So yeah, this feels a lot longer than chapter 6. Guess it makes up for it being shorter? Idk. :) I hope you enjoy! Please vote and comment, and thanks for reading!

I didn't really talk to the servants around the palace. They usually were quietly doing their work, suddenly vanishing when visitors came by. I didn't take much interest in them; I was so absorbed in my studies that I never paid attention to them.

Well, I got bored (big surprise) one night, I'd say two years after seeing the Mask of Deception for the first time. I pretended to be asleep, but around midnight I unhinged my window and crawled out silently.

Walking along the roof and pressing my back to the wall, I found myself facing another tower of the palace. Checking for other people, I swung down from the roof and silently landed on a balcony one story below my room. I did so for two more floors until I reached the ground floors, which were the servant's quarters.

Like I said, I never really got to know any of the servants, much less learn about their daily lives. To my surprise, I found several servants wide awake, pressing sheets and doing other chores. There was a large open area where the servants mingled, and there were old-fashioned tables and chairs neatly pushed together. From the looks of it, this was where the servants came together for mealtimes and some jobs.

A thick cord was strung from one wall to the other, creating a place for the servants to hang clothes from. There were enough clothes to completely cover the cord. They wouldn't notice if two or three clothing items vanished, right?

Crouching on an overhang above the servant's commons, I silently snatched some clothes. I turned them over in my hand, squinting in the dim light offered by the moon and the lamps below me.

I had to repeat that several times before grabbing clothes that fit me and were practical for my needs. (The first couple times, I came up with underwear and a water bottle... somehow.) Bundling them up under my arm, I climbed back to my room (hey, I'm a pretty conservative person) to change into them. Upon my second time climbing out the window, I couldn't help but to notice that the glass was rather thin. If I leaned my full weight on it, I could hear it creaking. If I threw my body against it, the window would most definitely shatter. I took a mental note of that as I carefully opened it again.

I snuck out to the garden and sighed with relief, rolling my shoulders and stretching a bit. It was nice to be able to walk around in something that wasn't a dress.

The garden was my mother's, but the servants were the ones that really kept it all in order. There were cherry blossoms everywhere, gently showering a rain of pink petals on the stone paths and long grasses. There were tall bamboo forests and oak trees blocking out the sky at some times. Carefully trimmed hedges of dark green and deep purple evenly circled a large wishing-fountain in the center, the water shooting into the air even though it was 1 am and nobody was supposed to be looking at it anyway.

To my regret, the only clothes that fit me were a dark green color. It wasn't surprising, for dark green ("jade", as my parents liked to call it) was a signifying color of the Ninjagian royal family. On the bright side, I easily blended in with the surrounding greenery. I walked around the garden, enjoying my freedom and the exhilaration of disobeying the rules. I made sure to stay quiet, as I knew Father liked to keep guards patrolling all the time.

The stomp of boots came from a path ahead of me. I sucked in a gasp and instinctively pressed my back against the wall, carefully peeking around the corner, and sure enough ten soldiers were marching in formation down the path I had been on seconds ago. Had I not ducked away, I would have been in a huge mess.

My heart was pounding. The feeling of adrenaline wasn't something I felt often, but I coped well. I sprinted away from them, praying to the first Spinjitzu Master that I wouldn't be caught. My jika tabi were helpful as my footsteps were completely silent, and I dove for cover under a bush with a wide crown, hiding me behind its thick greenery.

In a minute, the guards passed by my hiding place. I made my way to a waterfall and hid in the little nook behind the water, covered by the darkness. I knew that there was more room than the square foot I was squished into, for I had found it once while playing hide-and-seek with Hutchins. I ran my gloved hand across the stone, feeling for the corner.

Instead, I found a handle. Curiously, I pulled it (I know it's not a smart decision, I was twelve, okay?), noticing it was a gutter grate if the waterfall was to overflow. The gutter was surprisingly large, wide enough for the young me to sit upright. It was empty and dry now, so I crawled into it. The gutter was winding and dark, but soon, to my delight, I found that it was a direct exit to the palace, leading to an inconspicuous alleyway near the abandoned subway station.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I learned a more effective way to escape that prison of a palace.

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My interest in the Masks— along with their creators, the Oni —continued to grow. There weren't many works in the palace library containing information about them, so I had to find an external source.

"Hutchins?"

He turned around, hands behind his back as usual. "Yes, Princess?"

I flattened a wrinkle in my dress and pushed a stand of hair away from my face. "I would like to visit the Library of Domu."

He stood expressionless for a moment, then snapped out of his reverie. "Of course, Princess, though I need to know why exactly." He raised an eyebrow. It wasn't atypical of me to request to leave the palace, but a place as far as the Holy City of Domu was a little unusual. I felt the back of my neck heat up with guilt and anxiety, but I smoothly improvised.

"I just want to study more history in detail. Especially the creation of Ninjago. The textbooks we have here go into depth, but the Library of Domu is known for having unique perspectives." I tucked a strand of white hair behind my gold crown, awkwardly shrinking from the silence between us. Hutchins wasn't a man of many words, but I still haven't gotten used to his silent demeanor. He was always so guarded. No wonder he became a guard.

Ha-ha.

Okay, I'm not the only one who found that funny. Good. (Hutchins, my adoptive parents, and Garmadon never had any sense of humor. Honestly, I'd even resort to the ninja for comical relief.)

Hutchins suddenly turned around. I reflexively flinched, expecting to be punished. You're not allowed to leave the palace, Harumi. You're not supposed to ask Hutchins, Harumi. You're such a troublemaker, Harumi. We've given you everything, why do you not like it? Do you even know what people would give up to be in your shoes?

"Pack your bags. We can take the helicopter to the Holy City of Domu tomorrow morning, after the Emperor and Empress return from their trip."

What?

💮

The Legend of the Oni Masks

Oni History

The Origins of Ninjago

I pored over each of the scrolls. Hutchins was looking for something else (probably about armor-cleaning or something) and wasn't supervising me, which was a surprise. We were in disguise, but as nobody had seen my face for years, they wouldn't have recognized me anyway.

I had carefully read through The Origins of Ninjago and The Legend of the Oni Masks. Most of the information wasn't anything new, but it was unique as my lessons weren't solely based on the Oni.

I still couldn't believe that Hutchins allowed me to visit Domu. He did say, on the way there, that he "understands what it's like to not be able to learn as much as I'd like". I hated when people said they understood me. They would never understand what it was like to lose everything they loved, to be forced into a life they didn't want. They would never understand what I had to go through.

But for the sake of hiding my true emotions and the rare opportunity of a trip, I kept my mouth shut.

Oni History was a rather different take. Right when I unrolled the scroll, I noticed the inside was completely black. There were no words at all, just darkness.

I flipped it over, held it against the light, even rolled it up again, but no avail. It remained a black void of mysteries. Frustrated, I laid it back on the table and set my elbows on it, jamming my palms on my cheeks and glaring at the black parchment. A wisp of white hair fell loose from my bun, and I angrily blew it away only for it to fall back. Why would anyone put a black scroll in a formal library such as this? As a prank? Just to make fun of those without x-ray vision?

I don't know how long I stayed like that-- hunched over, staring at a ridiculously dark piece of paper. The other visitors of the library noticed me and hurried past, as if I was radiating an aura of anger, frustration, and confusion.

"Rumi?" The sound of Hutchins coming near jerked me out of my thoughts. Frantically I raced away to return the scrolls, but in my haste I didn't put Oni History back. I cursed my luck and shoved it into my pack seconds before the guard arrived.

"Ha- There you are, Rumi." He nodded at me. "Ready to leave?" We were dressed in normal attire (well, moderately normal for members of the Ninjagian Royal Family); Hutchins ditched his armor and I got to wear something other than a dress.

I nodded faintly and followed him out the grand doors. I knew that they didn't have an alarm system, at least not an effective one. As long as nobody saw me with the scroll, I wouldn't get in trouble. The thing I was mostly worried about was Hutchins figuring out what I had with me.

When I got back to the palace, I stared at the parchment some more, hoping the scroll would reveal itself, but nothing happened. I refrained from chucking it at the wall, and instead buried it in my stuffed bookshelf to inspect later.

I hadn't noticed the parchment change when I neared the Mask of Deception.