A young eagle sat on the ground, breathing heavily. Little wings hung at his sides as he gulped in as much air as his lungs could take.

"C'mon little guy! You can do it! Just a bit further!"

Between deep breaths, the bird looked at the excited girl calling to him. A lithe human with thin purple feathers on her head and bright yellow eyes looked back.

This never happened.

Waiting until his breathing slowed, the young eagle started to flap his wings. Pushing forward, his wings became a blur as he gained a few inches of space off the ground.

I met him when he was an adult. Gods I hate when I do this.

The female was getting larger in view as he hovered towards her. The yellow eyes were lighting up, encouraging him to beat his wings faster, to push as hard as possible. But he could not keep up the pace, and fell to the ground, rolling a couple times when he hit the dirt.

"You're getting farther and farther!" The female human excitedly said as she ran towards him. Her hands surrounded him, lifting him off the ground. "If you can do this now, wait until you grow up!"

I look so young. Valor, too.

Valor rubbed his head against her chest, contentment all over his face as he felt her heartbeat. There was no place he felt safer.

"C'mon, let's go home. You deserve a treat."

Quinn felt very groggy as she opened her eyes, and found she couldn't open them fully as bright white light quickly assaulted her vision. Closing them, Quinn sighed. "Stupid imagination. I hate lucid dreaming."

"When you know and control your dreams?"

"Yeah."

"I would think it would be interesting."

"The first couple times. Then you know you're dreaming, which means you know you're not really in a deep sleep. More annoying than anything."

Although she couldn't sleep in her bed at the Buvelle Estate the first couple of nights, Quinn found it to be very relaxing at the moment. She let herself sink a little deeper into its comfort when it hit: she was speaking with somebody, and had no idea who it was. Eyelids opened to find a man in a black suit sitting on a chair to the right with a long black ponytail, looking back with an expressionless face.

"Miss Quinn."

Oh, the… uh... sen... sensh... sensei... crap. "Mister... Win... Now?"

"Seneschal Xin Zhao."

"I'm sorry."

"We only met once. No harm, no foul."

"Where's Valor?"

Xin motioned to the other side of her bed, showing a large eagle slouched in a chair, wings spread out as he slept. Quinn smiled, then quietly laughed as a snore escaped his beak.

"How long has he been like that?"

"Several hours. The first day, he wouldn't calm down. We couldn't force him out of the operating room. Once you were out and confirmed stable, he collapsed. He carried you to Demacia City, so he deserves the rest."

Quinn's mind slowly caught up to his words. "Hold on. The first day? Operating room? Carrying me?" Looking around, she realized it wasn't the Buvelle Estate. Her current room had an abundance of white, with clean being the first word that popped into her head when she looked around. Shifting in the bed, she also noticed the medical equipment attached to her. "I'm in a hospital."

"Valor got the attention of one of our soldiers on the outskirts of the city and brought you here. You were unconscious and had lost a lot of blood. The doctors and mages worked diligently to keep you alive." Xin Zhao got to his feet. "I must take my leave now. I am to report to Jarvan the Fourth once you are conscious. A soldier outside the room with guard you."

"Guard me? Why?"

He leaned in closer and spoke quietly, "You were sent on a secret mission to pursue an assassin, and came back close to death. We do not know what happened, so we are going to protect you until then."

"The assassin-"

"-Miss Venandi, you are in a hospital and you will not discuss anything regarding the mission to anybody. Understood?"

Quinn nodded.

"The medical staff have been told you were in a hunting accident. The guard, Savannah, also does not know. As per protocol, she is here to assist you when leaving. You will not say anything to her, either. Act like your memory isn't clear of the event."

Quinn furrowed her brow. She wasn't fond of all this cloak and dagger business. "Alright."

Xin Zhao saluted. "Best of luck with your recovery. No need to return the salute this time." He opened the door, saluting once again to the guard outside the room.

Quinn heard them exchange some words before the door closed, but they were of little concern. Her mind was starting to clear, and she was remembering how the assassin had injured her. However, he did not strike her in the shoulders, that she could remember anyways, and both were very sore. Pulling down on her hospital gown, Quinn saw one large puncture wound on both shoulders, and felt three more on the back of each shoulder. They were too round for dagger marks, she thought… they almost looked like… claw marks. She looked over in awe at Valor, and felt her eyes water. "He actually carried me here."

The door swung open. "Hey there," a female voice said before stopping, "Oh, are you crying, Miss Venandi? Are you in pain?"

Quickly she wiped the moisture from her eyes. "No, I'm okay."

A tall, pale woman walked into the room, a fiery red mane of hair swaying in a single long braid behind her. The same bright red coloured her eyes, standing out from the dark blue pants and shirt of the Demacian army.

"I'm Savannah Lhach. Xin Zhao asked me help you around."

"You mean the Sentinel?" Quinn shook her head, which immediately gave her vertigo. "Oh god that was a mistake."

"Seneschal. Means servant, if that helps. You okay?"

"I have a bad memory for names. And yeah, head is just swimming."

Valor snored again, shifting in the chair, his beak opening as his tongue fell out to the side. Savannah giggled at the sight. "That's some friend you have there."

"Not just my friend. He's my partner." Quinn couldn't stop the smile.

Savannah started making her way out of the room. "I think I'll give you some time to rest. If you need any help, just call out."

The door closed behind the young woman. Quinn took a deep breath and relaxed into the soft bedding. Every muscle was sore and her eyelids were especially heavy after doing their best to keep the tears at bay. She was still couldn't fathom what had happened. Valor carried me. She sunk into the bed, staring at the clean white ceiling.

Quinn groaned as she woke up. Her entire body felt even heavier than before. Must have nodded off. She opened her eyes to see a giant blue eagle perched on her hips, staring right at her.

"That would explain it." Valor gave her a happy squawk. "I'm okay, Val. Now please get off of me, you're heavy." He quickly jumped off of her to the chair, promptly tipping it over.

"Here we have the mighty Azurite eagle and his natural enemy, the chair. Well done, Val." Quinn tried to lift herself into a sitting position and found she couldn't do so. She settled for just lifting her left arm and trying to make a fist. Even that was not possible. After relaxing her hand and trying again, Quinn let her arm slump down. Valor jumped up on the foot of the bed and tilted his head, looking at her. "I don't have any strength."

A knock caught her attention. "Are you okay, Miss?" A doctor walked into the room, his white hair and beard matching his coat. Definitely an older man, but Quinn noticed his stride was full of purpose, and his observant eyes caught sight of the overturned chair.

"Valor knocked it over," Quinn explained.

"That's quite alright. How are you feeling?"

"Weak. Very weak."

"I'll explain everything we did, it will answer some questions you may have." He sat down opposite of Valor. "My name is Doctor Allan. Do you remember what happened?"

Quinn opened her mouth but just as quickly shut it, almost forgetting that Xin Zhao told her to not remember it clearly. She shook her head. "I was hunting, I think."

"Short term memory loss is common after a serious injury. It's a healing mechanism to minimize stress on the body and mind. Don't be surprised if your memory comes back to you as your body recovers. The description of your injuries may even bring it back. Feeling up to it?"

"Yeah."

He brought up a clipboard and began to read from it. "You were brought in with sharp lacerations on your back, puncture wounds to your upper body, dislocated shoulders and hip as well as minor cuts in various places on your body. The lacerations on your back were deep, cutting several arteries and veins, causing great blood loss. That led to a loss of consciousness some time before you arrived here. It took several hours of magic-assisted surgery to stabilize your injuries and repair the damage. Your body will be weak for a few days as you recover."

Quinn felt a little queasy. "Magic surgery?"

"Understand that because you were unconscious, the use of magic is legally allowed as per military protocol. Our mage surgeons only use magic to heal and only on special cases where normal surgery may not be so successful. They held your body together as we operated. Trust they are the best in their field."

Quinn nodded. Like most Demacians, she was apprehensive of magic, and generally avoided what little there was in her homeland. If it helped the surgeons do their job though, she could hardly complain.

"If you do not want magic used in the future, please let us know and we will put it on your file." The doctor got up and looked at the medical equipment hooked up to Quinn. "Your vitals have been stable for the past few hours. A nurse will be in shortly to check and change your dressings. We'll keep you another day at least to make sure you're healing well."

"I'll be okay. The soldier outside is here to help."

"I don't recommend you leaving, but I cannot force you to stay. Do you have any questions?"

Quinn shook her head.

"I must say, your friend there is very intelligent," Doctor Allan added. "He was listening to everything and I would venture a guess that he understood most of it, though if you could explain to him that an operating room would be easier to navigate without a giant eagle in it for next time, that would be appreciated."

"I doubt it will stop him, but I'll try."

"And thank Valor. Not only did he carry you here, but he jammed leaves into your wounds to slow the bleeding. You may not be alive without him." Valor puffed up his chest, quite pleased with himself.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I'll think about it."

The doctor just smiled. "You take care, Miss Venandi." He left the room, and was replaced when Savannah walked in.

"I overheard some of that," she said. "You sure were beat up on that hunting trip. You'll be ready to go soon though?"

"He said a nurse is going to check up on me first. They want me to stay an extra day, but I'll be fine."

"I am here to help with that. You just focus on getting better. I'll focus on being somebody you can physically lean on."

It took nearly thirty minutes for the nurse to arrive, but Savannah made that time fly by, quizzing Quinn on everything from her hometown to her favourite food. She was passing the time quite well, even if it was exhausting.

A female nurse entered the room, interrupting the conversation to check Quinn's wounds. "You will have scars on your back and from the puncture marks on your shoulders, but other than that, everything should heal up to normal. Judging that you kept the scar on your chest, I don't see that being a problem."

Quinn felt some embarrassment creep in. She didn't really like people looking at her chest, nurses or not. "It's a scar. Can't really get rid of it."

"Our mage surgeons have ways to make scar tissue heal back to regular tissue if the patient so likes. It would take quite a while on the one on your chest, but the shoulder and backs ones wouldn't take too long. Please lean forward."

The nurse lifted up her shirt and removed the dressings from her back. Quinn didn't even feel them, from how weak she was.

"The bleeding has slowed. You will want to avoid anything strenuous for three days to avoid reopening any wounds, a week if you plan on any more hunting after this. You can lean back." The nurse looked at the medical report on the clipboard she was holding. "Everything checks out. There are some pants and shirt in the closet by the bathroom here. Your personal effects were already sent to your home. Come back tomorrow and we will do a follow up, as well as heal any scars, if you like. Any questions at all?"

Quinn shook her head.

"Then good luck with your recovery, Miss Venandi." The nurse extended a hand, but not to Quinn. "Valor, it was a pleasure."

The eagle gripped her hand with his wing and gently shook it. The nurse smiled as she left the room.

"Valor, I think we need to have a talk about you trying to woo other women. First of all, you're a bird." Valor shrugged his shoulders. "Secondly, aren't you afraid I'll get jealous?" Another shrug. "Just try not to hit on Savannah as she helps me home."

Almost on cue, Savannah peeked her head in the doorway. "I heard my name?"

"Yeah, I'm cleared to go. Just need to get out of this gown and into some clothes."

"Sounds good."

Quinn gingerly swung her legs over the side of the bed, then sharply inhaled when her feet touched the floor. "God that's cold."

"You need help?"

Quinn shook her head as she shifted weight to her feet and got off the bed. Only a brief moment passed before her legs gave out under the strain. She grabbed the bed to stop the descent but didn't have the strength to even slow herself down.

Savannah was beside her quickly, holding her up. "I'll help. I don't think you can get dressed like this."

She blushed profusely. "No, I'll manage-"

"Miss Venandi, you can't even stand. You will never be able to get dressed by yourself. I'll help."

Feeling helpless and very exposed, Quinn tried to move as much as she could as Savannah took off the gown and starting dressing her.

"I certainly didn't think I would be dressing you today. You do have a really fit body though. Looks good, too."

Quinn found a way to blush even harder, and could not respond.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

Quinn quickly shook her head. "No... I... well, I don't like people... well, seeing me... "

"Naked?"

Her cheeks were on fire as she nodded.

"How will you ever find a guy then?"

"Not really concerned about a guy."

"Ah. Searching for a woman, then?"

"Haven't been concerned with that, either."

"Don't worry, there's plenty of time-"

Quinn cut her off. "Can we please stop talking?"

Savannah let a smirk escape her lips. "Okay."

After being dressed, and feeling her body temperature slowly drop once she was covered, Quinn stood beside Savannah, the redhead acting like a crutch as they made their way out of the hospital. More than a few looks were given to their eagle partner walking beside them, but Quinn didn't have the energy to rebuke them.

"How are you feeling?"

"Everything feels pretty difficult," she said as they started down the front steps, "like my body knows what I want to do, but just can't do it."

"Well, I hope you're up for speaking."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at her, one of the few things she could do without straining. Savannah gestured to a carriage waiting at the bottom of the steps with Xin Zhao standing there. He looked straight at her.

"Miss Venandi, your presence is required at Command. Miss Lhach, you are to continue to provide her assistance, so you will be coming as well."

Quinn slowly approached him. "Sir, I can't walk on my own. Can this wait?"

"An internal investigation has been opened as per regulations and they want to talk to you as soon as possible."

Great. She turned to Valor. "You can fly to the Buvelle's if you want, Val."

He shook his head and took to the air, gliding above her.

"Stubborn bird."

It was not a quick meeting, nor was it a pleasant meeting.

After Savannah left her in a room with a bunch of soldiers, they left to allow Prince Jarvan the Fourth and Xin Zhao to enter alone. Quinn told them everything about the mission until Valor was injured. She did her best to mask her emotions and the war in her head as she told them she eliminated the target. Describing it reminded her that she didn't kill Talon, but murdered him, though she kept that knowledge to herself, only telling them that Talon was dead. During the debriefing, however, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being judged the entire time.

After her account, Prince Jarvan the Fourth nodded. "Is there anything you would like to add?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure it was Talon."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

"No. Just guesses."

"We can investigate. Why do you think so?"

"Well, here was some master assassin that killed in the shadows and was maybe even cloaked. Nobody ever really saw him. Then he leaves a note and does an ambush? Talks almost the entire time and gives away his position? It doesn't make sense to me."

"Perhaps his overconfidence got the best of him. It's also possible he did not expect a pursuit and did not plan an ambush, and happened to find you before you found him."

"Yes, but it didn't feel like him."

Xin Zhao cleared his throat. "Have you ever encountered him before?"

"Not that I am aware of."

"No offense, Miss Venandi, but then how would you know?"

She was getting agitated. "I am just telling you what I felt." Her head started to swim, and she grabbed the table to stop from swaying.

"Apologies for putting you through this at this time. Was there anything else?"

Quinn thought for a moment, a difficult task, and shook her head.

Prince Jarvan the Fourth stood up. "Please leave us for a moment." Xin Zhao exited the room. Once the doors shut, Jarvan relaxed.

"I am sorry for this, Quinn. Barely a week into being accepted in the army you have been asked to spy on the country, ordered to hunt down an assassin, and nearly paid for it with your life."

"Kinda forgot about the spying honestly. I do want to serve Demacia. Just didn't expect a showdown with an assassin so quickly."

"Neither did I. I am glad you live, and we will take a look at all the info you gave us. Somebody is already on the way to check what remains of the body, and we will discuss the possibility that it wasn't Talon, though I fail to see the point of a false assassin."

"I only voiced what I thought."

"In front of me, many only voice what I want to hear. I would not do so in front of my father, but I appreciate it." He rose up. "I better go. You need some rest."

The carriage ride was swift, which Quinn was grateful for. Savannah looked around in a state of wonder. "The Buvelle Estate. How did you manage to get put up with them? Did you know them before? I heard you've only been in the area for like a week."

"We're pretty much friends."

Savannah got down from the carriage and helped Quinn in doing the same. "You have to introduce me to Sona. She's amazing."

She grimaced as she got both feet on the ground. "I can barely move. I won't promise anything."

"I hope you can." They slowly made their way to the front door. "Where is your room?"

Quinn opened her mouth, only to find she had no answer to give. "I'm don't remember right now. Better flag somebody down."

Savannah nodded as they walked into the mansion.

An elder butler bowed to the pair. "Miss Venandi, your clothes and armour arrived some time ago, and they have been put in your room. Was there anything you needed?"

"Yeah, can you show me where my room is? I'm not in the best of shapes right now."

"Of course, ma'am."

He began leading them when a soft clap from behind caught all of their attentions. Sona Buvelle, dressed in a lovely red dress, smiled at them all as she approached.

"Yes, Miss Buvelle?" the butler said.

Sona pointed to herself, then to Quinn, indicating she would show her the way.

"Of course, you wanted to know when she arrived. My apologies." He bowed and left.

Sona floated beside them, then gestured with her hand to continue moving at their slow pace. Quinn met her eyes as she did, and could not help matching Sona's smile. She felt at ease, even if her body objected to every movement.

That ease was quickly interrupted. "Maven of the Strings!" Savannah's eyes lit up as the songstress approached. "Sona Buvelle, what a pleasure. My name is Savannah Lhach, and I have been listening to your work for years now. I'm a big fan."

Quinn rolled her eyes, which still caused some strain, as Sona gave a small bow.

"Your beautiful rendition of Achilles' Last Stand, the epic that is The Prophet's Song, the moving What You Have To Do, they are some of my favourite pieces of music."

Quinn gently nudged her. "Before you swoon or start drooling, can we get me to my bed first?"

"Right." Savannah started moving forward at a faster pace. Quinn tried to keep up, but was very quickly losing energy to do so. The redhead noticed this and slowed down. "Sorry, got a little excited there."

A few moments later, Quinn was lying in the soft bed that she hated even more. It now emphasized her weakness, but she also couldn't deny the comfort it was giving. Savannah went to the side of the bed.

"I'm done for the night, getting you here, but I'll be here tomorrow to help out. Get your rest tonight and we'll see what we can do about getting you back walking on your own. Good night, Quinn." A quick salute was given as she walked out of the room.

Sona remained behind, a look of concern on her face. Quinn could guess at the questions. "You're wondering if I'm going to be okay?"

Sona nodded.

"Doctors said I should recover fully in a week or so. Just need to focus on rest, really. But I should be, yeah. Thanks Sona."

Sona smiled, then put a hand to her ear, cupping it. Quinn didn't quite understand until she mimicked a yell with her mouth. "Oh, okay. Yeah, if I need you, I will call for you. Thanks again."

Another comforting smile formed on Sona's lips as she left the room. Her movements were so fluid, so gentle. As Quinn's eyes closed, she could feel the small smile on her face. Something about that woman made her heartbeat just a little slower, and she fell asleep quickly.

It was not a peaceful rest that she fell into. Dreams of Talon taunting her, of Valor dying and his corpse shrivelling on the ground, of Quinn plunging daggers in and out of the man's chest. The scene played over and over again, always beginning differently, always ending the same. Quinn was above a mangled body, her clothing awash in blood, and a smile was on her face. A smile not from avenging Valor, but of enjoyment in the murder.

"I murdered one. Why stop there? All of Demacia's enemies need to die."

"No, they don't all need to die. But I want to kill them."

The smile grew. Quinn's eyes showed no emotion. Men, women, children, beasts appeared before her. Her arms moved with mechanical precision. Left. Right. Up. Down. Blood followed every movement. There was joy in the slaying.

A soft touch on her shoulder and her cheek. Sona and Valor appeared before her, worry written fully on their faces. Quinn smiled, a malicious smile: two more targets. No emotion was felt as her hands moved up, pointing a dagger at each of them. A lunge forward. There was little resistance when the blades entered their bodies. A step back allowed her to watch the blood flow out of the wounds, to watch as the life drained from their eyes. The shock of it brought Quinn out of her rampage. The daggers were pulled out and dropped to the ground.

"No!" Horror flooded her mind, shocking her out of her rampage. "No, not them!" she screamed out.

Staggering back, the ground disappeared, darkness collapsing everywhere until she hit the bottom. The dusk around her evaporated as Quinn found herself next to the bed at the Buvelle Estate. Sharp pain racked her entire body. She ignored it as she brought her hands up to her face. They were shaking uncontrollably, like the rest of her body, but they were covered in sweat, not blood. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her breathing quick and shallow, but there were no bodies nearby. A dream. It was just a terrible dream.

A blinding light made Quinn close her eyes, followed by a calming silence, telling her without any sound that Sona had entered the room and turned the light on. The clicking of talons on the floor indicated that Valor had followed. Surely both were concerned at the sounds coming from the room during the nightmare. As battered as her mind was, as weak as she felt, Quinn couldn't admit she needed help.

"I'm okay," she forced herself to say, looking up at Sona and Valor.

The looks from the pair told her they didn't buy it, but Quinn didn't care. A moment passed before the shaking of her body turned to shivering, caused by the sweat covering her skin. Grabbing the bed to pull herself up, she found her strength was still missing. Straining herself as much as possible only got Quinn a few inches off the ground before strength gave out, more pain felt when her hip again met the floor. She brought her knees to her chest and sat there, defeated by her own body, shivering without the warmth of blankets. None of it mattered right now. The only hope was that exhaustion would make the night pass.

"Just leave me," she muttered.

A soft hand brought her look up into the gentle eyes of Sona. Quinn was beginning to realize that every time she looked at this woman, her heart slowed down, everything became quieter. No matter how calm she was, Sona could still soothe her.

Shaking her head, Sona gestured the bed to Valor, then a circle. The eagle grasped the bedding in his talons and brought them to Quinn, wrapping her snuggly in them. Sona withdrew from the room and returned with her etwahl. She sat on the bed and appeared to think as Quinn looked at her beautiful form, realizing she was in a nightgown. Quinn's dream must have woken her. Such beauty shouldn't be disturbed by a ranger with a nightmare.

"I'm sorry for waking you," Quinn said.

A smile met the apology, that calm smile. Quinn regretted saying it, only because it seemed that she didn't need to, like Sona already knew she was sorry, and she didn't mind. The songstress put her hands over her instrument and began to strum the strings, slowly, softly. Quinn's mind cleared as the music became all she could think about. Her breath became slower, her eyelids heavy, and she slept deeply. She did not dream again that night.

Only candlelight illuminated the room. Two lone figures met in the darkness.

"The body is burned beyond recognition. We cannot tell for sure who it is. There was a struggle, I cannot confirm much more than that."

"So it could be him, or it could not be. That's not the answer we need."

"We need to discuss this with everybody."

"Agreed. We meet tomorrow. We will discuss her fate."