At some point semi-recently, this story reached 100,000 hits? Wow, you guys. That's pretty cool. Thanks so much for reading! ^_^

So! I can see from my traffic stats that Mondays are NOT good update days. That does make sense, I suppose XD In fact, looking at these stats, it would seem that...Wednesdays are the most popular days? This is perplexing. I'm gonna see what happens to the stats for this chapter, then decide whether or not to continue weekend updates or move 'em to midweek.

Super-duper thanks to Kira Vulpes for her help, forever and always!

Secret Weapon

"I'm not sure I understand the plan, sir…"

Lou's Nindroid escort, Haja, was a cautious man. The Prince could not blame him for that. Especially considering the…peculiar nature of their mission.

"What don't you understand?" Lou called through the half-open wooden shutters. The wide, snowy mountain road, which led its travelers up a winding path to the King's Keep, was remarkably smooth under the runners of his sleigh. "You drive me up to the King's Keep. Try not to scowl like you want to kill everyone. I will do the talking."

"And…what if things go wrong?"

"They won't," Lou assured him, and smiled. "They won't."

Since her husband's death, Driniah had not been sleeping well. So when a servant peeked tentatively into her room at nearly three in the morning, Driniah was already awake to hear the news.

Kai was home.

Shoving her arms into a silk robe, she ran down the hall. Servants and guards alike pleaded for her to slow down. She would not. How could she? Kai was home!

The stairs leading to the main level usually gave her some trouble, but tonight she could feel neither fatigue nor pain as she flew down to greet her son.

She came to the bottom of the stairs and saw him standing beside Cole, surrounded by a dozen startled, gawking soldiers who bombarded them with questions. The pair didn't seem inclined to respond with anything more than one-word replies and uncomfortable, tired glances.

Driniah had received a letter from Cyrus Borg early yesterday morning, informing her that Kai was traveling to Sheshin with all haste. Still, she hadn't expected him until tomorrow morning at the earliest!

Kai saw Driniah and pushed his way past the small crowd to reach her.

"Kai," Driniah whispered, reaching out to touch his face. Was this a dream? She wouldn't put it past her mind to conjure something so cruel.

"Hey," Kai murmured. His skin had darkened, and his despite his smile, his face was grim and haggard. He looked very weighed-down, although the only thing he carried was a knapsack, its strap gripped in one fist rather than slung over his shoulder.

"Kai… Oh, Hosts!" Words failed Driniah. She embraced him, on the verge of tears. Kai wrapped his free arm around her back and held her close.

"You…you're home." Driniah's voice wavered. "Where were you? You were gone so long…"

"I'm sorry," Kai said in her ear. "I didn't mean to be." He unwound himself from the embrace too soon, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "There isn't much time. I spoke to locals along the road. Hearsay is, Garmadon's army is traveling east. Probably to meet up with the Northern troops and cross to the South from the eastern bridge, since it's near where the three borders touch. How are our defenses on that side?"

Driniah hesitated, not willing to talk about the South's situation yet- how could she, when her son was finally home? But she knew they had no choice.

"Not good," she admitted. "We thought they would cross the border at the main bridge, nearer to Sheshin…"

"It looks like they intend to sweep the realm from east to west instead," Kai said. "It will be a massacre."

Driniah nodded, understanding the implications. Since she'd assumed Garmadon would attack the capital first, she had neglected the less politically important eastern end of the realm. If the Guards crossed from that direction, they could burn their way toward Sheshin with very little resistance.

"How much time do we have?" she asked gravely.

"At best, five days," Kai answered. "Which is good. I have some time to send diplomatic letters to the Middle and North."

"They won't listen to what you have to say," Driniah warned.

"Won't they?" There was a spark of humor in Kai's otherwise heavy eyes. He glanced at Cole, who had come up beside him. "I suppose not. Unless, say, I were to send a secret weapon to the Middle…"

Cole snorted.

"A secret weapon?" Driniah repeated, puzzled.

"Call for a meeting with your advisors and military leaders," Kai said. "I'll explain everything then."

The first Guard to spot Lou's sleigh was about a mile from the King's Keep.

"Keep moving," Lou quietly called out the window to Haja, in direct contradiction of the Guard's order for them to halt. "Ignore him."

The sleigh continued onward.

"Hey!" the Guard shouted. "Identify yourselves!" A second set of hoofbeats accompanied those of the horse pulling Lou's transport: the Guard was pursuing them. "Whoever you are, halt! I command you to stop in the name of the King!"

Lou peeked between the wooden shutters and saw the Guard on horseback, vaguely illuminated by the light of the lantern he carried. He listened for another moment to the Guard's frantic calls, then spoke to Haja, unable to keep an amused smile from his face. "Stop," he said, and immediately felt them slide to a halt.

The Guard galloped his horse directly up to the sleigh and pounded on the door. "Identify yoursel-"

"What in Mena's name do you think you're doing?" Lou barked at the Guard, snapping back the shutters. "I've had a long journey, and this is how I'm greeted upon my return? What is your name? I'll have words for your superior about this!"

The Guard leaned back slightly in the saddle, flabbergasted. But, impressively, he reined himself in and responded to Lou's outburst with civility. "I apologize, sir. If you could state your name and-"

"Excuse me?" Lou scowled, poking his head out the window. "Are you saying you don't recognize me, boy?"

Of course this Guard wouldn't recognize him: he'd probably hardly even begun learning his letters when Lou had left the King's Keep over twenty winters ago.

Lou suddenly felt very old.

The Guard gave a start as he finally noticed Lou's eyes in the lantern's light. All decorum fled him. "Oh! You're…but I wasn't aware that there were more…" He cleared his throat. "My apologies, Blessed. I wasn't aware that the King was expecting…visitors."

"I didn't have time to write," Lou said with a dismissive wave. He closed the shutters. "Since you're here, you can escort me to the King's Keep. Quickly, now. I'm ready to burn this Host-cursed sleigh. At least then I'd be warm."

"Er, yes, Blessed."

The sleigh started moving again. Shortly thereafter, another Guard further down the path took notice of them. Lou heard the first Guard explaining their strange situation as they trotted beside the sleigh.

Eventually Lou heard the sound of a gate opening and cracked a shutter to look out. His heart, to his surprise, fluttered.

There, silhouetted in moonlight, with only a few windows bearing light through them, was his childhood home. Massive, constructed of red brick that looked nearly black in the weak light. It hadn't changed. But, then, that didn't surprise him: this beautiful old mansion had been standing strong for many generations before them, and promised to stand for many more after they were gone.

In the yard before the King's Keep, at least a dozen Guards stood at attention, waiting for Lou's coach to arrive. One of the Guards along the road must have run ahead to alert the others that a Blessed guest was arriving.

Haja, at long last, brought the sleigh to a standstill on the front lawn of the King's Keep, and a Guard opened the door, appearing poised despite the confusion he must be feeling.

"Welcome, Blessed," the Guard said, bowing.

"I hope you have tea waiting for me inside," Lou snapped, stiffly rising from his cushion. Hosts, but the cold did awful things to his joints.

"Our apologies, sir. We weren't prepared for guests. We will have something ready as quickly as we can. And the King has been alerted of your arrival. If you'll follow me… And don't worry, we'll have your horse taken care of."

"Of course you will," Lou said, stepping down onto the snowy path. Haja came down beside him. The other Guards regarded the large, stern-faced driver, seeming uncertain.

"Well?" Lou snapped. "Are you all just going to stand there? I would like to get out of the cold."

The Guards jumped into action. Lou allowed himself a smile as he followed them up the steps, through the ornate wooden doors, and into the keep.

This was going to be fun.

I'm working on a Lou one-shot that, if all goes well, will be posted sometime next week in the We'll Start Here series. Stay tuned for that, and other one-shot ideas are always appreciated. :)

I'm not gonna whine and moan about this, but...zero reviews? I mean, I get that it was an all-OC chapter, and this story is hardly even a fanfiction anymore, but...hm. It's a strange feeling, thinking back on previous years when I had all these regular reviewers whom I loved to reply to and chat with, and now here I am. It's a lonely feeling. I see all this activity, but I don't feel like I'm a part of it anymore. I plan to at least partially remedy this problem by becoming a semi-regular reader and reviewer again! I've been absent from the fandom for far too long, and it's been brought to my attention that there are some new (compared to this old relic who became a hardcore fan when Ninjago only had, like, one and a half seasons) authors who are actually flippin' GOOD at their craft! That makes me so happy, and I want to support you guys.

My fading into near-oblivion is largely my fault, since I've updated so sporadically these past couple years. Fanfiction seems to be is a ruthless world where it's super hard to catch up once you're left behind. I just...I guess what I'm trying to say is, I really hope that I can catch up again? I took for granted what I had before, and though I don't write for reviews, I do post for them- I post for this community, which I really want to become a part of again. I'm gonna try hard to become a part of things again, and give a little where lately I've been only asking.

I don't want to pull your arm! Heck, don't review if you don't want to. But I needed to be real for a second. Don't be shy about leaving a thought in that nifty box down there, even if you've been a silent reader forever. XD This is the last time I'll bring this up, okay? I promise. Have a fantastic rest of your weekend, and I'll see you next week.