Skylor's Mother

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Ninjago City. Kai and Skylor had just finished lunch and were walking through the park. As they neared the playground, the sounds of happy children could be heard. Kai and Skylor had been together for a while now and even though life as a ninja can be hectic and downright crazy at times, Kai still thought about the future. He and Skylor had not yet had "the talk"; you know the one, the one about whether or not they wanted to get married, whether they wanted kids or not (and how many), and so on and so forth.

As they turned a corner, the playground came into view. There was a young mother sitting on a bench, watching her toddler play in the sandbox. The little girl giggled as she scooped sand into a bucket and then immediately poured it out. The sight caught Kai's eye.

"Hey Skylor, look over there. Isn't she a cutie? I bet our kids will be that adorable." Before he realized what he had said, Kai noticed Skylor tense.

Skylor pulled Kai away from the playground, to a quiet bench on the other side of the walking path.

"What?" Kai asked, still not quite sure what caused the abrupt change in Skylor's demeanor.

"Kai, do you think about a future…with me?" Skylor asked.

"Oh course, why wouldn't I?" Kai said, confused by her question.

"Well, we haven't really talked about, you know, what we want," replied Skylor.

"Oh…I…uh…I mean, I know I want to be with you. I want you to always be in my life," Kai replied, starting to feel uncomfortable about what she was going to say next.

"And I want you in my life, too," Skylor responded, much to Kai's relief. "But…I don't know if I want to have kids."

"Oh…," Kai didn't mean to sound so disappointed. But he had just assumed that one day he would have a child of his own. This was not the answer he was expecting to hear.

Skylor could see that Kai was upset. "Kai, it's not like that. I like the idea of children. I just don't know how I feel about giving birth. It scares me."

In his surprise, Kai blurted out, "What?! But you're one of the strongest women I know. You controlled Garmadon's power! Why would you be afraid of having a baby?!"

"Kai, there is something I haven't told you, about my mother," replied Skylor. Then Skylor decided to share something with Kai that she had not thought about in a very long time.

"I never knew my mother growing up. For the longest time, I made up stories about what happened to her. I would imagine she was off on exciting adventures and that one day, she would come home and we would be a family again. But that day never came. One day, I asked my father about her. I was probably about 8. And then he told me the truth: she had died giving birth to me. There was a complication and she…bled too much. The doctors couldn't save her. He hadn't told me because he didn't want me to blame myself. Believe it or not, sometimes my dad did have a heart. I didn't blame myself; but I did mourn. I would never get to know my mom; she would never appear at my doorstep like I had dreamed so many times before."

"Oh, Skylor. I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Kai replied. Kai pulled her into a tight hug. He could feel her tears starting to stream down her face, dampening his shirt.

"It's ok. I'm glad I can talk about it…with you. I just don't want the same thing to happen to me. I don't want to die and leave you…and a child…to live without me." At this point, Skylor couldn't stop the tears.

"Skylor, even if that did happen, you know our child and me would be ok. And that is not going to happen to you. Hell, I'm more likely to get killed doing something stupid than something like that happening to you."

Skylor's sobs had started to ease and she chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right. Try not to do anything stupid, ok?"

"I'll try, but I make no promises," Kai joked. "Why don't you tell me more about your mom? Did your dad tell you much about her?"

Skylor wiped the remaining tears from her face. She hadn't talked about her mom, to anyone.

"Yeah, he did actually. He said she was beautiful and had the most radiant smile. Her hair was golden, like the color of honey, and she had amber eyes, just like me. And she was incredibly smart and clever. She was the Master of Amber before me, but she was unaware of her abilities until the Serpentine War. Master Wu tried to recruit her for the alliance, but she didn't want to get involved. Apparently, she was a pacifist. It's unclear how she ended up with my father. He says she fell in love with him the instant they met. I don't believe that for one second."

"You don't think your father…forced her to marry him, do you?" Kai asked.

"I think there was something more involved. Clouse knew a lot of spells and practiced a great deal of magic. Chen may have been very manipulative and persuasive, but he was not a loveable man. I have glanced through Clouse's spell book on many occasions and there are a number of spells for mind control. It is my personal opinion that my mother was just a pawn in one of his schemes to obtain all of the elemental powers. I wouldn't put it past him to target the Master of Amber, the one Elemental Master capable of absorbing other elemental powers, and use her to his advantage."

Kai and Skylor sat in silence for a moment. Kai could see that she was still distressed. "I hate him, Kai. I hate my father. I don't want to hate him, but I do. And I hate that I am his daughter, his blood. What if I am also capable of doing such terrible things? I mean, I already did his dirty work once. And when I absorbed Garmadon's power, I have to be honest, if felt so good to toss Ultra Violet across town. What if deep down I'm a terrible person, just like him?"

"Skylor, you are not your father. Sure, you may have his blood, but you are your own person. A wise person once told me our parents leave behind their legacies, not our destinies. We choose who we become. And you, Skylor, are a good person and a person that I believe your mother would be very proud to call her daughter. And I would have tossed Ultra Violet to the moon if I'd had the opportunity."

Skylor chuckled. "Kai, I'm glad we had this talk."

"Me too," Kai replied.

"So, have you thought about any names?" Skylor asked, giving Kai a sly smile.

"Names? For what?" Kai asked, looking very confused.

"Why, our future children, of course!"

"Haha, no, I have not gotten that far. I think we have some time before we need to think about that," Kai replied with a smile. In that moment, he knew that whatever the future held, they would tackle it, together.