SABLE SPIRIT

THE BEGINNING

the story begins with nilas father the emperor , who was enchanted by a beautiful courtesan her mother the red lady . after seeing her in private many months in a row she became with child , and that child was nila. now its important to note that at this time he only had one other daughter and one other son neither of which had inherited his powers over crystal . when she was born with ‘the price’ [that being the name of the birthright at the time as given by scholars] , it was unthinkable that a girl from such lowly birth could posses them. now it didnt come to light until she was perhaps eight or so years old , in which it was expected she and her mother move into the palace .

here the emperor decided that he could not appoint a bastard as his next of kin and sought to use poison to eliminate both his mistress and the daughter he claims to have never had ; this plan succeeds only in removing her mother from the equation , as luckily a servant noticed the residue and prevented the baby princess from ingesting any more . the trial lasted in-house for almost four months before he was found guilty and forcibly removed from power with the assistantce of his wife the empress . despite her efforts due to the levity of his crimes she and her three sons too were expected to leave the capital , and were sent to the white wisteria in the greater north reaches with the bai clan , which will be important later .

now nila is taken in by her grandmother the obasaama who raises her in near total isolation in the annex , a small decorated building farthest back the palaces reach . due to the poisoning she was sick for a time and the staff objected to being transparent about her condition fearing it would make the conditioning worse . harumis parents take the throne and decide against removing the empress dowager and the forsaken princess as they are both historically significant figures in the eyes of the public , and they cause them little trouble to keep around . it is at this time in fact that harumis parents attempt to bond with her , but she is incredibly timid and shut off .

a cunning harumi discovers that the hand that poisoned her first is actually still in the palace , and he comes forwards to be her servant seeking to finish the job , but she denies this as nila is already so frail and fragile , she could never possible worry her (true) . this displeases him and in secret he continues tainting the supply of food allocated to the annex with arsenic . this results in her continued deterioration through the listed seasons of ninjago and her folks who have not seen her since her self imposed exile share their concern in a constant .

the oni trilogy happens , the royal family passes and this leaves the throne sitting empty . nila is unfit to rule both physically and legally at this point , so the lord regent decides to hail the imperial younger brothers the sons of the former empress from the white wisteria again . they arrive within the summer and are excited to see there sister again regardless of her skin and bones look , the eldest who is twelve now is stressed but it is his duty as never emperor to contain the situation . from here the three brothers begin to take on more ceremonial duties and strict studies to prepare them for a life of long politics while nila or ‘jei jei’ continues to not get any better .

THE SOLAR RETURN

on her eighteenth birthday she is brought back into the light as rumor has been spread by a purveyor in the palace she had passed and the obasaama sight this is a plan for assassination , so they must move quickly — they host a festival celebrating her birthday , and nila is seen sitting pretty in her palanquin from within . she stands only once and not without help as she cannot support her own weight for extended periods of time , even refusing to eat whatever is presented to her and only accepting when her youngest brother disappears into the crowd to buy peaches from a vendor [haggling , incredibly poorly] .

this is the first crossing with the ninja as they had no idea there was an extended royal family and had been in attendance only because splitter cells praising the ‘quiet one’ had begun cropping up and they needed someone to talk to about it . they see the youngest brother being chased by the second while pawing at stall treats for their sister — the sick girl who looks like a listless memory accompanied by the moon prince [her original betrothed, important lore] .

for now they say nothing .

eventually they try to approach with their original intention, only to be stopped by the guard who insist all official matters now defer to the lord regent . so they are invited to stay in the palace while the lord regent hears their case and decides what to do about it . there is about a week here that passes where absolutely nothing happens , its mostly research . then the young princes sneak about in tenuki masks and use the servants tunnels to access the ninjas rooms , their oldest announcing slyly that ‘jei jei will see you now’ ; the others explaining that the lord regent is not what he seems , and that the princess didnt even *know* they were there until last night .

the ninja quickly put together the lord regent has been intentionally stalling . so they go to meet nila but the youngest insists they *have* to bring a lizard , because they always bring lizards for her and its customary — the oldest aggravated this isnt true and she only accepts them because he brings them , but the ninja are weirdly amused . lloyd ends up being literally forced by a seven year old to hunt lizards for this mysterious princess and its purely for comedic relief purposes atp .

in the annex they approach and he offers it awkwardly and she laughs , but the laugh is coming from behind a silk screen as they are not allowed to see her . instead she is spoken for by a eunuch who sits at her side as she whispers into his ear . eventually Kai gets tired of being handled and demands she show herself , which is the first time they get a closer look at her and its genuinely wasting for each of them .

nila tells them everything she knows so far , including what she only suspects . the killer who took the life of her mother remains among them , and she cannot leave the palace for fear of her brothers being victim next . she was originally engaged to the merchants son and general hyato son of lady himnae who was a respected former concubine , but due to disputes in the north they later found staged , her engagement was abruptly turned down by the council sighting they could not bestow the peoples diamond upon the unworthy . they have tried to reengage twice now only to be turned away both times by the lord regent who seems protective .

nila thins further . he is not protective . he is her captor and she is alone in this .

THE STATION

the ninja want to believe her but after harumi it is difficult . after they leave , zane analyzes the feed in storage and identifies traces of the poison [arsenic] , and is the first to convulse he believes her genuine and truthful . so , they do what they always do and mind everyones business but their own , extending their stay under the excuse of hunting down the groups promoting harumis ideals .

zane makes a point to confront he only lady in waiting , and only eunuch . he understands their trust is thin but they cannot continue to provide round the clock care for her highness alone , and thus he takes the brunt of her recovery by personally overseeing her meals and changing her routine to support her growth .

this is pretty slow . this cycle lasts literal months . meanwhile the ninja root around and look for any and all evidence they can to point to the lord regent , but he is frustratingly clean in this aspect . by month two she’s begun taking short walks from room to room , a pathetic measure of strength but one undoubtedly important .

eventually they discover she and cole are distant relatives , which makes him reasonably angry at her misery , shes family .

At this point theres a couple of ways this can go but the general story is that she and her brothers grow close with the ninja , and the eldest yase actually learns a lot from lloyd as he is the one being most obviously groomed to surrender power . there is a dinner meant to commemorate yases ascension to the throne come next summer , and nila is again poisoned . severely .

nila does not make it through the night .

THE ASSASSINATION

the death is so sudden it doesnt feel real , the princes take it the hardest and the lord regent seems genuinely surprised with an alibi who confirms his whereabouts .

they take her body into the temple .

zane takes it upon himself to sample the dishes and divulge just what could be so strong as to take her away from them in mere hours but finds … nothing . there is nothing lacing the meal , no strain no powder . did perhaps her body finally have no more give in it after the repeated abuses ?

so he asks to witness the body and due a further investigation , needing to see her insides to determine the truth — and he is denied . it is improper to show the dead such disregard especially only days after their parting . this frustrates zane deeply , he respects their traditions but cannot seem to make them understand this is for the best.

so he goes to the obasaama who has been historically incredibly involved and very helpful of the case , clearly loving nila as if she were her very own daughter , pleading that she bypass the guard to allow him access … and she too , denies him .

something is not right here .

so , the ninja who support him , break into the embalming room and locate her crate ready to take it back with them before they notice the nails had been removed . upon pulling the lid up they find a body already grotesque in its rapid decomposition , the smell sickening . how could she have possibly —

… it isnt her .

it is zane again who provides negative confirmation , assured that this is not the peoples diamond at all . the body had been replaced with another and based on the log book nilas body had been hastily removed hours ago , taken to a lot close to the old memorial held just for him .

this is getting weird .

they take the address down and track back to the graveyard in question only to found the dirt is settled , and there it is clear not a burial had been dug in at least three weeks now despite the wheel marks . a camera is placed opportunistically at a corner by an officials building and zane takes advantage of this , using his abilities to reveal that the carriage carrying the royal seal stopped here and met another , its flag of the *white wisteria* … hyatos clan .

son of hinnae , hinnae who was slighted by the emperor who took another . hinnae who had fouled his love and was left lost in the greater north reaches . hinnae whos son was denied the only thing he had ever reached for .

now they are certain , but they are unsure why . racing back to the palace they reveal to the obasaama the ploy , insisting the white wisteria be investigated but she only looks tired , and they fear the worst .

THE DECLARATION OF WAR

“i will tell you . i will tell you the truth but you but promise ; promise me you will lean tonight . you will not return to this palace again while there are still lives to be lost “

the ninja are genuinely distressed at the thought of abandoning the young princes in such a delicate time , but it is lloyd who agrees determined to uncover the truth .

the obasaama reveals it was by her own hand nila had been laid to rest — she and the girl had heard rumor another poisoning was meant to happen and those they sought to do it first . that was they were the ones in control of what happened next .

the ninja are furious , beyond furious , they are hurting for her and frightened . how could she possible love her and steal her heartbeat in the same breath ?

but the obasaama calms them with a hand … nila is *alive* . the poison they used only mimicked the effects of death , they needed to move her out of the palace so they could properly see to the princes safety . the lady hinnae was not a foe but a friend , a friend of her mothers who pointed her when she was assimilated . nila is being taken well care of by the bai clan as they speak .

now , the ninja must leave ; because if the lord regent suspects they know even a thing , he will kill the boys . but what happens next they insist with urgency ?

well , she smiles .

the lord regent allowed the forsaken princess to fall under his care while being actively propositioned to an imperious general and decorated moon prince .

all signs point to his hand .

for that is tyranny , and the current administration must fall . the bai clan officially declares war and means to take the palace by force for its treachery .

lots of fight scenes that i don’t know how to write , the ninja protecting the princes while the white wisteria evacuated innocents ; they are not seeking mass casualties , they are seeking one man .

when its all over yase takes the throne and makes hyato his new lord regent , his royal advisor until he’s old enough to do it all by himself . nila is safe and is now on the up and up despite her potentially permanent disabilities , and chooses to run away with the ninja to learn from them and take back her life .

FINALE

and that is the general score . there’s some other lore related information that’s either just for fun or unrelated in totality, like the origin of her elemental mastery being a gift from the wife of the first spinjitzu master and such , or borg making her cybernetic legs to help her walk because he’s genuinely in love with her but their stations would never meet and his age makes it inappropriate so he shows that affection in whatever ways he can . but alas.