Chapter 33: They who make change.
Somehow, Syndra had fallen asleep beside him.
This was slightly annoying to Xerath.
Although he found Syndra's innocent sleep peaceful, he wanted to move around.
After much debate, he had succeeded in finding the disturbance.
It was the wisp colony nearby.
Somehow the volume of wisps and specific species was actually causing him irritation.
Wisps often did project a large aura when in large numbers that often attracted wildlife or settlement because of the nagging influence of curiosity from magically sensitive humans or animals. To the even more sensitive individuals, the wisp clouds could be almost narcotically enticing or even ominous beacons of despair.
The aura from this colony was not as extreme as either of these, but it was an annoying low whir that passed through his body.
To a light sleeper like himself, this rumble was more than enough to keep him awake.
After ten minutes of trying to fall asleep, Xerath decided to go out for a walk to hopefully clear his head.
Moving Syndra aside slowly as to not disturb her, he made his way out of the room.
After a minute's walk, Xerath spotted Ahri sitting on the elevated floor over the small garden in the rear of the compound.
"Restless?" Xerath said, calling over to her.
"Mhmm." Ahri replied, "There's been something annoying around here. I'm not sure if I'm kinda' allergic to something new here or what."
"Could be the wisps. They've been getting on my nerves as well."
"You always do find something out, don't you?" Ahri chuckled.
"I often do. But those times are often just when it comes all together."
"I guess I want to say thanks for letting us stay the night here."
"Hahouya really means a lot to you, doesn't she?"
"She… She was the person who first really appreciated me as a human. Before her, I was only being treated as some sort of beast by some while others treated me as an object in my old path. For someone like me who never knew what being a human was, it was a life-changing experience."
"What happened to make you think that?"
"She made me a meal and asked how my sleep was."
"I'm surprised."
"How so?"
"She made you breakfast and asked how you slept, and then you attribute that to a life-changing experience?"
"What the hell do you mean by that!"
"Forgive me, those words didn't come out the best. So, what made that a life-changing experience?"
"In my old ways, it was all about food and enjoyment. That meant usually preying on a couple males for the whole of essence, which usually meant… that sort of thing."
Xerath, in response, made a hole with his thumb and index with his hand and pointed his other index towards the hole.
Ahri responded with a devilish smile.
"Pretty much. It was always a chore to do later on, and the thoughts that started to come up had begun to give me unrest. By the time I had managed to wander all the way to Hahouya's door, I was an absolute mess. I hadn't eaten in ages, both essence and basic food, and my body was in poor condition due to beatings by authorities. Then…"
Ahri stopped briefly to recollect the memories and emotions that were pouring into her.
"You alright?" Xerath asked her.
"Yeah, it's just that it's a fond memory and I still hold on to it."
After a couple of seconds to consolidate herself, Ahri continued.
"When I came across Hahouya, she hurried me inside her home without a single thought as to what I was. She bathed me thoroughly and gave me the best bed in the house. The comfort of that bed was nothing I had ever experienced, beyond the joys of anything else. When I awoke, Hahouya had already prepared me breakfast and had set aside a set of her old clothes for me to wear. When I realized this, I could barely hold myself back from crying. She had granted an animal like me the same treatment as a human, and had completely disregarded my appearance to help me as if it was second nature to her."
"What happened after that?"
"She started to help me to survive in the world, in the social sense. I stayed with her for about eighteen months and she helped me so much in that time. From there, I became the person I am today."
"Hmm." Xerath nodded.
"Something else is on your mind now, isn't there?"
"Hahouya told me that Riven also stayed here for a while. Considering that you were here up until just after the invasion began, I thought you might have come across her. But then, knowing you now, you would have talked about her to Hahouya before."
"Riven!?" Ahri cried, "She stayed here?"
"I talked with Hahouya while I was just getting my room ready. Considering that you are starting to be friends with Riven, I thought you might have wanted to know that."
"Damn. The world is pretty small after all."
"Yeah. Also, I'm going to talk to Hahouya again to try to find out what happened with Syndra to give her those sorts of powers. They are beyond the comprehensions of academics, I can say that much."
"Yeah, we should probably head back to Yamanoryu sometime afternoon. After you try to find something out, I'll talk with Hahouya about Riven, considering I know her personally, and try to find more stuff about her."
"Alright then, I'm going to head off back to my room and get to sleep again."
Better not tell Ahri about Syndra.
That would be really awkward.
"Hey Xerath." Ahri called back to him.
I swear she can read minds or something.
"Hmm?"
"Back there, during our introductions."
Now we watch as my expectation of me being a damn idiot is dashed.
"You did good. Don't worry about it."
'Called it' Xerath thought, proud of his minute achievement.
"Good to know."
When Xerath returned to his room, it wasn't exactly the best sight.
Syndra had somehow sprawled herself out all across his bed, her clothes ruffled and a tiny drop of drool hanging from the edge of her mouth poised over his pillow.
Great.
After several minutes of clearing a path, Xerath rested his head down.
Morning came, and along with it came Syndra's incredible reaction.
It first started off with her groggily raising her head to meet Xerath's gaze. After a few long seconds, her cheeks went a shade of red and reeled away from the bed.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED!"
"You do realize that you are the one sleeping in mine?"
As Syndra processed that, the memory of what she had done in the night came back to her.
That shade of red spread out to her entire face.
"Syndra."
Syndra looked up at him.
"Don't worry." Xerath said, "Just don't let Ahri see this, or she'll make fun of me for an eternity."
Syndra nodded slowly, trying to calm herself down.
"If anyone asks, I'm going to say that we were talking about the basics of Bio-Arcane Conductivity. If you don't know anything, don't worry, I'll rely on you being a idiot for a little while."
"*sshole." Syndra pouted.
"Natalie isn't a tourist, is she?" Hahouya broke the silence over breakfast.
The table went absolutely silent.
Damn it, Xerath thought.
"No point in hiding that now, but why would you think that?" Xerath asked.
"Her posture and mannerisms. Not your standard tourist. I would at least say ex-military from that. Recently had something go wrong and she wound up with you group."
"You're pretty close. She's from a mercenary group of an Institute friend. They were searching for an individual in Syndra's residence when Syndra came across them. They didn't stand a chance against her magic and now Natalie is the only survivor. I'm going to ransom her for some information on what the hell was going on." Xerath replied.
"And the reason why you didn't say before was because you didn't want Ginku to find out? I get that. Not many people around these parts are very fond of my acceptance of foxes and foreigners."
Hahouya quickly turned to Ahri and apologized, "Sorry Ahri, but I do know of incidents when buying necessities when people comment on me. It's not your fault at all and I am sincerely appreciative of how much stronger you are."
"Oh don't bother about that, I got used to those sort of things a while ago." Ahri said before once more digging into the rice bowl before her.
As I was saying though, I do get the whole 'Lying to protect' thing, so I'm not angry or anything like that. I am actually quite respectful of your decision, Xerath, to be able to hide such things from me. It shows concern and that you're not just a stupid cosplayer."
"PFFFF-" Ahri was desperately trying to hold the rice in her mouth just as Hahouya cracked the cosplayer ticket open on Xerath in such a fluid fashion.
"Nice to know that I'm not a simple idiot." Xerath said, his pride deflated.
"But the real question is what does Natalie think of all of this?" Hahouya shifted the focus all onto Natalie on the other side of the wooden table.
As Xerath looked across to her, there was an immense sense of dread inside Nat.
She didn't want to say anything, that much was clear in her eyes.
"I-" Natalie started and stopped immediately before going any further, her hands fidgeting desperately to try to rid herself of something.
"I don't really have much say in the matter anyway. It doesn't matter to me too much."
"Well, Xerath thinks you do warrant concern, so the way you put it, you don't really respect him. You lack the initiative to say anything that might hurt you in the instance, but you only hurt yourself in the future. Can't you see that? I despise silent people for that exact reason."
Natalie had had enough from this, her fists clenched tight, and proceeded to silently storm out of the room.
"Natalie, stay." Xerath commanded.
Natalie stopped in the doorway for a second, but continued onwards.
Out of nowhere, the air grew dense.
Something was weighing on her shoulders.
It was like an entire malignant wolf balancing on her, the presence of its claws digging into her heart and mind.
Her mind filled with fear, she turned around, terrified of what may have been the cause.
As she turned, she saw Ahri and Yamoto.
They were statuesque in sheer despair at whatever had just transpired, their heads turned towards its source.
As she turned further, the sense of the origin became clearer and clearer to her before it was right before her.
It was Xerath.
Hahouya behind him was absolutely speechless, Syndra almost quivering from the sense of dread that Xerath was exhuming.
"Natalie, sit." Xerath commanded once more before those claws began to loosen their grip on her and, what appeared to be, everyone else.
Nodding slowly and submissively, Natalie took her seat again.
The intense magical pressure lessened, but it did not give up.
Xerath turned his head towards Hahouya and spoke.
"Hahouya. You have no right to be so hostile to her. Stop that."
A quick nod from Hahouya signaled her acknowledgement.
With that, the air dispersed and the claws mercifully dissipated.
"Forgive me, but you stepped over a line Hahouya. A very thin one that I did not want you to step over. Likewise, Natalie, I do not want you to have no concern over yourself. I sense some form of talent coming from you, it's just not exactly refined yet."
Xerath relaxed his shoulders.
"I'm sorry to the rest of you as well, for myself having to resort to such a method."
The rest of breakfast was silent, with an almost hostile air to it.
Even when breakfast ended, the tension in the air did not cease.
"Hahouya." Xerath called out.
Hahouya was sitting casually beneath the shade, away from the late summer heat.
It was quite obvious that she was thinking about something.
What that was, Xerath could not guess.
Hahouya, having heard Xerath's voice, strained her neck and looked towards him.
"I wanted you to know that I did not mean anything hostile back there. I just… don't like having people argue in such a manner."
"I thought that academics loved to argue."
"When every party actually has a good say in the matter, not something like that to demand such a personal answer nor hound on another party to uncomfortable extents."
"Yeah, guessed as much. I should probably apologize to her before you set back off to Yama."
"Yama?"
"It's an abbreve, Xer. You should easily understand that."
Xerath could only grumble at this weird joke.
"That aside, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"I'm guessing it's about my daughter, right?"
"Congratulations, you get fifty points for being spot on!"
"Xerath, please." Hahouya rolled her eyes in response.
"How was Syndra born and raised?"
"That's two questions, you realize."
"I've lumped them together into one."
"Great."
Hahouya stopped for a moment as her mind drifted back to those times, her expression becoming much more serious and solemn.
"It started about twenty-five years ago or so. Those were the times when the North was still under control of the Warring Kingdoms and the new Ionian Isles were starting to enter the International scene as a new power. My village was tithed heavily with agricultural produce and in the winters we could barely afford enough to go around. That one year however, some weird disease went around the crops and absolutely destroyed half of them. Our expenses increased massively and made everyday life cruel to everyone. Our remote village could not send for aid, and I doubted that we could even hold out for the next month to come. Then…"
Hahouya stopped as she grasped her hands together.
"Then I came across this man in the forests while I was scavenging. He had the pure white hair that Syndra has, and he had this air about him that I could only describe it as magical. He promised me that my village would be saved, in exchange for having his child. To me at the time, it was a dream come true. My village would be saved and all I had to do was have this man's child. So, I accepted it. I grew pregnant and he granted the village enough food to last us through the entire year, as well as giving some charms to the village leader that he said would improve the crops for several years. I gave birth to Syndra about a year later and we were happy for a time."
"What happened then?"
"Syndra's latent magical powers started to awaken when she turned five. I did have some magical talent coming down from my own family of priests and clerics, so I tried my best to teach her some of my techniques. But I started to realize that Syndra's abilities were beyond my ability to teach her. First of all, she had managed to develop telekinesis for cups and balls by the time she was seven."
"That's pretty strong. Around the teens is when most common magics start appearing to youths, and most often they start with spinning water or drawing pictures in the sand."
"Exactly. It was absolutely terrifying to the village when Syndra got upset when she would toss chairs around or crack pots and pans. She started to become a real burden, but I loved her all the same while the rest of the village started to alienate Syndra and myself from them. We were strange people now, and that could not be allowed in a place where people had to work to survive. We were forced onto the outskirts of the village and had no contact to the village, bar the man that would place a food basket outside the house at dawn."
"So, your village then got contact with this new Ionian government?"
"I'm not sure, but one day these monks approached our house and I remember falling asleep or something. When I woke up, Syndra was gone and my face was completely bruised. After I recovered, I ran as far as I could to get away from that horrible village and its people."
"Is there anything you can tell me about that white-haired man, Syndra's father?"
"He was very charismatic and selfless. You remind me of him in some ways, in how both of you held some sort of power inside them and having some sense of purpose."
Not really sure about having a 'sense of purpose' in my case.
It's called a job for a reason, you know.
"To be honest, he could just hold himself high and knew when he could. He had this sense of foreknowledge that I had never come across. My family had always been priests with some form of loose fortune-telling, but this man was different, as if the next thirty seconds were an open book to him."
"Did you find out anything about his past? Anything about his family or what sort of background he had?"
"When I first settled down in this house, I started to look into that. I found very little, but it turned out that his family had this sort of revolutionary-esque background with ties to most of the power turns in Ionia. They were just people that made things change and happen from what I could tell. I think they were the Henkokonau family or something."
"Thanks. I should be able to find out more at the Institute about the Henkokonau. I'll keep you informed by letter about what I find."
"Heh, yeah. That would help me. I never knew him well for a husband. Perhaps it's for the better that I didn't know him."
"No matter what, I'll try to find something about him and that family of his. I talked with Irelia, the head of the Ionian guard, and it turned out that they were anti-government or something that a patriot overexaggerated."
"You know Irelia? What's she like?"
"Childish and very simple-minded. Also Hahouya, there's been this new initiative in the League about connecting close friends and relatives to champions started by this Alistar. You might want to consider signing up for it. It grants better traveling and access to those signed up. You could use it to visit Ahri and Syndra once in a while."
At this, Hahouya's eyes beamed wide with delight.
"Yeah, I'll do that." She replied, with the same warm smile as Ahri.
Xerath had finished packing his backpack when Ahri came strolling into his room.
"Hey Xerath, you nearly ready to go?"
"Yeah, I've just finished up here. How'd it go with Hahouya talking about Riven?"
"I kind of wanted to talk to you about that. I didn't really find much more about Riven than I already know, but she left behind this ring."
Ahri brought out a tiny box, elaborated with worn satin, for Xerath to see.
"She had an admirer?"
"I think so. In fact, there's actually a note inside here."
"What does it say?"
"It's in hard Noxian."
"They teach that to everyone back in the Institute, don't they?"
Ahri could only avert her gaze with an embarrassed smile.
Xerath simply stared at her, unimpressed.
"I'll translate it. Give it here."
Ahri opened up the box to reveal a ruby ring.
Pulling a small and ragged note on what looked to be cloth, she unraveled and gave it to Xerath.
Xerath stared at the note for a moment before recoiling slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"Riven has the worst handwriting I have ever seen. Seriously, she must have a medical condition for it to be this bad."
Ahri just looked at him blankly, uncaring about Xerath's comment on her friend's handwriting.
Xerath, getting the hint, proceeded to look over the ragged note before speaking.
"'Sorry Darius, I don't that we'll see that day together.' Well now, this is interesting."
"Never knew that Riven had a thing for Darius."
"I talk with him occasionally. Decent guy, but very patriotic and brutish. Isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, even compared with you."
Ahri's eyebrow rose sharply.
"You know there are dumber people out there."
"Yeah, but I just wanted to level the playing field a bit."
A devilish and angry smile emerged on Ahri's face.
"Wha'dever, let's start heading off now. Got to check up with those doctors, remember."
"Yeah. It's been three days, hasn't it?"
"Time tick-ticks away after all."