Prologue

Oh shit.This was the only thought that was currently running thought Calli's head. She couldn't believe she'd gotten herself caught like that, or that she tried to steal something else then food. The scrawny teen didn't know why she suddenly felt the need to rob an antique store and steal a bloody staff, something she had no use for at all, really. It was stupid and she was currently too busy berating herself to actually listen to the store owner, who was reprimanding her at the moment.

"Did you hear me?"

Her head snapped up.

"I really am so sorry Mr. O'Neil.; I really don' know what came over me!" Calli bowed her head deeply in apology and some form of respect.

"For this time, I'll believe you, but next time I have no choice but to call the police. Am I making myself clear?" The man gave her a stern look.

The ginger nodded with a gulp. "Crystal sir."

"Then go, and take one of those apples, you look starved."

Doing as he told her, the girl reluctantly grabbed one of the apples, apologized once again and then shot out of the door. The large man looked at her as she passed the windows, her hood back on her head, the apple in her mouth and gloved hands in her pocket.

"You know her?" Mr O'Neil turned to one of their other costumers. An elderly man, dressed in all white, and more or less a steady customer.

"Yeah, that's Calli. the whole city knows her, she ain't a bad girl. No-one knows where she's from, including her. She often steals food from the market, but even then, always takes the near bad food. People take more so she can take some better, but she doesn't want charity, and yet she tried to steal from here. It ain't like her to steal some antiques."

"She has no Family?" Asked the elder, eyebrow raised.

"Not that anyone knows off, according to the police she doesn't even exist in the system and all off their registers. It's a pity really." The manager placed the object Calli had tried to take back to its position in the window. It was an old staff, though it was shaped more like a spear due to the sharp pointed crystal that was placed on the end of it. The body was shaped out of sturdily braided pieces of driftwood and had a seashell at the bottom made out of Ivory.

The older customer suddenly changed the subject. "What did she try to steal?"

"This," The owner pointed to the object. "It's an old weapon, but it mostly serves decorating purposes, bloody thing has been brought back more times than I could count. Often ended up burning people. I'm surprised she could even take It from its place properly."

The elderly man in white seemed to think for a moment.

"Say, where could I find her if she's not in the city?"

"I can' believe I did that!" Calli buried her face in her hands as she let herself fall down in the small makeshift cottage just outside of Ninjago city. The girl really had thought the man was going to call the cops on her. The ginger girl let out a cry of frustration and let herself fall down on the ground. Amethyst eyes cast upon the shabby celling, her feelings in conflict with each other. While most of it where berating herself for steeling an antique. There was a small part of herself that kept telling her to go back and get the thing, despite of everything that just had happened.

She didn't know where that part came from and didn't like it.

It wasn't until 5 minutes later that she stood up again and looked through the large crack that served as a window. It had only been a year since she's moved here from Stiix and just like that dark dreary town, people absolutely despised her. They had good reason though, but that didn't make all the whispers and comments hurt less. She'd been in Stiix for only 2 years and before that, she didn't know. She never remembered anything from before that.

A subtle knock on the door snapped the girl out of her thoughts, no-one ever knocked, no-one came over to begin with.

Calli quietly grabbed a stick off the ground, just to be sure. She knew that if you wanted to break in you usually don't knock, but better safe than sorry.

As the large wooden panel that served as a door slid open, the ginger teen's eyebrows raised in confusion at the old man in front of her door.

"Can I help you, Sir?"

The man gave her a thoughtful look from under the brim of his hat.

"I would like to have a word with you, if that is all right with you? And there is no need for that stick."

Calli slowly lowered the stick and shoved the door further open with a small nod.

She didn't have much possessions, only a set of spare clothes and a violin. Calli looked around her new room, it was small but felt homely none the less.

The red-head put the Violin next to the small desk and her clothes in a drawer. There were some books on the shelves and she grabbed one of them and flipped through it. Her reading abilities weren't very good, she was a slow reader, but she read it anyway.

The man that had offered her a room to stay because he believed no-one should sleep inside the place she did. Calli tried to make clear she was a thief and shouldn't be trusted, he wasn't having any of it. The girl eventually relented and while reluctant, went with the man, called Wu. Calli knew it was something any parent warned their children about, not that she had any.

But in the end, she felt she somehow made the right choice.