Three kids sit silently in the back of an old corolla 1992 model.
Their world had been flipped upside down so fast and so violently that their young brains couldn't comprehend what was happening.
A little girl with raven hairtightened her grip on the boy sitting next to her. He had light brown hair and looked a lot like the little girl. He squeezed her hand back, an overprotective feeling bubbling up inside of him.
On the brown haired boy's left is another boy with shaggy ebony hair. He stuporously watches the world pass by outside, something he's thumbing on his chest anchoring him to the present.
These three kids were lucky to have even survived, let alone be taken up by a nice couple a week later.
They had no idea where they were going and little to nothing about what's going on. They were all in and out of it, dozing off like kids their age do on a long car ride.
Maybe the journey felt so long due to their young minds, big appetites and tiny bladders. So what would've been an hour drive turned into a 2 hour drive due to constant breaks.
The environment constantly changed from desert to forest as they traveled South East.
Patrick- the driver- breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a familiar tea farm up ahead. At times, he wished he was the one who bought the land but was happy for the couple anyways. The windmill slowly turned, the leaves of the pine trees barely affected. This place was so calm and quiet for a shop but it sure beats the car ride. It felt so unusual to sit in a car for a good number of minutes with kids who remained deathly silent bar requests for a break and the little girl and the boy sitting next to her mumbling stuff to each other.
He parked the car along the road.
"We're here kids." He turned in his seat to give the children a soft smile. They blankly stared at him for a while before looking back outside.
A man and a woman approached the corolla. The woman had long brown hair and eyes just about the same color. She seemed to radiate happiness, sunshine and rainbows while also being mature.
The man had light yellow hair, his eyes an unatural darker yellow. His mustache and goatie helped one tell that he was younger than what one saw at first glance but his eyes held unspoken wisdom.
Patrick got out of the driver seat and helped the kids out of the car. The brown haired boy wrapped his hand protectively around the little girl who clung to his waste, her eyes trained on him. The ebony haired boy nervously chewed on the corner of his collar, finding the action soothing.
"Good evening, Mr. And Mrs. Garmadon." Patrick went up to the two other adults and shook their hands. Patrick turned to the kids and asked, "You guys remember Mr. and Mrs. Garmadon, right?"
The ebony haired boy slowly nodded his head while the brown haired boy and little girl stared on.
Patrick smiled at them and turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Garmadon, "I'll be back soon to see how the tots adjust." He and Mr. Garmadon started retrieving things from the car like luggage and three folders, taking them inside.
Mrs. Garmadon slowly approached the children, kneeling down a few feet away to be eye level with them.
"Hi Cole,"
The ebony haired boy gave a small wave.
When she landed on Nya and Kai, the brunette pushed the raven haired girl behind him slightly.
Mrs. Garmadon smiled nonetheless, "Salve, Kai. Salve, Nya."
The boy and girl gaped at each other a little before returning the greeting a little more confident than they felt when they saw her.
Just her proximity calmed the kids, her smile motherly as she looked at them each.
"Sequi me. Let me show you to you're bedrooms." She says in a soothing tone. She stands up and starts slowly walking and they follow her with little to no hesitation. On the large circular compound was a giant symbol of a flower and right ahead was a building with a giant blue teapot with steam coming out of it. Upper right, a small storage shed. Nothing interesting bout that. Behind the three buildings, a beautiful waterfall gently gushing out of the mountain, a pond forming at the base.
Mrs. Garmadon guided the three kids to the building to the upper left, Mr. Garmadon and Patrick exiting it and heading for the one with the blue tea pot.
She slid open the shoji and stood aside to let the kids in, the first thing they see is a living room with a big gray soft circular rug in the middle. A decently sized TV sits in a cabinet pushed against the left wall. A couch of a dark red color faces the TV with a good amount of space behind the couch before the area is closed off by a wall with a small kitchen hole.
The wall in front of them had shoji that most likely led outside. A shelf lined with books was next to the paper sliding doors and along the wall with the TV was a staircase. Beside the staircase was a medium sized wooden chest. Along the wall with the kitchen hole was another door.
Mrs. Garmadon led them up the two flights of stairs.
Upstairs, there are four doors on both sides of the corridor.
Mrs. Garmadon then opened the last doors on the left and the right. "The one on the right is for Cole while on the left, we have Kai and Nya." She said then told Kai and Nya, "Cubiculum tuum est."
Cole's, Kai's and Nya's belongings were placed on their beds.
Cole gaped at the room which was slightly bigger than the one back home. Two beds were placed on either side of the room but only one was themed black and made. The other was a plain cream color, the furniture on its side the same. A medium sized window was right ahead and a desk with two chairs below it. The beds were slightly raised such that drawers could be fitted underneath. Besides the door were two closets, the one on the right was a nice chocolate brown. The walls were of a mountainous environment but the focal point was a huge mountain in the distance on the right wall.
Nya let go of her brother to touch the wall to her right. It was a beautiful ocean; fish and everything and underwater vegetation. On Kai's side was a beautiful phoenix which was a blaze, a swirl of red, orange and yellow behind it. The roof was also white with dark brown floorboards with the same furniture as the one in Cole's room, the differences being coloring. Kai's bed and closet were red while Nya's were a deep blue.
"You all must be hungry," Mrs. Garmadon stated and the kids turned their heads to her, "C'mon, dinner is ready. Post me, non est tempus ad prandium." She made a gesture for them to follow her and they did back into the living room and through the door on the left of the entrance of the house.
Inside this room is a chabudai table with six zabutons; one at each head and two on both sides. One end of the table faces the entrance while the other, a circular window that nearly takes up the entirety of the wall.
"Sedens placere. Sit wherever you want," Mrs. Garmadon told them, seeing their hesitation, "I'll bring the food in."
To the left, a doorway leading to a small compact kitchen. She came back with four plates of pasta, three of the plates plastic with an almost bowl like shape.
She placed them before the kids, the ceramic plate in front of herself.
"It's really good, I promise," She encouraged, picking up her fork and using it to eat her pasta.
After a few seconds Cole picked up his plastic spork and began to eat. Mrs. Garmadon smiled a little, moving closer to Nya to help her eat. When she did, Kai grew tense but eased up when she started to feed the little girl. When they were finished Cole quietly thanked Mrs. Garmadon before she took the dishes to the kitchen and left them in the sink to wash later.
"How about I bathe you first, Cole." Mrs. Garmadon suggests. The ebony haired boy nodded a little and stood next to her.
She gently smiled at him and led him to the spandrel which had a bathroom inside.
"Oh," She just remembered, "Te potest ludere cum illa nugas." She walked over to the wooden box and opened it to reveal toys.
When she finished bathing Cole, she bathed Kai and Nya together as the brown haired boy refused to leave the little girl's side. Now that they were fed and in clean PJs, she left them to play as she cleaned the dishes.
Kai and Nya sat in one corner of the room with a small pile of animal plushies, softly talking to each other whilst Cole sat in the other with Duplos.
Mrs. Garmadon finished the dishes and sat on the couch, a book to entertain her. The ebony haired boy left his construction work and chose to sit down next to her, a thing that he did back at home. Cole couldn't read but was content with staring at the pictures. Mrs. Garmadon picked up on this and started to read aloud. Soon enough, Nya had picked interest too and sat to the right of her on the couch, Kai following the little girl.
Mrs. Garmadon read a little louder with the fluency of a professor in English then translating each sentence so Kai and Nya could enjoy the story too.
"Quid quod?" Nya interrupted the story, her little finger on one of the pictures of the book. "Ursidae."
The boy and girl exchange excited looks. During their time at the orphanage, Patrick was the only person who could understand them but his vocabulary wasn't diverse. It's nice that they didn't have to struggle to be heard.
"Legitur, amabo." Kai said and Mrs. Garmadon nodded, proceeding the story.
A half hour later, Nya had fallen asleep on Kai's lap whilst Kai and Cole fought drowsiness.
When Mrs. Garmadon concluded the chapter she was on, she used the opportunity to speak, "Sit scriptor, stop here. It's getting pretty late."
"But *yawn* not sleepy." Cole went to protest.
Mrs. Garmadon gently smiled and said, "C'mon, time for bed. Tempus lectum."
She stood up and went to pick up Nya but Kai wrapped his arms around the girl tighter. He stared into the eyes of the lady for a while before adjusting his hold on Nya such that Mrs. Garmadon could pick her up.
Mrs. Garmadon first tucked in and bid goodnight the little girl and brunette boy before doing the same to Cole.
"Cole, you can't sleep with that around your neck." Mrs. Garmadon pointed out. She let him bathe with it on, careful not to get it wet but sleeping with it was a choking hazard. The boy wrapped his tiny fingers around the trinket protectively.
"I promise I won't take it. You can keep it," She began, "I'll just take it off."
Cole begrudgingly let Mrs. Garmadon unhook the necklace but immediately hid it under his pillow, lying down for good measure.
Mrs. Garmadon smiled gently, "Goodnight, Cole."
"G'night, Mrs. Garmadon."
"Janice is just as good."
"G'dnight, Janice."
Janice left the light in the hallway on just in case as she went downstairs to put away the toys. That's when her husband walked in.
"That took longer than I thought." Janice said, putting away the last of the building blocks.
Mr. Garmadon plopped himself down on the couch, heaving a sigh as he ran a hand through his mellow yellow hair.
"After the things Patrick told me, I wonder if we should've adopted them instead of fostered."
Janice left the livingroom to warm a bowl of noodles for Mr. Garmadon, listening as he went on, "At least Jay was adopted by Ed and Edna."
"Who?" Janice popped her head out of the window. Mr. Garmadon turned his head to face her, "The Walkers. Owners of Ed and Edna's Scrap n' Junk."
"Oh, yeah, they are really nice. We should invite them over sometime." Janice returned with a hot bowl of noodles and chopsticks, handing them to Mr. Garmadon.
"Thank you." He smiled with a curt nod.
Janice quietly ascended the steps and returned with three folders. Sitting back down next to her husband, she opened the first folder.
_
NAME:
Kai Vulcan Smith
GENDER:
Male
DATE OF BIRTH:
15th July
AGE:
5 years old
DETAILS:
Found at Four weapons, a Blacksmith Shop in Ignacia.
Has a cut over left eye, most likely caused by a sharp weapon.
Older brother of Ondine.
_
She did wonder what could've possibly caused such a ghastly scar across the young boy's face. He's lucky he didn't lose his eye.
She turned to her husband, the look in his eyes told her he was thinking of an old friend.
_
NAME:
Cole Isiah Hence Brookstone
GENDER:
Male
DATE OF BIRTH:
22nd April
AGE:
4 years old
DETAILS:
Found in a wrecked house located in a small town near Ninjago City.
Unscathed despite evident signs of a struggle throughout house.
_
Janice smiled a little then frowned at the end.
You all fought very hard to protect your kids.
She thought to herself before opening the last folder.
_
NAME:
Ondine Enya Smith
GENDER:
Female
DATE OF BIRTH:
7th June
AGE:
3 years old
DETAILS:
Found at Four Weapons, a Blacksmith Shop in Ignacia.
For the most part, happy and healthy.
Younger sister of Kai.
_
Janice let out a sigh and closed the folder.
There was more to these kids' backstories but it is either unknown or she didn't want to dive deeper, this being the third time she's informed of what happened. Setting the folders aside and leaning back into the huge pillows of the couch.
Mr. Garmadon had finished his dinner and left in on the sill of the kitchen hole.
"The passage of time heals all wounds and we'll be here to help them." He smiled, sitting back down.
"I know Wu. It's just..." Janice trailed off, making eye contact with her husband.
Wu nodded, "In due time, we will tell them."
Usually Janice found Wu's tendency's to keep secrets a little annoying but in this case, she made an acception, "In due time."
A/N: END of Chapter...or I guess prologue...anyhow Welcome to NINJAGO: FAMILY OF ELEMENTAL NINJA. A few things;1) This is not the Monastery of Spinjitzu. This takes place at Steep Wisdom aka Wu's tea farm.2) Jay ain't here. If he was he can't be Jay Walker plus I'd hate to rip away Bluebell from Ed and Edna. That and he would probably not have engineering skills.3) Zane ain't here too. As far as my research goes, metal can't technically grow by itself meaning Zane has an ever constant height unless he rebuilds himself.4) Their ages. Nya is almost 2 years younger than Kai so don't get confused when she's 1 year younger then 2 years younger.Thanks for reading, both new comers and old. I really appreciate it.Hope you enjoyed the story, see ya next chappy!
Kai and Nya are speaking Latino.
Salve = Hello
Sequi me = Follow me
Cubiculum tuum est = This is your bedroom
Post me, non est tempus ad prandium. = Follow me, it is time for dinner
Sedens placere = sit down please
Te potest ludere cum illa nugas =
You can play with these toys.
Quid quod = What's that?
Ursidae = Bear
Legitur, amabo = Please keep reading
Sit scriptor stop here = Let's stop here
Tempus lectum = Time for bed.