"So I heard you got into a fight with Jarvan yesterday." Alicia said, sitting back in the chair, watching as Shyvana messed with her food rather than eating it. Electricity seemed to jolt through the dragoness as she started and looked to Alicia, a frown marring her face. After a few moments, Shyvana nodded somberly and dropped her gaze back down to lap, her shoulders rising and falling in a heavy sigh as she continued to pick at the sandwiches that Alicia had brought for the dragoness. "I knew something had happened, but this doesn't seem like you at all."
"I'm not hungry." Shyvana said with a small voice, though she was promptly interrupted by the sound of her stomach rumbling. Alicia giggled lightly as the dragoness blushed and glanced away from the sandwiches.
"Shyvana, I'm sure that whatever happened between the two of you was only just a little bump. Everything will turn out fine." Alicia said soothingly, brushing a few fingers through her snowy white hair, her china-like pale skin gleaming in the mid morning light as she smiled prettily at the dragoness. Shyvana met her gaze for a few moments, staring into the gunny's red eyes, watching somberly as Alicia's smile faded and she pushed herself to her feet. "I can see how much you've been crying, Shy." Alicia dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed. "Your eyes are red and puffy, and your cheeks are streaked. Your sleeves are stained with tears and are still damp to the touch." Alicia patted the dragoness's hand reasuuringly. "Surely it can't be that bad."
"It was horrible." Shyvana said quietly, her voice strained as she struggled not to break into tears. Her voice was meek and frail, almost raspy from her crying. "I said a lot of things I shouldn't have and I heard some things I wasn't supposed to. It couldn't have been worse!"
"Easy now, Shyvana." Alicia said softly, pulling the dragoness closer and stroking her hair gently as she embraced the young woman. Shyvana's lip quivered for a few moments and she wrapped her arms around the gunny, weeping onto her shoulder. "Go ahead, Shyvana. Take your time, I'm not going anywhere." Several long minutes passed as Shyvana wept and whimpered, leaning heavily on the gunny while the white haired solider cooed and stroked the dragoness's hair quietly, comforting the young woman. Shyvana finally sat up slightly, tears still streaking her cheeks and staining Alicia's shoulders.
"Feel a bit better now?" Alicia asked gently, holding Shyvana at half arms length, sitting next to her. The dragoness shook her head ruefully but there was a thin smile on her face as Alicia smiled broadly. "Come on now, it's not going to do anyone any good if you don't eat. Delancey told me you should be eating plenty, and I don't think even Jarvan, no matter how big an ass he's being right now, wouldn't want you to eat."
"Alright." Shyvana nodded weakly, looking up to Alicia sheepishly.
"Good." Alicia said, laughing as Shyvana's stomach rumbled again, the dragoness blushing a slightly darker shade of red. "Come now, eat, eat, and you can tell me about your woes and I can tell you how best to capture the heart of your prince charming." Shyvana accepted the package from Alicia, laying the array of colorful papers out in her lap. Shyvana unwrapped a sandwich, sniffing at the light-colored meat and dark bread, finally tearing into the sandwich ravenously. Alicia laughed aloud. "Now that's more like the Shyvana I know."
The first sandwich disappeared in a matter of seconds, and the second didn't last much longer. Alicia, wearing an impressed smile, poured a glass of water for the dragoness from a pitcher that had been provided on the side table, one of the few things that had escaped the wrath of Delancey and Forsythe's battle. The dragoness accepted the cup and then downed it in a single go, sighing heavily as she hunched over, struggling to catch her breath from the food and drink she had just inhaled.
"That was tasty..." Shyvana murmured softly, a content look on her face as her breathing slowed. Her shoulder rose and fell in a happy sigh and she laid back, letting the colored paper roll of of her bed and hit the floor.
"Feeling a bit better now?" Alicia asked with a smirk, eying Shyvana as the dragoness laid back and closed her eyes, nodding her head happily. "Good. Now speak. It doesn't do you any good to hold it in."
"I know..." Shyvana looked down at her lap glumly, a frown creasing her face. "I just... It all happened so fast, feeling were on edge..."
"It doesn't matter how it happened if it hurts you." Alicia said, leaning forward and watching the dragoness's face with a frown. "If you don't understand what happened, there's all the more reason for you to talk to me about. Now spill it. What the hell happened? Maybe you can start by explaining what the hell happened in here. It looks like a tornado swept through here."
"That would be thanks to Sergeant Delancey and Corporal Forsythe." Shyvana said, shrugging with some effort. "I don't know how it started because I was asleep at the time, but their fighting ended up waking me up. I was cross and tired so I got up and threw them at the wall... I think." Shyvana blushed slightly and glanced at her lap, tapping the tips of her fingers together. "I managed to reopen my wound because of it and passed out due to the blood loss and lightheadedness."
"You tossed them?" Alicia said, raising an eyebrow. "I still have a limp from the accident and they worked me over with health potions and what not. I'm surprised you were even able to stand."
"I shouldn't have." Shyvana said, shaking her head. "It put me back out of action for the better part of that morning and into the afternoon when a doctor treated my reopened wound." Shyvana tugged the the blanket down and pulling the gown up to look at the patch of cloth swathing and gauze that covered most of the wound. She tugged the bandages aside gently and looked at the site of the wound that started just below her waistline and ran up most of her side.
"Wait you reopened that yesterday?" Alicia said blinking. "I thought that health potions didn't work on you?"
"They don't." Shyvana frowned. "Well the doctor said they weren't working as they should. They may have done something for it..."
"That wound looks weeks old..." Alicia said, leaning forward. She reached out towards the pink scar, the flesh held together with thread still. "Not less than a day." Alicia glared at Shyvana with a frown. "How the hell does that work? Are you sure the health potions aren't doing anything?"
"They stopped giving them to me." Shyvana said, shaking her head. She started to turn but a tug on her arm reminded her of what she was connected to. "They hooked me up to this thing and told me to eat a bunch, but I haven't been hungry..." Alicia snorted and glared at Shyvana. "Okay, well I haven't had much of an appetite with my stomach feeling so mixed up after what happened yesterday that I've been worried about keeping food down."
"You still haven't told me what happened that caused all this." Alicia said, frowning. She leaned back on the bed, though she still watched Shyvana thoughtfully.
"It's a long story..." Shyvana said, glancing away.
"I have time." Alicia said, an expectant look on her face. "Get it off your chest, Shyvana."
"Well, when I came to, the new doctor was already here and Jarvan was really agitated." Shyvana said with a frown. "I wasn't sure what was going on, but my side hurt, Jarvan was angry and the new doctor started to look me over without really paying much attention to him. She was kind and gentle and we started talking as she attended to me, trying to make sure I wasn't in pain or suffering from the restitching of the wound and the blood loss, or something about the piece of metal that had gotten stuck in my side."
"Why was the prince agitated?" Alicia said with a frown. "He's always been a bit headstrong, but not out right agitated... usually. And I can't see him taking it out on you, even if he was angry at something."
"I don't know why, but he wasn't angry at me first." Shyvana said, shaking her head. She paused mid shake and then frowned, her eyes falling and her shoulder slumping as she looked to her lap, again, tapping the tips of her fingers together to distract herself. "Well... I had overheard a little of what Jarvan was saying before I woke up. The pain had awaken me though not fully, so I wasn't quite sure if I had heard him right, but he was talking to himself."
"The prince has been known to do that from time to time." Alicia said with a smirk, though the smile died quickly when she saw Shyvana's worried look. "Sorry. Go on."
"He spoke of how I had become a burden that was weighing heavily upon his shoulders, and how he had to deal with all of his problems as well as my own." Shyvana twiddled her thumbs in her lap as she spoke. "He was questioning whether there was actually hope for our future together. He sounded pained, as if he was growing tired of me. He sounded stressed by the fact that he didn't know when he would get to see me. He was angry, June... he was really angry." Shyvana shook here head and Alicia saw several tears drop from her eyes to the blanket. "I didn't think I had done anything wrong, but I never realized that my very presence was so stressful to him. Everything I do just causes him trouble, and I never realized that. He seemed physically pained by that. And he was angry at his father too. He kept yelling about his father."
"Slow down, Shy." Alicia said soothingly. "You may have just imagined half of that, it doesn't sound like you were even fully awake at the time. Jarvan would never knowingly hurt someone he cared about. If you did nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about, girl. Jarvan isn't perfect by any means, he never has been. He may be a bit of thick-headed idiot, but he's not one to simply lash out a someone unless he has a reason."
"I know..." Shyvana murmured, her voice strained as she tried to hold the tears back. "But I know what I heard... some of it... It hurts, June. Why does it hurt so much?"
Alicia sighed gave Shyvana a shoulder to cry on. Shyvana sniffed a few times and accepted a hug from the gunny, but luckily she managed to hold it together and didn't break into sobs again. "Words can often cut deeper than steel or wood. And often, those who don't often wield their words to hurt or harm don't know just how much damage can be done by the spoken word. But they live, learn and fix their mistakes." She patted the dragoness gently on the shoulder. "I don't think Jarvan knows how much he's hurt you. Chances are his words are hurting him just as much. He's always been one to look back and realize he screwed up rather than thinking ahead and trying to prevent something from happening. It's kinda just his style." She chuckled briefly as she swiped a few tear drenched locks of ruby red hair from Shyvana's face. "Just give him a little to figure it out and he'll be back here to fix everything he said. Did anything else happen?"
The dragoness nodded again. "The doctor's very presence seemed to anger Jarvan. He didn't want her there, but I haven't had anyone to talk to about my father in so long and she seemed to know about dragons, so I started talking to her. She was nice. Pretty with golden hair and blue eyes. She seemed warm, kind of like my father. Jarvan stopped us from talking after a while; he had been pacing back and forth. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't mean to make it worse."
"You can't know if you did, Shyvana." Alicia said softly, comforting the dragoness. "Jarvan may be the prince, but he's not infallible. He's only as human as the rest of us... Okay, maybe a bit more human than you, but what can you do about that?" She winked at the dragoness and Shyvana giggled, blushing slightly. "That does sound like Jarvan when he was agitated though. He has a habit of pacing when he doesn't know what to do. I believe the saying goes 'better to ask forgiveness than ask permission?' That's basically Jarvan in a nutshell. He's also pretty quick to go off, bit of a hair trigger, that one." Shyvana blushed furiously and looked to Alicia, aghast. Alicia looked at her with confusion for a few seconds, but she realized what Shyvana must have thought she had meant. Alicia blushed and burst out laughing as Shyvana stared at her in disbelief. "Not like that. Not at all like that. His temper. He's got a bit of a temper." Shyvana frowned slightly but she look a deep breath and calmed herself.
"I know, but I could feel it in the air, I could see it in his face. Something had truly disturbed him." Shyvana said, shaking her head.
"And you have no idea what could have caused it?" Alicia said with a frown.
"I don't know, but things didn't get any better after that." Shyvana said somberly. "They talked about my wound for a few minutes but I could only follow parts of it. The doctor brought up the old scars she had found underneath the new one, the three from Kampf, and Jarvan mentioned the doctor who had taught him most of his medical knowledge because he had sown the scars up when we first met."
"Doctor Fenrush." Alicia said, nodding as if she knew the man.
Shyvana nodded, casting the white haired gunny a curious glance. "How did you know?"
"I'll explain later." She said quietly, gesturing for Shyvana to continue.
"Okay." Shyvana said softly, frowning as she tried to figure out where she had been in her story. "When that came up, Jarvan just seemed to go off. He expected her to blame him for the doctors death, and Jarvan seemed distraught and angry about the fact that she wasn't. That's when the shouting started." Shyvana shook her head as if she didn't want to remember a bad memory. "There were accusations and angered words flying around, something about Jormander, and a woman named Jesarah, and then they just kept shouting at each other. They started yelling about marriage! They're engaged, June!" Tears were now falling fast down Shyvana face as she looked to Alicia, desperate for answers. "She and Jarvan kept yelling and then she slapped him and then more yelling and then she left and Jarvan started yelling at everyone else. I started yelling back because I was tired and hungry and my side hurt and I just wanted to sleep. I responded with anger because Jarvan was angry and then I said I should just leave..."
"Shyvana..." Alicia murmured, trying to gently stop her.
"He yelled back that he should just go ahead and marry her..." Shyvana sobbed, tears running down her face. "June... what should I do?"
"Easy, girl, easy." Alicia said, enfolding the dragoness in another hug until she had stop crying, reverting to just gentle whimpers. Alicia pulled a box of tissues from some of the mess on the floor and then tugged a few of tissues from the top, tossing them away and then holding the box out to Shyvana. The dragoness whimpered as sound that sounded like a weak 'thank you' and then dabbed out her eyes. She pulled a few more from the box and then blew her nose, the tissues come back singed and smoking as Shyvana threw them into the small trash can next to the bed.
"He was really angry and yelling a lot about his father." Shyvana said shaking her head slightly. "That made me kind of angry because, well..."
"It's okay." Alicia said, patting her head so the dragoness didn't have to say it aloud. "We say things we don't mean sometimes. I'm sure you were just missing your father and seeing him so mad at his frustrated you. It's natural to miss out family when they're gone." Alicia sighed, sitting back as she patted Shyvana's knee through the blanket. "Jarvan and his father have never gotten along very well, unfortunately. Jarvan was raised by his caretaker and his grandfather mostly, after Jarvan II passed the throne off to his son. Lady Catherine was a noblewoman herself, so she and Jarvan III were heavily invested in trying to unify the threat of a divergent legislation. It was sad, but to Jarvan, his Grandfather acted as his father and his caretaker, Noel, was his mother. He saw his parents in the evening at dinner, but that was often it. Barely forty minutes of them arguing and discussing the legislation of the day. I doubt he's ever held his father in as fond a memory as the memories you hold of your father."
"That's... horrifying... I never realized..." Fond memories of time shared with her father flashed through her mind, and Shyvana immediately felt a pang of loss as tears welled in her eyes. "I suppose I never really realized just how hard Jarvan had it."
Alicia nodded slowly. "Things changed not long after Jarvan turned thirteen. An attempt was made upon his life, by the man who ended up robbing Jarvan of his company of men almost ten years later."
"You mean Swain tried to kill Jarvan?" Shyvana said, her eyes flying open in shock.
"He ended up killing several guards, but the prince escaped with his life." Alicia sighed heavily, shaking her head. "Lady Catherine took this as a sign and removed herself from much of the workings of the government, deciding that she needed to spend more time with her son who had so nearly been took from her. The king took over her duties and spent more and more time working. He probably felt the same way as his wife, but he channeled that through his work and his political prowess, doing all that he could to prevent another attempt on his sons life, but at the time, I doubt Jarvan could see that. Jarvan tried endlessly to impress his father, from setting new records at the academy to becoming the youngest captain in he history of Demacia to be given command of his own company of infantry. Jarvan III was too busy working to keep Valoran from descending into war. Noxus and Ionia started a conflict, Zaun was constantly pressuring the other nations and the Freljord was a disaster of different political problems and conflicts constantly threatening to embroil the rest of Valoran."
"What happened to Jarvan and his father though?" Shyvana asked nervously.
"You know most of the rest of the story." Alicia said sadly. "He saw an opportunity to try and defeat Swain, the 'Master Tactician', and it backfired."
"I never knew..." Shyvana said weakly, shaking her head as she looked to her lap, tears dripping down her face. "My father and I had a hard life, but we were happy when we shared the seldom few quiet moments we had together. We were hounded back and forth across Valoran, but I was never wanting for anything, my father always did his best to see to it that I was happy. Towards the end I had grown angry at him for what happened to me, but without him... I don't know what I would have ever done... I... I felt so ashamed and seeing Jarvan act the same way made me mad..." Shyvana broke down into tears again and Alicia hugged her close, letting her cry onto her shoulder.
"I know this hasn't been easy for you to hear, but I don't want you to think that Jarvan does not care for you." Alicia said, shaking her head. "He may be rough around the edges and he may be a colossal, COLOSSAL moron at times, but he has a good heart. Not that you shouldn't knock him out the next time you see him, but punch him and then kiss him as soon as he apologizes for being a completely and utter ass."
Shyvana giggled softly, forming a fist in her lap, cupping it in her other hand. "I'll try that."
"I know this hasn't been easy on either of you, these past few months, but I know that even if it seems bad now, things can only get better." Alicia gave Shyvana a brave smile and got a weak smile in return, though it faltered.
"But what about that woman?" Shyvana stammered nervously. "They're supposedly engaged..."
"From what little I know, it sounds as if Jarvan didn't know about it until recently and it may have been instigated by his father." Alicia said frowning.
"Oh..." Shyvana said, her spirits falling again. "How do we stop it?"
Alicia laughed aloud. "Well we either wait for Jarvan and the king to sort it out, or we try and do something about it. But from the sound of things, I don't think getting into a bunch of trouble to try and cancel their engagement is going to further your cause any, either. If you want, you can always just become his mistress..."
"Mistress?" Shyvana said, blushing slightly.
"Yeah." Alicia said, grinning. "You let him get married and let the political bullshit flow, and on the outside, Jarvan and the woman are together, but in reality you know his heart belongs to you. You play the part of the devoted bodyguard, protecting the prince and his family as you're supposed to. You get to polish his lance and you get showered with love and gifts and everything else without being being in the limelight. Sadly, I think I might be a bit late for that, most people seem to already know about the two of you." Shyvana blushed at Alicia's joke about the prince's weapon, but she shook her head and glared at Alicia for several moments.
"I don't think I like that idea." Shyvana said, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing her cheek out with a dejecting frown. Shyvana caught herself as she started to move her hand over her stomach, blushing slightly and making it look as if she were messing with the blanket, but Alicia had seen the gesture. "I don't want to share."
"Is that jealousy I hear?" Alicia said, raising an eyebrow.
Shyvana blushed. "So?"
"It's not a bad thing." Alicia said, chuckling. "Jealously is normal to anyone who's in love. I just think you need to give Jarvan a bit more credit. If you were right about how angry he was... well, I don't think you need to worry about sharing any part of him." Shyvana blushed furiously again and Alicia sighed and glared at the dragoness until she calmed herself. Alicia sat back slightly and shook her head, wearing a smirk. "Your mind seems to be set on a certain part of Jarvan this evening, huh? Maybe I should go find you a polishing rag?"
"No, thank you." Shyvana said, her cheeks tinged pink, frowning slightly as she avoided Alicia's gaze. "June, can I ask you a question?"
The gunny looked surprised but nodded. "Of course. I have a bit of knowledge as far as good polis-.."
"Not that!" Shyvana barked angrily and glanced down to her lap. "How do you know so much about Jarvan? If you two used to be something to each other..."
"W-w-what?" Alicia stammered, sitting bolt upright, her face blushed. "No! No of course not! We were at the academy at the same time and were just friends, that's it. It's kind of a boring story." She looked to Shyvana and sighed again, rolling her eyes. "You're curious though, I can see it in your face."
Shyvana nodded and grinned sheepishly.
"Fine, fine." Alicia said sinking back and looking up at the ceiling. "First though, a bit of background. Vorscham and I go way back. We were friends as kids, nearly inseparable because my father and Vorscham's parents were close. Vorshcam and I both ended up at the academy and Vorscham quickly became my father's protege. We both trained endlessly, but Vorscham was a much better fighter than I was and he quickly garnered the interest of another solider who was fast tracked on the officers curriculum. He was supposedly going to have a company of his own in only a few years. Vorscham was strong, fast, and he was a natural leader. He would of made a perfect squad or platoon leader and this soldier could see it."
"Who was the other soldier?" Shyvana asked quietly.
"Jarvan." Alicia said with a grin. "It wasn't long before Jarvan, Garen and Proudmast were inseparable. They were the best of friends. I got to tag along because I was good friends with Proudmast and my father was one of the instructors and Jarvan and Garen thought they'd actually get away with more of their usual goofing about and pranks." She read the frown on Shyvana face and nodded. "He and Garen were constantly getting into trouble, over and over and Proudmast was constantly trying to keep them out of trouble. Despite their amazing grades and their martial prowess, they were easily distracted. Vorscham had his work cut out for him. Well, Jarvan and Garen were friends that went back just as far as Vorscham and I and they constantly chided each other about everything. Nothing was out of bounds when it came to insults between them. They never shut up for that matter. They would fight and then be the best of friends, and then fight some more. From those years of Vorscham hanging out with them, I don't think there's much I don't know about Jarvan. But that was many years ago."
"Vorscham was in Jarvan's company?" Shyvana said, frowning, slightly. "I suppose that explains some things. But then why didn't he..."
"Vorscham never actually joined Jarvan's company." Alicia said, her shoulders tightening and a frown lingering on her face. "Something happened, but that's all just a bad memory now." She offered Shyvana a pained smile that betrayed the fact that there was something much worse just below the surface. Shyvana started to ask what had happened, but she worked her jaw for a second and then shook her head and clicked her jaw shut. Alicia sighed, leaning back and stretching her arms over her head. "But that's all old news, now. If only there were some way we could get you closer to the prince on a regular basis."
"That's it!" Shyvana shouted, taking Alicia by surprise. The snowy-haired gunnery sergeant tumbled off the bed, hitting the ground in a heap. She started to pick herself up, looking at Shyvana with surprise clear on her face.
"What's 'it'?" Alicia spluttered, blinking the pain she felt in her rump away.
"It was something Jarvan said." She frowned, thinking back. "Apparently, the king said that if I managed to defeat Xin Zhao, I would be assigned to Jarvan as his bodyguard!" She smiled excitedly, but the smile faltered as Alicia grimaced. "What's wrong?"
"Xin Zhao is one of the strongest soldiers in all of Demacia." She shook her head, perching herself on the edge of Shyvana's bed, glowered as she perched her chin on her interlaced hands, resting her elbows on her knees. "There's a reason he is the king's personal bodyguard. He, Garen Crownguard, and Jarvan are probably the three strongest warriors in all of Demacia. Defeating Xin Zhao is no small task, Shyvana."
"I beat Jarvan once before, and I beat Garen as well." Shyvana said, grinning cheekily, though Alicia didn't share her enthusiasm.
"I doubt the prince was giving it his all. He probably didn't want to hurt you." Alicia frowned. "And the only reason you defeated Garen was because you surprised him with your dragon form."
"So I'll just transform again and beat him." Shyvana said, confidently. "Easy."
"Beating Xin Zhao isn't the only point of this fight though." Alicia said, shaking her head. "You need to defeat him, but it's not just about victory, it's about your desire to win and your dedication. Besides, Xin Zhao is a seasoned warrior with decades and decades of experience fighting. Nothing you can do will surprise him, and honestly Shyvana, you were easily defeated by the LT not but a month ago."
"But I've been training so hard and I've learned so much..." Shyvana protested, but the stern look from Alicia quelled her complaints.
"If you're dead set on trying to fight him, I won't stop you... I just want you to know that you are likely to lose." Alicia said, a thin frown resting on her lips.
"I have to win though! I... I..." Her voice faded and she fell silent, blushing as she stared at the ground. Her head came up. "I love Jarvan and I refuse to lose to that blonde witch!"
A thin, crooked grin had wormed its way onto Alicia face, though she tried to harden it into a scowl she couldn't remove the smile. "I like the enthusiasm... just... be careful about what you're getting into."
"I know, I know..." Shyvana said, nodding, sighing softly. "If only it weren't for this infernal wound."
"And what are you going to do about Jarvan in the meantime?" Alicia said, crossing her arms over her chest. She frowned slightly. "Where is he, anyways? It's not like him to let something like this lie..."
Shyvana's face fell. "I don't know. I was hoping he would show up today because I'm not allowed to leave, but... I don't know." Alicia patted her knee gently.
"I'm sure he'll be here soon." Alicia said, though there was a hint of doubt in her voice. At that very moment the door cracked at the far end of the hall, the new doors squeaking loudly as they swung inwards. "Speaking of the devil, I bet that's him now!" She gave Shyvana a hopeful smile, and the dragoness blushed furiously but wore a smile. Alicia got to her feet, preparing to salute.
Delancey growled, clenching her fists at her side as she rounded the corner, a scowl on her face. She snapped off a quick salute to Alicia before she shook her head and plopped down on the bed, running her hands over her face.
"Damn him!" She hissed angrily.
Shyvana and Alicia glanced at each other, Shyvana leaning forwards, worry on her face. "Del, where's Jarvan? What happened?"
"Sergeant." Alicia said stiffly, failing to hide her surprise. "I thought you were with the prince?"
"I was until that asshole Jormander arrested him and took him into custody!" Delancey scowled, anger flaring on her face. "Bastard has been holding Jarvan all of last night and all of this morning. He finally kicked me out and told me to scram, but he's still holding the prince!"
"What?" Shyvana practically shouted. Anger and worry contorted her face as she glared at the sergeant. "Del, what happened?"
"It's a long story." Delancey grumbled, running her hands over her face and scowling. "I was called yesterday morning to go and fetch the prince, right?"
"That's why you called me." Alicia said, nodding, indicating that she was following. Shyvana remained silent, though her frown was growing on her face.
"Right. The sergeant major said something had come up." She shook her head and sighed angrily. "Well, low and behold I was ordered to fetch the prince and take him down to the docks via carriage. We got there and something major is going down. Turns out, night before last, Jarvan had been drinking with the man who had shot him in the shoulder and he didn't even know it!" Shyvana blanked and Alicia's eyes grew wide. "The man turns up dead and right now, Jarvan is their biggest suspect!"
"Wait, wait, Jarvan was down drinking at the docks?" Shyvana said, blinking a few times, surprised. "He was here only earlier that evening..."
"I know, I know..." Delancey said, shaking her head. "Apparently someone knew where to point the sergeant major and he ended up running into the prince who was being escorted back to the palace by Lee. Sergeant Lee went back to get something and now he's missing, the marksman is dead and Jarvan is caught up in the middle of all of it."
"You're kidding..." Alicia said, deadpan, a look of disbelief on her face. Delancey shook her head.
"And with Lee missing, the only person who can corroborate the prince's story, Jarvan is being held as the principle murder suspect."
"But wait..." Shyvana said, shaking her head. "Wasn't this the man who shot Jarvan in the shoulder and killed another man shortly after? Why is it even a murder?"
"That's what I was saying." Delancey snarled in disgust, a cross look on her face. "But noooo Jormander is being a massive jerk and holding Jarvan until they prove that the dead guy was the shooter or Lee turns up to prove that Jarvan didn't murder the guy." She shook her head, but anger flared through her voice. "I could just strangle that cowardly bastard!"
"Who, Jormander?" Alicia said, raising a eyebrow.
"Who's Jormander?" Shyvana said, frowning.
"He's the commander of Demsec." Delancey said, shaking her head. "He's the jerkoff who is trying to threaten Jarvan into submission by threatening you. He's also really, really powerful. Powerful enough that Jarvan can't do shit against him, and even General Lorcan's hands are tied!"
"Jormander is the Commandant of the Demacian Security Brigade." Alicia said seriously, expanding upon what Delancey had said before. "He's a well known and utterly ruthless psychopath who is extremely good at what he does, and is willing to do pretty much anything to maintain both the status quo and his position. He is exceedingly nationalistic, but it is nationalism that is carried almost to far. He knows his shit, but he's completely insane."
Delancey nodded and frowned. "Jarvan will be pissed at me for telling you this, but Jormander threatened to have you raped or killed while you were in the hospital if the prince didn't cooperate and behave himself. That's why there's been one of us here the entire time."
"I didn't realize..." Shyvana said looking to her lap. So that's why Jarvan was so angry. He said I was becoming a burden... it wasn't me though, it was the fact that I couldn't defend myself and I was being used as leverage against him.
"He was planning on coming to visit early yesterday morning according to the sergeant major." Delancey said, glancing at Shyvana. "Jarvan wanted me to let you know that he's thinking about you and that he's sorry he couldn't apologize sooner."
"That... that idiot!" Shyvana shouted, taking both Delancey and Alicia by surprise, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"What?" The two women stammered, glancing at each other, confusion on their faces.
"He's in a situation like this and he's still doing nothing but thinking about me!" She shook her head, tears getting sent flying left and right as she sighed heavily. "That loud mouthed, block headed... bighearted... idiot." Her voice trailed off as tears ran down her face. Alicia offered her the tissues again, a smile on face.
Shyvana accepted a tissue and blew her nose. I'll beat Xin Zhao and then you won't have to worry about me at all, Jarvan. She accepted another tissue from Alicia and used it to dry her eyes. Wait for me, Jarvan.
I know what I must do.