"Lloyd?" Lyra knocked on his door a second time. "You in there?"

It'd been a week since Isolated Training. Seven days of the ninja constantly testing their powers out on Lyra and vice versa. Wu and Misako couldn't for the life of them figure out why Lyra couldn't hurt the ninja and why they could barely hurt her back, but they were all exhausted after the non-stop use of their Elements. Even Nya, who didn't have an Elemental power to train with, was tired. She'd been doing all their missions for them and still managed to participate when Lyra tested her powers out.

The wooden door swung open to reveal the blonde, who yawned and sleepily smiled at her. "You're back?"

Lyra grinned. "Yep. Skylor and I had so much fun, and I got to talk to Marissa again!"

Lyra ended up rescheduling with Skylor twice because of how much training they did. Finally, Wu had given them a much-needed rest day, so she of course met up with her sister then. They'd eaten at the Central noodle house then walked to the park and talked about what'd happened in their lives over the past two weeks of living separately. Skylor had demolished the entire criminal aspect of the business, much to Lyra's relief. She was happily living in her apartment and even made friends with a few neighbours.

"Who's Marissa?" Lloyd leaned against the door frame and yawned again. 

"She's the general manager at Central," Lyra explained. "She took care of us whenever we visited there as kids. She's awesome."

"She sounds awesome," Lloyd agreed. "Here, wanna come in so we don't have to stand the whole time?"

"Sure."

Lloyd moved out of the way and gestured for Lyra to enter the room. She gladly did, taking in the decorations.

The room was the same size as hers and set up the same way, with wooden floors, wooden walls, a bathroom attached, a bed in the far corner, and a small desk in the other far corner. The nightstand beside the bed was the same as Lyra's, too, but that was where the similarities ended. He had a closet parallel to the bed, whereas Lyra's was diagonal to her table. What made the room really unlike hers, however, were the LED lights on the ceiling. They glowed bright green and illuminated the whole room, making it appear very different from Lyra's bedroom.

"They help me sleep," Lloyd explained when Lyra shot him a questioning look.

"That's fair. I used to have purple LED lights at the palace," Lyra admitted. "Kinda miss them."

Lloyd sat down on the gold rug on the floor. Lyra joined him.

"I assume there's a reason you came to talk to me?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Lyra grinned, slinging her small backpack off her shoulder. "During Isolated Training, I found out something cool." She unzipped it. "Out."

The origami animals inside--even the dragons--complied, jumping and flying and climbing out of the purple bag. Lloyd could only watch in awe as they surrounded him, trying to figure out who this new person was. 

His eyes were sparkling even more vibrant than usual from the LED lights. Lyra found herself staring when the animals cuddled up to him, immediately taking a liking to the ninja. He laughed an adorable, clear laugh when Lyra's favourite, the smallest frog, nestled into his neck and stayed there.

"This is so cool," he breathed, looking up at Lyra with a breathtakingly sweet smile. "All of this is origami?"

Lyra nodded. "I found out about it during research time. I looked up frog art and origami was the first result. I decided to give it a try and made all these new friends."

The Energy-butterfly Lloyd had made took that moment to follow its friends out of her backpack. It'd stayed with Lyra since Lloyd introduced them to each other. 

"Research time? That's when I made that." Lloyd gestured to the butterfly resting on Lyra's braided hair. "I wasn't able to make more, though. I could only make one, and it'd disappear after a while. This one didn't, weirdly enough."

"Huh. Maybe that's something Sensei meant when he was talking about our Elements being connected," Lyra said, reaching up and allowing the green insect to crawl onto her pointer finger. It still radiated warmth and happiness. "Interesting."

Lloyd nodded, smiling even wider as the tiny frog hopped up onto his nose. "This one is so adorable."

Lyra grinned. "You can keep it, if you want."

"Really?" Lloyd's eyes lit up. "Thank you!"

Lyra shrugged. "Call it a trade for the butterfly. But it's missing something..." She leaned over to him and tapped the frog on his nose, causing Lloyd's cheeks to flush. When she pulled back, the frog was a deep purple colour. "There we go."

The two smiled at each other, watching as the origami played around. The moment was so peaceful, so relaxing, Lyra never wanted it to end.

~*~

The rest of the week passed by in a blur of training, sleep, and more training. Misako was their main supervisor, as Wu had 'something important to do'. Thankfully, she was more lax than Wu and allowed everyone to have breaks whenever they wanted, though the week was still tiring. Finally, it was September 18th, the day before Lyra's birthday, and she was nervous.

This is the first actual birthday party I'm gonna have, she realized, applying her face mask and stepping out of the bathroom to wait.

Chen and Clouse had never really acknowledged her birthday before, usually finding excuses to be out of the palace on that day. Each year, Skylor, Jalin, and Sakura tried their best to do something, but they weren't always able to get her presents, with their limited access to materials, so the three generally made a cake and celebrated with Lyra for thirty minutes before playing whatever game Lyra chose. It was fun, of course, but nothing like the parties Chen threw for Skylor, which lasted the entire day, had every type of food imaginable--including candy, which was something Lyra and Skylor rarely ever had--and generally included extravagant gifts.

Skylor told her this party was going to make up for all Lyra's missed parties, somehow. All Lyra knew was the location, the time, and what she was supposed to wear. Skylor figured everything else out. 

Lyra glanced at the chair next to her table. It had her outfit for the next day resting atop it: a simple black short-sleeved crop top, purple plaid skirt, black leggings, and purple-and-white sneakers.

Just then, she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" she yelled, turning to see who it was.

To her surprise, a mop of curly auburn hair greeted her. Underneath the mess, the Lightning Ninja awkwardly smiled at her. "Hi, Lyric."

"Jay?" Lyra questioned. "I didn't realize your hair was curly."

"I didn't realize your face was green," he responded.

Lyra had completely forgotten she'd just put a face mask on. "It's called skin care. You know what, whatever. Why are you here at 10:30 at night?"

Jay walked in and dramatically laid down on the ground, sighing loudly. "I'm having girl trouble."

Lyra grinned. "That I can help you with."

Twenty minutes later, they had matching green face masks and were sitting on the floor, doing each others' nails. Jay caught Lyra up on all the past drama with Nya liking both him and Cole but not actually liking Cole and just thinking she did. It was quite complicated.

"So, what exactly are you having trouble with currently?" Lyra asked, using her power to dry Jay's newest coat of paint.

Jay went over Lyra's periwinkle nails with silver glitter. "I really like Nya. Like, I really like her. And I can tell she likes me, too! But she keeps on rejecting me and saying she thinks dating will get in the way of our duty. I don't get it. We were dating before and she was fine with it! What changed?"

"You said Cole's totally out of the picture and they've both talked over it and realized they never really liked each other, right?" Lyra asked. When Jay nodded, she continued. "Do you think she's worried something like that will happen again and she'll end up hurting you? Maybe she doesn't trust her own feelings anymore."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Jay admitted. "How'd you think of that so quickly?"

"I read a lot of books," Lyra admitted. "Stuff like that happens in them quite often."

"What do I do about it, though?" Jay adjusted his face mask. "I can't exactly go up to her and say, 'you're afraid of hurting me but I don't care. I'd be hurt by you a thousand times if it meant I could date you again. I think I'm in love with you and I can't imagine life without you. I understand that you're hesitant but I'd do anything for you to realize you really do like me, too.' Wait, or can I--"

"No, you can't," Lyra interjected. "That's definitely coming on too strong. Wait...did you say you love her?"

Jay scratched his head sheepishly. "...Maybe?"

Lyra smiled at him. "That's great, Jay. Love is the most intimate, most meaningful feeling in the world, whether romantic or not. But relationships like this take time. I do believe Nya likes you. She just needs time. A bit of a break to reflect on her feelings, you know?"

"Yeah. It's just...hard. I've been waiting for so long already," Jay complained. "I mean, I'd wait hundreds of years for her, but still!"

"Speaking of..." Lyra hesitated. "What are you gonna do about the whole 'almost-immortality' thing?"

Jay stretched his left hand out and let Lyra add a design. "What do you mean?"

Lyra switched to his other hand. "Well, you're an Elemental Master, and Nya isn't. You have a lifespan that can stretch thousands of years, and she's fully mortal."

"Did no one ever tell you?" Jay frowned. "We can give up the immortality if our love is strong enough. I'm sure mine already is. In fact, I may as well already give it up because--"

"Whoa, slow down." Lyra finished the design in his right hand and took a moment to admire it. "Don't make any clear decisions about something like that. Anything could happen in the next few years. Who knows, maybe you'll fall in love with someone else somewhere down the line?"

"Lyric, she's the only one I'll ever love. I know it," he claimed, putting a hand on his heart. "Immortality wouldn't be worth it without her."

"Just--don't give it up at least until you guys are dating, okay? And then you two can have a serious talk about it," Lyra suggested. "If you do it now, it'd seem like you're coming on way too strong."

"Oh, good point. Thanks, Lyric, you're so good at this type of thing! Can't believe you're so oblivious to your own love life, though."

Lyra's cheeks flared. "What do you mean?"

"Ooh, I really like these!" Jay admired his nails. The index, middle, and pinkie fingers on both hands were a bright, electric blue. The ring finger and thumb were a dark, stormy gray. Each middle finger had a yellow lightning bolt on it. "Thanks! I bet Nya will love them! I definitely do."

"I think she will, too, but that's not what we're talking about," Lyra reminded him. "What 'love life' do I have?"

"You and Lloyd, of course," Jay said as if it were obvious. 

"What? I don't--"

"You both like each other. All of us have noticed," he stated. "You should just get together already so we can come up with an official ship name."

Lyra's entire face was on fire, which was weird because her face mask was a cooling one. "I don't think he likes me."

"So you admit you like him?" Jay sat up straight.

Lyra had been avoiding thinking about that. She didn't really want to establish whether she had a crush on Lloyd or not because it would make everything awkward. But she'd dug herself into a hole by telling Jay everything she had already, and she knew he'd be relentless until she gave him a definite answer. She didn't feel like lying.

"I think so," she murmured. "Oh my goodness, I totally do like him, don't I? I'm so dumb. How did I not realize sooner?" Lloyd's butterfly, which had been sleeping on her desk, took that moment to flit over and land on her head. Its warmth and comfort calmed her panic a miniscule amount.

Lyra thought about Lloyd's green eyes, how she'd been so bewitched by them. How she was still entranced every time she spotted them. How did I not realize sooner? I mean, I had a vague idea that I maybe liked him, but not really. How did I not notice how I blush every single time we're close, and how I think about his freckles and absolutely adorable pointed ears and extremely attractive physique literally all the time?

"Not understanding feelings is natural," Jay said once he was done cheering about how she'd admitted she liked Lloyd. "Though I can't believe it took you this long to realize. It's been what, five weeks since you guys met? You both totally liked each other even back then."

"I still don't think he likes me back."

"He is head over heels for you," Jay informed her. "I can tell. So can everyone else. You guys really aren't good at hiding--"

Lyra fake yawned. "It's 11:20 already, Jay. My birthday party starts in, like, twelve hours. I'm tired."

"Are you kicking me out of your room?" Jay scowled. "This is the part where you're supposed to tell me how much you like him and how adorable he is until I get so tired of it, I leave. I mean, you obviously find him cute, since you're always staring."

"Good night, Jay!" Lyra's traitorous voice was an octave or three higher than usual. "See you tomorrow!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you like him," Jay swore, taking his face mask off and throwing it in the garbage. "As long as you don't tell anyone about the talk we had about Nya."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Lyra got up and escorted Jay out the door. Her eyes softened. "Thank you for helping me realize I do like him, though. I don't know how many months I would've gone on denying it if you hadn't told me."

"Probably a year or two. Good night!" 

Lyra closed the door, wishing him a good night as well. She put a hand over the butterfly, which had made its way to her heart again. "I like Lloyd Garmadon."

She was already coming to terms with the truth, though she knew she'd be up all night thinking about what Jay told her.

"Does he really like me back?" she asked the green Energy-insect.

It didn't reply, though Lyra could've sworn it got warmer.

Lyra thought back to every interaction she'd had with the boy. Every time his cheeks were pink, every time the points of his ears heated up. He did really seem to enjoy her presence. Maybe there was a chance--

"Nah, it's gotta be a coincidence," she decided. "There's no way he likes me." Lyra sighed as she got ready for bed. "There's no way."

~*~

The second Lyra stepped out of her door, she was trapped in a hug. She didn't panic, recognizing Lloyd's woodsy scent instantly.

"Happy birthday!" he exclaimed, holding her tighter. "We're officially the same age."

Lyra chuckled, hugging him back. "Sixteen. Wow, I feel so old now," she deadpanned.

She ignored how much her heart was racing. Now that she knew she liked Lloyd, she seemed hyper-aware of her reactions around him.

Someone cleared their throat, and the two immediately pulled away with flushed cheeks. 

Nya, who'd been the one to clear her throat, shoved Lloyd away to give Lyra a hug, too. "Can't believe you left me as the only fifteen-year-old here."

Jay high-fived Lyra when Nya moved away. "Welcome to the sixteen-year-old club. Also, I like your nails!"

Lyra smirked, showing off the periwinkle nails with silver glitter at the beds of her thumb and ring fingers. "Thanks! I like yours, too!"

Jay admired his blue-and-gray nails again. "Same."

"You guys are crowding around her," Kai complained. "I can't even see her anymore!"

"That's because you're short," Cole told him, pushing his way to the front and hugging Lyra. It felt nice, as if a huge, friendly bear was hugging her. He must've been the one to invent bear hugs.

"Well, not all of us can be 6 foot 3!" Jay reminded him. 

"Yeah, some of us have to take one for the team so the average isn't ridiculously high," Kai added.

"You're just mad because you're both 5'5," Cole scoffed.

"I'm 5'6, Cole!" Jay complained.

"I'm 5 foot 8!" Kai whined at the same time.

"I'm taller than both of you?" Lyra asked, raising her eyebrows. She hadn't realized that. She knew Jay was fairly short, but Kai? His hair must add a couple inches to his height or something.

They both nodded, their shoulders sinking slightly.

"To continue what we were saying, I hope you have a good birthday, Lyra," Zane said, patting her shoulder awkwardly.

"Aw, thanks, Zane." Lyra took the moment to note that Zane was taller than her, though quite a bit shorter than Cole. Maybe around 6'0"?

"Anyways," Lloyd interjected before Kai and Jay could playfully attack Cole, "we have a birthday tradition here."

"Really?" Lyra turned to face him. "What's that?"

"Waffles!" Nya cheered. 

"We've already made them," Cole said.

"You mean Zane, Misako, and I made them while everyone else did whatever they felt like," Kai complained.

Aww, Misako helped? Lyra really liked Lloyd's mom. She was wary of the woman at first, since she'd literally abandoned Lloyd at a boarding school for evil kids, but she didn't know it was for evil people and Wu had been busy at the time, so she had no other place to put him.

"I love waffles," Lyra said. 

"They're not ordinary waffles," Zane told her. "They contain large amounts of strawberries, blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips--"

"Each one's different," Lloyd explained. 

"There are some plain ones, too, but that's boring." Jay was already making his way to the kitchen. "You get first pick, 'cause you're the birthday girl."

"There's also candles and icing," Cole added. "Like cake! And other toppings, of course, like syrup and whipped cream. And they're unlimited!"

Lyra grinned as Lloyd gently took her wrist and began to lead her to the kitchen, the rest of the ninja swiftly following--except Jay, who was far ahead of them.

"You guys took so long," he complained when the group finally made it.

"Don't worry, it just gave me more time to make waffles." Misako smiled at Lyra. "Happy birthday, dear. Sixteen is an important age."

Lyra grinned back. "Thank you."

The scent of waffles flooded her nose. Lyra inhaled deeply, a huge smile making its way to her face. It smelled heavenly.

"Where's Sensei Wu?" Cole asked, looking around as if Wu was disguised as a cupboard or something of the like.

"He's a bit busy at the moment," Misako explained. "I have to join him soon, but I couldn't miss wishing Lyra a happy birthday. And grabbing a waffle or two, of course."

"See you later, Mom." Lloyd waved to her as she exited the room.

"See you, Misako," the ninja, Nya, and Lyra chorused.

"So...waffles?" Jay asked.

Nya handed Lyra a plate. "Here, they're all in the dining room."

The second Lyra walked into the room, her jaw dropped. The elegant table was covered in all types of waffles and pancakes, along with eggs, bacon, toppings, and many types of drinks. It smelled even better than the kitchen, sort of like if the colour gold had a scent.

"You--you guys didn't have to do this," she stuttered.

"Um, of course we had to," Jay said. 

"Yeah, it's tradition for family," Kai added.

Family? Lyra's grin stretched wider.

Her smile didn't go unnoticed. Lloyd nudged her, his expression mirroring hers. "See, you're a part of us now."

"Lyra, I'm hungry," Cole whined. "Can you grab a waffle now so we can sing the song and eat?"

"What song?" Lyra loaded her plate with two chocolate waffles and a banana one.

"The birthday song," Zane told her.

The ninja and Nya immediately broke into song, singing the same song Sakura, Jalin, and Skylor used to sing. 

"Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to Lyra.
Happy birthday to you!"

Lyra blushed and awkwardly stood there until the song was done. As soon as they finished singing, Cole grabbed a bunch of waffles, not bothering to put toppings on them before scarfing them down.

Lyra pulled up a chair. Lloyd and Jay sat beside her, plates full to the brim with food. Lyra hesitantly took a bite of her waffle, which had purple icing spread across it. Her eyes widened as her mouth exploded with sweetness.

"Good, right?" Lloyd chuckled at her expression.

Lyra merely nodded and ate more. 

~*~

Lyra got off her dragon, smiling at a few pedestrians nearby. The ninja, who had been following her, dismounted their beasts. Jay helped Nya off of his. They entered the noodle house, which was the one closest to the sea. The sign said it was closed, since they didn't want any customers walking in on the party. The lights were all off, for some reason.

"Lyra!" Skylor engulfed her sister in a hug. "I missed you! Happy sixteenth birthday!"

Lyra felt two extra pairs of arms embrace her.

"We missed you so much," Jalin said, hugging Lyra tighter.

"How have you been?" Sakura asked on her other side. "We really need to give you our numbers. I meant to ask Skylor, but it slipped my mind."

They pulled away from Lyra and turned to the ninja.

"These are Sakura and Jalin, the ex-Kabuki I told you about," Lyra explained.

"You're the ones that helped me get the spell from Chen!" Nya realized. "Thank you so much! I would've been found if not for your quick thinking."

"We were just trying to help." Jalin's brown cheeks were a faint shade of red, barely perceptible in the dim lighting.

"You helped a lot," Nya said.

"Happy birthday, by the way." Sakura turned to Lyra. "Forgot to say that earlier. I was too happy to see you again."

"Yeah, happy birthday!" Jalin cheered. "This party'll be a lot better than the ones at the palace. Promise."

Lyra smiled. "The ones at the palace were fun, too. And don't worry, when your guys' time comes, you'll have parties just as epic."

Sakura and Jalin also never had birthday parties. They got the same thing as Lyra: a cake made by Skylor and Lyra and getting to choose the game to play for that day.

"Uh, not to interrupt, but why are the lights off?" Kai asked.

"Oh, I forgot about that!" Skylor flicked the light switch, making everyone hiss in pain as the bright light flooded the room.

Lyra gazed around, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. There were purple balloons and streamers everywhere. All the tables were pulled together to make one giant table, which was full of food.

In the corner, a booth had gift bags and wrapped presents stacked together. 

"You really didn't have to do--"

"Of course we did," Skylor interrupted, taking both of Lyra's hands and making eye contact. Her brown eyes were warm. "You deserve it."

"So, uh...when do we eat?" Cole eyed the food on the table.

"Cole, we ate three hours ago," Kai reminded him.

"Exactly! I'm hungry!"

While the two argued, something outside caught Lyra's eye. She turned around, a hand on one of her daggers.

Two small Venomari were raising their arms above their heads as a woman in tall heels hit them repeatedly with her heavy-looking purse. The green snakes shrunk away from her, obviously not wanting to engage in combat.

Lyra acted on instinct, running out of the restaurant. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Lyra!" Skylor yelled, trying to grab her sister's hand as Lyra shut the door behind her.

The woman, who had dyed blue hair cut in a bob and a beige cardigan on, whipped around to face Lyra. "None of your business!"

"Um, it certainly looks like my business." Lyra walked in between the woman and the snakes, pushing her away. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't have to tell you anything, girl." The woman glared at her, gray eyes stormy. 

"Mama, they didn't do anything!" a voice cried from behind the lady.

Lyra peeked around her. There was a young boy, looking around five or six years old, situated directly behind the woman.

"We were just talking," one of the Venomari hissed. To Lyra's surprise, she sounded to be around the same age as the boy. "I promise! I recognized him from the battle with the fake Anacondrai! We're friends."

"No reptile is allowed to talk to my sweet boy!" the woman screeched.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lloyd stepped out of the restaurant, his ninja mask pulled on.

"Overprotective Karen mom," Lyra informed him. 

"Hey, you're the one they told us about!" the other Venomari, who seemed to be around the same age as his friend, realized. "Lady Lyra!"

Lyra flushed at the title. "Yes, that's me."

"Green Ninja--Lloyd, I think your name is--I am in the right," the woman swore. "These snakes attacked my precious Jayden!"

"Jayden, is that true?" Lyra asked the boy.

"No! We're friends!"

"Well, that clears it up," Lloyd said. He raised his chin. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to exit the premises before we're forced to arrest you."

"But--I--" the lady stuttered.

"What's your name?" Lyra questioned, crossing her arms.

"Her name is Kate," the boy piped up. 

"Look, Kate, get the hell out of here before we have to resort to physical measures. This is assault and highly illegal. If you're caught doing this again, I will make sure you are taken to court and punished properly for your actions," Lyra said. "Do you understand?"

"But--"

"Do. You. Understand?" Lyra took a step closer. Her eyes were a vivid royal blue and her power was swirling around her daggers in purple whirls of paint. 

"Yes," the woman squeaked. "I understand."

Lyra smiled, her power disappearing. Her eye colour didn't change back, though. "Perfect! And these lovely Serpentine--which are children, by the way--are allowed to visit your son whenever they wish, right? And they'll tell me when you turn them down, so I'll know if you don't keep up your end of the deal."

"Yes!"

"Thank you for your cooperation. You are free to go, Kate."

The woman scurried off, dragging her poor son with her. The black-haired boy waved to his friends and thanked Lyra with a smile before they turned the corner.

"Lyra--" Skylor, who'd been there almost the entire time, breathed. "That was badass."

Lyra nodded to her with a small smirk before turning to the Venomari children. "Do you two live nearby?"

"No, we got lost," the girl admitted. "Then we saw our friend and wanted to say hi, but that mean lady hit us! It--it hurt."

Lyra knelt down to make eye contact with both of them, taking one of their hands in each of hers. "I'm so sorry people like her exist. They're disgraces to the human species. Are you two okay?"

"My head hurts," the boy admitted. 

"My cheek got hit," the girl added, wincing as she rubbed her green cheek with a scaly hand.

"What are your guys' names?" Lyra asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lloyd rush into the restaurant with Skylor, Jalin, Sakura, and the rest of the ninja. She hoped they were getting medical supplies. The children's bruises looked nasty, and they hadn't even fully formed yet. 

"I'm Marsha, and he's Basil," the girl told her, pointing to her friend as she introduced him.

The ninja came back out with a First Aid kit. They handed it to Lyra, who thanked them.

"Those are super cool names!" Lyra gushed. "You already know mine, right?"

"Yep! You're the saviour of the Serpentine! Everyone knows who you are!" Basil exclaimed. His voice was adorably squeaky.

"Yeah, you smell like us," Marsha added.

"I do?" Lyra frowned. It wasn't like the Serpentine smelled bad, per se, but the thought of smelling like snakes wasn't exactly comforting. "Also, Zane, could you make two ice packs?"

The two kids watched in awe as the Ice Ninja used his powers to create two ice cubes around the size of his hands. Lyra got a good look at them as they did so. Marsha had dark green scales with yellow accents and black, heart-patterned scales sporadically placed. Her four eyes were a pretty emerald green. She was wearing a plain green T-shirt and blue jeans. Meanwhile, Basil had greenish yellow scales, a colour Lyra hadn't seen on any other Venomari before, with teal highlights and white, diamond-patterned scales randomly dotting his body. He was wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. His eyes--he only had two--were a strange, dark orange shade that Lyra had never seen on any Serpentine.

"Here you go." Lyra wrapped their wounds in bandages and handed them the ice packs. "You said you're lost, right?"

Marsha nodded. "This city is so big and there are so many turns! It's even more confusing than the sewers."

At Lyra's confused look, Lloyd leaned over and explained that the Serpentine lived underground in tombs connected to the sewer system.

"We'll help you find your way back, then," Lyra decided. "But first..." She turned to Zane. "Are Serpentine allergic to ice cream?"

Zane shook his head. "The Serpentine have no allergies. It's coded into their genetics to be able to eat anything they wish."

"That's so cool." Lyra grinned at the two children. They were on either side of her, holding onto her hands. They deserved a treat after what they'd been through. "You guys wanna get some ice cream?"

"What's ice cream?" Basil wondered.

"You don't know what ice cream is?" Kai broke in. "Kid, you're in for a treat."

"Have you ever heard of cake?" Cole asked.

"What's that?" Marsha frowned.

"Ok, um," Lyra started before Cole could die of shock, "when do your parents want you back?"

"Dinnertime at the latest," the two said in sync.

"Would you like to stay with us for a bit, then?" Lyra offered. "It's my birthday party right now."

"Wow! I've never been invited to a party before!" Basil exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. "So cool!"

"What are human parties like?" Marsha questioned. "Serpentine parties involve a lot of the Slither Pit, but we're not allowed to watch those because we're too young."

Lyra remembered Clouse teaching her about Slither Pits. They were arena fights that the Serpentine had for fun--or to choose their leader. The Tournament of Elements was heavily based off of them. "There won't be any fighting here, don't worry. Just food and presents."

"Humans get birthday presents, too?" Basil squealed. His orange eyes were faintly glowing. "This is awesome!"

Lyra chuckled. "From what I can tell, Serpentine and humans are very similar, though our cultures are a bit different."

"When I get older, I want to go into Human Studies." Basil puffed his chest out. "Like Marsha's mom. They teach all the younger kids about humans and their history!"

"That's so cool! And what do you wanna be when you grow up?" Lyra led everyone back inside the restaurant as she spoke to Marsha.

"I don't get a choice," Marsha sighed. "Since my mother's a teacher and my father's a guard, and both are very important jobs that we can't give to just any snake, I'm the closest heir."

"Heir?" Jay questioned, sitting down at a booth. "Heir to what?"

"Leadership of the Venomari tribe," she explained, wilting a bit.

Lyra tilted her head at the child. She couldn't be more than six years old, yet she knew she had so much responsibility in store for her. Her future was inescapable. It just wasn't fair.

"You're related to General Acidicus?" Lloyd asked, sitting down next to Jay.

"Oh, he's the General now?" Lyra wondered. "When'd that change? Last time I checked, it was Venoma."

"Venoma is an elder now," Basil piped up. "She retired and let her son, Acidicus, take charge."

Marsha nodded. "Pythor made her. She openly disagreed with his views on the Great Devourer, so he forced her to retire. Grandpa also didn't agree with him, but Pythor had the Constrictai, Fangpyre, and Hypnobrai on his side, so he had to go along with it."

So General Acidicus is her grandfather, Lyra noted, and Venoma is her great-grandmother. She wondered what it was like to have grandparents. Most of her books described them as either saints or very traditional and insane. Both of her pairs of grandparents were dead. Chen killed his own parents and Stella, Master of Performing, and her husband were killed by unknown individuals during the Serpentine War.

"Man, I didn't realize some Serpentine didn't like the idea of the Great Devourer," Cole murmured.

"Most of us didn't," Basil explained. "At least, the Hypnobrai didn't. But Pythor convinced us that the Great Devourer would save civilization from the Golden Master."

"How did you know the Hypnobrai didn't?" Zane frowned. "You are a Venomari, correct? You would have stuck close to the Venomari clan, not the Hypnobrai."

"I--um--well--" Basil stuttered.

"You don't have to tell us," Lyra reassured, taking her hand out of his and placing it on his shoulder instead. "But I promise we wouldn't tell anyone if you don't want us to."

"She's Lady Lyra," Marsha told Basil. "She can be trusted. She and her bloodline saved us many times, remember?"

How much does Marsha know about my family? Lyra wondered. And how many times have my ancestors saved the Serpentine?

"Okay..." Basil hesitated, taking a deep breath. "I'm a hybrid. It's why my scale colours and eye colours are so weird. My mom is Sapphiraa, a Hypnobrai. She's Unc--General Skales's sister. My dad is Viscero, a Venomari. When the Serpentine were entombed by the Elemental Masters, Lyra's mother, Lila Soun, allowed my parents to live together with the Hypnobrai tribe. I grew up with the Hypnobrai but the kids bullied me because I look more like a Venomari than Hypnobrai, and I'm not the best at hypnotizing. When Pythor reunited us, the Venomari noticed that one of their own was with the Hypnobrai, and Viscero came clean to them."

"How'd they react?" Lyra wondered.

This poor kid, she thought. Bullied for something he can't even control. And, just now, being bullied for something he can't control again. 

"They didn't really care. My father's a low-class foot soldier, so no one but my aunt even noticed he was missing," Basil explained. "That's when I met Marsha."

"I made all those bullies regret saying a word to him," Marsha smirked.

"She's the only Venomari whose power affects other Serpentine," Basil explained. "She used it on them until they promised to be nice to me."

"Wait, so you can hypnotize and use your venom?" Jay wondered.

"Yup."

"That's so cool!"

"I got your ice cream," Skylor announced, emerging from the kitchen with a few buckets of different ice cream flavours in her arms. "What kind do you want? We've got vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chip, um...what else?"

"Pistachio, blueberry cheesecake, cookie dough, cotton candy, bubblegum, salted caramel, green tea, lemon, mango, rocky road, and coffee," Lyra listed.

"How do you have that memorized?" Cole wondered. 

"I've had to say it many times," Lyra explained. "Skylor always got to work in the kitchen and I was stuck as a waitress. Our menu doesn't have all the flavours on it, for whatever reason."

"It does now, actually," Skylor corrected, placing the buckets on a nearby table. "And I added a few more artistic details, like you suggested."

"Ooh, I'll have to take a look at it later," Lyra said. "Anyways, Basil, Marsha, what do you want?"

"Can I have blueberry cheesecake?" Marsha asked, eyeing the ice cream with sparkling eyes. They looked like actual emeralds.

"And can I have mint chip?" Basil added.

"Of course you can." Skylor grinned at the pair, scooping their flavours into cones and handing one to each of them. "What does everyone else want?"

"I'll take coffee," Jalin said. "And Sakura's in the restroom right now, but she'll have strawberry in a bowl."

Skylor nodded. Lyra helped her scoop out the ice cream for their friends as everyone else said what they wanted.

"Ew, I don't think I like this," Marsha whined, recoiling from her blue ice cream.

"I don't, either," Basil said. "Hey, wanna trade?"

"Sure!" Marsha handed him her cone and took his mint chip. She gave it an experimental lick. "That's so good!"

"I don't know what you were talking about, Marsh," Basil told her. "This kind is the best!"

Lyra chuckled at the two, handing Cole his rocky road. "They're so cute."

"Right?" Jay took a bite out of his cotton candy cone. "I never realized Serpentine were so...normal."

Jalin handed Sakura the bowl of strawberry ice cream when she returned. "Here."

Sakura smiled at her friend. "You remembered!"

"Of course I did." Jalin took Sakura's hand in hers. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I forgot."

Sakura stared, eyes wide, at their intertwined fingers. "Y-yeah."

Lyra smirked, sharing a look with Skylor. Neither of them failed to notice how nervous the two suddenly were.

Everyone ate their ice cream together, laughing and teasing each other. Kai and Jay were telling the Serpentine tales of their ninja adventures, and they were hanging on his every word, entranced. Sakura and Jalin were feeding each other their ice creams, giggling whenever they missed. Cole and Zane were engaged in a conversation about how ice cream cake was made. Nya and Skylor complained to each other about different fighting styles and how awkward they felt. Lyra simply watched her friends have fun. 

"I never want this to end," she murmured to Lloyd.

Lloyd licked his pistachio ice cream. "It's times like this where I really appreciate life. It has its ups and downs, of course, but your outlook on the world makes all the difference. If you focus on the downs, you're gonna be sad. If you focus on the ups, you're bound to be happier."

"This is definitely an up," Lyra decided, grinning as Kai and Jay used their hands to animate their story. "Is this what family feels like? It's like a warm, fuzzy feeling."

"That's exactly what it feels like. This is your home, Lyra. Everyone feels the same about you as you feel about them."

"I'm starting to see that, now," she admitted. "I think I like this new life."

"Me too."

Word count: 6.3k

Idk when I'll update next cuz exams are stressing me out sm but I'll try to have smth by the end of the month at the latest which ik is late but I can't risk failing my exams lol

QOTD: What's your favourite breed of dog?

A: Poodles for sure. They're, like, the second smartest dog breed (I think lmao) and are just so ADORABLE. My old dog was a poodle/yorkie/shih tzu mix and my current one is an aussiedoodle so I might be a bit biased but still

As always, please comment and/or vote! They really do help with motivation, especially rn when I'm suffering from writer's block

Don't forget to eat, drink water, and have enough sleep! Please just take care of yourself.

~Aspen<3