As Wu escorted Mina further and further out of Ninjago City, she wondered how much he really knew about who she was. She wondered if he knew if he really understood who she was.
"Where are we going?" Mina asked several hours into their journey. They had taken the walking route toward the Land of Shadows.
"Do you not know the world's geography?" Wu asked her without turning around.
"I do." Mina scoffed. "It's one of the few things in school I can spit back out to the teacher."
"Then don't ask questions you already know the answer to," Wu told her, "It isn't polite."
Mina made a face to unconsciously illustrate what she had thought of that, but did not voice an opinion. Wu said nothing against it either, already knowing she was going to make such a face at him. He did have an idea of who she was, but he just wanted to be sure in any case. And there was only one being in the world that could give a confirmed judgement.
The sky had darkened to bring in night time when Wu and Mina had come to a small cottage on the boarder of the Land of Darkness and Ninjago City. It was a very simple cottage that had been very well made. Although, she had to admit, Mina didn't expect it to have windows going by how simple it had been. She was just happy there was a door, to be honest.
Wu had been the one to knock on the door. A girl around Mina's height answered with a wide and bright smile on her face.
"Visitors!" the girl said excitedly.
"Hello Alice." Wu said calmly to the girl. "Is Zane home?"
"Yes, would you like me to find him?"
"If you will, that would be wonderful."
"Would you like to come inside too?" the overexcited girl then asked.
"That would also be wonderful." Wu agreed. So, without much further instruction, the girl let Wu and Mina into the house, all the while staring at Mina with great interest. The girl let the two sit on a couch and left them alone.
"So..." Mina started to say, "That girl..."
"Alice." Wu said.
"Yeah, her, um... is there something... odd about her to you?"
"I know many odd things," Wu said, almost talking to himself, "You happen to be one of them. You're going to have to be more specific."
Mina opened her mouth to give a clarification, but the girl was back with a man that looked enough like her for them to possibly be related.
"Sensei." the man said, almost genuinely surprised. "I was not expecting you to come today."
"I understand this Zane, but this is rather important." Wu said. "I want you to meet Mina, and please, tell me, does she remind you of anyone?"
The man looked at Mina, and after a moment of processing, he jumped back in apparent realization.
"Impossible." the man said. "You are... but it would have been impossible..."
He stepped closer to Mina.
"My name is Zane." he told her. "You met Alice not long ago, I adopted her because she is like myself."
"How?" Mina asked.
"We are both androids. We were both created free and without a real purpose in life. So we bound together, almost like a family."
"Are there any others like you?" Mina then asked curiously.
"There is another," Zane agreed, "Who is not bound by the Three Laws like a human is. Her name is P.I.X.A.L., but she is resting."
Mina looked at him like he was insane. So he continued.
"You, Mina, have a DNA signature very similar to one born in the family of the Golden Dragon."
"And what about it?" she asked, not meaning to sound as snarkie and rude as she did.
"The family of the Golden Dragon has a power that only they can control," Zane explained. "Their power is passed from male to female to male to female and over again. The power is hard to control if one does not know how to wield it, so it is often the target of unwanted attention."
"How do they learn to control it?" Mina asked, not aware that ice was forming under her feet, keeping her attached to the spot she was standing.
"Like almost everything else in fairy tale lore; with an introduction to true love." Zane told her quite simply. "The presence of true love sets off a pheromone that helps the wielder channel their powers willingly. It is a bit cliched, and I admit I could go on more about the matter, but I'm afraid it would get lost in translation. If you know what I mean."
"I'm trying to." Mina told him. "But how do you define true love?"
"Putting someone's needs before your own." Wu told her. "It is common between mothers and their children, but it can be found elsewhere as well."
"Where?" Mina asked, realizing she was desperate to know the answer.
"Have you ever put your life in danger of saving someone else's?" Wu asked her.
"No." she said, rather quickly, finding the answer rather obvious. She was only sixteen after all.
"Has anyone ever put their life in danger of saving yours?" Wu then asked her. "Or, for the most part, defend and forgive you when you were fully guilty of something?"
This answer did take some thinking. Suddenly, the answer hit her like a ton of bricks. Kai. Kai loved her. It didn't matter how terrified he was of her, he still loved her at the end of the day. He could have given her up at any time when he had gotten so worried that she may murder them all in their sleep. He had always been there for her, even when she wanted to be left alone to rage. Quickly, Mina started to dart toward the door.
"Where are you going?" Wu and Zane asked at the same time.
"To apologize!" Mina shouted from over her shoulder.