Maya didn't know what to do. She had to hide, but where?

"Maya?" Krux called.

Maya ran into the courtyard. Too open. She made a bolt for the stairs when she heard a door open behind her. About twenty steps down, she spotted a little path splitting off from the steps and ran down it. She came upon a door and ran inside it, running Ray overt in the process.

"Woah!" Ray exclaimed as he dropped the block of hot iron he was working on.

"Sorry. If Krux asks, I'm not here," Maya said as she ducked under Ray's workbench.

Ray didn't say anything and picked up the iron block. A moment later, she heard the door open.

"Did Maya come in here?" Krux asked.

"Nope," Ray said flatly.

"I can't find her anywhere."

"Maybe she's avoiding you."

"Why would she do that?"

Ray didn't respond, and a moment later the door closed.

"He's gone," Ray said.

Maya slowly climbed out of her hiding spot and looked around. Sure enough, Krux was gone.

"Thanks. Ever since I beat Metalhead in that drinking contest, Krux hasn't left me alone," Maya said as she brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"I thought Wu stopped you."

"Same thing."

Ray shook his head. He still didn't know how she managed to out drink a forty-year-old man.

"Hey, there's no drinking age at sea," Maya argued.

"I didn't say anything."

"Whatever. Thanks again for not telling him where I was." Maya headed for the door.

"You might want to wait a bit. Krux hasn't gotten that far."

Maya stopped and grimaced. She knew Ray was right. Sighing, she spun around.

"I don't want to get in your way."

"There's a seat over there." Ray pointed to the chair in the corner. Maya nodded and sat down.

As she watched him work, Maya realized she really didn't know much about Ray. He wasn't much of a talker and he spent most of his free time in the forge, away from everyone else.

"What are you working on?" Maya asked.

"Shuriken."

"Who requested shuriken as a weapon?" She knew most of the others didn't have a weapon, and she supposed someone had to make weapons, but shuriken?

"Wu," Ray replied.

"Oh."

Maya sat back and studied Ray. He was tall, not as tall as Hermes, but then again no one was as tall as Hermes. He kept his hair in a spiky up-do, and he was growing a mustache and goatee. Maya decided Ray was an eight in looks, but a two in personality. He was an extremely private person, so Maya really didn't know that much about him. He was fifteen, a year older than her, and he was from Ninjago City. That was all she knew about him.

Unfortunately, whenever anyone asked him about his past, he usually glared at them while avoiding answering. She decided not to push the issue while he was surrounded by hot iron and tools.

"Where have you been all day?" Libby asked as Maya entered their room.

"Ditching Krux," Maya replied.

"Oh."

"He chased me to Ray's blacksmith area."

"I'm sure Ray loved that," Libby said sarcastically.

"He didn't seem to mind."

"Really? Mr. Solitude didn't mind someone invading his space all day?"

"A little at first, but he warmed up to it. I think."

"Did you at least learn anything new about him?"

"No," Maya admitted.

"How could you spend all afternoon with a boy you barely know and not learn anything about him?"

"Not everyone is a talker like you."

"Still. I don't think I've ever seen him get a letter from home." Libby held up a letter from Cliff. She got at least two letters a week from him.

"Libby, I don't get letters from home."

"Yeah, but you've said your parents are too busy doing whatever it is they do. What about Ray's parents? Why do they never write to him and why doesn't he ever write to them? I've never heard him once talk about his home."

"I don't know, Libby. Maybe you should just respect his privacy?"

"I could find out all you want to know about him." Cara rolled over and peered down from the top bunk.

"How long have you been up there?" Libby asked.

"Long enough."

"Cara, please, don't do anything," Maya pleaded.

"But Ray is so boring. If there's anything interesting about him, I wanna know about it," Libby said.

"Me too," Cara added.

"What if we ask Hermes or Ice what he's like? They room with him, maybe they know more about him."

"If you want to do that, go ahead," Maya said.

"Why won't you break?" Maya groaned as she pulled on her cutlass. She had slipped out of the monastery early the next morning, looking for an excuse to visit the forge. Libby had asked Ice about Ray, but he didn't know anything new about the boy, and Hermes refused to answer when Cara wouldn't give him a reason for wanting to know. Unfortunately, Ray seemed to realize that everyone was starting to talk about him and spent even more time hidden away in his forge. Maya almost regretted threatening to cut off some of Krux's body parts if he didn't leave her alone since now she couldn't use that as an excuse to visit Ray. It wasn't long before she found some rocks and had wedged her weapon into a small crevasse. The sword refused to break no matter how much she bent it. Whoever had made her cutlass had done an excellent job.

"What are you doing?"

Maya jumped and turned around. Hermes was staring at her.

"What are you doing here?" Maya asked.

"I'm always up this early. What are you doing up this early?"

"Um…" Maya looked at her cutlass stuck between the two rocks, then looked back at Hermes. She honestly didn't know what to tell him.

"Can I assume this has something to do with Ray?" Hermes asked.

"Uh…"

"Just don't scare him. He keeps a dagger on him and he will try to threaten you. I don't think he has it in him to actually use it, but still. He sleeps with it under his pillow most nights." Hermes pulled her cutlass out and almost effortlessly snapped it in two.

"... Thank you," Maya said once the shock wore off.

"Tell him we were sparring." Hermes continued down the mountain.

Maya ran back up to the monastery and waited. As she walked past the kitchen, she overheard Wu and Garmadon talking about where another elemental master might be.

"Maya?" Wu called.

"Oh. Hi," Maya said. She hid her broken cutlass behind her back.

"Where have you been? You're not usually up this early."

"I couldn't sleep."

"I see. Since you're here, I have a favor to ask of you. I am leaving in a few minutes. When I return, I need you and anyone you can get to help to please distract Cara."

Maya could guess where Wu was going. Cara liked to ambush any new elemental masters and copy their powers as soon as they walked through the front door.

"What about Hermes?"

"She is not his responsibility, nor does she listen to him."

"Oh. Yes, I'll help watch over her," Maya smiled. She kind of wished Garmadon was leaving instead of Wu, but there wasn't anything she could do about that.

Wu left during their morning exercises, but not before pulling Cara aside and warning her against doing anything foolish and reckless.

Maya had to wait until after lunch when everyone had their free time to sneak down to the forge. When she got there, she saw Ray with an older man. They turned to look at her.

"Uh… Hermes broke this." She handed Ray the two pieces of her cutlass.

"How?" Ray examined the pieces.

"We were sparring."

Ray looked skeptical as he handed the pieces to the old man.

"This was an excellent Damascus piece. And you broke it. Well, kid, you get to learn how to make Damascus."

"Do I have to?" Ray pleaded softly.

"Yes."

"What's Damascus?" Maya asked.

"You see the wave pattern in the metal?"

"Yeah, I always thought that was pretty."

"That's Damascus steel. It's made by forging different metals together."

"Cool."

"Ray, get to work."

Ray nodded and pulled out a notebook. He placed the two pieces together and started to sketch the piece. A couple of things stuck out to Maya. First, Ray held the pen between his pinky and ring ringers. The second was Ray held the pen in his left hand.

"I didn't know you were left-handed," Maya commented.

"Uh, yeah," Ray said, staring at his hand.

"Enough chit chat. Miss, bye."

Maya rolled her eyes and left. She made her way back to her room after she grabbed a book off the shelves in the living room. Libby was sprawled out on her bed reading a letter from Cliff.

"Hey, where've you been?" Libby asked.

"Is Cara here?"

"Nope. We drew straws. Acronix is babysitting her. He's not happy about it."

"I bet. Hermes broke my cutlass, so I took it to Ray. There was some guy with him so I didn't stay."

"Who?"

"I don't know, I've never seen him before. I did find out Ray is left-handed, though."

"Random, but that's something."

"I guess. Hopefully, he has it fixed by tomorrow."

"Can he do that wave pattern, and more importantly, can he make me a sword with that pattern?"

"The guy said Ray had to learn how to make it."

"Oh. I don't want to be his test rabbit."

Maya rolled her eyes and climbed into her bed with her book. She found it hard to concentrate on the story because she kept thinking about Ray and the funny way he held his pen.

The next morning as soon as morning exercises were over, she headed over to the forge. The door was closed, but that wasn't all that surprising. From what she could tell, Ray usually kept the door closed. When she opened the door, she saw that Ray wasn't there. She didn't know what to do, but she slowly made her way over to his desk. There were papers haphazardly strewn about the desk. Most of the papers had rough sketches of various weapons, and a few pages had directions for various blacksmithing techniques, but at the bottom of the pile was a sheet that caught Maya's eye. She pulled it out to get a better look. It looked like a child had tried to write Ray's name, with the best attempt looking like "RaTmGn J Lcc Smilhcrs." Maya thought she heard someone coming down the path, so she quickly put the paper back on the bottom of the pile and picked up the sketch on top just as Ray opened the door.

"Maya?" Ray asked.

"Hey. I just wanted to know the status of my cutlass," Maya explained as she set the sketch back down.

"Um, I haven't started on it yet. I'll let you know once I'm done with it."

"Okay. Who was that guy here with you yesterday?"

"Jin. He has to watch me until I'm certified."

"You have to be certified to be a blacksmith?"

"If I want to make money, yes. If I really want to make money, I'll get certifications for several different areas. If I sell something and I'm not certified and I get caught, I will be severely fined and could go to jail," Ray said as he opened the window by the door.

"That seems extreme."

"Yeah, well I don't make the laws."

"How long have you been doing this?"

"I started working for a blacksmith right before I turned thirteen."

"When's your birthday?"

"August second."

"Huh."

Ray slowly sat down at his desk and glanced at the door.

"Well, I should go. I'll see you around, Ray." Maya closed the door behind her and stepped past the window, but paused and turned back a moment later. She glanced in the window just as Ray took the sheet from the bottom of the pile, lit it on fire, and threw it into the forge.

"What is this again?" Cara asked as she picked at the goop on her plate.

"Tofu noodles. It's good for you," Garmadon said as he took a bite.

"How can anything with zero flavor be good?"

"Just eat it," Hermes grumbled.

"It looks like someone vomited this out twice and it tastes like it too."

Everyone groaned and put their utensils down.

"I've lost my appetite," Libby said as she stood up and threw her food away.

Cara glared at Libby and tried to use Krux's powers to reverse time, but Krux and Acronix both jumped to stop her with Krux trying to pause her and Acronix trying to keep time going forward. Cara resisted both of them.

"Would you just stop?" Krux demanded.

"No."

"You don't know what you're doing!" Acronix argued.

"Sure I do. I just snap my fingers and get my way."

"It's more complicated than that."

"You could seriously damage the timeline if you're not careful," Krux added.

"How can I damage the timeline when I control time?" Cara smirked.

"Listen, you power stealing worm-" Acronix yelled.

"Enough! Cara… Go to your room!" Garmadon slammed his fist on the table.

"Make me!" Cara challenged.

Garmadon stood up and Cara ran off towards the bedrooms.

"Is it me, or is she getting worse?" Ice asked. He stood up and started clearing the table.

"She's getting worse," Garmadon replied as he sat back down.

"We can't ship her home 'cause she'll just run off again," Hermes muttered. He crossed his arms on the table and put his head down.

"How did her parents handle her?" Krux asked.

"They didn't. After her dad died, her mom gave her whatever she wanted. And before that, I only saw her occasionally if she was playing in her yard when I passed her house, so I couldn't tell you what she was like when her dad was still alive. I could ask my parents, but it'll be a while before they respond."

"Who did she get her powers from?" Garmadon asked.

"I have no idea," Hermes admitted.

"We can't keep chasing after her," Maya argued.

"No. I'll talk to Wu when he gets back. Something has to be done," Garmadon said.

Everyone slowly made their way into the living room, except for Garmadon and Ice who stayed behind to clean. Ray headed towards the bedroom.

"How old is she again?" Krux asked as he plopped down onto the couch.

"Eleven," Hermes replied.

"Such a fun age," Libby said.

"CARA!" Ray yelled.

Cara ran into the living room, Ray hot on her heels. Cara used Acrnix's power to speed herself up and hid behind Ice, who came to investigate the commotion.

"Stop, or I burn it!" Cara threatened. She held up a yellow piece of newspaper.

"Don't you dare," Ray growled.

"Why? It's just an old newspaper."

"I don't care. Give it back."

"Not until you tell me why you're carrying around old classified ads."

"I don't have to tell you anything!"

"He's right, you know," Ice said.

"Says who?" Cara spat.

"Says my law degree."

"Give Ray back his paper," Hermes said.

"What's going on in here?" Garmadon asked as he came into the room.

"Cara stole something from Ray," Libby said.

"Give it back, Cara."

"No! It's not fair that he never tells us anything!" Cara yelled.

"He doesn't have to. Give it back."

Cara took a step back and burned the paper.

"No!" Ray yelled

"Cara!" Everyone stared at her.

"Why would you do that?" Hermes demanded. He grabbed her arm to keep her from escaping.

"Ray? Are you okay?" Maya asked when she noticed that Ray was frozen in place. She gently touched his arm.

Ray shook his head and ran to the bedroom.

"What is wrong with you?" Garmadon asked.

"Like the rest of you aren't curious about him," Cara retorted.

"This isn't the way to get information out of somebody!"

Krux bent down to examine the ash. He used his powers to restore the paper.

"How could you possibly think that was okay?" Hermes yelled.

"Would you let go of me?" Cara yelled back.

"No!"

"They're obituaries," Krux said as he examined the paper.

"What?" Libby asked.

"On the other side of the classifieds, obituaries."

"Idiot." Acronix slapped the back of Cara's head.

"Someone go check on Ray," Garmadon said.

"I'll go." Ice headed towards the guys' bedroom.

"You are way out of line. You don't listen, you don't respect other people's property or privacy, I may just have to send you home."

"You wouldn't!" Cara tried to get out of Hermes's grip.

Ice ran back into the living room.

"Ray's gone!"

Maya didn't think it would be so easy to lose track of someone on a mountain with only one path to the bottom. But Ray wasn't in his forge and he wasn't anywhere around town. Ray had taken his bag and his blanket with him. Everyone stayed up all night looking for him, except for Garmadon who chained Cara up with vengestone cuffs and sat with her in the living room.

As the sun rose the next morning, Maya forced herself to climb up the steps to the monastery. When she neared the top, she looked down the path towards the forge. She didn't know why she decided to head down the path when they already knew he wasn't there. When she reached the door, she thought she heard a noise. She walked a little further down and gasped.

"Ray?"

Ray was leaning against the mountain and watching the sunrise. He looked over at her when she called his name.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so glad I found you! Everyone's been searching for you. Come on, let's go back and tell them you're alright."

"I'm not going back," Ray said softly.

"What? Why not? If it's Cara, Garmadon has her chained up."

"It's not just Cara. There's a reason I don't tell anyone about myself, but everyone keeps trying to pry. I don't like it."

"So tell them to back off. Be assertive. They'll respect you."

"No, they won't."

"Sure they will. Hermes tells people to back off all the time."

"Hermes is big and scary looking."

"Okay, I'll give you that, but my point still stands."

Ray shook his head and stared out at the forest below.

"Please come back?" Maya begged as she sat down next to him.

"No." Ray kept staring out.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I disappeared. When I came here, I didn't tell anyone I was leaving. I just disappeared and no one cares. I could die tomorrow and no one would care."

"I'd care."

Ray looked at her. Maya pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket.

"Krux fixed it," Maya said as she handed it to Ray.

"Thank you," Ray whispered.

"Do you mind if I read it?"

"It's this one." Ray pointed to the small obituary at the bottom of the page.

"'Ruby Grace Smithers, age thirty-two, died Thursday, October seventh. She leaves behind a fourteen-year-old son. She will be buried Monday, October eleventh in Beckert Cemetery at ten am. Family and friends can contact Palmer's Funeral Home in Ninjago City for more information,'" Maya read out loud since she suspected Ray had never heard it before.

Ray nodded and hugged his knees.

"Oh, Ray, I'm sorry. What happened to your father, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't know. I never met him," Ray admitted.

"You never met him?"

"No. I don't even know his name or if he's still alive. Mom said she would tell me about him when I was old enough, but she never did. I like to think he died before I was born."

Maya couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't imagine living with only her mom or only her dad.

"Did your mom teach you how to read and write at all?"

"She tried, but she had to work all the time. I know my letters, but I haven't really had to read ever. It's not like we could afford for me to go to school ever," Ray said.

"Okay, everyone needs to know how to read and write. I could help you if you want."

"I don't know, Maya."

"I promise I won't tell anyone. We could do it in the forge if you like. No one would bother us."

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course." Maya kissed his cheek, catching Ray off guard.

"What was that for?" Ray touched his cheek.

"Oh, no reason. We really should get back, though."

Maya stood up and offered Ray her hand. He grabbed his bag and took it. She led him back to the stairs. As soon as they walked through the door to the courtyard, Wu came running up to them.

"You're back," Maya said.

"Maya! I thought you were going to distract Cara when I returned," Wu chastised.

"I thought Garmadon had her chained up."

"Why would she be chained up?"

"Why wouldn't she be chained up?"

Garmadon came running up to them.

"Oh good, you found Ray. Cara escaped. I dozed off and she got the key out of my pocket," Garmadon said.

"I saw her. She's already met the Master of Form. What happened while I was gone?" Wu asked.

"It's a long story, brother."