Ahri didn't think Lux could be more shocked if she had struck her across the face. Eyes wide, she leaned forward towards Ahri in interest.

"Wha-what?!" She asked incredulously. "If not human, then. . . then. . ."

Irelia motioned with a hand to cut her off. "Lux, please. Let the woman speak."

Lux huffed and shot her a glare but Irelia was already looking away, towards Ahri. Unlike her companion, she was the picture of composure. It was as if she had known the fact all along

"Go on, Ahri," She prompted. Finish what you were saying."
Ahri smiled wistfully. "Well," She started after a pause. "I was born an animal. A fox."

The other two women looked at her expectantly, not satisfied with so little information.

She shrugged and said with a small laugh, "I guess there's not much else to say than that. I don't really know much about it myself. "

Lux couldn't contain herself any longer. That would explain the ears! And the tails! Ah! I knew there was something strange about you!"

Ahri glanced at her with a bemused expression. "That so?" She asked. "You see many people with nine tails?"
"Lux, honestly!" Irelia snapped. "That's not polite."
"It's fine," Ahri said passively. "I'm used to it by now." She looked off into the dark spaces between the trees. "You might even be surprised at how many people hardly even notice."

Irelia spoke up after a short silence. "Surely that's not all there is to the story? Is there nothing more you remember?"
Ahri swung her gaze back towards the blue haired woman, and once again felt a strange sense of trust towards her. She shrugged.
"It just an ordinary day, I suppose," She said with a sad smile. She hadn't thought about that day in so long. So much simpler, things had been back then. "I was hunting, and it was raining, I remember that. Everything was gray, hard to see, harder to smell. But I could hear everything. So that's when I heard the sound of metal ringing. I didn't know what it was then, that's why I followed it. Sometimes, I wish I hadn't . . . I . . ."

She trailed off, tears suddenly coming to her eyes, hot and stinging. Crying? Why? Did she regret this existence?

Lux and Irelia looked on, concern plain on their countenances, words of sympathy evading their lips. Ahri wiped her eyes. She couldn't stop the story now.

"Blades. It was the sound of blades hitting each other. When I got there. . . well, it was already long over. Who was even fighting? Ionia and Noxus? I don't even know.

"Anyway, there was this man there, a mage. I . . . don't know why, but I felt. . . drawn in. But he was dying. And when he went. . .I became this."

She pointed to her own face, and traced a line across the whisker marks on her cheeks.

Irelia was silent for a time. "I've heard of things like this," She said softly at last. "People like you aren't completely unheard of. Humans with characteristics of animals appear quite often in folklore and such all the time; I just never expected to see anyone like you.

"When we met at the Festival of Fire, I felt something different. But I had no way of knowing exactly what. When I saw your ears and tail yesterday, I knew I was looking at someone the likes of which the world hadn't seen in a very long time."

"So now you both know. Know I'm a freak; not human, not animal; an outcast to both."

She looked into the flickering flames, realizing for perhaps the first time, the truth in those words. There really was no place for her in the world, after all.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "That's not true," Irelia said softly. "You risked your life to save Lux and me, when you could have just walked away. You displayed more courage yesterday than I've seen in quite some time, and that's no small feat Ahri."

Lux, who had so far been silent, spoke up now. "Yeah!" She exclaimed, hopping up onto her knees. "You tackled Zyra like she was nothing! I mean, even I was scared a little. You might be as brave as my big brother Garen!"

That brought a smile to Ahri's face. She didn't know who Garen was, but seeing Lux's enthusiasm, all to cheer her up, made her happy in a way she hadn't been in a while.

"I know you've lost much, Ahri," Irelia told her. "I knew that too, when we first met. "

Ahri's heart skipped a beat. If she knew that, just what else did she know? Did she know her bloodstained past? If she did, she did not hold it against her, it seemed.

"But it's all right," Irelia continued. "You can stay with us, if you like."

Ahri hesitated, gaze wandering into the dark between the trees. The proposition was tempting, to be sure. But danger seemed to follow us wherever she tread; would she be putting these two in danger by travelling with them? An what if her past deeds should come to light? Would they shun her, turn on her? But that was selfish, wasn't it? She deserved to be punished with solitude for what she had done.

All these thoughts raged inside her skull, as her thousand yard stare deepened. Above, pink light tinged the horizon with the coming of the rising sun.

Irelia stood and held a hand out to the girl, stirring her out of her the dark thoughts she did not wish to share.

"Come on, Ahri," She told her. "It's alright. Whatever has happened in the past, your fight's done now."

Ahri smiled and nodded assent. She was right. It was time she moved ahead, and maybe, just maybe, she could forgive herself for her own deeds. She took the hand and stood straight in the dawn light.

"Let's go, then!" She said enthusiastically.

Irelia and Lux nodded back in unison, and the three set out as one.