AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks to TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, lovesgod12, and AveXCninja11 for your encouraging comments on the previous chapter!
The original accounts of past events referenced in the chapter below can be found in The Fire Within: The Valentine Incident, Chapters 6 & 7 & 10, and The Fire Within, Chapter 34.
In the chapter below, we discover what the phone call was about...
Chapter 2 - Duty Calls
Cole, who went to answer the ringing phone, spotted the engaged couple kissing down the hall just before he entered the control room, where the phone was located. He smiled, thinking of his own girlfriend, Brooke.
After a few seconds, he emerged from the control room. "The phone's for Sensei. Is he still on the training deck?"
Kai and Sam finished exchanging tokens of affection and turned their attention to the earth ninja. "As far as I know, he's still out there," Kai surmised.
The couple followed Cole back to the main area of the ship's interior, where Kai reunited with his abandoned glass of iced tea. Sensei was found and alerted to the incoming phone call.
Sensei was on the phone for quite a while. Jay, Kai, and even Lloyd had enough time to freshen up before Sensei finally emerged from the control room.
"Sam, what time will the dinner be ready?" he asked.
"About six o'clock, Sensei."
"Then, my pupils, I would like to call a team meeting at 4:30 in the living room. Please be on time, as the subject matter is very important."
"Yes, Sensei," the ninja brothers responded as Sensei left to go to his room.
"Dang, I'd better take my turn in the shower! Not much time left," Cole exclaimed, hurrying off to the bunkroom.
The front door opened and Nya walked in with a stack of books.
"Oh, hi, Nya! How was the library?" Sam greeted her.
"Nice and air conditioned!" Nya laughed.
Since Kai and Sam's plan to work on wedding invitations before dinner was now preempted, they simply set the table early, since Sam was concerned that the clanking of dishes might disrupt Sensei's meeting.
At 4:30, Sam and Nya sat in the kitchen, listening to Sensei tell his assembled pupils in the living room that Mr. Francis, the head of the Ninjago Department of Natural Resources, had called that afternoon. The forest fires that were currently decimating large areas of acreage in the mountainous northwestern region of Ninjago were becoming extremely difficult to contain. Thanks to the lack of rain, the fires had been burning for weeks, depleting fire fighting supplies and draining the energy of the fire fighting personnel. So the department head called to ask for help from the Protectors of Ninjago.
"Therefore, I have decided to send Cole, Zane, and Kai to assist in the fire fighting," Sensei explained. "Cole will help one group of emergency personnel shore up earthen walls as natural barriers against the fires. Zane will help another group douse flames with ice. And Kai will help a third group set backburn fires to counteract the wildfires."
"To burn brush before the wildfires can get to it and use it as fuel?" Kai clarified.
Sensei nodded. "That is correct. Oh, and Kai, I have already telephoned the president of the Ninjago City Park District to explain that on this coming Friday and the one following, you will be unavailable to give your weekly fire safety talk to the Lake Ninjago youth campers."
Last February, Kai had set the Park District's concession building at Lake Ninjago on fire in an attempt to defeat the evil sorcerer Sebastian. Sebastian was captured, and the park district's insurance policy paid for a new building, but the District asked Kai to speak to the different groups of young summer campers about the importance of being careful with fire.
"Thanks for taking care of that, Sensei," Kai replied. "So when do we leave for the mountains?"
"You three will leave on your dragons right after dinner," Sensei said, looking over at Sam.
Upon hearing this, Sam's heart sank. In only about two hours, her fiance was going to leave for a faraway place to do some danger-prone work for who knew how long. But, she told herself, this sort of thing is what she had to expect when she said yes to the red ninja's proposal of marriage on Valentine's Day, so she simply blinked her eyes quickly to stop the welling of her tears.
"I'll get some snacks ready for the trip," she volunteered, trying to keep the quavering out of her voice.
"Thank you, Sam," Sensei responded kindly, for he knew what was going through her mind.
Then he turned to his pupils, the ones who had just been assigned to the mission. "Why don't you three pack your duffel bags before we have dinner? I can tell we have a good meal in store - the pork chops smell delicious."
"All right. After I pack, I'll give Brooke a call to let her know where I'm going," Cole said as he stood up to go to the ninjas' room. Almost a year ago, the black-clad warrior began a relationship with the willowy brunette, who had been Sam's college roommate for the past two years. Now that school was out of session for the summer, however, Brooke was living in her home village, located about three hours away from Ninjago City.
Sam looked over at Kai, who was still sitting in the living room on a beanbag chair. He smiled at her, but she could see the dismay in his eyes. She could tell he did not exactly want to leave her, but he knew that duty called.
Dinner did indeed turn out to a be a success. Everyone demanded that the new recipe be included in Sam's regular rotation of recipes, and she assured them she would do that. Sam was grateful to Nya for coming up with the idea of serving a simple dessert of strawberries, angel food cake, and whipped cream. Sam had not thought about dessert and, in light of the surprise departure of the three ninja brothers, it seemed especially important to have a special closure to tonight's meal.
Cole, of course, especially appreciated the cake.
As the sun neared the western horizon, the group gathered on the ground in front of the Bounty where the elemental dragons awaited their riders. Hugs and high-fives were exchanged.
After Kai hugged and said goodbye to his sister Nya, he took Sam's hand and led her a few feet away from the group.
"Be careful, Kai!" Sam implored her fiance as she turned to face him, tears welling up in her blue eyes.
"I will," he promised. He gently cupped her face in his hands and sought her lips one more time before departing. Then, stepping back, he flashed her a smile and said, "I love you, Sam!"
"I love you, too, Kai!" Sam replied with a lump in her throat. She let a few tears escape down her cheeks.
Kai hopped onto his elemental dragon and, with a goodbye wink to his fiancee, flew into the western sky with Zane and Cole.
The group who remained behind stood and watched the ninja brothers and their dragons disappear into the golden sunset.