AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Howdy! This is The Mayor of Ninjago City with a brand new story called The Fire Within: Spring Break for a Teacher. This tale focuses on the developing friendship between Sensei Wu and Jill Morrow, the divorced aunt of Kai's fiancee, Samantha.

This short story is a part of the "The Fire Within" series, which was originated by the author measuremesky when she began her first Ninjago fanfic The Fire Within. That fanfic, along with her follow-up story A Degree in Danger, can be found on this website. Measuremesky is a family member of mine, and she gave me permission to use her material to write my own contributions to the "The Fire Within" series. Check out my profile page for a list of titles.

The story you are about to read below takes place during the same exact week - Ninjago University's spring break - as another of my fanfics, The Fire Within: Trouble in Paradise. But whereas the Paradise tale revolves around Lloyd, Cole, and Cole's girlfriend Brooke in a faraway beach town, this tale focuses on the rest of the gang back home in Ninjago City. The family of Kai's future wife, Samantha, has traveled a long distance from their hometown to meet their future "ninja-in-law."

The mention about the terrorists is a reference to measuremesky's A Degree in Danger, which is a tale currently in progress.

Hope you enjoy this first chapter of Spring Break for a Teacher!

Chapter 1 - Day 1 (Friday)

"We're getting closer. I can see the skyline of Ninjago City now," John Miller announced to his three fellow passengers on a Friday morning in the month of March, as he drove their sport utility vehicle up the superhighway that connected the southern portion of Ninjago to the capital city.

The middle-aged man's wife, Jan, was seated next to him. "So what time would you say we'll be arriving at the hotel?"

John checked the dashboard clock. "I'd say, roughly, noon. So we should be able to check in, dump our stuff, pick up Sam from the dorm before it closes up for the week, and still have lunch."

His wife's older sister by two years, Jill Morrow, chimed in from the back seat. "In that case, how about if I wake up Todd at 11:30?" She looked over at her preteen nephew, who was sleeping soundly. The family's departure from their home in the predawn hours of this morning was a little too early for him, so he was catching up on his rest.

Jan smiled and looked back at her sister. "Sounds good. That'll give him a half-hour to lose the grogginess before we arrive." Todd could be difficult to wake up at times.

Jill laughed and looked out her side window at the passing countryside. The early spring landscape was starting to show signs of life again after the long winter.

And it did seem like an extra long winter to Jill, which followed what seemed like an extra long autumn, as she picked up the pieces of her life following the end of her marriage of 22 years.

Brian had been been sweet and attentive at the beginning. He loved camping and hunting, so they invested in a trailer and spent many weekends enjoying the outdoors with their daughter Kim. But over the years, Brian went on more and more trips with his buddies and less trips with his family, and Jill felt alienated from her husband.

Early last fall, Jill found out that some of those men-only trips were actually weekend trysts with a young woman named Bambi. Brian's indiscretions first came to light when he returned home from such a trip, announced that he wanted a divorce, packed a suitcase with some papers and personal items, and left.

As thanks for being a faithful homemaker, Jill's life was suddenly upended as she filed for dissolution of the marriage, sold their house due to the inability to pay the mortgage on her own, and made sure that daughter Kim could pay the tuition for her final year of college.

Then there was the news that her niece Samantha was one of the students injured by terrorists at Ninjago University last semester.

At least some happy news resulted from that event. Sam was not severely harmed in the incident. And the family learned that Sam was dating one of Ninjago's famous ninjas, the one who wore the red uniform. The family had laughed when they heard that the couple had first met in the toilet paper aisle of a grocery store.

By midwinter, life seemed to settling into a more normal pace for Jill and the rest of her clan.

Until the phone call last month on that Sunday morning.

Jill, who had moved in with her sister and her sister's family after her divorce, had answered the phone. The voice of the man on the other end of the line had such an interesting voice - it made you feel instantly relaxed and at ease. But when he identified himself as the teacher of Ninjago's ninjas, Jill instantly became uneasy. Why was he calling? Was there an accident that Sam and her boyfriend were in? Were they hurt?

Politely she had said, "One moment, please, and I'll get my sister." She had handed over the receiver to Jan and watched Jan's eyes widen in horror. Then Jan said to the teacher, "Would you excuse me one minute while I go find my husband? Then you can tell us both together." Jan went into the home office, where John was doing something on the computer, and closed the door, where they remained for about an hour.

When they emerged from the office, they were smiling, but Jan's eyes were red, indicating she had been crying. It turned out that Sam had been kidnapped approximately 36 hours earlier by a known enemy of Ninjago named Sebastian. However, she was now safe after having been rescued by the ninjas, and she had even had a part in her own rescue.

During the course of the phone call, John and Jan had been initially distraught over the news of their daughter's kidnapping and were about to insist on the termination of Sam's relationship with the red ninja in order for her to avoid being a future target of evil.

However, the young man - Kai - had gotten on the phone and persuaded them that overall, Sam was probably the safest civilian in all of Ninjago because virtually every day she was in contact with a Protector of Ninjago who cared about her a great deal.

Kai had made a very good impression on Sam's parents in that phone call. So when he called to speak with them again a second time that week to ask for their blessing prior to asking Sam for her hand in marriage, they could indeed give the blessing without hesitation.

Now, it was the start of spring break at Ninjago University, and John and Jan and young Todd, along with Jill, were making the lengthy trek to Ninjago City to meet Sam's fiancé in person. The family was going to stay for a week in the city at the Adams Hotel, and Sam was going to stay with them during the time the dorms were closed. They were going to do some wedding planning, and for some of those planning times that might be too boring for 12-year-old Todd, his Aunt Jill was going to look after her nephew and they would seek out the entertainment options that Ninjago City had to offer.

Jill switched from looking out the vehicle's side window to the vehicle's front windshield. The city skyline was growing bigger as they drew closer.

"So what time are the dinner reservations?" John asked his wife.

"I made them for 7:30," she replied, "but Kai is going to meet us in the hotel atrium at 7 so we can say hello first and then we'll just walk down the street to the restaurant."

"Well, it's a good thing Sam will be with us to point him out. It's been a while since I saw that photo she had of him. I don't remember exactly what he looks like, other than having that spiky hairdo."

"Well, dear, Sam would probably say just to look for the second most handsome man in all of Ninjago."

John was puzzled. "Second? Who's the first? Oh, me." He rolled his eyes as the women laughed.

Jill noticed as Jan affectionately patted her husband's leg.

Jill could finally say that she was genuinely happy that her sister and brother-in-law had such a strong marriage. The envy she had felt over the past few years was subsiding as time went on.

And she was happy for her niece as well. She earnestly hoped that Sam's marriage to one of Ninjago's famous ninjas would be a strong one, despite the additional challenges such a marriage was going to face, on top of the challenges a regular civilian marriage faced.

Jill settled back in her seat and smiled, looking forward to a great week.