into the gates. I dodged a couple of gates that seemed way to easy to get around. *Hey, this is actually pretty easy!* I looked back as I was moving my feet. "Guys I'm doing it!" I heard them cheer, and then turned around too see a a gate spinning right in front of me. "Watch out, Yuki!" I heard Toka yell just before the whole place went dark. *You really do see stars.*

I struggle to open my eyes as I felt the biggest pain in my foot! "Oww..." I groaned. I looked over and saw Toka sitting on a chair, probably asleep, so I decided to check. I waved a hand in front of his face for a reaction, but I got nothing. *He really is asleep...* I thought. He looked so peaceful sleeping, so I tried not to make too much noise. I sat up slowly and realized that my head didn't hurt that bad anymore. I looked over and saw a pot of water and realized the Toka had healed me. He stirred slightly as I drank from a water cup on a desk by the bed I was in. "You finally woke up..." He said. I sat my cup down. "You didn't tell me you were a healer." Toka put the pot aside to sit on the bed. "I thought you knew, but you were knocked out too many times to remember me healing you."

I nodded. "Sorry for causing so much trouble back there. I thought this was going to be a fun trip, but now it's just boring and dramatic." I laid my head back on the wooden bed post, hoping that would help me relax a bit better. "Hey, I actually think that was the most exciting thing that's happened so far. I've never seen you get mad like that before, and it was kinda cool." I smiled slightly, because it would hurt my jaw if I smiled a lot.

Toka cleared his throat. "So, uh, I'll just go so you can rest..." He stood up, getting ready to walk away. I don't know what came over me, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back on the bed. "Please stay, I don't want to be left alone!" My face was getting hot, and I was starting to second guess how good of an idea this was. He sat slowly, staring at me. *Hopefully he doesn't think I'm crazy...* "Okay," he said. "I'll stay." I was embarrassed and relieved at the same time. "So...What do you wanna do now?" He asked.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**