Unintentional

Chapter 21: Memories

The war began a long time ago. Long before there were any elemental masters. Before people saw the need for protectors. It has been lost in time, quite literally. 

I fell in love with her on a sunny day. 

"Seriously?" Skylor asked, her hands on her hips. "That's how you're gonna help us learn about Gaia? By telling us you guys fell in love on a sunny day?"

"I must admit, Master Wu, that Skylor has a point," Pixal said. "Now is not the time to be descriptive. We have to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible."

"Okay!" Wu said, frustrated by the girls' lack of appreciation for his monologue. "I will omit the poetic sentences I've prepared."

"Thank goodness," Skylor said, taking a sip of the tea Dareth had made. The god of the earth claimed that simply watching Mystaké serve him tea had taught the basics of brewing it. Pixal had been hesitant to believe this, though Skylor assured her after a single sip that the tea didn't taste like rotten apple juice or muddy water. 

"Go on," Gayle urged, her notepad and pen already in her lap. Vinny had Mrs. Benedict in his lap, since Wu hadn't allowed him to film the "conversation."

"As I was saying," Wu said, clearing his throat.

I didn't think, I just fell. And when people fall, they break bones.

"Not necessarily," Dareth pointed out. "I've fallen a lot but I only broke my leg once."

"That's not what he meant, brownie," Skylor said, rolling her eyes. "Keep going, Wu."

She didn't come from a wealthy family, nor was she favored by my father. There was nothing about her that was out of the ordinary, besides the fact that she was a goddess.

"Don't," Wu warned. "Don't say anything." Skylor, Pixal, Dareth, Gayle, and Vinny zipped their lips and nodded.

She wasn't a typical goddess. She didn't live in the sky and listen to prayers. Instead, she served the land and those who cared for it.

She lived in a small hut a thousand paces away from my father's house. Despite being one of the most powerful beings in Ninjago, she was kind and sweet and my father encouraged me to learn from her. 

She brought trees up from the ground, creating rain during droughts, and grew us food when there wasn't enough to go around. I suspect my father thought she was simply a privileged person with good intentions. But the unintentional things were the ones that really caused trouble. 

"Like what?" Gayle asked.

"More on that later," Wu said.

My father was once given the choice to either kill her or keep her. If he chose to kill her, he himself would have to stab her in her sleep. If he chose to keep her, she would have to marry of his sons.

At first, the First Spinjitzu Master saw no reason she should be killed. She wasn't the center of everyone's problems, and she had no visible anger issues.

"Visible anger issues? Does that mean she had-"

"Yes," Wu said curtly. "Dareth might be able to say something about that."

"It's true," Dareth admitted. "She should get some help."

I was very young at that time. I don't know how many years exactly, but I looked to be a few years older than the ninja. Unfortunately, I wasn't as mature as the ninja are now. I was naive and had no experience with girls. I did have a small crush on the master of life but she died very soon after.