The two made their way through the barren desert, riding on the jutted backs of camels. Lux was a bit nervous at first, for she had never seen a camel before, but she had knew that they were known for spitting. The Demacian hardly ever rode, but when she did, it was usually on horseback. Malzahar could sense her anxiousness and chuckled lightly to himself. Such a curious Lady. Another pause, for he realized that she was staring at him, her cheeks pink.

Did she hear me laughing? Is she offended by me now?

"...What is it, Lux?" Cold and straight to the point.

"A-ah? Nothing... just I heard you laughing to yourself. It was kind of silly, but also amusing."

"...I find it rather normal."

"Of course you do." The Lady sighed, looking down.

His back stiffened at her response. It made him very uncomfortable, since he was not used to such reactions from the blonde. ... Be nice to her. Lure her in and accomplish what you set out to do.

He cleared his throat. "... I apologize. I find it... rather difficult to speak to you, since... I have not had contact with any human for so long."

"It's alright, I understand."

How could she say she understood when she did not even try to comprehend the idea of who he was? She was trying to knead him into something she wanted him to be instead of... accepting him.

"Do you truly, Lux? ... Because I wish you would understand more of me." Malzahar said matter-of-factly.

"How could I?" Lux whispered.

He did not know the answer to that question. Yes, how could he ask that of her when she had known something completely different her entire life? Demacian ideals were not his own. He despised the way they pushed their values of honor and virtue on everyone else in all of Runeterra, claiming that it was only for justice. What she was doing to him without even realizing. Perhaps she was meant to serve Demacia after all, even if she herself did not truly know it. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, Lux twirling one of the strands of the blanketed saddle while Malzahar simply kept his thoughts to himself.

Damned Demacian woman.

Arriving at his rather plain abode, the Seer tied the camels outside to a post after providing them with some water and twigs with leaves. He led Lux indoors, letting her examine his patterned tapestries. Wooden furniture. Simple. He did not buy more than what he simply needed, that was for sure. She roamed about the house, examining how different the Shuriman culture was from hers. Demacia was far more plentiful, of course, but how the Shurimans managed to survive intrigued her.

Again, he found himself laughing at her. She was like a puppy, putting her nose into everything to see what it was. Strange girl.

"...You may wander about as you wish." He said, crossing his arms. "I have a bookshelf full of books in the Shuriman language if you wish to study those." He was trying his best to be a gentleman... "In the meanwhile, I am sure you are hungry. I will provide us some dinner."

Lux turned around, trying to protest him, but he had already floated away, it seemed. No use in bickering with him over dinner. She shrugged and made her way towards the bookshelf in one of the quaint rooms, letting her finger trail across the spines of them. She found it funny that he was interested in reading books just as she was. Opening one up, she observed the Shuriman language that spanned across the whitened pages, trying to remember if she had studied any of their language at home. Barely. At least some of the books provided images and she spent her time analyzing those instead.

A squat metal cylinder with two parts burbled and chuckled over an open flame and the delicious aroma of some sort of meat and vegetable stew permeated the air of his home. The upper of the two cylinders was collecting steam and cooking couscous, a favorite food of his, absorbing the rich flavors of the stew from below. An errant thought crossed his mind as he realized perhaps he was being overambitious and was cooking too much food. Judging the contents of the meal he was preparing, he concluded he was probably right. Far too much. Large shallow bottomed plates were set at either end of the table, though a surprising lack of utensils were arrayed. Uncovering the first pot, Malzahar doles out a healthy portion of small round bits of pasta onto his plate. Summoning a Voidling, the Prophet scrawled a brief note and fixed it to the head of the creature. Sending it off on its way, Malzahar turns back to the preparation of the meal ahead.

A few minutes passed before the messenger Voidling arrived at Lux's feet, poking her. The note on the creature simply read, "Dinner." A shrill giggle escaped the blonde's lips as she scooped the Voidling into her hands. "You're pretty cute. If the Void only consisted of you... I don't think I would be so afraid." The creature simply chirruped back at her, obviously pleased as she pet its head.

Malzahar could hear her say that, which made him frown a bit. She was afraid? But she held such high willpower... she resisted him each time he had tried to convince her of what was coming. Imagining her death, the Prophet felt something strange in the midst of his supposed heart. He wanted to save her, he realized. He did not want her light to go out, but if she did not join him... it would only dim in time.

This realization made him stumble backwards against the table, frustrated at what the remainder of his humanity was doing to him. What a waste of potential. The Lady would make a wonderful convert.

Lux entered the dining area, holding Malzahar's pet carefully before placing it on the ground. "He's... he's pretty cute."

"You would have them by your side if you would only listen." He said bitterly. She stared at him questionably, whilst he shook his head. No need to rush it. Time will be on our side. Eventually, she will see what is in store for her and fight with me. "...I apologize again."

"...No need to. You must be used to saying that to a lot of people." She said awkwardly, sitting down at the table.

No answer from the man this time. Instead, he uncovered the lid of the bottom pot and a heady aroma of stewing vegetables and meat erupted forth in a cloud of steam. Ladling out chunks of what appeared to be chicken, carrots, and some sort of green pepper onto his pile of couscous, the process repeated itself onto Lux's plate as well. The blonde peered down at the food that the Prophet had placed on the table for the both of them — this was a cuisine new to her.

"Do you know how to eat this food?" The Prophet asked as he took a piece of flat bread in hand. He figured she had no idea of the proper means to do so. He rolled the flat bread in his hand to form a scoop, and used it like a spoon to retrieve the mix of foods on his plate. Almost forgetting his scarf, he hastily pulled it down from his face and brought the flat bread laden ordeal to eat, biting off flat bread and all in one bite. "The trick is to not load the bread too much, or it will bend and spill everywhere. Small is smartest in this endeavor." With that brief demonstration, he began tucking into his food in earnest. Enjoying the delicately spiced food with zeal.

She tried to mimic his actions, taking a flat bread into her hand and scooped up some of the curious combination, but she seemed to have put just a bit much, as some of the contents fell back on her plate. She hated how he had proven her right. Sighing, Lux tried her best to eat it anyway. "Is this what you used to eat at home?" She asked before taking a bite. The savory and spicy flavors lingered on her taste buds as she chewed, a satisfied hum rising from her mouth. "It's delicious, Malzahar! I didn't think you were one for cooking. Thank you." The mage smiled, before continuing to eat her portions.

Rising from the table, he went around to her and took her hand in his, guiding it in the proper technique for holding and folding the particular flat bread. "This way, see?" Then guiding the scoop down to the meal on her plate he goes in from the side, getting a small amount of couscous and stew on the end of the bread. "Better, yes?"

Tilting his head, the Prophet looked down at her, letting her hand go in the process. He then went to settle himself back in his seat and began to demolish the contents of his plate in rapid order. "Pinch it like so," he gestured at his own utensil, "so liquid does not flow down onto your hand and sleeve."

The Seer had taken his hand in hers, only to demonstrate to her how to eat couscous properly, but his surprising warmth brought a reddened hue to her cheeks. "T-thank you… I'll try to remember that." She answered, looking down at her plate as she continued to scoop up some of the delicious mixture.

Lux seemed to get the hang of it now, as he found himself nodding with approval. He paused briefly, chewing over as it were, her prior comment about his cooking. "But is it really surprising that I cook? I hardly go out after all, and as such my food had best be good. Though if you had not liked it… well, what you think of my food is of little matter."

The Demacian nearly spit out her food in response to his last statement. She wanted to laugh at how little her opinion mattered to him. So like him. "I guess you're right… it sort of suits you in a way. Cooking. Do you only cook for yourself?" The mage queried before taking another bite of her couscous. The small critters gathered around her plate and picked at the remnants that had been dropped beforehand. She peered down at them, smiling. "Go on. Eat, little ones."

"Do I seem to be a person to have many guests?" Malzahar retorted with a touch of dry sarcasm. Sometimes, he wasn't sure if she existed in the same world as him. On one hand she was overly fond of battering him about the head with his goal of bringing the Void to Runeterra. At other times, she asked seemingly innocent questions that left him wondering if her head was filled with sunbeams and double rainbows. "Of course I cook for just myself. This was an exception, since... well... you seem to be the only one who bothers to tolerate me, so think of it as... repayment."

Collecting two fine porcelain tea cups patterned in a subtle coloration to approximate sand dunes at dusk, he poured for the both of them a refreshing mint tea. His thoughts turned inward, turning over different ideas and plans for the future. Wondering how he could best fit his interactions with the Demacian into his slowly evolving and growing bid for a Void incursion.

"Wait...this was your way of repaying me?" It was honestly a surprise, coming from him. Who would have thought that someone such as him would cook dinner as a thank you gift? The Demacian began laughing a bit, taking the cup of tea into her hands. If it was any worse, she saw a side of him that he probably did not know existed. "You cook dinner for guests… I always knew you were proper, but… a bit misguided. This just proves my point." Her rather charismatic laugh rang throughout the room. The Voidlings stared up at her in surprise from their meal, tilting their heads with curiosity.

Proper but misguided? What in the Void? Perhaps she was just being willfully ignorant and interpreting things to make herself feel better. That was probably it. "Proves your poi-No, this does not prove your point. You think too much into things that are as they seem." Sighing he drank his tea, reasoning with her was like reasoning with Kog'Maw not to eat everything in sight. Ultimately futile. Then she laughed, her obnoxiously high twitter. He'd heard less painful noises being emitted by the Void than what came from her mouth attempting to pass off the wretched noise as laughter. An errant thought of silencing her crossed his mind, but he didn't want to damage his room. Even though the spell was a short lived one, he didn't risk it. Besides, she would just start yelling at him and that was even worse than her laughter. Sometimes it was smarter to pick your battles than to fight them all.

An oh tumbled off her lips as she realized that she did put too much thought into everything, and into one's actions. But why was she so… offended? Off put? Was it because she was disappointed that he had merely invited her to his home because he had no one else to invite? He acted as if it was something he was forced to do, as if she were simply an annoyance. He did not want her company or anything else of that caliber. Perhaps he pitied her for her idealization of everything and merely invited her to prove his point.

Sipping from her tea, Lux stared at him quietly. "Well, thank you, I guess… for inviting me to your home. Now that dinner is finished, it really should be time for me to leave, shouldn't it? I don't want to impede on anything else any longer…" She got up from the chair.

"So quick to leave when you have barely just finished dinner?" A huff escaped the Prophet's lips as he shook his head. "And it is nearly nighttime. Are you truly going to ride back to the Institute or Demacia in such conditions?" She could only stand there gaping at him. What is with him?

"...I apologize for my incoming rudeness, but you seem to think that I like your company?" The mage said, turning away from the difficult man.

A small smirk formed underneath his mask. "Oh? Then why did you agree to coming here?"

"..." She could not help but tug at her gloves with frustration. What an infuriating man.

"You may leave in the morning. But for now, you can make yourself at home. Do not enter the bedroom however, as it is my personal abode."

"Oh... thank you for your hospitality." Where did her manners go? She bowed her head, leaving the kitchen as quickly as she could. Why was he so insistent on keeping her here? She was sure he would not care if she found herself lost throughout the Shuriman desert in the darkness... Besides, she was a light mage. What did he take her for?

"You are welcome, Lux." He said quietly, patting the head of a Voidling. "Good night."

She made her way towards one of the couches, her heart racing. Why did he...do such things? Why did he confuse her so? Why did he continue to be so rude and impossible yet kind and captivating? What kind of man...?

...No. I cannot think these things. No. I love Demacia. I will die fighting for Demacia.

Laying on the couch, she reached her hand out towards the ceiling. Lux started to repeat the quotes of the Measured Tread within her mind, again and again. I will always pick you. I will always pick you over everything else. I have to. Victory for our allies, defeat for our enemies, and justice for all. Justice...

She had drifted off into a deep slumber. Malzahar in the meantime wandered around his home, making sure to blow out all the candles that were still lit. Passing by the sleeping beauty, he stared down at the Lady. She looked so peaceful, so innocent, her pale skin seemingly glowing in the moonlight. She was beautiful, he was not blind... His hand was trailing closer and closer to her face, almost cupping her cheek...

The voices were growing within him again, causing an urge within him to corrupt her right then and there. To finally end all her dreams of an impossible future. With this though, came a sudden, small pang of pain through his chest. How irritating...I could end her right here...But...I cannot. Not now. He sighed to himself. It will pay off to wait.

And with that, darkness had come with a whisk of smoke.