"Your room, Mistress Lyra," Sakura told Lyra, opening the deep purple door and turning on the lilac LED lights with a snap of her fingers.

Wow. I didn't realize Chen told them they could speak to us. He must want to impress the guests. 

Lyra thanked her friend, walked in, and closed the door behind her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar scent of lavender and eucalyptus. It relaxed every muscle in her body. She felt completely at peace, as if everything was right in the world.

The room was entirely purple. The walls were a light shade of indigo, while the floor was made up of entirely dark purple carpet. Her bed was lavender, with a silver canopy frame and mauve curtains. The shades by the windows were also lavender, as well as the plush couch and the multiple cushioned armchairs. The walls were decorated with amethysts. It was the epitome of luxury, and Lyra loved it, though she did sometimes think she had too much space.

Of course, all she had to do was press the central amethyst button, and the platform underneath would take her down into her studio, but it wasn't the time for that. Instead, she laid down on her soft bed, relishing in the comfort of the blankets.

"I missed you," she murmured to them. She sounded absolutely insane, but sleeping in the booths at the Central restaurant had been very uncomfortable. Her neck would probably be sore for life.

Lyra then realized she hadn't even bothered to see who was in the room next to her. There'd only be one person, since her room was the farthest to the right. 

I really hope it isn't one of the ninja, she thought. Though I wouldn't put it past Father to arrange that.

She walked out onto the balcony, hoping the mystery fighter would be there. To her surprise, he actually was.

"Lloyd?" she asked, hating how quiet her voice became. 

The Green Ninja was leaning on the balcony, looking out toward the slowly setting sun with a calm expression. His freckles shone golden in the fading sunlight. He looked like he belonged in the cover of a romance novel. He turned to face her. Lyra's face turned red upon seeing his outfit. He was wearing a green muscle shirt, something she had never actually seen anyone wear in real life, simply because she rarely interacted with boys. It was very evident that he worked out often.

I never realized it made them look so...different. And not exactly in a bad way.

She averted her eyes, looking firmly at her feet.

"I never caught your name," he reminded her. "And how do you know mine?"

"Well, you're the Green Ninja," Lyra murmured, still avoiding eye contact. "Everyone knows your name."

"And yours is...?"

"Lyra," she said, finally looking up. She immediately regretted it because his eyes were so...

She didn't even have the words to describe them, and she was a poet. They were every shade of green imaginable, with so much kindness hidden behind, plus another emotion she didn't quite recognize. They were a meadow of lush, green grass, an ancient woodland forest, a field of half-grown plants, a cave of emeralds, a living embodiment of the northern lights Lyra so often painted. They mystified Lyra, and she subconsciously shifted forward to get a better look at him.

They reminded her of the spring, of the forest on the island. They were like the eastern side of the forest--her favourite side. Sparkling like sunlight filtering through leaves, they were easily the prettiest thing Lyra had ever seen. She'd love to gaze into them all day, to paint them over and over again until she had the image of them burned into her memory until she had every detail captured in all of its glory.

Lyra wanted to take a picture right then and there. She couldn't believe how stunning the Green Ninja was. Of all people, Lloyd Garmadon! There were layers in his eyes, reaching depths of which Lyra couldn't fathom. Each layer was a new shade of green, blending together into what Lyra could only describe as the most beautiful jewel in all of Ninjago.

Lyra flushed as she remembered Lloyd was very much a living thing who was extremely aware of what she was doing. She tried to pry her eyes away from his, but she couldn't. They were like strangling seaweed, appearing soft, harmless, even pleasant until they grabbed onto her with an intense and unwavering grip. 

You're staring. Stop it, she told herself sternly, switching her gaze to his forehead instead. Remember, he's the enemy. 

She was so intent on not looking at his eyes, she almost jumped when he spoke again.

"That's a... a pretty name." He rubbed the back of his neck. His being awkward was so strangely cute, Lyra almost died on the spot. "So... what Elemental Power do you have?"

Lyra, still starstruck, opened her mouth, then closed it. She'd forgotten how to speak. 

Just then, the fanfare played from the speakers again, absolutely saving her butt. Lyra's father called out, "Hello, my fighters! Hidden around my island are enough Jade Blades for every participant except for one. The one who returns to the Palace Arena empty-handed loses. The tournament begins...now!"

Lloyd's eyebrows raised. He obviously hadn't been expecting a challenge this quickly. Lyra watched him as he looked around for a Jade Blade. She tensed as his eyes quickly shifted to a spot directly under her balcony, where she'd previously hidden a Jade Blade for herself.

Don't you dare, she thought, preparing to throw her paintbrush at him to get to the Blade first. Not that a paintbrush would do much, but it was all she had on hand.

To her surprise, he just rotated on his heels and walked back into his room, calling, "There's a Jade Blade under your balcony, if you want it."

Lyra blinked. What? 

~*~

"Two Jade Blades remaining," Clouse called as Jacob, Master of Sound, put one on the golden statue. 

Skylor and Lyra liked to call it a Christmas tree because it had green spikes in every which way when all the Jade Blades were in it. 

They were back in the Palace Arena, every Elemental Master--except for Cole, Kai, and Karlof--standing around and making small talk with each other.

Lyra was examining her blue nails, wondering what colour she should repaint them to. Skylor, meanwhile, was pacing in circles around her, probably making a path in the carpet.

The doors were pushed open. "Wait! I got one!" Cole ran in, Jade Blade raised high in the air. It reflected the light of the chandelier above them, shining directly into Lyra's eyes and momentarily blinding her.

I feel like it's dangerous to run with a dagger like that, Lyra thought, shielding her face with her hands. Then again, he's a ninja. They're just... weird. In general. 

"Cole!" Jay cried. "Woohoo, you made it!"

Cole looked around. "Where's Kai?"

The ninja's silence was very loud. It sliced through the rest of the crowd like a Jade Blade, cutting the sound into nothing. Every Elemental Master watched as Jay and Lloyd avoided eye contact with their teammate, neither one wanting to be the bearer of bad news.

"Only one Jade Blade remaining," Chen announced.

Skylor pursed her lips and began pacing faster, muttering something Lyra didn't quite catch. She vaguely reminded Lyra of a story she'd heard of a woman stuck in an insane asylum who slowly went insane because of the environment, or something. 

"Sky, everything will be fine." Lyra moved closer, so no one could hear what she said next. "He's a ninja, and, no matter how evil they are, they're sneaky. He'll get the Blade."

"Maybe I'm just worried for Karlof," Skylor suggested, still pacing. "Ever thought of that?"

"No, because you aren't," Lyra scoffed.

Just then, loud footsteps echoed through the hallway. Lyra turned and gasped as she saw Karlof holding the blade.

"Ha, ha, ha! Karlof wins!" He held the blade up in victory.

Behind him, Kai unscrewed his metal glove. "Ha, ha! Looks like you got a screw loose!" He cheered, picking up the dropped Jade Blade and running to the statue, putting it in the last slot before Karlof could even register what was happening.

Everyone cheered. Lyra watched as Skylor and Kai made eye contact. She kept watching as Skylor's face turned the same shade as her hair.

"We have a loser!" Chen yelled.

"That's not fair," Karlof grumbled. "He cheated."

"I did what I had to do," Kai defended, shrugging. 

"That is not how you win," Garmadon lectured.

Isn't this what you taught him? 

"Fine, I lose. Karlof never wanted to be on stinking island."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your stay," Chen pouted. "I guess this worked out for the best. This is goodbye!"

Lyra's father pressed one of the thousands of buttons on his throne, and a trapdoor swung open underneath Karlof. He screamed as he fell for an indefinite amount of time.

Lyra absent-mindedly wondered which cell that trapdoor in particular led to. 

"As you can see," Chen continued calmly, "lose and you are out. Break any rule, you are out. Never bite the hand that feeds you... Master Chen Delicious Noodles! Now, rest up. Tomorrow, the tournament will recommence."

A servant banged the gong, signalling the end of their challenge.

~*~

Lyra walked up to the ninja's table, a tray of food in hand. She smiled at Lloyd. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Go away, pal!" Jay yelled. "This is private."

Lyra took a step back. Obviously, she hadn't gained his trust yet. She'd have to work on that. "Oh...um...I'm sorry for interrupting. I'll just...go." She moved to join Skylor, but a voice stopped her.

"Wait," Lloyd called. "You can sit with us!"

Lyra returned instantly. "Are you sure? I don't wanna be a bother..."

Lloyd beamed at her. "You? A bother? I don't think that's possible."

Lyra felt her eyes widen and she hid further in her deep purple hoodie. "O--okay." 

Lloyd moved over and patted the bench beside him. Lyra slowly sat down, giving him a small smile.

"Jay, that was mean to just shout at her like that," Lloyd lectured.

Lyra shrugged. "I didn't really min--"

"How are we supposed to know if we can trust her?" Jay questioned. "Do you even know her name? Ugh, see what this island is doing to me?"

Ok, just pretend like I don't exist. Perfect.

"Sorry about him," Lloyd whispered, moving so close to Lyra, she could feel the heat emanating from him. Her eyes widened and she tried her hardest not to blush. "He gets like this sometimes."

"It's ok," Lyra whispered back. "Really."

She started to eat some of the noodles, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"So, what's your name?" Garmadon asked her after a few minutes of quiet.

"Lyra," she murmured, so quiet she wasn't sure if he could hear her. She shrunk into her hoodie even more.

"What?" Jay asked. "Lila?"

Lyra bit her tongue. An image of a girl who looked very similar to her flew into her mind. It was a picture that Chen had hidden in his closet. Lyra found it when she was five or six, and Skylor told her it was their mother. Her name had been Lila. 

Lyra never knew her, but Skylor had a few memories of the woman. Apparently, she had been kind and brave and nurturing, and had looked almost exactly like Lyra except her eyes.

One of her eyes was blue, the same sky blue as Lyra's, and the other was a deep brown, like Skylor's.

Lyra hissed in pain, bringing a hand to her mouth.

"She said Lyra." Cole rolled his eyes. "Are you deaf?"

"Not my fault she's so quiet!" Jay whined.

"Jay!" Kai rebuked. "Don't be rude."

"Are you alright?" Lloyd asked, one of the only ones who noticed her reaction.

Garmadon was staring at Lyra, head tilted a fraction to the left. She had to refrain from squirming under his gaze. She felt like he was reading her mind and discovering all her secrets.

"What's your last name?" he suddenly asked.

Shit shit shit shit.

"Yes, sorry, I just bit my tongue." Lyra smiled weakly at Lloyd, pretending she hadn't heard his father. "I think I should go now, though."

"Why?" asked Lloyd, frowning. "Is it because of Jay? It's not that he doesn't like you or anything, I promise. He's just...weird."

"Hey, I heard that!"

Lyra shook her head. "I really need to get sleep. I'm sure tomorrow's going to be tiring." She got up, taking her tray with her. "This was...fun. Thank you."

She rotated on her heels and speed-walked away, focusing intently on the floor. When she turned the corner, she caught Garmadon still staring. A small frown had made its way to his face.

~*~

"47, 48, 49, 50!" Skylor jumped up, done with her one-armed push-ups. "Small break, then time for the other arm."

Lyra smiled, not that her sister could see it. She was facing the door in Skylor's room, painting the ninja from right before she sat down with them. She'd gotten everything accurate, down to Jay's shocked expression and Garmadon's smile that could mean a million different things--except one tiny detail.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not paint Lloyd's eyes. They were too intricate for her to even hope to get every detail right. She didn't even know where to start. The freckles were difficult, as well. She'd ended up flicking the tip of her paintbrush to get them right, but they still looked...off.

"Are you still working on that?" Skylor asked. "I thought you only had to finish Lloyd's face, like, an hour ago. What's taking so long?"

"I can't get his eyes right!" Lyra threw her hands up in the air, almost spilling a shade of emerald green paint in the process. "There are so many different kinds of green in them, and there's this underlying...emotion that I just keep messing up on! Plus, they're just. SO. PRETTY!"

She could've sworn she heard a noise from the tunnel outside Skylor's room. Lyra glanced suspiciously at the portrait of Clouse in the corner, then brushed the feeling that she was being watched away.

Shoot, I said that out loud. I'm never gonna hear the end of this.

"How long have you been doing just his eyes?" Skylor began her push-ups again, this time with her left arm. 

Oh, she didn't hear me. Thank the First Spinjitzu Master.

"For the past..." Lyra checked the time, "30 minutes!"

"Lyra, respectfully, take a break."

"Says you! You've been training since dinner! That was six hours ago!" Lyra reminded her.

"And you've been painting since then," Skylor pointed out.

She got her there.

"How about we both take a break?" Lyra suggested. "I still need to practice that piano piece, and you can experiment with your powers."

"Oh, that reminds me." Skylor put a hand in front of her and flexed her fingers.

Immediately, flames burst out of the tips and danced their way up to her wrist, staying there. Lyra watched, open-mouthed, as her sister changed the colours of the fire. First they were red, then orange, then yellow, then blue, then purple, then green, and so on. That, plus the gentle yet steady flickering of the fire, was bewitching.

"And it doesn't hurt at all? Do you even feel the heat?" Lyra asked.

"Not at--" Skylor was cut off by a loud noise.

Both girls jumped and grabbed the nearest weapons, Skylor's being a pillow and Lyra's a paint palette.

"What was that?" Lyra whispered. 

"It sounded like it came from the Clouse painting," Skylor said.

The sisters crept toward the life-size portrait--a birthday present Lyra made a while back, but Clouse didn't like it and wound up giving it to Skylor--and looked through the peepholes.

Nothing was there.

"We must be hearing things," Skylor muttered. 

"Or..." Lyra cupped her hands around Skylor's ear, whispering, "Father could be taking Karlof's power right now."

"Good point. Either way, I'm gonna cover this up." Skylor took one of Lyra's sponges from her pencil case and messily cut it into two circles, then put the circles in the eye holes of the portrait. 

"Not suspicious at all," Lyra deadpanned.

"Do you still have those small bells from that composing project you had a while back?" Skylor asked.

"Yeah, they're actually still in the pencil case." Lyra picked up her pencil case and threw it to Skylor.

The redhead rummaged through the case until she found the bells, then some glue. She glued them to the sponges.

"There. Now, if someone tries to move the sponges, I'll hear, because the bells will ring, or at the very least make a clang as they hit the ground. If I'm not in the room when they do it, I'll notice that the sponges are gone," Skylor explained.

"Perfect. Now I'm gonna go to my studio and practice piano. Can I just leave the painting here? At least until it dries?"

"Of course. Just take the paints back with you because I can guarantee I'd trip over those in the morning," Skylor joked. "Oh, and Lyra?"

"Yeah?"

There was a twinkle in Skylor's brown eyes. "Don't think I didn't hear you say Lloyd's eyes are pretty."

Lyra groaned, knowing she was never gonna live that down.

What do you think?

Word count: 2.8k

QOTD: If you could have any Elemental Power, which one would you pick?

A: Wind. I love the idea of flying and feeling free or even just air-drying my hair instantly, plus having like perfect aim on anything once I get enough control over the wind to carry things with it. I honestly just think it'd be awesome and so much fun.

Please do comment and vote because, once again, it helps with motivation and motivation=writing often

Remember to drink water, eat food, and get an appropriate amount of sleep for your age please<3

~Aspen