"SQUACK!!!!!" Within the mass forestry of the spirit world, one of it's inhabitants quickly tottered, leaving a brown dust of smoke behind him from his rapid pace. If any more pressure had been applied to the ground by his small orange webbed feet, then it would have cracked.

From his line of perception, he finally found who he was looking for. Concluding by the scene that was going on, it seemed like the trade off had not been made yet.

"Yes, this a book from the material world written by humans on the subject of the avatar! The master of all four elements! I know you have read a lot of books, Lady Tori but not this edition!! And this is cookbook is filled with recipes of the oh so scrumptious food that those in the Southern Water Tribe make!" After pulling out the books and showing the girl who's dark purple eyes sparkled more and more with excitement, he finally revealed his last item. "See this emblem." The spirit pointed to the emblem that had a small flame encased on the weapon. "This beautiful dagger was most likely used by the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation! Cannot even be easily found within the material world!!!"

"Hmmm?" She released quizzically. Quickly flipping through the pages of the books then handing them back to the spirit, the girl had been handed the dagger to test it out. She executed several fighting positions her teacher had taught her. The dark purple eyed girl nodded her head. She smiled. "I will take them all!"

On hearing this, he called out. "Lady Tori!!!!" His brown feathered wings flapped fervently even though he did not take flight.

The one who had been addressed as Lady Tori looked behind her. "Oh, Pyn."

"Lady Tori, not 'oh Pyn.'!!!!" He tried to mimic her voice at the ending of his exclamation. "How could you trade precious fruits grown from Lady Alma's garden just for a few Knick-knacks from the material world that were made by humans?!! You already have a room full of them!!" The duck spirit divulged.

"Pyn, mom said I can do whatever I desire to the end results of her garden, since I am the one who takes care of it." She informed.

The very small white fur ball spirit on the girl's right shoulder released. "Tu-Tu."  If this spirit had not move or talked, one would have thought it was just an accessory on the girl's clothes.

The girl giggled at the fur ball then answered. "I know right. I wonder how the food from the Southern Tribe taste as well." Within the spirit world she did not need to eat, but she still did. She loved the feeling of her tastebuds tingling after eating something sweet, spicy, sour or a mixture of any one of the three. The most she could have eat were the fruits and vegetables grown within her mother's garden. Same with her friend Tu-Tu.

Pyn sighed at the girl's words. "Young Lady Tori, since you are still a child, you may not know the value of the fruits grown in Lady Alma's garden."

"Pyn." She called out to him gently. Tilting her head to the side, her curly ebony hair that framed either side of her face moved with her. "I am not that ignorant of such things. But to me, I think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder as value is too."

With those words Pyn had nothing more to say as his heart had ached once he had seen his Lady trading her mother's fruits for items of the material world.

The spirit who had done the trade off with her had not been slightly worried about the appearance of the duck spirit, because he had done numerous of transactions with her prior. Pyn always had failed at stopping those transactions and swaying his Lady's views.

The spirit said, "thank you for your patronage, Lady Tori."

"And thank you for finding items of the material world for me." She returned. It had been thousands of years from since the northern and southern portals that were gates linking the spirit world and the material had been closed. With so many centuries had gone by, finding anything created by humans in the spirit world was beyond a rarity to the girl.

"And I will continue to do so, Lady Tori."

"Oh? You haven't heard? In the next three days I will be in the material world. Mom has finally agreed for me to go!" She twirled around. Ever since she had been little, she had always been and was still intrigued by the creations of humans and humans themselves. Since she had been old enough, she had gathered objects from the side of the world humans lived. "Allow me to share my appreciation once more. Thank you for everything throughout the years."

The spirit sheepishly stroked behind his neck. When he had first met her, he had thought he had been playing the sheltered girl all along, but when he had begun to notice that he had not been in her eyes, he had started to seriously look and find things that she was only interesting in. "No need for thanks. We both benefited from this. Be careful out in that material world though." He had heard of the dangers - humans.

Most humans believed that spirits did not exist. That they were some kind of fairytale. Those within the spirit world knew to be cautious with the girl before him because of her mother, Lady Alma. But those humans won't.

"Don't worry! I will be alright!" Unsheathing and swinging the dagger a few times, she said, "I don't have a warrior spirit as one of my teachers for nothing."

"Tu-Tu! Tu-Tu! Tu-Tu!" The adorable fur bull said from on the girl's shoulder.

"Yes. Tu-Tu will be by my side too."

The spirit sweat dropped at this. Would she really be alright? But he knew that Lady Alma would not allow for her to go to the material world unless she would be completely safe.

After saying their goodbyes, they went their separate ways.

The girl was now heading to return home.

"Squack! Lady Tori why don't you change your mind about going to the material world?! Humans are too dangerous!!! They know nothing about creation but only destruction!!!" Pyn said.

"Pyn." The wind picked up, blowing the girl's curly ebony black hair that had not been fixed into the bun on left and right side of her head. Stopping in place, she used her index finger to stroke Tu-Tu. "Have you forgotten that human blood flows through me?"

"....." His beak closed then opened. "....But Lady Tori, you're different from those humans!! You're the daughter of the great spirit Lady Alma and was raised by her!! How can you be the same as them?!!"

"It is not good to generalize a species just because of a few bad actions a couple of them have done, Pyn. It's like saying that all spirits are bad, because several of them committed crimes. You wouldn't want anybody to call you a bad spirit, because of them, right?" She questioned.

Pyn lowered his head. "No, I would not, Lady Tori. Forgive me for my previous words."

"No need to apologize. It's not like I do not understand where that hatred from humans came from." She said.

Pyn gazed up at his Lady. He really wondered if she was truly just thirteen years of age. Well he should be expect no less of Lady Alma's daughter.

"Hey Pyn! Race you home! If you win, I'll give you an oh so scrumptious fruit from mom's garden!!!" She ran.

Hearing that one of Lady's Alma fruit would be given to him if he won, he released.  "SQUACK!!! Lady Tori that's unfair!! You got a head start!!!!!"

The girl giggled. "Oh Pyn, as if you're not one of the fastest spirits."

"Tu-Tu!!!"

••••

The spirit with the form of a woman said, sensing her daughter's presence. "Catori is home." She stood up. This spirit was Lady Alma. Even as a spirit her ethereal beauty was beyond compare.

Like her daughter, her hair was curly and ebony black, but unlike her daughter, her hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back. A headset with the front of simple pink gems embellished in gold and back of a sheer dark purplish fabric that transitioned to a dark teal flowed down with her hair. Her dark purple eyes were protected by long black curly eyelashes. A small circular black beauty mark found itself on the side of her right eye. Her soft skin was a shade of brown that was similar to those usually from the Water Tribes. She was clothed in a simple yet elegant dress that matched her eyes and headset.

Alma released a sigh, "she will be journeying throughout the material world."

Her daughter had always been a curious one, especially of the world her father was from. Even though her daughter seemed to be entirely a spirit, there was no denying that she did not have a human side. A side of herself that she could only fully discover in the material world, where the humans were. She had already completed the necessary requirements Alma had asked of her to be able to leave the spirit world.

Opening a jewelry box, Alma revealed a pendant with a small azure blue teardrop jewel. "But what a time for her to finish all the requirements." Her eyes narrowed. The time when the Avatar, the last airbender will appear again after one hundred years. This was no coincidence. The image of a good old friend, the one who had given her this pendant flashed in her mind. "Raava."

•••••

Laying on her stomach with her knees pressed down and legs up on the giant plush sea-shell designed bed, Catori continued to read the book on the Avatar that she had just acquired. "Hmm." She turned over than sat up with her legs criss-crossed, closing the book and Tu-Tu landing on her lap. Even though she had never read this edition before, she didn't learn anything particularly new. "Hey Pyn, the Avatar is still an air nomad, right?"

Pyn who had obtained and was now joyously munching on the fruit even though he had lost, responded. "Yes Lady Tori, the Avatar has not moved on in cycle. So the Avatar is still an air-nomad."

"So Mr. Wan's current air-nomad reincarnation is still alive." She placed her finger on her chin. "I wonder where he is."

"Probably off learning the elements as always."

"Tu-Tu."

"But. Don't you find it strange? As the Avatar is the bridge between the spirit and the material worlds, the Avatar brings peace and balance. The war in the material world has been going on for one hundred years."

"Who knows? Met one of the Avatar's previous incarnation before." A shiver ran down his spine. "Not a pleasant guy."

Catori gently poked the duck spirit's forehead with a smile. "What did you do, Pyn?"

"I did nothing Lady Tori! Why would you think such a thi-"

Catori poked him again.

"Tu-Tu."

"-Okay, I may have or have not tricked him into going to Tangle Lu's Swamp when he asked for directions to go somewhere else." He gulped down a bite of the fruit.

Catori giggled at this. "No wonder why."

Tangle Lu's Swamp was a swamp that contained spirit vines that would capture anyone who entered it and pulled them down to the very bottom of a lake, entangling them with even more spirit vines.

Catori herself had too visited this swamp and even though she was quick, it had taken her hours to get herself untangled. Those spirit vines of Tangle Lu's Swamp could be so persistent and fussy.

Then her mother had given her a whole lecture, when she had gotten back home that day.

Glancing up at the map of the material world that was on the wall of her room, she said. "I wonder how my adventure in the material world will be."

"Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu."

"Yes, we will not forget to pay a visit to the moon and ocean spirits during our adventure since you always wanted to meet them." Using her finger, she played with Tu-Tu.

"Last time I heard they took the form of koi fish and could be found in the Northern Water Tribe." Pyn informed.

"Oh yes. I remember reading about them in a scroll. There was an illustration as well." Grabbing a piece of paper and something to draw with, she handed the paper over to Tu-Tu once she was done.

Even though the paper was ten times bigger than the small fur ball spirit, it's stick like black arms could hold it as she gazed at it. "Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu."

On the paper was only scribbles. Nothing could be pointed out.

"Come on Tu-Tu, my drawing couldn't be that bad, right?"

"Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu. Tu-Tu."

"I agree with Tu-Tu. She's right about the drawing being an insult to the moon and ocean spirits or to anything that is actually a drawing."

Catori yanked the unfinished fruit from him. "No more fruit for you."

"SQUACK!!! No, wait Lady Tori! Your drawing is truly sublime!!!! A work of art that would bless the spirit and material worlds!!! None can compare to your skills!!! This is unfair!!! It was Tu-Tu who said those things!!!"

"Tu-Tu."

••••

Iroh who was enjoying some hot jasmine tea saw an otherworldly aurora start to form in the cold starry night's sky of the South Pole.

He instantly recognized the aurora. It had been decades from since the last Alma Aurora graced the material world with its presence.

"Prince Zuko." The ex-general called out to his nephew.

"What is it, uncle?"

"Look." Iroh pointed at sky. "It has been fifty-some years since the last Alma Aurora appeared. We should watch it and maybe you could make a wish, while enjoying some tea."

"Those are just some stupid lights. I don't have time to waste staring at them and thinking my wish will be granted. Or to enjoy tea. I need to find the Avatar to restore my honour."

••••

The same aurora could have been seen in the Southern Water Tribe's village.

"It seems like the spirit Alma is at work." Kanna said.

Katara who was helping in folding clothes thought, closing her eyes. 'I wish to find a water bending teacher. To become a water bending master.'

"Gran Gran, are there really such things as spirits? Never seen one before. Don't believe they e-OUCH!!!" Sokka accidentally cut himself while he had been sharpening his boomerang.

"See, that's what happens when you doubt the spirit Alma." Kanna told her grandson.

••••

The time for Catori to go to the material world arrived. She had already packed everything she had deemed was necessary.

Unlike the usually dresses she wore, this time she was donned in her training clothes that she wore when her teacher would teach her martial arts. Her hairstyle was the same in two buns with one on each side of her head, accessorized with white chinese-like bun covers with a dark purple ribbon, keeping each of the covers in place. Her curly ebony black hair that had not been fixed into the buns framed either side of her face and some strands curled against the nape of her neck. The child looked like a younger version of her mother, except she didn't have any beauty marks on her face.

Tu-Tu was on Catori's right shoulder as always.

"My child, before you go, I have something to give you." Alma snapped the teardrop pendant around her daughter's neck.

Gazing at the pendant, Catori could see the shifting of multiple blue hues within the azure blue teardrop gem. "It gives off a mystical feeling. Thank you."

Alma softly smiled. "Think of it as a good luck charm to keep you safe."

Catori nodded her head. "I will."

The mother gently stroked Tu-Tu with her finger. "Little Tu-Tu make sure that Catori doesn't cause too many problems."

"Tu-Tu! Tu-Tu!"

"Mom. I don't cause that many problems." She stopped, thinking. ".... unless someone started it."

"Depending on the situation, you could finish it."

A smile started to form on Catori's face, but then Alma said. "But don't go overboard."

"Catori."

"Yes mom?"

Alma embraced her daughter. "Be safe my child. You can return home anytime."

••••

Katara who went outside to get some salve and bandages to treat Sokka's wound from the other tent gasped.

Laying in the snow was a girl.

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Trivia:

• The names 'Catori' and 'Alma' mean 'spirit' in Native American origin and Spanish origin respectively.

•Tu-Tu is small enough to easily sit on the palm of thirteen year old Catori's hand.