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Long after everyone had retired for the night, Cole found himself unable to sleep. Vania had found him exploring the castle aimlessly and told him to follow. They're sitting in silence on the balcony from her bedroom, admiring the stars. They're much more visible in Shintaro than Ninjago, something about light pollution Zane had said? And the ninja are usually pretty high when flying on the Bounty but right now the stars look close enough to grab.
"Do you have a crush?"
Cole looks over at her with a raised brow, she's still looking at the stars until she realizes she's being stared at. Her cheeks puff up in embarrassment, "I wanna gossip, leave me alone." The earth elemental chuckles, and fixes his gaze out in font of him, through the railing of the balcony and on the city of Shintaro.
He thinks for a moment before speaking again. "You'll laugh."
Vania shakes her head eagerly, "I won't laugh!"
"I thought Plundar was kinda hot," Cole barely get the words out of his mouth before the princess's jaw drops and she quickly slaps her hand over her mouth, muffling her laughter.
Cole jabs his finger at her side, "You said you wouldn't laugh!" Her hands flies from her mouth to protect her ribs from being poked and between wheezes she tells him she's not laughing.
"He's so old, Cole!" She howls, and soon he's laughing just as hard as she is. By the time their giggle fit is over, they're gasping for air and leaning on each other. They slowly wind down until their breathing was quiet enough to hear the city below them, neither of the two moving from their new position. Cole's cheek rested against Vania's gold hair as she laid on his shoulder, surprisingly much softer than he could've imagined.
He breaks the silence this time, "Can I ask something? You totally don't have to answer if you don't wanna."
She agrees with a hum.
"Your mom..." Cole trails off, realizing he probably should've came up with a more specific question but he hears her inhale sharply and releases with a sigh anyways.
"I don't remember her. Like, at all. She died just after I was born. It's always been me and my father. I mean, I'd read books and things about her in the library but..." She fiddles with the material of her dress, "I've been wondering if any of it was true, with how much he'd hidden from me and our people. I wonder if she was just as oblivious as me or if she was in on it, too."
Cole just nods. He wasn't sure how to respond or why he even asked but the answer she gave was more than enough.
"What about yours?"
Cole swallows what feels like a big ball of thorns.
"You also don't have to answer that."
He shakes his head and holds up a finger to ask for a moment. It's only fair he talks about his mom, too, and she was along with him in the caves as he learned new things about her so fuck it. Why not?
"uh, she-" his voice barely registers as a sound before he clears his throat, "-she died when I was a little kid. I barely knew a thing about her elemental side until I was way older." Movement between them catches him off guard. Her hand softly slips into his and Cole allows her to intertwine their fingers together, her porcelain skin a stark contrast to his own. After her thumb rubs against his comfortingly, he continues, "After she was gone, I had a fallout with my dad. It became unbearable and I just... ran away... She'd probably be so disappointed in me, hah. I wandered alone for years until I had met Sensei Wu."
Vania waits for a beat for him to continue before speaking up quietly, "I don't think she'd be disappointed. You wouldn't have turned out the way you did if you hadn't left and I think you turned out pretty great."
Cole hums and he feels a smile grow on his face. "I think you may be biased," he says as he gives her hand a slight squeeze.
She giggles, "Maybe, a bit."
They fall into another silence and Cole busies himself with the task of memorizing the view of the skyline for a sketch later. It's a comfortable quiet. He loves it here and he'll definitely have to come back for a visit when the world doesn't need the ninja's protection anymore, or maybe Vania's next birthday. But the sky is getting to be a lighter blue, indicating the sun was threatening to rise soon.
"We should get some rest. You've got your coronation soon," he says. It takes Vania a second to stir, she was probably nodding off on his shoulder. She reluctantly lets go of his hand and stops leaning against him, allowing him to get to his feet. He holds his hand out for her and pulls her up with ease. They start to head inside but she's slow and staring at the ground beneath her.
"I know I'm gonna have Queen things to do for a while..." She starts slowly and unsure as she looks up at him, her eyes (that Cole swore were the coolest thing ever; black sclera and brilliant gold irises had Lloyd's glowy green eyes beat by a landslide any day of the week) catch his own, "...but would you ever take me to Ninjago? I've always wanted to see it in person."
"Of course," he smiles, "I'd love to have you join in on an adventure sometime."
As they say their parting goodnights and sleep wells, she climbs into bed and Cole opens the door to leave but Vania's dragon makes an angry noise at him. The ninja rolls his eyes.
"Oh, how could I forget?" He cries dramatically as the dragon dashes to Cole's feet to be pet, "Goodnight to you, too, Chompy, ya rascal." Vania giggles from under her blanket and calls for Chompy to come back to bed.
"I'll catch you later, Vania."
"You too," she yawns.