It would take her years to get used to the vines, if she could ever brush them off at all.

Her partner in the bottom lane and surprisingly close friend poked at her torso with a pair of thin green tendrils, diverting Caitlyn's attention towards her leafy companion with a half-irritated glare. At least her support had fallen into a good mood today due to their win in their match which resolved a border issue between the residents of the Kumungu Jungle and Bandle City. Zyra had wanted to maintain as much of the forest as possible when Bandle surveyors had tried to weasel a claim in on the most recent maps of Valoran that a couple acres of uninhabited territory belonged to the yordle country. As such, she had called to the marksman to lend her aid, and along with the Monkey King in the top lane, the Pridestalker taking his natural place as the jungler, and the slightly unorthodox, but still effective choice of the Bestial Huntress in the middle, their team cruised to victory. The duo had pulled their own weight against Bandle's bot lane for sure, the sheriff putting on a far greater display of shooting than their renowned gunner, and as much as Lulu tried to protect her team, the ravenous plants Zyra had summoned tore the miniature team apart.

Zyra had another one of those thorny smirks on her lips, her scarlet eyes peering at her resonating with a certain inhuman energy characteristic of the magical plant-turned-human. She must have been a rather carnivorous specimen in her previous life, for the gaze she gave the sheriff of Piltover seemed like a predator stalking its prey than a friend glancing at another.

"What is it now?" she asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

The Rise of the Thorns extended a leafy arm towards the ceiling of the summoning room, where a curious little shrub hung from over the exit door, a three-pronged plant with red berries in the middle. Caitlyn frowned for a second as she tried to figure out what Zyra wanted to tell her, but as she remembered the date and the looming arrival of the holidays, the sheriff came to a realization.

"The mistletoe's been placed quite late this year," she noted. "It's only two weeks until Snowdown proper."

"I was wondering when they would remember their traditions. I suppose it is better late than never, though. It is important to create a cheerful atmosphere. Where there are holidays, doubtless there will be festivities." A thoughtful look came over the sorceress. "The so called 'Grand Ball' is the day before the Snowdown celebration. The summoners hold this particular event in an unnaturally high regard. Why else would they resort to placing a symbol of love in the very room where us champions would notice it every day?"

Caitlyn put a hand to her chin. "I would not have thought you so familiar with human customs, Zyra."

The devilish smile came back. "You are forgetting how powerful a being I was before I took this form. All knowledge of botany comes naturally to me, now that I have the brain of a human to better retain such information. Needless to say, I am very familiar with the properties of mistletoe and its implications. And I am very curious to witness this spectacle."

As much as Caitlyn wished she could ignore the issue and pass it off as a meaningless event, everyone at the Institute, councillors and summoners and champions alike, somehow agreed to take the arrival of the Grand Ball very seriously. Males would look for dates amongst the female population in order to gain entrance, and so during this time it became common for intricate plans and 'date alliances' to form within champion groups of the various city-states. Shauna Vayne had ranted to her about the silliness of it all, how the Exemplar had convened all the Demacian champions into a rudimentary conference so he could pair up the males and females so they could all join the ball - a proposition out of which the Night Hunter promptly walked. But despite a few antisocial oddballs like her, almost any other champion worth their weight in prestige would do all they could to attend to receive the necessary attention and acknowledgment from the summoners so they would start the new year off in good standing, with the few obvious exceptions being the entities forcefully restrained in the Institute or summoned to compete in the League against their will. Unfortunately for the Sheriff, she was neither of those categories.

"You do not seem nearly as enthusiastic, it seems," Zyra noted, pulling Caitlyn out of her thoughts. "Is it because you do not already have one of these 'dates' in mind?"

Caitlyn shook her head. At first, she didn't lack in invitations from male champions to attend the ball, but every year she found herself burdened with work back home to attend the Institute's event, to the point where the usual candidates would already know not to ask her, knowing that she would already have prior engagements. It might have been nice to attend the ball for once, and this year she hadn't had any big case to tackle in Piltover, but the work of a sheriff required being ready to adapt to situations at the drop of a hat, so she could never say for certainty if she would stay in the area until only a few days before the event actually occurred.

"It's not that, Zyra, and at this point I'm not even trying to lie. I haven't even been at the Institute for the previous three Snowdowns. Duty calls, and the protection of the city is vastly more important than dressing up all pretty for a far less significant event over here," she sighed.

"How diligent of you." Zyra's entire frame seemed to gravitate towards the mistletoe as they came closer. "And your pink-haired friend? Does she go along with you?"

"I let her enjoy herself. It is the closest thing she has to a vacation, but as of recent she insists on coming back to work with me - it seems frilly dresses and ballroom dancing wasn't her thing, which is not surprising at all," Caitlyn said, remembering how much Vi complained the first time she came back from the Grand Ball about how much her feet ached wearing heels.

"She is very much like an innocent child," Zyra remarked as the pair left the summoning chamber and walked into the dense hallways of the Institute of War. "Putting up a facade of toughness, but deep down inside easy to frustrate and lacking both elegance and patience."

"I don't think I'd go that far, but somewhere along those lines, yes," the sheriff agreed. "Still, she is the most dependable person I've ever found, and I'm very fortunate to have selected her to be my enforcer."

"If only she would pay more attention to where she is walking," Zyra complained. "I hear the cries of my children scream in anguish whenever she walks by, always trampling on the flower beds. The blossoms are a gift on my behalf to the entire community within the Institute! The least your assistant could do is show some proper appreciation."

Caitlyn smiled, imagining a scene Vi might have caused with her unintentional destructive tendencies. "I will make sure to pass your message along to her."

Their conversation ran into a sudden interruption when the pair noticed a sizable crowd convening in the hallway before parting onto either side to make way for several individuals approaching them. Caitlyn could easily make out the stature of the one on the left, a figure floating above the air clad in a full suit of golden armor, up to the headpiece: the winged angel Kayle, the Judicator. The rightmost person wore purple robes with no other distinguishable features except for a scroll and quill they carried in their hands. With their facial features covered by the summoner's hood, Caitlyn couldn't make out their identity, and she doubted she would recognize any of the scribes. The one in the center wore the traditional summoner's robes, but the white and gold gilding, as well as the ornamental headdress, denoted their high rank as one of the High Councillors. Caitlyn could point out her feminine features from a distance despite the hood obscuring her eyes, and because the High Council only boasted one female among them, she could easily deduce the summoner's identity: Vessaria Kolminye herself.

"Are they for us?" her thorny companion inquired.

"We will soon find out," Caitlyn answered as they slowed their pace down, allowing the trio to stop in front of them. The angel removed her helmet, revealing a fair yet stern face with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked nothing like her sister the Fallen Angel, who took on shades of violet and had dark hair, likely a result of the corruption she experienced when she swore herself to the forbidden dark arts of their civilization.

"Good day to you, Sheriff, Rise of the Thorns," the High Councillor greeted them.

"Zyra will be sufficient, High Councillor," Zyra smoothly replied.

"It is a pleasure to receive you and the Judicator," Caitlyn said, nodding to the angel. "To what do I have the honor of meeting with you today?"

Kolminye nodded to Kayle, and the angel stepped forward, taking over the conversation. Caitlyn marveled at her height, standing a good head and shoulders over all the other women there. The armor certainly made for an imposing appearance.

"Due to the growing number of champions receiving inductions into the League," Kayle began, "we will require a greater amount of security involving the upcoming Grand Ball. As such, I would like to request the service of the sheriff of Piltover in staying at the Institute to watch over the proceedings to ensure that the event goes over smoothly."

Caitlyn nodded in understanding. Quite a large amount of new arrivals had come in since the last Snowdown, each getting stranger and stranger in nature. When the tamest of the new arrivals was the time-traveling Zaunite youth, there would definitely be a problem. Caitlyn herself had trouble grasping the newest addition to their ranks, a being bipedal and vaguely humanoid but which wore wooly fur, not to mention it also had a canine spirit circling around it. She never knew whether to refer to the Kindred as them or her or it or any other pronoun, and their claim of being the personifications of death didn't exactly make her want to get to know them any better.

"I understand the concern. I should be able to contact the city and let them know I am on official business pertaining the League. What abou Vi?" Caitlyn asked.

"The Enforcer's help is not strictly required, but seeing as you two work most effectively with each other, her help will be a huge boon to the team."

"Very well." The request seemed simple enough, but something else had to change around the Institute besides the increased number of champions. "Have you encountered any suspicious activity or disturbances recently which has inspired this cause for concern?"

"This will be the very first Snowdown where the Institute has officially recognized a clear sovereign in the region of the Freljord," Kolminye stepped in. "Even though Queen Ashe and King Tryndamere have held the throne for a couple of years now, it has not been the strongest of rules, due to the constant challenges of war ushered by the Winter's Wrath and the leader of the Frostguard. In recent times, the internal strife of the region has died down, leading the Institute to make such an act of international recognition. Our nod of approval towards Ashe's regime has not pleased the Winter's Claw and the Frostguard, and our scouts in the north have reported movements from both factions around this time, especially concerning ones from Lissandra. Due to the much more unpredictable and magical nature of her powers, we believe we are not out of line thinking that some ulterior mischief may arise at the Grand Ball, considering both Ashe and Tryndamere are attending and making their first true appearance as the proper rulers of the Freljord."

"All this scheming and plotting for such a trivial position," Zyra frowned. "Do they not contest their domain in the way of nature like Sejuani does, fighting tooth and nail for the crown?"

"Many people believe that Ashe came out the winner in the great Freljord conflict, but people who know the full details of the war realize that it ended up more of a stalemate," Kayle explained. "Her rule is strong, but only because Sejuani has retreated and not come up with another military force in quite a while. As for Lissandra, she is hardly one to play fair and simply walk up to her opponent in plain sight. The Ice Witch is a tricky manipulator, and there are many things she may have up her sleeve. And if we can believe the signs in the stars, as the Wandering Caretaker tells us, then the once-mythical coming of the Frozen Watchers may end up being more than just an old wives' tale."

"The city of Piltover is always ready to side with the defenders of justice and peace," Caitlyn reaffirmed her position. "I accept the offer to join the team."

"Your services are greatly appreciated," Kolminye said. "Obviously, there is more to this briefing than the small overview we have given you, but I shall transmit the full dossier of information to you in private. The Judicator and I must be on our way again, but expect a more complete explanation later tonight. And be sure to get in contact with the Enforcer for us."

"Of course." With a couple of cursory nods, the High Councillor and Kayle left them, their presence still causing the summoners in the hall to part for them as they continued down the corridor.

Caitlyn dropped her shoulders in relief. "Something about that woman always makes me tense. I didn't think I'd be pulled into the internal conflicts of the Freljord, but if it's for the sake of the Institute…"

"Remember, what the councillor told us was merely speculation," Zyra argued. "It is very likely that nothing will happen at all. Even if something were to go down, I am confident a team led by the summoners and the Judicator, along with your help, will be able to handle any problem."

The sheriff managed a smile. "You're right, I suppose. Right now I don't really want to think about that. Would you still like to go for tea at the Ionians' place on the eastern side?"

"I would love to, my dear Sheriff," Zyra answered. "If there is anything to take from this incident, however, I have found something fortunate for you."

"And what is that?" Caitlyn inquired.

Zyra smiled cheekily. "You will finally be able to attend the ball."


A/N: Once I thought of the title I just had to finish this story idea.

I'm putting off Crimson Tides for now (gee, another story postponed). This is my little project for NaNoWriMo, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to reach that goal but it's something. This story will have a ton of perspectives based around people attending the ball, but will center around Cait and Zyra.