-Chapter 4: Ionian Hospitality-
The fourteen hour trip had passed faster than Riven had expected, mostly because she was able to fall asleep on the transport. Upon her arrival in Ionia, she drew the hood of her cloak up, what. The Head summoner had said was true; many of the people had forgiven, but she didn't want other to know of her presence here. She came to be alone and to be able to think about her past, she didn't need people distracting her as she did that. She exited the transport, and head towards the center of the town they had landed in, a small trading village that she didn't know the name for. She kept her hood up, even though she got strange looks because of the fact that it was a spring day with some of the nicest weather the town had seen since the summer of the year before, but none asked about it. Once she reached the middle of town, she entered one of the shops looking for a map of the small Island country, for she had not been here since she had left years ago, and she did not want to lose her way. She found a map rather quickly, and brought it to the front of the shop. The person selling it and other maps spoke a quick tradition greeting, that Riven replied to in Ionian tradition, and the shop keep began a conversation.
"Traveling?" Was all she asked, but she acted as if she knew who she was. Which was possible, but improbable.
"Yes, just going to some places I was years ago." Riven replied, hiding the slight Noxian accent she had since her childhood as she gave him enough money for the map.
"You know traditional greeting, but you needed a map?" The shopkeeper asked, unable to keep her curiosity quiet as she counted out the change due for Riven.
"There are some things you never forget. It has been year since I was last in Ionia." Riven said, some of her accent slipping in as she uttered the last word.
"Settling the past comes different for all of us it seems." The shopkeeper said as she handed Riven the change, and she looked Riven's in the eyes as she spoke again. "We all accept what happens in the past, and we all move on. I hope you can do the same." Riven took half a step back as the shopkeeper spoke, not expecting what she had said. The shopkeeper laughed a little at her reaction, "You accent. You let it slip as you said something. Not many here can remember that accent now, so you should be fine." Riven nodded, but was still slightly unsettled.
"Thank you for the map." She said as she left the shop, and she began to head out of the town as quickly as she could without drawing too much attention, and she was rather successful with it. As she left town, she looked towards the map, she was close. The place she had been planning to go and stay, was where this all started. Where she started to run from her past. She would face it, and she would not run from it.
She traveled the entire day, stopping at a town with a small inn as the sun began to set. She entered the inn, the door creaking as she opened it, and silencing the conversation inside as she walked in. Going to the small counter within the room, she asked for a single room, and paid for her room without incident, but as she was handed the key for her room, the one handing her the key slipped a folded piece of paper into her hand, and refused to look her in the eye. Or look towards her at all. Riven kept any expression off of her face, and thanked them for the room, and followed the persons direction to said room. Upon opening the door, she looked around. It was a plain, with a single bed, a bedside table with a lamp, a medium sized window on one side of the room with the blinds drawn, and a small door near the entrance, most likely leading to a closet or bathroom. She walked across the room, and put her belongings next the bed, and her sword on the bed side table next to the light. Unfolding the paper, she looked upon it, and read the message. It was hastily written, neat handwriting, but messily organized on the paper.
"Be careful. People are suspicious of outsiders here. Its because of what happened in the valley. The rest of Ionia might be welcoming, but the people here are not."
Was all the note said. The meaning to Riven was obvious; watch your back. And watch she would, like she always had. She walked to the window after reading the note, and opened the curtains just enough to look outside, and the view she had was breathtaking. It was of the sun setting, but it was setting into the valley. It was breathtaking beauty, but at the same time was such a horrid reminder to her of what had happened. Quickly shutting the curtain, she backed away and almost fell back onto the bed, but she caught herself, just sitting on the edge instead. The view was enough to remind her of all she had done for the place she had called home for the first half of her life. She held her head in her hands and looked towards the floor. She had killed, and killed and killed, never stopping to think of what she was doing. She just did what her orders told her to do. Be it fight on a battlefield or use trickery to poison one's opponent before a battle, she had done anything she had been told to do. It was at that moment when she knew this would be more painful then she had originally thought.
Riven skipped out in eating that night, unsure on if she could keep down any food she ate. After all, she was disgusted with herself and with the things she had done. She was going to face her memories and come to terms with them, but the time for that would be for tomorrow. It was late into the night; around 11:30, and she would be raising before the sun the next day, so she planned to rest, and she rested well until about 5:15, when she had planned to wake up anyway. It was at that time that she heard footsteps outside of her room door. She counted the steps, and it seemed as if there was two people outside of her room. She pulled the blankets over her head, hearing them jiggle the door handle as she did, and she heard the lock click quietly as it was picked, followed by the sound of the door opening slowly, creaking slightly. She heard them enter, not bothering to shut the door, and she heard them walk over and one began to go through her belongings, the other...she couldn't tell. She still acted asleep, waiting for an opportunity to move and grab her sword, which was underneath her currently, and deal with the two, but she didn't dare move yet.
Not a moment later she heard them leaving the room, and she didn't move until she heard the door click shut, footsteps walk away, and she was sure they were gone. She didn't want a fight. Not now. She slowly rose and looked towards the door just to double check that it was closed and no one was there. She didn't need to double check, they were gone. She looked towards her bag, which had been gone through, and she began going through it herself making sure nothing was missing. Why she was so paranoid about it she didn't know, probably because she had taken the some of the shards of her sword with her. When she finished re-packing with everything, she breathed a small sigh of relief and looked out the window of her room.
'Time to go..' She thought as the sun began to rise. She put on her pack, re-wrapped her sword, and left the inn, leaving the room key on the table next to the bedside table.
She left the inn quickly and silently, traversing through the town faster then should would have if anyone else was awake and moving around. She left the village and headed towards the landscape that was being bathed in orange light from the rising sun, and the valley still bathed in red, like it had been before.
(A.N. Heyyy. Stuffs. Also, new set update day will be Wednesday. That's about all I had to say. ^-^)
