Lou stayed up all night with Cole outside the barn, listening to his son try to come up with a plan for defeating Takanagi and his thugs, then throwing away his ideas almost as soon as he thought of them. When morning arrived, Cole was no closer to a solution.

“The more I fight back against him for the farmers, the more violent he’s going to get…and with the farmers not being fighters, they could get really hurt!” he said. “But if I leave, they’ll lose their land and I’ll be breaking my promise to Mom.”

Suddenly, Lou had a thought. “What if we put on a show to distract Takanagi and his henchmen?”

“Okaaaay,” Cole said slowly, asking a question he already knew the answer to. “What happens when the show’s over?”

Lou thought about it, then slumped. “The farmers would be right back where they started.”

“I feel powerless,” Cole said through clenched teeth, frustrated. “I mean, I know I don’t have any powers, but I hate feeling powerless.” He looked down. “I bet Mom never felt this way.”

“You’d be wrong,” Lou told him. Cole looked up, surprised.

“It wasn’t long after your mother and I met that she unlocked her True Potential. She had some amazing adventures. We were young and in love, and soon we decided to have the biggest adventure together—becoming parents. Lilly was so excited, knowing she’d pass her powers on to her child—you.”

Cole smiled. He’d never heard this story about his mother before. Other farmers, including Sally-Bob, started wandering over to listen, too.

“After you were born,” Lou went on, “your mom kept going out on missions. She loved helping others. But those missions became bigger, and she’d be away for more and more time. I felt guilty because I wasn’t helping her. I questioned why she had me in her life at all. How could she need a powerless man like me?”

“So what did ya do?” Sally-Bob asked, thoroughly engrossed in the story.

“Well, I knew Cole needed me,” Lou said, then turned back to his son. “I took some time off from the Royal Blacksmiths so I could always be around, even when your Mom couldn’t. And you and I had a wonderful time, playing together, singing together, dancing in the living room…One day, your mother came home from a long adventure—she had just saved all of Ninjago—and she was crying.”

“Why?” Cole asked, leaning forward.

“Because you’d grown so much, and she felt like she hadn’t been a part of any of it. She had spent time with you, but not as much as she’d wanted. She said she was feeling very out of balance. It was starting to affect her during missions. She was thinking about us when she was out fighting, and when she was with us, she was thinking about how to be a better hero. She didn’t feel grounded in either place.”

“She felt powerless,” Cole said quietly.

“Exactly,” Lou said. “But you and I looked at each other and—it was amazing—we took her hands and started dancing with her…right there in the living room. And we laughed and we cried happy tears because we were together. Your mom knew we were okay, that we were always thinking of her and loving her, and that she could draw strength from family. And I finally knew that I was helping her. I knew she needed me, because I—we—kept her grounded. Family was the foundation for everything. She carried that with her the rest of her days.”

Lou smiled at his son. “We all feel powerless sometimes. So it’s good to know we can draw strength from our families if we need to.”

“Wow…Thanks for telling me that, Dad. I wish she was here right now. It’s awesome that you’re here, but I could really use all the strength I can get against Takanagi. Especially since Sally-Bob and her friends aren’t fighters.”

“Says who?” Sally-Bob asked indignantly.

“Huh?” Cole said, surprised and confused. “I just assumed…Because you never try to help me when Takanagi’s thugs come…”

Sally-Bob scowled at him. “You never asked. You just came in here and you told us to stay back, that you’d handle it. So we did.”

Cole squeezed his eyes shut, embarrassed. “You’re kidding!” he exclaimed.

“Crops don’t kid, so we don’t, either,” Sally-Bob informed him. “But we will learn how to fight to defend our land…if you show us how.”

Optimism and excitement surged through Cole. “Let’s get started!” he shouted.

“Not just yet,” Sally-Bob said, leaning down and squinting at him. “One more thing you need to know, fella. The minute you planted your first seed here, you became part of our family, too.”

Cole smiled gratefully. So did his father. “Yes, ma’am!” Cole replied.