The Emperor and Empress stood on the podium of the throne room, directly in front of their respective thrones. The two princesses stood at their sides, all still wearing the ceremonial clothing they had worn when they gave their speech.
The large double doors opened and Hutchins led the ninja in. They lined up in front of the throne and bowed when the water ninja hesitated a little. Antalia had mixed feelings about the ninja. On the one hand, they were the protectors of Ninjago and had saved the city more than once, but on the other hand, many of the dangers had also been caused by them and damage had always been caused in their fights. Too many people had already lost their lives or loved ones or had been injured because of them. And that led to the thing that Antalia liked least about the ninja. They were ruthless and paid no attention to the people of Ninjago. They completely forgot about the people in the alleys who could only count on the protection of the Shadow Warrior and Samurai X. That was why the Princess of Ninjago had become the Shadow Warrior: to protect those who could not protect themselves but could not count on the help of the ninja either.

That's why she was all the more astonished when her sister, who knew just as much about what was going on in the alleys as she did - Harumi was the one who often sneaked away at night to hand out food to the poor people - now came down to the ninja and gave each one a word of praise. But Antalia only had eyes for one person, the green ninja. She secretly watched him as the light from the palace turned his hair into liquid gold and reflected in his eyes like two emeralds. What she couldn't explain, however, was the stab she felt when she realized that the ninja was focusing all his attention on her younger sister. What was wrong with her? She wasn't normally such a big fan of the ninja.

Finally, Hutchins led the ninja out of the throne room to show them the oni mask that had to be protected. The emperor dismissed his family for their leisure time and Antalia made her way straight to the library. She had to be even more careful with her training during the ninja's stay, because they would now also be using the palace's training grounds. And Antalia could not afford to be discovered. Especially not by the ninja. So she decided to do some mental training and learn more about the history of Ninjago. The history of her world had always fascinated her and she never knew when this knowledge might be important. She only hoped that the history of the country was just as important to her future husband. At the thought of him, a lump of anger, frustration and despair formed in her throat again and she cursed the ninja that she could not train and thus find balance because of them.

She turned a corner of the palace and saw the red ninja disrespectfully throwing a few books on the floor. This was the way to the library and if he was going to treat the, thankfully less valuable, books like that, she would have to make sure that he never entered her sacred place.
"What's going on here?" she asked, drawing everyone's attention. The fire ninja looked at her, embarrassed, and even the eloquent Hutchins could only manage a started "Your Majesty...". She hurried over to the shelf and picked up a few of the books again. The hot-headed ninja had obviously grabbed the shelf with fairy tales from all over Ninjago. Antalia examined the books and then lovingly put them back on the shelf. "We'll tidy them up later, Princess. You don't have to do that," the earth ninja assured her, but she waved him off. "I didn't have much else planned for today anyway. It's fine," lie. She did have something planned. But she couldn't really tell anyone and she had to wait for nightfall anyway.

So the ninja kept walking and gave the fire ninja reproachful looks while the Jade Princess put the books back in their places. Shortly after dark, Antalia returned from the library to her room and put on her Shadow Warrior clothes. She stepped out onto her balcony and leaned her door against the outside. Just as she was about to swing over the railing, she saw two green figures jumping over the roofs in the distance. But it looked as if one was chasing the other. Was that Harumi and the green ninja?
Antalia knew that her sister was probably on one of her food distribution rounds again, but she didn't know what the green ninja was planning. Why was he following Harumi?

In one fluid movement, the Jade Princess swung herself over her balcony railing and slid down the palace roof. She moved as quietly as a cat and set about finding out what was going on. What did the green ninja, if it was him, want with her little sister?