"And what did you learn of Laurent?"

"Eccentric, perhaps. A brilliant duelist and a genius in her own right." Lux couldn't help but compliment her in the most subtle ways possible, though she was quick to add more. "She is secretive. It will take time to extract more from her. Gaining her trust was the most vital aspect of the meeting."

Augatha reclined in her chair, surveying Lux with a critical eye. A long sigh left her as she placed her book on the side table. "Surely she isn't that difficult to befriend."

"Much harder than one would assume," Stern eyes forced Eyrin back into silence. The blonde internally frowned at this treatment, especially when her mother gave her friend a disdainful look. Despite how much she trusted her friend, the feeling wasn't entirely mutual – at least mutual enough to confide in the blonde. Lux suspected something happened between Eyrin and her mother, for her to be treated with a harsher hand than most the other servants within the house.

She offered some supportive words nonetheless. "Eyrin has a point – she is harder to navigate than one would expect. Even I was a bit uncertain of how to proceed without seeming like I'd give something away. And her servant is even more adept at reading messages between the lines."

"Who... is this 'servant' you speak of?" Lux feared she may have spilled too much and tried to come up with a suitable answer to deflect any more questions. "A well-traveled woman. Capable of speaking several languages, and difficult to find her away from Laurent's side."

The Crownguard matron tutted quietly. "I see. I was hoping we'd be able to get to more direct answers, but if Laurent is guarding herself this carefully, we may be prying too closely and too quickly. Our actions may be drawing her suspicions."

"It is why I chose a safer route. Like a river, the flow only changes with time. It may take days, weeks, perhaps months but I must gain more trust from Laurent. After all, she bears a bitter mark on her name and Crownguard isn't in her favors."

Augatha stood up from her seat, prompting Eyrin and the younger Crownguard to follow suit. "Very well. The Mageseekers will be displeased with the news but perhaps this is an opportunity to plant the seeds. I assume you will have your own agenda with completing your task?"

Lux nodded, bowing her head humbly. "Yes Mother. I will have to follow what she requests, and very likely will be unable to attend most of my normal duties outside of the Illuminators."

"The Illuminators will always be the exception, Luxanna. This takes priority over everything else." The matron placed a hand on Lux's shoulder, squeezing it a bit too tightly for her comfort. This is going to be a blast... "You will continue to operate as you have with Laurent. See to it that the first sign of anything is reported back to me."

"Of course Mother."

"That will be all. You are dismissed." Lux was quick to leave the room, but Eyrin did not share the same fate.

"You. Stay."

The raven-haired woman froze on the spot with her hand on the door handle. Fear enveloped her entirety as Augatha called her out, but she willed herself to stay composed. "Yes, milady?"

"Close the door."

Eyrin slowly turned to the older woman,. She pulled the door close with a quiet click.

"Need I remind you of your place?"

"No, milady." She knew her 'place' was at Lux's side, to catch whatever lies she may produce while confronting her mother. Dancing around Augatha was much harder than trying to tame a silverwing raptor. The only thing she could do was pray her resolve wouldn't break.

Augatha tapped her fingers on her arm, and Eyrin stared down at her feet.

She hoped she wouldn't have to drink this time.

"Has she spun any tales of what transpired?"

"Not of lies, milady." Augatha paused her drumming. "The servant she speaks of is a refugee of the Noxian-Ionian war."

"Hm. If so, then she may be someone we must watch carefully." Eyrin gulped as Augatha began pacing the room. "Many refugees seeking asylum within Demacia carried magic. Did she show any signs of it?"

"No," she responded immediately, clearing her throat to further clarify. "She may be of military descent. High aptitude for combat but otherwise appeared unattuned to any sort of magic."

"Very well. Is there anything else?"

"No, milady."

"Then you are dismissed. The next time you report, I better have answers."


"So fencing lessons for me, and hand-to-hand combat for you." Eyrin smiled when Lux flopped face first on her bed. "Sounds like a boring way to spend however long we're going to be doing this for."

The raven-haired woman sat on the opposite side of Lux and ruffled blonde hair, much to the mage's displeasure. "I'm certain it will be better spent on this rather than a bunch of meetings with overly dressed politicians."

"Eugh, don't remind me." Lux rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling before meeting Eyrin's eyes. "I'm just... I don't exactly know what to make of what Fiora said. She told me she wanted to teach me, but I don't know what I'm supposed to gain from this aside from her vote of confidence."

The other woman went quiet, digesting all the information before joining Lux in her defeated position. "To be honest, I don't either. All this rebellion and fighting have begun testing everyone and I feel like your mother may be a tad bit paranoid. I don't think the Laurents are really capable of magic."

"You say that," the blonde began, propping herself up on her elbows. "And yet Nera had petricite flowers in her garden. It's one thing if it's an exotic or rare flower, but why petricite specifically?"

Eyrin wasn't too certain where Lux was going with this, nor did she want to know.


Nera collected the papers scattered across Fiora's desk, sifting through them and placing them in the appropriate folders. Normally not one to rifle through the contents of her mistress' work, she couldn't help but catch a few familiar names and one strikingly familiar – as well as odd.

"What do you make of this?" The snowy-haired woman slowly set the sheets down. Her eyes met Fiora's, said woman leaning in the doorway to her office. There were days Nera wished Fiora wasn't so damn tied to her work to the point she practically slept next to it.

"I'm not sure what to think milady. Strings are taught and one mistake will make the entire structure collapse. These-" Nera pointed to the folders the duelist was working on earlier. "- toe a very thin line of being discovered. We must act carefully or else we risk being sucked into the maelstrom."

Fiora sighed and ran a had through her hair. They shared a few late nights together like this, but this was the first time she took a step forward into something unknown. "So many moving parts, and not enough hands to cover it."

The snowy-haired woman silently agreed. This entire endeavor would cost them a lot of time and resources. Money wasn't the issue, but time they only had so much of and all of it was precious.

"What about this one then?"

Fiora strode up to the desk, briefly glancing at the sheet but shook her head. "She was just a consideration... as an ally. She can be trusted."

Nera raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Oui. Looks are deceiving."

She closed her eyes, letting her thoughts collect. Today had been exhausting, and tomorrow didn't look much better considering what was on their plates. "We should discuss this tomorrow, or at least when we don't look like hell."

Neither seemed to be in the mood to argue against that notion. Nera gave a last glance at the only document left on the desk after bidding Fiora good night.

'Buvelle'


A/N and Afterthoughts: First off, I deeply apologize for the short chapter and for the delayed update. Work drained me of any sort of creativity and I hit a small hiccup in how I wanted to proceed with this story. I have a general outline of how it's supposed to go, but a few things prevented me from writing out a full chapter compared to the previous ones.

Secondly, I would like to thank you guys for being patient and following me as I go through this journey of writing my first League fanfic. Trying to stay as close to the lore as possible means a lot of moving parts constantly, and that makes it even harder to keep consistent characters. There may be some chapters were it doesn't quite involve main pairing interactions, as it lays out groundwork and foundations for the plot to progress.

Thirdly, I'd like to extend my gratitude to Dreamfang, for leaving a well-written and thought-provoking review to this fanfiction thus far. It has given me a bit of insight to my own writing and I've taken into consideration with removing a few things and adding others in for consistency and readability. I will probably go back and edit the previous chapters to reflect this, however for now and from here on out sentences should flow a little more clearly. This also applies to the OCs, more specifically Eyrin, where her purpose and meaning will surface in the near future.

As always, thank you for taking time out of your day to read this fanfic! I appreciate the heck out of you, for your valued attention!