𝑴𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑺 || 𝑨𝒂𝒏𝒈 (𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 2)

The Avatar State*

Jade is -- and probably always will be -- a heavy sleeper. It doesn't matter how much her environment changes; she can sleep just about everywhere. On Appa's saddle, on the floor in a loud room, and even on a hammock on a moving ship like she is now.

She was dreaming of her aunt. She'd been having that dream a lot recently. The night Yue sacrificed her life to become the moon spirit was something she just couldn't forget. Jade missed her a lot, and she missed her grandfather, too. Leaving the North Pole was hard, but now that they knew waterbending, it was time to continue their journey.

And she would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to go back to Omashu.

In the midst of her dream, just as Yue was giving her life to the koi fish, something soft and clawed touched Jade's face repeatedly. She glanced over to see the baboon monkey from the spirit world poking her cheek. But his eyes were still shut, and all he was saying was "Ohm,".

That was very weird and, needless to say, not how the memory went. So Jade was glad when she woke up to put an end to it.

She realized that something really was touching her face. But it wasn't a baboon monkey; it was a little purple puppy with small butterfly-like wings. The puppy was gently pawing at her cheek to wake her up.

Sitting up in her hammock, Jade rubbed her eyes. "What's the matter, Miko..?"

Miko's wings fluttered, taking her across the cabin to the other two hammocks. She sat on the empty hammock above a snoring Sokka. It took Jade a second to realize the problem; the hammock shouldn't have been empty at all.

"Where's Aang?" She frowned. Of course, it was rhetorical; she already knew the only place he could be was up on deck. Standing up, she walked over to gently scratch Miko's head. "You go back to sleep, okay?"

Without making a sound, Miko returned to Jade's hammock under Katara's. She curled back up to sleep again as Jade climbed the ladder to head up on deck. There, Jade found Aang leaning on the side of the boat. He was staring out at the dark, cloudy sky above and the vast, endless ocean around them.

Walking over, Jade stood next to him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just a nightmare." He glanced up. "I was in the Avatar State, but I was outside my body watching myself. It was scary." Closing his eyes, he lowered his head. "I was scary."

Frowning, Jade set one hand on his shoulder.

She had only seen him in the Avatar State twice before. The first time was at Crescent Island, the second was at the North Pole. And, in all honesty, Jade was nothing short of amazed both times. The power he gained from the Avatar State was almost unbelievable.

It was incredible. But having that much power at your disposal could be scary for anyone. Jade knew she would be afraid of herself if she was in his shoes. But when it was Aang...

Well, she just didn't think she could ever be scared of Aang, no matter how much power he was wielding.

~㊏~

As mentioned before, leaving the Northern City of Agna Qel'a was hard. So hard that Jade cried a lot. But of course she did; she had to say goodbye to her grandfather. Sure, she only met him a few weeks ago, but she loved him. He was her family now. She was already looking forward to the day when she could go back and see him again.

Today was their last day on that ship. They would be flying off to make the rest of their journey in the air. But that just meant more goodbyes, which meant Jade getting emotional again.

From the bag in his hand, Master Pakku took out a small, intricately designed blue vial. "Katara, I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis." She took it. "The water has unique properties. Don't lose it."