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“Violet?”
Vi looked up from her work, eyes remarkably unbleary. It was crazy how getting a good night's sleep would make you more productive. If only she could convince her partner of the same thing.
“Hmm?” She didn’t bother to answer with words–she knew Cait’s voice by instinct, and knew she wouldn’t care about an “improper” answer. The more time she spent up here the more she appreciated how (relatively) chill Caitlyn was about everything.
Speaking of, she felt arms wrap around her from behind, and a voice by her ear. “There’s someone here to see you…remember that noble girl I told you about?”
“The one being hunted by her government? Who refused our security detail for some reason?”
“Mmm, that’s the one. Well, she’s here now, and is asking to see you specifically. She won’t say why.”
Having people there specifically for her wasn’t something Vi was completely unused to. She had been appointed as a special “Zaunite representative” in the enforcers. That meant she got equal parts people coming to call her a traitor and spit at her and people genuinely looking for help. The people who genuinely wanted help were the worst, because more often than not Vi couldn’t really do anything. The point was, people asked to see her all the time. Just not normally foreign nobles with mysterious backstories.
“Ok, weird. Well, I’ll go see what she wants and report back.”
Vi began to push up from her desk, but Caitlyn stayed clinging on, keeping her down. “You ok cupcake? Jealous or something? I promise you’re the only annoying noble girl I have eyes for.”
She could practically feel Cait’s eyes roll from behind her, but she still didn’t budge. “I don’t know Vi…I have a weird feeling about her. Just, be safe okay? There’s something going on that she’s not telling us, and I don’t know why.”
As much as she made fun of her, Vi had learned time and time again not to underestimate Cait’s instincts. So, as she walked out to the main lobby, she was appropriately wary. Cait took her by the arm and led her towards a shorter blonde woman. She was…not what Vi was expecting. Most Piltie nobles were constantly dressed in whatever the latest obnoxious fad was, and looked like they had never worked a real day in their lives. This girl, though, was dressed entirely for practical use. A simple tunic and leather pants, with a visible dagger hanging from her side, entirely ready for battle. Light scars were visible across her body–slight nicks on her face and arms, but surprisingly intense burn marks too. Her hands were covered by simple brown riding gloves, but Vi was somehow certain that they would be well calloused and used.
Beyond everything, though, her eyes were different. There was something more behind them, in the same way there were for so many fissurefolk. It was the same thing that Vi knew was behind her own eyes. In short, she’d been through some hard shit. She’d probably been scared for her life. It wasn’t just trauma though. There was something…dangerous about her. It was oddly familiar–Vi couldn’t place where it came from, but there was just something about her. Like anyone with half a brain would know not to fuck with her.
Cait’s voice cut her thoughts off. “Luxanna, this is my partner Vi. Vi, this is Luxanna Crownguard, of Demacia.”
Vi began to reach her hand out to shake, but the girl stood up, immediately seizing control of everything. “Thank you Sheriff Kiramman, I’m sure we can take it from here.” Then, she turned to Vi, looking at her like Caitlyn didn’t exist as she put a hand on her arm and began guiding Vi away. It was safe to say she certainly didn’t care about politeness. “You can just call me Lux. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go for a little walk. I’d rather our conversation not be overheard by…some people here.”
Vi could have sworn that Lux looked over her shoulder at Cait when she said that. If she thought that anything she said to Vi wouldn’t get back to Cait, she was truly stupid, but Vi was willing to go along with it.
“Of course we can walk, whatever makes you more comfortable. What did you want to talk about?” Vi glanced back at Caitlyn, making quick eye contact, affirming that everything was ok. For most people, leaving the heavily guarded police precinct probably didn’t count as being safe, but Vi was frankly not worried about her physical safety. If there was any risk from this conversation, it would probably be some abstract political threat, so making Lux feel like she was going along with her was probably for the best.
Lux was silent until the overly dramatic door slammed shut behind them, then began walking off into the busy streets, clearly knowing where she was going. Vi decided she didn’t really have a choice but to follow her.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“Like, in Piltover? To be honest I wasn’t paying that much attention to the briefing–something about someone trying to kill you?”
Lux gave a little smile to that. For some reason, Vi got the sense that that was the closest she got to a real laugh. “Gods know that there are quite a few who want to. That’s not really why, though.”
Vi often found the best way to get people talking about what they really meant was to avoid how they were trying to steer the conversation. So, she decided to ask another question. “If so many people are trying to kill you, why’d you turn down the security detail? Hell, why are you walking around outside right now?”
“I’m more than capable of protecting myself, and the place I’m staying would only get more dangerous with enforcers, from what I understand. And, as for now, I hear that you are quite the fearsome warrior…so I’m sure you can keep me safe.”
“Where are you staying? We can protect you anywhere in Piltover.”
“I’m aware, Violet.” Vi immediately tensed up–only one person alive called her that, and she could count on one hand the number of people who knew that was her birth name. It wasn’t the hardest to guess, but all of her paperwork just said Vi. Where the hell had Lux gotten that from. “I’m not staying in Piltover.”
Sorry, what? This girl seemed tough, for a noble, but there was absolutely no way she could make it 3 hours in Zaun without getting mugged, or worse.
“Don’t look so shocked, I told you I can hold my own. Besides, I’ve been…staying with locals.”
That could mean a lot of things, which ranged from Lux being in a lot more danger than she realized, to Lux being a lot more dangerous than Vi realized. Either way, someone was in danger, and with Lux knowing Vi’s real name, Vi wasn’t loving how it was looking.
“What’s this really about Luxanna?” Vi spoke with a little more edge in her voice than she meant, but she was getting genuinely worried. This felt like some kind of long, drawn out threat.
“Now now Vi, let’s be kind. We don’t want anything to get out of hand. Or, I guess you left those at home today.”
Vi did not like this one bit, but without any overt aggression yet, there wasn’t really anything to do. This girl seemed to be an expert at placing every word perfectly to make Vi uncomfortable, all without actually saying anything incriminating.
“Do you want to hear about why so many people want me dead?”
It was as good a place to start as any, and Vi got the sense that she was no longer in control of this conversation anyways, so she just gestured for Lux to continue.
“I’m originally from Demacia; my family is high up in Demacian society, similar to Caitlyn’s family here. You probably already know this, but quite famously, Demacia is…not accepting of magic. They don’t like the details getting publicized, but any mages, and any children of mages, are imprisoned for life, and fed poison everyday. Any family that isn’t in prison is closely monitored, for any sign of magic, or any sign of dissatisfaction with the government in general.”
Vi had heard about Demacia’s general attitude towards magic, but had never heard such harsh details before–it had always been portrayed as some strange, harmless quirk. It was strange hearing a noble be the one to bring it up–Pilties were very good at sweeping the uncomfortable details of what they did under the rug.
“Essentially, there is a second class of citizens, and the whole nation is built on this oppression.” Lux didn’t say “like Zaun and Piltover” out loud, but she left an ample pause, and it was clear they were both thinking it.
“Unlike…some places, though, this form of discrimination, is essentially, totally random. It’s not like all mages are born in one place, anyone could be mage, from the poorest farmer, to the top rung of Demacian society.”
Vi didn’t often get credit for her brains, but she liked to think of herself as quite the impressive detective. So, it didn’t take her long to reach the obvious conclusion; “You’re a mage.”
Lux smiled in a sad, slightly forlorn way. “I am. You won’t have heard it, because if it ever got out it would be the greatest scandal in Demacian history. It’s strange–I’m able to publicly advocate for mages, government agents are able to try and kill me, but no one can say the real reason. Or, when I say the real reason, no one seems to care.”
“So, they’re hiding the fact that you’re a mage?”
“Sort of. It’s hard now. I spent years hiding, and then I spent years trying to make change from within the machine, trying to lobby the crown. Recently, though, I’ve established a city for runaway mages like myself. The government cannot acknowledge the truth, or they’d be shamed for forever, but it’s getting hard to hide the growing commune full of mages. They haven’t hurt us yet, however.”
The political system in Demacia seemed complicated, and hypocritical, and Vi was genuinely intrigued. It also, frankly, was irrelevant to what Vi was trying to figure out, and Lux was clearly using it as a distraction, so she Vi tried to get back on topic. “If you’re so scared about your government hurting the people you’re protecting, why are you here?”
Lux smiled that same amused, forlorn little grin. “That’s a long story. But, a big part of it is because I see what’s happening here to be the same as what’s going on at home. I’m sure you see it.”
“You’re talking about Zaun.”
Lux nodded, before resuming easily. “It’s Zaun here, it’s mages there, but it’s the same story. I guess…it’s nice to see things from a different perspective, even when it’s all the same at the end of the day.”
“Not to be rude…but why are you speaking to me specifically?”
“I guess…I wanted to give you advice. I tried to do what you’re doing now, for years. Change things from within, as someone who was different.”
Vi had forgotten Cait’s warnings, had forgotten her own wariness, and was fully hanging onto Lux’s every word. “And?”
“And, I know how hard it is. I know you must feel like you’re failing. I know how to actually do it successfully.”
Vi did feel like she was failing. It had been years of spending night after night at the office, of lobbying for the smallest changes, of seeing all the ways the system was failing. If it wasn’t for Cait, she would have quit, but Cait at least let her see the ways she made things slightly better. It just hurt to know how terrible they still were. “How did you succeed then?”
“I had to learn what my role was. I tried so hard to fit in, to be able to make real change from the inside. It’s important to have someone doing that, but it wasn’t meant to be me. It was always my brother’s role. Once I started doing things my own way, once I started directly helping my people, that’s when things got better. I was able to lobby for the big, radical change that was really needed. My brother was able to dilute it down to something palatable. The people who need help are able to tell me exactly what they need, and I can do whatever it takes to help them. I was never able to do that before.”
Lux paused, seeming to genuinely be thinking.
“I guess what I’m saying is that what you are doing right now is important, and will one day work. But you can’t do it on your own. You need someone in Zaun.”
Lux probably didn’t know what she was saying. But she was describing the need for a sibling in Zaun who could be much more radical. Vi had one of those, but Vi had fucked it up, and she was gone now. She couldn’t save her, and it haunted her every day.
Seemingly unbothered by the grief on Vi’s face, Lux continued. “Look, the most important thing is trust. My brother and I were at odds for years. We loved each other, but we refused to see that we wanted the same thing at the end of the day. I wish I could say I was the one to get through to him, but I wasn’t. My partner had to talk to him, and tell him how bad I needed someone. The point is, since then, we’ve agreed to trust each other. Even when we can’t coordinate everything, he believes I’m doing my best, and vice-versa. It makes us a much stronger political force, because we always have each other’s backs, even when we don’t know what about. I guess, what I’m trying to say is, once you find that person to help you, you need to have complete, unwavering trust. Even if you maybe don’t feel they deserve it. It’s the only way it works.”
What was Lux even talking about at this point? It was like she was trying to solve some problem that didn’t even exist yet–Vi didn’t have anyone in Zaun to work with, anyone really to trust. As Vi tried to figure out what Lux was even talking about, she began to realize where she was. Some back alley in Piltover, far from the main streets, far from anyone else. A dead end. Lux had positioned herself right behind Vi, blocking the only exit to and from the alley. Too late, Vi’s survival instincts began to blare.
Lux stepped forward, putting a hand gently on Vi’s shoulder. No glove anymore, her hand was fully exposed. “I want you to succeed Vi, I really do. But you have to trust her fully, no matter what.”
Vi’s voice was shaky. This had to be some bad joke, right? It couldn’t be what she thought? “Trust who, Lux?”
“We both know the answer to that Vi. You might not like everything she does, but you have to know she wants the best for your people. Go alone–no weapons, no Cait. She’ll find you, and you can start over.”
Vi felt like she was in a dream. This couldn’t be real. It was way too perfect. Still, she couldn’t help herself. She needed to see, needed to check. Needed to get to Zaun now. But Lux wasn’t budging, and wasn’t letting her leave.
“Lux, please, if this is true, let me go. I need to find her.” If it wasn’t true, Lux would not survive the night.
Lux paused for a second, bringing her hand up to lightly caress her cheek. “You really do look just like her.” There was a breath, than she resumed. “Vi, your sister…she saved me. At my worst, she was there, and she made everything better. I wouldn’t be here without her. I promised to keep her safe–I promised to make her happy. Forever. Her coming here, seeing you, all of it was my idea, because I thought it would give her peace.”
Were they…married? Did her little sister somehow get married to this weird, magic, noble lady? What the fuck was going on?
“The point is, I asked her to trust you. We both know she doesn’t trust easily. I need you to know…I promised to keep her happy.” There was a sudden warmth at Vi’s cheek, where Lux’s hand lay. It wasn’t gentle–it was a searing, painful kind of heat. Vi tried to jerk away but Lux followed. “If you hurt her, she will be the least of your worries. She’s my girl, and I’ll keep her safe no matter what. If she says the word, you can see exactly why Demacia is so scared of mages. Do you understand me, Violet?”
Vi nodded, shaky, just trying to get out of here, get back to her sister. “Good. Go to Zaun. She’ll find you.”
Vi took off in a dead spring, ignoring anything else. Her sister was alive–her sister was close. She’d be able to see her sister, apologize for everything. She was excited, and terrified, but above everything, she only had one thought running through her mind. How the fuck had Jinx found a girl even scarier than herself?