Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 54: The Next Morning

Nya opened her eyes. Sleepily, she glanced over the covers of her bed and the interior of her room. Bright sunlight filtered in through the window, warming the bedroom pleasantly. By the look of the light, it was rather late in the morning, if not already noon.

For a second Nya wondered why she had been allowed to sleep in so late—and why her muscles felt so sore. Then she remembered.

The bandit palace. The Moon Tribe attack. The prisoners. The moonstone. At the thought of the events of the previous night, she suppressed a shudder and pressed her face against her pillow. Just a few more minutes...

She pushed herself up and looked at her bed. She had shared it with both Liana and Little Leaf that night, seeing that the bed was big enough for two, and the werecat wouldn't take up much space sleeping in her bakeneko form. Now, though, both Liana and Little Leaf had disappeared, leaving their bodily impressions in the mattress and sheets.

Perhaps it was later in the day than Nya thought...

An abrupt whoosh sound swept by her window. Nya jolted upright and peered out the porthole in time to catch sight of something bright green diving around the Destiny' Bounty.

Lloyd's dragon, she realized.

Briskly, Nya got out of bed, dressed quickly into the maroon-and-blue gi Cyrus Borg had given her days before, and left her bedroom. She walked up the stairs and onto deck, where a bright blue, nearly cloudless day greeted her warmly.

The Bounty was hovering leisurely in the sky, much too high for anyone on board to see the earth below. The air was rather still, aside from a small breeze gently ruffling the sails. Nya scanned the deck, but no one was in sight. Warily, she ventured over to the wooden railing and peered at the sky.

Something enormous and green came blasting out from under Nya, startling her and making her stumble back. She fell on her butt and stared upwards to see Lloyd's elemental dragon flying into the air, thrusting its great, shimmering wings dramatically as faint green wisps flew off it like sparkling snow. The dragon voiced a friendly roar as it climbed up over the ship, then turned and dived downwards.

"Hi, Nya!"

Nya stood up with a gasp of surprise. Upon the dragon's long, arching neck sat Lloyd, holding the reins. This in itself wasn't a very surprising sight. What made Nya gasp was the fact that Little Leaf was riding the dragon with Lloyd, her arms wrapped around his waist and catlike eyes sparkling happily.

She smiled broadly at Nya and teased. "Glad to see you're up, sleepy slug!" The dragon hovered by the side of the ship.

Nya blinked. "Uh— yeah." She gave Lloyd a questioning glance. "I thought you were scared of flying." She recalled the first time she had met Little Leaf, back at Gooseneck Lake when they had been rescuing Jay. Leaf had at the time been riding the same dragon with Lloyd, but she'd looked utterly terrified clinging to the great beast's back.

"I was!" Leaf purred. "But then Lloyd showed me how fun flying is!"

Lloyd gave a little shrug and smile of acknowledgment. "She wanted to try again."

"He says you have a dragon, too!" Leaf said. "Come join us!"

"Maybe in a minute, you two." Nya smiled. "I only just got up."

"OK." Lloyd shrugged and steered the dragon away, diving down before flipping upwards, making Leaf squeal and laugh with utter delight. It was clear the girl was having a fantastic time.

Nya's smile stayed as she leaned against the railing and watched them. She decided that she liked Little Leaf, despite her being Black Blood's half-sister. The young werecat was fearless and inquisitive, and didn't seem to hold much of a grudge toward humans for past crimes... unlike the rest of her tribe.