Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 11

Picture is of the outfit Chia-jung is describing later on in the chapter.
Chia-jung's POV

I sat up and I was surrounded my shelves full of books and scrolls. Some of them looked newer than others.

My attention was brought to a fox holding a book. I looked closer at the book and saw it was one I hadn't read before.

"Hey wait up!" I shouted as the fox began to run to put the book up.

"Why are you yelling..." A giant owl swooped down in front of me. "Oh... Its you. I'm assuming you found a new book."

"Yes your little helper has it. I was wanting to ask him if I could read it before he put it away." I looked around for the fox but he seemed to have vanished.

"You are a peculiar one." The owl said before turning around.

"What do you mean?" I asked before the fox appeared again with the book in its mouth. "Thanks." I whispered as I took the book from him.

"You are so different from you kind. Most wouldn't even take a second glance at this place or let take the time to read all of the books you have." The owl moved to show me all of the books in the library. "This is the best view of all of it."

"Indeed." I said as I looked down at the levels that contained thousands of books and scrolls.

"Well there is the book you wanted. I'm sure you'll find something else to do once you finish it." It looked like the owl rolled his eyes.

"Well if you get anything new in you know I'll find it and read it." I smiled before I turned around and started to head somewhere more comfortable to read.

"I don't know how you keep up with all these books better than I do or why you always stay here so long." I couldn't pin his tone of voice and I didn't want to turn around to read his face. Not that its easy to read an owl's face.

"You could say I need something to make the years pass by faster or be more fun."

"Maybe you should go make some friends or go explore some places. I do like my quiet and you tend to be noisy when you can't find a book." That time I could pin a bit of frustration in his voice.

"You know if I leave what will happen. This place is the only thing helping me." I froze in place and refused to turn toward him.

"Start over and you will figure out what you are supposed to do."

I tightly closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

When I opened my eyes I saw I was in a tub sized pool of glowing water. 

"Thank the spirit's you're awake." Kya looked relieved.

"What exactly happened?" I asked as I sat up. I noticed I was only in a bandage like wrap around my breast and around my  hips covering my lady parts.

"You were talking and you suddenly passed out." She placed her hand against my forehead. "You hit your head pretty hard. We had to put you in here for healing. You've been passed out for about a week."

"Your spirit wasn't ready to return." Katara was sitting calmly next to the pool. "You must have had quite the journey."

"I was in a magnificent library. Literally there were millions of books everywhere. Foxes that stocked the shelves and a giant owl that guarded all the treasures inside." I rubbed my eyes as I tried to recall anything I could.

"That sounds just like you were at Wan Shi Tong's Library. Your spirit may have traveled there. Its impossible to get there in our world now." Katara appeared to realize something.

"It was weird. I could remember everything while I was there but now nothing. Its weird. I didn't want to leave the library because I knew something was going to happen, but what?" I was mostly speaking to myself. "It was also like that owl knew me personally."

"He did act like that when you were with Aang and me there. You also seemed like a completely different person and you only cared about looking for a certain book." Katara squinted her eyes a little bit as she talked.

"I'm sure we can talk about this more later right now me need to get some food in you." Kya interrupted as she helped me out of the pool. "And get you in something dry and warm."

I was surprised when she handed me a newer set of clothes they were warmer than the clothes she had made for me, they looked like they were based off the air nomad clothing. Pretty much the only thing difference was the color scheme. The base was a dark navy blue top and dark gray pants. There was under shirt of a lighter blue silk like material with one long sleeve and one thin strap on the other side. To top the outfit off there was a purple sash was holding everything together.

I had a bit of trouble putting them on at first until Katara walked over to me and adjusted everything so I was wearing it properly.

"I use to have to help Tenzin fix his robes when he was younger and occasionally Aang's when he was tired or in a hurry." I could tell she was remembering everything she talked about. After she finished fixing the sash me smiled and left the room.

"I remember you said you like the color purple so I made sure we added some to the outfit." Kya seemed proud of the outfit.

"I've never seen air nomad clothing with these colors before." I looked down and examined the outfit even more. "Its pretty cute."

"Well its the plus side of having lived with air benders you know how to make their clothing."  She shrugged her shoulders and lazily sat down on a chair near the wall.

"Why are you so caring about me?" My question made her sit up straight and she looked surprised.

She looked down at the ground as if she was a bit sad.

"I never had any children of my own. I guess having you show up and needing my help my maternal instincts kicked in." I felt like there was a bit of truth in her words but she was hiding something. "Well do you want any help with your hair?"

I hadn't even realized my hair wasn't braided.  "No thank you. You've done a lot for me already. I should be able to braid my hair."

She shrugged her shoulders as I quickly began to part my hair and braid it. After a few minutes I finished the braid by tying a black ribbon around the end.

"Well are you ready to go get some food? There is a good southern water tribe noodle place we could eat at."

"Sure. Sounds good."