Winds of Change {A Ninjago Fanfic}-Book One in the Four Winds series

Chapter Fifteen: Alive

Morro slowly opened his eyes. Eyes? Since when did he have eyes? He looked down at himself. Hands? Fingers? They move? What was the last thing he remembered? Oh yes. Water. Sensei. Realm crystal. Lloyd. Preeminent.

Morro sat up quickly and instantly regretted it. His head pounded and his body ached.

"I would advice against rising so soon," said a voice.

"Where am I?"

"You're where you are," the person belonging to the voice suddenly appeared. "And you're going to help me."

"What makes you so sure?" Morro asked suspiciously.

"Because I was the one who brought you back," said the woman. She was short and pale. She had jet black hair and piercing green eyes. "I was the one who brought you back into life."

"You would have needed the three artifacts of Eyal," Morro said growing angry. "And I gave one of those artifacts to someone very close to me."

Alita grew even more pale. If that was possible. She hadn't realized that the woman she murdered had a connection with Morro. This might turn very bad very quickly.

"Where is she?" Morro asked. "Where is my wife?"

Alita conjured a ball of magic behind her back.

"She died," she said feigning sadness. "She became ill after you left."

Morro buried his face in his hands. A single tear trickled down his cheek. He wiped it away and looked at it. He could cry again. He was alive again!

"Where is Aira!?" He said excitedly.

"I do not know," Alita said truthfully.

"What year is it?"

"It's been almost six months since the defeat of the preeminent."

"I must go find her," he said jumping from the bed.

"No, you're going to help me," Alita smiled viciously.

"You may be able to bring me back from the dead," Morro said in a warning tone. "But you cannot control me."

Alita swung her hand round front and magic shot forward. Morro grabbed his neck as she began to choke him.

"All I need you to do," she said. "Is find a way to get someone who was in the cursed realm back."

"The preeminent was destroyed," he said weakly. His lungs felt as if they might burst.

"Don't be a fool! The preeminent may have been the embodiment of the cursed realm but a whole realm cannot be destroyed!"

"It's impossible," Morro's vision began to spot.

He tried to use his powers but he was too weak. Just as he thought he might die again she dropped him. He gasped and coughed.

"There is a way," she said. "And you're going to help me find it. Then you can go free."

"Now I know how Lloyd felt," he coughed. "It's not fun to be controlled."

"Ah," Alita said running a finger along his jawline and tilting his head up, "how the tables have turned."

**********************************

Calm. Controlled. Calm. Controlled. Aira thought to herself over and over.

Lloyd had given her a new task. To bring a kite into the sky at a slow steady pace. She found it interesting that he was always giving her something peaceful to do with her power. He didn't accentuate her strength. He accentuated control.

Calm. Controlled. Calm. Okay she wasn't calm. The kite blasted up into the air. The sudden wind gust tore a hole in the fabric. The kite fluttered and fell to the earth.

She crossed her arms and growled in frustration.

"Do you remember what you said to me about my dad?" Lloyd said crossing his arms in thought.

"Ya I said-" Aira started. "Oh."

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Lloyd said. "I had trouble controlling my powers in the beginning too."

"I've never actually seen you use them," Aira said. "Sure I saw the final battle on Tv but that was about it."

In response Lloyd powered up two green balls of energy. One in each hand. He shot one towards a target in the courtyard and the other towards a second target. They were both blown to bits.

"Wow."

"You will be able to control your power like that soon," Lloyd said.

"I hope so."

"I know so," Lloyd smiled. "Well, I think training is done for today."

Aira grimaced as he picked up what used to be the kite.

"Hey!" Jay shouted. "What happened to my kite?!"

"Don't worry, Jay," Aira said. "I'll replace it."

"Eh," he said looking at it. "The frame can be reused because it's not damaged. All that needs replaced is the fabric and I can do that. Thanks anyway."

Aira laughed and turned to see that Lloyd had disappeared. She looked around for a minute, shrugged, and went to help Zane with dinner.

Lloyd had hurried inside. He wasn't sure how to get Aira to calm down. He decided to talk to Wu. He hurried to Wu's meditation room and knocked softly on the door.

"Come in," said a faint voice within.

"Uncle?"

"Have you come to discuss what is troubling you," Wu said. He was sitting Indian style on a mat surrounded by candles.

"No," he said shaking his head. "I need some advice."

"Please sit."

Lloyd sat down in front of his uncle and began. He told Wu about his discovery of Aira's heritage and the locket. He also told him that he was at a loss to help her control her emotions. When he finished Wu looked up thoughtfully.

"I believe you are already doing what you need to," Wu said. "She has trusted you far more than anyone else."

"Why? I don't understand that."

"You forgave her and did something for her no one else had," Wu said. "You offered her friendship and trust, even though she did not deserve it."

"I guess," Lloyd shrugged.

"I think maybe you should open up to her," Wu said. "A Sensei is always open with his students. Well, I may not be all the time but I am also much older than my students. You are the same age."

"Well," Lloyd said with a sheepish smile. "I'm technically younger than her."

"Your body and brain are not," Wu said. "Some say you missed out on experience but I say you had it all too soon."

"So your saying I should be friends with her," Lloyd said. "I'm already doing that."

"Trust her with something," Wu said. "Then I believe she will begin to think about someone else and this will enable her to calm her mind."

"So give her something to chew on that isn't her own worries," Lloyd said. "I like it. But I don't really have anything that she doesn't all ready know."

"You empathize with her, yet you do not tell her how you felt," Wu said closing his eyes. Lloyd stood up thoughtfully and left Wu to his meditation.

Next: Chapter Sixteen: I Did It!