Note: This is another long one! I'm having a bit of a problem coming up with satisfying endings to chapters. And chapter names. And of course the solution is long chapters... At least we're back to the normal posting day! 

Cole stepped protectively in front of the others. "Who are you? Reveal yourself."

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you unless you hurt me first."

The figure walked slowly towards them, holding her hands before her. It was hard to make out details in the dim light of the dusky forest, but Nya guessed from her voice that she was a woman, and not very old, perhaps even close to her own age. She was dressed well, but strangely, in a black velvet cloak lined with wine red satin, a scarlet bandana over the bottom half of her face, and russet orange silk underneath.

"What are you doing around here at this hour?" Zane asked, still cautious.

"I was coming to get you, but it seems you beat me to it. I helped bring a little girl to the doctors in Ninjago City, and she kept insisting that her father's friend would need me to bring him across. Her family had been brought across by another guide, I suppose. We're trying to go often, since the tunnel is getting more and more obvious. Soon I'll have to tell someone back at the palace, get them to send a guard in case your queen finds out. Doubt the other guides will be happy with me, but we can't have an invasion."

"Don't worry, the Queen spends most of her time shut up at home, watching as we all suffer." Cole informed her bitterly.

"Oh, I'm sure of it." She slowly dropped her hands. "So, do you believe me? You do need to get to the palace, don't you?"

Cole looked back at the rest of them–first to Nya, who shrugged, then to Jay, who nodded quickly. Zane nodded too, but more cautiously, and Kai still stood with his arms crossed.

Cole nodded. "I guess we take your word–for now. You had better know the way, or this won't turn out pretty."

"Don't worry, I can handle it." She answered coldly, her cloak swishing as she turned. They all scrambled to make sure they had their things and followed after.

Kai caught up with her first. "So, what's your name?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Her unseen smirk showed in her voice, and she walked faster. "What's yours?"

"I'm not telling you! And if you try any funny stuff, lady, I swear–"

"Kai, please, be nice to our guide." Nya said innocently, catching up to him.

"And who is this young lady, Kai?" The girl asked pointedly.

"My sister. The Serpent Kingdom's famed thread-mage." He answered, disgruntled, falling back with the other boys.

Nya watched the other girl carefully. Surely she realized what the reward could be for bringing her back to where she belonged.

"I've heard of you." She finally said. "What brings you here?"

"Injustice." Nya wasn't ready to say more than that. "Same as all of us."

The girl nodded. "Makes sense."

"I wish there was something more we could do about it." Nya admitted. "I know there's only a few of us, but if we could free the rest of our kingdom–"

"Maybe you can." The girl said. "Maybe the emperors would help you."

"You really think so?" Nya couldn't help but hope.

"I said maybe. But they do hate her. Their father was at odds with hers, hundreds of years ago. For good reason, too. Your queen comes from a long, noble line. And her family is different, to be sure. Evil to the bone."

"In our kingdom, there's rumors she does magic." Nya said.

"Who knows. Maybe that's why the emperors are so scared of her." The girl shrugged.

"You seem to know them pretty well." Nya prodded gently. "Do you live in the palace, or something?"

"I'm supposed to, anyway."

"Supposed to?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be there now. But I couldn't just sit around when I heard about the passage. So I've been a guide for months now."

"Will you be allowed back?" Nya asked her.

"Of course." The girl sounded unworried. "My family is there."

"Are you a princess?" Jay asked, coming up next to Nya.

"No." She laughed.

"Oh." He looked embarrassed and let himself be pushed out of the way by Kai, who seemed intent on interrogating the girl until she told him something.

"Who are you, then?" He asked suspiciously. "Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"You people are crazy nosy." The girl pulled her hood down even further. "But if you must know, I was raised in the court. My father was tutor to the emperors when they were boys, but later he was convicted for, well . . . I'm not sure I'm allowed to mention that. But since I was innocent, and had no one to take care of me, they let me stay."

For once, Kai was silent.

"I'm sorry." Nya finally said, not knowing whether she meant it as pity or as excuse for her brother.

"It's fine." The girl said, pushing forward. They didn't object, falling into line behind her. Kai and Nya knew all too well what it was like to be pitied for being alone.

Soon, it was pitch black, and they set up a small camp by torchlight and settled down. The girl paced around the circle twice, then finally sat leaning against a tree a little ways from the others. Then they had all fallen asleep, before they could even think of doing so.

Nya woke to the sound of birdsong drifting through the forest, and a soft crackling noise that came from a small fire their guide had started. She seemed to have gathered the wood from the forest floor, and was now cooking something over her fire. Zane stood next to her, watching her prepare the food. Kai, Cole, and Jay were still asleep at Nya's feet.

She knelt beside Jay, wondering if she should wake him. It seemed so long since they'd had a good conversation. But before she could decide, his eyes flicked open.

He blinked in the sunlight. "Hey."

"Sorry." She stood up, suddenly shy.

"No, don't be." He unlaced his makeshift sleeping bag and stood as well. "I wanted to talk to you."

His tone seemed so serious, it scared her. Had she done something wrong? She thought back. She certainly hadn't been a very good–whatever she was in relation to him. But most of it wasn't her own fault. It was hard to hide their real relationship, but they had to do it, right?

They walked rather awkwardly next to each other, away from the camp and into the woods. Jay glanced at Nya, not sure how to begin to tell her what he knew he should. Would she be mad at him? Probably. But it was important. They were here for a reason after all.

He took a deep breath, but before he could find the courage to begin, she turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye.

"I love you too!" She blurted out. "I'm sorry I didn't say so before, I just–"

"What?" He stared at her, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Back before I left to tell Kai and Zane about all of this, you said you loved me, and I didn't–"

"Oh, that?" He hadn't thought much about that. Sure, he had been disappointed in the moment, but he understood why she hadn't said it. He had completely caught her off guard, after all. But clearly she hadn't forgotten.

"Yes, that." She stared at him, and he watched as her face turned bright red. "Well, what did you want to talk to me about?" She started walking again, self consciously tucking the long side of her hair behind her ear.

He walked quickly to catch up with her. How was he supposed to say this now?

"I . . . I just . . ."

"Yeah?" At least she didn't seem upset yet.

"We're here now." Obviously, Jay. "And . . . I was thinking . . . are we ever going to, you know, tell them?"

"You mean my brother? Look, Jay, I know you two have been getting along better, but if you want to keep things that way, I would not do that."

Jay gulped. "But . . . if you really want to be together–not that you have to want that–isn't it better we tell him now? The longer we wait, the more mad he'll probably be."

She took a deep breath. "Of course I want that–that's why we came here. But–"

"But what? Look, I understand if you aren't ready, but if you are, just know that I love you more than anything. We're meant to be soulmates–that's the whole reason any of this happened. And we're safe now–we're here. So . . ." He trailed off, courage failing him.

She walked faster, as if trying to clear her head, but he kept pace with her. Finally, she sighed.

"I know. This will never work if we have to keep it secret."

He took her hand. "So . . . we tell him?"

Nya nodded, and led him back towards the campsite. "Let's talk to my brother."

How badly could it go, really? Jay had wondered as he and Nya walked, arm in arm, towards the others, who were gathered around the fire as the girl handed out the food she had made. The answer to that was . . . surprisingly, not that badly. At least, looking back at it. Sure, there was some shouting, and not just on Kai's part. Nya could be scarily loud too when she wanted–yet another reason to stay on her good side. All that was to say, none of them got a chance to enjoy breakfast that morning–except, maybe, for the mysterious girl, who still hadn't taken her hood down, but seemed to enjoy the drama.

Soon they packed up, and set off again, this time with much more tension between them than before. Zane and Cole, who seemed to be getting along well despite everything, talked in low voices. Kai and Nya glared at each other, and Jay stayed by Nya's side, although he was almost sure his doing so was causing even more trouble. But she held onto his hand, and since she wanted him there, he stayed. Besides, she had a very strong grip.

After another day, Jay was almost certain that this had been a very bad idea. He should've listened to Nya after all. They had set up camp for the night, and as he lay on the ground, looking up at the stars overhead, he wondered how he could ever fix this.

"Jay?"

Startled, he sat bolt upright. Kai had come up behind him, and now he sat down awkwardly.

"What?" Jay asked. He was a little scared, to be honest, but he would never admit it.

"I just wanted to say . . . I'm fine with it if you and Nya want to be . . . whatever."

"Really?" Jay stared at him in disbelief.

"I'm not saying I apologize for being mad. But who am I to say who my sister can court when she can literally tell everyone's perfect soulmate?"

Jay nodded cautiously. "Th-thank you." He stuttered.

Kai looked at him threateningly. "Just don't try any funny stuff with Nya. Don't try anything with her, actually, or–"

"I won't!" Jay promised, deciding it probably wasn't a good time to mention that she had kissed him–and weeks ago, in fact. Not that it had been on the mouth, but he doubted that would matter much to Kai. Even the fact that they'd been holding hands earlier had nearly been too much for him.

At least, after that, things were alright again between them all. The girl–who they all had gotten used to not having a name for–still refused to show her face, but she chatted with all of them, especially Nya, and most importantly, never seemed to lose her way. At the end of the third full day of travel, they finally made their way into a town. It was a relief to stay in a real bed after all the camping they'd been doing. The girl brought them to a fascinating place called Hotel Main, and laughed at their astonishment at the lights that stayed lit without any kind of fuel they could see.

"It's called electricity." Jay told Nya the next morning, after talking to the girl over breakfast. "She says that around here they generate it from the river to the west. It's huge, and they take the energy it produces, put it into these wires somehow and send it over here, and it makes the lights go on."

Jay was disappointed when the girl led them all into a stagecoach that same morning.

"I thought you had horseless carriages here." He told the girl.

"They're called cars." She said. "You'll see plenty once we get to the city."

That afternoon, they arrived at the banks of the huge river the girl had told Jay about. They took a ferry across, leaving the stagecoach behind. They stayed in another hotel that night, and set off again on foot. Then, finally, after still more travel, they came to the outskirts of Ninjago City, the capital of the Northern Empire. And it was there that Jay finally got his wish.

"Look, Cole! A horseless carriage, just like we used to talk about!" He excitedly pointed at the beat-up, yellow metal vehicle.

"That's a taxi cab." The girl explained. "It's kind of like a stagecoach. You pay someone to drive you places."

They piled in. The girl sat in front, and the rest of them in the back, even though there wasn't nearly enough room. Kai was pushed right up against the window on the left, and Jay was squeezed in between the middle seat and the seat on the right. He didn't seem to care, however, as he spent the whole drive leaning forward to watch the driver through the gap between the front seats. Nya watched too, over his shoulder. It was certainly a fascinating invention. She'd have to ask the girl about how it worked later.

"We're going to the palace." The girl told the driver as he pulled onto the street.

"Yes ma'am." He glanced into a mirror that was placed at the top of the front window, so he could see behind the car. "Interesting friends you've got here."

"Yes." She said, looking back at them and laughing slightly. "They're not from around here."

That was certainly true, and as they made their way into the city, they realized more and more just how different this place was. The city was beautiful, but it was so different from anything any of them had seen. Other than Cole, none of them had ever been to a city before, and this one was of course quite different from the desert city surrounding the home of their queen.

At least the palace looked like something that might've been found in the Serpent Kingdom, albeit much nicer and brighter. It was built in the traditional style of architecture, the girl explained, and although it had been renovated over the centuries, much of the original structure and style had been kept as it was.

"Are you a tour guide, or something?" The driver asked her.

"No. I live here."

"What neighborhood?"

"No, like, actually here. The palace."

He laughed. "Oh, I get it, you're one of those, like, living history people. Is that why you're dressed like that? Should I drop you off here?"

"No, don't leave us on the tourist side!" The girl groaned. "Just drive up to the gate."

"I guess. You know they won't let in." The driver shook his head, but went around to the left side of the property, up a driveway, and to an ornate wooden gate with a tiled roof over it. A guard stood before the gate.

The girl got out of the car, leaving the door wide open, and strode up to the guard. Then she dramatically swept off her hood, revealing a long, tight red braid.

"I'm home." She said to the guard.

"Welcome, my lady." He bowed to her, and knocked on the gate.

The girl walked back over to them, and for the first time they saw what she really looked like. She was glamorous in a messy way, with a sprinkling of freckles, green eyes, and long, curled eyelashes. Her face was flushed, probably from wearing her hood all day.

"Don't just sit there staring! Get out!" She opened the car door, and Kai nearly fell out onto the ground. Luckily he caught himself and, blushing, went to the back of the car to gather their things. The guard searched everything they had, as well as all of them, before declaring them free to enter. The gate opened from the inside, and they followed the girl in. Two guards closed and locked the gate again behind them.

The girl led them up a stone path. Green lawn stretched out on either side of them. There was a grove of trees to the left, and to the right, the ground sloped down towards a lake, or maybe it was a moat.

"Sky!" Someone shouted. They turned to see a little boy running towards them. He must've been hidden among the trees, since they hadn't seen him initially. Nya jumped back to get out of the way as he ran at full pelt towards the girl and hugged her around the waist.

"Missed me, huh?" She laughed.

"Sky? So that's your name." Kai said smugly.

She detached the child and turned sternly towards him. "The prince may address me as such, but for your purposes, I am Lady Skylor of the Northern Empire. Now come along, all of you." And with that, she took the boy's hand and set off towards the palace.