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Wan Shi Tong the Enchanted Owl

The Journey

Araluen
Australian origin | Meaning 'water lily'

5th Day of the Moon

If I don't find something new to do I will go crazy, which is a real problem for someone doomed to live forever.

The Spirit World is so boring. I can't deny the wildflowers on the hills are beautiful and the trees with their tops like translucent lily pads are wondrous to look at, but when you see the same sights every day for eternity, they lose their appeal. Fast.

My people were all excited when they realized the result of Harmonic Convergence on our village. Avatar Wan's joining with Raava may have trapped Vaatu but it also froze our small community in time. Elders no longer sickened and died. Young lovers had eternity to enjoy the pleasure of lying together beneath the stars.

They call this life a blessing. I call it a curse.

I may not know how to return to the time stream, but I won't spend another minute sitting around and staring at the same old view. Berries often have many uses and they are pretty to look at besides. This is the day I will start my collection and I will leave no part of the Spirit World unexplored.

10th Day of the Moon

My hand is shaking as I write this. How often have I heard the stories of Wan Shi Tong's Library? I thought it would be splendid to see the glorious jade pillars rising out of the mist but I never thought to visit.

With over thirty berries now gathered for my collection, I've been finding it harder and harder to expand without going further afield. I've looked under stone ledges and beneath the high branches of trees in my quest to find new oddities to pluck. Not even the bright blue clusters beneath the Waterfall of Mist proved challenging enough. They were bagged and collected without so much as a snarling cave spirit-beast to outrun. That was when my attention turned to the distant mountains.

It's as if the elements were working against me to make my search as dull as possible. There was no threat of snow and the paths were perfectly clear. It was when I took a moment to mop the sweat from my forehead that the vision of magnificent towers arose before me.

I could write pages about the glory of Wan Shi Tong's skill as an architect, to say nothing of his marvelous collection. I won't, because paper is exceedingly rare in the Spirit World. Why would spirits with limitless mind space care to write anything down?

I am going to read every book, to learn as much as I possibly can. Someday this knowledge is sure to be useful. I have to believe our time in the Spirit World is not truly unending.

I will keep only one scroll for myself. It sits beside me now, opened to a gorgeous illustration of a girl earthbending. She makes it look so easy, her body flowing in graceful lines as she forces the clods of earth before her to do as she pleases. I wonder...

27th Day of the Moon

Just because a thing looks simple does not make it so.

I wasn't too disappointed when my airbending attempts came to nothing. Maybe I was even a little glad. The thought of sitting for hours and meditating makes me shudder. My failure to earthbend was more disappointing. Who wouldn't want the ability to lob giant boulders at an enemy threatening one's village?

I should have known better than to play with fire. My fingers are still smarting. I am so glad I saved waterbending for last.

The globe of water I formed was small at first, barely the size of a marble. Most of the water ended up on the ground when my mind released the energy, creating a small puddle at my feet.

For three days now I have practiced shaping ribbons, globes, and small cyclones of water. My control improves with each new shape I form, yet there is still so much to learn. Someday I will master the art of waterbending.

12th Day of Water

The water obeys my will. It is time for the next challenge.

Plantbending requires greater discipline. Water is an element of change, readily taking on many forms. Plants are living things, thoughtful creatures in their own right though they stay rooted in one place. A plant will not go against its nature no matter the strength of the bender.

I thought I could coax the blackberry bushes at the edge of the village orchard to shrink the thorns that so often prick the fingers of the village children. All I got for my efforts was red in the face. Blackberries are prickly by nature and will not shed their thorns in any but the most violent storm.

I cannot cease my efforts to learn this new art, despite my frustrations. When I am able to connect to the calm inner force of plants, I find peace such as I have never known. The world is the soft touch of sunlight, the gentle caress of rain, and the tickle of wind on my face. Plants have no politics. They share and fight for nature's bounty as their seeds fall.

1st Day of Fire

A great rift appeared in the sky today. The elders spent hours whispering in the hut where they always hold meetings, emerging at last to reveal the truth. This was the work of Avatar Korra, the master of the elements who set us free in her quest to merge the spirit world and human world once again.

So many of the people I have known from childhood are content to stay in the Spirit World, continuing to live their dull lives and thank the spirits for what they consider good fortune. Not me. I brought along my berry bag and this journal but that is all I care to take.

The surprise on the faces of the people at market were comical when I emerged seemingly out of the sky. I asked around for Avatar Korra. They all recognized the name, some with awe and others with looks of disapproval but they could tell me nothing beyond the fact that she had travelled south.

The real world is full of stench and dirt and the constant threat of having your pockets picked. I haven't been this happy in decades.

28th Day of Fire

Though I was born in the human world, I have almost no memories of my earliest years. I had entirely forgotten what it is like outside of Spirit World's perfect serenity but I am learning fast.

Journeying in the human world is nothing like traveling Spirit World. Insects take your blood if you put on a light at night yet you cannot walk without one. Rain can be a cool cleansing mist or a stinging curtain that leaves you half blind. People look at you like you are a blue-faced monkey come to steal their apples.

I am starting to think I will wander the hills forever, until I realize forever now has a time limit. It is hard to think that death can find me again. I can't take for granted that an angry bear will cease to charge if I stand my ground.

I met a wandering shaman today who gave me an apple from her garden and hinted that Avatar Korra could be found in a temple that could be reached in less than a week on foot. I have to wonder if that apple was more than it appeared. At the first bite my weary feet were free of pain and I felt as if I'd slept for a week. When I turned around to thank the woman, she was gone.

I'll take great care in eating this apple and try to save any seeds I can find. There's just one pouch left in my bag, nestled in with all the human world berries I've found along the path.

3rd Day of Air

Avatar Korra may be the most fascinating person I've ever met. I expected her to be all majestic and distant, maybe even haughty. She was not like that at all. (Okay, maybe she does have a bit of a temper, but she wasn't the least bit stuck-up.) When I went up to thank her for opening the portal to the Spirit World she invited me into her home.

I could not contain my excitement. I bowed to Avatar Korra in a style that has probably not been seen in a thousand years.

"I must thank you, Avatar Korra. For one thousand years my people have remained trapped in Spirit World, in a tiny village lost to time. I do not have much to offer beyond knowledge gained in Wan Shi Tong's Library, but what I have I will gladly share with you. I can never repay what you have done for my people."

Her eyes lit up like a small child presented with a gift. I can hardly believe the Avatar, master of the four elements, wants to journey with me! Perhaps I'll even pick up a few new waterbending tricks along the way.

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Character Appearance:
Hair will be similar to, in style and color,
Character reference sheet: xXx

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A R T W O R K:
xXx & xXx {c} Raggdoll
xXx {c} User not found: ursa
xXx {c} Lag
xXx {c} Ashlee
xXx {c} Aperture

credits

chibi artwork {c} Raggdoll
overlay {c} Gearpunk
story {c} Pureflower
profile by {c} hermes
Idea was rooted by Nickelodean's: The Legend of Korra