Avatar: The First Timebender

Chapter I [] Uncle and the Prince []

She drifted through the forest, pink blossoms caressing her forehead, tickling her cheeks and her arms and her neck. Everywhere she looked was light, cotton pink-ness, and the air seemed to release jets of feint white nimbuses where it touched the blossoms. She gazed around in wonder, pausing in a bed of tangled tree roots to look straight up, at the patch of deep blue just visible through the trees. She thought she heard the gentle hum of voices, and so continued on, carefully picking her way through fragile crinkling branches, calculatedly maneuvering across the twisting tree roots.

She was calculating, that she knew.

And she knew she wore a long, gauzy black dress that trailed over the grass behind her and threatened to trip her from the front. It was sleeveless, straps only covering the tops of her shoulders, and cinched at the waist with a golden tassel, silky as warm spring water running through her fingers. Her feet were bare, but she hardly noticed for the worn softness of the tree roots and the grass felt like walking on cotton.

She was analytical, that she knew.

And she knew her hair was fiery red, unruly waves only reaching her chin, poorly cut, as if by a madman with shears. It cradled her cheeks lovingly, laden with fallen blossoms. And she knew her eyes were green, a deep green, flashing black, and that one could fall into them and get lost, sinking into a beautiful, dark lagoon. Her skin was very pale, almost pasty, but had rosy tint, even if only from the glow of the blossoms.

She had awoken next to a tranquil pond, a single lotus lily floating in the middle, and had seen her reflection, wavering sapphire surface, and longed to reach in and touch the graceful neck of the girl looking up at her, wild and elegant as a swan.

Her fingers had grazed the top of the water, and something stirred below, and she abruptly stood up and backed away, suddenly frightened, needing to move.

And for a day she had walked through the forest; it started as misty, wind-blown willows and ponds that seemed to have eyes, and eventually led her to this cherry blossom heaven, where she had been wandering hopelessly for several hours.

“Hey, don’t let the cart fall!”

She squeaked and froze in place, hand on the branch before her, holding her breath with cheeks puffed out.

“This is precious cargo. I can’t afford to lose them all again!”

She slowly, with utmost care, drew back the branch, and gasped lightly as she found herself standing at the edge of a drop, at least twelve feet of grassy mountain, before the forest met a smooth clay road, on which was a man in a green tunic and pants with a similarly dressed young boy, pushing a canopied cart down the path. The boy, pulling from the front, was having trouble keeping the cart straight, as the man pushed slightly to the left, and it kept inching towards the edge of the road, which led to another drop-off and another road.

She let go of the branch and plopped on the ground dejectedly as she listened to the voice of the chiding man grow more distant, until it was just an occasional whisper in the trees. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t remember her name, she had no purpose. Nothing was calling out to her, as she imagined something would, if it was to help her figure out where she was and who she was.

She glanced up as an elaborately feathered white bird perched upon a branch above her, swaying slightly in the breeze.

“KEH!”

“Uhhh,” she grunted in disgust, scooching away from the bird, “you don’t sing pretty songs.”

“KEH, KEH!” it screeched, preening it’s steely beak down towards her, “KEH KEH KEHHHHHHHHH!!!”