Frankly, Nya felt wonderful. Well, if she could ignore the growing knot in her stomach. At least it had been a wonderful, ordinary week, and she hadn't cried once since that day. Which made her dread the mailman's inevitable visit all the more.

It was a bright, sunny morning, and she had scarcely finished putting away the breakfast things when the knock came. She hurried to open the door, heart beating fast, and there was the mailman in his usual blue uniform, handing her not a bouquet of flowers this time but a simple letter. She thanked him quickly, forced a smile, and shut the door, studying the letter. It had clearly been written in a hurry–it had no real envelope, but was just a piece of parchment folded in thirds and sealed with candle wax. The address was scrawled in messy cursive handwriting. Nya broke the seal and took a breath as she read the brief message.

Dear Nya–

I know this is crazy, and I know you don't want to listen to anything I have to say, but hear me out. I just saw one of my old friends from the village that I told you about, and he told me something that could change everything for us. He doesn't know for sure, but he heard through the grapevine that people have been escaping the kingdom somehow. I know your brother is here and your job and you don't want to leave, but if you want to know more, just ask.

There was no signature, probably because of the letter's scandalous content, but she knew full well who it was from. Who else would tell her about such a thing? A thing that, incidentally, could get them both killed if anyone had cared to break that seal. And who else would even believe such a thing? It clearly wasn't true . . . right? It couldn't be true.

But then again, how could she know? She was so cut off from, well, everything. It wasn't like she had any friends to hear rumors from. And anyone who came to visit her wouldn't tell her something like that, for fear she'd turn them in as a traitor to the Queen.

Besides, Jay wasn't that dumb. He must really believe this if he dared to send her a letter, to get both of their hopes up. And Nya knew what friend he was talking about. This boy had been his closest friend, but now he was far away in the military. At least, he had been. Nya wondered if he was here. If so, maybe he would come to her for a reading. He was the right age. But it would be unlikely he'd tell her anything. Unless, heaven forbid, Jay had told him about their whole . . . situation. No, he couldn't have. It was just as forbidden for him as it was for her.

But then again, this was Jay. She knew his tendency to say things he didn't mean to.

She read the note again. He hadn't said anything about telling his friend, but that didn't make anything certain. No, she knew what she had to do. She'd just have to go see him and make sure, because there was no way she was letting him ruin her reputation.

That was all it would be; just a professional visit, to make sure he hadn't said anything he shouldn't've. She wouldn't express any interest in his crazy runaway plan, but knowing him, he might just tell her anyway. And some part of her hoped he would.

She put on her coat and shoes and set off, walking through the village. The sun was shining, and a warm wind tousled her hair. Villagers stopped to stare at her, whispering. She almost decided to go back home. What if someone saw where she was going, and more rumors spread? But after a moment, everyone went back to what they'd been doing, and Nya forced herself to continue.

Before she knew it, there she was in front of the little house, trying her best to convince herself to knock. Half of her wanted nothing more to do with any of this, wanted to go on living like she had before, oblivious and obedient. But the other half wanted nothing more than to see him again–whether to reprimand him or just see his smile, she couldn't quite tell.

Besides, what would she say to his parents if they answered the door? She only had a moment to contemplate it before the door opened, revealing the smiling face of Jay's mother, which turned surprised as she took in the identity of her visitor.

"Thread-mage! Welcome! How may I help you? If this is about last time–"

"It isn't." Nya cut her off, sounding colder than she had meant to. "I'm here as . . . um, a customer, I guess. You're a wheelwright, right?"

"Yes, of course. Come in."

"Thank you, ma'am." Nya followed her into the house.

"None of that, now. Call me Edna!" Edna bustled about, grabbing a teapot and setting it on the table, alongside a stack of teacups which she quickly retrieved from a cabinet in the tiny kitchen.

"Sit down, and have tea if ya like. I'll go get the boys." She pulled out a chair and Nya had no choice but to sit down.

Edna hurried off, supposedly into the next room, while Nya looked around the house. She hadn't really thought to look around last time she was here, having been more focused on handling the situation and leaving. But now she glanced around the large room, which was divided by the table where she sat. Behind Nya was the sitting room, with a rug on the floor, a bookshelf, a wooden bench, and an ancient looking armchair. The front door was also in this part of the room, while the doorway into the rest of the house was about in the middle, across from the table.

The kitchen was tiny, with wooden countertops and cabinets, dried herbs and onions hanging from the ceiling, and a rectangular pit of ashes that had its own wall. A fire could be lit in the pit, and it would either heat up the stove, which stood in half of the pit, or pots hanging by a metal hook over the other half. A large pipe chimney stood over the pit, so the smoke would be sucked up and out the roof. Nya was fascinated by the whole thing–the family had combined the modern stove and the ancient way of cooking over an open fire. She herself only had a normal stove at her home.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, thread-mage." Edna came back into the kitchen, followed by Jay, whose eyes widened when he realized exactly who their customer was.

"You really don't have to call me that. Ms. Smith is fine, or–" Her eyes met his by mistake, and she watched him blush. "Um, anyway . . ."

"Yes, yes. You've come as a customer, correct? I'm Ed." Jay's father followed the other two over to Nya and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet ya. Um, again."

They all sat down at the table, some more willingly than others. Edna sat next to Nya and poured the tea, which Nya had forgotten to do herself.

"What might be your request, then?" Ed asked once the tea had been distributed. "We'll all of us do our very best to help ya. This one," –He poked Jay– "Has been real interested in the business lately. Haven't ya, son?"

Jay said nothing, so Nya cleared her throat.

"Um, I'm actually here to inquire for, um, my brother. He's a rice farmer, and he doesn't have his own wagon, but he's been saving up for one, and heard there was a good wheelwright around these parts. He, uh, wants to meet," She kicked Jay under the table.

"Ow!" Jay said.

"Burn yourself on the tea? I always did tell you to be careful–"

"I know, Ma. Sorry."

Nya continued. "He wants to meet his friend on the Eastern Side," –She kicked Jay again– "Of Ninjago, as soon as possible." She kicked him extra hard to make sure he got the message. "Um, anyway, that's probably not going to be very soon, what with the amount rice farmers make. But he still wanted me to ask, um, about the price of wheels."

"Of course! It really does depend on the size of wagon . . ." Ed stopped to think for a moment, then rattled on about different wheel sizes, wagon sizes, wood types, price ranges. Nya didn't really listen; all she was thinking about was whether Jay had gotten the message and what she'd say to him if he had.

"So, anyway, those are the top three I'd recommend." Ed said. "You can tell that to your brother. Do ya need me to write it down?"

"Um, sure." Nya said. Kai hadn't really asked about any of it, of course, but since she hadn't listened she thought it prudent to at least know the wheels he'd ended up recommending, in case she had to continue this act in the future.

He scratched down the wheels and prices on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to her. "There ya go."

"Thank you, sir." Nya stood up. "I'll tell him. And thank you for the tea." She hurried out the door, and around to the east side of the house, where she stood against the wall, waiting.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only five or ten minutes, Jay came around from the back of the house and shyly stood beside her.

"Good. You got the message." She said, not looking at him.

"I'm not that stupid. You certainly didn't need to kick so hard. When I saw you were here I was going to go after you anyway." He breathed out. "I guess this means you got my letter?"

"Yes."

"So . . . what do you think?"

"I think you had better not have told anyone about me."

He looked offended. "You don't really think I'd do that, do you?"

"I don't know. You're quite the blabbermouth."

"Not about this! I know how to keep secrets just as well as anyone else!"

"Good. Then I'll be going." She said.

"Wait!" Jay grabbed her arm as she turned to go, then dropped it quickly when she turned back to him. "You don't want to hear about it at all?" He lowered his voice. "Cole said they're supposedly trying to start a rebellion. But hardly anyone will go. They need people, Nya. They need help to make the Queen listen!"

"Wow, you really bought all that?" Nya snapped back. "It's crazy. It couldn't happen. And perhaps you've forgotten that I'm not exactly a low-profile citizen like you. If I was gone, everyone would know. Everyone would care."

"We could disguise it as a journey to see more people. We could stop along the way and you could read peoples' threads. Then no one would be surprised when you weren't at your house."

It seemed like he had put a lot of thought into this plan, but Nya couldn't give in. Not yet.

"What about my brother?"

"He could come." Jay said, which of course was the obvious solution. But the more Nya thought about it, the more she wondered if Kai would. He must not like his work, and his life was much harsher than her own, although he never mentioned it. She remembered her conversation with Zane, how he'd complained about his job and mentioned wishing to see the technology they had in the outside world.

"What about the next thread-mage?" She couldn't help but ask.

"You're still young. We can make the world better for her, then come back in time for you to train her. Besides, isn't love important to you? We could be together there. You could–"

"But there I would be nothing!" Nya knew that at this point her excuses hardly made sense, even to her. "I'd just be your girlfriend, and nothing else. Not me, not the thread-mage. No one would know about my powers. I couldn't tell anyone, so it wouldn't end up being like here!" She was contradicting herself, and she knew it. Hadn't she always wanted to be a normal girl?

"I would know." Jay said. "And I would always be glad I knew because your powers are what brought us together."

That really gave her pause. He sounded so serious, so genuine, and suddenly she really didn't want to object.

"I know." She said instead. "I'm sorry. It's just–"

"It's hard." He finished for her. "Hard to imagine, and certainly hard to think of really doing something like that. It would be for me too, you know. My parents are here, and I couldn't tell them where I was going. It'd be too dangerous." He looked away. "And it would be dangerous for us, too. But . . . maybe it would be worth it. For us."

"Maybe." She sighed. "You think about it, and I will too. Just don't for a minute try to tell yourself to do it for my sake. Because it wouldn't be."

"I know." He looked solemn and serious. The usual joking glint in his eyes was gone. "Goodbye, Nya."

"Goodbye." There was one more thing she wanted to say, but she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Somehow it was different to do it now than it had been in her anger that night. So she only whispered the words as she walked away.

I love you.