The Splinter in the Blind man's eye (español)

Capítulo 2 (inglés)

I am mostly happy. I think great thoughts sometimes, but I don't say them out loud because when I try, my words come out strange. It's like they want to go back into my mouth. I don't mind much because my words are mine and I care about them. I am lonely though, but I keep busy and that makes me happy. Mostly happy.

Back and forth... back and forth... I can see where I've been and where I need to go. I know when my work is over, and I am happy when it is. Not because I don't like my work because I do, but because I know I have done well, and more work will be there waiting for me when I wake up the next morning. I don't mind the cold either. I am cold-blooded and I only eat every 14 days or so. I think that is why my gracious employer keeps me around. Good cheap and reliable! And she even comes to my defence if any of the patrons pick on me. A lot of people don't like Serpentine around these parts, but I don't hold that against them. I have only been back in Ninjago for a few years, and I understand that a lot of bad thing has happened between the Serpentine and the humans. I try not to put too much thought into it. I don't like bad thoughts and whenever my mind goes there I go back and forth, back and forth.

'OY! YOU MISSED A SPOT!'

The shout echoed through the dank room but hardly any of the patrons reacted. So-so-so-sorry ma'am!" Clancee replied and hurried over to the dirty spot with his mop. It was not like him to get distracted by his thoughts, but he had been lately. He was lonely and thinking a lot about why his friends had abandoned him. He knew deep inside that he wasn't the most inspiring of company or conversation, but he knew that he and his friends shared a special bond. So why did they leave him? Or rather, why didn't they come back to him? Clancee was not a stranger to loneliness. He had spent 200 years alone recently. Well, not entirely alone but mostly so. Clancee didn't actually know that he had been gone for 200 years. Time didn't have much meaning where he had been, but he knew it had been a very long and lonely time. Lonely because he didn't have his friends there and more so because he did not have a mop. But he did now and he loved it dearly. Or rather, it wasn't really his. It belonged to the tavern, but it was Clancee's best friend and he had named it Moppy. Moppy loved Clancee back. He was sure of it.

The cold and cramped tavern in which he now worked, was a step down from his glory days as a deckhand on the glorious Misfortune's Keep serving under the mighty pirate King Nadakhan. Together they had sailed the Endless Sea and been the proud scourge of Ninjago seaside villages and vessels. Riches never meant anything to Clancee. The camaraderie, the adventure and the rewarding satisfaction of a deck well cleaned was all he craved. And he had friends back then: Flintlocke, who never missed a target with his trusty musket. Doubloon, whose silent companionship filled him with the confidence that silence can indeed be gold and made him feel that it was okay to speak only when he himself had something truly important to say. The mighty Dogshank, who had the heart an angel when she wasn't giving him a much-deserved corporal punishment for a task poorly performed. And of course, Monkey Wretch, who could fix any leak the proud Misfortune's Keep may have suffered in the treacherous waters in Southern Storm belt. Hard work for sure, but good work, time well spent and a deck well cleaned. His master Nadakhan was a demanding captain but deservedly so, and he had kept a tight ship and cared well for his crew.

A chill wind interrupted Clancee's thoughts as the door to the tavern was flung open and a stranger entered. The sudden cold reminded Clancee of that fateful night where his happiness aboard the Misfortune's Keep abruptly ended. It was a stormy and rainy night like many others. The sounds and muzzle flashes of cannons tore open the darkness and dense fog as two ships played a slow but deliberate game of cat and mouse. A night as many others in most aspects. Captain Soto and his ship, the Destiny's Bounty, had been rivals to Nadakhan's place as the undisputed ruler of the Endless Sea for years, but somehow this night did not end with the Destiny's Bounty drifting away with creaking planks and torn sails as usual.

The two ships had crashed together, lines had been thrown and the crew of the Bounty had entered Misfortune's Keep. A bold and unusual move since the crews had rarely faced off in crew to-crew combat. Sword clashed, musket shots rang and Clancee had held his own against No Eyed Pete and his loud-mouthed parrot. With a sweep back and forth he had brought Pete crashing to the deck (a meticulously cleaned and maintained one). But it was then he heard the laughter. Shrill and gloating it felt like it silenced the storm around them. When he turned, he saw is captain frozen with an expression of utter confusion painted across his otherwise confident face. No... he wasn't exactly frozen but he moved very slowly and before him stood Captain Soto with a wide grin and a small flask in his hand.

'The Tiger Widow lass sends 'er regards' he boasted as he reached around to his back and produced a golden teapot. "This be The Teapot of Tyrahn... Legend says, it be crafted o' the gold o' the Golden Peaks and forged at the Temple of Light by the First Spinjitzu Master he'selves."

Clancee watched in terror as a lighting bolt illuminated the strange scene and Captain Soto kept monologuing.

'I myself doubt that be the truth, an' I might 'ad sold it off for a pretty coin, hadn't it been that I be needin' it meself. But be so as it may, I shall put it to good use! My esteemed rival of the Endless Sea! I be afraid you' days as royalty be comin' to an end! If this is a teapot, GET IN IT!'

Clancee had always know that his captain was not from Ninjago, but the sight of him drifting into the spout of the teapot while his bellowing scream was quenched to nothing but a high-pitched squeak had chilled even his cold-blooded spine and made him consider for the first time where Djinns came from and exactly what they were. What was more: as soon as Nadakhan had disappeared into the teapot, Flintlocke's impeccable aim was off and Dogshank's strength dwindled. The fight was over...

There was something else which had disturbed Clancee this night and made him sweep with less grace than he would normally take so much pride in. The stranger asking questions and had engaged in a long conversation with old Gertrude. She would speak with anyone who spent coin in her bar, but this was not an anybody. This was Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, the fabled Green Ninja. Nobody else here seemed to know, but Clancee knew this all too well because they had met before on the Dark Island. Clancee watched him closely for a good half hour while mopping as much as his focus allowed him. As Lloyd stood up and left, Clancee knew exactly where he was going: to see the WISHMASTER like his friends had. And he would follow. He looked over a Gertrude and stuttered a quiet apology. Goodbyes are always painful. He gave Moppy a big hug, rested her against the door frame and walked out alone into the wailing winds.