[~]
On the last day she would meet with the Demacians, Syndra pleasantly found herself seated once more on the jiao. Polite talk covered the rest of the prior evening, and she found it tasteful to leave the subject be. Dinner proved amiable to finding out how reliable the Demacians may be with Jarvan's involvement.
"Tell me, Duchess," Syndra inquired, leering at the Demacian soldiers lining the walkway back to the portal. "Did everything go as you hoped?"
Karma, off to the side in her black-white dress, merely watched the foreigners. Her lack of answer prompted Syndra to look upon her and find the weary face she'd so masterfully hidden the last few days. A woman far older than any would believe her capable of.
"You've done well," Karma answered at last, turning to meet Syndra's scrutinizing glare. "That the Demacians did not throw their chopsticks and leave is, an improvement, I suppose."
A bark of laughter came out of Syndra in her own haughty way. "Come now, Duchess, you must not be so unlike yourself. We face the prospect of an ally against Noxus, is that not what you wanted?"
"What I want, and what I hope, are two different things."
"My mind finds itself intrigued by your own contrary desires."
"Can one so simply answer a Valoran problem with another one?" Karma fired back. "Or do you only believe it to end when Noxus is off our shores?"
"To ignore the foremost problem in anticipation of fate's whimsical ways is truly arrogant, Duchess."
With a turn of her head, Karma stared at Syndra, and the sovereign enjoyed the subtle twitch of anger in her eyes. A slight narrowing, the skin pulled taut, and the lips once so flush now a little thinner. To anyone without firsthand experience with the 'Enlightened One's great restraint, it might seem to be apprehension.
"Know this, Karma—" Syndra's authoritative voice rose, and the air trembled as the faintest ripple of her magic came forth. "To see my lands whole is my greatest concern. What blithering debate about tomorrow you, and the others, entertain is a luxury afforded to you by me."
There was that subtle challenge in Karma. The ever restrained magic in the duchess' grasp begged to be released, to issue its own fight against her command. Her eyes narrowed, but that tongue stayed silent.
"In this, you will find a spot at my table. But, I should wonder aloud the usefulness of a regent who entertains such secretive dealings." The sovereign smiled a neat, toothy smile. "Do not fret when your errant goodwill finds a firm hand guiding it back to Ionia's interests."
In that lapse of conversation, a scarce few seconds where no one was looking, the Mu Guard came. They materialized in an instant, standing at attention in their neat ranks behind Karma. Only after they were there for three heartbeats did the Duchess react, keenly aware of their new presence.
"And what interest is it of Ionia to invite such things then, my Sovereign?"
"Just as the mountain cannot stand to the ocean, the ocean cannot keep mountains forever. What is oft remembered of the ones who try to keep the water at bay with naught but bowls?" Syndra's hard gaze pulled up and she stared down the walkway to where the Demacians gathered. "Something more grand than pitiable tools is needed, firstly. Then we will see what becomes of the ocean."
The Mu stepped forward, and in near silence, each took up their seating at the jiao's outer rim. Together, they sat as one in a flawless grace. Karma spared them a guarded glance before turning to look at the Demacians with Syndra. "You see water where I can only find fire, and that is what concerns me."
"It is good, then, that mountains do not care for such a thing."
Their conversation faded as Min, leading Syndra's purple-clad attendants, came up the walkway. Jarvan, joined by Shyvana and Garen, followed her, but the rest of his soldiers crowded around the portal. He stood at the bottom of the stairs with his fellows, while Min and hers joined Syndra on the jiao.
"Sovereign Syndra, and Duchess Karma, our time has sadly come to an end," Jarvan announced, and bowed. Not in the awkward manner Syndra first beheld, but something close to an Ionian form, his arms splayed aside and his head dipped. Not all the way, but enough to be passable.
"I find myself anticipating when we might dine once more," Syndra returned, if only to be polite, and graced him to rise with a lift of her hand.
"Already do I find myself intrigued to visit again, and I hope I can do so one day with clear skies and hearty weather." He stood up then, his face taken by a charming and handsome smile.
The sovereign let Karma return it, she did not care to do so. "You and yours will find our gates open when you do. I can only wonder if the rest of your fellows might be so inclined to accompany you."
His smile turned to a look of pensive contemplation in one seamless transformation. "Aye, as do I. I thank you for the gifts of your home, and for the … captured weapons. They will prove strong in convincing them, but I fear time will be both our enemy."
"It is always, for even great mountains are slow to move."
If only she could see the look on Karma's face now.
"That they are. I would not want to be presumptuous, so what will be of the fair portal between our lands?"
"I deign to permit it be, so that you and yours may find a swift way to us." Her glowing eyes slid off Jarvan for just a moment, regarding the quiet dragon beside him. "Even if only a few can come through, I cannot think of any more worthy to do so."
She made a mental note to have Min order the manasmiths to fashion more defenses in the Placidium. Irelia would undoubtedly have to be informed as well, the longer she thought on the matter. At least the Captain is less of a headache to deal with.
Karma raised her hand in a polite wave goodbye. "Be at peace, Prince Jarvan, sir Garen, lady Shyvana; it is often hard to find, and important to cherish."
With such an opportune cue, Syndra clapped her hands once and the jiao shuddered. Her magic surged forward and wrapped itself around the wooden carrier, illuminating it in a dark purple glow. The Placidium natives and Karma backed away, giving it clearance as it rose from the earth in a near silent hum. Jarvan gave her a large, sweeping wave goodbye.
As their attention was drawn back to Karma, undoubtedly speaking more of her pleasantries, she saw one of them still looking. Golden eyes stared up at her, fading as they were, keen as a predator. The easiest smile she had since this whole debacle came to Syndra, and she returned Shyvana's look warmly.
Would you visit again? I wonder …
That plague of curiosity struck and followed her all the way back to her fortress, docked as it was with the Placidium. Syndra found such games of nations tedious at best, but the dragon stood as the most intriguing prospect of all.
Perhaps a powerful play is in order.
[~]
As Jarvan and Garen exchanged further pleasantries, Shyvana drifted away from them. They would do well to leave shortly, and she was finding herself missing the colder air in Demacia. A sigh slipped out as she stood at the guard rail, staring out into the vast Ionian fortress beyond.
That dark glowing woman went flying off to it as if it were any other day. No incantations, no rituals or icons of power. That great sea of magic came at her call and a tiny sprout was all it took to send her on her way.
Shyvana's scaly brow creased the longer she thought on it. What sort of mage can do that?
It boggled the mind, one more mysterious question amongst many. She tried not to think of that insufferable, knowing look the sovereign had given her in the garden the other day. The mere idea of someone even thinking they understood her set her blood boiling.
Try as she might, she was getting pissed off about it again.
"Ho there, Shyvana!" Garen called out.
With a suffering sigh, she pulled away from the ledge and went to join the others. Half-way to, the ground beneath her feet rumbled, and a terrible crack of stone and earth shattering thundered the area. Magic swelled over her senses, a suffocating purity so intense she could scarce sense much else.
Her soldiers came rushing by, two stopping to check on her as the rest took up positions around Jarvan. She waved them off, the shock passing through as quick as it came, and rushed to stand guard with the prince. "Is it an earthquake?" she demanded even as the tremors had seemingly vanished.
"No, it's—"
"By the Gods!" Garen cut off Karma with his loudness, finger pointing. All of them turned to follow it, and each beheld a sight beyond their wildest dreams.
The very earth of the distant fortress, and its many strangely sloped and wooden buildings, moved. Not in any might heave, or a buckle of earthen scars that such quakes brought, but a gentle glide, a rise as simple as one lifting a plate or fork. In a silence nothing so vast should be capable of, the lands languidly pulled away from the Placidium, unbothered by the audacity of its action.
"What is that? How is it moving?!" Shyvana waved her hand at it and looked over, her gaze upon the silent Karma. Jarvan and Garen joined her, their eyes fighting to find an answer and to behold the spectacle.
Karma held her hands out in a placating way. "Our sovereign is merely returning home, I would not worry."
"'Returning home'?" Jarvan echoed, an utter incredulity to his once stoic face. "By what do you mean?"
"It is rare for her to descend to this earth, but she deigned to join us in this wonderful meeting."
The woman was nervous, Shyvana knew. The scent of sweat and fear was an obvious one to her practiced nose. Not lying, per say, but the reserved Duchess was not at all herself. "Explain yourself. How many mages does she need for such a thing? Rune magic?"
"No, none of that is used here."
Shyvana's helmeted head cocked to the side. "What?"
Karma waved her sleeved arm at the ascending fortress, now so plain to the eye to be the floating island it truly was. Its wide spread lands folded in, hugging to itself as one would after a mighty hug. "It is by our sovereign's will and power alone that her Celestial Fortress moves. In all my years, I have never known any but her to do so."
"That's impossible!"
"… Would she be a god?" Jarvan supplied, sounding rather curious about it.
A god? Shyvana marveled at his demure act.
"No, she would be mortal as much as you or I. For how she can do so, I have never discovered, and I am as awed as you are."
If the woman wasn't lying, she was really good with word games, as far as Shyvana was concerned. Jarvan went back to saying their goodbyes, but she couldn't help watching that impossible thing fly away. She had not thought much of it at all, the supposed castle and its fortifications comically poor by Demacian standards.
Now, the dragon could only wonder how one could defeat a fortress whose walls were the sky itself.
The call came to depart as the floating island was swallowed by the clouds, vanishing without so much a groan. As she checked over her soldiers and the new supplies they'd be returning with, a curiosity tickled the back of her mind. Glowing eyes, brimming with magic, and that 'sovereign's insufferable know-it-all look plagued her all the while.
And yet, out of any nobility she'd ever met, a suspicion the woman did know simply would not leave her be.
At least the return home to Demacia would bring back the familiar problems she had to deal with.
[ THE END ]
