Do you feel how the wind avoids your grasp?

     I stuck my hand out of the small canoe, letting the cool water playfully splash against my skin. The warrior guiding the canoe, as always, showed no reaction to my actions. We had been travelling down the river since the night began to lessen, and now a full sunrise was sliding into day. I didn't bring a watch with me, but I could guess it was about eight or nine in the morning.

     When I removed my hand from the water, I could feel the faint breezes in the air more potently. They chilled the liquid on my hands, making me more aware of their whispering presence. Every time I tried to reach out and grab them, they slipped away.

     Wind is not a solid object. It longs to be free and follow its own path.

     I ducked to avoid a low hanging branch. The river had winded through plain landscapes for miles, but now we were entering a nice glade. It was amazing to see how much of Ninjago wasn't a civilization. I knew we were heading south of where I lived, but that was the only directional clue I had been given.

     To control it, you must speak its own language back to it.

     Power? I thought, failing to grab onto a strand of wind again. I vaguely wondered what the snake soldier across from me thought of all this. Did he know his master was speaking into my head, or did he think I was a silly teenager? He hadn't said a word the whole night.

     The wind only listens to power. Once you remind it of who is in control, it will obey you. Here is your first exercise: you must reverse the wind's flow. It is faintly coming towards you, yes? It is pushing against the river's flow. You must help the boat go faster.

      How do I tell it that?

     That is up to you to figure out. Let me just remind you of this: the faster the boat moves, the faster you can get to camp and catch up on all the sleep you lost.

     The Overlord hadn't let me doze off all night. Every time my eyelids flickered shut, he would say something to snap me out of it. It wasn't until the morning that he finally agreed to start my training. In a daze, I squeezed my eyes shut and listened.

     Power, the wind said, flying against the boat towards the direction in which we came. Back towards my old life, my old family, my old insecurities and faults. Back in Ninjago City lived the powerless, defective daughter of Lloyd Garmadon. Here in the wild lived truth and power. Here in the wild lived the new Master of Wind. Here in the wild I could fulfill my role to stop the prophecy from coming to life and save the realm from its destruction.

     I stuck out my hands, feeling the breezes slip through my grasp. Every time I tried to hold on they flew away, towards the life I was trying to avoid. Towards the life I didn't want to think about.

     "You will listen to me," I whisper-hissed to the air, as it continued to taunt me with the past. "I am in control."

     The wind continued to fly away, its whispers rising in volume. My body twitched with the effort to stop it. The wind was getting stronger, but it wasn't obeying my commands.

     Turn around! I control you!

     A large gust hit me in the back of the head, slowing the boat's pace to a crawl. The snake soldier, like usual, was unfazed. He kept rowing the boat forward. I tried to calm my deepening anger, but the irritation was like a festering wound. Why was the stupid wind so stubborn? Why wouldn't it listen to me?

     Because you're weak. You've always been weak. Always lesser. Always second to your brothers.

     I don't remember who told that to me, only that the words were my breaking point. I clenched my jaw, summoning every ounce of strength left in me.

     I was feeble, but I had to be strong. I had to embrace the wind's call if I wanted to be powerful. I had to stop my family, and there was no way I would be able to if I was the weakling everyone else saw me as.

     "I am in control!" I yelled at the wind—and suddenly, everything snapped.

     The air went still.

     The boat moved, but only with the current. Sweat gathered on my forehead as I struggled to keep a hold on the breezes. Their call had been silenced beneath my own iron will. It wriggled and thrashed in my hold, fighting against my control.

      Reverse the flow.

      The voice was cool in my head, a single light in the darkness of my rage.

      Gently, I let go of my grip on the wind and commanded it to flow with the river. Where it wanted to go did not matter. It did what I told it to do, or I would suppress its call once again.

     Whimpering, the wind started to fly in the opposite direction. The canoe sped up as the wind and water currents pushed it along. After a few seconds, however, the strain on my mind erupted into a sharp pain in my core, almost causing me to lose my hold.

     You've shown incredible control already. Continue to hold onto it. It will soon learn to fear you and your power. You will arrive at the camp soon, but don't get cocky. You have simply changed the wind's direction. There are still many more lessons to learn.

     I bit my lip to keep myself from crying out from the strain. The knot of power twisted in my gut, making me feel like I was about to throw up. With every ounce of strength left in my body, I held on. I held on as the glade thickened into a forest, held on as the boat was pushed upon a sandy shore, held on despite the pain because I had to be stronger.

     The snake soldier did not seemingly care how much pain I was in. Once he had pulled the boat into a discreetly covered bushy area, he started walking off towards wherever his camp was. I was still huddled into the fetal position on the canoe, trying to muster enough willpower to get to my feet. As soon as I had let the wind go it thrashed into the sky beyond my reach. Its whisper became a shout as it mocked my weakness. I don't think I could latch back onto it for a while.

     My fists clenched around the sides of the boat.

     Lesson number one.

     I pulled my shaking self to my feet, stumbling out of the canoe after the warrior. Father's voice rang in my head, chanting the lesson I had learned ever since I could first understand Ninjargon.

     A ninja never quits.

     The camp wasn't far from a large beach which I assumed was on the coast of Ninjago Island. About twelve tents sat propped up by the trees; several more snake soldiers wove through the camp carrying weapons and supplies. They all turned upon seeing their companion.

     Collectively, all their eyes flashed violet.

     I clutched my knapsack, trembling on the unsteady sand.

     Slowly, out of a tent, two figures stepped out into the sunlight. The first was a snake warrior. He was bigger than his companions, composed with bright scarlet snakes. He waved an arm and the warriors in front of me stepped aside. His dark eyes studied me with a curious gaze.

     "Thisss iss the one?" he hissed quietly, more to himself than anyone.

     The second figure stepped towards me, but stayed far enough back as not to appear threatening. He looked about eighty, with more wrinkles than I could count, grey, wispy hair, and hateful eyes that seemed to dislike anything they fell upon.

     I squared my shoulders. "I am the one your Overlord sent for. I am the Chosen One."

     The old man laughed at that, while the large warrior stared on. I wanted to hold a sword to the elder's throat for being so inconsiderate, but I was too weak to even think about drawing my stolen katana. Was the Overlord so desperate for allies that he had to bring along an insane senior?

     "Well?" I prodded, hating the cracking in my voice. "Are you done gaping like toads? Surely you've seen a girl before."

     The old man's laughter instantly soured. "Your sass is familiar, child, so I must warn you of this: the Overlord is our leader, so you will not disobey him or anyone he deems worthy of respect. Bad things happen to those who don't play by the rules. You did not come here to get a replacement friend group. You will fight for him until you look like me because it was your choice. Do not expect mercy when your tongue fires off too many words for you to take back."

     "I wouldn't have left everything if I wasn't dedicated to him," I retorted, daring to take a step forward. "And don't worry, old man, unless your associates start acting like toads, then they won't have to worry about my witty banter."

     He seemed disappointed with my response, but didn't say anything else. I could already tell there would be enmity between me and him, that we would never get along, regardless of our stances as allies to the Overlord's cause.

     Sadly enough, I had a feeling it would be like this with everyone in the new camp.

 "The first time Aureole met Shade, he was too enormous for her to hold up. She accidentally dropped him, had the whole house screaming, and that's why, to this day, he's a bit dense in the head."

     "You couldn't even talk when that happened," Aureole sighed, flicking Storm's shoulder, "so there's no way to prove that's true."

     "And I wasn't a big baby," I chimed in, "Mother said I was a perfectly normal size."

     "Suuuuure," Storm looked between me and her, "anyways, you more than made up for it, bud. You told me that when you were eight and you saw her at the first Picnic Day, she had a heavenly glow, the world started singing, and you knew from that day that she was your soulmate."

     Aureole burst out laughing.

     Storm was in a headlock (a friendly headlock) before he could blink, and I knocked on his forehead. "You overexaggerate things so much! I did not say that."

     "Suuuuure," Storm coughed, wriggling out of my grip and dancing around us. He started wailing a corny love song, to which both Aureole and I had to tackle him for. We wrestled around the main deck, shouting at each other, with Storm doing everything in his power to continue his song. I was about ninety-percent certain that it was the same song Bequeath walked down the aisle to.

     Air turbulence intervened, making all of us unsteady enough to stop trying to pin each other. Storm, much to our dismay, finished his abysmal song right when Morro and Peak found their way out on deck. They just stared at him, then us, wondering what was going on.

     Storm took one look at their faces and grinned, "I'm trying to get them to plan their wedding, but it's not working very well." With a stage-whisper he added, "Shade's still a bit dense from being dropped as a baby."

     "That's it!"

     Storm ducked right before a fireball sailed past his head. Aureole's aim was off on purpose, but it was close enough to send a clear message. A little teasing was tolerated, but not too much. The fireball whizzed off the side of the Bounty, falling harmlessly into the city below.

     Storm ducked behind Peak, who jolted upright at the touch. Aureole refused to hit the boy, so her and Storm were locked in a game of cat-and-mouse trying to get to/avoid each other around the sleepy Peak. Meanwhile, Morro made his way over to me.

     "You know, if you keep smiling like that, Storm's never going to stop," he whispered before leaning against the rails, looking over the edge. I forced myself to turn away from the scene and join him.

     Yes, I was staring. Yes, I was smiling. No, it wasn't because I was in love with Aureole. Storm only had part of the story right. When I was eight, and I saw her at the first Picnic Day, she did stand out to me. Aureole, whether she was aware of it or not, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. It was like genetics had blessed her with the best traits from both of her parents. Even at such a young age I understood that, and until now I had held her as the standard for beauty.

    And though I saw her smiling all the time in the Chen's Noodle House advertisements, she had told me those were all forced. She didn't want to be the poster child of the company, but her parents found it necessary that people came to associate her with the Noodle House she was going to inherit. It would make her transition into the new owner easier. So, when I saw Aureole actually smiling, actually enjoying herself, it lit up her entire being. It was like watching a beautiful candle burn in all of its majestic glory.

     However, the first time I ever admitted this to Storm, he went wild with turning it into humor. And those rumors/jokes, whether I liked it or not, had followed me up until the present day. I still caught the parents whispering about us every now and then, as if they were waiting for the day Aureole and I would get together.

     She was the pretty and rich girl; I was the popular and powerful boy. How could we not be a perfect match?

     "It's nostalgic, isn't it?" Morro murmured, saving me from expectations. His gaze was trained on the city beneath the passing clouds, smiling like he wasn't afraid of falling.

     "Yeah, it reminds me of the bedtime stories Father used to tell," I grinned, my face faltering when I remembered why we were here. "I've always wanted to go on an adventure, but now that we're here..."

     Morro looked away, "You wanted to be here for different reasons."

     "I..." I clenched my fists against the railing, "I-I really miss her. I hope she's... she's still alive."

     I didn't miss how a shadow passed over Morro's face, as if he knew something I didn't. Despite the squeals of playing in the background, despite the peace of clouds breezing past our faces, despite the perfect warm air, I suddenly felt cold.

     Morro felt the temperature shift, but he still didn't look at me. "I... I don't think Ver... I don't think she was kidnapped."

    I was not an angry person (mostly due to upholding my reputation), yet this comment set my skin afire. I regarded my brother with a deathly coolness. "What are you suggesting?"

      "She was acting suspicious a few days before she disappeared. I saw her sneaking out of Mother and Father's bedroom. She hadn't been yelling at her hallucinations as much; in fact, her room had been surprisingly quiet in the few nights before she disappeared," Morro wrung his hands.

     "So you're saying she planned this. You're saying Ver, our sweet, innocent, little sister would willingly run away? You're saying she'd betray her flesh and blood to join the villains? That's insanity!"

     "Ver's always been bitter—"

     "She's had schizophrenia on her plate. That's not an easy thing to deal with!" Morro's insinuations were akin to a knife stabbing my heart. It was bad enough my little sister was missing. Now, my twin brother, my most loyal and trusted friend, was implying that she betrayed us.

     "Schizophrenia doesn't explain what Storm and I found after she first disappeared. There was a bunch of stuff that was missing from her room," Morro shot back, though will considerably less fire. "Storm and I searched her room. Her toothbrush was gone, and her favorite shirt, and her—"

     "So she was in her room, wearing her favorite clothes, just happening to be getting ready for bed, when a Vermillion monster broke in through the open window and said 'hey, joining the darkness sounds fun, want to do it?' And Ver was like, 'sure sounds great.' I mean seriously?! How could that even happen?"

    Morro's eyes widened at my outburst, to which I was already grateful the others had gone inside. No one needed to see this side of me. It would utterly destroy the image they'd set up.

     "I guess you have a point," Morro mumbled, retreating back into his shell.

     "Ver didn't run off; case closed. She was kidnapped, and we're going to get her back." I didn't want to silence my brother, but his own delusions were running away with him. There was no way Ver could have run off. She was our sister, and she loved us.

     We stood in silence for a while, feeling the breeze toss our hair, watching the city pass out of view. Morro was visibly uncomfortable, and I was too stubborn to give his ideas merit. In my heart I had forgiven him for his words, but that didn't mean I was going to accept them as true.

     We both jumped when Father's voice rang out behind us.

     "Our next destination is a small town between us and Songdragon Lake. It's a town that will take us about a day's flight to reach. It's called Kunci. The town is a big enough spot to refuel the Bounty, and I heard the dumplings there are excellent. The only thing the town's website advised against is wearing anything out of the ordinary. They also put special emphasis on keeping our valuables locked away. I guess they have some crime, but we've dealt with enough of that here in Ninjago City."

     "Dumplings sound good," I said quietly, not looking at my twin.

     "Anything wrong with you two?" Father instantly noticed the tension.

     "I'm just worried about Ver," Morro said, before going off to his cabin.

     Father watched him leave with a tight face. "We're going to get her back," he murmured, "even if we have to kill five hundred Overlords to do it."

     My grip tightened on the rails. Suddenly, the view didn't seem so wonderful or nostalgic anymore. It was just smoke and distance away from my sister. I wanted to get her back. I wanted to have my family together again. It was supposed to be us against the world.

     I would find whoever did this to her, and they would pay dearly for ever daring to rip our family apart.