Quinn sat down on the stump, waiting for Garen to get his squad out of the traps she and Valor had set. It had only been a minute or so of waiting, but Valor was getting impatient. He was perched on her shoulder, leaning against her, and butting his head into her repeatedly.

"It's not my fault they're so slow." Valor leaned away and looked her right in the eyes. "Okay, maybe it is. But only half." Valor looked shocked, his beak open in surprise. "This was your idea. You have to take some responsibility." Valor shook his head. "Oh no, you are not going to throw me under the carriage. Garen already knows you started this."

"Ranger."

Quinn looked forward, seeing everybody was now free of the snares and pits, and were standing at attention.

"I am honoured to introduce to you some of Dauntless Vanguard, Demacia's elite force." Garen was beaming with pride as he looked to the soldier on his far right. "This is Evan, second in command. To his left is Marc, Captain. To his left-"

"Don't worry about it, I'll forget their names in five minutes anyways," Quinn blurted out, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. Awkward silence ruled the moment until it dawned on Quinn exactly what she said. She smacked her own forehead with her palm. "Foot, meet mouth. Mouth, foot."

Valor looked at Garen, rotated his head to look at Quinn, then with a shrug of his shoulders, flew off into the sky. Quinn jumped to her feet. "Oh you get back here, if I have to deal with this, so should you!"

"Ranger." Garen's irritated tone caught her attention. "Your report."

Quinn took a breath, trying to think of proper military etiquette. Let's try and be professional for a moment, eh? "Yes sir." She fished out the report she had put back into one of her belt pouches. "Isn't this usually done in Demacia City? At the military headquarters?"

"Yes it is," Garen said. "However, you took down all of these Dauntless Vanguard soldiers." He turned to face his troops. "You never even looked at them. So they are going to stand at attention during the entire report, they are going to listen, and perhaps, they are going to learn something from this."

"Commander, Sir, this report details a few days. It may take a while."

"I expected as such, Ranger. You may shorten it if you wish, but make sure not to leave out important details."

Quinn looked at the squad. Most had contempt in their eyes; others, defeat. Their commanding officer was forcing them to stand at attention, as a peasant girl, with a bird as a partner, told them how she trapped them all.

This is probably as close to torture as some of these men are ever going to get, being forced to listen to my report. Quinn smiled. I am going to enjoy every last second of this.

"Yes Sir. Here is my report."

The full moon illuminated the forest with its pale light. A woman with short purple hair looked up at its beauty, seeing the silhouette of an eagle flying away through its radiance.

She held her hand up to the moon... and gave it the finger.

Stupid full moon lighting up everything. Wasn't supposed to be a full moon for another two goddamn days but nooooo. 'Your mission will not overlap with the full moon' they said. First solo mission and they screw up the lunar phase! Are they trying to set me up for failure?

Quinn leaned against a tree, adjusting her scout armour with a sigh. Although functional, it was generic, and wasn't fitted to her properly. The uniform was comprised of basic leather pants, a leather breastplate over a tunic, and leather gloves, all designed for the average soldier. It was more protective than the leather armour she had before coming to Demacia City, but she was not used to it.

Assuming they give me a job after I complete this mission, I'm going to ask for an advance so I can blow it all on a good set of armour. Custom made, custom fitted, that would feel just beautiful. I can live off the forest for a month or so.

She moved forward, her eyes scanning the forest for clues and dangers. It was only a few minutes of walking before she knelt to the ground, seeing heavy footsteps. They were easy to spot in the moonlight, and she knew she was advancing on the patrol.

Didn't mean she liked it.

Stupid moon, making me feel exposed. She kept her eyes to the ground, looking for more signs of her targets. Wait, isn't there some moon deity or goddess? Am I cursing myself? She big on vengeance? Am I just-

A twig snapped nearby, making Quinn crouch and freeze in place. Her eyes scanned the surroundings until she saw the culprit: a deer, also frozen in place. Their eyes met for a moment before the animal bolted away. Point taken, moon. Time to focus.

A glance to the heavens showed Valor returning. He dipped his right wing and did two quick circles in the air before hovering for a moment. Two hours away, give or take. They have also stopped, probably to set up camp.

Quinn concentrated on keeping silent as she followed the tracks, Valor flying off to continue scouting. At least an hour had passed when Quinn sat against a rock, taking a small break. She couldn't be far from the Noxian patrol she was tracking, and she wanted to be alert when she found them.

Valor dive-bombed just above her head, then spread his wings to glide down beside her. She glared at him; unless he had something to tell, he shouldn't have quickly dove to stay out of sight. Sometimes I swear this bird is just showing off.

Valor landed, looked into her eyes, then pointed his right wing in the direction she had come. Did they expect a tracker? Are we being flanked? Quinn showed the worry in her eyes, but Valor shook his head. He puffed up his golden-coloured chest, raised his head up, and started to... march?

Quinn watched for a moment, raising a very suspicious eyebrow towards her partner. She leaned in closer to him, "Valor, you look as ridiculous as Garen does," she whispered. Valor relaxed and nodded his head, pointing his wing again where she had come from.

Quinn looked in the direction Valor indicated. Garen is following me. Well, us. Why would Garen be behind us? She thought of possible reasons, then frowned. They don't think I can handle it. He's the insurance policy. If I screw up, he cleans up.

She nodded at Valor. "Let's prove they wasted time in sending backup."

Four men could be seen; two of them were sitting on a downed tree to the left of the fire, while another was sitting on the ground opposite of them. The fourth was laying on a blanket on his back, away from the others. All of them were wearing leather armour, not all that different from what she was wearing. The man laying down had even taken off his armour, laying in just cloth pants and shirt. She stared at him intently, looking for movement. His chest raised and lowered in a slow rhythm. He was sleeping, and would be the last threat.

The three others were in conversation as they passed a bottle around. It looked like an ordinary container, so Quinn wasn't sure what was inside. If it was alcohol, it would only help, and if it wasn't, well, men still grew tired. She would observe for now, making sure nothing was missed and no other men were nearby.

As she watched, and waited, two things happened. The first was expected: Valor circled over her, wanting to know what they were doing. She held up her index finger, knowing even in the shadows of the trees, he could see it, and knew they were waiting.

The second was not expected. As the men's voices grew louder, almost guaranteeing the bottle was full of alcohol, a fifth man walked into the clearing. She had not seen evidence of a fifth man, nor did Valor give any signal of it. Glad she had waited, Quinn gave herself a mental reminder to talk about it with Valor, but not scold him. She wasn't perfect either.

Luckily, whatever this man had been doing was moot, for he quickly joined the three around the fire and stole the bottle. A large swig followed, along with much laughter from all four as he sat down on the tree between the two. They were basically doing her job for her at this point, but she wasn't quite sure when to strike. The man lying on the ground was still sleeping, and the four were still drinking, but either could change quickly.

Valor had circled another two times, at which point they communicated that both of them could see five soldiers and no more. The bottle had to be running low, and they might start to gain some awareness. She decided the waiting was over, and it was time to act.

Valor flew overhead once more, prompting her to give the thumbs up, point to the left, and hold three fingers up. He flew off past the Noxians.

Quinn had a few seconds to go over her plan. Valor would distract and focus on the three men on the left of the fire. As he did that, she would fire a bolt into the throat of the man on the right, then the sleeping man. They would die or bleed out, not being able to make much sound. She would have three bolts left in her repeater crossbow's magazine. With a drawn out pull of the trigger, she could fire them all in rapid succession instead of just one. If she aimed well enough, the volley would hit each man, and if they did not kill, they would at least slow. She would then reload and finish them, or use her twin daggers to finish off the rest.

She brought her crossbow up to her left hand as she stayed on her stomach in the forest's shade. She aimed at the sitting man. Valor would not be long.

His screech pierced the air. All the men turned to the far side of the clearing as Valor made a grand entrance, flying through the trees and spreading his wings. His golden chest and golden-tipped wings surrounded by blue feathers were majestic-looking in the firelight.

The first bolt flew through the air, piercing the man's throat. He brought his hand up to feel the wood in his neck, looking towards Quinn, unable to make any significant sound. She didn't look into his eyes as she got to her knees, firing the second bolt into the sleeping man. He had woken up, but it didn't matter. Another hand went to a throat as it was pierced, and again, little sound was made.

She got to her feet and aimed at the three remaining. Valor was within arm's reach of them now, swiping his claws and screeching as sharply as he could to keep their attention on him. Quinn held the trigger on her crossbow, firing a quick volley of her remaining bolts. The moment they flew, Valor launched himself into the air and out of the line of fire.

However, the man closest to Quinn had seen his ally fall. He saw that the bolt came from the opposite direction, and launched himself to the ground. The volley of three hit the other two men, but all Quinn could tell was that they both fell to the ground. The first man quickly got to his feet and sprinted at her, a small axe in hand. She dropped her crossbow and grabbed her daggers, widening her stance, preparing for him as she trusted Valor to keep the other men occupied.

The man swung his axe at her head. Quinn took a step forward, ducking it and letting the man go past her. She rotated quickly, trying to drive her daggers into his kidneys, when she realized he wasn't standing; he was drunk enough that he had toppled to the ground after the missed strike.

Quinn stopped her attack, surprised that the man fell over of his own accord. This gave the man enough time to get back to his feet and try once more at her head. Refocused, she leaned on her back foot, the axe not long enough to strike her. Leaning forward once more, her left dagger slashed the man's throat while her right dagger pierced his heart. Pulling her daggers back to her, she made sure the man fell to the ground, then looked back to the clearing.

Valor was standing beside one man, his talons red with blood. He had ripped the man's throat out, likely as she was fighting the Noxian with the axe. He nodded in her direction, and she nodded back, kneeling beside the man she just killed. She held her fingers on the side of his neck, feeling for a pulse. When she found none, she stood up, grabbed her crossbow, and walked to the man who had been sleeping. No pulse. She walked to the sitting man. There was a weak pulse, which Quinn stopped by plunging her dagger into his heart. After a moment, she checked again. No pulse.

She walked to the two men by the log. Her volley had hit one of them in the heart, killing him. No pulse. The one Valor had killed was only hit in the shoulder, definitely not a fatal wound until Valor had finished him off. No pulse, but the man had a dagger in his hand, meaning he hadn't been as bad off as Quinn had first thought. She would have had to still focus on the man charging her, but she made a mental note of it. If Valor hadn't gotten to him first, the man could have joined the other and made things more difficult.

"Thanks Valor," she said as she sat down on the log. He smiled at her, then moved his left wing in the air, as if he was writing something. Quinn shook her head. "No way."

Valor tilted his head, then pointed at the dagger.

"Yeah I see it. Do you also see that it was the same arm that had a bolt in the shoulder? No way he could have used it properly." He crossed his wings in front of him. "Oh hell no, that is not going in the book! Even if he got up, which is unlikely, he probably couldn't throw the dagger, much less wield it. So no, you didn't save my life, and it's not going in the book."

Valor turned his head away from her, and puffed through his nostrils.

Quinn glared at him. "Suck it up, princess. Now, how long do you think it will take Garen and his merry men to get here?"

Valor looked back at her, and spread his wings, grabbing a feather with his beak and lightly tugging on it. He grabbed another feather and wiggled it, before doing something akin to shrugging his shoulders. The eagle starting walking, making as much noise as he possibly could.

"So one day for sure, probably two considering they are stumbling through the forest. Well screw it, I'm just going to wait for him then. We got a nice fire here, you can catch us some grub, and we can have a grand ole time. And we can be lazy until he gets here. Sound good?"

Valor nodded, looking at the fire. A quiet moment passed before Quinn shifted to the ground, leaning against the log. "I was kinda hoping you would get on that food part so I don't have to eat this jerky-"

Valor held his wing up to her face, interrupting her. Another quiet moment passed before he brought his wing down to look her in the eyes, his own lit up with devious intent.

"Oh, I know that look. What evil do you have planned now, bird?"

Valor walked a few steps away, then stared at her, making sure her eyes were on him. He put his claws down on a twig, snapping it before flipping himself upside down and actually pushing himself into the air with his wings. Quinn laughed at the sight as he righted himself. "So you want to set up branches for them to crack and make noise as they get here? That wouldn't flip them in the air-" Quinn snapped her fingers. "Oh... ohhhh... you are just the embodiment of the devil, Valor."

He nodded, bringing the tips of his wings to his head to make it look like he had horns.

"You want to trap them as they approach. Snares would flip them… could dig some holes too. Make sure they're well cushioned so the fall doesn't hurt too much." Standing up, Quinn looked around the edge of the clearing. "The axes they have could dig some holes. Will be kinda slow, but we have time. Should be able to find some young trees nearby too that will be less… bendy… because of smaller trunks. Don't want the jerk to hurt them."

Valor gasped and had a look of shock at his face.

"No, the jerk of the snare, not that they're jerks. Well, they are all kinda elitist jerks, but don't tell them that." Valor nodded. "Well, none of them talk to birds, so not like you can tell them that, but yeah."

Quinn leaned forward. "So how about this: you find us some food, I'll keep the fire going and see if these Noxians had anything of importance, and we'll start this caper in the morning?" Valor flapped his wings, immediately flying off in search of prey. Quinn chuckled.

"Garen won't like this. This is a terrible idea, to trap your own allies." Grabbing a nearby log and throwing it on the fire, Quinn nodded. "Which is why I have to do it." Standing up, Quinn began searching the nearest corpse for anything of note. "Is jerk the best way to describe what a snare does? Like it does, but gotta be a better word for it. Ah, don't worry about it Quinn, you got lots of time to think up a better one."

"We spent a day and a half, or so, setting up traps and getting the place all cleaned up. You know the rest." She looked up to the sky as Valor flew down, landing beside her. "I guess I never did think of a better word than jerk."

Garen and the Dauntless Vanguard were still standing at attention, Garen still looking like a paragon of strength. His soldiers, however, were definitely starting to slump and were quite unhappy with the situation of standing for hours listening to the report.

Quinn smiled again. Sweet, sweet poetic justice. I think. Is it poetic if it isn't a poem? Anyways, I dragged that out as long as I could. I'm an evil, evil woman.

"Very detailed report, Quinn. Make sure to repeat it to Prince Jarvan the Fourth."

She nodded. "That I can do, Commander." Garen's words fully registered with Quinn, who balked. "Wait, Prince Jarvan? I'm not meeting with the Prince. He didn't give me this mission, it was just some… uh… random people? Leader group? Council? I don't remember who they are, but it wasn't the Prince!"

A few soldiers smirked at Quinn's nervousness.

"I am well aware," Garen said, "however, my orders are from Prince Jarvan the Fourth. We were ordered to follow you and provide assistance on your mission. If you failed your mission, we were to complete it. If you complete it, I was told to bring you back to Demacia City to meet with Prince Jarvan the Fourth. He wants to hear your report and my assessment of your capabilities. Considering we fell two days behind and you completed your mission, there will be some positives in my assessment."

Valor squawked happily, but Quinn had no smile. Glowing words from Garen or not, she did not want any royal attention. Garen was bad enough with his by-the-book attitude. No doubt Jarvan was several times more insufferable.

"I don't think I deserve-"

"Prince Jarvan the Fourth has decreed it. You cannot deny the order, unless you want military discipline."

A very, very dry throat swallowed. She always thought Garen looked like a clown in his full set of armour with overcompensating shoulder plates, but in front of her, without the armour, he was physically imposing. She wanted to argue, but couldn't see a victory in it.

"We will set out in the morning," he said. "It has gotten late, and my soldiers do need some rest. However, I do have one question. You say you killed the five Noxians, but I see no evidence of blood or bodies. I do not doubt your report, but I want to know what you did."

Quinn sighed. Oh thank the Gods he isn't going to say Prince Jarvan the Fourth again. I can focus on something other than royalty for a moment. "We moved the bodies to the other side of the clearing so you couldn't see them. Far as blood goes, we simply covered it up with loose grass and leaves. Pretty easy."

"Coleen, go and find the bodies." A female soldier nodded and marched into the forest in the direction Quinn pointed. It took only a few seconds to hear her voice. "Yes Commander, there are five bodies here. Give me a moment… it looks like the deaths match her description. I can do a more thorough inspection to confirm it if you would like."

"No need, soldier. Return."

"Yes Commander."

Once Coleen was back with the group, Garen turned towards them. "Alright soldiers, set up camp. You two, get a fire going. You four, unpack and get the tents pegged and up. You two, get the bed rolls ready-"

Quinn blinked a few times at Garen's orders. They actually brought all that stuff? Would also explain why they were so slow coming through the forest. She looked at Valor. "How about it bird? We could throw a little backpack on you, and you could bring a tent and blankets for next time!"

Valor squawked and slapped Quinn in the face with a wing.

"So… is that a no?" Valor slapped her again. "Oh, go get some sleep. We got a long trip back tomorrow." Valor tilted his head. "Okay, some of us have a long trip back tomorrow. We can't all fly." Quinn laid on the ground, and whispered to Valor. "And while you're slowing flying around, find a way out of this meeting with the Prince. Royal attention… that's not why I came to Demacia City. I just want to help, not be… well..." Valor raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I don't know what they'll do, but I don't want it, okay? See what you can think up. You got a couple days."

Valor nodded, jumping onto the stump and letting his head droop, quickly falling asleep. Quinn closed her eyes, and soon followed.