the plot to kill the princess

another au because i'm a sucker for them :>)

medieval fantasy au (just imagine taverns, horses, cobbled streets, and that sorta stuff). they have their powers and wicked swords. if you have questions drop em and ill answer (i love this au)

"Evan, I'm not joking, get your tables served before I force you to wear the apron," Astra called threateningly from behind the bar.

The short blonde boy skidded out from the kitchen, carrying two trays breathlessly. "Got it Astra!"

She nodded appreciatively and watched Evan deliver his plates speedily. The door flew open with a bang, bringing in a swirl of snow and ice from outside.

"Astra!"

"Kai," Astra deadpanned at his beaming smile. "I'm assuming you want a...?"

"A uh, large pint of beer, yes," Kai cast a long look around the tavern room, then leant in for a conspiratrice whisper. "Is she here?"

"Yeah, with Reg."

"Reg? You let her sit with Reg?" Kai spluttered.

"I didn't let her do anything," Astra countered with a disgusted look, handing him his mug of hot cocoa (definitely beer) "Reg sat down at her table."

"But Reg is a big fat flirt!" Kai wailed. "I don't want him to steal Skylor."

"One, Reg flirts with everyone and everything. Two, you flirt with everyone too. Three, she's not an object to be stolen. And four, Sky is stupidly loyal to you, how you even wound up dating her is a miracle—"

"Okay, okay I get it! I'll just go and wait for everyone and boot Reg out and for your information I do not flirt with everything—hey there—"

Astra pulled a face as Kai turned towards Skylor and Reg's table, filling up three more orders just as the door flew open again. In stumbled Cole Brookstone and Kade Gorski laughing their heads off, hair thick with snow. They were nearly the same height, Cole bending to enter the tavern with Kade's blond hair brushing against the wooden door frame.

"Astra! My favourite dessert bearing person!" Cole boomed, his warm presence filling up the tavern quickly. Astra chuckled and threw him a raspberry muffin which he caught in the hand unoccupied with a broadsword.

"Astra! My favourite girlfriend!" Kade followed, squishing her in a big hug. His cold furs and jackets enveloped her, as did the comforting smell of honey and cocoa.

"I should hope so," she mumbled into his shoulder, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Are you growing a beard?"

"What? Cole and Jay said it looked good!" he protested weakly.

"You trusted Caveman and Jaybird? Kade, I admit it looks rugged and all but—"

"Ha! So you do think it looks good."

"How does rugged equate to good? Sit down before I make you put on the apron."

"You can't threaten everyone with that, Astra. It'll lose the fear value." Evan advised, whisking past with even more trays laden with food and drink from the kitchen. "Table three?"

"Four and five, actually," Astra corrected him, "But good job kid, keep it up."

"Your praise is so, so, motivating. Oh yeah, Zane's in the kitchen, and he brought Pixal with him." Evan added. "He said something about, uh, dish tweaking?"

Astra pushed Kade away with a scoff, "No, no, no, no, he is not changing my dishes again. He gets a third of the menu, I get a third of the menu, Pix gets a third of the menu and he does not tamper with my fudge brownie recipe or my soups."

She left the new additions for the reunion meeting to storm towards the kitchen, giving Evan and Alissa instructions to manage the dining room. The kitchen was a warm bustle of chaos, the two cooks chopping and frying at top speed. Astra quickly helped put together the next few dishes, reading Evan's neat writing on the slips of paper.

A tall man with a shock of white hair stood peering over a dish, stirring a wooden spatula with calculated clockwise rotations.

"Zane. Why. Are. You. Tampering. With. My. Soup."

"Astra! I was just seeing if you added enough cream—"

"I added plenty of cream, thanks, Zane. Stay away from my dishes, please." Astra sighed, touched a two fingered salute to her forehead then to the sky. "Mess with your own dishes, I've spent far too much time getting mine perfect."

"Oh, Pixal, come taste this," Zane lowered a spoon for his girlfriend.

"Wow, that tastes wonderful! Perhaps—"

"No, no, no, no, no," Astra pushed her two cloaked friends towards the doors, "Perhaps you can tell everyone about your experiences at Castle Wastelands, maybe? Was it as cold as the barren name suggests?"

"Very," Zane readily agreed with a grin, "In fact, our research mission at Castle Wastelands led us into the territory of the ruins of the Floating Castle."

"Where they're building that new what, power station?" Astra was mildly intrigued as she guided her menu-meddling friends back to the congregation in the middle of her (well, kind of her) tavern.

Lloyd, Jay, and Nya had arrived in the time she'd spent in the kitchen, reuniting with the rest of the gang. Reg had gone off to talk with one of the customers hanging by the bar, and Seliel had now taken over from Alissa to serve customers.

"How's everyone?" Jay beamed, his auburn curls peeking out from under his blue hood. "It's freezing out there."

"Well, winter is the best, as everyone knows." Zane smiled, totally biased. He drew up chairs around the biggest table in the shadiest corner of the front room. Wu liked to keep all the greasy criminals in one spot so they were easier to keep an eye on, but fights broke out often if big family groups like them didn't take up the space.

Settled around the worn, round table were ten people - some of Astra's closest friends. Bells, Zander, and Simon were away on a King's mission to some far off village by the water to take care of some business there, so it had been pretty lonely around here. They were special members of the task force - the non elemental side. Wu had been strict about grounding Astra (she was nineteen now, how he had the ability to ground her was beyond Astra, yet here she was) and keeping her occupied with the business.

Steep Wisdom Inn was a tavern on the ground floor, open to raucous and quiet business, and an inn on the top two floors. It was Wu's pet project and he kept his squadron of specially trained warriors in check and humble by taking shifts at the Inn. Astra had been stuck here for nearly two months without action now because of a slightly complicated mission that had endangered her identity.

Her mission had taken place far south in Ninjago, so there was less chance anyone would be surviving a trek of many dangerous conditions currently to find her. Winter was always brewing a storm at this time of the year.

Astra knew it wasn't just because they all wanted to meet up again that they were here. Wu had called them together - nearly the entire elemental task force - for an important reason. Rather, mission. If he didn't let her on this one, Astra would be very tempted to use her powers. Another let down of her identity at risk was that she'd used her powers so much that if anyone caught sight of them, they'd know it was her instantly.

"What has Wu got for us?" Astra whispered as she slid into her seat. Cole unfurled a roll of thick parchment where Wu's scratchy writing had written out instructions.

"Dear students," Lloyd read in a bad impression of their uncle, "This shall be short. I have discovered a plot to kill the princess of the Jade Empire, across the seas from us. I am sending you all there to uncover this plot and protect the princess. Astra, Lloyd, your father would like this mission to succeed. As King of Ninjago, he would rather not have you fail. Our alliance with the Jade Empire is at risk here, for I have also found that the assassin is from Ninjago. More details will be sent to you once you arrive on Jade's shores. I cannot help you much more than that as there are affairs here in Ninjago I must deal with. - Wu"

"Crap," Cole's eyes widened. "An assasination plot? From Ninjago?"

"Who would be mad enough to do that?" Kade agreed, brushing his fingers over the blue dried ink. "Why isn't the Empire dealing with it themselves?"

"Because the assassin is Ninjagen, and because we have elementals. More, at least." Lloyd answered with his own wondering frown.

"And we can't risk our alliance with the Jade Empire. We share their shores." Skylor added knowledgeably. She was the daughter of a Lord that had previously presided over an island close to the coast of Ninjago, between their homeland and the Jade Empire. Technically, with her father dead from one of their previous missions (the one they'd accidentally recruited her on) she was Lady Skylor of Isle Saltu.

"Can we stop by your island on the journey across?" Skylor nodded at Astra's request.

"It'll be the perfect place to stopover our journey, but none of the Saltu boats are ready, I'm afraid." the Amber elemental admitted. "I've left Torsgu in charge, and I trust him to take care of Saltu for however long this mission will last, but I'd like to take the stopover to provide him with more guidance."

"I can get us a boat," Jay offered with a sheepish smile that spread pink over his freckled cheeks. "My uh, father, has been trying to get me to use his old warship for ages."

Jay's father was an actor but also a veteran of the old war with the Ninjago Civil War. He had pots of gold and money to rival the Kingdom of Ninjago itself, and was a trusted friend of her father's.

"Won't the sight of a warship be a little scary on the Empire's horizon?" Reg arched a brow, taking a sip of ale from his mug. Everyone's heads whipped towards his sudden arrival. "What? Wu called me in. Said you lot would need a little help."

"Where's Rema? Wasn't she supposed to be with you on your mission to the Temple?" Kade asked after his cousin anxiously.

Reggie shrugged casually, "Wu sent her off on her own mission. Something involving her hometown and a weird phantom apparition that's kidnapping kids. Seliel and Charlie are with her, don't worry."

Kade and Astra both exhaled in relief, exchanging small smiles from next to each other.

"We should leave tomorrow. Get everything you need by tonight and meet by Admiral Walker's dock, alright?" Astra ordered firmly, raising her cup of hot chocolate. Anything but alcohol would ever enter her hands. "To the First Spirits."

"To the First Spirits," everyone echoed in tradition, homage to the first bearers of their powers. "And to the Gods above."

a/n: hope you enjoyed this! will probably get a pt.2 even if yall dont ask. kinda short (under 2k) but im using these oneshots to practice my writing :)

- dommie out