Book 1: Souls Chapter 4: A Trip To The Spirit Portal

We all sat on the saddle of Isil, Master Jinora's sky bison. Hena threw up her arms and heaved a sigh. "Can Isil go any faster?" She exclaimed. "When you learn to fly, you can take yourself to where we are going." Jinora replied. "And besides, Uncle Meelo is already there." Hena bounced at the sound of his name. "For real?" Me, Po, and Toka all looked at each other in confusion. "So your uncle's there, what's the big deal?"

"When Uncle Meelo's around, it always means something fun and exciting is gonna happen!" She said with wide eyes. Master Jinora scoffed. "I'm fun, too. Remember that time I took you to the Raiyu fair, and I won you a beetle wolf cub? That was fun right?" Hena nodded. "Yeah, it was ok, until Uncle Kai chased it away because he thought it was trying to steal his lychee stash."

"DOWN HERE!" We heard someone call. It was Master Meelo! I looked over the edge of the saddle and saw...Wait, what?! "What are we doing at the spirit portal?!" I called to Master Jinora over the wind. "Just you wait and see!" She replied. We lowered to the ground as wind swirled around the area from our landing. I jumped off right away and ran over to the glowing portal. I could feel a certain energy emitting from this place...Well, cause its a spirit portal. But before I could get a closer look, I heard a rumbling noise from behind us. We all turned around to see a stampede of people with cameras and notebooks in their hands, yelling things. I couldn't make out what the words were, but it seemed like they wanted to talk to *us.*

I backed away and turned to Master Jinora, who had slid off the bison as well. "W-who are they!? What do they want?" Po grabbed his wooden bow and an arrow that was strapped on his back. Toka lifted his arms, bending a wave of water from the wet grass beneath us. Hena ran in front of the two and put her arms up to block them. "GUYS! Put the water and the bow down. Have you never seen reporters before?" We all looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. "Reporters don't usually come to the lower ring in Ba Sing Se, its poor town that has nothing but an avatar that grabs koala bats out of trees." Po explained.

The crowd got closer and closer until they were right in front of our faces. I could barely make out the words they were saying, but I heard "Avatar! How long have you been in Republic City?!" To which I replied, "Um..." And another reporter, a woman, said, "This is the first time in almost 20 years that the Avatar has made an appearance! Tell me, have you regained memory of your past lives or is the connection still severed?!" I blanked. What did she mean? Was I supposed to have a connection? I heard reporters around me yelling names I'd never known. "Kyoshi" or "Roku", even "Aang", and many more that I would've remembered if I hadn't zoned out. I look behind me, ignoring the reporters, and I rest my eyes on Master Jinora. I'm hearing Toka, Po, and Hena struggling to block the reporters from getting any closer. As Master Jinora and I met each others gaze, I mouthed the words, "Is this true?" She understood and nodded slowly. "Yes." she mouthed back. Meelo looked down at the ground, realizing what our conversation was about. He came closer as the crowd was slowly retreating. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "We need to show you something..."

**MEANWHILE**

Homura shoved clothes into her suit case, her treasured walkman that she had gotten for her 13th birthday, a couple of china dolls that her father got her for her 15th birthday, just to keep but not to play with. She didn't dare not to pack her hairbrush and hairspray (her hair would get too frizzy in the humid air, despite it only being spring, anything could happen.) She also stuffed in a few books (The Adventures of Croco-Cat, her dad's favorite, A map of the 4 nations, and a magazine called The Secret Life Of Zi Qa, which she bought from the Iknik BlackStone Mall, and it was the best mall ever in Homura's opinion.)

Looking back at all of her gifts and treasures, she realized the only reason she had them was because of her dad, never had her mother ever used her money to benefit her except for paying off her grades, but we all, especially Homura, know that doesn't count. Tears came falling onto her book coages and on the glossy cover of her magazine. She heard a knock on the door, but stayed silent. She didn't feel talking to anyone. This time she heard a voice along with the knock. "Homura? You still in there? I just wanted to talk."

Homura squinted and shook her head. She could hear her sister smiling on the other side.

(Remember when Sei, her step sister, revealed that she was apart of the Red Lotus business during dinner? Yeah, so did Homura.) Once again, there was a knock at the door, but more of a bang. "Spirits, what is it Sei?!" She screamed. "Just let me in, I have something to tell you, it is more important than bot of our lives combined! Open up before mom knows I'm here!" Homura stood straight up the second she heard that last sentence. "She didn't send you here?" She asked. "No! I wanted to keep it a secret, you know how she gets." Maybe it it was the dizziness in her brain, maybe the fact that the sister she grew up with was on the other side of the room, or maybe just plain stupidity that overwhelmed her, that made her drag her legs and feet one step at a time, closer and closer to the door, until she swung it open, letting the warm light flood in.

"What do you want?" Homura said with a sigh. Sei smiled warmly, holding out her hand. I found this hidden in the family portrait. There's a note inside of it and apparently, its written to you."

She looked at the huge object that seemed like a combination of a locket and a stop watch. She took a closer look at the note. "Kialo...wait, that's-!" Sei nodded her head with a smile. "Your dad's name."