Friendly Advice

Valor looks at her concern filling his eyes yet again. "It's okay Valor, I'm fine I still have you," Quinn said reassuring him as she smoothed his feathers. She smoothed them incorrectly causing them to stick up. Valor shook his head in disagreement she couldn't tell if it was from her touch or her words. Cold sweat covered her brow as she began to take in her surroundings.

The soft chirp of distant crickets filled the air. The crackle of a fire could be heard from another room. A rough wind pushed against the building trying to bring pain to its inhabitants. Soft footsteps approached the room she occupied.

The medic's blonde hair sat loosely on her shoulders, this was the only change Quinn could notice from the encounter she had with her earlier this afternoon. "Good you're awake. McHenricks wants you back at the barracks. I'll show you the way," she says grabbing a lantern and igniting its flame. Valor follows Quinn into the cold night like a baby chick following its mother back to its nest. I really need to get an armguard. This has to be demeaning for him…

"How long have you been a medic?"

"I've been working with the magicks for about fifteen years now, a combat medic for the past five. I just got moved here a couple months back. They've recently been moving us medics away from the field ever since the fighting has died down."

Quinn nodded at the words of the medic as they washed over her. She was caught in her thoughts. What made me see Caleb in that way? Why wasn't Valor with me? What made me think of myself so poorly? Quinn was pulled from her thoughts as the medic caught her interest.

"They've been pulling the forces ever since the prince and knight Garen began to tour the nation in an attempt to raise moral."

Quinn can't stop herself from blurting out, "Are they coming here?" Her cheeks turn pink from the sudden outburst. The medic doesn't notice as she merely shakes her head. Quinn grew giddy from the news as it has always been her dream to meet Ser Garen; meeting royalty would be icing on the cake.

"They're planned to make it here in two weeks time. The sergeant's have a lot of work ahead of them if what happened to you today is commonplace among the other recruits," the medic stops as she turns towards Quinn. "I've been in your position before. You best try to make more friends than just your bird. It'll make your life easier and much more enjoyable." Valor caws in agreement causing Quinn to give him a look full of disappointment and betrayal. He looks back defiantly causing her to chuckle at the stubborn bird. Seems like someone I know.

A few minutes more of the medic creating small talk and they had made it to the barracks. "Nice speaking with you Quinn. Hopefully I won't be forced to work on you again. Consider my advice as it'll take you a long way." With that she walked away the light dimming as she slowly disappeared into the night.

Instead of going into the barracks Quinn headed out towards the forest. The calm of the forest would help her think, and allow her to shake off some of the stress the training had already put her through. Walking into the forest that surrounded the camp seemed to wash away her burdens all at once. Entering the forest she picked up Valor and began to sprint among the trees.

The beauties of forests only truly became apparent at night. The shine of the moon on the tree limbs , and how its light bounced off of the water always brought Quinn to a state of comfort. Her sprint brought her to a clearing where a large oak seven times her width sat undisturbed close to a river. She sat underneath the tree, as she found she needed to catch her breath. She let go of Valor, and let him roll around in the leaves.

She looked at the eagle closely noticing his wing was healing, miraculously, and was healing quite quickly. "You should be able to fly in about a weeks time. How does that sound?" she asks playfully tossing a pinecone at him. He bounces back away from it cawing in annoyance. Quinn finds herself chuckling again. She couldn't recall the last time she had chuckled so many times in one day. She let the thought slip away as she was just glad to be enjoying herself again. She tossed another pinecone at Valor. This time he caught it in his beak and whipped his head causing it to shoot back towards her.

Crunching of leaves from behind interrupted her and Valor. They both turned towards the disturbance to find it was only Albert. "What are you doing out here?" they both ask simultaneously. They both sit in silence for a second reveling in the awkward moment. Quinn clears her throat, "It matters not we're both out here so McHenricks can skin us both if he wishes,". Valor stares at Quinn, before Quinn understands and turns back to Albert who is standing a fair distance away from the pair. "You can come sit he won't bite." With that Albert approaches the tree and sits across from Quinn.

Albert immediately jumped into questions as soon as his bottom landed on the soft earth, "Where did you learn to fight like that? I haven't ever seen a woman fight like that before. You fought dirty when you had to, honorably when you wished to, but skillfully all the way throughout."

Quinn grew red in the cheeks her modesty getting the best of her, "My father used to be in the volunteers. He taught me everything I know. Well not the dirty fighting, I learned that from my fights with my brother," a faint smile showed on her lips. "Where'd you learn how to use a Quarterstaff. I've only seen it used by farm hands to defend themselves."

Albert straightened his slanted back as she took interest in him. "It's the only weapon I've ever used. Me and my siblings would fight each other for trivial matters. We seemed to never use our fists, but rather the Quarterstaff. It never made my mother very happy. Especially since I always seemed to win," he boasted.

Valor moved up to Albert putting his head beneath his hand. "It's okay, he wants you to. Stubborn bird usually likes to bite at people. Seems he likes you." Albert smoothed the feathers Quinn had disturbed earlier that night. Valor pushed against his hand in appreciation.

"He have a name?"

"It's Valor. He seems to possess great courage for an animal of his size." Quinn said as Valor grew bored of the boy's attention and walked back over to Quinn. "It's late we best head back to the barracks. I heard that the next few weeks are going to be tough." Albert nodded and followed Quinn back to the barracks. Maybe I should listen to her advice… It doesn't seem as hard as I thought it may have been.

Days passed and McHenricks grew harder on them each day. He drilled discipline into them. He needed them to be obedient by the time the prince would arrive. He showed them their recruit uniforms. It looked similar to McHenricks dress uniform. Blue slacks with an indigo jacket. The only thing it was missing was the pair of golden wings that fit snug on a volunteers collar. "You'll only get these if you are able to pass my test. If you fail to pass this test in a weeks time you'll be removed from the volunteers and sent back home." The group sat in anticipation to hear what their test would be.

"You will sit here in the scalding sun for the next three hours. You will not complain, you will not converse, you will not say a word. If you must relieve yourself it'll be in your trousers. You will do nothing but stare at the wall of the barracks." Some complaints rose from the trainees, but they were quickly stifled by the sergeant, "You will do this or you won't get your jacket," he says raising the jacket for all to see again.

Valor looked up at Quinn rolling his eyes. Quinn was able to keep the laugh from breaking through her lips. "Begin" the sergeant's voice commanded. They all turned towards the wall. Quinn wondered if they would get lunch today. I sure hope so the marching this morning has caused me an quite an appetite today. It took only a few minutes before the first recruit broke. He turned to talk to a friend. The friend ignored him as McHenricks seemed to leave a mental note for himself, but said nothing to either one of the recruits.

Quinn grew bored quickly, what felt like hours to her turned out to only be around thirty minutes. She turned to talk to someone, but was annoyed when they didn't respond either. She could feel the glaring eyes that poked into the back of her skull. The three hours passed and only three other recruits broke during that time.

"All but the five of you head up to the lunch hall. You five stay behind, I need to speak with you…" Quinn sat staring at Valor until McHenricks spoke again. "If you can't follow orders to do nothing how can your commanders on the field expect you to fight for Demacia?" he spat waiting for a response.

"Sir, this order is ridiculous. What's the point of sitting in front of a wall for that long." Quinn said as the other recruits seemed to shrink from her response. Are they afraid of this man?

"Do any of you others have anything to say?" No one answered they all just stared at their feet, "Good you may join the other recruits at the lunch hall. All but Quinn," he quickly looked at Valor, "Take the eagle with you as well. He can follow orders better than her, he deserves to be fed." When Valor resisted Quinn nodded that it was okay for him to go with them. She looked at one of the recruits and he nodded his head in assurance that he'd keep Valor safe. When they all departed McHenricks spoke again.

"It's quite disappointing to see you here in front of me. You're the most skilled fighter I've been blessed with to teach. This is all washed away with your lack of will to listen to simple orders. You'll never get to serve Demacia if you decide to do whatever you wish. We'll have to teach you discipline the difficult way it seems," she followed him head watching her feet. She felt weak, and exposed without Valor she truly underestimated how much she relied on that bird.

McHenricks stopped a recruit with two vertical lines on the collar of his recruits jacket. McHenricks quickly spoke to the boy before departing towards the lunch hall. The boy turns to her, "So you are one of those recruits… you're going to have fun today." Quinn followed close behind as he lead her to a small field with a dirt patch sitting in the middle of it. A shovel sat on top of the patch. "Dig this hole until you hit the rock below. Refill it once you hit the rock. Continue this process until I tell you to stop. Begin" The sun rose from it's slumber when she was told to stop.

Author's Note: I've added Jarvan to the list of major characters. He will be joined by two other champions that I haven't listed yet, and won't till I reach them in the story line. If you have any questions, suggestions or anything at all to help improve the story feel free to PM me or leave a review.