Chapter Eight
Eye to Eye
Rosanna slowly got up and rubbed her eyes, looking around for her new charge. She quickly realized he wasn't here, going into a panic and almost tripping a few of the champions that remained in the institute rather than staying home. such as Yasuo, he needed to stay, else there would be hunters out for his head.
Korra hadn't taken off the necklace; the process would have drained her of what little energy she had left. She soon came to an inn, barely enough gold for the night, and fell onto the bed, stomach growling and only a few gold pieces left in the pouch. The Dragon Child locked the door and fell asleep with the cat sized dragon in her bosom. She finally awoke, debating taking off the necklace. It was certainly not the worst thing to be stuck like this, the necklace had been worn many times before by The Dragon Child, and was very used to this form by now. She took a few more minutes to decide while cleaning up in a secluded river. The cold was a slight bother, but nothing major. She surrounded herself with blue fire for just a moment. The water on her skin froze entirely and she shook it off. She soon pulled up the underwear she had this whole time. The Dragon Child didn't even have a change of clothes, only a few pieces of gold left. Blizz was shaking off the water on her body, chirping in draconic quite happily, but Korra was left still not understanding a word of it. She put on the same white and gold uniform top, the same white pants, same boots, same dragon scale tunic, and fastened the same decorative chest plate before tightening her belt, pulling white gloves over her scarred hands, touching the necklace around her neck. "I miss you, Diagona…" she whispers quietly.
Korra uses the last of her gold to get a meal for Blizz rather than herself. Nothing special, just a few pieces of meat that should last the dragon nearly the day. Her own stomach growled, she grasped it with her left hand. "so much gold back home and I have none of it now." She muttered, cursing under her breath at the summoners that brought her here in the first place. The way she had acquired so much money in the first place was taking the bounties no one in their right mind would go for, a small fortune for each of them.
Another day closer to Demacia, The Dragon Child was no better off, hunting wasn't a strong point, the others in the group always made up for another's lack of a certain skill. Quinn and Diagona were the best hunters among them, Alatariel a close contender with them. now that The Dragon Child was alone, all of the strengths that came to Runeterra, as well as all of the weaknesses, were all that was left. Even Blizz was not a skilled hunter, though she could capture rabbits, it was not enough to feed the both of them for a long time.
Korra pushed open the door to a tavern and immediately heard whistling, another reason she hated the necklace. She soon felt a hand grope her rear, even though it was not large, in fact, Korra had a flat ass and a small chest. Certainly useful when fights were so fast with her. She jumped, turning around growling with a blush on her cheeks. It didn't take long for her make him regret touching such a prideful individual. Her fist was caught by a hand that wasn't human. "take it easy, Kid." She pulled her hand back and looked at the strange goggles he wore under that cloak. Was he carrying… a lamp post?
Jax looked upon Korra and Blizz with little interest, but the last thing he wanted to have was a fight. "mind your own business!" she shouts, curious but not intimidated. She certainly had an inner fire that didn't want to quit, he had to give her that. Her stomach growled again but she refused hand outs based entirely off the fact she was a woman. It was Jax who finally put a bowl of soup in front of her. "Here." he said simply before walking away to his corner of the tavern. She looked at it and examined the contents, various vegetables, it was a thick and rich broth, still hot, small pieces of meat. Her stomach growled again but this time she didn't hesitate to start eating. Under his mask, Jax smirks, "knew it." He says quietly. Blizz stayed on Korra's lap the whole time she was sitting. She was soon done with the soup, two more items were placed in front of her, a small loaf of bread and a tall glass of water. She was still hungry, not eating the day before or up until now. The bread was soft and fresh, the water was more pure than drinking ale. Jax gave her a pat on the back, "come on, I want to see something." He gestures for her to follow him as he turns and walks outside. She doesn't hesitate to get up and follow him. He was holding a simple staff in one hand, smoothed over to make sure that there were no rough patches on it. He threw it to Korra and brandished his lamp post. "you have that sword, but what happens when you leave your comfort zone?" he asks, clearly making it a challenge.
Korra caught it and looked it over, nothing special about it. His words were apparent to her, looking up from the staff and flicking her head so her hair would move out of her face. She brandishes it much like he does with the lamp post. They encircle each other as a small crowd gathers around them. Jax paid no mind to them, he was merely testing The Dragon Child, there would be little more to it than that. He made the first move, jumping through the air and bringing the lamp post down as Korra just managed to bring up her staff to stop it. "faster." Was all he said before pulling back, twirling the post a few times before jamming it in the ground.
With out a moment's hesitation, Korra cast a single spell and nodded to Jax. He pulled it from the ground, now flourishing it, the way he moved was so fluid, he held his right hand in front of him, two fingers raised as if this was a martial art. To Jax, it was. they both moved at the same time, Korra went for a jab before pulling back before flipping her grip and bringing the other end crashing down, Jax allowed the first to hit but blocked the second. They remained like that for a few seconds. "not bad, but you need to stay in motion." With that, he pushed her off and readied himself again. The people were slowly coming to realize this was no fight, it was a lesson.
"I want you to block each hit," Jax informs her, Korra nods and readies herself. There was a single jab blocked, then another, this time faster, the next was faster, then the one after that was even more so. He finally reached an incredible speed at which he was fluidly jabbing again and again. He was soon flourishing the post and putting more behind it before one powerful over head strike broke the quarter staff. Korra could just stare. Jax started laughing, putting a hand on her shoulder, "not bad, Kid. Say, what's your name?" he asks. "D'A-" she cuts herself off. "Korra." She answers. He gives her a hand shake, "Jax." He replies. "and I would suggest you keep a lower profile, Dragon Child." He whispered to her, letting Korra know that he knew. He gave Korra one last pat on the back. "if you need gold, you could always consider bandits, taking them out would certainly get you back on your feet." Jax advises. "I…" was there much choice? She had to do something or she would starve. "before you go and raid the raiders, you need sleep." He gave her the gold to rest for a night at an inn and pointed her in the right direction.
After dawn there was no visiting a river to clean up, Korra did the most basic preparation before walking off to the next village. Jax watched and smirked under his mask, "here's to you, Kid." With that, the grandmaster started to walk East. "Kid's got potential." He muttered, walking with the post held in his arm like a soldier might hold a cross bow.
Hours later, The Dragon Child was still on a path to the next town, Blizz chirping in Korra's ear, sometimes forgetting no one could understand her. She saw what she thought was a town… but there was a massive wooden wall erected. As they got closer, it became apparent it was a small fort, an encampment. "Blizz, hide." Korra ordered quietly, now moving up and seeing what she could make of this. The only way in was a heavily guarded gate. The way they were dressed, it was obvious that they were in some sort of organization, and not a good one at that. The Dragon Child circled around the fort, finding a termite eaten post. One by one, four clones appeared, making five in total. They nodded to each other and two charged the post. It broke in seconds, they backed off as it fell toward the outside of the fort, nearly smashing a clone. They all charged in, blurs, all of them, some were tied up at a blinding speed, others were run through before they could even right back. Deaths were fast and efficient, the moment one opened himself up, another clone would take advantage of the opening. A look over the documentation, mostly journals, revealed this outpost had been raiding a triangle of small villages.
The gold was the hardest thing to find, food and water were in sheds, and store houses. It took almost an hour to locate where it was stored, clones were loading up three wagons to take to the villages that were being raided, another clone helped to work out picking the lock on the various chests and safes. She fell back once the work was done, gold in sacks, ready to be taken to the respected villages. Though, The Dragon Child did take a small handful of gold for her troubles, a small bag of bread and dried meats, and a single water skin.
Two clones each pulled a wagon, one was not enough to pull the various recourses. As each clone reached their destination, Korra could see through their eyes, even over the distance that separated them. "no, you take more of this, you need it more than us." One of the villagers said to the clones. "no, I already took about seven coins from you for my trouble." This felt so familiar… like home… something's never changed, no matter where you went. Each village said nearly the same thing, wanting to reward someone for going through the trouble. But when one has magic and speed on their side, bandits were no challenge. The only trouble was preparing the goods for transport, and even then, the clones took care of it.
Korra was merely eating a piece of dried meat when they could finally see Demacia's walls in the sunset's rich orange glow. It was awe inspiring, "wait till the guys back home hear about this!" she beams, moments after The Dragon Child remembers that home was far out of reach, not even knowing if everyone was alive or safe for that matter. She shook her head and rid the idea from her mind and started to walk toward the city, still under the illusion she was headed to Piltover.
