AUTHOR'S NOTE:
A big HOWDY to all!
I can't believe it's been over TWO MONTHS since I last updated this story! Where has the summer gone? In my part of the USA, the new school year will begin in less than three weeks!
Part of my summer was spent vacationing in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. That area of the USA is so beautiful - I've visited it three times in the past three years!
Arizona has also provided me with story inspiration. On my visit in 2015 I was inspired to write my very first fanfic The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy. On my 2017 visit I was struck with the idea for a story that will follow The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier and will feature a certain black-haired cowboy. But that's all I'll say about it for now! XD
Would you believe I have not yet seen the very last episode of The Hands of Time season? At this point I may wait to watch it until just before the Lego Ninjago movie premieres. But based on the episodes I have seen, I find the season to be so awesome! In my personal list of favorite seasons, it ranks a very close second to the Tournament of Elements season.
I wish to thank all the readers of this tale and all the commenters on the previous chapter for your kind words. I so appreciate all of you!
In the previous chapter, during a supper conversation, Skylor revealed to Kai that his beloved wife Sam had become a civilian prisoner of the Purple Army.
In the chapter below, Kai and Skylor's supper concludes in a interesting way...
Chapter 41 - Kai's Christmas Dessert
Kai did not like hearing that his beloved wife Sam was a civilian prisoner of the Purple Army, but upon reminding himself that the Garmadon Ranch captives were supposedly being treated fairly, he calmed himself down with an audible exhale of breath.
"Samantha Smith is my wife. She goes by the name of Sam," Kai explained as he resumed eating. "She arrived in Ninjago Town just a few weeks after you left."
Skylor smirked as she picked up her wine glass. "When my source wrote in a letter to me that she was the wife of one of the cowboys at the ranch, it wasn't hard to figure out which cowboy, based on her last name."
Skylor sipped her wine before continuing. "My source tells me Sam inherited a million dollars from her father before she arrived in Ninjago Town."
Kai stopped in mid-chew of a bite of ham, not sure of how to respond to her comment. It was not a secret that Sam was the daughter of Cyrus Borg, the late business tycoon, but he did not want to go into a detailed discussion of her money, for that might make her a target of Purple shenanigans. So he swallowed the bite of ham and answered the question by asking a question of his own.
"Who is your source?" he inquired, helping himself to some wine.
The question distracted Skylor, just like he had hoped. "His name is Major Jacob Clouse. He's my fiancé," she smiled broadly. "But apparently at one time he was Sam's sweetheart..."
Kai's eyes widened.
"...until her father interfered and convinced her to end the relationship with him instead of marrying him."
Something about that story did seem familiar to Kai. Now that he thought about it, he did recall Sam once telling him about a young man who had been courting her and whose proposal of marriage she had turned down, on the advice of her daddy.
Yep, she had told the story to him last year in that jail cell in Noscut on the morning after they had been kidnapped by Morro. It was the morning he himself had tried to propose to her, but she didn't let him, for the jail cell was too wretched of a place for such a beautiful event to occur.
Kai drained his wine glass and refilled it. "So how did you and Major Clouse come to know each other?" he asked.
Skylor sipped again from her wine glass. "A while back, Jake had made contact with one of the original Purple alliance leaders, inquiring about joining our cause, which I already was a part of. It was my job to meet Jake and get to know him and verify that his request to join us was legitimate, and not an attempt by a spy to infiltrate our ranks. So when he arrived in Ninjago Town-"
"Ninjago Town?! You were already working for the Purples while I was courting you in Ninjago Town?!" Kai exclaimed incredulously. "And here I thought you were a writer of articles for some magazine in the United States!" He took a swig from his wine glass and set it down on the table with a little more force than needed. Some wine spilled out.
"I know. I had to lie," Skylor sheepishly admitted as she touched his hand which still held the wine glass. Kai shivered with the contact of her warm, silky smooth skin. He wasn't cold, though - no, his skin burned where she had touched it.
"Here, let me pour some more wine in your glass," Skylor offered. She took the bottle and topped off his glass. He promptly quaffed half the contents.
She continued. "When Jake arrived in town, he passed my initial interview, so I had to bring him to Jamanakai Village the next day so he could be interviewed further by other members of the Purple alliance. That's why I left town."
"And he was the man you left with." Kai now had the answer to a question that had been at the far back corner of his mind for over a year and a half. He gulped more wine. "He obviously passed your personal interview in addition to that Purple interview."
Skylor rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect you'd be surprising me with that special supper at the Morro Saloon and proposing marriage so soon in our relationship. I didn't know you felt that strongly about me."
"Well, I did." Though Kai's head was starting to spin from the wine, he still drank some more.
"I guess I would have had to turn you down anyway, 'cause you're obviously staunchly Yellow," Skylor sneered. "But, to finish answering your question of how I found Jake, the Purple leaders asked me to do some other jobs, and Jake accompanied me. We became sweet on each other, and we got engaged. We'll get married when we've finished conquering Ninjago."
"Now I'm working my way up the ranks in the Purple Army," Skylor brightly added. "I just arrived here from an assignment in Ouroborus. Jake is a combat officer, so our paths don't cross a lot. It was September when I last saw him," she frowned.
In Kai's somewhat malnourished state, the wine was affecting him more quickly and strongly than it otherwise would.
"It wash Sheptember when I lasht shaw Sham. I missh her." he stated, slurring his words.
Suddenly, Kai fell out of his chair and onto the floor.
"Kai!" Skylor jumped out of her seat and rushed around to the other side of the dining table. Kai had landed on his back.
She knelt on the ground next to him. "Are you all right?"
Kai motioned with his finger for her to come nearer, as if he wanted to share a secret. Skylor leaned in closer.
"War makesh you appreciate the shimple thingsh in life. A tashty meal, a hot bath, and a good woman," Kai declared.
Skylor smiled at the inebriated cowboy with the soft brown eyes. He looked so sweet in his tipsy state.
Being in such close proximity to a man made Skylor pine for her fiance. She certainly hoped that on the next Christmas, she and Jake would be able to spend the holiday together. She had not seen him for nearly four months, and right now she felt very lonely. She desperately craved the touch of a man's hand, the embrace of a man's arms, the kiss of a man's lips...
Her face mere inches from Kai's, Skylor leaned in to kiss him, as if they were sweethearts again.
"Mmph," was the sound Kai uttered as her lips met his, but he offered no protest, accepting her multiple sweet tokens of affection.
After a minute, she raised her head. Their eyes locked in a steady gaze.
Suddenly, with surprising agility for an intoxicated person, Kai rolled Skylor over so that she was now the one on her back. He was now propped up on his elbow, looking down into her sparkling green eyes.
With his passion aroused, Kai sought contact with Skylor's cherry red lips once again. Oh, how he had missed the scent of a woman's skin, the softness of a woman's touch, the taste of a woman's kisses...
"Oh, Sham!" he murmured.
Upon the mention of another woman's name, Skylor became annoyed and pushed him off her. Once again, he landed with his back on the floor.
"I'm not Sam, you drunken skunk!" she hissed as she propped herself up to berate him.
But when she turned to Kai to give him a piece of her mind, she saw that he had passed out. His chest rose and fell in a rhythmic pattern, indicating he was going to be dead to the world for a while.
Though she had just been annoyed with him, Skylor could not help smiling at how innocent and boyish he looked while sleeping. She supposed she could forgive him for hurting her feelings. It was Christmas, after all.
Skylor rose to her feet, smoothing out her uniform and her hair before she walked over to door, opening it. She spotted the soldier on guard duty.
"Sergeant Brossette!" Skylor called out. "The prisoner has passed out. Would you and Sleven and Izor please take him back to his shanty in the stockade?"
"Yes, Major Amber," Brossette replied.
"And when you three come back, help yourself to the rest of the food here and clean up when you're done."
"Yes, Major," the sergeant responded, grinning broadly. "Merry Christmas!"
