Nearly three days of tremendously circling, grasping at information, asking, threatening, bribing and - at the end - cutting through sticky webs, evading spiders and humans alike. And all it got him was the heavy weight in his arms, another body wrapped in another cloak of his. But this one held no promise of warmth.

The maid who opened the door looked at him strangely before averting her eyes and stepped aside. He rarely entered through the front door.

The entrance hall was empty safe for the maids - who all but vanished at his clouded expression.

Cassiopeia slithered through the door of the accommodation wing, tongue darting out of her mouth to test the air. "There you are!" She hissed, "I thought you'd let me-" She stilled at something in his face and regarded the unmoving package in his arms, tongue darting out again. "Don't tell me you have another whore," Her voice died, eyes widening, switching between his face and the bundle he was carrying, slithering closer and lifting her hand to the strap of cloak that hid the face.

Talon nearly backed away. Nearly.

Cassiopeia's pull revealed dirty hair and an unnatural white face she knew very well. She gulped, her hand started to tremble. "You," she pointed to the door-maid, "Get daddy."

The girl scrambled away.

It felt like hours until Marcus Du Couteau appeared with a whisper of his cloak. It was not nearly enough time for Talon to prepare. He did not know where to look, surely not in the older assassin's eyes, not at the bundle in his arms, not at Cassiopeia. The ground?

He risked a glance at his surroundings as Marcus lifted the same cloak strap Cassi had moved.

Talon had never before heard the General's breath hitch.

"Into my study," Marcus ordered after a moment.

Inside, he pointed to his desk so Talon placed his burden there, gently, and took two steps back. He did not really know what to expect; maybe a dagger on his neck. He remembered the fallout after Marcus' wife's death all too well.

Instead of repeating that fateful evening, the patron of the house turned to the corpse and peeled the first layer of his cloak away from Calliope's face. Or from what was left of it. The right half looked as normal as any too white, too waxy face could, but the left - not so much.

With a more audible sound and the sharp whisper of steel Katarina jumped out of the shadows and bumped against Talon's shoulder. "What's the hassle?" She asked loudly, giving herself an overview. Nobody really looked at her, and Talon did not even try to evade her provocative touch as she picked at the rests of a web on his hood before she looked at the sticky thing irritated. "You hiding something?" Displeased at being ignored, she peeked around Talons side. And froze.

"Report," Marcus ordered with unwavering voice while uncovering more of Calliope's body. He stopped at the neck which showed broken-up, dark, torn wounds.

Talon needed two tries to find his voice, still awaiting the General to snap. "I got on her trail, found her shoe and ring in a trophy-collection of Aidan Anselm, killed him, tracked the path of her body and found it in a strange constellation in the sewers," He wasn't sure if he could condense it any more.

"You were gone for nearly three days," Cassiopeia hissed.

Talon did not react.

Marcus moved his head, "Strange constellation?"

Talons forced his voice even. "It looked like a cult who sacrifices women to a spider-like god."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Katarina chose this moment to recover from her initial shock, fiddling with her blades. Her stance was defensive already, she too remembered who had once been the target of Marcus's wrath.

"Calliope was murdered," Her father simply answered, as if he was not able to match the picture of this rotting corpse to the fresh armful of woman that had been his daughter. He looked calm, though. "What else, Talon?"

He took a deep breath. "There was a journal about Calliope in Anselm's study, more papers I didn't look through yet and a spy," He darted a look at Katarina.

Cassiopeia produced a folder and the ring, "You mean this? Your girl left that behind."

Talons head whipped around. "You let her go?" A hint of emotion washed its way into his voice.

Marcus, still dangerously calm, took the papers and ring and pulled back to read through the information he had obtained.

Katarina's cheeks colored up. "She was here again?" She asked, surprisingly collected, despite the red in her face.

"I'm no babysitter - she just went away!" Cassiopeia hissed angrily, ignoring her sister, "You should have told me why you needed to leave!"

Talon took a step back. "I needed to be fast," It was as much a defense with words as anyone had ever heard from him. "Why didn't you get her a babysitter?" He repeated the word, even though he had never heard it before, even though it did not seem fitting in any way.

Cassiopeia scoffed, "I did, she is probably still blind."

Suddenly Marcus spoke again, knuckles white from clutching the ring. "Anything else?" He rustled the folder to emphasize what he meant.

"I took a bag filled with papers-" Talon repeated.

Cassiopeia interrupted him again. "There was only this," she pointed at Marcus' hands, "left."

The redhead sucked in a breath and her calmness flooded away. "The bitch stole important intel? Is she responsible for that?" A dark flame sparked her green eyes as she pointed to the corpse.

"No Kat, she was drugged and Talon pulled her out of a cellar he was searching through-" Cassiopeia at least tried to rectify the situation.

Katarina looked like she was trying to hold something back, something big crawling its way up her throat. Her eyes closed briefly and her head turned scarlet in the process before it burst out of her mouth, "I said you were getting distracted!" She hollered, eyes opening wide with rage. "Can't you let someone too weak to live just die?"

Now, heat rose to Talons cheeks as well. "She still burned the fucking house to cinder and nearly roasted me, don't yell weakness, you have no idea what happened!" He rarely raised his voice so when he did it was rather impressive - but Katarina was no one to back down.
She snarled at Talon who responded to the challenge likewise. His upper lip curled back to reveal his teeth, a low rumble rising from his chest, finally giving the redhead what she desired.
Katarina did not even put enough mind into her actions to blink, she simply accelerated from a standing position and crashed against him in a whirl of steel.

Marcus and Cassiopeia watched the conflagrating fight silently.
It was brutal, dirty, and it ended with a shelf toppled over, a broken window, both of them bloodied, bruised and out of breath, Talon locking Katarina to the floor with his lower arm pressed against her throat, his blood dripping on her face from a split lip and a cut on his right temple.

"You are leaving for Kalamanda in two weeks," Marcus, who had positioned himself in front of Cassiopeia, stated to the panting Katarina before turning his gaze to likewise winded Talon, "and you will go to sleep now and find me every piece of information there is about everything regarding this. Understood?" he looked at the two.

A 'no' was no option, they both nodded.

To call her angry would have been an understatement.

Katarina was livid.

She threw a dagger which embedded itself in a heavy wooden chair.

Marcus had yet to call her on her snap, but this might have been what he warned her about. She had lost control and had followed her loose mouth.

The aftertaste of his last telling-off still lingered not too far from the surface. Katarina snarled at the memory.

Marcus let Katarina stand in front of him for good five minutes before he chose to raise his gaze from paperwork. Five minutes that felt even longer, like the torture it really was.

"Tell me, Katarina. What do you want to achieve with that?" Marcus gestured at his door.

"Get him to concentrate on our family's goals, not on fucking someone we already know sells secrets to the highest bidder!" Katarina answered heatedly.

Her father leaned back and steepled his fingers. "You think sex is enough to keep him interested?"

Katarina did not reply, so Marcus did. "You of all people should know better."

Her face reddened as her gaze twitched up to her father, ready to burst into his face, but the older man was calm and collected, his face not giving away if he had meant it as a low blow.

Before she had decided if she wanted to explain herself, her relationship with her brother or if she wanted to yell at her father, Marcus continued his scolding. "Katarina. Remember what he said about the woman."

Katarina took a deep breath and tried to recover, instead focusing her thoughts on the breakfast-encounter. "You weren't there," She mumbled. She knew that would never stop him from knowing everything.

Marcus only shifted in his seat at that and waited.

Katarina uncrossed her legs. "He sat there, fucking unmoved and urged me on," She clenched her fists.

Her father continued to state her down. He seemed to expect her to find some deeper meaning in Talon's actions - was that even possible?

What could Talon possibly have meant with that?
Katarina clenched her teeth. "He didn't expect I can kill her," She stood up. She would find that woman and make it slow and painful, just to prove a point.

"We are not finished." Marcus pointed out and Katarina plummeted back down. "Remember what he said about that spy. Not only at breakfast. And try to place what he did not say." Katarina could not place the gleam in her father's eyes, but he looked expectant as ever.

"He said she was hard to kill," Katarina closed her eyes and tried to grasp what that could mean for the silent, observing Talon. For one of the best killers there was. "Sounds like he holds some kind of respect for her," Spoken out loud it sounded even more ridiculous, but Marcus nodded again. Katarina made another diminutive gesture. "Then he gives that away easily," She swung her hair out of her eyes with a pointed gesture.

Marcus hold her gaze, as if he was trying to convert something important. "Katarina. I needed to smash his chest in, break his right arm to splinters, break one collarbone and his leg three times, beat at least eight of his teeth out and nearly drowned him in the sewers in order to make him follow me. "
Katarina run her tongue over her own teeth, regrowing them was never a nice procedure.
Marcus did not falter in his lecture. "His liver was torn, one of his lungs collapsed, his spleen ruptured and bleeding out. The healer needed a week to assemble him back together. In other words, I needed to beat the living daylight out of him to earn his respect and make him follow me willingly. Do you even remember what you did to each other until you got along?"

For sure Katarina remembered, and it was not pleasant. Of course she, thirteen years old, had heard about the infamous assassin that called himself Talon. She remembered the excitement at her father's announcement that it was time to put that guy to a test and how disappointed she had been to see little more than a bloody mass, clothes in rags and smelling like something dead pulled out of the sewers.

She remembered Cassiopeia's scorn and Calliopes glee. And she remembered their first fight, after he had healed, and how he had beaten the shit out of her.
From that day on she had held a grudging kind of respect for him, something he had not reciprocated until she had managed to sneak up and blink on him without him noticing and without hurting him - much.
He had agreed to go shopping with her and her sisters for the first time after that. The day had actually turned out to be quite funny, even though Talon had possessed even less humor than he showed now. After that he had also started sleeping in his room rather than on the roof, despite the looming threat Cassiopeia had been for him, back then. "What do you want to say?" She growled.

"You think he would respect some 'weak ass bloody stupid useless whore'?" He quoted.

"He's had whores before, I don't think he respected them-"

"Do you know what a whore is, Katarina?" He did not await an answer, "It is someone you pay for certain services - someone you do not meet on missions. I do not think a prostitute ever got in Talon's way."

That silenced Katarina only for a moment. She did not know what her father wanted to transport to her. "Like I told you - she's getting in our way!" She tried again.

Marcus sighed, "You will be head of the house one day, should you prove worthy," He tried a different approach.

Katarina nodded proudly, even though the familiar dread rose within her. The scar over her eye pulsed with familiar shame, the gaze of her father burning into her soul. All of sudden, she had the feeling of having disappointed him once more.

"Which means you will continue the family line." Now Katarina's jaw tightened. "Or you force Calliope to do that for you, because Cassiopeia is pretty much out of that one. But you are the strongest of my daughters, I have not yet revoked you as my heir and we have a duty towards Noxus, which includes ensuring there will be a next generation. And you are not the only one with that duty. Talon may not think of that... actually I'm absolutely sure he never thinks about that... and I don't want to frighten him through telling, but I would be glad if he finds someone for himself so I don't need to force him into something."

"I don't want some weak ass partner!" Katarina's temper flared up as this turned to be about her and about what her father was implying, the continued threat from more than one side making her feel trapped.

"And neither does Talon! So let him chose for himself. Give that spy a bit time, let's see if she tries to use him or if she proves to be useful, if they get along and were their relationship develops to. I might have one thing less to worry about. And as soon as you start testing instead of fucking around I'll give you the same courtesy, okay?"

Katarina's face took on the color of her hair due to shame mixed with anger and embarrassment, something only her father could ever evoke within her.

"You can leave this 'testing' to Talon. Be sure, he is a handful to manage," The last sentence was muttered much more silently before he returned to his normal volume, "Did I make myself clear?"

Katarina nodded.

Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose.
This was not over yet, Katarina groaned inwards.
"You know how he grew up. He utilized that to become strong in important parts, but he still does not understand many things concerning social interactions in the way you or Cassiopeia do. I figured it would be a lot easier to let him grasp at some things at his own speed. Do you get what and why I tell you this?" Marcus gaze told Katarina that he thought her head way too deep in her ass to do so.

Contrary to what he believed, Katarina nodded. Just because she often chose to behave differently did not mean she was dull. "You want me to stop being petty, think about what is best for the family and remember the special needs and abilities of its members," She muttered under her breath.

Marcus nodded, obviously relieved.

"Am I dismissed?" She asked with still flaming red face, sounding much more silent than minutes earlier.

"Sure you are," Marcus confirmed and Katarina scuttered away to lick the wounds on her pride.

But that was different, right? The situation had changed. Talon had messed up - his bitch had betrayed him, had betrayed them all. Talon had not decide right in whom to put his trust. Or whatever he put wherever.

Hopefully he would tidy up behind himself. Otherwise Katarina would gladly do the job.
Another dagger found its way into the desk.

The sound of her door opening softly made Katarina threw a dagger in that direction as well. With a heavy thunk it bore into the wood, right above a clawed hand. Cassiopeia did not flinch, but "Tssk"ed and slithered to her, sat on the bed and fixated one of Katarina's daggers which she had embedded into her desk.

Her tongue darted out two times before she started to speak. "Don't blame him, Kat," The serpent said, unusually soft.

"Whaddaya mean?" She growled back.

Again Cassiopeia needed some time to answer, as if she had not rehearsed this at least a dozen time - which she had, Katarina was sure of that. "We started this. It is not his fault," She looked at her folded hands as if her words had deeper meaning, as if she meant more than the current situation.

Katarina snorted. Cassiopeia always knew what to say, how to convince others to do what she wanted. But Katarina knew that. And this time Katarina knew she was right. "I don't know what you are talking about. He fucked up greatly."

Cassiopeia looked up, still not directly into the redhead's eyes. This was not the tone she used when she was working, not like balm on the brain and velvet in the ears. It sounded more unsure, which made it sound strangely honest. "We taught him that looking out for each other, as in strong individuals taking care of each other will make him, and ultimately us, even stronger. We taught him about different kinds of strength," Her tongue darted out in Katarina's direction.

Katarina sent her a glare that might have killed a lesser person.
Luckily Cassiopeia was hardly a person anymore.

"You can't blame him for extending his attitude to another powerful individual," The serpent lifted herself up again, seemingly restless and slithered around Katarina to embrace her from behind, her tail coiling around her leg. "You can complain as much as you want to, but he believes that woman is strong enough to match him at least in some points. That has never happened before. And he trusts you," She paused again as if she expected her to say something, but Katarina did not know what she could add to her speech. "Have you even cared enough to ask him about that girl?" Cassiopeia's forehead wrinkled.

The serpent waited for a response again, but Katarina had fallen silent. She had not. Would he even answer if she asked? Talon normally listened and seldom talked. He actually was a brilliant listener, never giving his opinion if not asked - which was awesome if she needed to let off stream without having to think about getting inconvenient questions.
He might indeed had never said anything because she had never shown any interest, but the idea of Talon, her dark, silent brother being with someone else but her, not violently fighting, was just the epitome of absurd. She knew how he was, and what Cassiopeia implied did not sound like the way they had nearly tore each other apart when they had needed to calm down from a mission, or when they had needed to establish an armistice after a training session. With sudden intensity, Katarina hated Talon's spy, hated the prospect of someone taking her brother away, of getting a part of him Katarina would never have.

Cassiopeia shook her head, her tongue darting in Katarina's direction. "I thought so. But you are to be head of the house, and it will help you a lot to know about the current state of mind of its members," It sounded less like a lecture than it should, "And I warn you. If you keep this petty act of whatever it is you are doing up and get rid of someone daddy sees as a future acquaintance just because of minor reasons, you will have to answer to me."

Katarina gritted her teeth as Cassiopeia brushed back her red hair in a tender gesture. After the initial reflex that told her to bite, the contact felt nice. Very nice.

"You are my sister, and I will do everything to protect you. But Talon is my brother, and I will do everything to keep harm from him as well. You should remember what it means to be head of the house, better suit yourself to the responsibilities."

Katarina knew why hardly anyone had challenged house Du Couteau in the past. It was not only the threat of sharp blades. Cassiopeia had given her the courtesy of a warning, her enemies did not get as much. "Don't you think he will just go nuts when father leaves?" She pressed out between gritted teeth, because that would eventually evolve to be a problem. Not that she expected him to leave, but he would hardly follow her orders like he did with Marcus's, as she was not able to best him on a regular basis.

"I told you we changed him. He is no one to look back and glorify his past. He will not change back to who he was," Was the serpent's cryptic answer.

Strangely enough, that thought was soothing. Cassiopeia was able to measure people correctly on a regular basis, and she implied that Talon would not completely flip his shit should things go downhill. Katarina normally believed in Cassiopeia's estimations.

Katarina grabbed the scaly hands of her sister, trying to convert what she was not able to say with words. She did not feel like the head of the house. She did not have the oversight Marcus had, and their father did not trust her. The majority of the High Command still saw her as disgraced, regardless of her actions after the first failure. Marcus, despite deploying her to different, very hard missions, did hardly let her acknowledge any of her successes, making it impossible to redeem herself in front of the High Command. Katarina still thought he was trying to teach her humility, and this was the one and only lesson she hated getting from him. Without Cassiopeia's tactical guidance and the silent threat of Talon's blades she would never be able to uphold the greatness of the house as things currently were. Calliope, who had taken care of the estates and pretty much everything within, would already leave a great gap.
There was Marcus, talking more and more about her taking over his duties, which disturbed her deeply.
And now her sibling was dead, and someone was responsible. Someone had dared to lay hand on her family - and she was sent away.

She was a sword master, one of the greatest in Valoran, but that was not enough. One kind of strength was not enough. And, as Cassiopeia proved over and over again it sometimes was not only violence that solved everything. Most likely the biggest reason she was sent to a most likely diplomatic mission in Kalamanda; as it posed another opportunity of training while someone else did the dirty work of tidying up here at home.
Power was shifting, and she would had to adapt, if she liked it or not.

Cassiopeia looked into her face one last time, nodded and left the room.
Katarina retreated to the training facility.

After destroying some dummies, she still did not feel calm. What Cassiopeia said sounded too much like what Marcus had told her.

But maybe, just maybe when they both said basically the same things - maybe it was true.