The hallways seemed to be somewhat less lively in the evenings at the Institute of War without the blonde haired explorer roaming them constantly. A new bubble of conversation had emerged at his disappearance and there was one person who was actually set to the task of figuring out where he was: Quinn.
Looking around the dark room, Quinn was not able to determine anything more about her location than she had in the previous encounters with the High Council members. Again, Vessaria Kolminye was not among them.
"You understand your task, right?" the shorter of the two councilors asked.
"Yes," Quinn replied promptly. Her short black hair sat almost motionless on her head. Not even a breeze blew through the peculiar room. Her gaze returned to her speakers and retained their target with the fixation of a hawk. Her bird, Valor, was not with her, but Quinn's blue feathered cape remained around her neck to keep her comfort while he was away. Other than the cape, she was dressed in a lightly armored suit that held tight against her skin to allow for quick and agile movements that assisted her reconnaissance work.
"Good," the shrouded man replied. "We will be waiting. In the meantime, we need to find where Garen and his allies are. Our previous assassins have been... Less than satisfying in their attempts." Quinn's heart skipped a beat as she anticipated being asked to carry out the assassination for them. Up until recently, she would not have hesitated in doing so. However, her last encounter with Ezreal seemed to have shifted her perspective of Garen and the Institute of War ever so slightly. To her relief, that was not the request that pursued.
"We need to find an opportunity to rid him of his allies. He seems to be picking them up as he goes. If so, this will make killing him require an army. This is not something that the Institute can afford to send out. We have gathered information on his partners based upon their descriptions. Currently, we have plans. But we need their locations. You said you last saw them at Zaun?"
"Yes, they stayed in Zaun after they were attacked; the last time I scouted, that was the information I got."
"Very well," he said before looking to the other councilor. The man nodded in response and snapped his fingers. A second later, a pouch appeared in front of Quinn that seemed to float in the air. "For your work," the councilor finished. Quinn snatched the bag from its intangible pedestal and pocketed it. The metallic clang of coins sounded out as she stashed her payment and she turned to walk out of the area through the doorway that seemed to always lead back to her room inside of the Institute of War.
Quinn looked at Valor who cocked his head to the side and stared back at her face. She smiled, walked over to the bird, and gently brushed his feathers with the back of her knuckles. His eye lids wilted back in a show of an extreme sense of relaxation. Quinn found it funny that she could manage to read his emotions so easily despite the fact that he could not smile or frown because of his beak.
"I hope you've rested well over the past few days, I need you to head to the Freljord. I know that it's cold, but I have to make sure Garen is actually heading there." The bird curred and ruffle its own feathers up by flapping its wings quickly. Quinn giggled at the response and pulled a loose feather out of his wing. The great bird turned and took flight out the large open window.
Quinn moved towards it and leaned against the windowsill to watch Valor disappear into the sky. The sun was just beginning to set, so the bounty of sunlight allowed quite some time to lapse before Valor was completely gone. She turned the blue feather over in her hands a number of times before tossing it out into air and watching it flutter down to the ground just below. She stared at it for awhile as she contemplated what she wanted to do when Valor got back. She did not know if she should trust what Ezreal had said, in that she was working for the wrong side, or if it was wiser to give up the information pertaining to Garen's whereabouts to the League's councilors and collect her payment. The Councilors would definitely find it to be suspicious if she turned up empty handed, seeing as it would be the first time since they hired her and recruited her into the League's ranks.
As the thought crossed her mind, she decided to see what League match was being fought at the moment. Towards the middle of the Institute of War's layout, there was a very large coliseum-like area that allowed massive hordes of summoners and champions to gather and watch the big matches being fought. On that day, a fairly important fight was taking place between Freljord and Demacia: Queen Ashe of the Avarosan tribe in Freljord was wary of the recent threats and attacks on her villages and sought to join with a nation to gain the strength to defend herself in the event that a war were to break out. While the League of Legends was put into place in an attempt to keep the fighting within their walls, there were always powers rising up from barbarian and berserking tribes and groups; and this is exactly where Ashe's threats were coming from. So, she sought an alliance and planned to test their strength through a fight on the Fields of Justice. Upon arrival at the observation area, Quinn took note that Demacia was not fairing too well.
Leading Freljord's team were the King and Queen of Avarosa: Tryndamere and Ashe. They were backed by a large man who fought with his club-like fists and a keg of grog that was about as big as he was. The man went by the name of Gragas and was recruited by Ashe shortly after he had managed to settle an argument with same tools that he fought with. The two last members of the team were less familiar to Quinn. One was a boy, Nunu, who rode atop a yeti that seemed overly willing to oblige to the boy's orders, called Willump. The other was a majestic bird, about the size of a human, who seemed to be either coated in, or completely made out of, ice. Her name was Anivia and some thought her to be the very heart and soul of the Freljord itself. She flew at a slow pace yet with strange grace about it. It made perfect sense for her to be in a fight for allies of Freljord, but she seemed so small and fragile that Quinn could not help but to hope that no one attempt to harm her. Then again, she may be a bit bias towards birds in general.
The opposing team consisted of one of Quinn's friends, Prince Jarvan Lightshield the fourth, two of his royal guards; Shyvana the half dragon and old loyal servant to the Lightshield family, Xin Zhao, Luxanna Crownguard, and one last member who Quinn knew very little about. She was often referred to as Vayne, but her first name was Shauna. She lost her parents at a young age to a twisted witch corrupted by dark magics. As a result, Vayne pledged to spend her life purging the plagued and evil mages throughout Runeterra. She got the vengeance see sought on the witch, and spent her time prior to joining the League hunting down similar spirits on the streets of Demacia. Why she was in the League now, not many knew. Regardless, Quinn was certain of one thing; she had fought from the slums to earn her strength - much like Quinn - which was more than most positions of authority or high military rank could say in Demacia.
Quinn stood around and observed the match for a little while. She spent most of her time watching Jarvan, being such a close friend of hers. Shyvana stood loyally by his side, like a dog on a leash, yet she conversed with him very little. Quinn knew that Shyvana had joined the Demacian military shortly after she came to Demacia with Jarvan on his return home from his journey to the southernmost portion of Valoran, but something told Quinn that she stuck around out of respect for something he had done, not something he continues to do. Rarely were the two seen together in their free time, yet never would Jarvan be in trouble without her leaping to his side. It was an odd relationship, and Quinn was not sure what to think of it. She felt something well up inside of her, but she was not sure if it was jealousy or envy; not that many people could distinguish the difference anyways. She took the feeling in and decided to turn her head away from the duo and screen the rest of the battle.
A short distance off, the entirety of the Freljord team was mobilizing as one. Demacia's forces happened to be a bit more scattered: Jarvan and Shyvana were traveling through the wooded areas to the sides of the main turret-lined lanes, Xin Zhao lead the way to ensure the prince's safety, Luxanna was all by herself in a separate forest, Vayne was nowhere to be seen, and their center lane, where Freljord planned to press, was completely unguarded. Just as the Avarosan squad was about to crumble yet another of Demacia's towers, Jarvan and Shyvana leapt out of their cover in the shadows. Jarvan let out a heroic yell of "Demacia!" and catapulted himself through the air with a supernatural leap and crashed down on to the team below him with a force so strong that a crater was formed around them. Obviously, a good control of mana was used to create such an impact, but the awe from the audience was retained. Right behind him, Shyvana lunged through the air and transformed into her dragon state mid flight. She soared through the air, just a few feet off of the ground, and swept up a few members of the opposing team as she passed over the newly created crater. Together, their efforts scattered the Freljord team and trapped them under the turret's fire at the same time. The situation had quickly grown dim for the Avarosans.
From the sidelines, Luxanna used her incredible skill with light magic to snipe out the enemy team as it scattered about frantically. In front of her, Xin Zhao fought off anyone who attempted to attack her. The fight that ensued was short, but substantial. In the end, Vayne came through and swept up the remaining members of the Freljord team, and paused momentarily after she had stuck a silver tipped crossbow bolt into the chest of Anivia. Upon dying, the ice that composed her body appeared to evaporate, and reform into a small frozen feather. On the ground where her body had been, a crystalline egg remained. The feather gently floated down towards the egg and Vayne watched with an unchanging expression. She turned around and ran towards the opposing team's Nexus, leaving the egg unharmed. Quinn cocked her head as she watched, unsure as to how she should react. The action was obviously merciful, but some of the crowd laughed thinking that she was unaware of the rebirthing that Anivia underwent in her post life, and another part of the spectators admired the action as a tactical decision to push down towers instead of wasting time shooting at an egg. That time, Quinn was certain that she felt envy. She knew that she would have acted similarly in the given situation, yet at the same time she knew that it was not for the same reason. Quinn turned and left the coliseum before the match concluded. Its outcome was only of relative concern to her. She could catch up on that part with Jarvan later. For the moment, Quinn wanted to find out a little more about Vayne, and await the return of her bird, Valor, with whatever news he brought from his scouting.
Quinn stayed awake deep into the evening searching through books and audiologues of Demacia and its residents in attempt to learn a little more about Vayne. All that she found were things that she knew already; her parents, and any siblings she had, were all killed when she was young. Seeing as she was nowhere to be found at the site of her dead family, authorities speculated that she either fled the house immediately afterwards, or was not there to begin with; however, upon further investigation, Demacian police officials did not find any evidence to suggest that she had not been at home; being young enough that it was unlikely for her to have gone somewhere without her parents knowing, and having no record of Shauna being anywhere else at the time. If that were true, then the event was sure to be something she still remembered, and likely haunted her continually. Afterwards, there existed little to no proof that she was even alive anymore. She was presumed dead but was not officially declared to be due to the lack of proof. Something around twenty years later, records indicated that a series of people were being found murdered within a very short time period. Every one was killed from a silver tipped crossbow bolt and all had some sort of past or experience with black magic and the dark arts. No one was ever accused of the murders, but the distinguishing use of silver pointed at Vayne, who fought in the League with the same weapons. Again, no proof existed, and a lot of the records were just the guesswork of officials. If it held true, then Quinn could be certain of one thing; Vayne was not too fond of those consumed by dark magic, and there were plenty of beings like that inside of League of Legends.
Quinn got up and left the study to return to her room and see if Valor had come back with Garen's location. She got to the courtyard and felt the cool autumn breeze blow against her face. She smiled widely; the zephyr reminded her of how the wind under Valor's wings felt when she walked beneath him. The thought had hardly left her mind when a great blue bird crashed down on top of her. She landed flat on her stomach and whirled around in preparation to fight when she realized that the assault was just a not so friendly hello from Valor. She laughed and the bird rubbed his beak against her face. He flapped his wings about and Quinn was hardly visible underneath the flurry of blue feathers.
"Stop Valor! Some people will get the wrong idea!" She shouted. The bird cawed back. "Not THAT kind of wrong idea Val!" She laughed. Again, the bird replied and Quinn continued the seemingly one sided conversation. "Val! No! YOU said that, not me! You are so embarrassing!" The bird seemed to smile back teasingly and got off of her so that she could stand back up. After getting to her feet, she shook – and lightly bowed – her head while looking up at Valor at an angle that seemed to pierce her eyebrows.
"So. What didjya find Val?" she asked the bird. It replied through a series of caws and screeches and she pondered the information. Glancing around, she noticed that she had already acquired a large number of confused and curious looks from summoners and champions alike, and she decided to go towards the privacy of her room before proceeding to talk over her options with Valor. The bird followed at a slow trot, and while a large Demacian Eagle, closely following a woman, on foot, throughout the hallways would normally be a peculiar thing, the strangeness was quickly subsided by the manner of giant centaurs and steroid enriched doctors that also wandered about the Institute. All in all, there was not an "odd" champion in the League, for all its members were unique in their own way.
Quinn got to her room and remembered to tightly latch and lock her door in order to avoid another Ezreal-like encounter.
"So he is in the Freljord, just as we thought, and he is still with Riven and Zac... What else did you say was there? A village or something?" Valor crooned in response and Quinn shook her head. "An Avarosan tribe under attack... I think we ought to report to the council. They will want to know all of this. Even if I don't fully trust them at the moment, I know that they won't stay quiet about a potential war." Valor nodded and Quinn gripped onto the small gem tied around her neck that was resting against her breast. She closed her eyes and bowed her head before reversing the action; however, she was no longer standing inside of her own room. Meetings with the council seemed to always be very eerie.
"You have information for us?" one of them asked.
"Yes," Quinn replied. She wanted to stroke Valor on the cheek as a reassuring gesture but he was not beside her as he had been just seconds ago. Clearly, the high summoners did not feel the need for him to come along.
A short silence ensued before one of the council members broke it with an "And?". Quinn fidgeted a little and decided that she had better tell them truth of Valor's findings. She had let Ezreal trust her and she did do her part in delivering the map, so she saw no real need to continue hiding information from them.
"They headed north to the Freljord. Appa – " Quinn was cut off.
"Excuse me, did you say Freljord? How could they..." The summoner did not finish his sentence, not due to being cut off, but by being lost in thought. Quinn waited to be queued to talk, but it did not come. She cleared her throat, rather unnecessarily, to try to draw attention to the fact that she wanted to talk. The council apologized and asked her to continue.
"On a side note, his friends were with him still. Garen refers to the woman as 'Riven' and the... blob... As 'Zac'. I am also under the impression that an Avarosan tribe was attacked, and a nearby one, where Garen and his company are currently staying, will likely either move in with them or leave to seek a different village in less distress."
The High Summoner who was not debating how Garen had gotten to the Freljord so quickly, lifted his eyebrows in impression: even though Quinn could not see it through their shroud of black.
"Excellent. We had gathered that Riven was the woman with him, but we are still looking for information pertaining to the blob, or, as you called him 'Zac'. Thank you for the report. We will send a man to deal with Riven. Have you gotten any news on Ezreal's whereabouts?" Quinn had forgotten about searching for Ezreal. Part of her hoped that he would be with Garen, and she could knock out two birds with one stone: or rather, two problems with one bird.
"No, I uh... I was hoping that he was with Garen. Unfortunately, he was not, nor was he anywhere to be found along the way."
"Ah. Yes that would have made matters more simplistic. Well, I would recommend searching the route from here, to Zaun, to Freljord, or even a straight shot from here to Freljord, a little more closely. If that does not bode well, we will have to search for more clues surrounding the last time we saw him. It may have something to do with how Garen got to Freljord so quickly..." Quinn was tempted to pipe in about the map Ezreal had drawn the day before and the underground route that laid in its ink, but she decided that the information may draw further questioning as to why it was not mentioned sooner. And for the time being, she hoped to remain on the council's side.
"Alright," the council continued, "We will alert Queen Ashe and King Tryndamere of this possible threat to their people. We will give them both a relief from matches as they settle it out, if they choose to leave. In the meantime, we will send someone more potent to dispatch of Garen's allies before we attempt to remove him from the picture again. Please, continue to look into Ezreal's whereabouts. Some summoners are getting… wary."
"Yes, of course," Quinn said with a slight bow of the head. She turned and walked out of the black space through the ever so strange doorway that seemed to lead back to her room, yet again. She looked at Valor and gave the majestic bird a big hug. The two sat down on her bed and she continued to pet him along his smooth blue feathers. "Ashe will just barely be getting out of her match by the time the council tells her of the attack… I can't imagine. Being in charge of so many people, all at once. It's… strange. I suppose it's something Jarvan must feel too." Valor let out a caw in response and Quinn blushed brightly. "Valor! I do NOT talk about him that much! I just…" Quinn quickly realized that she was not obligated to respond to the bird and turned her head away in embarrassment at his comment. She decided that she ought to get some rest before she attempted to search for Ezreal, and laid back onto her bed. Valor stood above her and peered down onto her face as she lay. "Valor, you are going to creep me out staring at me like that." He cawed lightly and she laughed. "Yes Val, I do plan to sleep in my armor. Is that a problem?" He nudged her lightly and continued until she was almost at the edge of the bed. "Fine... fine…"
She got out of bed and changed from her armor to sleepwear before crawling back in. "Better?" Quinn asked. Valor curred lightly and Quinn gently batted the side of his cheek with the back of her hand. "You have got to be the clingiest animal…" Quinn did not bother to finish her sentence as she trailed off and fell asleep with Valor snuggled up against her.