The First Step

Overview[]

Jetsun helps Yangchen meditate and cross over into the Spirit World for the first time.

Synopsis[]

Yangchen is now eleven years old and is aware that she is the Avatar, although she has kept it secret with the nuns wanting to figure out what to do about her visions. The involuntary bouts of vivid memories are still occurring, and the nuns are troubled by the ease with which past Avatars slip into her speech. Yangchen hears Jetsun standing up for her one day, and appreciates her "older sister" even more, remembering all the experiences they have shared together.

Jetsun has been chosen as the one to guide her into the Spirit World for the first time. Jetsun tells Yangchen not to have too many expectations and not to be disappointed if she cannot do it at first, but Yangchen jokes that she can definitely do it if Jetsun did. They travel to a stone meditation circle in the meadows above the cliffs of the Western Air Temple, with Yangchen thinking that it looks like a giant's palm about to grab her. Jetsun and Yangchen sit in the circle together, with Abbess Dagmola and Librarian Tsering acting as assistants to the meditation.

Shortly after the session begins, Yangchen sees a bright light glowing through her closed eyes, and sees a world where the colors are much brighter. She is proud to have performed an act of Avatarhood, with Jetsun jokingly understating the achievement. Yangchen wants to be excited, but tries to act cool and bashfully downplays her achievement, wondering if she had remembered how to do it from a past life, though Jetsun says that humility is not more important than the truth that she pulled it off herself. Yangchen wonders what there is to do, and Jetsun says that the great lesson of the Spirit World is that there is nothing to do, other than existing as a spirit. Disappointed for a moment, Yangchen asks if they can at least explore around, which Jetsun affirms, and Yangchen takes her older sister's hand, deciding there was a chance she might like her role as Avatar.

Production notes[]

Series continuity[]

• Yangchen notes that most people consider the Eastern Air Temple to be the most spiritual of all the air temples, as stated by Tenzin in "The Guide".^[1]
  • The meditation circle described in the chapter resembles the one showcased at the Eastern Air Temple in the same episode.^[1]

Character revelations[]

• Yangchen learned that she was the Avatar between the ages of eight and eleven.
• Yangchen considers Jetsun to be an older sister.

Trivia[]

• A preview of this chapter was released by Gizmodo on May 24, 2022.^[2]

References[]