Note: It's been an extremely embarrassingly long time since I updated this, and I'm very sorry. The end of the school year was super busy, my computer was broken for a while, and I just got back from being away for a week. I really meant to post this before I left, but I didn't get the chance, so you get it now. Um, enjoy I guess!

"Wh-wha?" Nya sat bolt upright in bed. Someone had been knocking on the door, and now they were at it again. She jumped to the floor, and out of her peripheral vision noticed Jay, asleep in an armchair in the far corner of the room. She did remember him being there the night before, but hadn't realized he'd been there all night.

She opened the door and poked her head out. Kai was standing there.

"What's wrong?" Nya asked.

"Nothing, sorry. But the rest of us are having brunch, and Skylor told me to check on you."

"Check on me doesn't have to mean jarringly wake me up. And besides, since when do you let people you don't even like order you around?"

"Sorry, I didn't know you were still asleep." He said, ignoring her question. "By the way, is Jay in there with you?"

Somehow the words that came out of her mouth were, "No. Why?"

"He's not at breakfast either. So are you sure he's not–"

"Goodness, Kai! I'll look for him. You go back and eat."

He left after that, and she turned and leaned against the door. "Found him." She mumbled, looking towards Jay, who seemed to have slept through the whole exchange. She assumed she should wake him up, but she felt bad about it. Thinking back to the night before, she wondered how long they'd stayed up, talking. It hadn't seemed like that long, but maybe it had been, seeing as they'd both been tired enough to sleep through breakfast time.

Right, brunch. She had better get there before everyone (and particularly her brother) ate it all. And if she wanted any chance that there would be enough for her and Jay, she had better wake him up so they could get dressed as soon as possible. She went over to the chair and tapped his shoulder.

"Um, Jay?"

He didn't even stir. She leaned down and gently shook his shoulder. "Jay!"

His deep blue eyes flicked open. "Nya?"

"Hello. Um, good morning. Sorry."

His eyes widened as he looked around the room. "Did I sleep here all night?"

She nodded, blushing. "Yeah. And we slept late too. Kai just came to say they started brunch without us."

"Kai?" Jay sat bolt upright.

"He didn't see you, don't worry. But you'd better get out of here fast if you don't want him coming back and noticing you."

"Oh, right. Yes. I'll meet you there." He got up quickly and left. In a second he was back.

"This was on the door for you." He handed her a hanger, then left again.

Nya looked at the clothes. Judging by the color scheme and quality, she had an idea where they'd come from. But since her own clothes had been taken to be cleaned, the only other things she had available were her nightdress and the dress she had worn the day before. She sighed and went to the washroom to clean up before she got dressed. The whole thing of having a washroom was a miracle to her–when she turned a knob, water came out of a pipe in the wall, ready for whatever she wanted. Back home, she had never heard of such a thing. Having grown up her whole life with wells, pumps, chamber pots, and washstands, all of this brought a mix of emotions–excitement, of course, as she couldn't wait to figure out how the whole system worked. But also anger at how everyone back in the Serpent Kingdom was deprived of inventions like these. It was just another thing that wasn't fair, another reason to hate the Queen.

After washing up, Nya changed into the "borrowed" clothes–a navy blue sweater of soft cashmere wool and black pants with a pleat that ran down the front of the leg. It was funny, she thought, how different the clothes in the Northern Empire could be, even though the people sometimes wore "traditional" clothes like the ones Nya was used to. She didn't quite understand it.

By the time Nya arrived in the great hall, the others were already most of the way through their meals. The prince was also there, sitting next to Skylor on a high stool so he could reach the table.

"Your highness." Nya bowed to him. She knew it was silly, but she had always been told to properly acknowledge her superiors. Besides, she wanted to be as much on the royal family's good side as possible.

"Good morning!" Lloyd said with his mouth full. He swallowed, grinned, then went back to eating.

"Oh, good, you found your clothes." Skylor said. "Apparently your brother forgot to tell you about them."

"You could've just woken her up yourself instead of making me!" Kai complained.

"I didn't make you, you agreed." Skylor said. Nya wondered if that was true. Skylor did have a sort of charm, but this was Kai, and stubbornness definitely ran in their family . . .

Just then, Jay came in. He was wearing new clothes too–a flannel shirt and denim trousers. He sat down next to Nya.

"You look pretty."

"Thanks." She said. "Although these are not my clothes! Someone stole them–"

"Oh, I was wondering where all our new clothes came from." Jay said.

"I did not steal them!" Skylor defended herself. "Yours were provided by the staff, probably from the officers' shop. That's where our military officers buy supplies and clothes. Nya's were borrowed."

"Sure." Nya said. "Now, did you all save any food for us?"

When they had finished eating, Skylor pulled Nya aside.

"I was wondering if, um . . ."

"I could do your reading." Nya guessed, and sighed when she nodded. "I don't want to disappoint you, but I guess I might as well do it now. There's no use putting it off, it won't change anything."

While the boys, including the prince, gathered near the fireplace and started chattering away, Nya took Skylor to the opposite side of the room. There was a rug on the floor, and they both sat down.

"This might look a little alarming to you." Nya warned. "If it works, that is. When I'm focusing on the threads, I don't see the real world, what's actually around me."

"Okay." Skylor said. "Thank you again for doing this."

Skylor noticed that Nya looked a little nauseous as she laced their fingers together, and closed her eyes, her brow furrowing with concentration. Then Nya's eyes opened, staring straight ahead, wide as if with shock, yet not seeing what was around her. Skylor didn't know how long they stayed that way–was it seconds? Minutes? But the time seemed to drag on, until finally Nya blinked and shook her head to clear her vision. She was biting her lip and looking guilty, which Skylor did not take as a good sign.

"I . . . I can't tell you who your soulmate is." Nya saw Skylor slump as the words came out of her mouth. She wished there was something she could do, but there was nothing. She knew her words sounded just like her lie to Jay so long ago, but it was actually true this time. She could find Skylor's thread and focus in on it, but when she tried to see into her future, or follow it to her soulmate, everything became more and more blurred the further she went. She'd never seen anything like it.

"I guess . . . your destiny is still being created." She said. "Your future is up to you. I'm sorry."

"No. That's okay. I mean, why should I have the luxury of finding out who my soulmate is, when no one else here does?"

Nya didn't have an answer to that. "Well, at least your thread's not broken. That can happen, you know." She looked across the room, to where Kai and Zane were laughing by the hearth, while Cole and Jay played some sort of board game with the prince. "But, you know . . . maybe there's someone who could be . . . if you let him."

"What?" Skylor followed Nya's gaze, and blushed. "Maybe. Who knows. I mean, about that . . ."

Maybe Skylor was wondering if any of the boys had been her clients before, Nya thought with interest. Well, if she was, Nya decided to make it easy for her. After all, she deserved at least something, even if she couldn't know her soulmate.

"Oh, I wonder if my powers would still work on any of them, since they're from here. I've done a reading on Jay, of course, but maybe since Kai, Zane, and Cole were born in the Serpent Kingdom . . ."

Skylor didn't seem to have been listening. "I think . . . maybe I will. Try to find my soulmate, I mean. Maybe."

"Good." Nya smiled, and got up. "Now, let's see what my dumb brother and the others are up to."

All too soon, Lloyd reminded Skylor that she was supposed to take him to his tutor. She got up quickly, muttering something about how "I bet my father never made his pupils want to go to class." She took the prince by the hand, leaving the others in the great hall. Skylor had left the board game, which she called star checkers, with them, and Kai, Zane, and Cole were in the middle of a game, so Nya pulled Jay aside.

"I couldn't see Skylor's thread earlier. It was all blurry, and . . . I don't know why. But I've read yours, twice. So I wanted to see if I still can."

He nodded. "Okay."

They took hands, and Nya drew the red threads out from inside her mind, switching her vision to seeing only them and not her real surroundings. It was easy to find Jay's thread and focus in on it. But that was where her luck ran out. His thread was just as blurry as Skylor's, and she couldn't even trace it to where it was tied to her.

"Oh, no," Nya blinked back to reality, then tucked the threads away again.

"You can't see it?"

"I can, but . . . not like I did before. I don't know." She stood up, started walking towards the door.

"Are you okay?" He asked, scrambling to his feet.

"Yes." She lied. "I just need to think."

"Yeah, sure." He let her leave after that. She hurried to her room, and sat on the bed. Mei Tao's words echoed in her head.

"You will choose when to do a reading on yourself, if ever. It is not a choice that can be taken back."

Well, I might've just lost the chance to make that choice, Nya thought. But I might as well try.

She placed her hands over her heart, and concentrated. Felt for her thread. It was different from her usual process of looking outward, focusing on the warmth of her client's hand. Instead she felt as if she was going inside herself. Then she saw it. The thread seemed to pulse along with her heartbeat. She followed it into the past, seeing herself as a child, growing up. She hadn't been able to do even that with Skylor and Jay's threads. But as she followed it into the future, everything turned blurry, just as their threads had been. She tried to concentrate, but things only got worse as she tried to hold on. She couldn't focus, not with the realization fully dawning on her. She had lost her powers. Probably forever. Something she had done had somehow broken her gift. She was jolted back to life, and pushed the threads back into her mind before collapsing. Her head throbbed. What would she do? She had dishonored her predecessors, ruined–

Someone was knocking. She hoped they would go away. How could she tell her friends she had lost her gift? Would they be angry? She had never had a chance to do a reading on any of them but Jay.

She heard a creaking as the door opened.

"Are you okay?"

It was Skylor. Nya sat up.

"Yes."

"You don't look it."

"I know."

Skylor crossed the room and sat on the corner of the bed. "You know, if this is about you not being able to see my red thread, it's not a big deal. I thought it would be so great to know, but . . . I really don't care that much. Honest."

"It's not just that. I couldn't see Jay's thread either. And I've read his before, obviously. That's how we got into this mess. And I am glad, but . . ."

"But what? Aren't you at least a little happy? You're finally free."

"But I won't be back home. Everyone will be angry at me for breaking my vows. All they want from me is to know their soulmates. In their eyes, that's all I'm good for. And that would be horrible too. I guess I always kind of wanted people to just think of me as myself, not the thread-mage. But thinking of me as the thread-mage is better than thinking of me as the thread-mage who broke her vows, ran off with a boy, and ruined everything!"

"But you won't have ruined everything. You'll have freed the kingdom. They'll see that that's more important than your powers. Besides, we never know our soulmates here, and I daresay we've gotten along pretty well. It can be messy sometimes, sure, but that's part of life. We get to be who we are. We get to love more than one person. We get to choose when the time is right to look for our soulmate."

"I guess they might understand." Nya sighed. "But still, I'll never live it down. There were already rumors about me and Jay. And now this will only add to the scandal. I'll be known all over."

"You will be anyway if we can pull this off." Skylor pointed out. "You'd better get used to the idea. And speaking of which, that's what I came to tell you. Even though his brother isn't back yet, Emperor Garmadon wants a word with you."

"What? You couldn't have told me that earlier?"

"I didn't think you were ready to know earlier." Skylor explained. "But we should probably go now."

"Have they finished cleaning my clothes?" Nya asked.

"I'm not sure, but we don't have time to find out. You'll have to go in what you're wearing."

"Um, okay." Nya followed Skylor out of the room, then through countless halls and passages until they reached a set of huge, ornate double doors.

"He just wants to see me?" Nya asked as Skylor opened the doors.

"For now." Skylor said. "Probably to spare everyone else from the climb."

"What do you mean?" They came out into the gardens behind the palace. To their left was part of the wooded area where the prince had been playing when they'd come. And all around them were stone and tile paths, shrubs, trees, flowers, and small bridges across a creek that wound through the garden. The garden was situated on a hill, sloping upwards from where they stood. And behind all that rose the rocky slope of a mountain.

"That would be the climb." Skylor pointed to the side of the mountain, where what looked like an old temple stood stoutly on a wide, grassy ledge. A staircase was carved into the rocky slopes and cliffs, zigzagging back and forth at a slow incline.

"Isn't there any easier way up?" Nya asked.

"No. There isn't supposed to be. The upper palace is a private place, a place for solitude, inner thought, and serious deliberation. Apparently, long ago, it used to be much higher up the mountain. But then the original building burned, and it was built again close to the ground."

"I wouldn't exactly call that close." Nya said, following Skylor through the gardens and to the foot of the staircase. "But if it means meeting with the emperor–"

"It does. Come." Skylor started up the stairs.

Finally, after what seemed like at least an hour, they arrived at the top of the staircase in the mountain. Looking back down the staircase, Nya felt a bit dizzy. She didn't see anyone else making their way up, or even in the gardens. She guessed that visits to the upper palace were mostly by invitation only.

The walls of the upper palace stretched out before them, on either side. The front gate was round and red, decorated with a golden dragon. While the gates to the lower palace were, despite their careful craftsmanship, clearly designed for security, Skylor said that this one had been made in the traditional style often used for monasteries, temples, and palaces in the ancient days.

"The upper palace is modeled almost exactly after its first version, which was an ancient monastery before the emperors' father made it his palace." Skylor explained in a quiet tone. A moment later, a guard opened the gate for them.

"We're here for a private audience with Emperor Garmadon." Skylor said.

The guard gave a slight bow. "Yes, my lady. Come with me."

They followed him inside. This building was smaller than the sprawling lower palace, and more open air, with one long building wrapping around three sides of a courtyard, its doors opening directly outside onto a porch. The middle door was much larger and fancier than the others, and this the guard led them through. They walked down a short hallway to another door, which the guard knocked on.

"You may enter." An older man's voice came from inside. The guard opened the door, and led them into what seemed to be the throne room. On a dais at the far ends of the room, a servant pulled open curtains to reveal two identical thrones, one empty, and one with a gray-haired man sitting in it, wearing the robes of an emperor.

Nya followed Skylor up to the dais and they both knelt before him, pressing their foreheads to the floor in a deep bow.

"Rise, children." His voice was kind but serious, and they rose obediently. "And speak."

"Your highness, you requested an audience with me?" Nya said nervously.

"Lady Skylor requested that I see you, and I was intrigued." He corrected. "I hear you are the famed thread-mage of the Serpent Kingdom?"

Nya looked down. "Not anymore."

The emperor raised his eyebrows. "You have lost your gift?"

Then they all heard the throne room door swing open, and a man's voice say, "Not a gift, brother. But a curse."

Note no. 2: It's so weird to describe everyday things through the eyes of someone who wouldn't know what they are. Like jeans and indoor plumbing. But anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that I'll be wrapping this up soon (ish). I think there will be at least 2 more chapters, and probably a couple more than that. So be on the lookout, cause heaven knows I can't post things consistently!