The lush Ionian forest had, since her first time stepping ashore many years ago, always intrigued Riven. It was nothing like the forest back in Noxus. It was more alive brimming with magic and energy alike, yet it was also, in a weird paradoxal way, more serene. It was a perfect visualization and representation of what Ionia really was, magic and lack thereof, serene calm and bustling energy, all fit together in a yin yang of perfect imperfection. It made Riven stick out like a sore thumb, constantly reminding her of her heritage and her crimes. That's why she didn't really frequent the forest, despite how much it intrigued her. Yesterday had been an exception, not the rule. A need for privacy to reunite with her sword after many months of no use.
Riven shook herself back to the real world. She had spent the last few minutes simply staring into the forest lost within her own world. She steeled herself, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes she let out the breath she had been keeping and took the first step into the thick forest, heading for the clearing where the captain of the guard would be waiting for her. Just the simple thought of the famed defender of Ionia made Riven pause. The notion that the captain of the guard herself wanted to see her would've made Riven scoff just days prior, yet here she was, on her way to their second meeting. It felt surreal, but also so very right.
When Riven realized that she had once again managed to drift of within her own head and had stopped walking, she scoffed and reprimanded herself. At this pace it would take a moon cycle, or two, to make it to the clearing. Riven continued her trek deeper into the Ionian forest.
As Riven walked, she found herself observing the forest in earnest, the previous times she had had too much on her mind to simply give the nature surrounding her a closer look. The trees were pretty small, only about three or four times Riven's height with an equally small trunk. The branches on the trees were thin and plenty, covered in vibrant green leaves and swaying gently from even the slightest movement in the air. Creating a scenery that refused to sit still, constantly moving and shifting. The trees were spaced out enough form each other that walking between them was no problem at all, this, combined with the relatively small height of the trees allowed plenty of sun to make it down to the ground of the forest. This in turn made the forest almost as bright as the fields during the day, and allowed plenty of flowers, bushes and grass to grow on the ground. On the bushes you could find berries of every shape and size imaginable, often in vivid colours of red and blue. The grass ranged from short and green of a well maintained backyard to long wild strands of red like wild fire. While the flowers were not as plentiful as the bushes or the trees, they more than made up for their lighter presence with their spectacularly unique colour.
Despite all the movements of the forest itself it was still really quiet. The only sound Riven could make out was the occasional animal quickly making it's way through bushes and branches alike. Yet even the animals didn't produce very much sound when they raced about. It was only when the wind picked up and swooped on through the forest it really came alive with sound. Rustling leaves and bushes along with the whistle of the wind gave the forest a completely new feel. And when the wind finally left the forest that stayed behind seemed even more quiet, as if the wind itself took away the sound and left only the trees and bushes behind.
As Riven approached the clearing from yesterday she found that the Captain of the Guard was already present. That the blue haired woman was here before Riven wasn't terribly surprising, considering the enthusiasm she had showed yesterday. What was slightly surprising however, was that she wasn't sitting down while waiting, a picture Riven had found herself creating in her mind. The fabled Hero of Ionia sitting down in a peaceful clearing and meditating. No, instead the blue haired dancer was bouncing around and twirling about, not quite dancing but definitely not standing still. It reminded Riven of an excited child, she quickly shook the thought from her head and made to move into the clearing.
As soon as Riven made her first step into the clearing Irelia immediately turned her head to make eye contact without stopping her quite not dance dance. A large, almost goofy smile stretched over her face and she called out: "You're late!" Followed by a: "Let's begin!" Before she dropped into a stance more suitable for combat and charged at the white haired woman.
Acting on pure instinct Riven immediately rolled to the side to avoid the incoming blades, almost crashing into a tree, before she stood up and unhinged her sword while turning to face to blue haired dancer. As she turned Irelia came charging head on once again. This time however Riven was somewhat prepared and met the blade dancer head on. She deflected an incoming blade with her big rune sword and narrowly twisted her upper torso to avoid getting impaled on another. With the immediate threat of being impaled dealt with Riven took a moment to steady herself, firmly rooting her feet in the ground and gripping her sword tight. With the newfound stability she swung at the blue haired Ionian, using her entire body to propel her blade forward with frightening speed. Irelia however was not faced and simply rotated gracefully around the incoming blade and used the momentum from dodging to propel herself backward to put some distance between them and regroup her blades. Riven, however, would not let Irelia recover and leapt after her.
Riven found that Irelia's enthusiasm and energy began infecting her as well, and she couldn't quite help the small upturn of her lips or stop her eyes from mirroring Irelia's twinkling eyes.
This was fun.
It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to simply have fun, to just let go and not care for the future or the past. Only living in the moment, in the thrill of exchanging blades and surge of adrenaline every time a blade came too close for comfort.
As their sparring session dragged on, Riven found her body getting heavier and slower. Sweat was making her simple robes stick to her skin, despite the slight chill of the late evening. Her short and ragged breathing was producing small clouds in the cold air and she felt frustration creep up. She didn't want this moment to end just yet, she wanted to be able to stand toe to toe with the blade dancer.
When the last orange rays of the setting sun shone over the clearing Riven's body could take no more, and she ungracefully let herself simply flop down on her back. As she laid face up on the grass in the small clearing she let her gaze wander over the sky, studying the last rays of the sun upon the dark sky. Eventually her impromptu stargazing was interrupted by Irelia moving into her field of vision and Riven's eyes made their way to study the blue haired woman instead of the sky. Irelia's position and the quickly darkening night made it impossible see anything more than her silhouette, even her usually vibrant blue hair was hard to recognize.
It reminded Riven of a similar scene years ago. Of a sparring session prolonged late into the night, where she ended up on the ground looking up at the sky. A lone silhouette of a woman with long flowing hair had made her way into Riven's filed of view, one hand idly flipping a knife about. The woman, who had been Riven's sparring opponent that night, had made a snide taunt in a haughty condescending tone. The taunt hat hit it's mark and Riven had stood up, despite her protesting body, to continue the spar.
"I suppose that's it for today." Said Irelia. Her gentle yet resolute tone so very unlike the taunt from Riven's memory, however lacking it's earlier eagerness and genuine happiness.
Riven realized that her blue haired dance partner was somewhat disappointed and that alone prompted Riven to want to give more. She stubbornly tried to stand up, despite her protesting body. As she made it up on shaky legs she huffed out a short "I'm fine, let's continue.", before her legs ultimately gave out and she collapsed into a heap with her face buried in the ground. This produced a light and pleasant laugh from Irelia and Riven's cheeks quickly began to heat up.
"Wouldn't want to wear you out completely, now would we?" Said Irelia, her voice had retained some of it's earlier warmth.
Irelia made her way over to Riven and offered her hand to help her up.
Riven hesitated for a second before accepting the offered hand, letting herself be pulled up. Her body once again protesting to the strain put upon it and as soon as she let go of the blue haired dancer's hand she felt her legs threatening to give out. She stubbornly tried to keep standing, forcing her body to cooperate while awkwardly stumbling around a few steps. She once again heard a small laugh coming from her partner before she felt hands tugging her arm over a pair of lithe shoulders, supporting her weight.
Riven didn't protest the sudden help, fearing she might just make an even bigger fool out of herself if she fell again. She did however turn her head away from Irelia as she felt her blush intensifying. Irelia didn't seem to take notice of Riven's apparent embarrassment and instead said. "Let's get you home, shall we".
The walk back was mostly silent and Riven found herself thinking that it was a good silence. A silence where no words were needed. It was nice, comforting even.
The last orange rays of the sun gave the pair enough light to navigate the forest with ease and soon they found themselves standing outside the forest at the edge of the village. Irelia simply turned her head towards Riven and tilted it forward slightly in a silent question of where to. Riven responded by taking the lead, walking towards a house with a single light still burning in a window.
As they approached the house the door opened and revealed Riven's adopted father holding a candle in one hand.
"Is that you, Riven?" He called out to the pair.
Riven responded by untangling herself from her support and met the man with a hug. Not long after came her mother's voice from the doorway. "We were so worried about you, you know."
Riven felt herself relax in the hug and called back to her mother. "Don't worry I can take care of myself"
She felt her father tighten his embrace around her.
"Yes we know, but..." He said before trailing off, his eyes finally landing on Riven's companion before widening. "Ah Captain Lito, It's an honor… I..." He continued before trailing off once again and released Riven from their hug.
Riven turned slightly so she could watch Irelia as she approached the pair. Her mother picked up where her father had left off. "Our daughter is not in trouble is she? You're not gonna..."
"Oh don't worry, Riven hasn't done a thing. In fact I should be the one apologizing for it's my fault Riven is so late today. Now I wouldn't wanna keep her from you any longer so I'll go ahead and take my leave now." Said Irelia with a polite and gentle voice. She turned around to walk away before she turned her head back and continued. "Oh and Irelia is fine, no need for the honorifics. I'll see you tomorrow." And then she walked away, leaving both of Riven's parents with hanging mouths.
Her father was the first one to recover from the shock and he turned back to Riven with a big question plastered all over his face, however before he had time to voice it Riven interrupted him.
"Can we talk about this tomorrow, it's late and I'm really tired, okay?" Said Riven.
They made their way into the house, yet the surprised and intrigued look never left her parents faces.
"You have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow, young lady" Came her mother's amused and teasing voice.
A/N
Thank you for reading, it really means a lot for me.
So this writing thing is kinda hard, but I think I'm getting better at it (hopefully).