Romancing the Emperor's Daughter

Chapter 15: The Actual, Missing Princess

Many days passed as Aria sat on the beach, waiting for Lloyd to return, but he never did. Aria debating on whether to go back to Ninjago or not, but the feeling of being trapped within the palace walls gave her a tight feeling in her chest. After seeing the world this past year, she no longer wished to be the princess sitting on the throne, as she never did.

Aria sat on the shoreline staring out at the sea as the water swayed in and out, covering her feet. She sighed as she looked over at the port village not far from her, she stood up and made her way over.

The port city was far enough away from Ninjago City that she didn't have to worry about people knowing what she looked like. Many people were travelers or merchants who never stayed in one place enough to know the princess was missing.

"How much is that?" Aria asks one of the merchants who were selling fruit.

"$3 little lady," the merchant replies.

Aria went to get her money out as another girl walked up and handed him money.

"There you are," the girl tells him.

Aria looked over surprised.

"I got it," Aria says "You didn't have to."

"Nah, I like getting things for girls as pretty as you." the girl replies with a smile.

"T-thank you," Aria blushes in embarrassment.

"That's so cute, you turned red like a strawberry." the girl teases.

"Reika," another girl walks over and pulled the other by her hair, she turned to Aria "Sorry about her, she can't help it."

"That's alright," Aria smiles "I appreciate it very much."

"Milly," the girl, Reika, whines as she rubs her head. "That hurt."

"Then stop flirting with every pretty girl you see," the other girl, Milly, lectures her. "You make them uncomfortable."

"It's really alright," Aria says.

"You stick out like a sore thumb in this town hon," Milly tells Aria as she points to her dress that was soaked from water near the bottom. "Do you got anywhere to dry off?"

"Uh, yeah, I have a hut on the beach." Aria replies.

"A hut?" Milly questions before smiling "Why don't you come dry off on our ship, I promise the boys won't bite."

"Uh," Aria looks back at the beach before turning back to the girls.

They didn't seem like bad people, nor did they give off a bad vibe. Aria nods in response before Milly gestured to follow them. Aria walked behind the two girls, following them out to the docks where a pirate ship was docked.

"Yo!" Milly calls up "put the bridge down!"

"Hurry up!" Reika shouts after her.

Soon enough there were boys throwing down a wooden bridge, Milly walked on it first.

"After you," Reika smiles.

Aria followed Milly onto the ship with Reika behind her. The two girls made sure Aria didn't fall off as they finally reached the top. Aria was amazed to see a crew working to clean the ships and moving supplies around. They were all young in Aria's eyes, too young to be pirates from her stories. Then again, she'd never seen real pirates before.

"Come on, you can warm up over here." Milly says before leading Aria inside the great cabin.

The Great Cabin was the room reserved for the captain of a pirate ship. Aria was amazed to be inside it; the room was obviously big. Milly left the door open as Reika prepared a fire in the fireplace.

"Reika, can you get her a change of clothes?" Milly asks.

"Aye aye captain!" Reika replies.

"Stop replying like that!" Milly shouts.

Reika laughs as she left the room, Aria sat down in front of the fire as Milly leaned against a pillar.

"You're... the captain?" Aria questions as she turned to look at her.

"Yep," Milly replies "I'll introduce myself properly. I'm captain Milly, this here is my ship and my crew."

"I've never met real pirates before," Aria says "you're all-"

"Young right?" Milly smiles "Not everyone is, I'm about to be 18. Reika, the girl flirting with you is 17. The others very between 15 and the oldest we got is 24 I believe."

"That's still young!" Aria shouts in surprise.

Reika laughs as she reenters the room "The captain has a habit of collecting rescues."

"Rescues?" Aria asks.

"Children with nowhere left to go," Milly clarifies "many of my crew were abandoned by their parents. That or people who were lost and wanted to be found."

"That's amazing," Aria says.

Milly watches as Reika handed Aria some spare clothes they had. "What about you?"

"Parden?" Aria questions as she looks at her.

"What are you hiding from?" Milly asks. "You wouldn't be alone this far away from civilization at your age."

"Honestly," Aria looks away as she gripped the clothes handed to her "I don't want to go home. I lived inside walls all my life, and I wanted to see the world."

"A bird trapped in a cage huh?" Milly questions before smiling "Well, guess we'll just have to convince you to come with us."

"Huh? Come with you?" Aria asks, "Can I?"

"Of course," Reika replies "if you want to that is."

"What better way to see the world then on a pirate ship?" Milly walks towards her and holds her hand out "What do you say?"

-

The Mistress of Evil was once again defeated, hopefully for good this time. Layla had taken control of Ninjago using the new technology created by Borg. Lloyd had returned to Ninjago only to find it under attack.

His Golden power was being used against him, which forced him to flee. He couldn't return to Aria or else she would've been caught in the danger. By the time it was all over, Zane had sacrificed himself and Ninjago was saved.

Lloyd quickly made his way back to the beach where he left the princess, only to find it abandoned.

"Aria!" Lloyd shouts as he looked around for her.

Lloyd traveled the nearby villages, but there was no sign of the princess. He couldn't tell his dad, or Cole, or the king. He would've been killed on the spot for taking her away in the first place. Everyone was still looking for her, so the search was far from over. He couldn't help but be worried now, cause the missing princess was actually missing.

"Shit," Lloyd curses "where did you go Aria?"