The warming sunlight hit Vi's face and arms, alleviating the irritation of remaining blindfolded. The long hoverboard ride had been soothing for her too.

"Boy Savior–let me use your name already–can't we take these off?" Jinx complained.

A well-practiced sigh came from the Firelight leader. "I guess we can trust Caitlyn now. Don't ask for anyone else's name though. And no. Just a few seconds."

"Glad to hear it," Vi added. Though she didn't mind how Cait's hand felt on her shoulder.

They soon stopped. "Face the direction of my voice," he instructed. "Now, take them off."

"Sex fiend," Jinx muttered as the three women removed the blindfolds and looked. After a few blinks they focused on the work before them.

The sisters were too overwhelmed to speak. The surprise. The pain. The joy. The memories.

Cait broke the silence first. "This is for the original group you had in the Lanes, right?"

"Partly. It is a memorial for the people we lost. Or had lost. We recently added Akshay, who was killed in the airship raid," Ekko explained.

Jinx's eyes had become watery. "Did you make them all?" she asked, her voice shaky as her gaze went from the images of Powder to her old family to the ones she didn't recognize.

"No. Any Firelight who wants to may contribute."

Jinx looked like she wanted to say something but halted herself.

"It's beautiful, Ekko. Thank you for memorializing us and them," Vi added. She allowed herself some tears, but only some.

He nodded solemnly. "We don't want to ever forget them, but we can't allow ourselves to be trapped in the past either."

Vi started to take in everything else that Caitlyn and Jinx had adjusted to. The great, giving tree–unique in Zaun. The gentle swarm of firelights buzzing around its branches. The signs of a healthy community: happy children, stable housing, general collaboration.

Powder was right. Ekko founded a small utopia while alone. What can we accomplish together?

Taking a step forward, Jinx found her words. "Ekko… which were the three?"

It took a second for him to understand. He half-turned and slowly pointed. "Halt. Meena. Su."

Jinx repeated their names solemnly as she took in their images. "I didn't know their names, not even the first letter when I killed them. I didn't know their faces."

Didn't you have to, Powder? Silco must've tricked you into doing it. "...X, it–"

Jinx held up her hand. "How old were they?"

Ekko bit his lip and looked away for a moment, but relented. "19, 17, and 18."

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she walked up and held her arms outs. After Ekko lifted his arms she half-tackled him in a tight embrace.

E, who had been at the back of the group, came closer. "When a crocodile cries… is it always insincere?" she softly asked no one.

Vi didn't like the challenge, but Cait's hand on hers kept her from a confrontation. She couldn't hear everything her sister sobbed, but caught "sorry" and "can't wash" and "hexgem."

Ekko was louder and clearer. "I understand Jinx. It is hard. We'll figure it out. Together, we'll show them."

Caitlyn frowned. "I can't make demands, but making weapons with hextech would be harmful for people on both sides of the Pilt. Jayce and Viktor wouldn't want to, but they're hands will be forced by the Council if you do."

Ekko put on his brash grin. "Who said anything about weaponizing it? Jinx, please look over the notes we have and what I've diagramed later."

Jinx wiped clear her tears and nuzzled his forehead. "Thank you."

After a moment he nodded and he looked at Caitlyn with a sigh. "We should bring you back soon. I'll discuss matters with you before we do."

Vi tightened her hold on Cait's hand. They looked into each other's eyes.

Ekko turned back to Jinx. "You should probably spend more time with Vi for now."

Jinx nodded and walked back over. Cait and Vi shared a close hug before the captain joined the Firelight leader in walking away.

The sisters studied the painting silently. The younger one went first. "From a cold, technical aspect it's also embarrassing for me. I create doodles. Even if I could express my… myself better, I couldn't make art like that."

Despite all Powder's done, she still attacks herself. My failure as her sister? Of course on that night, but maybe I should've pushed back on Mylo harder or insisted on Vander giving her more attention. "It's on me."

"...X, I don't think that's true. And even if it were, your talents lie in places besides painting. Why else would Ekko want you to help with the… whatever super advanced technology thing you two have? It's like I told you, 'What makes you different makes you strong.'"

Jinx looked to the side and nodded then over a little more and glared. Should I tell her they aren't there? She must know on some level, but affirming it might help.

"Vi, you say that, but I don't know if you believe it."

Switch to the defensive. Should I see this like a sparring match to communicate better? No. Like Cait said before we left, listen and empathize first, then decide what to do.

"What do you mean, P–X?"

Jinx scoffed. "Right there! How can you say it's good I'm different when you refuse to see me as different. Ekko said I should stop saying 'Powder is dead' because it's not helpful, but even if I were more her than Jinx, I'm not her." She pointed to the drawing of her with her found family and a broad smile above her overbite. "The seven years have changed me and you. Hell, the last seven days have changed me and the last seven hours have changed you into a superpowered fighter. We are different, but I still believe we are still sisters. Do you see me, this person called Jinx, as yours?"

"A moment," Vi said. Jinx frowned, probably thinking her sister was planning a deception, but waited. Listen and empathize. Powder's upset that I'm treating her as too young. Maybe she's doing a teen rebellion she never got to do with me. She's also upset I was gone, of course. And the name. All these originate with Silco. He needs to die. Powder won't be herself until I stop his heart from beating. For now, try treating her like she's an adult, stay close, and use 'that' name.

"I've explained why it is very hard for me to use that name, but from now on, if an alias isn't needed, I'll call you Jinx."

Jinx smiled and hugged her. "I appreciate that. Is there a reciprocation I can make? Ugh, I hate sounding like how a hoity-toity Piltie probably sounds trying to make out."

Vi chuckled. "I can almost imagine Cupcake saying that."

"Imagining that a lot, huh?"

Vi checked her feet and failed to resist blushing. "I'm not used to being around people like her. Stillwater doesn't select the best, neither the inmates nor the guards."

Nodding, Jinx leaned her head in. Vi responded in kind and the sisters nuzzled. "You'll never be imprisoned again, Vi. I'd sink Stillwater before that would happen. It reduces the sting of orphaning Ren."

Vi felt a coldness from that, but she kept their heads together. Jinx continued, "Digressions aside, is there something I can do for you?"

An opening. Be subtle. "There is so much I don't know about. Where have you been staying? Are we safe from Silco?"

"After Marcus abducted you, I told Silco you had abandoned me and he took me in. I stayed with him at the Last Drop and more in the past couple years I mostly crashed at this hideout. Underwhelming compared to here."

Silco took over the Last Drop? Of course he would corrupt a building like he does people and probably all of the underground. If we go to the Lanes, I could break away and probably kill him quickly.

"And he made you do crimes for him?"

Jinx sighed. "'Made' isn't a fair word. He used manipulation and told me to 'become what they fear" and such; still, I knew what my bombs and bullets would do and he didn't have a gun to my head when I used them."

Vi paused and glanced at her hands. "What would have happened if you refused to fight for him?"

Jinx shrugged. "What happens to sump snipes that won't work without a family? It's always a mixture of having a choice to not do something and not eating. Even Vander told us we had to earn our way in the world. Maybe I could have run off and tried to survive in the tent city. If I was smart, I would have gone with Ekko and we could have made the Firelights earlier. Who knows though–I may have jinxed that too. Maybe there would be more than Halt, Meena, and Su."

Vi took her sister in another tight hug. "This is another reason I'm hesitant with that name. Calling yourself and wanting others to call you 'Jinx' feeds into a circle. Like a wheel coming down the main road from the promenade."

Jinx considered the metaphor. "It would have to make a lot of turns or bump into objects which would slow it down. Still, it doesn't stop the momentum unless there is enough friction or obstacles."

"Maybe not the best analogy, but you shouldn't believe that even if you are 'Jinx' that you're a jinx. I thought about our gang a lot while in Stillwater and Mylo was probably feeling like he wasn't measuring up and that's why he picked on you. You don't have some kind of preternatural curse on you. If you did, you wouldn't have been able to free me or bring that new hextech thing to Ekko."

"I guess," Jinx replied with skepticism. "The Firelights did most of the heavy lifting when it came to saving you as did Caitlyn. That is what gives me pause about questions on Silco. I was close to him for those years but I didn't clock Nick as being an agent. It would be hard for him to infiltrate the Firelights, but he probably is having people look through the larger pipes."

"With all my heart and soul." Powder's talking about him again. Talk around him "I won't be much help when you and Ekko are working on it. Is there a place I should scout, raid, or ruin? It could distract him from us."

Jinx frowned and glanced away. "I have ideas, but I don't know that it would be wise. We're safe here and we'll gain a great advantage soon."

"Nothing is ever going to change that." Except his death. "Maybe. But people must know you've defected by now. If they know that I'm alive and fighting with you and the Firelights, then the remaining Vander sympathizers and opportunists might give us more support or look to undermine Silco covertly."

Jinx looked back at her as the frown remained yet weakened. "If Ekko approves of taking you scouting or whatnot and wants information, I'll give it. I just don't want to lose anymore people."

Meaning Silco or me. Vi looked up and saw the light was retreating from their floor up the walls. Too bad. It felt so life-affirming. Almost as life-affirming as hugging Powder or speaking with her. Though speaking with her was harder. At least about serious matters.

"Speaking of Little Man, did you two hook up while I was gone or are you going to or both?" Vi asked with mischief in her grin.

Jinx must've been expecting that, because she only blushed a little. "No. We didn't make out at a masquerade ball or I didn't try to double agent for him after a night of passion or any sort of pulpy mush. He tried to get me from Silco early on and I was too dense to go with him. Later, when I figured out he was the Firelight leader, we had an intense conversation that ended in cruelty and violence to both our sides. If Ekko wasn't who he is, he'd have kidnapped me or worse at the picnic."

"Hmm. Well, not my expertise, but poets have written about kidnapping their love interests in the past or saving them from perils. And that doesn't answer what you too are going to do."

Jinx rolled her eyes. "I'm hardly a poet's heroine. And won't be answering questions about my future–ugh–love life. It's not like you're telling me if you feel you and Caitlyn have a real connection, after all."

"True." A breeze jittered the smaller branches. "Hey, how about a game?"

Jinx's eyes widened a little and she tilted her head.

"We'll race to the top of the tree. No help or vehicles. The loser has to confess their feelings about Ekko or Cait," Vi proposed.

"Vi, this is the punching game again. I don't have a chance."

"And I won't use my shimmer. I promise, Jinx" Vi extended her pinky.

The sisters clasped pinkies. "Okay."

Vi rolled her shoulders and Jinx got into a sprinters pose. "Count of three?"

Vi nodded.

Jinx wiggled her haunches a little like a feline preparing to pounce. "One–"

She shot off like one of her bullets to the nearest above ground root.

"Cheater!" Vi called and raced after her.

"Then stop me!" she replied and leapt up to a low branch.

I'm not going to lose to you, Jinx no Powder.