So I was thinking I should finally start pushing these two together…
"We're going to a small village," Irelia said once they were on their way. "A half day's travel north of here."
"Why?" Riven asked.
"Travelling group of merchants stopped there yesterday morning. Found the villagers slaughtered to a person. They had a scholar with them who said all signs point to a wyvern."
"We're going to kill it?"
Irelia hesitated for a moment, before admitting: "Yes, we're going to kill it."
Riven didn't hide the way the idea set her blood pumping, nor did she try to hide the faint smile that crossed her features at the thought of turning her blade to an actual cause. The smile didn't linger though. Something about the information Irelia was giving didn't sit right with her. She'd read up a bit on Ionian wyverns when she'd had nothing else to do, and if she remembered correctly…
"Aren't your wyverns sacred?"
Irelia said nothing, and Riven took that as enough of an answer. She chose not to press the Ionian for a real answer though, and wracked her mind instead for what she knew about the wyverns. She'd read up on the key ideas of Ionian culture during her recovery period to avoid offending Irelia beyond her continued presence in the Ionian's life, and the wyvern had been surprisingly prevalent. From what she remembered, it had been the ferocity of the wyverns against foreign pirates and raiders in the north infringing upon wyvern territory that had established a supreme Ionian respect for the creatures, and that respect had equated to a respect for and subsequent non-development of the wyvern territories. There was also some nonsense about the wyvern as an embodiment of living balance, but Riven didn't consider that as important as the fact that wyvern's had an earned reputation of non-hostility and even protection of the Ionian people, and that Ionian law mandated that it was forbidden to hunt the creatures.
Riven wasn't sure how she felt about that. "Is this going to put me on trial?" she had to ask.
Irelia didn't even look at her as she kicked her mount forward. "War crimes didn't put you on trial." The sudden hostility in Irelia's voice drove a sharp spike through her and she wasn't sure why. She sped her own mount up to place her back alongside Irelia as she tried to backtrack the conversation.
"You know I'll follow you regardless? I owe you and much and I won't allow a debt to go unforgotten. But I'd like to be prepared for the consequences."
"There will be nobody there to accuse us. Nobody knows we're going and everybody there is dead. I lied about the merchants and the scholar. What I know about the attack I learned from a child as he bled to death in my doorstep."
"Why lie?"
"Would you still follow me if I told you I was acting on the manic ramblings of a dying child?"
"Yes." It was amazing how certain she actually was of that.
Irelia was quiet for a moment. "Then you are a fool," she finally condemned, "and it no longer surprises me that your company died around you."
Riven physically reeled as Irelia's words struck at her like venom. Voices she'd suppressed long ago crept back to the forefront of her mind.
"She's right, Commander."
"You killed us!"
"You killed us all…"
Riven shook her head viciously as the world seemed to tilt around her.
"You called for a stop."
"You signalled for help."
"You drowned us in acid."
"I didn't!"
"You killed us commander! You might not have pulled swung the blade, but it was your call!"
"We died for you…"
"We died for you… Riven."
Riven
Riven
Riven Riven
Riven
Riven
Riven
"Riven!"
The first thing Riven saw as she regained her grip on the world was Irelia's face immediately in front of her. Several lines marred the Ionian's cheeks and it looked as though she might've been crying. Riven met the Ionian's gaze, then balled a fist and struck Irelia in the nose with all the force she could muster. The Ionian staggered backwards and Riven pulled herself up and away from the tree she'd apparently had her back to. It didn't sound like she'd broken it, but from the way Irelia was clutching at her face it was definitely bleeding.
"You're right," Riven spat. "I am a fool. I was willing to follow somebody who couldn't even keep their own brother from dying."
Riven turned her back on Irelia as she let the venom roll of her tongue. She didn't need to see her to know the words hurt.
"You dare…" Irelia hissed, voice distorted by the hand attempting to stem the bleeding from her nose. It might've been comical if Riven didn't feel compelled to break her.
"I dare?" Riven demanded. "How about you dare? Your brother died in agony on board a prison ship crying for you to save him while you dare to call yourself the captain of the fucking guard!"
"You lie."
"Do I?" Riven snarled. "How could you know when you weren't there?"
Riven grinned as she was rewarded with silence, and then… footsteps? She spun just in time to catch the fist that would've caught her in the throat with her left hand. Irelia swung for a second blow and Riven caught that with her right. Riven smirked. Irelia may well be the stronger of them, but in a contest of raw physical power…
"Is that all?"
She had just enough time to register the hiss of surging steel before the dull centerpiece of Irelia's blades brought her world to black."
…But then I thought: "How about no?"