I felt bad for the girl.

     She kept her distance from the rest of us as we made our way back towards Ominira. I could hear her sniffling, but every time I looked back, she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. Shade kept muttering that we shouldn't have left Zane behind while my parents stayed silent. Mother clutched Father's hand, but upon closer examination, he was squeezing as hard as she was. My empty hands trembled. I think everyone was a bit shocked by what just happened.

     "I keep getting fuzzy transmissions from Kai," Father murmured after a while, as the growing gibbous speckled light through the leaves. "But we're too far away for any of it to make sense."

     "Let's just focus on getting out of here alive," Mother returned.

     Off in the distance, the Songdragons' songs had turned to howls, low and mournful.

     When we did finally catch sight of the makeshift camp, Aureole had everyone packed up and searching for us. Storm and Carmen were attempting to drag all the backpacks around but there were too many for them to get far. Aureole's eyes lit up when she saw our group.

     "Thank goodness you're here. We need to get out of these mountains fast."

     "What in Ninjago happene—"

     "There was this loud screech, then like a million Songdragons flew out of the lake." Carmen dropped her part of the luggage and ran over to Shade. "They were flying everywhere. It looked like they were attacking the other side, but then they started to fly all around the lake. The townspeople were freaking out and throwing accusations everywhere. They blamed us for making this happen! They're searching around their borders right now to find us and—wait who's that?"

     Everyone's eyes turned to the girl.

     She didn't say anything. She just stood there, too shy to meet anyone's gaze.

      "She's the voice that sings," Shade's tone was a touch cooler than usual. "We had to leave Zane behind to bring her here."

     Aureole, Storm, Carmen, and my parents all started talking at once. My parents were trying to explain the matter with limited understanding they had of our true situation, and everyone else was trying not to freak out. The noise wormed its way into my brain, making me back up without realizing it. Before I could find some tree to hide behind until they were all done, a blaring horn sounded out from beyond the trees.

     Aureole went white. "They're coming."

      "We can take 'em." Carmen rolled up her sleeves.

      "No," Father said, stopping everyone. "We will not be harming any more villagers. We need to leave the mountains so we can reunite with Kai and get to Ver. I made a deal with—I'm sorry, I never learned your name." He looked at the girl.

     She tugged the corners of her hat lower on her face, slowly backing away from the attention.

     "Um... I made a promise to not return to the cities and put more people in danger. Shade and Aureole, you'll help Harumi and I transport the rest of these bags. The rest of you pack what you can on your backs; we'll try to slip away quietly."

     Another horn sounded behind us along with the sweet scent of burning torches, so we got everything together as quickly as possible and started trekking away. It took another hour before the air was quiet enough for us to slow our pace, and by then the moon was high in the sky. I nearly groaned when I realized we had to spend more days hiking to get out of the mountain.

     More days without plumbing. My life was going to be miserable.

     We figured it would be a good idea for someone to take watch since there was a possibility one of Ominira's search parties would traverse far enough to find us. Mother offered to take the first watch, while the rest of us prepared the sleeping bags for a brief night of sleep.

      Luckily, everyone fell asleep rather quickly even though all of us felt as if we couldn't. None of us wanted to sleep; we wanted to sit back and process what in Ninjago just happened. The area already felt bigger without our nindroid companion. However, the air became moist with a hint of rain, and my power made the whole area cozily warm. Combined with our exhaustion from running about in the past few hours, we all slipped away into slumber.

     When the morning came, the first thing I noticed as we were quietly gnawing on breakfast was that the girl had twigs in her hair. Carmen scoffed at this when she and Shade were far in front of the group, saying it was the girl's fault she didn't want a sleeping bag. Mother quietly told Father that no matter how many times she had attempted to give the girl a blanket, she had always refused.

     I also noticed that she politely turned down any offered food.

     The Ominirans seemed to have given up on their search, so we were able to travel without much fear of being pursued. Our feet sloshed through the thick layer of mud on the ground; it made all of us slip at least twice while carrying the baggage. The moist air must have settled into the ground. I didn't remember it being this muddy on the trek to the lake.

     Storm and Aureole walked in between Shade and Carmen's spot and ours, immersed in conversation. Both of them supported very large backpacks, but neither of them seemed to mind the weight. As usual, Carmen annoyingly wouldn't be quiet as she walked alongside Shade. I could tell my brother was still a bit upset about leaving Zane behind, but that side of him disappeared behind his perfect smiles as Carmen chattered on. Both Mother and Father were sweating as they struggled to keep our supplies moving, and I could feel my own heat choking me.

     It did feel wrong to move on without Zane. Ninja didn't leave people behind. But when Shade protested quietly that morning, when everyone had a clearer head, both of my parents told him that Zane had to stay. They didn't know for certain, but they were pretty sure the foreign girl's family would have been executed if the guards found out she was missing. Zane had stayed behind to keep the family safe. It was a noble thing to do.

     It still didn't feel right, but we were too far away now to change our minds. The only thing left to do was to complete the prophecy then return the girl to her family. I knew Zane was capable of taking care of himself, so I did my best to put my worries for him aside.

     The foreign girl tagged behind our small group, her head lowered and her long skirt caked in dirt. I heard her sneeze several times throughout the day. By the time we'd gotten to sunset again, she would burst into coughing fits. What made our weary sogginess even worse was the sky threatening to rain again. It had been sprinkling on and off all day, so none of us were surprised when a slight drizzle came down from the sky as we were attempting to roast vegetables. Aureole claimed it was the universe's sign that we needed to go to bed early, and mostly everyone agreed.

     The next thirty minutes were spent tying up waterproof blankets to trees, and afterwards no one wanted to sleep immediately. Shade was too busy trying to imitate a story Carmen had told him, Father was massaging his own feet, and I was trying to block their noises out until I heard a very hoarse cough sound from outside of the boy's blanket/tent construction

     Curious, I excused myself from the area, using my gi's jacket as a temporary umbrella. However, by the time we had set up the blankets, it had stopped raining. The girl was sitting under a couple of trees with her head tucked in her knees. She was shaking with each sob, stifling her own grief to try and appear unnoticeable.

     My gut twisted at the sight, like a mix between guilt and empathy. My skin prickled like I had just intruded on something very private, yet at the same time my heart reached out to her. I knew what it was like to feel alone, to sob behind closed doors with the mindset that I didn't matter. Part of me wanted to back away, to stop intruding, but it felt wrong to just leave her like that. However, I wasn't sure how to approach.

     "Hello," I tried to get her attention, only to feel like the biggest loser on the planet. She was literally crying, and the best I could come up with was hello? I sucked at talking to strangers.

     She looked up for a second, then laid her head back down on her knees. "Begging your pardon, but I would rather not stay in the tents."

     I took note of Mother's tent/blanket construction sitting a few trees away, and of the extra sleeping bag neatly folded and untouched next to the girl.

     "We're trying to help you, you know," I squatted down to her level, trying to appear cheerful. "I promise the girls aren't that bad. Mother will make sure they don't keep you up all night."

     The girl sneezed, then shook her head. "My most sincere apologies, I did not mean to come off as rude. I just did not wish to break the rules."

     "What... what rules?"

     "Where I come from, it is considered highly inappropriate for one to board with someone other than direct family by blood or marriage," she faltered, sneezing once again. "I am not related to any of you, so I did not wish to be considered a heinous rule-breaker."

     "Oh," was the only word I could find as I processed her words. I couldn't help but notice how clear and smooth her tone was, as if she spoke every word like a rehearsed speech. It was a lovely sound, even with the phlegm clogging up her throat. "Um, we aren't in Songdragon Bay anymore so..."

     She shifted, looking extremely uncomfortable in the dim light surrounding us. "Is that not a rule in your country, begging your pardon?"

     My legs were starting to ache from squatting for so long, so I stood back up. There was no way I would sit in the mud. I bet Shade would have been selfless enough to endure the muck for her. "I think our only rules are 'go to bed at a decent hour' and 'keep boys and girls on the separate side of the clearing.'"

     She pulled her hat down further over her ears, not responding.

     At first, I was confused as to why this concept was so hard for her. Then, it hit me. She literally thought we were going to die in Songdragon Bay, merely because we talked to strangers. And if the heads mounted on spikes didn't signal she wasn't kidding, then the 'whole-city-shutting-down-to-be-searched' thing definitely did. I guessed that in Songdragon Bay, rule-breakers were punished quite severely.

     I stood, knowing good and well I'd spend all night in an absolute wet misery if I didn't go back in the tent soon, seeing as it was already starting to rain again. Yet, I couldn't just leave her here. She'd get infected and die if she didn't have shelter.

     "No one will get mad if you go board with the girls..." I trailed off, a sudden idea creeping into my mind. "And by all technicalities, if you stay right here then you're on the boys' side of the clearing. That would be breaking one of our group's two sacred rules."

     The girl frowned, fiddling with an object I couldn't see in the muggy night. After a second she nodded slowly, using the tree to get to her feet. I could hear the squelch of mud, and her rattled breathing as she inched her way to her feet.

     I reached out, intending to lead her by the elbow to where she needed to go (she did seem pretty woozy with a fever), but the minute my fingers grazed her soaked sleeve she recoiled back. The back of her head slammed against the tree behind her, and the impact caused her to stumble forward and fall face-first into the mud.

     A noise escaped my mouth as my brain caught up with what just happened, but by then my cheeks were already flushing with embarrassment. Here I was, standing in the rain, my hair becoming wet noodles on my head, while the girl I was trying to help was literally sprawled out in a mud puddle. Shade would have totally had this whole situation under control in like two minutes. I just seemed to ruin every social interaction I attempted.

     Carmen poked her head out the girls' tent to see what the commotion was about. She saw me and not the girl, so she simply saluted and went back to doing whatever she was up to.

      "Goodness gracious, I'm so sorry," I started as soon as I realized the girl was pushing herself to her feet. How could I have gotten distracted? Why wasn't I doing anything to help the girl? Why was I so bad with strangers—

     I didn't want to reach out again because then she'd probably get mad at me for not picking up on signals. At least, that was how I thought she'd act. I could not figure out women for the life of me.

     "W-we...we've got um... spare clothes... in our luggage, uh... if you want?" I sounded like I was dying. I probably was.

     She merely shook her head, pulling her hat down tighter as she stumbled past me towards the girls' tent. I heavily considered banging my head into a tree once she was out of sight for being so stupid. Why. Was. I. So. Bad. With. Strangers!?

     The girl attempted to compose herself before entering the tent, but her 'composing' consisted of leaning on the tent to catch her breath. There was, however, no bars for her to lean on, and thus she fell—muddy face and all—through the flaps and into the middle of where the girls were preparing to sleep.

     Several shrieks broke out immediately, so loud I winced.

     After a few commands from Mother the noise calmed down, and I inched my way forward to make sure everything was alright.

     "You have a bad fever," Mother's gentle voice murmured. I could see a flash of her white hair through the cracks in the waterproof fabric, the steady motion of her hands methodically wiping away the grime on the girl's face. I could tell, even from a distance, that the girl wasn't enjoying the contact, but why would she want it to stop? Would she rather have earthworms on her face forever? "We'll let you sleep for a good, long while. Just... I'm glad you decided to join us here in the tent."

     "I-I don't... don't wanna be... a r-rule-breaker..."

     I felt a hand tug at my sleeve, and there was Aureole, rolling her eyes at me. "Get under the blanket before the rain prunes your face."

     I sheepishly held one of the blanket's loose flaps above my head. Aureole crawled back to a dimly lit corner, plucking a hairbrush from Carmen's hands and sprawling on her sleeping bag to brush the rain from her hair. Carmen buried her head in her sleeping bag, not wanting to interact with us any longer. And Mother had her legs tucked beneath her, squeezing moisture out of her gi's sash.

     The girl was seemingly asleep, though her twitching signaled otherwise.

     "Thank you," Mother said quietly to me, reaching out to squeeze my knee. I softly smiled at the touch.

     "Will she be alright?"

     "In time, yes," Mother responded, "we just need to keep looking out for her."

     "Begging your pardon, but why do you care so much?" The girl's small voice was slurred, taking us all by surprise once again. Her squinted eyes were barely open; the air was growing hotter with the thickness of her fever—no wait, it was probably my powers making it worse. Curse my element.

     "You're human, and we're humane people," I attempted to sound light-hearted, but it fell flat. I was pretty sure Aureole shook her head in the background at my attempt. "Besides, you can't sing if you die from sickness."

     "Isn't that why I'm here?" she coughed. "Doesn't the son need me to die?"

     "I don't think you know what you're talking about; you need to rest," Mother said quickly, a bit too quickly. Still, she tugged her gi's jacket over the foreigner and started humming as she continued to dab the girl's forehead.

     I stayed until I was sure the girl had finally fallen asleep, until her breathing was finally even, until I was sure that she was okay. It was the very least I could do after botching our encounter.

"PULL!" Kai yelled over the rushing winds as the Bounty plummeted towards the ground.

     I rallied every bit of strength I had left in me as we both yanked the stern upwards. I could feel our sails catching some of the winds, but it wasn't enough to smooth out our fall. As the rocky ground plummeted closer, I let go of the stern and ran out on the deck. Kai screamed at me as I closed my eyes and felt for the earth.

     There was no way we were going to make it.

     Between the trees and the height we fell from, we'd be flung apart the minute we hit the surface.

     I felt the wind's fierce gales as the smell of the earth came nearer. Reaching out my hands, I squared my stance and took control of the dirt beneath us.

     Right as the Bounty was about to crash, I lifted the earth up beneath us to slide us down into the ground.

     We bounced upon hitting the dirt, flying straight into a dense plethora of trees.

     With practiced motion, I brought more earth up, catching the Bounty as it dropped closer and closer to the ground. Kai shrieked from behind me with each lurch of the ship, and all I could do was close my eyes and hope the final impact wouldn't kill us.

     The Bounty slammed against the ground, the trees working together to tear it apart. The branches scratched the paint, I could hear several chunks of wood being ripped off by the force of the impact, and the left thruster was probably long gone.

     I stumbled forward with the impact, barely managing to grab onto the mast to avoid getting thrown off the ship. The friction working against us eventually slowed the Bounty down, making me slump against the floor in exhaustion. Never in my life had I ever moved that much earth. Either my powers were getting stronger, or adrenaline helped me perform impossible feats.

      All was quiet—until Kai made his way to his feet. He mumbled various angry things as he made his way out to find me. When he came into view, I noticed several twigs had gotten stuck in his hair and his face was smeared with blood from the scratches on his scarred face.

     "PEAK!" he bellowed, only to find me slumped right next to where he was walking.

     "I'm fine," I wheezed, using the various branches that had fallen next to me to get into a sitting position. My chest felt like it was going to implode with so little air being poured into it.

     "You freaking better be fine! Cole's going to kill me for this! Scratch that—Lloyd's going to kill me for ruining our only method of transportation! Not to mention..." He rubbed the sides of his temples, frowning at the blood that smeared onto his fingers. "VER YOU MORON!"

     He kicked the nearest object he found, which happened to be the steel part of the mast that had broken off.

     I winced as Kai yelled a lot more angry words into the air.

     While he was having a mental meltdown, I inched to my feet so I could survey the wreckage. It wasn't like the ship had completely fallen apart, but it had taken some serious damage. The left thruster was indeed missing, and quite a few of the smaller attachments to the Bounty had been flung all over the area. I made my way back into the cockpit; it looked like all it would need was a bit of tinkering to get back to a 'it-can-fly' state.

     Too bad my father never taught me much on repairing flying ships.

     I limped back to the deck and explained the situation to Kai, who seemed to realize I was the one acting most logically at the moment. He had been desperately trying to contact Lloyd and Zane again, trying to tell them what was coming. However, we were out in the middle of nowhere, where there was no cell service to aid this objective. Kai ended up telling me to go start searching the area for the lost items while he worked on repairs.

     "We need to work fast," he said as he threw some branches off the Bounty. "If the Vermillion could ambush us from where we used to be, then they can find us here. The smoke coming out of this thing is a big indicator of where we're hiding. It won't take much effort for them to find and wipe us out."

     I agreed and went to search for our missing parts.

     The forest around the mountains so dense that you couldn't walk through them, yet I still felt like there weren't enough open spaces for my liking. If someone did decide to ambush me, then I would have to rely solely on my physical skill to beat them off. The earth would be hard to control from under the trees, and I was still exhausted from moving so much dirt minutes prior.

     I spent a lot of my life feeling exhausted. Ever since my mother had come down with the virus, it had been my responsibility to look after the family. I walked my siblings to school, I went out and bought groceries, I learned to cook and look after little children. Combine that with the increase of stress that my mother was actively dying and my full-time school, I was lucky to get away with three or four hours of sleep a night.

     I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept me going was my love for my family. They'd fall apart without me to help. My father had been a mess during those tense years, and my siblings were too young to understand the gravity of the situation. If I didn't help keep them in line, then Father would have snapped at some point.

     I liked to think of my friends as another family. They were a small escape from the burden of growing up, a distraction from the tiredness that often plagued me. I needed to work my hardest to get the Bounty back to normal, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to help them. And Kai was dangerously close to breaking down. Just like Father once was.

     It made me wonder about what Kai had said as I made my way through the forest.

     People aren't always who they say they are.

     I knew why Lloyd and Harumi were keeping the prophecy from everyone, and I understood why. If Shade and Morro were competing over who was the destined 'son', then how could they put in enough effort to stop the Overlord? However, from the words Kai had said, I realized this might not be the only lie they'd told.

     He's supposed to have died for Harumi—that's why she named her firstborn after him. This whole time... this whole time they must have been faking it. I bet he's still alive. I bet all of 'Lloyd's' kids are actually his. I can't believe we actually fell for it.

     Kai had immediately blamed Harumi for Ver's betrayal. It didn't seem right, seeing as how we had always been told Harumi was on the Ninja's side. Not only that, but Harumi had always been an endearing mother and very kind to all of us. I remembered that she would come to pick up the triplets after school when Mother first came down with the virus.

     Yet, Kai blamed her. He said she was faking it. He acted like she was the villain.

     Something must have happened—something in the past—that made him not trust Harumi. At first, I thought she may have only married Lloyd for social reasons, but anyone watching them together for five minutes would prove that theory wrong. Harumi must have done something to Kai specifically... or maybe this wasn't her fault at all.

     Maybe this had something to do with the old Morro.

     I fidgeted with the thin pole I had just found, before tucking it into a thin bag of fabric I had fastened out of a torn piece of the sails. Kai suspected the old Morro was behind Ver's powers. The only other person I knew who had mastery over the wind was the Ghost Ninja. He was the one who returned from the Cursed Realm and tried to lay waste to Ninjago. The Ninja had worked to stop him years ago, and he died shortly after his plans were foiled.

     The wind powers should have died with him.

     Yet, Kai said it died with Morro.

     Which meant Morro must have held a mastery over wind.

     Which meant the old Morro must have been the Ghost Ninja.

     But how was the old Morro alive only a few years before Shade and Morro were born, yet the Ghost Ninja died long before that?

     "Agh, brother, I still have no idea why you spend your time uselessly prancing around the woods."

     I stopped in my tracks. From a few yards away, a couple figures walked through the shrubbery. The heavy foliage mostly hid them from view, but I could still make out their scrappy forms as they paced through the area.

     "Unless you enjoy eating worms like the Vermillion, then I'd say my coming out to 'prance around the woods' is actually quite beneficial. Someone has to hunt for food, since Mr. Bossylord won't provide any," a sarcastic voice responded to the first. I could hear him stoop down to check something metal, then mutter something about the traps being empty.

     Vermillion.

     These people worked for the Overlord. I desperately scanned the area for somewhere to hide, only to find the damaged thruster smoking in the grass.

     Oh great.

     "Then, once we return to the Dark Island, I'm going to have to hunt the animals there. I hate those wild boars. You can't shoot them, they're too big for traps—"

     "Oh, quit your nonsense about hunting. No one cares if you don't have three meals a day."

     I inched my way towards the thruster, trying to concentrate on being silent. Many twigs littered the floor, leaving me in a dangerous predicament. I had to find some way to distract the two minions and get them away from the thruster. If they hadn't already noticed the smoke, then the spare parts littered around the area would definitely give it away that we were here.

     The two people had been arguing about food supplies, but what the sarcastic one said next stopped me in my tracks.

     "What does he need the key for anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to just kill the 'voice that sings' or something?"

     "Do you never pay attention to when the Overlord explains things? Oh wait—"

     "He's sending an unstable teenager after her family to retrieve the key. It's a really dumb ploy." The man checked another trap, inching closer to where I was standing with each step. It wouldn't be long before they could spot me through the foliage. I twisted my wrists, calling up the little dirt that was in the area to cover the thruster.

     "The key is for the machine. He can't activate the machine without the key. It isn't like he hasn't told us this a million times."

     "He's been trying to unearth that thing for years. There's no way that there is some mystical key that can just magic the whole cannon into working." I heard the twang of a released bow, though no arrows whistled through the sky. "Besides, why is he sending Ver again? She could be captured... or die."

     "I don't care about what happens to the Garmadon girl," the older voice hissed. "We just need to get the key. That means you need to stop making useless hunting trips and actually start training for battle."

     "Like you're going to fight."

     "At least I actually try to be helpful."

     I saw their cloaks peek through the trees and ducked behind a bush. The first figure, the sarcastic one, stumbled into the area plucking at his bow. He looked about my father's age, with messy dark hair and an even darker gaze.

     Despite the dense layers of vegetation hiding me, he still managed to meet my eyes through the minute cracks in the leaves.

     He didn't even hesitate, just turned back to his companion, and pointed in the distance, "Hey, is that a person over there?"

     The older man stared off in the opposite direction of my hiding place, to where the sarcastic one was gesturing. "What person? Acronix, you're going blind."

    The sarcastic man turned his companion around, leading him away from where I was hiding. "It looks like a Vermillion. What are they doing out of camp? Is Mr. Bossylord sending some secret backup troops to finish what Ver started?"

     My mouth dropped open as the two walked off.

     One of them had seen me and hadn't done anything about it.

     In fact, he had just covered up my existence with lies.

     As soon as their voices faded, I uncovered the thruster and started to drag it back towards the Bounty. Miraculously, no Vermillion appeared to attack me, and Kai was still in one piece when I finally made it back. He had put out most of the smoke, so now it was just a waiting game.

     "Why would either of the Time Twins purposely help us? Unless they wanted to divide... unless they've gone corrupt and want to sabotage the Overlord!" Kai cheered at his idea, dropping his melding helmet over his face.

     "I don't know. Maybe—"

     "I'm always right," Kai insisted.

     If one of the Time Twins was really willing to let me go, then he pretty much was dividing from the rest of his group. And if the evil side was dividing, then we must be prevailing.

     Then, I realized that our team had split up as well.

     It seemed for now we were at a tie.