Almost Christmas, squee! Also this chapter is a little longer than the others. The whole idea just came together that way.

Bree stood with Pixal waiting for the air ship to dock and drop its gang plank. Harumi did no waiting of the sort. With a pop out and a pop back in Harumi landed right in front of Bree with an orange ish puff of Djin magic. Holding the book aloft triumphantly.

"We did it! We did it! We got the frigging book!" Harumi squeaked out.

Bree reached out and touched her mother's spell book. The edges where Bree touched the ancient leather cover bursting into blue purple flame. The parts Harumi still held burned an orange color. Though it seemed to do no harm to the book itself or to the young women.

"What weirdness is that?" Harumi mused.

"The book recognized me, my elemental magic. Then it remembered my mothers djin side and acknowledged you as family. Another heir to its magic". Bree held Alanna forward and let the baby touch the old leather cover as well. And blue purple flames burst out exactly like Bree's magic. Bree gasped at the realization.

"What?" Harumi asked. This book was amazing she thought.

"The book..." Bree began. "The book recognized Alanna's elemental magic as well. I was fairly sure she was going to be another elemental master of magic. This shows me what she will be when she grows up. The book recognized her as family too". Bree looked happier than Harumi had ever seen her. Twirling the baby around. Bree came to a stop when she noticed several people looking at her.

Wu and Misako had come out into the courtyard. Morro had come down the gang plank and was speaking quickly only to Wu. Bree, Harumi and Pixal walked over and caught the last bit of his words.

"And something is seriously wrong with that realm." Morro finished.

"Wait! Wrong how?" Bree asked. She sensed with an overwhelming dread she knew what was wrong.

So Morro and Harumi told them everything they had seen and heard. Bree and Wu looked up at each other.

"Is it as grave as it sounds Brianna?" Wu asked Bree.

"It sounds exactly how Djinjago was before it fell apart" Bree said remorseful. "I have long suspected that when the master writers of fate tried to alter destiny it would have catastrophic results. Ninjago and cloud kingdom are sibling realms. With the kappa destruction of the elemental magic here..." Bree paused before gulping and continuing. "If not stopped here, before the end of all the elemental masters, the cursed kappa will consume all the people's of Ningajo. And it will fall. And cloud kingdom with it".

"Millions of lives will be lost" Wu added. "Or worse".

"What could potentially be worse than the death of two more realms and all the people's in them?" Pixal asked.

"If two more whole realms fall. The realm that should write fate and guard true destiny and this realm., the last and youngest realm that balanced them all... it will cause a chain reaction of destruction. No realm will remain whole" Bree answered her solemnly.

Looks of horror and fear crossed everyone's faces. Speaking first Wu asked Pixal to go gather the rest of the ninja. Bree turned to the kitchen before stopping.

"Can you go get Ronin for me? Bree asked Harumi. "And then come right back...get Pixal as well".

Harumi raised an eyebrow but did as asked. Ronin was usually close in relation to his air ship. Bree hurried inside to the kitchen. Ninja, elemental masters, other people Bree immediately told to get the hell out of the kitchen. Most scurried out. With the exception of Lloyd and Skyler. Both still stayed at the table holding cups of coffee. Bree threw food and dishes into the sink with a wave of purple magic. She readied the tea that she had started before. Harumi came back in with Ronin and Pixal as requested.

"Oh, Lloyd. Sensi Wu is looking for you". Pixal said to Lloyd.

Lloyd groaned and slowly headed out to the main temple room. Looking cautiously over his shoulder at the flurry of ingredients Bree now had floating in the air around the kitchen.

Bree set the book on the table. Looking carefully at the young women and nindroid in front of her. She nicely asked "Pixal... could you hold Alanna out of the way. When we add some of this stuff to the tea it's going to be a little loud and jarring".

Harumi knew exactly what Bree was talking about. Spells could be outright dangerous up close.

Pixal nodded and then gently took Alanna from Bree's arms. The baby looked extremely confused and she nearly cried. Then quieted when she realized her mother wasn't leaving. Holding onto Pixal's smooth metal skin the baby was soon fascinated and distracted. Ronin watched warily from a corner. After seeing just some of what Bree could do was fairly off putting to him.

Bree then set the book on the table. Before she opened it she looked up and caught the eyes of all the adults in the room. Signaling she wanted them to listen carefully.

"This book contains enormous magic and spell work. Some good, some bad. Some absolute horrible if misused. Even so much as reading the text aloud will set a spell in motion. And once an heir opens the book anyone can read it. Myself, another heir, even a nindroid. Do yourself understand? Bree asked.

"So I close the book when we are done with the tea?" Harumi offered.

"Yes, even better if you don't leave the book unattended. Ask someone to watch it for you" Bree answered.

"What kind of spells can this book really do?" Skyler asked.

"With a lay person, a lot. With me just about anything" Bree answered with a grin. "I can teach you so much. Do so much good with this book" Bree said now smiling at Harumi. Turn to page 660, the one with the kappa on the top" Bree instructed.

As Harumi did that everyone leaned forward a little to look. Ronin confused.

"I don't know what you are talking about, that cute little thing looks nothing like those green killers" Ronin said.

"That's what a kappa should look like. A fat turtle frog looking thing. They like cucumbers. Those other things are cursed tortured monsters. Now Harumi carefully take this page. Dampen the dish cloth with some water. Rub at this green stain. Then squeeze the green stained water into the teapot" Bree instructed.

Harumi did so and even she was surprised by the loud bang and puff of smoke. Everyone else leaning back but Bree. She leaned in, checked the color of the tea and smiled.

"What was that?" Skyler sputtered.

"Green brain slime from a healthy kappa. Freely given" Bree answered. "All we need is the scale from a siren and it's finished. So Ronin that's where you come in. How much do I have to pay you to take me to some ocean cove to find one".

"What have you got that I can sell for as much as possible?" Ronin said bluntly.

Bree narrowed her eyes before opening a pocket on her bag. She reached in far. Then farther. Pushing her whole arm and shoulder into the space. Something was very weird with the bag. Bree pushed forward again and nearly fell in. Before grabbing something and leaning back.

"Neat trick. How'd it do that?" He asked.

"Learned a spell from a girl from another realm" Bree responded before holding out some gems to Ronin.

"Those will do" Ronin said. "I get Rex ready and we leave in twenty".

Ronin headed out the door. Bree turned to Pixal and offered to take the baby back. Pixal did so but with great reluctance visible on her face. Bree snuggled Alanna close.

"I have a few things to show you before I go" Bree said quietly to Harumi. Cupping the back of Alanna's head with her free hand. Bree was not eager at all to leave Alanna behind. But she also knew it would be more dangerous to take her with to an open body of water with the cursed kappa everywhere.

Bree and Harumi stood in the courtyard with Ronin waiting in Rex just above them. With one more snuggle Bree gave Alanna to Harumi and stepped up into Rex. some of the other ninga were watching as were Wu and Misako. With a thump that rocked the air ship slightly Cole jumped in beside Bree. She huffed in disgust.

"I don't need your help" Bree snapped at him.

Ronin was at the controls and pointedly avoiding the conversation between the two young elemental masters. The girl with the long brown hair was particularly pissy with Cole. But that was less Ronins problem. As long as he was getting paid and not getting killed it was ok with them fighting the whole time.

"You aren't the only one that has anything riding on this going well. My friends need this way more than you need the stupid tea sweetheart" Cole answered her.

"For the love of Caladonia can you not use the cutsy names for me. My name is Brianna and I am not your sweetheart or anything else" Bree snarled at Cole.

"What the hell is Caladonia anyways?" Cole asked changing the subject as the air ship sped down the sky towards the cost.

"Its not a what its a were. Caladonia is the ancestral home of the elemental masters of magic. I spent most of my life there and in Djinjago" Bree replied less angrily than before.

"How do you know any of this?" Cole asked again.

With a roll of her eyes Bree replied "homeschooling".

"Sorry to cut you two short but we need to start looking for outcrops along the beaches with rocks that jut up. And then when you see rocks the ones that have shells and mussels still attached to them. We wont find a mermaid unless we are looking in the right spot'' Ronin said.

Bree looked more closely at the cost just below them and then shrugged "how do you know how to find a mermaid anyways?".

"I know how to avoid them. Little known fact but my now long dead dad was a actual ship captain. And he had a few stories about some mermaids he royally pissed off.

Bree looked up more closely at Ronin then. Specifically at the sides of his neck mostly covered with that scarf. She wondered just what his dad did to piss a mermaid off. But it wouldn't take much. Mermaids notoriously were short tempered. And male humans easily got on their nerves.

Ronin set Rex down and cut the engines. Motioning for Bree and Cole to follow him and to stay quite. They followed Ronin and stayed behind the moss and seagrass covered rocks at the top of the cliff. Down below the water lapped gently at rocks and onto the soft sand beach. Cole looked uneasily at the other two. The last time they got near a beach it literally boiled over with gross slimey kappa that tried to kill them all. As the wind blew gently to them they could hear voices, womens voices specifically. Getting down and cautiously peering over the sides they saw a few... mermaids. Sitting on the rock that just came above the water.

"So how are we gonna get a scale off one of those things?" Cole said in mild disgust. He was eyeing up their wet scales and it looked like very sharp nails and teeth. Cole had no idea how these things lured men to their deaths. They did not look like his idea of a hot date. Particularly not when they were ripping the heads off fish and eating them raw. Sitting around gossiping and laughing like some freaky picnic.

"Well we could try netting one, or just shoot one with an electro shock and wait till she floats" Ronin began. Only to be cut off by Bree's snarl of anger and disgust.

"How about we just ask like a civilized human being. Or offer one a trade. The mermaids from other realms love shiny things, especially jewelry" Bree said.

"Your gonna walk up to one of those fish monsters and ask them nicely?!" Cole said in a harsh whisper.

"Yes and you two cowards are going to stay right here and not piss them off" Bree answered. She reached up to where her braided and curled hair covered her ears and pulled off two sparkly earrings. Cole could swear she hadn't been wearing those before. Bree held those out in her hand and confidently walked towards the mermaids. Cole and Ronin pinning themselves flat to the rocks while Cole hissed for Bree to come back. Near instantly the mermaids caught the movement and pinned their glaring gaze to Bree. Holding out the shiny jewels Bree kept walking foreword. Two of the mermaids slipped off the rocks into the water out of sight. But the younger dark haired one remained.

"What do you want?" the pretty young mermaid asked hauntingly. Her voice surprisingly smooth and lovely.

"A small trade" Bree answered. She walked right up to her and hoped onto the wet rock. The mermaid amused and surprised. Most humans didn't come near mermaids unless lured.

"Are those two idiots hiding behind the rock going to try and cause trouble?" the mermaid asked dryly.

"Those two idiots think you are going to eat them for lunch" Bree replied. Earning a laugh from the pretty mermaid. "I really need a scale for a special tea. And I am willing to pay" Bree held out the shiny earrings.

Cole and Ronin had popped out from behind the rock. But only came a few meters forward. And neither looked happy.

"What kind of tea needs a mermaid scale?" she asked. Eyeing both the earrings and Ronin from her place on the rock.

"The uncurseing kind" Bree said. The mermaid nodded knowingly while Cole shook his head in frustration. "My friends have a curse on them that causes those dark kappa to chase after them like a shark after a bloody fish. I need to uncurse them all so we can find a way to destroy them all without getting killed ourselves".

"Do you happen to know who cursed your friends and turned those poor sweet kappa into monsters?" the mermaid asked. Apparently her kind knew of them as well.

"No" Bree said darkly. "But when I find out Ill kill them for it. This seemed to endear the mermaid. Mermaids didn't particularly like anyone who harmed their watery kind.

"You can have a scale, but I don't want the earrings" the mermaid said.

"What do you want?" Bree asked cautiously. Cole giving her a lets go signal and Ronin vigorously shaking his head no.

Leaning closer to Bree the mermaid said quietly "I want the one that belongs to us. The older male".

Bree turned and looked at Ronin in surprise. She was right when she wondered earlier about him. Ronin was a male mermaid. Maybe he knew it and then again if he was this afraid of other mermaids maybe he didn't. "I wouldn't trade someones life that is not my own" Bree answered.

"Then no deal" the mermaid said with a huff.

Bree stepped back for a half step, only for the mermaid to gesture for her to wait.

"He has to come with me, at least meet others of his kind" the mermaid said almost desperately.

"How about this, I get a scale, you get five minutes with Ronin. And if he wants to walk away he is free to go" Bree suggested.

"How do I know you all will keep your word?" the mermaid asked.

Bree held out her arm and it glowed a bright purple. The mermaid grinned, she suspected Bree was something more as well. She held out her arm and grasped

Bree's with her own. Soft and like silk instead of slimey. Bree using a djin promise to seal the deal.

"My name is Delphine" the young mermaid said.

"Brianna" Bree replied with a smile.

Now Cole looked ready to pull his hair out. Both Cole and Ronin has seen what Bree has done, but couldn't hear what the young women were saying. Bree walked back up the beach a little to the two men. With a yell of good luck to Delphine and holding a shiny new scale in her hand.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!' Cole snarled at her. "What kind of deal did you just make?".

"She wants five minuets to talk to Ronin. That's it. Then we can all walk away and go home happy".

"No way!" Cole snapped.

"Why in Ninjago does a mermaid want to talk to me?" Ronin said in surprise.

Bree gestured him foreword and then gave him a shove before he skittered to a stop.

"She just wants to talk, she couldn't hurt you even if she wanted to" Bree said.

This still didn't get Ronin moving and the mermaid, Delphine was getting impatient. With a splash she was off the rock and up the beach. Once she hit the dry sand the mermaid shook her tail hard, shaking every drop of water from it. As that happened her tail turned foamy and then transformed into a very shapely pair of legs. Ronin stood in aghast amazement as she walked up the beach to him. Stark naked. Bree laughed and watched Cole turn away in embarrassment and a touch of fear. Cole was no more enamored of her human form than her half fish one. Delphine took both Ronins hands and started talking quickly and animatedly to him.

Bree took Cole by the arm and backed them both up the narrow path giving the pair on the beach a measure of privacy.

"What the hell Bree?!" Cole said spinning her to face him. "What does the naked fish women want?!" he said exasperated.

"She just wants to talk to him. She can sense her own kind" Bree said amused.

"Excuse me, but Ronin is not a mermaid" Cole said annoyed.

"Oh yes he certainly is, he even has the tell tale faded marks of gills on his neck, I noticed them earlier under the edge of his scarf" Bree replied. "His father must have been human and his mother the mermaid".

"Hes got LEGS" Cole hissed.

"Well at the moment so does she" Bree gestured to the pretty women now holding Ronin. "And male mermaids don't transform anyways, excellent swimmers, but they stay human looking".

Ronin looked transfixed by the pretty young women in his arms. And as she held his face in her hands he scooped her up and kissed her passionately. Apparently the talk had gone well.

"Now what the fresh hell is this?" Cole yelled. "Ronin! let go of her, its time to go!".

Ronin did in fact not let go of Delphine, but kissed her harder. Which one free hand he clipped a button he held and up the cliff the airship Rex cloaked itself into the rocks and seagrass. Delphine broke free from Ronin giggling she ran towards the water a little and then stopped waiting.

"RONIN! get back here!" Cole yelled.

"You two head on back to the temple and make that tea stuff. Ill head around in a few days" Ronin said as he watched Delphine wink at him and then leap into the water. "Actually give me a week...two weeks". And with that Ronin tore the scarf and hat off and bolted after the pretty mermaid. Both hit the water with a splash and were gone from sight before Bree and Cole could get a word in.

Bree and Cole looked on in shock.

"Did that asshole just ditch us here with no ride home?" Cole said in disgust.

"Yup" Bree replied. "I was expecting them to talk, not run, well swim off and get married".

"What?" Cole asked, calmly because he was beyond more shock at this point.

"Mermaids mate for life with another of their kind. And they don't have a whole ceremony or anything they just ugh..." Bree didn't finish and turned pink cheeked.

Cole raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"When a boy mermaid and a girl mermaid fall in love and egh..." Bree paused in embarrassment. "Love at first sight and when they... well its their form of permanent".

"Good to know I can't have a one night stand with a mermaid" Cole quipped.

"Well its not like the pretty girl mermaid wanted to talk to you at all" Bree laughed. Cole looked not amused at her joke. "So how are we getting back?" Bree asked.

"I have an idea but I don't think you'll like it" Cole replied.

And no, Bree did not like it at all.