The Longing ⇝ BOOK 2 > LOK

21

Lyra (2)

We entered the portal where Unalaq was with Vaatu. Right when Unalaq spotted us, he sent black spirits straight to us.

"Tenzin, go find Jinora!" Korra yelled.

My father grabs my hand and guides us away. "Come on!"

We run to the spirit portal and enter it. A flash of light hits my eyes until all around me was a beautiful forest.

"This is amazing." I said, looking around. I turn to my father and give him a small smile. "Dad, you're in the Spirit World."

My father sighs. "Yes. Let's find your sister."

We begin to walk through the purple and blue forest while calling out Jinora's name.

"Jinora! Jinora's spirit, do you hear me?!" Uncle Bumi called. "It's your Uncle Bumi!"

"Ugh, this isn't working. We can't just randomly wander the Spirit World calling out Jinora and expect to find her." My father said.

"We just need to employ the simple rules of tracking." Uncle Bumi kneels to the ground. "First, we locate her footprints then we follow them."

"Do you even know what spirit footprints look like?" Aunt Kya asked him. "Do spirits even leave footprints!? Face it, your tracking skills won't work in the Spirit World. Let me try something."

Aunt Kya sat in a meditating position on the ground. "Oummmm." She kept her eyes closed as she pointed to the left of us. "Jinora is over there. I feel a lot of spiritual energy coming from that direction."

I followed her direction and furrowed my brows. "Exactly what type of energy?"

"We're in the Spirit World! There's spiritual energy in every direction!" Uncle Bumi threw his hands up in the air.

"Enough! We can't do this by ourselves. We need a spirit guide." My father turned to a different direction. We followed him to a large hollow tree that's branches covered almost every inch of itself.

"There!" A small gold star shined inside while it swayed from side to side. "Spirit, hello. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I am in need of your assistance."

Suddenly a few red eyes blinked open. "You dare wake me, human!? Humans in the Spirit World belong in one place only!" A dark, red spider spirit crawls out of the tree quickly.

We make a run for it until we reach the end of a cliff. We stopped in our tracks until the spider caught up to us, making us jump over.

We scream in fear until we hit the ground with a thud. I landed on top of Bumi, which kind of broke my fall.

My father air bends us all to our feet since he broke everyone else's fall.

"Well that didn't work." Uncle Bumi says.

I pat myself down as I walk back to my father. I watch him look around. "Any idea where we are, dad?"

"No. We are completely lost."

I huff. "Great. Uh..." I turn my body in a circle until I let it stop on its own. "Let's go this way." I pointed to pathway that glowed a pretty blue.

"And what makes you think that's the way?" Uncle Bumi asked me in a snarky tone.

I put my hands on my hips. "I don't. But do you have any ideas, Commander?"

He stayed quiet.

I nod. "Exactly. Let's go."

"Some daughter you have, Tenzin." Uncle Bumi grumped.

>>>

We continued to walk for maybe another hour. Could be longer but everything's looked the same. But no one else has said anything so I'm taking that as a sign to just keep going.

That's what I thought at least until my father noticed the same glowing mushroom we walked passed maybe 15 minutes ago.

"We're walking in circles, Lyra. I've seen that same spirit mushroom five times!" He pointed angrily.

I cross my arms, "Oh, so now you want to say something? You could've said that three times ago!"

"Why didn't you!"

"Fighting won't get us anywhere, you two." Aunt Kya walked in between the two of us.

"She's right, y'know."

We snapped our heads forward at the unfamiliar voice. An older man with a spirit fox at his side walked up to us with a smile.

"Iroh?" My father looked down at me with a shocked expression. "How-? Where-? It's been so long."

"Almost forty years. It's nice to see you again." Iroh said before meeting my own eyes. I immediately felt a comforting, warm feeling.

"And it's nice to meet you, Eleese." He bowed.

"Actually, it's Lyra." I said shyly.

Thinking he might apologize or correct me for some reason, he only nodded with a small smile.

"How did you know we were here?" My father asked him.

"My friendly spirit fox told me you were lost. I came to show you the way out."

"Iroh, we are grateful. But we are not looking for the way out." My father told him. "We're looking for my daughter."

Iroh looked down for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear that. But you shouldn't be here. Vaatu has escaped and darkness threatens to take over."

"I'm not leaving until I find Jinora."

"I understand. But I beg you to be careful. If you travel too deep into the Spirit World, you could end up in a place where only the lost will ever find you."

In the blink of an eye, he and his spirit fox were gone. I looked up at my father and could tell he had something on his mind. "What is it?"

"A place where only the lost can find you..." His eyes went big and he grabbed my shoulders. "That's it! I know where to find Jinora!"