Steep Wisdom, Northwestern Ninjago, 12:30 pm
"That'll be two dollars, sir," Lilly told the old man standing in front of the counter where she stood. The balding old man nodded and slowly searched for money inside his knapsack. Must be a tourist or traveler, Lilly observed in her thoughts, noticing the knapsack. It was pretty often that travelers visited this area, most likely to get glimpses of the traditional villages and the ancient cultures that still existed far from the City. The village she was from would get visitors all the time because of the mountains that surrounded it, but visitors would often complain about the cold or come unprepared, causing them to get frostbite and try to sue the village. Lilly didn't really loathe tourists, but she only disliked the ones that were rude. Luckily, this old man wasn't one of them.
"What teas again, sir?" Nya asked as she started to reach around the shelf.
"It was gyokuro and matcha," Lilly answered her before the old man could, remembering what he ordered. Nya nodded and cautiously pulled the pots of gyokuro and matcha off the shelf. She poured the matcha power into one bag, and put the gyokuro in another, making sure the two teas didn't mix. At the same time, the man laid three coins the counter, each one worth a dollar. Lilly picked up the third coin, giving a confused look.
"Um sir, your tea is only two dollars. You gave us three," she informed him. The old man nodded as he picked up his two bags of tea.
"It's a tip, keep the change," he smiled before turning to walk out the door, "Now you two young ladies have a nice day."
As the door shut behind the man, Lilly stared at the coins, bewildered. Why did he give us a tip? she thought to herself. She heard Nya giggle.
"Not used to getting tips during your shift?" she asked, noticing Lilly's bewildered expression. The blonde shrugged.
"I just didn't understand why that guy gave a tip. We didn't do anything special," she told Nya. The new master of water leaned on the counter and picked up the coins, looking through the holes in them like a telescope.
"Well, sometimes it's just for having good service, or just a random act of kindness. Tips do support us much more after all," Nya informed her as she put the coins down. She was silent for a moment, then groaned.
"Thank god that whole traitor thing is over. All the rumors were going to drive me crazy!" she sighed. Lilly nodded in agreement.
"Not to mention that Jay was starting to go insane from it all," the blonde added. Nya nodded.
"Yeah...I'm still a little disgusted about what Nathan pointed about Jay though," she said, looking a little angered.
"The fact that Jay stares at you inappropriately sometimes?" Lilly asked her. She nodded.
"Just...he knows I'm uncomfortable with that! Yet, he does it!" she ranted. Lilly shrugged again, not showing any anger towards Jay's actions.
"Well, when it comes to me I just ignore stuff like that. It happens rarely to me though," she said. Nya sighed.
"Yeah. That's you though. I'm different. I'm very uncomfortable with it," she argued. She went and set the pots of gyokuro and matcha back on the shelf, nearly knocking over a pot of oolong in the process.
"So...who did you think was traitor?" Lilly asked Nya. She remained silent for a moment, then returned to the counter.
"To be quite honest, I thought it was Jay. He was just acting too bizarre," she admitted. Lilly nodded in agreement with her confession.
"He was indeed. Though, he did get me thinking on how Kai and Nathan could have been it. Nathan did defend his side though," Lilly said. Nya gave a look of surprise.
"You actually thought Kai could have been it?" she asked. Lilly made the hand gesture that indicated that she somewhat did.
"I just heard the thing from Jay about Kai not reacting to the Christmas stuff and I just found it pretty odd," the blonde explained. Nya rubbed her chin.
"Yeah, that's pretty weird. Huh, usually I'm the first one to notice the weird stuff about my brother," she said. Lilly shrugged for the third time.
"You can't catch everything," she said as she put the coins away.
"I guess so," Nya sighed, pulling a broom out from under the counter. Lilly stared down at the counter as the new master of water sweeped the floor.
"Hey, you think Jay will apologize to Nathan for everything?" she asked. Nya looked over at her.
"He better and he will. Jay isn't one to forget to apologize anyway," she claimed. Lilly nodded, hoping she was right. The blonde started to walk into the living room, uncovering the hilt of her katana she hid under her shirt. She had been carrying her katana with her since day one of the traitor ordeal, and was quite pleased that she didn't have to use her weapon during it. She didn't even pull it from it's sheath yesterday during Xavier's attempt at stealing the Realm Crystal. It was a little risky wearing it during her shifts in the tea shop, as it may scare away customers, but she didn't care. All she had to do was hide it beneath her shirt.
With Nya in the tea shop, Sensei Wu and Misako working in the tea farm, and her friends out in the City, Lilly took the time to bask in the peace and quiet that filled the living room, but that tranquil period did not last long. After a few minutes, she heard a loud crash come from the hallway. Her head turned in the noise's direction and she placed a hand on the hilt of her katana. What in the world could that be? she thought to herself. None of her friends are inside, except for her. She would have seen them come though the door.
She creeped silently into the hall, looking for anything that may be out of place, keeping a hand on her weapon's hilt. She listened for any other strange noises besides the crash, and only ended up being startled by the sound of her own footsteps. She blushed slightly, embarrassed but relieved that no one saw her act stupid like that. Though, she discovered a few sounds coming from Sensei's room that sounded like rummaging. Is someone going after the Realm Crystal again? Lilly thought to herself.
She tiptoed to the door and peeked in, expecting to see a thief or maybe even Xavier. Instead, she found Kai standing at one of the shelves in the room, looking at something. Lilly removed her hand from the katana hilt and opened the door fully, breathing a short sigh of relief. Though, she didn't understand why he would be in here. He was supposed be with the others.
"Kai, what are you doing in Sensei's room?" she asked, startling the red ninja. He looked back at her, then smiled.
"Oh, I'm just cleaning Sensei's room for him. You know how elderly people have trouble cleaning a lot of things...sometimes even themselves," he replied, making a disgusted face after saying the last statement. Lilly raised an eyebrow. Kai never cleaned anyone's room, or anything for that matter. About the only thing he would clean up was himself. That's it. Well, he could be trying to be a bit more helpful with chores, Lilly thought to herself. She proceeded to the enter the room to look around and see that everything was in place.
"I'll help you with it then. I've got nothing better to do," she said, walking over to the shelf, causing Kai to move over a bit. Lilly could see that he was holding something, but she couldn't tell what.
"I don't need help. I'm fine," Kai insisted as he looked at the shelves. Lilly shook her head.
"You can get things done much faster when there's multiple people working on something, so I decided to help you. You probably want some extra time to mess around with your hair or model in the mirror or something," she said as she organized the books on the shelf. Just as she was about to move the next book, Kai grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"I said I'm fine. I don't need your help. I don't care how I look," he said in a much more serious voice. The smile on his face had faded, leaving a small scowl. Lilly knew something wasn't right. Kai always cared about his looks no matter what, and the only time where he wouldn't want someone helping him is when he's spiking his hair or fighting someone. The blonde glanced at the thing he was holding, which he was trying to hide beneath his jacket. She could see a whitish-blue glimmer coming from the object, and there was only one thing in Sensei Wu's room that emitted such glimmer.
"Kai, what are you doing with the Realm Crystal?" she questioned him in a quiet voice. Could it be that Nya really didn't catch everything and Xavier isn't the true traitor? No, he's probably just holding onto it while he's cleaning or something, Lilly thought, scared of what the actual truth on who the traitor is may be.
The red ninja looked down at the crystal, then back up to her. He was smiling again.
"Oh, I was just holding it while I was cleaning. Let me go put this back," he said, letting go of her wrist and turning to another shelf. She watched him do what looked to be putting the crystal back, but then he halted. Suddenly, he turned and swung his blade, to which Lilly responded quickly by pulling her katana from it's sheath and clashing blades.
"Kai! What the hell!?" she shouted. The red ninja looked surprised.
"Damn, you're faster than I thought...no matter," his voice was now slightly distorted, making him sound similar to Morro. Lilly was starting to become scared now, as distortion in his voice wasn't normal, nor was him attacking her. He swung his sword a few more times, and she blocked them all.
"Kai, please stop! I'm not in the mood for a duel right now!" she shouted as their blades clashed again. Was this even a duel!? she thought to herself. Kai was exerting more force on the sword and her when their blades clashed than he ever has. There was definitely something wrong with him.
"Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not him," the red ninja's smile grew as Lilly remained confused.
"Then, if you're not Kai, then who are you!?" she questioned as she fought back. "Kai" started to chuckle as skin turned from tan to a very pale tan. He blinked and revealed that his once chocolate brown eyes were now a glowing red. Lilly stared at him, fear and surprise evident in her expression.
"Let's just say I'm a better and stronger version of him," "Kai" smiled. He then produced a second sword from his sleeve, causing Lilly's eyes to widen. She ducked, avoiding the other blade and made a beeline for the door, running as fast as she could. She didn't want to fight him, especially since he looked like Kai. Though she claimed that she yearned to do so in earlier times, she never wanted to point a weapon at the master of fire, let alone fight him with one.
She was stopped abruptly when she felt a sharp tug on her ponytail.
"Now, where do you think you're going? I don't believe we're through talking just yet," she heard "Kai" say, before she was thrown by the ponytail into one of the shelves. Lilly groaned from the pain of the impact. He swung his sword again and she rolled away immediately, letting the sword get stuck in the floorboard. She, then, unleashed a jet of water on him, causing his hair to become soggy and fall over his eyes. Seeing this as a perfect time to try to knock him unconscious despite how reluctant she was to do it, she ran towards him, ready to hit the back of his neck. Before she could though, "Kai" turned and caught her by the neck.
"Nice try, but I already told you that I'm nothing like my clone. I don't let wet hair stop me," he said, slamming her into the wall. He then placed both of his swords at her throat.
"Listen, I'll make a deal with you. You keep this a secret, and I won't slice your neck open. Deal?" he offered. Lilly had no choice. She either accepted or died right here. Both she knew weren't going to end well, one way or another.
"Deal," she accepted quietly. She'd have to find a way to tell her friends this though, without "Kai" knowing. The imposter master of fire smiled.
"Good. Just remember that if you tell anyone, I won't hesitate to stick a sword in your chest. I'd hate to have to kill another pretty face though," he told her, not yet pulling the swords away from her throat. "Another"? Lilly thought, Who did he kill!?
He finally released her, the swords slipping into his sleeves. Before he walked out, his skin reverted back to the color it was before and his eyes returned to brown. He put a finger to his lips and walked out, leaving Lilly sitting on the floor. She looked around at the artifacts now knocked off the shelf, and pillow where the Realm Crystal used to sit. Her thoughts were a jumble of "What the hell just happened?" and "What do I do!?", leaving her staring blankly at a wall. Though, one thought stood out out of all of them. If he's not Kai, then where's the actual Kai?
20-8-5-25 4-9-19-1-16-16-5-1-18-5-4 20-8-18-5-5 25-5-1-18-19 1-7-15