Lux ended up joining them later in the evening, and everyone was in a good mood. Jarvan and Shyvana was drinking away his sorrows, and Garen supposed it did not hurt that Shyvana was promising the prince a very comfortable night in bed.

He spent most of his time talking to Lux, as they had not had nearly enough time to catch up the previous night.

It was nice to see his sister again, to properly talk to her. It had been months.

"Getting tipsy, Luxanna?" Jarvan roared at his own joke, before turning back to Shyvana. Lux had just given a large hiccup.

Garen chuckled, looking at her flushed cheeks and large eyes. He supposed she was getting tipsy, but he could not judge; he was not exactly sober himself.

"There are so many noxious here tonight," Lux said, her voice low.

He shrugged. "There usually are. Demacians aren't the only ones who like to drink, you know."

"But they're all staring at me." She looked around the crowded tavern, and shrunk slightly. "I'm the only girl here."

He pointed to Shyvana. "No, you're not. And none of them would dare hit on anyone in the prince's company. They value their sorry lives too much."

He turned to the barman and ordered another round of drinks for them. They were all much more fun to be around when they were drinking; they were much to serious otherwise. He was careful not to get drunk though, always balancing the line of tipsy instead. If trouble broke out it would not do to be drunk out of his mind. This idea, discarded by the prince and Lux, seemed to be shared with Shyvana, who kept her drinks to the bare minimum. How long did it take a dragon to get drunk?

He had not noticed the tavern going silent until the door shut, and he flinched. He was quite sure who had just entered; few people managed to quiet a tavern in such a way.

He turned apprehensively, expecting to see Katarina. He did not, however, expect to see Darius and his brother, Draven, as well. She looked very glum as they made their way to a table in the corner, glaring daggers as everyone who dared meet her gaze.

"She's so pretty," Lux said, her eyes wide.

"You saw her yesterday," Jarvan shot in, looking almost annoyed to hear that Lux thought the assassin pretty.

"She does not belong in a dress," Lux proclaimed, glancing at Katarina once more before turning back to him. Lux was right, he thought. Katarina did not belong in a dress.

"I thought you were afraid of her," he said quietly, leaning closer to her. "You asked me not to fight her, remember?"

"Anyone in their right minds fear Katarina. Even you should. But I was only worried for you; rumor is, she eats men for breakfast. You saw the two men coming in with her? They will do whatever she asks, wrapped around her little finger."

"No one commands the Blood Brothers."

Lux giggled. "She does."

The idea unsettled him. Did she have a habit of toying with men? The way Darius touched her made him sure that they had once been more than fellow soldiers. Draven seemed not to be as privileged.

They sat in sober silence for a while, before Lux gasped. "She's coming here! Quick, look normal."

Lux's rendition of normal consisted of staying perched on her seat with a drink in her hand, her eyes wide and scanning for trouble. Garen almost laughed at her. Jarvan and Shyvana just looked apprehensive, but Katarina did not stop by any of them.

As the barman made to get her two glasses of whiskey and one of wine, she turned to look at them. She inclined her head to Jarvan, before looking from him to Lux. He heard his sister swallow loudly under the assassins penetrating gaze.

He waited for her to offer a threat, or at least a menacing glare, but it did not come. Instead, she spoke to Lux with a small smirk on her scarred face.

"The family resemblance favors you, Luxanna."

Too stunned to reply, Lux simply stared at Katarina while the barman put the drinks in front of her.

"I don't want any trouble tonight," the gruff man said with a glance at Darius and Draven.

Katarina smiled sweetly, something Garen found just as menacing as her glare.

"Of course not. The Blood Brothers will bid you no trouble tonight."

Without another word she took her drinks and left the bar.

As it turned out, Katarina stayed true to her word. The Blood Brothers stayed in their corner, only emerging to get more drinks. Katarina drank little, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. Why shouldn't she? She was with her fellows, men who shared her values and visions. Strength was her highest value.

Garen left with Jarvan earlier than he had wished, but they would be stuck in a council meeting the entire following day, and needed to get some sleep. As they left, he saw Katarina watching him, but she stayed behind with Darius and Draven.

On their way back, he ended up having to carry Lux. She was too drunk for her own good, but she was in good spirits as they made their way back to the demacian camp.

"I like this place!" She exclaimed over and over again, giggling as he carried her into the camp. He put her down in front of her tent, the one she shared with Jean.

"Post extra guards outside tonight," he told one of the guards outside their tent. He would have stayed with her himself, but even if they were siblings, such conduct was frowned upon. He had to set a good example for his men.

"And make sure she gets up for the meeting in the morning."

"Yes commander."

He saw Jarvan and Shyvana to their tent before retiring to his own. It was nice and quiet there, after a noisy night at the tavern. Someone had lit the candles for him, lighting up the small but comfortable tent. Jarvan complained loudly about how small it was whenever he was inside it, but Garen liked it that way. It was big enough for a comfortable bed and a small sitting area, plus a chest to keep his clothes in. They had the command tents for any other business.

His heavy armor made a lot of noise as he removed it, placing it in the chest. He wanted nothing but to go to bed, but he could not. He had documents to review before he was able to do so. In all fairness, he should have stayed behind instead of going to the tavern; he would likely not get more than a few hours sleep before the meeting in the morning. With a sigh he sat down in his drawstring pants, pouring a glass of whiskey before he started at the documents. It was a hefty pile.

After he read though a few of them, he realized that he should have enlisted Lux's help with many of them. Those regarding supplies for the military was straight-forward enough, but she was better versed with diplomatic connections than he was, and most of them were of that kind.

Soon after he had sat down and started working on them, Jean entered his tent. He told her to go away; Jean had a habit of entering his tent every night, and she was just as disappointed when he sent her away every night.

"We're sorry sir, but she's the king's daughter, and…" His guards apologized again and again, but she was the king's daughter, and she went where she pleased. He sat back down to work again, when he heard the rustle of tent canvas being pulled aside. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Go away, Jean."

"That's quite insulting you know." Nearly spitting out his mouthful of whiskey, he turned around in his chair to stare at the woman standing inside his tent.

"How the hell did you manage to enter my camp, Katarina?"

She scoffed. "Like it was hard work."

"It should be. How did you get in?" He was half of a mind to yell at his guards for letting her in, and making sure no one could into the camp. His tent was not the most important, but should she have gotten into Jarvan's tent she could very easily have killed him.

"Trade secret." She stood leaning against the center pole of the tent that kept it up, her arms crossed over her chest. "Your security is lax though. You would not have gotten into the noxian camp as easily."

"I am not trained in sneaking through the night without making a sound," he retorted, feeling a bit stung that she thought so little of his defense of the camp. "Besides, we are not expecting a noxian attack while we are in Kalamanda; we are under a truce."

"I hardly amount to a noxian attack. But your security is still lax."

"If you are not here to assassinate me, then what reasons could you possibly have to sneak through my camp in the middle of the night? I am entirely sure it was as easy as you say it was."

She shrugged. "I might have exaggerated a little. But I still got in without trouble."

He stroked his stubble as he considered her. Was she drunk?

"Won't Swain be mad if he knew you were here?"

"Furious," she admitted, looking him up and down as he got to his feet. "But I have reasons for being here."

A smirk spread on his face as he walked over to her, stopping when there was barely an inch between them.

"And what could possibly be reason enough to get the famed noxian assassin out of bed in the middle of the night?"

His whispered words had the desired effect. She closed the distance, kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the cold armor of her breastplate pressed against his chest. As she was lifted from the ground so that he would not need to bend, he felt her smile against his lips.

He was already exceedingly tried; the day had been long, but he had a feeling the night would be longer still. Letting her back down on the floor, he leant over to extinguish the candlelight. There was no need for his guards to know that their commander was not going to bed alone.

"Attending the council meeting is representation for Demacia and Noxus, plus our willing peacekeeper from Piltover, sheriff Caitlyn, in addition to the council of Kalamanda." It was the proper way to start a council meeting, with a tally of those present. It went straight on the record who was there, in addition to what was discussed and what was settled upon. She was there with Darius and Swain, and as she had suspected, King Jarvan of Demacia had brought Garen, prince Jarvan and Lux. Noxus was underrepresented, but she was not worried. Swain had a way with words to persuade those he met of the truths he spoke.

The record keeper had barely finished speaking when the sound of a throwing blade cut through the air. She caught it by reflex, and saw that it was one of her own. Looking cautiously around the table, she found who had thrown it.

"You lost something." The demacian commander said, not even looking at her. She glared at him.

"The next time I'll be sure to loose it inside your chest." She put her blade away, half amused, half irritated. At least his throws had gotten better.

"No threats in the council meeting," the sheriff said, glaring menacingly at both of them in turn. Katarina chuckled derisively as she stared at Caitlyn, their eyes meeting in a cold glare.

She was not threatened; she did not threaten. Those who dared threaten her had a way of ending up dead.

"Now that we are all peaceful," the mayor Ridley said, glancing nervously from her to the commander, "I would like to start the meeting by hearing of how the demacian soldier was discovered. General Swain?"

Swain cleared his throat. "Of course. We arrived with the intent to witness the signing, but something about it just did not seem right. Darius here, asked around a little, and soon discovered the truth of the mining collapse. Once we knew that it was not a noxian sabotage attempt, we set about how to prove it. Darius has a way of making people talk, even when they do not want to."

"Did you torture him?" Mayor Ridley asked, his face going ashen.

Swain dismissed his concern. "No, not at all. So we summoned Katarina, the leader of our delegation here, and once she was filled in about the most important facts, she agreed that the council had taken the decision of awarding the contract to Demacia on false evidence, and would help us stop the signing. Her help was not needed, but the people of Kalamanda fear her."

"A show of strength, Swain?" King Jarvan asked, glancing from Katarina to Darius. "You brought your two most feared individuals here, thinking to intimidate us?"

"And what have you done, Jarvan? You brought your son, the commander of the dauntless vanguard, and your head tactician. Is that not a show of strength? And Viscero is waiting on the other side of the door; I remember seeing him."

"His name is Xin Zhao," the king said crossly, shooting an irritated glance at Swain. "A king must have protection."

"From what do you need protection, Jarvan? I have already said that Noxus will not attack while inside the borders of Kalamanda. My word should be enough. If I were you, I would be more worried about your son."

The king glanced at the prince, who was glaring daggers at Swain. He looked, for an instant, so remarkably like Shyvana, that Katarina almost smiled. Almost. But she was on official business.

"Gentlemen," Caitlyn shot in, looking at both the men as she spoke. "This is not the topic we are here to discuss. General Swain, what made you suspect there had been false play regarding the mining sabotage?"

"Following the night of the celebration, Darius caught me up on what Katarina had told him about the goings on in Kalamanda since she had arrived. She had mentioned, to my surprise, that after the mining sabotage had been revealed to be done by a noxian soldier, she had been viciously attacked by Garen Crownguard. It made me think; why would the commander attack her, if not to cover up something?"

Garen stood abrupty. "I knew nothing of it! At the time I thought her responsible for the near-deaths of twelve of my men!"

"General Swain," Caitlyn said sharply, "we are not here to throw accusations."

"Then what, sheriff, are we doing here? They want to know my information, I am telling them what I know."

"What you suspect," king Jarvan pointed out.

"The demacian soldier admitted to planting the noxian soldier at the point of collapse, and causing it. He put the lives of twelve demacians in danger, as well as the contract for Noxus. That is what we need to focus on." Caitlyn's voice was sharp, but not unkind.

Swain retold the story of what the soldier had said, and how they had agreed to turn him over to the government of Kalamanda.

"I would like to speak with him."

"You will not speak with him alone," Swain told Jarvan pointedly. "If we are to speak with him, we should do so together."

Mayor Ridley seemed to agree to this, and from that point the meeting went into technicalities that Katarina had no interest in.

Lunch was brought in, along with an assortment of demacian and noxian wine. She decided to have a glass of both; the noxian wine was dark and sweet, while the demacian wine was light and bitter. She much preferred the noxian wine, not finishing her glass of demacian.

"Just one of the many ways Noxus are superior to Demacia," Darius commented. She met his eyes with a smug smile.

The discussion resumed after the meeting, mostly between the king and Swain. They had their views, and in the end they agreed to give the poor man a few days before interrogating him, and would only do so when both cities had a representative present.

It was late in the afternoon when the meeting finally concluded. She and Darius went straight to the noxian camp for dinner, leaving Swain once they were inside the camp's borders. Their general had business to discuss with other generals and high-ranking officers.

Being the Hand of Noxus, Darius had his own table at dinner, like all the generals. She sometimes forgot that he was a general like the rest of them, but that he was.

"The demacian commander seemed to be in quite a state," he commented once they had sat down. "What did you do, rob him off his precious sleep?"

She smirked at him. "I don't think he was too upset about giving up his sleep."

Darius laughed; it was a good, rare sound to hear. For so many years he had been nothing but serious with her, serious and dreaming, but now that it seemed his wishes would be fulfilled at last, she had noticed how he took more lightly on things. After she had ended their relationship, he had also seemed more at ease with her; more than anything, they were old friends from a time long forgotten. Darius had been a student of her father; that was how she had first met him, before he was a mighty general. They had had their moments, and she was relieved to know that those moments would continue, despite the fact that they were no longer sleeping together. It was good to know beyond a doubt that they were still friends, good friends, and not even her unexplainable infatuation with the demacian commander could ruin that.

"Leaving behind your dagger was a little obvious, though," he offered, taking a piece of meat placed in front of him. "You might not want to repeat that."

"I didn't leave it," she said, frowning. She had not left any daggers behind in the demacian camp; it would have been a dead giveaway. "He must've picked it up somewhere else."

Their dinner was enjoyable, but mostly spent in silence. They did not have all that much to talk about at the moment; everything important had already been said.

After dinner they went to the arena. Darius had agreed to meet Draven there, to once again measure who was the best at throwing axes. She wondered how they had not yet gotten tired of their games. She came to watch, seeing as she had nothing better to do.

Darius and Draven fought like proper brothers did, and as usual they both drew blood within the first five minutes. Draven was flashy when he fought, which was to Darius' advantage. Every movement Draven made was easy to read and predictable, because he usually repeated the movements that he thought made him look good.

Footsteps from behind made her wary, but she did not turn to look who was approaching. She had a pretty good idea who it was.

"Which one of them is yours?"

She raised an eyebrow at the young woman standing next to her, and saw another to her side. Lux and Jean.

"What do you mean, 'mine'?"

"Well, you're dating one of them, aren't you?"

Katarina snorted. "Not anymore. What's it to you, Luxanna?"

The young woman in demacian colors blushed. "I just noticed that you hold sway over them, that's all. I never would have thought a woman was able to hold sway over men she was not either married to or sleeping with."

She raised her eyebrow at Lux. "You are the best tactician in the demacian army; you have thousands of men who does as you say. You might want to consider your words before you speak them, Luxanna."

"They're not like those two, though."

"What, fiercely independent with a big head on their shoulders? Surely you know a few."

"Two of them," she agreed in a mutter, and Katarina wondered if she meant Jarvan IV and Garen.

They stood in silence, until Darius dropped his axe with a thud; it embedded itself in the ground, but could just as easily have met Draven's neck should Darius had chosen to. A pity he cared for his brother.

With a sigh, she turned away from the two younger women and started to make her way towards the gate to the arena from the spectator point of view. It was harder than she thought; she was usually in the arena, not watching it.

"On your left, the bottom benches," Luxanna called out, trying to be helpful. She did not much appreciate the help.

"Thanks," she said dryly, thinking it would be poor manners to ignore the girl. Twenty years old. She remembered when she had been twenty years old. She had already been an assassin for five years by then, and sleeping with Darius for two. As she fully realized how long she had known the Blood Brothers, she thought what Lux had said sort of made sense; she did hold sway over them, at least to some extent. Darius listened to what she had to say.

Luxanna was braver than she had given her credit for, too. Jean had not dared say a word, but Lux had spoken freely of what was on her mind. She briefly wondered if Lux would be so welcoming if she knew of Garen's feelings for her, but then she sighed. Of course Lux would be welcoming. That was what the reports said she was, to everyone. To Lux it probably would not matter that Katarina was from Noxus; Lux would only care about her brother's happiness. But Lux would never find out. Katarina swore to herself that Lux would never find out. The young woman had an innocence about her that Katarina envied, and she would not loose it on her account. Better she not know. Better no one know.

"And here I thought they would never leave."

This voice took her by surprise, and she spun around to crash into the arms of the demacian commander. She scowled at him as she steadied her breathing from the shock.

She slapped the palm of her hand to his chest. "What's wrong with you? Everyone can see you here!"

"Nobody saw me enter, and nobody will see me leave. The walls to the arena are too high for them to see me either," he said, nodding towards the incasing wall that hid Darius and Draven.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would surely be spending the day with Jarvan. He was accused of treason!"

"I will shortly be going back to that," he retorted, his blue eyes steely. His voice changed, becoming smooth and low as he started to nuzzle her neck, despite her protests.

"I was just wondering whether I should expect your return tonight or not."

The feel of his lips against her neck was maddening as she tried to think of a response.

"I don't know yet," she gasped, trying to push him off her. It was pointless; he was much stronger now that he already had his arms around her. "I need a bath and some relaxation."

He chuckled against her neck. "I would be happy to oblige with either." He released her and took several steps back, a devilish smirk on his face as he left. "Just so you know."