Ivory's Homecoming ► Ninjago

03 ≛ Master of the Mirror

The bright sun flashed in Ronin's eyes the next day. He slowly opened them, finding a little shop in the distance.

Natasha was still asleep on the seat next to him. He shook her shoulder to wake her. "Hey. We're here."

She craned her head, doing her best to avoid the rays, and peered at the shop. While the crystal clear waters were beautiful, the place itself looked... small. "Esto... es el trato que ustedes hicieron?"

"Let's see if it's any good. Play nice, don't start throwing knives unless you need to. I'll handle all the talking."

"Más lento, por favor."

Ronin placed a finger on her lips. "Shh. I talk. You don't talk."

She sent him an annoyed stare.

¤ ¤

Drop. Drop. Drop.

A girl kept her gaze focused on the water droplets that slowly spilled from the fountain in front of her. This was Nya; younger sister of Kai, and ninja-in-training to become the Master of Water.

Though if she was being honest, she wanted to deny this supposed change of fate; desperately deny.

"Concentrate," her teacher's voice called out to her. "Focus on reversing the flow. Become the water, Nya. Embrace it. You can control it. Become the Water Ninja."

Her master, an old man with a very long beard named Wu, sat on a rock as he guided her. When the water stopped dripping, he gasped; had she done it?

No, she had not. Her hand was in the way. This made him sigh.

"I'm not the Water Ninja! I'm a samurai," she insisted, hopping onto the rock. "I'm afraid my friends are in trouble, and I won't be there to help. We don't even know for sure if I have the power, so if everyone is waiting for me to discover I'm some sort of Water Ninja—!"

Wu noticed that when she threw her arms back, the water forcibly moved backward, taking a lily pad along its current.

"—maybe we've got a problem."

An elderly woman with braided gray hair walked up to them in concern; the mother of Lloyd Garmadon, an archaeologist named Misako. "And maybe we have an even bigger one."

The two, though confused, followed her into the tea shop. Inside were Ronin and Natasha, the former searching through a book of teas and blends. She simply stood with her hands folded in front of her, avoiding eye contact; it wasn't evident, but she was embarrassed at his lack of manners.

When Wu looked toward her, his eyes widened ever so slightly; for a moment, he thought she was somebody else entirely.

"Your first problem is the opening of a tea shop in the middle of the dry season; water's at a premium!" the thief observed, heading over to the group of three as if he knew them. "Then there's the name. Steep Wisdom? Eugh... more like steep debt. I mean, where are the customers?"

"... who is this strange fellow?"

"His companion doesn't say a word," Misako told the sensei, side eyeing Natasha.

The blonde only blinked, examining her surroundings.

"You need to have a name with pizazz!" Ronin continued to throw out ideas. "Like Curiosi-tea, or Shake-Your-Boo-Tea! Heh, these are just at the top of my head." He flipped through the book pages again. "This place is a cluttered mess."

"Excuse me." Misako shut the book, finally taking action. "But if you're not a customer, what are you doing in our shop?"

"You mean my shop."