Ashe stared at the newest champion of the league's dossier that was passed out to anyone interested before they actually joined. "Talon remained in the shadows, carrying out secret missions on DuCouteau's orders that took him from the frigid lands of Freljord . . ."
"Well," she said to the open air at large, "Hopefully nobody tries to connect the dots there."
Still though, it was good to remember those times.
Talon walked steadily through the night-time wilderness of the Ironspike mountains. He was marching straight through the night, for he cared not for the confines of the daylight. It was cold out, but he was very used to long cold nights waiting for a target to appear.
Still, the mountains were starting to grate on his nerves. There had been several close encounters with strange beasts that defied explaination and a few of these encounters were a few too many. There was no real danger to Talon during these encounters though, he would have been more than capable of ending their lives. There was no level of mythical danger that intimidated Talon. Everything lives and can have it's breath ended, was one of Talon's sayings that helped to strengthen his courage when encountering a particularly difficult challenge.
That didn't change that it had become tiresome to continuously march through the freezing Ironspike Mountains. It was always easier to avoid the danger of a large monster than to engage it, which slowed him down. Talon was not impervious to the cold, just stubborn enough to ignore it. Even so, it had started to take it's toll on him, causing Talon to draw his cloak of blades close to his body, desperately trying to maintain body heat.
It was a welcome sight when the mountains began to melt away, bluffs giving way to flat ground, and the temperature began to drop back to the realm of livable. Talon had been determined to simply march straight from Piltover to the Institute of War when DuCouteau's missive had arrived.
He had been busy trying to find a way to get at a certain sheriff, who had become quite infuriating to track. She was definitely more observant than Talon had almost given her credit for. There had been quite a few closer calls there. The missive had given Talon a big sigh of relief, even if it had been vague.
Institute of War, look for the sign.
The sign that was referred to was a small scarf tied around a tree, which would signify a letter detailing more directions placed somewhere on the tree. It would be harder to catch now that it was late spring, and everything was in bloom, but Talon was accustomed to hardship. All it would take was a little hard work and perseverence, something Talon had left a lot of behind when he was picked up off the streets. However, living in the DuCouteau's estate had presented other difficulties. Regardless, it was still easier than the streets.
Talon was taken out of his reverie when a piercing howl broke the silence of his measured stride towards the nearing Institute of War. Some kind of malevolent creature lurks in the upcoming forest, he thought, I will simply have to sleep outside of it for the remainder of tonight. Taking cover in a small nook created by a protruding rock, Talon pulled a long slick cover out of one of his many pockets in his pants. It was wind proof and would keep Talon protected from the elements until dawn, when he would awake soundlessly.
Lying down with the sheet covering his body, Talon pitched his arms over his head, preserving any body heat he could by sinking into the fetal position for the night.
Ashe was tired. Only a few hours ago she had bidden farewell to all of her friends, gathered up all of her belongings, and been summoned to her own private residence inside the Institute of War. She had done this because she would need quite the amount of influence to really promote peace in Freljord. There would have to be quite a number of wins to make any progress on this.
For this reason, Ashe had chosen to leave during the relatively safe time during the late spring. Her tribe would be able to handle anything during the summer. They had grown in number since when Ashe had been a little girl, making a straight up battle hard for an enemy. In the summer, when there was no camoflauging snow on the ground, an enemy force would be seen miles in advance by their scouts. The other two tribes would be unable to catch them by surprise, making summer an in-opportune time to attack, even for small skirmishes.
So she had packed up and contacted an official summoner of the Institute to transport her to her respective complimentary lodging that was provided to any league champion that wished to make use of the service. Now she sat on the ornate bed that was soft, but firm enough to provide those who needed it with enough back support. In stark contrast with the freezing climate that she was used to, the room was constantly warmed by magical lanters placed in the corner opposite the door and on a small table adjacent to the doorway.
Everything was different, and Ashe wasn't in favor of it. Since it didn't matter any longer, Ashe drew back her hood, allowing her long frosty hair to fall down her back, to about the bottom of her ribcage. She still clung tightly to the bow, however, as it was the one constant piece of comfort that she could always rely on. When a very large bear had happened upon her during her time gathering herbs as a smaller girl, the bow had defended her. As another tribe had attempted to invade, the bow had protected her friends. As Ashe had been nominated the leader of their tribe in the wake of the previous leader's life, the bow had not treated her differently. Ashe had steadily come to trust the bow above all else, as it remained steady, even among the changing climate.
She sighed, knowing that she had a match in only a couple hours. I guess I'll go down to the target range until then, she thought resolutely before standing up and leaving the room.
Talon cursed to himelf under his breath. He had slept much longer than intended. Instead of waking up at dawn, as he had expected his assassin's mind to perform subconsciously, he had awakened at noon, much to his chagrin. After silently folding up the sheet of protection that had served him well during the night, Talon moved out, into the forest that had previously hidden too many unknown variables. The Institute of War lay just beyond the forest, and Talon knew that the scarf signaling more instructions would be present before, so he kept a very watchful eye on the canopy of the trees.
The forest was less dense than he had originally imagined; indeed, it was practically more clearing than forest after the first ten yards or so. Suddenly, Talon caught the tiniest flash of orange through the darkened leaves of a grand oak tree. Lithely, Talon searched around the base of the tree first, before making his way up to a large nook, which surprisngly contained much more than just a letter with more instructions. There was also a parcel, which carried official summoner's robes, while the letter read
You are to infiltrate the Institute of war with the attached apparel.
There are also official summoner papers to document your transferral from Noxus.
Your name is Kaiden Tsoral.
Leave your usual clothing here, as you will not be needing it inside.
Once you get inside the primary security checkpoint, I will be there to instruct you further.
This may be unusual, but it will go over just fine. Treat this no different than other instructions and follow them to the letter.
Talon was peturbed. This was not just unusual, it was downright unheard of. Impersonating a league summoner? That went far beyond anything that Talon had done before. What kind of target would he be pursuing now that such drastic actions would be required?
Talon sighed the sigh of those who do what they're told, even when it goes against every piece of sense in their body. Depositing his clothing in the nook, Talon donned the summoner's clothing and began practicing saying his name. "Kaiden, Kaiden, Kaiden, KaIden, KAiden, KaidEn, Kaiden," he muttered to himself slowly, making sure to completely understand the name, in all different types of inflections so that he would be able to hear it from across the room, as if it really were his name. Completing the ensamble was the official transfer papers from the noxian summoner training academy to the official Institute of War training program.
Giving one last look to his old clothing, Talon snatched off a pair of daggers from the inside of his cloak, as there was never going to be a time ever again, where Talon would willingly go without some kind of weaponry. He stuffed them into easy to access, but hard to pat through, pockets, ensuring his defense. "Hi, I'm Kaiden Tsoral," Talon said to the open air one last time before starting the short walk to the Institute.
Sandles, Talon figured out, just made him feel out of place. Boots were definitely still where it was at. He ignored this, however, as he completed the walk to the massive double doors that marked the entrance to the legendary Institute of War. There were two massive animated suits of armor guarding either side of the doorway, while one very official looking summoner stood out in front. Clearly, a real human was still required to handle all real occasions at the front door.
Talon approached him, handed the papers over, and said, "Hi, I'm Kaiden Tsoral, here on transfer from the Noxian Summoner's Academy."
The man took the papers and barely glanced at them before saying, "Head on in."
Talon had to stifle a snort of disbelief. Could it really be that easy? Could the first plan actually be working for once? Had the papers actually worked? The suits of armor moved open the large doors, greeting Talon with the view of a lifetime. He moved inside the doors quickly, as the suits of armor closed them again. Then Talon took in the view of inside the Institute of War.
There were summoners practicing magic in the hallways, champions moving around discussing polotics, gold engravings, staircases, paintings, tapestries, grand doorways that were larger than the main one, and just people everywhere. Talon stared in awe. This was the grandest sight he had ever beheld. There were rich things in Noxus, but he had never been privy to really just getting to see them. Everywhere else that Talon had been that was like this, was always clouded over by some assignment, there was a target that needed looking after and he was unable to just take in the sight.
Talon pried his consciousness from staring and forced his legs to move. Somewhere in here, Macus DuCouteau waited for him to appear, and he was much later than he should have been. Taking a passageway directly to the right of the main entrance, Talon walked for a small ways, taking note of the champions that would pass him occasionally for he didn't want to piss off one of the more dangerous members of the League while he was this unprotected anyway. Eventually, he came to an overlook of a small courtyard, where Marcus DuCouteau waited for him. Talon sidled up to him and said the first part of their usual passphrase.
"The Ironspike Mountains look beautiful this time of year," he said without any emotion in his voice.
DuCouteau turned and replied, "Yes, but I never seem to have the time to go hiking." Marcus was wearing a similar outfit to Talon's, implying that he wasn't here officially. Talon took note and remembered protocol when they were both undercover. He turned away from DuCouteau, just enough so that it didn't look like they were talking to each other from a distance, but could easily still hear what the other was saying from their close proximity.
"Why am I here?" Talon asked trying to get directly at the situation. Infiltrating the Institute of War was still dangerous, and he wished to be over with it as soon as possible.
"Noxus is interested in Freljord," DuCouteau began, handing Talon an envelope, "Your target is the frost archer known as Ashe." Talon opened the envelope to reveal a picture of said frost archer. She looked beautiful, but no more than others he had known. Still, something held his gaze captive in the picture, something warrented further examination later.
"So, why am I here, I can just take care of a simple archer outside of the Institute," Talon questioned, still confused.
"She's tough, much tougher than you believe as of this moment," DuCouteau said derisively, implying that Talon was being hasty. "You must get to know her before you can eliminate her."
Talon paused. He knew this kind of an assignment was coming, but had hardly expected it here. "How am I going to do that?" he asked, bewildered.
"Well, you're a summoner, aren't you Kaiden?" DuCouteau said smirking. Talon couldn't see the smirk, but knew it was there. It was the same tone that his daughters had used when torturing him as a young kid, and they always smirked. Bitches had gotten what they deserved in the Ionia invasion.
"All due respect," Talon began nervously, "I'm not a summoner, and I still have no idea what you actually wish me to do."
"Follow this hall to the end, win the first beginners match, go to your quarters, repeat every day until this Freljordian 'beauty' presents a weakness to exploit. Then exploit it," DuCouteau snorted, clearly annoyed.
Talon became angry. This was too much. "How am I going to summon anything, let alone a person, with absolutely no experience?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Remember these?" DuCouteau said, handing Talon a small crimson crystal. Talon did indeed remember those, they were painful, horrid contraptions that were designed to impart the knowledge of one person's experiences to another by ingesting the crystal. And yes, they did hurt like hell. "And remember, you're a beginner, they're not even going to ask you to do any real magic, it's all automated at this level. Just look into the summoning apparatus and pretend you're an archer."
With that, DuCouteau made another one of his sweeping farewells, without sound and without reply. Talon drew in a deep breath before swiftly popping the crimson colored crystal into his mouth. Knowing what happened next, he got down to the ground and lied down on his back. There were three seconds before the blackness and pain overtook him.
A warped vision of DuCouteau standing at a summoning apparatus overcame Talon. It showed all the proper techniques, imparted the knowledge of how to talk to a champion without being disrespectful, and hurt like a hextech drill going through the space between one's eyes. Time was short during the crystal's vision, leaving Talon without any idea of how long the 20 minute memory had lasted in the real world.
Talon ignored the splitting headache that he had become used to over the years of learning how to use a blade properly, and hopped up, starting his journey to the end of the hallway, where his first match as a summoner would begin.
Slowly the corridor became darker and darker, until all the light was mostly purple, when Talon got to the summoning chamber. It was large, but mostly dark, save for five balls of light floating in mid-air atop an altar of sorts. There were four summoner's garbed in what Talon was wearing at the bottom of a staricase that led to the top of the altar, where as there was one summoner in a luxurious purple robe already atop the altar.
Ashe had stopped practicing her marksmanship, it really wasn't buying her anything but wasting the very high quality arrows that were provided to champions from the Institute of War. And she didn't want to be tired when her match started. Speaking of which, it should have begun about five minutes ago. Things were behind schedule, once again.
Suddenly she felt the familiar probing to her consciousness. Allowing it to mentally connect, Ashe felt something less usual. This summoner was nervous. Ashe knew it was bound to happen eventually, she had officially been classified as "easy to get along with," or "recommended." Now, beginner summoner's would be summoning her much more.
It didn't matter, Ashe was too determined to win to let an inexperienced summoner keep her from doing what she had come here to do. The mental probe lodged in her brain, connecting her consciousness to a summoner's as he mentally projected, "Hello? Ashe?"
Ashe, who was far more used to this mental method of communication, replied "Smart choice is summoning me, summoner." A surge of confidence flowed through the mental link, making Ashe wonder if this might even be the summoner's first time.
"Alright, I'm bringing up the summoning matrix now," the summoner replied with a surprisingly deep and strong voice. Most summoner's didn't have mental voices of lumberjacks. The familiar blue forcefield surrounded Ashe as she slowly lost sight of her surroundings, until the familiar sight of the spawn point in Summoner's Rift flashed into sight.
The summoner said one thing after they communicated which magical pendents to buy, "Let's finish this quickly."
Author's note: So, this is going to be a lemon. Seriously. Just another lemon. I'm just trying something different because I felt like it.
Please go ahead and review, even if you only have bad things to say. I'd love to hear it.
Anyway, yeah, here it is. Expect more soon, although my classes start literally two days from now, and it'll severely impact my ability to write more.
I also feel like I should have something to say here, so: Paperweight.