Ninjago: Purpose and Meaning

6. The Master of Wind

Nadine, still, sat in the sand on the beach when the sun rose the next morning. She stared emptily at the colored water, her mind was empty and she fought to keep her eyes open. She had not slept much, barely anything, since she had too many thoughts in her mind, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't relax enough to fall asleep.

Nepenthe had left her to her thoughts last evening, and it was both a curse and a blessing. She had needed time alone to think about the new perspective of things he gave her, but in doing so, he left her to her thoughts which didn't give her any rest.

Nadine gazed at the rising sun with tired eyes, swallowing a yawn as she rubbed them, attempting to stay awake. She feared what she might dream of if she went to sleep, and she didn't want to risk that.

She looked up at the horizon, watching the red ship with white sails coming closer. It traveled across the sea in a smooth bobbing motion as it crossed the small waves. It was moving at the beach in a straight line.

The red ship was detailed with red lines on its white sails and golden edges on its red railings. At the front of the ship, a red dragonhead sat. The glow in its yellow eyes made it look alive.

Nadine widened her eyes and sat up straight as she suddenly realized which ship she was watching. She scrambled to her feet, her head aching slightly from lack of sleep, and grasped for the spear on her back.

"Soto," she cursed beneath her breath, finally pulling the spear over her shoulder and gripping it tightly in her fists. "He's here."

She spun around on the sand, almost falling over, and moved toward the houses to sound the alarm but reacted too slowly. A loud bang echoed through the morning air and rid the last of Nadine's drowsiness in a second as cannonballs started to rain over the village.

The Master of Water spun around a second time, locking her eyes on the Destiny's Bounty, watching as the ship quickly got closer. She raised her hands and the ocean followed them. The water rose like a wall between the village and the pirates, the next couple of cannonballs stopped by the improvised wall.

They broke through the water and fell onto the beach, sand flying in all directions, while Nadine stood steadily on it, her hands ablaze with a bright blue light. She tensed as she tried to keep the wall of water from falling apart.

She strained as another couple of cannonballs flew through the water, each time it felt like somebody hit her outstretched hands. But Nadine kept the wall up. She knew what kind of damage the cannons could do and was determined not to let it happen to this village.

The wall exploded and Nadine flew back at just the shock of it. The Destiny's Bounty split the water as it sailed straight through it. The ship came at such speed that it almost flew up onto the beach, and the wall of water fell apart around it.

Nadine rolled over on the sand and grasped for her spear which she dropped as she flew to the ground. She clutched the spear in her hands and could only watch as pirates jumped over the ship's sides and ran up toward the village

Nadine cursed, looking between the Destiny's Bounty and the pirates running up to the village.

She wanted to go to the ship and preferably sink it. That way she could put a stop to Captain Soto, for a while at least, but she had a responsibility to the civilians. She became an Elemental Master to protect those who couldn't defend themselves.

She gave the Destiny's Bounty a last glance, wishing she could go toward it instead of away from it, but she couldn't. She couldn't do things like she used to when she had all of the Elemental Masters behind her. Then she could send some of them to protect the villagers while she confronted Soto, but that was no possibility now that she was alone.