A month passed since they begun training with the Laurents, and Lux did manage to make some headway in getting Fiora to open up a little more.
She smiled thinking about the little moments of satisfaction and pride whenever the blonde executed a perfect maneuver, or their little back-and-forth jests the duelist appeared completely aggravated by but didn't let them bother her any more than that. Lux knew better and restrained her enthusiasm in trying to crack Fiora open and read her like a book, and her optimism slowly chipped away at her resistances. Even her offers to help with some smaller things like tucking a book away on the bookshelf in her office space or delivering a letter to one of her businesses within Demacia was slowly earning favors from the woman herself, and it would only be a matter of time before she could start asking bigger questions.
Lux sat up suddenly, a frown on her lips. I'm... kind of treating her like Sylas, aren't I?
The blonde desperately wanted that notion out of her brain. Of course it was the only way she knew to get people to open up to her, and the pacing reminded her all too much of the rogue mage currently on the loose. But... Fiora's different, right?
Certainly she wouldn't be dealing with mages like Sylas.
Yet, another part of her feared Fiora was capable of any sort of magic.
The Mageseekers have already tried twice to seek her out. What if...
Lux shook her head vehemently. There was no time or space to dwell on such negative thoughts. Fiora proved to be vastly different from Sylas, needing no guidance or requiring anything from her except her punctual attendance and effort. Not to mention the duelist was definitely easy on the eyes – she could see why so many men flocked to her doorsteps in attempts to woo and marry the young woman.
Her mind drifted from the Laurent manor to her current situation.
Augatha proved to be a much harder person to deal with however, expected of a mother watching her with eagle eyes. Information came at a slow trickle as Lux filtered out a lot of things that could raise any sort of red flags. The lack of information there of didn't concern her nearly as much as the tensions rising within the household, especially between her mother and friend.
She needed to see Eyrin, now.
Sitting up from her bed, she slipped out of the covers and put on her shoes. Lux so badly wanted to use her magic to conceal herself, as guards would question why the young Crownguard was awake at such an ungodly hour of the night. As she stole a glance out her door, she nearly yelped when someone came face to face with her and a hand clasped over her mouth. "Shhhhh, you'll wake the guards!"
Lux pulled the hand from her mouth before yanking the other woman into her room. "Wake?! Are they actually sleeping?!"
"Yes, and you can quit whispering. Even the walls sleep, so we're safe." Lux rolled her eyes at the poor joke, but smiled regardless. "What are you still doing up?"
"I could ask the same."
Eyrin avoided meeting Lux's gaze, rubbing her arm nervously. The drastic shift in her mood didn't go unnoticed. "Couldn't sleep."
Lux bit her lip. Motherly instincts surfaced and she fought the urge to cave in. "Neither could I."
"Thinking about them?"
Silence hung in the air.
"Yes," she admitted though her gaze remained trained on the raven-haired woman. "And you."
Eyrin smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. Again, that smile. "Don't worry about me Lux. I'm just having a hard time adjusting to all of this."
"Nera isn't working you too hard, is she?" While she knew the servant wouldn't go as far as to push her to the point of hurting herself, Nera was still a possible factor in all of this.
The raven-haired woman shook her head, plopping herself onto the blonde's bed without invitation. "She's worked me to the point I don't even need to think most days."
"Clearly it isn't working if you're still awake."
Eyrin rolled onto her back and stared up at Lux. Something bothered her and Lux couldn't pinpoint it. Her attempts at positivism failed to mask the empty gaze she wore at nearly all hours of the day. Her mother had to be involved somehow, and Lux was determined not to let this chance slip away. She leaned in and cupped the other woman's cheeks gently. "Eyrin, you know you mean a lot to me, right?"
The warmth in her smile eased a bit of the ache in Lux's heart-
"Yeah, you tell me just about everyday."
-but not enough.
The blonde leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Eyrin's forehead, her voice barely above a hoarse whisper. "Please, trust me. I don't want to lose any more people in my life."
Lux retreated when Eyrin sat up. Neither spoke in fear of shattering the atmosphere between them.
Conflict flashed through her eyes. The blonde would wait however long necessary until she came to her own decisions.
From a pocket at her side, the raven-haired woman pulled out a small flask, hardly larger than her palm, and uncapped it slowly. "Do not drink this, but I need to confirm something. Can you smell anything?"
Lux received the flask, barely bringing it within range before holding it at a safe distance. "Ugh, what the hell is that? The same tea Nera had?"
Eyrin didn't reply. At least not immediately as she fell silent once more.
The cogs in Lux's head turned slowly at her own words. "Wait, they're similar aren't they?"
"Mhmm."
A frowned formed. "Eyrin, what was used to make that?"
"Petricite."
Lux's heart skipped a beat.
"Eyrin," the blonde began, her voice barely above a whisper. "Are you... can you use magic?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure." Eyrin clenched her fist and closed her eyes. "But what other reason would I be forced to drink something like this?"
Her stomach twisted into sickening knots. She knew her mother had the capacity to be a cruel and unforgiving woman, but abusing others with something so inhumane? Eyrin wouldn't consume that kind of elixir of her own volition and given her reactions up to that point, it made sense why she always felt distant, withdrawn. Lux rose from her place on the other side of the bed only to join her friend and wrapped her up in a tight hug.
"Eyrin...thank you."
She felt the body underneath her crumble and hands gripped the back of her nightdress tightly. They remained like that for quite some time, Lux offering quiet reassurances as tears stained her front until the shaking subsided and her crying came forth in nothing but small sniffles.
When they pulled away, Lux saw exhaustion. Bags under her eyes, the thin crease of her lips, the haunted look behind those eyes. She cupped her face and smiled when Eyrin's hands covered her own. "Feeling better?"
The raven-haired woman nodded numbly. "Loads. Like a mountain off my shoulders."
"Well, seeing as it'll be difficult for you to return to your room at this point, might as well stay here and try to catch a small nap?" The sky was no longer dark, but deep blue like the oceans. Lux was tempted to crawl into bed and offer Eyrin the covers.
The woman didn't move, and neither did Lux.
"I have some information to share. Things I've kept to myself, and honestly you should know."
Shaking off the creeping vestiges of sleep, Lux grabbed one of her pillows and offered another to Eyrin. "We've got the rest of the morning. I'm all ears."
Okay, so when Eyrin said "some information" in reality she meant so much that Lux had a hard time trying to map everything out inside her head. A lot of her revelations confirmed suspicions on what her mother did when Lux wasn't around, but much of them raised more questions than answers.
Especially in regards to Laurent.
"First off – I want you to stop drinking those petricite elixirs my mother has been giving you."
Eyrin laughed bitterly. "Easier said than done. Whenever she summons me, I'm not permitted to leave until I do one of two things – drink the elixir, or give her the information she demands."
Lux rolled her eyes. "You mean give her information she wants to hear. Because as far as I'm concerned, she's vindictive and will do anything to confirm her own biases. I wish you told me sooner about this."
"You have your own demons haunting you Lux." The raven-haired woman smiled tenderly, a warmth the blonde hadn't seen in a very long time. "From the moment she assigned me as your aide, I knew you had a long road ahead of you. I thought staying away, or at least keeping myself distant meant less of a chance for me to risk compromising you."
Lux glared at her with a stink eye.
"I'm glad I was wrong."
"Very much so. I think we can both agree on that one. Secondly, we need to figure out what kind of magic you possess."
Eyrin switched from the bed to Lux's chair and draped herself over it haphazardly. "If I had any inkling, I'd tell you in a heartbeat. Unfortunately I don't remember much of my own childhood and anything that stems from it."
"That one can take its time." Lux dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "As long as we keep it under wraps, we'll be fine. Thirdly-"
"-oh shit." Lux nearly fell out of bed when Eyrin cursed – she never swore. "We're going to be late."
The blonde glanced at the clock and bolted up herself.
They were going to be late. Really late, and Fiora would not be happy about that.
