Chapter 1:
"Get up." Riven groaned as she felt Irelia pull the bed covers off her.
"You might not need sleep but I do." Riven quipped back at the Ionian who loomed over her with a raised eyebrow waiting for Riven to finally get out of bed.
"You'll be late if I don't make you get out of bed now." Riven rolled back over on the bed in protest which was met with Irelia's hand grabbing her right ankle, tugging her off the bed.
"Alright, alright." She conceded as Irelia tossed her commanders uniform at her, urging her to get dressed. Riven stood up from where she had been pulled onto the floor, forcing herself to get changed into the uniform Irelia had thrown at her before she headed downstairs for some food before she left.
Riven had been training Ionian soldiers for several months now, five days a week she would train soldiers who were anything from brand new inductees to experienced commanders on how to fight Noxians and what their tactics were. Training Ionian soldiers was a strange experience for Riven due to the mentality in the military being so different; the only similarity was a sense of patriotism and love for their homeland. The Noxian military focused on the strength of particular individuals where Ionia focused on the collective, working with each other. It was a quality that Riven was beginning to understand and appreciate but it was taking time.
She spent the day having the current group of soldiers she was training running through drills. Riven had noticed early on after taking this position that many of the Ionian soldiers lacked training in close quarter combat, being allowed to rely heavily on weapons or abilities that they may have. She knew that many of the soldiers that came through her training hated the intensity of Riven's instructions, forcing them to train at a level they had never done before. What Riven hadn't realised before taking this position would be how frustrating it would be to teach others. She had lead others before, she used to be a commander, but she lead people who had received the exact same training as her and lived with the same cultural values of individual strength and hard work even to a fault.
"Alright, stop there. I'll see you all tomorrow." She said, ending the training early for the day. Some of them just weren't getting it, it wasn't just frustrating her but it was frustrating them as well. She needed to come back with another approach.
When Riven returned home for the evening, she found Irelia sitting at the dining table with paper work spread out all in front of her. She watched the Ionian work away as she removed her rune sword and the few pieces of armour she ever wore.
"How was it?" Irelia asked without lifting her gaze from the papers in front of her. Riven responded with a frustrated grunt as she walked into the kitchen, looking for something to drink. "That bad?"
"They're just not getting it. I don't know what's wrong with this group."
"You say that about every group of soldiers you train, love. It always works out in the end."
"I know, I know." Riven said as she emerged from the kitchen, a cup of water in hand. "It's just tough, everything here is so different." Irelia gave her an affectionate but empathetic smile before rising from the table and moving to her, running her fingers up and down Riven's bicep in a comforting manner.
"I know it's hard. Ionia is far from being anything like Noxus but it'll get better, I promise."
"Tell me why I agreed to do this job again?" Riven asked playfully, a slight smile playing on her lips. Irelia had always been good at improving her mood.
"I don't know, something about loving me I think is what you said." Irelia replied before pressing her lips to Riven's cheek.
"Oh yeah, that."
"Come sit with me while I finish off my work then I'll make some dinner." Riven nodded before following Irelia back to the dining table, taking a seat next to her. She squinted at the papers in front of her, Irelia had spent the last several months teaching Riven to read not just in the common tongue but also in Ionian and her skill had greatly improved but she still struggled with larger words of which the reports in front of them contained many. Riven rested her head against the table, letting out an exasperated sigh as Irelia carded her fingers gently through Riven's hair. "It'll get better, love. I promise."