The sky stayed dark even after the fog surrounding the ship had faded out. Talon gathered that it must be night. His perception of time had been completely shot after spending so long on the island, just sitting, waiting, and healing. He rubbed his back gently and felt the forming scar stretch across his skin. He sighed and continued to stare into the blackness ahead of him. Lucian had not moved or said a word in hours. The droning silence persisted up until the next day at sunset when the boat had finally arrived back at Port Deka. Being the evening, most people were no longer lining the streets and bustling about, as they had been when Lucian and Senna originally set off.
Lucian went to the lower deck and picked up his inanimate wife before setting foot off of the boat. He stepped onto the wooden dock and a small feeling of relief shot over his entire body. He was finally back on land and far, far away from the Shadow Isles. Lucian walked towards the inn where he had stayed in the past, seeking a place to rest and figure out his next course of action. He planned to head for the League of Legends; it would be worth looking into, seeing as he had no other hopes or leads. He turned around to ask Talon where the League was, but saw nothing behind him. He scanned the streets that were visible and looked back at the ship that he had just left, but found no one. He wrinkled his brow, sighed, and pressed on towards the inn. It was not like Lucian wanted to keep Talon around as company, but someone who understood his situation is better than no one. It had been a very long time since he had worked alone; but once more, it was his only option.
Thirty minutes later, Talon was munching on a loaf of pilfered bread as he walked away from Port Deka. His backpack was full of food that he had stolen from the town as Lucian had made his way to an inn. Talon was not quite sure where it was that he wanted to go, but he was certain that he was not headed back to the Institute of War; not so soon anyways. He needed to find out more information on Marcus, seeing as he had not been given the time or opportunity to do so – like he had hoped to – as a champion in the League of Legends. On the other hand, he really did want to go see Katarina. Perhaps he could draw her outside of the Institute without bringing attention along with. The third thing resting on Talon's mind was Jericho Swain. The memory of watching the man shoot himself in the leg as a failed attempt to assassinate Prince Jarvan IV was still fresh in Talon's head, but he still did not know how to confront the information. He had no idea where to find Jericho, nor did he know what to ask him. Talon still had no real proof that the man knew where Marcus was, just a good hunch. Then, he got an idea.
Talon turned back to the town and slipped through the shadows as he peered into the buildings and shops around. He was looking for a small number of things; a piece of paper, a pen or something to write with, and a carrier pigeon. He found one store that appeared to contain mostly general goods and saw a back door that was lightly propped open. He walked around to one side and found a window. After picking up a rock, he chucked it through the glass to create as loud of a noise as he possibly could. A man was heard yelling from inside and footsteps approached the broken glass. Talon moved quickly and slipped through the back door. He found the paper and writing supplies he needed and swiped it off of the shelf, before silently leaving the store. He could still hear the man sweeping up glass as he slipped the supplies into a small pouch that he had also taken, while moving to find a courier for his letter.
With food and materials in hand, he broke into the top floors window after climbing the fire escape, and stole the shop keeper's pigeon. He held the bird's mouth shut to muffle the majority of the noise, and fled the scene. He climbed on top of the roof and heard the man yelling in frustration just below. The shopkeeper looked through the broken window and saw the fire escape, then decided to descend and tried to track down his mysterious thief. Talon grinned and quickly wrote a note that he attached to the pigeon's leg. He scrawled only two words onto the paper: "He's gone". He told the pigeon to find Katarina at the League of Legends. Whether or not the bird knew where to find Katarina, was debatable; but it definitely knew where the League of Legends was due to the high influx of letters that went in and out of the place.
Satisfied with his message, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop as he left the town. He trotted along a stony path for a while, but had to divert from it in order to continue to where he wanted to go. He hoped that his plan worked, in that Katarina was bright enough to figure out what the message meant. Talon planned to head to the Shurima Desert. Katarina had once written a letter to Talon that read the same, and went from the Shurima to her manor. Hopefully she would recognize her own words and figure to reverse the path. Talon had no other real way of getting her to leave the League without revealing his location to anyone who may intercept or see the letter. He just hoped that he did not end up sitting around the desert waiting for her to show until his skin burned off of his bones in the sun's heat.