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| - After leaving Foggy World, Mokona lands the group in the Country of Jade. In a restaurant, Syaoran is worried about paying for their meals because they have no money for this world. Fay tells him not to worry about it, and motions over to Sakura. Sakura is playing a card game, and recalling her luck in the Country of Koryo, wins every round. They are then able to get clothes suitable for that country and not skip out on their dinner bill. A man comes around and compliments Sakura on her card-playing, and then asks the group where they are headed. They answer that they don't know yet, the man answers that what ever they do, do NOT go north. Syaoran asks why. The man goes on by saying that the town had a 300-year-old legend of a golden haired princess. One day when the princess was outside a bird came down to her with a feather in it's beak. The bird tells her that the feather had an amazing power. Shortly after the King and Queen died, leaving the princess in charge of the country. The children of the town began to disappear, running off to the castle being drawn by the feather. The man ends the story with that the children's parents were never able to hold their children in their laps again Now children have started to disappear again. The group decide to go north on horseback, having already changed into suitable clothes from the Country of Jade. Syaoran asks if Sakura is warm enough, her being from a desert country. Sakura answers yes, and that the desert can get very cold at night. Fay says that his country was far in the north, even colder there than it is here. Kurogane says that his Japan has four seasons, hot in summer and cold in winter. Sakura asks Syaoran, and he answers that his father took him along to many different kinds of countries. Sakura responds happily that then he is used to all sorts of climates. When they arrive, Syaoran is the only one able to read the sign with the town's name on it, "Spirit." When they actually enter the town, everyone slams their doors and windows shut. Syaoran sees a little girl, but before he can ask her about the legend the little girl's mother scolds her and takes her inside. A group of men with shotguns approach the horses, aiming their guns at them. The men say that they could be the very ones kidnapping their children. They answer that they did no such thing. The men pointing the shotguns ask what they are doing there then. Syaoran answers quickly that they are going to write a book. The man in the lead asks if a fourteen-year-old was going to write it. Syaoran answers no, but him, gesturing to Fay. Fay pulls right into the story saying it was all true, Sakura was his little sister, Syaoran was his assistant, and Kurogane was hired help. Kurogane began to object but Mokona hits him in the rear. A different man runs in between the men with shotguns and the horses, asking the men about what they are doing. Doctor Kyle Rondart introduces himself and invites Syaoran and the others to stay in his home. His home had once been an inn so all the empty rooms were free. The group make their way over there. Soon after they arrive Mr. Grosum and the Mayor barge in, wondering what had gotten into the Doctor's mind to tell him it was okay to invite four strangers into his home at this time of crisis. Twenty children had disappeared. Doctor Kyle says that his room is right next to the door in case he has to go out on a call during the night, so he would hear if anyone tried to sneak out. Mr. Grosum and the Mayor leave, and after the Doctor explains to Syaoran and the others who they were. He explains who the Mayor is, and that Mr. Grosum owned most of the land in the area. Afterward, Sakura starts to fall asleep so they all decide to turn in. Sakura and Mokona in one room and the guys in another. In the middle of the night Sakura wakes up, and looks out the window. She starts thinking about how Fay said that this was probably the first time she ever saw snow. Sakura sees a flash of light, and suddenly the golden haired princess is walking through town, children coming out. Sakura gasps, but doesn't do anything thinking that she was dreaming. But in the morning more children are missing. Syaoran, Doctor Kyle, and the others come outside. Sakura mutters that it must not have been a dream. The leader of the men with shotguns overhears her and asks her what she meant by that. Sakura answers that she saw Princess Emeraude. The man doesn't listen and asks Doctor Kyle if any of the group left during the night. The Doctor answers in the negative. Syaoran asks the doctor if he could read the country's history book. The Doctor answers that he could borrow it from the Mayor. Syaoran borrows it, and starts reading to see if the feather really is Sakura's and the group go out to what remained of the Castle. The Castle was on the other side of a fast running river, so they could not get across and had no choice but to just go back to the Doctor's house. Later that night Sakura tells herself that she must remains awake. When she sees the Princess again, she sneaks out of her room through the window, leaving Mokona behind. Sakura follows the children and the image of the Princess to the ruined castle. Hiding behind a tree, Sakura sees the children somehow walking across the river's surface. Sakura then falls asleep again. Back at the Doctor's inn, morning had come and Sakura was no where to be found. The men with shotguns barge in, and say that seven more children had disappeared. The leader looks up at Syaoran, Fay, and Kurogane. He notices that one of them were missing, and Syaoran says that she's not in her room. The man says that she must be the one kidnapping the children. But the Doctor is horrified that Sakura had been taken along with the children. The man points his gun at Syaoran, but Syaoran kicks it into the air. Kurogane catches it and points it at the man's head. He says, "A man that points a weapon, must be prepared to die by one." Meanwhile in the Castle, Sakura awakes to see that she is imprisoned. She looks out the window of her room to see all the children trudging down the hall. She manages to break the wooden thing her shackle was tied around, and opens the door. She follows the children down to a room filled with child playthings. She sees another painting of the Princess, and swings aside to reveal a crawl hole. The children start crawling through, and Princess Emeraude appears. The Princess tells her that the feather in the room is hers, and that she wanted to return it to Sakura. Sakura takes the still encased feather from the child that held it. Syaoran, Fay, and Kurogane head back out to the Castle with the Leader of the men trailing. Again they are not able to cross. Fay asks the man on the way back that the history book had said that there had been a series of crop failures recently. The man says that they had, it took a lot just to put something on the table. Fay goes on by saying that since Mr. Grosum owned most of the land around here then that meant that he must not be collecting any taxes. The man answers that Doctor Kyle struck a deal with Mr. Grosum, so that he would wait on their taxes until a good crop season. Syaoran notices Mr. Grosum heading back towards the town on a different town, soaking wet. The man then asks how they could all be calm when one of their own was missing. Kurogane answers that if he's looking at Syaoran and saying that he's calm, the man's as blind as a bat. Syaoran and the others make a pit stop at the mayor's house for a list of all the children that had disappeared. The man threatens Syaoran that he better not lose the town's only copy, ironically though soon after Syaoran falls down into the snow. On their way through town, Syaoran sees Doctor Kyle through a window, he's leaning over a child in bed. The man notices where Syaoran is looking and says that the good Doctor came to town two years ago, and looked over everyone. The child comes to the window and points upwards, saying, "Blackbirds." Syaoran follows the finger to a bird-less sky. Doctor Kyle comes into his office to see Syaoran there, and asks what is wrong. Syaoran answers that he fell earlier and that he hurt his hand. The Doctor patches him up, and Syaoran tells him about his suspicions of Mr. Grosum. The Doctor says that it couldn't possibly be the kind Mr. Grosum. Later that night, another child leaves town and heads toward the Castle. Another cloaked figure is following it. The child falls, and it is revealed to be Mokona in a disguise. The cloaked figure runs up to it, but Syaoran asks why Doctor Kyle is in such a big hurry. Syaoran, with the man and Mr. Grosum behind hem says that he took Doctor Kyle's medical records to match it with the list of children. Doctor Kyle had been hypnotizing the children to chase after imaginary blackbirds on days that snow would cover up their tracks. Doctor Kyle laughs sinisterly, and runs towards the castle. He too, just ran right across the surface of the water. It turns that there had been a device farther down that limited the flow of the river so one could walk across on a path beneath the water's surface. Mokona had threw dust of the scale found in Foggy World at Doctor Kyle's shoes, so there were glowing footprints to set off after. The group follow the footprints until they found Doctor Kyle's shoes discarded. Doctor Kyle runs into Sakura, who is sitting on the floor and clutching the stone-encased feather. Doctor Kyle tells her that she should not be here all alone and barefoot. Sakura asks him how he knows that she's barefoot, since her skirt hid her feet. Doctor Kyle is silent and then tells her to give him the feather. Sakura tells him no, and Princess Emeraude says that he must no have it. Sakura starts talking to Princess Emeraude, and Doctor Kyle doesn't understand since he never hypnotized Sakura. Sakura runs away, but Doctor Kyle grabs the chain that is still attached to her shackle. Syaoran and the others catch up to the Doctor, and the Doctor pulls out a dagger. He puts it under Sakura's chin, saying that the feather was the cause of the King and Queen's death and all the children 300 years ago. Princess Emeraude and Princess Sakura start talking, Princess Emeraude says that her mother and father died before she ever got the feather, and the children were affected by a disease that only subsided when in the presence of the feather. Doctor Kyle gets annoyed and says that he has no time for useless women who talk to phantoms, he pulls his dagger back and aims at Sakura. Syaoran screams for him not to do it. Syaoran grabs Sakura, and Doctor Kyle's dagger cuts Syaoran's shoulder. The device that held the water back breaks, and water starts spewing through the room. Syaoran, Sakura, and Doctor Kyle are on one side, and the others and the children are on the other. Syaoran pulls Sakura after him because he had memorized a map of the castle. Soon though they are at a dead end, Sakura sees Princess Emeraude again and the princess tells them of a door not in the map. Sakura runs over to it and Syaoran kicks it open. The two escape, but it appears that Doctor Kyle shared the same fate as the crumbling castle. Syaoran leaves the true history of the Country of Jade behind in their room for Mr. Grosum to find. They take one last visit to the Castle, but Sakura couldn't find Princess Emeraude anymore. Sakura tells Syaoran that the other night Princess Emeraude told her that someone had constantly watching them. Mokona packs everyone up and leaves for another dimension. After they leave the man from the restaurant tells Fei Wong Reed that the Doctor had failed, and another feather had fallen into the Princess of Clow's possession. On the back of the sign that says "Spirit" is the bat symbol of Fei Wong Reed.
- Jade Country (ジェイド国) is a country of four seasons with a cold northern region, where the town of Spirit is located. The town of Spirit had an old castle to the north, the setting of an old legend that frightens potential visitors. The legend became particularly relevant when similar circumstances made themselves known in the present day. The castle itself was in ruins, separated from the town by a fast-flowing river that cannot be crossed via conventional means. A device in the castle was capable of stopping the flow of water, and a series of stones beneath the water's surface allowed travelers to cross.
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