Irelia rode quickly on the back of a great elk. Her blades and silks trailed behind her, waving in the wind of her passage like a banner of war, and at her sides rode two of her most trusted followers, Yu and Eiji. Yu was trailed by her own set of silks, longer and lighter in colour than Irelia's, a pastel pink. They were tipped with blades that did not float. Eiji stood out against the other two, instead of silk ribbons he wore armour, and instead of blades, he carried a flute.

The three entered the village to the drumbeat of hooves, passing under the wooden archway and navigating to the town centre. It had rained overnight, and her Elk and her companions' horses kicked up mud as they rode. When they reached their destination, Irelia dismounted from her elk and signalled for her escort to wait for her with a gesture of her hand that was mirrored by her blades. The small village was abuzz with activity and, unusually, their presence had barely been noticed.

She glode up the steps in front of the building and passed beneath the flags hanging under the archway, which bore the crests of Ionia and Navori, to enter the hall. As town halls went it was humble, but it was the largest building in the village, and inside it was one long room at the end of which was a line of chairs. No one was sitting. The village elder and his council were on their feet trying to keep control of the crowd.

The room was filled with people of all ages, shouting and speaking over one another. In the room's centre, surrounded by people, stood a small and elderly man in a circular clearing on the floor. He alone seemed to be arguing a point considered by no one else in the hall, but Irelia couldn't hear what it was. At the hall's end, the man who would be sitting in the centre chair slammed his hand on the surface of the table in front of her and called for balance. His voice carried over the crowd and the room quieted substantially, but not entirely. Not until their attention was drawn to Irelia's entrance.

'We are honoured by your presence', said the village elder. He lifted his hand from the table and extended it fluidly toward Irelia to guide the eyes of the others in the hall. One by one, heads turned and the familiar recognition set in. Irelia bowed her head formally.

'Thank you, elder', she said and stepped forward. A clearing of her own opened on the floor as she walked forward, eventually merging with the one created by the small old man in his straw hat. He turned to her and hurried closer. His expression was desperate, and Irelia was certain, she recognized this man. That surprised her, so many faces came and went, people died, she travelled, her followers waxed and waned. She wondered then, why did this man seem familiar?

'Blade dancer', he called, 'please! Help me to find my daughter', he had to lean heavily on his cane to do it, but he took a knee before her with his back to the council at the end of the hall, heedless of the hundred sets of eyes on him. He radiated a sadness that resonated with her, he did not care what the others thought, he only cared for his daughter. She felt compelled to help him, but didn't have long to dwell on that thought.

'Master Konte! Control yourself!', bellowed the elder. Irelia spared the man a compassionate look before lifting her eyes to the elder far behind him.

'Noxians passed through this village, or so I heard, and now there are dead and wounded.' Of course, Noxians could leave behind nothing else. The man before her fell onto his hands and knees. His shoulders shook just so, and Irelia imagined he must be weeping beneath the wide brim of his hat. She bent her knees and placed a hand on his bony shoulder. 'I will help you, if I can', she told him, then looked to the elder for his reply.

'Yes, Noxians came to our village. Two, and they brought a war beast right past this hall, and now three men are missing, said to be dead. No one has dared to retrieve their bodies. Four more are injured. I'm afraid that's all we know for certain.'

'And this man's daughter?', Irelia asked seriously, standing up to focus her gaze on the elder. His expression was serious, and his lip and nostrils curled just slightly in what resembled disgust.

'His "daughter" is Noxian.' Irelia's jaw fell open and her eyes dropped to the small man before her. He wept openly then. 'She came through here alongside the beast, many here know her, and many here saw her.' That was the moment that the recognition she felt for the man clicked. She had only once before met an Ionian man who claimed to have a Noxian daughter.

She had to force herself not to take a step back, his position alone amongst the crowd had started to make sense to her. And, though she felt a bolt of shock, perhaps even anger, run through her, it did not erase the pity she felt for the man. His daughter may have been a fraud, but his affection for her was clearly genuine.

'I see', was all she said, careful to reveal nothing. 'Where are the wounded? They may be able to help, even if only to direct me to the dead.'

'You will retrieve them?', asked the elder, and Irelia nodded.

'I must do right by our people before I seek justice, we will not become our enemy.'

'The wounded men stay in the Nobu family home at our village's southern edge, the current master of the house is one of their number.' Irelia nodded again and turned to leave. To her surprise, the small man scrambled after her. She considered ignoring him at first, but it didn't feel right. So, as she stepped back outside to where Yu and Eiji were waiting, she turned to him.

'I didn't recognize you', she said, 'we've met before, haven't we?' He nodded.

'At the Placidium… She was very taken with your dance, captain', she could not see his face through the brim of his hat, as his head was hung in sadness.

Noxians are always taken by blades in motion, she thought to herself. When she spoke she chose to be gentle with him. 'I'm sorry this happened,' she didn't know what else to say.

'Will you help me to find her? Please, she's in trouble', he was pleading, and Irelia didn't know what to tell him.

'Your…', she couldn't bring herself to use the word 'daughter' for a Noxian, 'you think she's in trouble?', she asked. He nodded, and then looked up to lock eyes with her. No words came to her, at least none that she felt she could share with the small man.

'She didn't hurt anyone', he told her with certainty, despite the way his voice shook and his eyes shone. She frowned at him.

'You can't know that', she told him. He shook his head.

'I know it', the man spoke with absolute conviction, 'my Riven left in chains, blade dancer, she is not what you believe her to be.' She beheld him curiously for a long moment, parsing his words.

In chains? She smoothed her brow with her fingertips as she spoke, 'I have to go, I have many people to speak to. I will search for her, but…', she could see in his eyes that he understood. Noxians never went gently, if they met again it would mean the woman's death.

'Very well', he said in a choked voice and walked past her to the small cart that waited for him under the shelter by the roadside. 'I'm coming with you.' She opened her mouth to deny him, but her tongue was held captive by her shock. 'If your path will take you to her, then that path is mine as well. Besides, no one knows my Riven better than I, you could use me.' She nodded, more she felt out of pity for the man than any use he might have, she didn't think he would be of any help if it meant harm to the Noxian. But, she had said she would help him, if she could.

'Very well', she repeated back to him. She mounted her elk while he wiped his eyes and put his ox at the front of his cart. Yu and Eiji looked between her and one another in surprise, but they said nothing.

The unusual quartet rode through the village to its edge, one elk, one cart, two horses, two dancers, a musician, and a farmer. The old man, who Irelia had learned was called Asa Konte knew the Nobu family home, and so they needn't stop to ask anyone else to direct them. On the way, Irelia rode beside Asa, hoping to learn what she could from him.

'Your Riven', it sounded better than just calling her 'Noxian', 'she was a soldier.' It was not a question. Asa nodded.

'You remember her.' Also not a question.

'Of course', Irelia smiled at him even as her brow lowered.

'She's hard to forget', Asa said with a pained smile. It was an understatement. Irelia recalled her clearly. The woman had been a fury, tall and muscular, decorated with scar upon scar, topped with shocking white hair. She had striking red eyes that had been outlined with black warpaint of all things.

Noxians.

'She killed our people', Irelia said, evicting the memory from her presence. Asa nodded again, slower this time.

'They are her people now', he said and pointed his chin out in the way that only toothless old men could.

'If that is so, then why does she wear Noxian warpaint? And to the Placidium of all places! She does not understand our loss, she has no respec-', the old man cut her off with a raised hand and a firm voice. He did not yell, he did not need to.

'She understands very well. That is why she wears it.' Irelia tried to understand but found she could not. The pieces just didn't fit together for her. 'I understand your feelings, blade dancer. I lost my sons in that war.' his chin trembled, but his gaze remained steady, and his expression softened as he spoke. 'And then I found my daughter, and we began to heal. Whatever words you shared that day were never given to me, but I do not hold them against you, and neither does she.' He regarded Irelia with a look she could only interpret as honest and warm. 'My Riven was born to less and has lost more than most. I know how it sounds, but she only wants peace.'

'I still do not understand the warpaint, if I am honest.' Irelia was careful to keep her tone from being accusatory this time, the man was clearly sensitive about his daughter, and the situation she had put him in was no doubt causing him great pain.

'When we find her, ask her, she can explain better than I', he said.

'And what if she doesn't come willingly?' Irelia asked. She wanted him to at least consider that things could end in violence. He should be prepared.

'She would not raise her sword against you or anyone who did not threaten harm to someone she cared for.'

'She might have killed the missing men.' Asa shook his head immediately.

'She didn't', he said with stern confidence.

'Why such faith in her? Why wouldn't she kill again?' Irelia asked.

The man looked at her sharply, and then ahead of himself. His gears were turning, and he smacked his lips before speaking. Whatever he was thinking, Irelia knew he would not share.

'Riven would only kill if she had to', was what he finally said. To Irelia's eyes, he looked very, very far away. The expression was familiar to her, and Irelia wondered what memory haunted him so. She couldn't help but wonder, had the woman killed again?

Riven sat, grinding pigment from a sliver of charcoal from the prior night's fire. Teneff was resting. They had marched hard and long, and she had acquitted herself admirably for someone with a hole in them, but even Noxians needed rest.

So, Riven passed time grinding a bit of pigment for herself. Under normal circumstances, the repetitive motions were nearly meditative for her. They brought her a cool, colourless calm. Familiar ghosts lingered just outside her vision, and she was grateful for the mist between her thoughts. Hers were not normal circumstances.

She had reunited with the 'family' she had so long thought lost and then killed one of them. She had marched leagues upon leagues from her home and left her father all alone in the world with barely an explanation, and for what? To protect him, she decided. She wondered where the certainty she'd felt when she'd made the decision to leave had gone. She missed him dearly.

That she was responsible for so much of the pain the man had felt and would feel going forward, the weight of it sat on her chest like an anchor. She closed her eyes, forcing them dry, and told herself that it was not her place to weep; she did not deserve to, that was the right of those she had wronged, not her. The familiar thought nearly choked her, but when she opened her eyes they were focused again. She swallowed and continued to grind her pigment as more thoughts and memories dug their way through the grey and into her awareness.

I want to go home, she thought, not for the first time. Not since she had left the farm, but since she'd come to Ionia, the thought had plagued her. It had persistently, intrusively, asserted itself over her own thoughts, as if it came from somewhere else. When it first came to her, she had imagined Noxus and winced. She'd had no desire to go back there, then. And after that, she'd begun to think of Trevale, but there was nothing for her on the Demacian border, there never had been. And, eventually, she'd come to think of the small farm in Navori. Not for the place, but for two very special people, her family. Asa and Shava had become 'home'. But, Shava had passed, and Riven had left, and their sons… Riven swallowed again and set down the small wooden bowl. She dipped her fingers into the basic black paint she had made and smeared it around her eyes and across her nose. 'Home' didn't exist, anymore. And she wondered if it never had.

For a moment, she allowed herself to imagine what life might have been like if she hadn't needed to cross two continents, an ocean, and the lines of battle to meet her family. If she had been born to Asa and Shava, they could have been happy, she knew, but a thought ate at her.

She had left the farm in Trevale, she hadn't felt fulfilled there. And so, she had to wonder: Would she have done the same if she had been born to the Konte family plot in Ionia?

And what if she'd been born to them in Noxus, instead? In Noxus, Asa need not stay on his family plot. He was wise, and in his youth, he had been strong of body as well as mind. He could have been a scholar, or a historian, or whatever he determined himself to be. And Shava, so steadfast and cantankerous, she'd have made a fine Noxian. Riven smiled gently at the thought. But it could not be, and so she dispelled the fantasy. It was well-timed, as Teneff had begun to stir.

'How is your wound?', Riven asked immediately.

'I've had worse', Teneff replied in a voice thick with fatigue. She opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up. 'It will leave a fine scar, at least.' Riven nodded. Teneff was a good Noxian, Riven wondered if she was a good person, too, or if the two could not mix. She thought of Shava, and Shava made her believe the mixing was possible.

'Damnit, Riven', Teneff said. 'You look ridiculous. Why do you insist on smearing that shit around your eyes? We're marching home, not to war.' Riven shrugged.

'It's difficult to explain.'

The house stood on a small plot of farmland, not dissimilar from most like it in the region. A path led to the front of the house and a hitching post stood near the foot of the porch. The four tied their animals, Asa took a bit longer than the others because of his cart. Eiji volunteered to help Asa while Irelia and Yu went to the door. The old man's experience with the animal's harness and the particular quirks of his old cart meant that Eiji didn't actually end up saving him any time, but he was appreciative nonetheless.

'More to the-, yes, now you've got it. Gotta wiggle that one, sometimes. Mind your fingers, she bites!', he was saying. Despite the patience it took, Asa was warm to Eiji. Irelia smiled.

The man who answered was stern-looking, with grey in his beard and a long scar on his arm, 'who are-', his gaze cut past her shoulder to the floating blades that fanned behind Irelia's head like a halo. 'Blade dancer, welcome', he said. Irelia, again, formally bowed her head.

'You are master Nobu?', she asked. It was his turn to bow.

'Come inside', he said. She did, waving the others after her.

The interior was littered with empty wine jugs, empty cups, and unwashed plates. Irelia closed her eyes for a moment and remembered her own struggles in the wake of the invasion. She would not judge them. She pushed forward, her entourage behind her. They entered the den, where the survivors were collected. Their faces were bruised and each wore bandages in the various places they had been wounded; chest, arm, leg, head. Most were barely clothed, and all present looked ashamed. They knew who she was, it was plain on their faces, so she did not introduce herself.

'I've come to hear your story. I will retrieve the dead so that no one else is at risk, and then I will track the Noxians so that they can hurt no one else.' There was a small round of nods in the room, and each of the men looked to one another. No one said anything. Nothing at all for a long, uncomfortable moment. Irelia was aware of the floorboards creaking underneath Eiji behind her as he shifted his weight uncomfortably; Yu was too graceful to be the source of the sound.

'Will none of you speak up?', Yu's speech possessed none of the grace of her movements. Irelia winced.

'Outside, now!', she commanded. Only the sound of fluttering silks told her that her order had been obeyed. She refocused on the four men sitting before her in uncomfortable silence. Of the four, master Nobu was senior, and he seemed the most confident. Irelia addressed him directly, 'anything will help', she said. The man regarded the others seriously, licking his lips before finally speaking.

'They attacked us. A pair of locusts and their war beast.' Irelia could not help but look to small Asa Konte upon hearing those words.

For all his small stature, he held his back straight. Despite his prior weeping, his face was stony, his pointed chin positively stabbing out at master Nobu. He was statue-still and silent as stone. She turned from him, glad for his silence but wary of the fury he so plainly radiated.

'Where?', she asked the master of the house. 'Tell me everything.'

AN: New chapter, woo! This was going to be longer but I decided I was trying to do too much with one chapter, and moved a bunch of parts to the next. I'm almost finished pushing this snowball up hill. ... :)

I'm having a lot of fun contrasting Noxians and Ionians. Riven and Teneff are very direct and vitriolic, they hold nothing back. Papa Konte and Irelia, though? Reserved, careful. (Not you, Yu.) I hope that landed.

Lastly, I hope that this fic makes sense to people who haven't read Scars and Seams and Sisterhood of War. If you're one of those readers who hasn't read those, let me know if I'm doing a good job communicating the story.

Thanks for reading!