A mimicry of a sigh stretched and shrank the chest of Zac's form.

It was just him and Sett now. After a round of rushed introductions, Sett had left the other Zaunites with members of his crew and was off again the second the last cart was unloaded from the wagon. He wanted to get home to see his mother and Zac was the only one he allowed to accompany him.

"Nervous?" Sett asked.

"A little," Zac admitted truthfully.

"Don't be. She's gonna like you. You're a respectable young –"

"I am not fully aware of my age."

"- young at heart," Sett continued on without missing a beat, "blob creature. Who wouldn't like ya'?"

Sensing that Zac was going to bring up all the Ionians he had alarmed on their journey here and the gangsters they had thrashed in Zaun and the Chem-Baron that was out to get him, Sett quickly amended his statement.

"Assumin' they aren't gangsters or thugs and that they actually get a chance to know ya', alright?" he gave Zac a pat on the shoulder; "Ma will like you. Never seen her turn anyone away cause of looks. Come on and just be on your best manners."

"I always try to be."

Sett reached for the door but paused as his hand touched the handle.

"Oh, and one more thing," he said, "don't forget that conversation we had earlier. You're not gonna say a thing 'bout the fighting pits, right? She doesn't need to worry 'bout me."

Zac had not forgotten that conversation. He had had it earlier on their travels while all the other Zaunites were present, even if there was little chance that everyone would be meeting his mother, he wanted them all to know this. Absolutely nobody was to mention the fighting pits or his father to his mother. And though Sett had spoken these words (relatively) calmly, Zac had been able to sense the deadly seriousness he meant these words. Zac understood that breaking these rules would mean a one way ticket back to the Sump or worse. He had also not forgotten what had happened to the ganster in Zaun that insulted Sett's mother and the mess his skull had been reduced to.

"I promise I will not mention the fighting pits," Zac said with a nod.

"Good."

And then Sett opened the door to the home.

"Ma," Sett called, using a far friendlier tone than Zac had heard from him before, "I'm back Ma."

"Settrigh?" a voice calls back, "Is that you?"

Sett stepped into the house. Zac remained outside, waiting to be invited in after the two had their reunion. He stepped around the side of the door, so that he wouldn't be a visible distraction, but he did work one of his eye globes up to the end of his head's tendril and moved it to peek around the corner.

"It's me," Sett answered, "I'm home."

There was the sound of quick, muffled footsteps over wood, and then a woman appeared.

She carried herself with an inhuman grace. She was tall, though not as tall as her son, and even under the flowing garments she wore, Zac could tell she had a lean build from how the fabric fell on her. Her hair was the gentle color of lilacs. Fluffy ears, the same shape as Sett's, poked through her long hair, still perked and alert from hearing the door to her home opened. Her eyes were warm with motherly love as she looked at her son and her soft lips pulled into a gentle smile. But in sharp contrast to all these gentle features, her hands ended in a set of slender, white claws more fearsome looking than the claws Zac had seen on most animals.

"Oh, Settrigh," she said, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Ma."

They went and embraced each other, both letting out sighs of contentment as they felt the other's arm wrap around them. She rested her head on his shoulder, uncaring of how the ruffles of purple fur there tickled her nose, and rocked back and forth as she hummed.

Warmth, the kind of which was nurtured over years, filled the room. The emotions of deep, familial love enveloped Zac, and in that moment, a memory of his own mother's embrace flashed through his mind. He remembered how she would strain to wrap her arms around him and how he would adjust his shape so she could. Zac let his mind bask in comfort of the memory. As he did, his concerns about this meeting floated from him.

"I thought about you every day," she said, "so far away from home. I was worried that you would get into trouble in that big city and that you would be hurt and I wouldn't be there to help you, but now you're home. You are home and now I can – oh-umph," with a small grunt, Sett's mother squeezed her boy even tighter and lifted him off the ground, "- hug you and know you are safe and healthy, just what every mother wants."

She placed him back down.

"For you," Sett said, "I always try to be."

Zac's jaw had dropped at the sight of this, startling him even in his calmed state. Even if had only been for a moment, even if it had only been a little off the ground, Sett's mother had still been able to lift the enormous man. A man who had been able to pick up Zac himself, a feat that usually required two or more people when he had been in a tank. When she had picked up Sett, her sleeves had rolled down and Zac had been able to see that her arms, as lean as they were, were all muscle. He wondered just how strong this woman was.

Then, trying to regain his composure for his moment of awe, he snapped his jaw shut. The action made a squelching noise louder than he anticipated. The ears of Sett's mother twitched in response.

"Is someone there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sett said, "there is. Remember that letter I sent? I wrote that I was bringing some people back with me. One of 'em is here."

Sett took a step back and motioned to where Zac's improvised eye stock was peeking around the corner.

"Come on," he said, "introduce yourself."

Zac took a moment to work his eyes globe back to where it usually rested on his face. It wasn't necessary to see properly, but it did help his face look more humanoid and Zac had realized long ago that more human like he looked during a first impression, the better it usually went. And knowing how important his mother was to his friend, Zac wanted this first impression to go well. Carefully, Zac stepped into the house, compressing his form to be denser so he could better fit.

"Ma," Sett said, "this is Zac. I met him in Zaun. He's a good sort."

Zac walked forward, taking care not to bump against the walls or ceiling, making sure no part of himself, no matter how small, was accidentally left behind in a footprint, and moving in such a way so that he looked as least threating as a hulking, living mass of chemical runoff could.

"Hello," his deep, gentle voice bubbled.

"Zac," Sett said, "this is my mother. Ma, this is Zac. He's an orphan, Ma. I'm helpin' him get a job."

"That's very kind of you," Ma replied before turning to Zac and greeting him, "Hello."

Her voice sounded kind, but Zac could still sense some apprehension in her tone. He wanted to change that, so he brought up a topic of conversation he knew would make her feel at ease.

"It is nice to finally meet you, Miss Sett's Mom," he said, "I have been told a lot about you from Sett. Your son speaks highly and very kindly of you. All he said were good things. He says that you're the best mother in all Ionia."

The words he said may have not been the exact words Sett had used, but the meaning had been the same and they had the effect on Ma that Zac had been hoping for. She smiled and her cheeks bloomed pink, what little apprehension she had fading away to be replaced at once by a feeling of warmth.

"He said that about me?" she asked.

She reached up and cupped Sett's face, running her thumb along his cheekbone as she did. Her fierce looking claw left no mark as it passed over his skin.

"What a sweet son I have."

"Ma," Sett replied, his own cheeks now turning red, "I ain't gonna lie 'bout something so important. You raised your boy to be better than that."

Zac even felt himself smile, so caught up in the happy familial emotions was he. He had even been able to push away the little voice in his head that, much like a mosquito buzzing, was nagging 'but you're lying about your job.'

"I suppose next to her happiness," he thought, "it isn't that important."

"Why don't we go to the garden?" Ma said, "I want to hear about your journey and if we are going to speak, we should do it somewhere peaceful."

"A garden," Zac answered, "I would like that."

Zac followed behind his hosts as they moved through the house. He did not want to appear overly nosy, peaking into every room of a stranger's house, but his curiosity was getting the better of him and, more than once, did he need to conscious effort to direct one of his eye globes back to its place on the front of his face rather than drift so that he could keep looking at a piece of art they passed by.

He couldn't help himself; he just found it so interesting how items that were the same thing, such as a chair or lantern, looked so different compared to how they were in Zaun. Everything here looked like it belonged together. Similar shapes, motifs, and colors were seen across most items in the house whether they were practical or not. This was in stark contrast to Zaunite design, which most often, was sprung from the creativity of the individual making the object and using whatever was on hand. In Zac's eyes, it seemed like the only thing uniform about Zaunite design was how ununiform it all was. Though if asked which was better, he didn't know how he would answer.

The sound of wood scraping lightly over wood brought Zac's attention back. Sett had hurried the last few steps ahead and opened the sliding door to reveal a walled in garden. Just as with the inside of the house, everything in the garden was neat, was done with clear intent, and obviously well cared for. All the flowering bushes were free of dead blossoms, not a single red leaf from the garden's single tall tree had sunken to the bottom of the little pond, and the smaller ornamental tree appeared to have been encouraged to grow in pleasing shapes, such as one whose trunk and branches curved in such a way that it resembled a dancing woman. But even if the bushes had a few dead flowers or the pond a scattering of leaves, and the trees were not grown in such a decorative manner, Zac would have been equally impressed. The abundance of gardens was quickly becoming his favorite thing about Ionia.

"Please," Ma says as she gestures to a low table on the back deck, "sit down. Oh, I should have brought something for us to eat and drink while talked. You two relax, I will go."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Sett said, "you sit and relax, Ma. I'll take care of snacks. Zac, keep her good company."

Sett didn't give his mother any time to object to his offer. With two strides, he was back in the house and had closed the door behind him.

"Okay," Zac answered, the word only halfway out of his mouth before the door closed.

He turned back to Ma, gave a polite nod, and tried to take a set at the little table. It was far too low for him to ever hope fitting his legs under unless he spread them out so thing that they basically became a puddle or shifted his mass upwards, but that would make him top heavy in a way that wouldn't be comfortable to maintain for long. So he did the next best thing and knelt down next to the table. Much to his relief, he saw that Ma also knelt when she took her place at the other side. His relief was short lived though.

Kneeling was not something Zac was accustomed to. If had had to sit, he would either do so by sitting on top of an object as a human would or he would simply relax and melt down into a lump. While kneeling, he had to actively focus to keep his legs as individual limbs even as they folded over and pressed against themselves. After only a minute, the surface tension on his body gave up and, with a scloowulp his lower body melded into one mass. Ma blinked in surprise.

"I'm not hurt," Zac reassured, "this is just a little embarrassing."

"No need to feel embarrassed," Ma said, moving her gaze up to his face and tried to take attention away from his limbs, "Settrigh said your name is Zac, correct?"

"Yes, that is my name."

"How did you meet?"

"He was," Zac paused, thinking of how best to relay the story without revealing that the two of them fought off a bunch of murderous gangsters, "he was protecting someone. Some jerks were picking on a kid and he stepped in to stop it. I saw this and didn't want to see him or the kid get hurt, so I helped. We scared them off and made sure the boy was feeling safe."

"That sounds just like him, using his strength to help others."

Zac could have imagined it, but for a moment he thought he saw a bit of movement in her fabric, as though she had a tail that wagged ever so briefly. But he didn't know if she had a tail and didn't want to be rude with asking, so he continued he brief summary of his meeting with Sett.

"After that, we talked a little. He noticed that I was stressed and he thought that if I visited here, he could help me get some work and that this place might help me relax a little. I don't know if it is working though."

"Is something wrong?"

If he were being honest, Zac would have admitted that part of the promise was to participate in one fight at the pit, and the thought that he might hurt someone too much was weighing on his mind, but he knew he couldn't confess something like that to Ma. Not if he wanted to remain Sett's friend. So instead, he answered with a different truth.

"It's so different from Zaun. Back home, I knew where things were. I knew the sights, the sounds, the language. I knew where to hide if things got scary. Here, I don't know those things. There is a lot of open space and that's scary."

Zac looked around the garden. Through his membrane, he could smell the aroma of a nearby plant. The aroma was sweet and nowhere could he detect the chemical sting that was ever present in Zaun's air.

"But that's not a bad thing," he continued, "it's quieter than Zaun. I can hear wind in the leaves, something I never could at home. And the air feels different, and there are brightly colored birds, and nice smelling flowers and grass. It is peaceful. I just don't think I know how to relax in the peace. I never realized that I didn't have much of it before coming here."

Ma could not sense the emotions in others the same way that Zac could, but she did not need his inhuman senses to know that Zac needed a little motherly guidance.

"From what I have heard, Zaun is a very different place from here," Ma said, "almost the complete opposite. I imagine that if I were to be brought to Zaun, I would be feeling much the same way; overwhelmed."

"Yeah, overwhelmed. That is a good word for it."

"I think if I were in Zaun, I would look to see if there was something there that made me feel comfortable. Maybe it would be a place that sold food I liked or a spot where I could the ships in harbor."

"You would need to go back to Piltover to watch the boats." Zac interrupted.

"Then I would find time to go to Piltover if I needed it. Tell me, Zac, were there any places in Zaun that made you feel comfortable?"

"I liked going to the theater district in Entresol. Even if I couldn't always see the performances, I could hear the people applauding, could feel how happy the shows made them. It was nice to feel the good emotions that gathered there."

"Maybe Settrigh could take you to a performance here? You could learn a little bit about Ionian art while you are here. Maybe you could hear some music?"

"I would like that."

"Was there anything else in Zaun you liked."

"The cultivars."

"Cultivars?"

"They are like this," he pointed out to the garden, "but they are in big rooms made of glass to keep the Gray, uh that's the smog in the city, out so the plants are protected and the people have clean air. A few rich people can keep them, but there are a few large ones open to the public. These are the ones I go to. Somedays street performers play music and vendors with carts sell snacks. It's not as fancy as what's at Entresol, but it still makes people happy, which makes me happy."

"If I ever go to Zaun, will you bring me to one of these cultivars, Zac?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, and until then, I want you to think of this garden like those cultivars. If you ever need a moment to be calm, you may come here."

"Thank you, Miss Sett's Mom."

Together they watched the garden.

"I love this garden," Ma said, "Settrigh made it for me after we moved here. He built the walls, laid out the paths, and even dug that little pond for me. I am so happy he has given up fighting in the pits and now using his muscles to build things instead."

Zac couldn't think of anything to say in response to that, so he just smiled and nodded, when a sudden burst of movement caught his attention. A little bird with a dark body and blue head darted by and Zac followed its flight until it came to the only thing in the entire garden that seemed out of place; a birdhouse. Unlike everything else in the garden, this was not of Ionian design and from Zac knew of Sett's family, he guessed that this was almost certainly made by a Noxian. Ma followed his gaze to the birdhouse.

"It's sweet, isn't it?" she said, "You would never think a Noxian to be the type of person to build a birdhouse, but it is an enormous empire. It seems more unreasonable to think that there are no people in it who would want to build them. Settrigh doesn't like it very much. He's wanted me to get rid of it for years, always promises me that he will get me a better one, but I told him 'absolutely not.' I do not think it is fair to inconvenience the little birds for something they could never have had any influence over."

"I would have told him 'no' as well," Zac agreed, "In Zaun, having a bird nest on your house or in your ducts is considered good luck."

"Oh?"

"It means your home has clean air. I have seen so many different types of people build their own types of bird houses and they build so many different kinds. I have seen them out of wood, metal, big, multi-level ones from old metal casks, and transparent ones from chem-lantern globes so you can see the bird nesting inside."

"I imagine having a transparent bird house would be exciting if the birds living inside had a nest of eggs. Then you could watch the babies grow up."

"That would be, but I don't know if I would want baby birds in the ducts of a house I was living in. Baby birds are noisy."

"All babies are noisy. You should have heard Settrigh when he was younger. He could make such a fuss some days."

The door behind them slid open.

"Ma," Sett said, "you ain't tellin' embarrassing stories 'bout when I was a kid, were you? Zac doesn't need to hear 'bout the dumb things I did."

He set down a tray on the table. Steam wisped slowly out a small tea pot, giving off a faint herbal aroma as it did, and a plate set out with dried apricots and a type of cookie Zac was surprised to see has was familiar with.

"Here you are everyone," Sett said before taking a seat between the two, "Ma, you need to try these things. Found these cookies in Zaun and they ain't half bad. They've got kinda a dumb name though. They call them giggling – nah, that ain't the right translation – snickering,"

"Snickerdoodles." Zac said.

"Thanks. Yeah, snickerdoodle," Sett said, "try one."

Ma reached out, took a cookie, and had a bite.

"Oh," she gasped, her ears flicking upwards as she did, "it's so sweet. Maybe too sweet? Let me think."

She took another small bite, chewed for a moment, and then popped the remainder of the cookie into her mouth.

"I think I might need another one or two before I make my mind up," she said as she grabbed another.

"Take as much as you want," Sett said, "I got 'em for you and about a dozen other snacks for you to try as well."

"You're spoiling me."

"No more than you deserve, Ma."

She smiled, her sharp fangs glinting through soft lips.

Sett motioned for Zac to take on as well as he began to pour tea for the three of them.

"Thank you," he said.

Zac picked up a cookie and placed it into his mouth before mimicking the motion of chewing as his body absorbed the cookie and began moving it down towards what he considered to be his "stomach." Zac had no internal organs, but he was made up of a strange collection of chemicals, some of which were quite caustic, and he had learned to gather all these caustic components to a single point in the center of his being to act as his stomach, allowing him to digest food faster than if he had just passively absorbed something into himself. This also had two other benefits; one, he did not accidently gross anyone out by making them watch a sausage slowly get digested, and two, by concentrating the caustic chemicals, he removed them from his limbs and reduced the chance that he might accidently damage something he didn't want to. It was skill that had taken him a fair amount of time to control, but for moments like this, it had been well worth it.

Together, the three of the talked into the evening, Sett relaying more about his trip to Zaun and Zac answering any questions either of them had about the city. Sett also promised that tomorrow, he would introduce Ma to the other Zaunites he had mentioned in his letter to her, and that today he wanted her to meet Zac by himself first, since meeting him was a lot to take in at once. And he also talked about his fictitious odd jobs he was going to help the Zaunites get to achieve his very real goal of getting them gainfully employed, much to the approval of Ma, who was so pleased to know how kind and thoughtful her son was. Before they knew it, the last hues of warm scarlet faded as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"Are you going to stay the night?" Ma asked.

"I'd love nothin' more." Sett answered.

"Then please, stay. I know I have extra bedding for you, but I may need to search for something for Zac."

"You don't need to worry about me," Zac said, "I do not need much."

"If you need anything, do not be afraid to ask," Ma reassured.

"Actually, there is one thing."

"What is it?"

"May I sleep in the garden?"

"Of course."

Zac wished his hosts a good night as they retired to the warmth of the house. He then found the quietest corner of the deck and allowed his body to relax into whatever shape felt most comfortable before drifting off to sleep as he listened to the sound of wind rustling the leaves.

Greetings Summoners,

A note about my hiatus. It has been an eventful year for me so far, not all of it good. In January, my grandmother passed away. My heart broke, it still aches, and for a long while, I lost almost all will to write. Then, late February and March I was making a Karthus cosplay for PAX, which took almost all my free time, but it was just the project I needed to distract myself from my grief. Only now I feel like I am finally getting my groove back to write regularly. I will try to resume to posting a new chapter every other month if not every month. Thank you all so much for your patience as I continue to heal and write again. Your readership means the world to me.

Best of luck on the Rift and everywhere,

- Gwoo