Mamoritai 3 - A Llorumi story

14. People of Great Lake

Notes: Imma tell you one thing about me as a writer. I always listen to music. I also like to assign certain songs to my characters. So... Lloyd's and Harumi's is "Snowfall" by oneheart and reidenshi ;) You might find it useful for this chapter...

Words: 1661

They led us to a small village. It was located across a frozen river at a mountain's root. All of the houses were made out of wood. The three hunters led us to one of the cabins. Inside it was an old woman and a... campfire! Fuck yeah! The old woman appeared to be meditating, but opened her eyes to look at us. "Come, come! Come warm yourselves!" She said with a welcoming tone. We all ran inside and sat around the fire. Ohh it felt so good to sit. "Thank you!" I said as I reached my arms out to warm them. "That feels good!" Jay exclaimed. "Who are you? What is this place" Nya asked. "Oh, this is my home. I am Sorla of the People of Great Lake. Who are you? Where do you come from?" The old woman asked. "Far away." Lloyd answered. "Beyond the forest?" Sorla asked. Lloyd nodded and there was immediately whispering behind us. "Beyond the mountains?" Sorla asked. "Yes." Lloyd answered and got up. The whispering continued. "We come from... a place called Ninjago. We're looking for a friend of ours. His name is Zane." Lloyd explained. Oh so, I guess we're trusting these guys. "Oh, we have seen no one for many years. We are the last tribe of the ice. The others have fled south, and soon, we too must go. The cold grows too strong. The ice too thick. But perhaps, Sorla can help." Sorla explained as she picked up a bowl from next to her. "Look, come! Look into the heart fire..." She said as she threw some grains into the campfire. The flames turned green. "Tell me again the name of your friend." Sorla asked. "Zane." Lloyd repeated. "And the place from which he came?" She continued. "Ninjago." I answered.

"Show us, spirits of the earth, spirits of the lake. Show us the fate of Zane from Ninjago." Sorla recited. An explosion of smoke came from the campfire and it set above us. It showed an icy temple. A temple that I had seen before... The weird feeling took over me, again. My skin had goosebumps, again. "The emperor!" The hunters behind us gasped. "The castle of ice!" One of them said. "I... I'm sorry for your loss..." Sorla said as the campfire returned to normal. No, he can't be... "What do you mean?" Lloyd asked. "You cannot save your friend. He has been taken by the Ice Emperor. For decades, he has ruled this realm, crushing all who stand in his way. His Ice Castle is on the other side of the mountains. A bitter, foul place where the ice is corrupt. A place we do not go." Sorla explained. "Zane is there? In this... Ice Castle?" Lloyd asked. Sorla nodded sadly. "Can you show us the way?" Lloyd asked. "You cannot! It is too cold. The ice there is evil. Dark ice! No one goes there, but the Emperor and his Blizzard Samurai. And they are inhuman! Only a fool would go there. Your friend is lost." Sorla resisted. I sighed. I turned up to look at Lloyd. He was shaking his head. "No. I refuse to believe that. Zane is strong. I know him. And he would never give up on us, and we're not gonna give up on him!" Lloyd said. "Yeah!" Kai and Cole exclaimed in unison. I got up to stand next to Lloyd. "And if you think we're not fools, you've got another thing coming." Cole said. "Ninja never quit." Nya said. Sorla looked at us. "All of you speak as one?" Sorla asked. I nodded. "We speak as one." Lloyd confirmed. "Your friend is very fortunate. But be warned. The Emperor's general, Vex, sees many things. The dark ice serves him. If he knows you are here, he will warn the Emperor." Sorla warned. "Vex?" I repeated. "He will send his Samurai. They feel nothing, they fear nothing. They will come for you!" Sorla warned us.

The village gave us a small, empty cottage with bunk beds. We pretty much just fell asleep immediately. Sorla also gave me a parka to wear, she said I looked cold. In the morning Sorla would instruct us over to the Ice castle. It was the middle of the night, when I woke up to a sudden breeze of cold air. I opened my eyes to see that the door was open. What the hell? When I got up to close the door, I noticed that Lloyd's bed was empty. He must be up again... I sneaked out the door quietly to find footsteps in the snow. Goddamnit it's cold. I closed the door quietly and followed the footsteps. They led to our cabin roof. Of course... I climbed my best onto it. And there he was. Lloyd was sitting on the edge of the roof, watching the stars. "You know..." I started, to grab Lloyd's attention. He turned his head quickly. "If you want to sit by yourself stargazing, you should at least close the door." I chuckled and sat next to him. Lloyd chuckled as well. "Maybe I wanted company..." He said. He was clearly in a better mood. "And I thought you wanted my company the least." I teased. There was truth to my words, even though I tried to play it off as a joke. "What? No!" Lloyd suddenly said. I guess he didn't understand my sarcasm. "Look, Rumi. I only wanted you to stay, because I... care for you deeply and didn't want anything bad happen to you. But I realized that I can't control you like that. So as a leader, yes I am a little disappointed you disobeyed my orders. But as your boyfriend, I'm kind of glad you came..." Lloyd explained. Wow... All of that gave me butterflies. Or maybe I'm just cold... Or... in love? No, that's crazy! We've been dating for a little over a week and we've known each other for only a month! Or... seven months, but I was unconscious for six of them.

"I'm kind of glad I came too... Even though it's cold as shit, still. And I got chased by wolves." I smiled at him, as he chuckled. We kind of haven't had our honeymoon phase yet... Right after we started dating, Lloyd left for the mission. Lloyd glanced down at my lips. The moonlight lit his face up beautifully, contouring his face and all of it's details. "Is this our thing now? Sitting and talking together at night?" I asked. "I guess... You cold?" Lloyd asked. "You aren't?" I answered. He chuckled again. "Sometimes I wonder if you ever mean anything seriously." He said and I chuckled. "Well... Does this answer that?" I said as I placed my hand on his cheek and kissed him deeply. His lips were soft and inviting. Almost... intoxicating... Lloyd placed his hand on the back of my head and pushed me more into the kiss. He moved closer to me. As we kissed it started snowing. "I..." Lloyd said as he pulled away from the kiss. I hummed in response. Lloyd looked me in the eyes and I looked him. "You're the most divine thing I've ever laid eyes on." He said. My heart crashed into my stomach. "That's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me..." I whispered. It was true. No one had ever said anything even closely similar to that to me. "Every word is true." He promised. I felt like I could cry. The smile on my face probably looked ridiculous, but I didn't care. "I..." I started. It felt like the perfect moment... Or was it? I started doubting myself. "You don't have to say it to make me feel good. You've known me for only a month..." He suddenly said. That took me off guard. No, this is the perfect moment. "It feels like I've known you for a lifetime. But not like our lifetime. Something more abstract and fancy, like across multiple lifetimes or something. Lloyd, I love you." I said. It took me by surprise as well, but every word was true... Lloyd looked surprised. "Harumi..." He said, placing his hand on my cheek. "I love you." He said. Butterflies. No more like fireworks. I tackled him into a hug. We hugged, in the snowfall, freezing. But I felt more warm than I ever had before.

In the morning I woke up to an empty cabin. Shit! I slept in! I quickly got up and ran out the cabin. I saw the rest of the group, sitting in front of Sorla's cabin. Lloyd wasn't there, though... "Mornin' sleepy head!" Cole said teasingly. I rolled my eyes as a joke. "Sorla's giving Lloyd some instructions on how to get to Zane." Kai said, pointing at Sorla's cabin. He was also forcing snowshoes onto his feet. I nodded in response to Kai. Jay was also putting snowshoes onto himself, and Nya was staring at the tracker. Then I heard a door close behind me. I turned around to see Lloyd's face stare back at me. I smiled at him and he smiled at me. He walked over to me and wrapped his hand around my waist. Butterflies. "Oooh! Is Lloyd gettin' some?" Kai teased with his stupid smirk. An uncontrollable rage took over me in an instant. Luckily, Cole was sitting next to Kai. Cole changed over to his lava arms, and punched Kai. Kai flew back, like couple meters. I laughed, maybe a bit too hard, but everyone else was also laughing... "Hey!" Kai yelled, from far away. "I'm listening darling." Cole said teasingly. We all laughed more.