Bound- Red Threads of Fate Jaya AU

My head and my heart

Note: I really don't know why I insist on writing such long chapters. They're definitely not fun to edit! But anyway, you've waited two weeks, so I guess this is basically two chapters. Except it's actually one 4,000 word chapter! Hooray!

Oh also, I edited the last chapter to say that it took them an hour to get up the mountain, not twenty minutes. I meant to say that, but I forgot to edit it before posting that part, and I just remembered about it.

No, no, this must be wrong. Mei Tao had always told Nya she wasn't cursed. Even when it had seemed like that was the only explanation for it all.

Emperor Garmadon seemed equally surprised. "You have arrived early, brother. Have you learned something during your travels that you have yet to share with me?"

"Yes." Emperor Wu walked towards his brother, followed by a figure in blue and red samurai armor. The girl, Nya realized. She looked down at her clothes, embarrassed, and wondered how the samurai and the emperor had gotten up the mountain so quickly. When she and Skylor had looked back down from the upper palace gate, they hadn't seen the two making the climb. And that had been only minutes ago.

As the second emperor passed them, Skylor knelt in a kowtow, dragging the shocked Nya down to the floor with her.

Emperor Wu smiled at them. "You may rise, or sit if you would rather. There is no need for formalities. Brother, I have much to tell you. And I must admit, I am curious to hear the story of our guest."

Nya and Skylor sat cross legged on the floor, while Emperor Wu handed his bamboo staff to the samurai girl, who stood stiffly beside the empty throne, and slowly sat and stroked his long white beard. Both he and his brother appeared to be elderly, but Nya wondered just how old they were. She vaguely recalled something Skylor had told her just after they'd met–how the emperors' father had been enemies with her Queen's father, hundreds of years ago. In the moment, she'd been too caught up on everything else going on to think much of that particular detail, but now she realized that just didn't add up. How could the emperors' father have been around, and presumably ruling, hundreds of years ago? But it must be true. He and his sons were mentioned in Mei Tao's history books, and they certainly hadn't been written recently. In fact, they had been written so long ago that the current emperors shouldn't still be alive. Nya could hardly believe she hadn't realized yet. Not all those years she'd known about the Northern Empire, or during her days in the palace. She–

"I did not learn much of the, er, former thread-mage's story before you arrived, but if she would be kind enough to explain everything to us both, I would be much obliged." Emperor Garmadon had said.

"Um, yes, of course." Nya fidgeted with the hem of her sweater–the girl's sweater. She wondered if the girl recognized it–she couldn't be sure, seeing as her samurai helmet completely covered her face, but for a narrow slit for the eyes. "I'm not sure how much of this you are already aware of, but I'm sure you realize that I'm not meant to be the former thread-mage. I have yet to find my successor, and I doubt that she has even been born."

"Yes, of course. But tell me, how is it that you escaped the Serpent Kingdom? Lady Skylor had some part in this, I believe?" Emperor Garmadon looked at Skylor until she nodded.

"I am sorry, your highness. But when I learned of the passage–an escape route under the Serpent Kingdom's walls–I couldn't just stay here. I had to help. And when I met Nya and her friends and learned that they wished to see you, I knew I might be their only chance."

"You do not think my brother so harsh that he would've turned them away without your pleas, do you?" Emperor Wu asked her with a smile.

"No, of course not. I only thought–"