Another four weeks past since the night of Quarax's "initiation" as some called it, and the
entire league now knew the story of Katarina and Quarax on that night. It was Cassiopeia
who spread the story, Katarina telling her the story a few days later. Katarina was not
happy with her sister either. She had always said that Cassiopeia had a big mouth, and
she was right. It took Cassiopeia less than a day to tell the rest of the league about that
night. Even though Quarax wanted to kill Darius, he still attended a small gathering of the
Noxain champions, to celebrate Katarina and Quarax becoming a couple. It was a sort of
custom in Noxus, and had occurred a few times in the league. Katarina said that when
Talon, and Quinn had become a couple, something which ended shortly after, when
Jarvan, the fourth, had found out. He had demanded, that they have a public breakup, but
told her that she could continue seeing him in secret shortly after. There were a couple of
other occurrences that she spoke of, but it she didn't go far into detail. The ones she spoke
of, were LeBlanc's lover who "strangely" disappeared a few weeks later, Swain "finding
love" in a "Noxian summoner" who was actually a Demacian spy, who Demacia planted,
thinking that their spy could get information through the memories of their summoned
champions. Swain found out, and began "dating" the spy. He then proceeded to eat her, in
his raven form, and left her as a red puddle for the summoned to discover. She said that
parts of the spy had to be cleaned off the ceiling. Quarax queried her on whether murder
was a mandatory custom at these dinners which earned him a punch in the arm and a
"shut up" from Katarina.

They arrived at the Noxian hall, to find a large table laid out with, cutlery and plates, laid
out for the guests. Talon, Cassiopeia, Draven, Swain, LeBlanc, Morgana, Vladimir, and
Darius all standing nearby, drinking and chatting. LeBlanc, Talon, Cassiopeia and Draven
were all talking about their most daring escapes, with Draven being strangely quiet, either
having nothing to input, or just letting the conversation continue without him. Swain was
entertaining Vladimir, and Morgana with a topic of their latest match, where Darius score a
pentakill, using his ultimate. He far over-exaggerating Darius' heroics, to which Darius
input only a few grunts. Vladimir was very excited with the amount of blood Swain was
putting in, and Morgana was very happy to hear that Kayle was the first to die. Beatrice sat
atop the backrest of Swains chair, guarding it with a watchful eye.
"He is far to humble. Without him, we would have lost that match." Swain said.
"He is talking it up. It wasn't all this heroic." Darius replied.
"Here are the main guests!" Swain declared when he noticed them as they entered the
hall.
Hellos and welcomes came from each of the guests, who looked up from their private
conversations.
"Hi guys." Katarina said as she entered the hall.
The guests were all dressed in casual dinner attire.
"Please, everyone sit." Swain said.
Everyone found their seats, Swain at the head of the table, Katarina and Quarax at the
opposite end. Darius sat on the opposite end of the table, with Swain, and the other guests
sat in their own seats, next to those that they enjoyed the company of.
"I would like to thank Morgana for the food, it was all cooked by her." Swain started, with a
round of thanks and cheers rising up. "Alright, alright, calm down. We are here to celebrate
Quarax and Katarina becoming an official couple. Noxus is a city-state that prides itself on
strength, but it is not often that we find strength in each other."
"This is really formal, like we are getting married!" Quarax whispered to Katarina.
"Just wait," she replied.

"We would like to congratulate Katarina and Quarax for finding this strength. May they live
happily together for the rest of their lives in holy matrimony." Swain loudly declared.
The whole table looked at Quarax and Katarina. Quarax was a shade of paper white, and
Katarina was struggling to hide her smile.
"We... But... We are... Married... Noooooooooooo..." Quarax said in a low voice that
perfectly echoed his shock.
The whole table erupted into loud laughter. Swain howled at the head of the table falling
back into his chair, rocking it back to which Beatrice squawked, Darius chuckled quietly to
himself, Talon was outwardly laughing, something which Quarax found quite odd, and
event a little disturbing, Morgana, LeBlanc, and Cassiopeia all did imitations of Quarax's
face at each other, laughing at each one. Draven was laughing so hard, he went a shade
of red, as he thumped his hand on the table. Vladimir was chortling quietly to himself,
sitting quiet rigidly, as he always did, and Katarina sat, looking at Quarax and driving her
elbow into his ribs. Quarax quickly realized what was occurring and began to laugh as
well.
"Perfect. Absolutely perfect." Swain said, rising again. "Sorry Quarax, just a bit of fun your
expense. But anyway. We are gathered here, because your two becoming a couple, is a
better reason to have a group dinner, rather than just a battle we win, which occurs quite
often. Anyway, treat her right Quarax, lest the powers of Noxus need teach you how."
"Here here!" The table shouted, as they raised their drinks.

They all began to drink, and the food was brought out by a few low level summoners.
"Again, thank you to Morgana, for the meal we are about to eat." Swain said.
The food was served, and everyone began to dig in. Light chatting arose, about the
upcoming Lunar Revel, and the latest champions who were admitted into the league.
Everyone put in their parts of the conversation, save Vladimir, who quietly drank his
"special meal" which he had talked to Morgana about earlier. When queried on the matter
about his meal, the only words he had spoken was "Very healthy farmer". Over the course
of the meal, topics changed continuously, and eventually landed onto Quarax first month
and a half at the league.
"It's been alright. I have settled in, and the strange looks have begun to disappear. I still
hear the summoners whispering, but I don't mind." He said.
"While we are still on the topic of summoners, what happened to that first one you had?"
Swain asked.
"Oh. Right. Well I have seen her. She has been doing well. She is recovering. Probably
won't want to summon me, or even see me, ever again."
"What did she try to do?" Swain asked.
"She tried to go through my memories, to find out techniques and tricks I guess." he
replied.
"Ahh yes. We heard roughly the same about the summoner who tried to do the same thing
with Thresh, the Chain Warden." Swain said. "Terrible thing to happen that."
The rest of the group seemed to agree, somewhat solemnly.
"But! On that rather down turning topic, I think it would be smart to start the games! Try
and get happy back into our souls!" Swain declared, in his commanding voice.
The whole group's mood instantly changed.
Quarax whispered to Katarina. "What should I expect?"
She looked at him and smiled a playful, yet cunning smile. "Fun."
An instant later, she had blinked across the room, to a low level summoner, who was
standing by, waiting to clear the dishes.
"Holy shit!" The summoner shouted as he fell over.
The group laughed, and Katarina helped hi. To his feet.

The games were rather odd, by Quarax's standard, the only drinking games he had played
were quantity based, or speed based. The Noxians had some different ideas about it.
Everyone walked over to the other edge of the hall, and entered a door, to a large court.
"This is a fun, fast Noxian game. A person hits a ball against the wall, and the next person
in the order has to hit it. If you fail to hit the wall on the full, or the ball bounces twice before
you hit it, you chug a mug of ale. Last one conscious wins." Swain explained as he walked
beside Quarax down the hall.
The court, was a large wall, with an area for a large amount of players on it. There w a
viewing area for anyone who wanted to spectate. The drinks were accessed by opening a
slider, set into the wall.
"There are some bats here if you wish to use one." Swain said, pointing at the bats, which
were better described as shirt wooden poles.
Quarax picked one up, knowing that he would need one. Morgana, Vladimir, Draven, and
LeBlanc, also picked up one of the lighter bats. Darius walked over and picked up one of
the heavier ones.
"Magic free." The referee/announcer called. "A reminder, that the only magic permitted is
non-offensive."
A small group, of both champions and summoners, all Noxian, got into the spectating
lounge.
"Alphabetical order." Swain declared.
"Alright. Let's start this." Cassiopeia stated bluntly.
She held the red ball in her hand and, from a height above her head, dropped it. She span,
incredibly fast, and her tail cracked like a whip. Quarax saw a blur of red, and the sound of
the ball bouncing against the wall. The ball had travelled twenty meters in just a blink of
the eye. Darius knew what was going on, and watched the ball as it returned. With a great
swing, the ball shot back, nearly as fast as the serve, and hit the wall. Draven moved, and
threw his bat at the ball. The two flying objects collided, and shot back in their respective
opposite directions, Draven catching the bat. However, the collision caused the ball to
spin, and as it bounced, it spun in an odd direction. Katarina saw this, and Quarax, who
was standing near the ball's path, felt the wind at his back, and a slight tap on his head.
Moments later, the ball was again hitting the wall, deflected by a string roundhouse.
Watching the angles, LeBlanc moved quickly. She shot forward, blinking towards the ball.
However, she was not close enough to it. Then, her clone shot out, and smacked the ball
with the bat that it held. The ball bounced back, and cracked loudly against the wall.
Morgana had no issue getting to the ball, and returned it with her bat. Morgana applied
some back spin though, her clever mind at work. Quarax didn't see this, and was
embarrassed when the ball dropped three meters short of him, with little to no movement
from him.
"Oh no." Swain said. "You better watch Morgana, she is a tricky one."
Quarax turned and looked to Morgana, who curtsied politely. He walked over and picked
up a mug.
"Drink up." Draven called. Quarax obeyed. "Your serve now mate."
Quarax took the ball, and hit it. To his surprise, the ball moved a lot faster.
"It must bounce a fair bit." he thought.
Swain moved to the ball. Quarax thought that with his limp, it would be difficult for him.
Hoes ever, Quarax was proved wrong, and with a quick movement of his walking cane, the
ball was gone again. Talon moved fast, from the shadows and hit the ball, using a hard
punch, his hand shooting out from under his cloak. Quarax thought that it would have been
very painful, but the assassin showed no emotion, as he retreated to the shadows.
Vladimir, materializing from the pool of blood, that was quickly darting around the floor,
returns the ball with ease. Cassiopeia moved incredible fast, and lunged at the ball. Before
it reached her, she span, again smacking it with her whip like tail.

The game went on, and everyone got even more drunk. Darius was the first to go, his slow
movement meaning that his brother's hits were effective. However, Draven followed close
after. Morgana went down, followed by Talon, who had trouble when Beatrice started her
input. Quarax then sunk into a drunken state, and passed out after a hit from Cassiopeia,
that caused a split in the ball, or so he was told. His last piece of consciousness was
LeBlanc, and her clone, carrying a heavily drunk Quarax, and laying him down on a couch,
in the halls.
"Oh Quarax, you are making this so easy." She whispered, looking into his eyes.
He passed out. He would not be able to remember LeBlanc's words after that night.
He was later informed that Swain had won the games, much to Quarax's surprise.
He awoke with a blinding headache early in the morning, and quietly shuffle to his rooms,
not bothering to check on any of the other guests. When he arrived, he remembered the
night he had, and passed out. He slept again, this time in his own bed, until the late
afternoon.

"When he awoke, he found a note on his table, accompanied by a black feather. It read;
Quarax, you can probably guess that this was from me, Swain, by the feather,
left by my Beatrice. I am writing to say, we all thoroughly enjoyed your company, and hope
that we can continue to have good relations. I will not be attempting to get you to join the
Noxian military, but I will say this: Do not join the Demacians. Do this, and there will be o
conflict. If you do, you will be treated as an enemy. I understand your views on your
powers, and have decided that it would cause far too much trouble, for not only the side
you are against, but also, you will damage those you are with, along with the greater
peoples of Valoran.
We will also, not be delving into your history with Darius. I have been informed of the
situation. I have deemed it a private matter, one not of the military. It will be solved, by you
and him, but it will not be seen to be in the Noxian quarters. Any fighting that injures any
that are not involved in the situation, but are caused to those with Noxian background, will
be considered an act of war.
However, we wish to continue these good relations that we have so far shared, and would
like to host you again.
Sincerely,
Swain, the Master Tactician."

A good long chapter for ya! The game is a lot like squash. So keep that in mind. But anyway, I am trying to promote the Noxians as human aswell, not just some mindless killers. Enjoy the read!