A/N: Told you I'd be back soon.
Cloudwoods was exactly as she last remembered it – lofty trees provided generous shade with their wide canopies. The flora remained evergreen no matter what time of the year and it always brought Fiora some measure of peace from the eggshells she walked over on a day-to-day basis. What did stand out different from her previous visit was a persistent mist obscuring their vision to just a few paces in front of them. If not for the well-worn path cut between the trees, one could easily lose themselves in its quiet.
It allowed Fiora's mind to wander.
"You should take this."
Fiora blinked at the small, brown package held up to her face. Whatever it was, Lux clearly appeared embarrassed so she accepted with the smallest of smiles. "Shall I open it now then?"
In front of the other two? Sayo took keen interest in their exchange and even Noah set aside his grumpiness in favor of watching. "I- well, you don't have to but.."
"Open it then," encouraged the white-haired Illuminator, ducking as the blonde threw a book in her direction. "Hey, I like having a head!"
The duelist tutted softly as she pulled apart the strings binding the brown paper. It unfurled easily and soft silk slipped between her fingers. She grabbed it before it escaped and the material unfolded in a cascade of white and gold on one side, while the other had two symbols embroidered on a light-grey background.
More importantly – her house symbol.
Lux gauged Fiora's wordless reaction as a good sign. The duelist turned it over in her hands once to inspect it carefully. "I kind of had to guess the length. You're a bit tall and it might be shorter than your other ones, but seeing as you're a big part of us now, it might come in handy down the road."
Indeed. She'd seen guards allow them unquestioned passage into horror-stricken towns and even prominent homes receive the Illuminators well upon seeing their crest. It was proudly displayed on one side of the cape, and she felt that much closer to the blonde.
"D...do you like it?"
Fiora smiled.
"J'aime cela."
"Washer for your thoughts?" Fiora blinked once, Sayo's voice breaking her reverie as she pulled up next to her. "You slowed down a bit."
Subconsciously, she tugged at the cape draped across her lap. The white-haired woman took notice and offered a supportive grin. "It was sweet of her to do that, especially after what you did in Terbisia."
"I have many more," Fiora reminded gently. It was a part of her signature look, one she dared anyone try and copy. "But this-"
"-means a lot," Sayo finished.
Yeah... It does.
"What was the name of that village again, Fiora?" The duelist retrieved a map from one of her saddle pockets. Once she got her bearings, she traced their path to a small dot on the map. "Rowena, we're close."
As if calling upon the town itself, the mist lightened up and the trio could only stare on in shock.
What the hell happened here?
Fiora kept Lucette at a slow trot when they passed through the shattered remains of Rowena's front gates. Aside from being blasted to smithereens, no additional damage to the surrounding could be found. The other two fanned out to on either side, only to find those buildings devoid of life as well.
"This doesn't make any sense." Sayo huffed as she kicked her horse to catch up with Fiora. "Surely someone remained behind. Demacians don't just abandon their homes without a fight."
"Yet there are no signs of conflict aside from a broken gate." Noah's comment only confirmed the strange air surrounding Rowena. No scuffles, no blood, nothing.
Her stomach churned uneasily. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she called out and let her voice echo through the streets and the trees. "Is there anyone present?"
Only the faint echo of her voice answered back.
Fiora frowned. The town felt empty, yet full.
Something caught her eye – a shadow, further down the road. She dismounted from her horse as the figure drew closer until they were in visible distance. "Hail, who goes there?"
They didn't reply.
Fiora breathed with relief when she saw the person's clothes – white and blue with the town's crest embroidered on the sash running across her shoulders. Young, though definitely older than Fiora herself. A thick braid tamed wild, black hair, and her skin showed signs of being out in the fields often. Deep brown eyes haunted her with the emptiness within. "Are you... alright?"
"You said you are with the Illuminators?" Despite her gaunt look, her voice came out smooth, velvety. Rich tones touched her words like a seasoned story-teller.
"Yes," she confirmed with a polite bow. "I am Fiora Laurent, but I am here on behalf of the Illuminators as well."
"Fiora..." the woman whispered her name like a prayer. "I am Delilah. Come, we have much to discuss."
The home Delilah welcomed them into definitely belonged to 'Wisteria', yet from the last time she was here, Fiora didn't recall the extra rooms added to the back of the store. The woman led them through a hall branching off in a few directions, and paused before knocking on the only closed one at the end of it. "Hija?"
The duelist recognized the accent and language – Delilah was from a Shuriman tribe. She pushed open the door quietly as it swung open to reveal the room's contents.
Fiora felt like she walked into a kaleidoscope of colors and it disoriented her briefly trying to absorb it all at once.
Unlike most homes with bare walls save important memorabilia and photos, paintings and blueprints covered every inch of space available. A desk in the corner held a variety of contraptions and some Fiora recognized as tools, but far more advanced and upgraded beyond their stone-and-metal variants. The only other piece of furniture inside the room save a bed was a single stool, and upon it sat an incredibly, striking young woman. She couldn't have been more than fourteen, fifteen.
And looked near a damn exact copy of Delilah, except younger.
"Hija, we have some visitors." The woman glanced up from the odd contraption in her hands, hazel eyes locking with Fiora's in a moment of tense scrutiny.
Mesmerizing, intense. The duelist could feel them burning into her soul and stripping away her mindl until only her essence remained.
I've seen those eyes before...
"You made it this far," Dignified, graceful, though an octave higher than Delilah's. It was clear she was the woman's daughter. "You've earned a bit of trust, I suppose."
Fiora's guard dropped slightly. Unlike herself, this girl instinctively placed her trust in strangers she barely met.
"Mi amor, this is Fiora Laurent."
"Fiora Laurent? Really?" The woman slid off her stool and stood face-to-face with Fiora. The duelist had to look down to maintain eye contact, but clearly the only thing she wanted to do was inspect her from head to toe.
"Ma was right – she's a nice person." Fiora nearly sputtered from the sudden conclusion. What on earth brought on that kind of conjecture?! She opened her mouth to ask where the hell she came up with that, but stopped short when she pointed to the cape draping off her shoulder. "I've yet to meet a bad soul within the Illuminators. Rough ones, but never seen a malicious person. You're probably one of the nicer ones they have. Mages tend to be that way."
Word after word, she continued to leave the duelist at a loss for words. Even Sayo fell speechless, and Noah looked a little green around the gills.
"You might have to do something 'not-nice' though," She muttered, returning to her tinkering. Her back faced them when she hopped on her stool. "They took Ma, from mamá. That wretched mage-devil. What was his name again? Mad Max? Grabby Hands? Dude with the stupid collar and chains dangling off him like some sort of masochist."
Sylas.
"I apologize for my daughter's eccentricity." They gathered in the kitchen with Delilah bringing around some refreshment. It was only water but given they hadn't stopped until they reached Rowena, it brought relief. Her hospitality kept nervous energy at bay, for the time being. "She hasn't left town since Mina vanished."
Fiora hummed in thoughtful understanding. "I cannot blame her. I've heard of Sylas' rampage through the kingdom with his band of mages."
"She... I..." The woman sat down in a nearby chair and buried her face in her hands. Her entire body shook and Noah dragged his chair over to comfort said woman. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't sent her away, if I hadn't fallen in love with Mina, none of this would have happened."
Love... So Delilah was Wisteria's lover? "Nothing can change that now. What did you mean by 'send away'?"
"Mi hija," Delilah began. The tenderness in her eyes spoke volumes of the unconditional love for her daughter. "Gifted, brilliant, but her talents were being wasted away here in Demacia. Her father ruled us with an iron hand and tried to groom her into being something she had no desire to be." Fiora bit back a growl, anger and bitterness simmering under her skin. She loathed the amount of power the patriarchy had in their current time.
"When Kepi's magic began to surface, he was keen on bringing her to the Mageseekers himself. I couldn't understand why he would try to condemn such a beautiful gift." Delilah paused, thanking Noah when he offered a small cloth to wipe her tears away. "I suppose it is beautiful, depending on what end of her magic you are on. She takes after the wind, much like her namesake."
Sayo bit the bullet before Fiora could. "What does it mean?"
"'Tempest' in an ancient Shuriman language. But Mina always called her Kebi, 'honey', like the nectar of the most breathtaking flowers Kepi grew."
Fiora let her words sink in – she couldn't close her heart to such a heartfelt memory from a doting mother.
"She tried to shield me, my little Kepi. He blamed me for her defiance, and when his rage turned physically violent, she blasted him into a wall and whisked us far away from home. We had nothing when we wandered, relying on the good graces of whomever we came across. Some... weren't so kind, demanding something more intimate before they 'helped'." Bile rose in Fiora's throat and she couldn't understand how people could be so unkind to a pair of lost women. "I never let them touch her – she was only just a child."
Noah huffed, and Fiora swore she saw the slightest bit of smoke billow from his nostrils. "Demacia is riddled with as much impurity as the white slates they strive so hard to keep."
Delilah nodded. "We wandered for a few weeks, with no direction. She kept telling me we needed to keep walking, keep going. I didn't mind it as much as she did, but she never told me in front of my face. Do you know how much it pains a mother to watch their own child suffer for them?" She squeezed her eyes shut and released a shaky breath.
"That's when we came across Mina. She traveled the same way we were walking and offered us a ride. When she asked where we were headed, Kepi told her 'away from monsters.' Mina took her in her lap and let her ride like that the entire way to Rowena. I've never seen her fall asleep so soundly.
"She offered us a small home, a sanctuary to rest our weary souls. We didn't have much to offer except our hands, but she told us they would be enough. She'd just come back after seeking audience with a noble house and securing their support."
"House Laurent," Sayo breathed. What a small world they lived in.
"Sí, and Mina taught us, helped us learn what we needed so we could repay her kindness. Kepi was so happy and content, eager to help her out whenever she could. But Mina wasn't so keen on keeping her around. It was hard for us to send my little girl away, but she was safer in Piltover. She was free from persecution just because of the blood in her veins. She was free to grow and be a woman of her own. She is young, but wiser than many elders combined." Delilah hugged herself and shook her head.
"Mina missed her every minute she was gone. She loved her as dearly as if she were her own. And when Sylas took her away, Kepi came home the same night, saying the winds told her to return."
The duelist couldn't shake the feeling somewhere out there, the Gods were watching their every move and arranging them to cross paths. She pursed her lips as one more thing crossed her mind, drawn back to those hazel eyes. "I apologize for interrupting but... Her father wouldn't happen to be related to a man named Kasim, would he?"
Delilah's eyes widened in shock. "Yes, he is her father – my ex-husband. How did you-"
"Kepi's eyes. I saw them once, in him. I slew him when he insulted my name some months ago."
"He's...dead?" The breath of relief from her was... well, somewhat warranted. "I never heard from him again, since we left but I am glad to hear he is no more."
"Father is gone?" All eyes went to Kepi, who leaned on the door frame with arms crossed over her chest. It reminded Fiora so much of herself, watching Nera, Eyrin, and Lux sit around the island in her kitchen. The teenager gazed upon her, eyes wide and curious. "You killed him?"
How could one respond to such a question. How could one tell a child they slew their father?
Fiora only knew one way – directly. "I did."
Kepi smiled, much to her relief. "Good riddance. He hurt mamá and I didn't like it. I like you a lot though, Fiora." The young woman hopped up on one of the counters and crossed her legs, swinging them idly. "You know Ma knows magic, else why would you be here with the Illuminators?"
"I worked with her a long time ago." Giving support as one of the major noble houses in Demacia put 'help' extremely lightly. "She is a good friend to myself and another important person."
Kepi braced her arms against the counter as she leaned forward. "Smart. Very good." She held up her hands and between them, a small vortex of wind began to appear. It was small, but Fiora could feel the breeze pick up. "See, the Wind blows a certain way, and I can hear her whispers. She warned me someone was coming so I asked her who. She didn't tell me his name, but she told me he would demand Ma's help or else he'd drain our town dry of magic."
The petricite chains.
"Since Ma was taken, the townsfolk were worried he would come back for more. He can see magic, but the mist he can't see through. It's because it's our magic, and it's everywhere."
Sayo raised her hand. "Question – who are you referring to by 'us'?"
Kepi smiled mischievously. "I have friends in high places." She pointed up towards the ceiling. "Very high places. The Wind isn't my only friend."
Fiora frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. There was a disconnect somewhere, and she knew there was one more piece of information that would tie it all together in one picture.
"So I told the other people to look for a new place for now, in case he came back looking for more people to torment. I know he's not hurting Ma, he needs her, but the townspeople don't really know that."
"Rowena became a ghost town, as a misdirection," Sayo concluded. Fiora arrived at that the same time she did. "And if this mist really is magical mist, then not even the military would be capable of penetrating the fog. Not even those with magic can, unless-"
"-they're needed."
Fiora looked between Noah and Sayo. The pieces fell together.
"I led you here." Because they needed me here.
"The hands of fate sure are interesting." Kepi's interruption brought them back to the matter at hand. Somewhere, Sylas was holding Mina captive. "Ma, like some of you here, is a rare sort of person. There's not many healer-mages and she's one of them."
Fiora could count two on one hand – Sona and Mina.
"I don't know where he is, but until Ma comes home, I'm not going back to Piltover. So, Miss Fiora."
The duelist found herself staring at Kepi. A thin thread of trust bound them together. Shared goals, shared similarities. And Fiora's her heart swelled with pride, seeing Kepi defy the laws that shackled people like them.
Like herself.
"Bring Ma home safely for me, okay? I don't want to see mamá upset anymore."
Fiora smiled confidently. "I promise you, mon cher. I swear upon my family name I will bring her back."
