Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 75: Escape Across the Tundra

When the sun was nearing the tip of the sky—and when Skylor's stomach was cramping painfully with hunger—Kissimi spotted their lake. She turned the craft gently to the right and flew over some hills and out to a wide stretch of ice and snow going on for several miles.

It was only when the ice-jet was parked and the passengers had hopped off onto the ground did Skylor realize that this indeed was a lake. It was just completely frozen over.

"What do we need to catch our fish?"

"Well..." The girl pursed her lips in thought. "We need a chisel, a spoon—"

"A spoon? What for?"

"For scooping the extra ice away when we make our hole. You know. A digging spoon."

"We need to make a hole?" Skylor looked out at the lake's surface.

"Yes, to catch our fish from."

Skylor smiled. "I don't think a chisel or digging spoon will be necessary."

For a fishing line, Skylor discovered some surgical thread from what looked to be the Polarian jet's first-aid kit. She used the clasp of her belt as the bait, as Kissimi claimed they needed something silver and shiny.

They walked out to the middle of the frozen lake. The young Polarian native was curious as to what means Skylor would use to make a hole in the thick, solid ice. Skylor couldn't help but smile to herself. She stood with her hands held out over the ice where she wanted the hole to be, imagining it four feet wide around or so. Steadying herself, she summoned Zane's element of Ice.

Kissimi gasped when a thin crack seemingly acted on its own and shaped a circle in the ground, snapping quietly. Then, the layers of ice and snow fell away, only to abruptly rise up and hover in midair, then away from the hole. Skylor made a pile by their fishing hole without even touching the ice, waving her hands to and fro to guide her loads from the hole to the surface. Meanwhile the water suddenly gushed and bubbled up, nearly spilling over the brim of the hole. Kissimi gaped in amazement, then clapped enthusiastically.

Skylor made a mock bow toward her companion. "Well, now, Miss Kissimi of Polaria, teach me how to fish."

At Kissimi's gentle instruction, Skylor crouched down a few feet away from the hole, so that the girl could have it to herself. Kissimi got on her hands and knees and bent over the hole, using her shadow to block sunlight from hitting the water—most likely to keep the fish from realizing there was a opening there, Skylor realized.

Kissimi dipped the line with the silver buckle tied onto it down into the dark water, and then proceeded to wiggle the line back and forth. Skylor watched. She could imagine the little buckle waving to and fro in the dark lake, its silver reflection looking like a nice, tasty small fish for the bigger fish to munch on.

She was impressed by how smoothly the young girl seemed to handle her lure. She must have been doing this for years. There was something quite expert in the way Kissimi had brief pauses in her wiggling patterns and subtle twitches of the lure. Frequently, she blew at the water quietly.

Skylor saw her blowing at the water several times and was perplexed about it. She spent a long time crouching there and studying her young angler friend before she realized that Kissimi was blowing the extra ice chips in the water out of the way, so that she could see down into the lake.

Skylor wasn't quite sure how long she sat there, watching Kissimi blowing and wiggling the lure. Silence became their only companion out on the empty lake, and Skylor found herself bored. She wanted to move, to stretch her now-cramping muscles (both her feet were asleep), but she was afraid she'd scare away any fish. Gradually she fell into a sleepy stupor.