The antechamber of the Hadya Nedjem's grand palace was a snapshot of Shurima's distant past: golden decorations spread across the pale white marble. Kai'Sa had never seen anything so opulent in her life: she could barely stomach how excessive it all was.

"So, how long do we have to live? I'm not quite done writing my will yet."

Ezreal chuckles dryly as his rhetoric went unanswered.

Their march came to a halt before an ornately carved wooden door, with the guards encircling them fanning out to form a rough semicircle. Kai'Sa took note of the many open windows, showing off the viridian garden and a way to escape. But seeing as the guards had confiscated most of their recently bought supplies, she doubted that the two of them would last long in the Great Sai without a caravan to hop onto.

"Well?" The blond leans in, whispering loud enough so the guards could probably still hear him. "Aren't you going to bust out our super secret totally real weapon that will vaporize everyone around us?"

"Hm."

"You know, the one that we totally have with us. Always."

The Captain slammed the brunt of their spear onto the ground, voice a few octaves deeper.

"Outsiders, you are going to meet The One True Child of Setaka. Show her respect or we shall show you death."

All of Ezreal's bravado disappears as a spear pokes into his back, pushing the boy forward and Kai'Sa closer to her limit. The huntress was not good at following orders, much less ones given by those less competent than her. The Scythe-Armed Voidborn had broken into the Holy Gardens, gardens under their protection.

"Come and face your judgment!"

The Holy Lady's voice was shrill like that of a songbird, yet loud enough to shake the palace as the gargantuan wooden doors to her chambers swung open.

The throne room was a display of ancient Shuriman excess: with the Holy Lady sitting atop a raised dais on a throne made of the finest gold farmed from the desert wastes. Kai'Sa held back a scoff of disgust as the demigod rose, pale white dress flowing along the stairs as Lady Nedjem stepped down to their level. She gently raised her veil, revealing an elegant aged face marred with scars from long ago battles.

"HERETICS!"

Her booming anger took both of them by surprise, but Kai'Sa was far from intimidated. A newborn Voidling was more threatening.

"You two have brought that- devil to the city! Do you know how much you have cost us?! Cost me?!"

"I mean - first of all." Despite his attempts to remain level-headed, Ezreal's stammer more than confirms his apprehension. "It was that weird prophet guy who called the Dunebreaker and all the other purple monsters, not us. And if you want to blame anyone for bringing the Void here, you could blame Rengar for hunting one of-"

The hierophant slams her staff onto the floor, causing the assorted guards around them to move in closer. Lady Nedjet sharply inhales, a bloated crown filled with jewels rattling atop of her head.

"How dare you spread lies about that Bastard within my city? There is only one child of Setaka within these walls, and that damned Rengar is no Child of Setaka! If you still dare to think that, then I will delightfully give you a punishment worthy of my title as demigod."

She rasps for breath, fanning herself dramatically.

"And you, Thing! You killed my best guards and violated the Garden of Setaka twice with your filthy presence. How dare you show your face in these hallowed walls? Do you know those you killed had families, or do Xer'Sai monsters have no concept of such sacred ideas?"

"Don't call her that." For a brief second, Ezreal almost looked angry. "She's not a Xer'Sai, for your information. also isn't calling someone Thing a bit dero-"

"SILENCE!"

The staff shot down a second time: the tips of dozens of spears poking at their backs. Kai'Sa responds by standing a little taller, shooting dark glares at her captors with plasma-colored eyes. Not even the fiercest of lioness dared to attack prey that fought back.

"Enough of these games. My judgment is final! Both of you will be executed by dawn!"

"Execution?" A second voice billows on the breeze, graceful yet authoritative. "That's a bit harsh isn't it?"

Leaning on the windowsill was a strangely dressed bald woman, casually swinging her own staff with the air of a wanderer. Every swing stirs the sand in between the stone bricks of the walls, a river of dust extending outwards to form a staircase.

"You."

Any calmness and control that Nedjem had tried to display was replaced by seething hatred. Her eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets with every step taken by the newcomer.

"It is good to see you too sister. How does it feel being a false prophet?"

"How does it feel starving in the desert?"

"Hah! Glad your humor has remained intact."

"Cut the farce." The demigoddess hisses. "You know heretics are not welcome here."

"The Hawk Father demands the boy be taken to meet him at the Capital. Shurima City."

Ezreal flinches at the word, though she cannot discern if it is because of anxiety or excitement.

"Do you take me for a fool sister? Hah! That city is nothing but ruin - why should I heed the words of a long dead king?! How would your supposed God like to see his prized heretics in the form of severed heads delivered to his door?"

"Be careful about what you say about the Gods, lest they hear you."

"I say as I please." She snarls. "For there is only one God in Zuretta, Me."

Dust falls from the roof, and all eyes turn towards one of the windows to just barely catch the tip of a gargantuan wing. Kai'Sa uses the momentary distraction to don her mask, using the infrared to make out the gargantuan outline of a winged lion. She would have assumed it to be some kind of statue, but statues did not normally move. It patrols the rooftop with intent, making sure they felt every single footfall.

"A sphinx." Ezreal whispers with reverence.

Even the Holy Lady whispers a prayer as the creature prowls, affiliation clear from the casualness at the way the newcomer spoke.

"Are you certain, sister? Or would you like to test the Hawk Father's power?"

A gargantuan eye obscures the entirety of the window, blue pupils narrowing into slits. The sand beneath their feet ripples like waves as the newcomer touches down on the throne room's floor. Kai'Sa readies herself for the inevitable conflict to follow, seeing as every single royal guard looked eager enough to fight whatever was outside - as suicidal as that may have been. Her quarrel was with the Void, not with whatever religious conflict these two factions had. Lady Nedjem huffs while puffing out her chest, ignoring the fact that she had broken into a nervous sweat. Her raised hand is enough to get all the guards back into their places, some sweating buckets within their golden armor.

"Tch. Be thankful that I want nothing more to do with these heretical monsters."

The huntress' claws clench at the word, spat out with such filth and disgust, but to her surprise a soft leather glove takes one claw in its embrace. Ezreal did not look over; but he did not need to in order to soothe her growing anger.

"Take these mongrels and leave my city."

Peregrine had given him and Kai'Sa about fifteen minutes to prepare their belongings before their departure.

Admittedly, most of that was spent on thinking about how to convince her to come with him: everything else was just a blur of throwing things in bags. The latter was as easy as breathing for a vagabond, but the former was about as easy as climbing the slopes of Mount Targon.

Ezreal was sure that he heard Peregrine imply that he (and he alone) would be going to Shurima City.

As fun as that would be, the explorer couldn't just leave Kai'Sa to fend for herself in the Sai. Now, this wasn't to look down on her or anything - he knew she could handle herself. That armor was something of a marvel, and the girl beneath it was no slouch when it came to improvised combat. But his mind was weighed down by guilt and worries and so much more emotional baggage, all because of what happened the last time they fought the Void.

His grip on the shampoo bottle he was holding tightens till the bottle threatens to pop.

"Did you bring your deodorant?"

Ezreal nearly drops the supplies he was holding, failing to articulate a response that was not a series of stifled coughs. The blond stumbles to lean on the bathroom door of their apartment; regaining his cool with a single flick of his bangs.

"Huh?"

"That thing." Kai'Sa nods towards the bottle, glass and very much fragile. "The one you spray on yourself."

"I- Yeah, I brought more than enough to last me a long time."

"Good."

She looks away for a moment, and the intrusive thoughts take over. Unable to sate his curiosity, Ezreal hazards a check under his arm for any odors. Thankfully, the cooling strength of 'Atlantis Breeze' muffles any bodily odor he might have been producing

"What are you doing?"

"I was - checking if my coat had a hole in it."

Kai'Sa had the heart to not judge him out loud, but her eyebrow was more than enough clue that she saw right through him.

"It's my first one and all that, a gift from my uncle when I got into the University." He explains a little too passionately. "I have to make sure it's in tiptop shape for the inevitable museum exhibit I get when I become famous and all that - maybe even sell little bits of it for the legions of fans I have. You know how it is."

"I see."

She watches him from a distance, breezing along to her windowsill as Ezreal surveys the blank canvas that was their apartment. A clean slate. He fiddles with the hem of his leather coat, rethinking all the memories he and the huntress had spent here. A life of markets and candlelit dinners was far too boring for the Number One explorer of all time, but Ezreal admitted that living it Kai'Sa wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"You sure you don't want to come along? I mean, I get that being my sidekick is a risky job and all that but it does have its benefits. For one, who wouldn't want to spend a week or two hanging out with yours truly?"

Her violet eyes wander to the bed, precious pillows and blankets neatly piled atop the bed.

"That woman. You cannot trust her. It is foolish to assume that this woman does not have her own agenda."

"I mean, she did help us out in the Zuretta."

"This woman can raise an army from the sands with a wave of her hand, she is not to be trifled with."

"Meaning that if Sister Peregrine really wanted us gone, she would have probably done something about it, right?"

Their conversation comes to an end as soon as he saddles his backpack, Ezreal nervously running a hand along his hair and readjusting his goggles.

"But you do have a point, I know that Shurima City is a big mystery and I know that it might not even be real but - hey, it beats the both of us rotting in a cell huh?"

"Us?"

"Aren't you coming with me?"

The mere mention of the capital of an ancient civilization was enough to light his words with passion.

"Look I know this is hard for the both of us but - I'm an archeologist, well technically I'm not with the Association yet and have no license but hey semantics don't matter out here anyway. My Mom and Dad told me so many stories about Shurima and the Ascended and - and this is my chance to see them for myself. To be a real archeologist, maybe even live up to what they want from me."

Ezreal takes a deep breath to stop himself from rambling like a total idiot, brushing aside his bangs.

"Point is, bringing anything back from the real Shurima City could make my career - just imagine all the artifacts! The treasure! The scrolls! Even with one of those things I'd finally be able to actually be the actual Number One Archeologist and Explorer back home, and I know you don't really care about that but - I do."

And yet, even as he devloves into a madman, the huntress listens to him with what looks like her full attention. His heart chokes up, and a lump forms in his throat.

"This is selfish, and stupid and dumb but - I just wanted to have someone with me on this trip that I could trust, someone who I know will have my back even if things go wrong with Peregrine. Someone like you."

The gauntlet flickers as his one-sided debate ends, Ezreal ruffling his uncut mess of hair and puffing out a breath. Kai'Sa had a poker face that could have made Zaunian gangsters blush, the only movement being the closing of her eyes and the slight flare of her nostrils.

"S-so are you coming?"

Her silence speaks enough. The realization stings, but after Ezreal remembers all that she had done for him- he swallows his bitter disappointment and puts on a wide smile.

"Well, I guess all good things come to an end. It's like they say in the Freljord, you don't miss the summer's harvest till winter comes along. You wouldn't know winter, but I think you get the point."

"Hm."

"Well if we do see each other some time." He can't even look at her, standing up and keeping his eyes on anywhere but her general shape. "I'll be sure to update you on what I've been doing. If Shurima City works out, maybe next time you see me I'll have a few more medals and a new coat."

He talks as he prepares, slinging his overstuffed backpack on his shoulders and grunting at the familiar weight. Ezreal takes a moment to loosen his grip on the gauntlet as he heads for the door, every step in the room feeling painfully slow and awkward.

"Wait."

One word from her was enough to slow down time, his heart nearly shattering from a swell of hope. At some point, she had moved behind him - one claw gently clasped around his wrist. Kai'Sa takes a moment longer than usual to speak.

"Be careful."

"I will be." Ezreal chuckles through the pain. "Trust me."

She lets go, he leaves.