"Please, lie down on your stomach."

Vianna pointed a low bed to Talon, who was currently holding on to the wall. Quinn supported him as well as she could, but they were both too weak to stand and walk normally. And despite everything he had been through, Talon still found the strength to put up resistance to the stranger.

"Who are you, woman?" Talon managed to ask.

"The one who's going to heal you. Now lie down." Vianna said in a hurry.

"I don't know you..." Talon feverishly answered.

Vianna rolled her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Look, we'll get to know each other later around a cup of tea if you want... But you need to lie down! Quick!"

"Talon... Please listen to her..." Quinn begged.

The Noxian assassin clenched his jaw, but finally surrendered. He winced when he lowered his body on the bed. That's when Quinn noticed his trembling arms were also covered with wounds and dried blood. She had just been too focused on the state of his backside.

"Oh my Lord... My poor boy..." Vianna brought her hand to cover her mouth.

"Don't... Call me boy..." growled Talon through gritted teeth.

Quinn's eyes stung when she fully looked at her lover's back. She was ready to do anything for him, if it could relieve his pain.

"Mrs. Vianna... Please, tell me how I can help you."

"If you feel able, put some water to boil. Not in the chimney, there's a stove over there."

Vianna showed her the stove with her pointed finger. Quinn rushed to it, and took water from a bucket nearby. She put it in a kettle that was already on the stove, and filled it with logs, before setting them on fire. Meanwhile, Vianna was gathering herbs, balms and clean bandages from a cupboard. She washed her hands in a small bowl containing a white liquid, and urged Quinn to do the same.

The kettle was starting to blow steam. Vianna gave a cup to Quinn. She had already sprinkled dried leaves inside.

"Infuse them, dear. It's for the pain."

Quinn nodded, and poured the boiling water in the cup. While Vianna was preparing a dark paste, Quinn blew air over the cup. She waited a bit before tasting the beverage. She scrunched up her nose at the taste. It was utterly disgusting, but could at least be drunk without burning. She kneeled, and helped Talon drink from the cup. Judging from his expression, he didn't appreciate it more than her.

"That'll help, but it's not magic." Warned Vianna.

The older woman kneeled by Talon's side, and examined his wounds. The frown on her face could have been mistaken for disgust, but Quinn saw the immense pity in her eyes. The second she had seen her react to Sylas' arrival, she had understood this woman had a big heart. But would she be enough to undo the harm they had been inflicted?

Vianna turned to Quinn, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You can rest, dear. I'll call you when I need you. You can take my bed if you w..."

"No... I want to stay here."

Vianna eyed her curiously.

"Alright... You can take those cushions. But I don't have a mattress here."

Quinn simply lied down on the carpet, right in front of the burning chimney. Her own head was right next to Talon's, and she searched for his eyes... But he was unconscious. The beverage was working as intended, but Quinn was still worried. Her eyes refused to close themselves at first, even with the exhaustion and pain she was currently suffering from.

But after a moment, Quinn was finally lulled to sleep by the cracking of the logs in the chimney, by Talon's steady and deep breathing, and by Vianna's hands relentlessly working to clean Talon's wounds.

Her mind drifted away, unknowing if she would awaken in the nightmare again.

The chirping of the morning birds sounded so foreign.

Quinn opened her eyes to rays of sunlight passing through the window. She could see the forest surrounding the cottage was still shielding it with its shade, but it would soon be illuminated.

Her body didn't hurt as much from sleeping on the floor than it had during the time she spent in her cell. The warmth of the hearth had soothed her hurting joints, and offered her a relief she had not dared imagine having again.

She sat up with difficulty, and immediately saw Talon. Quinn understood he was going through a nightmare: his limbs were going through spasms, and his face was stuck in a painful frown. Quinn hadn't expected him to find relief so soon, but it still hurt to see him go through torments again. His back was covered with bandages, and under them, what she deduced to be a cataplasm.

Right behind him, resting against the wall, was an exhausted but well-awake Vianna. Her hands were red and laid by her side.

"What a night." She blew out tiredly.

Quinn found the strength to speak.

"Can I do something for you?"

"No, my dear. I must care about you first. Your wounds..."

"You can barely stand."

"At least put this on the gashes. It will stop any possible infection."

Vianna handed her a bowl filled with the same balm that had been applied in Talon's back. Quinn took it, and nodded to thank Vianna while the older woman made a beeline to her bedroom.

Quinn took her linen tunic off, and began rubbing the balm on her wounds. It violently stung, but she persevered. She then took the time to observe herself: she was flithy, bloody, and probably smelled horribly. Quinn knew that the first thing she would ask Vianna when she would wake up would be where to take a bath.

Talon's hanging hand started shaking. Quinn took it gently, and held it firmly. The shaking stopped. Vianna had cleaned Talon's body and wounds expertly, much better than Quinn had expected. But her eyes lingered on a strange wound that hadn't been bandaged yet on the arm she was holding. She brought her eyes closer to it, and opened her eyes wide as bile rose in her throat.

The injury was actually forming letters, words.

Noxus trash.

Quinn started crying, but tried stifling her sobs as well as she could. Talon needed rest, and who was she to disturb him because of her weakness?

Her self-restraint wasn't enough: Talon had always been a light sleeper, and even in such a bad state, he couldn't help but be stirred by any foreign sound. He opened his eyes.

He quickly made the connection between Quinn's tears, and her holding of his arm. The ranger had her hand clasped over her mouth in a pitiful attempt of being silent, but looking into Talon's eyes made her unable to hold the sobs in.

"Don't cry over this."

Quinn couldn't buy what Talon's tired voice had just expressed.

"What?"

"Just... Don't. It's alright."

"I can't." Quinn looked at the insult carved into his skin again.

"I've been called that so many times I don't care anymore."

Quinn's eyes bore into Talon's. She couldn't believe he didn't care at all, and could swear he didn't believe his own words either. The hurt she still read there didn't have a place in those fierce eyes of his.

"And you, love... How are you feeling?"

Quinn bit her lower lip in an apprehension to speak. She at the same time wanted to tell him everything she had been through, and also wanted to keep these ugly memories buried forever.

"Better."

Talon raised his body on his elbows, and hissed. Quinn was struck by his ability to still move, even with all the pain he was currently going through. Suddenly, his eyes fixed themselves on a spot under her chin.

"What's that... On your neck."

Quinn instinctively brought her hand over her inflamed scar. She had forgotten to put balm on it. She blushed in shame, and turned her head away from Talon. Her body started trembling, and her chest felt constricted.

At the moment, the look in Talon's eyes could have made anyone fear for their lives. His muscles flexed in anger, and he managed to speak through his gritted teeth.

"Did they... Did they do anything else..."

Quinn closed her eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks as she fought with all her might against the still fresh memories of her abuse. She simply nodded as a yes, then curled into a ball and hid her face between her knees. She hated herself for being that weak when Talon had been suffering much worse torture than her.

She would have never expected her hair being stroked by Talon, even though he was having a hard time controling his gestures. It wasn't gentle, but it was what she needed. The sobs shook her body even more uncontrollably, pulling out of her all of the bottled up pain.

"Sorry... Sorry... Sorry!" she blurted out.

"Don't."

"Everything... It's all my fault! You should never have met me!" Quinn cried.

Talon froze, and at this moment, Quinn knew she had made a mistake. She could tell her words hurt him more than the pain he was currently going through.

A long moment passed before Talon spoke again. Quinn couldn't stop crying.

"Swain sent a letter to the King himself with his wretched crow. That's when the inquiry started. They caught me when I tried to kill the crow before it brought the letter... Swain had planned everything, and knew I would take you. He couldn't run the risk of you getting away."

It had taken Talon a great effort to speak. He lied down again, and supported his head with his forearms.

"You're not responsible for this shit show."

Quinn hadn't know the details, but despite everything, it didn't change how she felt. Nothing could. The feeling of responsibility was there, clinging to her very bones. Her sobs were choking her.

"I... should have died on... that day. During... the storm."

Surprisingly, Talon still had the strength to hit the ground with his fist. Quinn jumped in surprise, and swallowed her incoming sobs.

"Don't. Ever. Say this."

Quinn had never seen Talon be this angry... And this hurt. His current state made him lose a lot of control upon himself. In a painful effort, he rose on his elbows again, and harshly caught Quinn's chin between his thumb and index. He forced her to look at him.

"You have the right to live. You have the right to love me. No one can fucking take that away. And I'll murder the bastards who hurt you."

Quinn was struck by the raw emotion in Talon's voice, and by the feral beauty of his face contorted with anger.

"Don't let these fuckers get inside your head."

He dropped Quinn's chin, and tried to rest again. Quinn reflected on his words, a beacon of light in her tormented heart. Talon was right: her self-hatred was a sorry consequence of what they had done to break her. She clenched her fists and searched for every ounce of courage left in her body. They were already in her head, and had been for far longer than she had known. But she would get them out. She would belong to herself again.

Talon's body had been broken, but his mind still stood. At least that's what he wanted Quinn to think. She swore that she would not stop fighting, for him.

"Do you know if there's a place I can bathe?" Quinn asked shyly.

Vianna was cleaning the bite wound on her neck carefully. For the whole session, it seemed like she had wanted to ask questions, but for the moment she had kept them for herself.

"Yes dear. There's a hot spring about twenty minutes from here. You need to follow the path behind the house, it's the one with birch trees on the side."

Quinn nodded, and winced when the cloth Vianna used rubbed her wound.

"Ouch."

"My dear..." Vianna looked embarrassed, and cleared her throat. "I apologize for asking this... But are there... Other places I should examine and possibly heal?"

Quinn instantly turned red. Talon was sitting at the window, turned away from them, but she knew he heard everything. Her lower part still hurt from Kendrick's intrusion, but she didn't think it was that damaged. She simply shook her head, averting her eyes from Vianna's inquisitive stare.

"If you say so. Keep in mind, if you need it, that I can brew a special kind of draught to... Uhm... How to say... Trigger the elimination of an unwanted child. Phew, there, I said it!"

Quinn started violently coughing. She had not expected Vianna to be this crude, and wanted to die knowing that Talon had heard the exchange too. She dared look at him from the corner of her eye, and didn't see his face entirely... It just seemed like it had turned an unusual red colour.

"N... No. I won't need that." Quinn mumbled.

"I'm so glad for you sweetheart! You weren't telling me... I was scared that... Well, nevermind!"

Vianna was heavily embarrassed too, but dealt with it differently than Quinn. She clapped her hands once, and rose from her seat. She rummaged through a small wardrobe at the back of the room, and took a towel from it.

"Here, Quinn. You're free to bathe now... But come back soon for the next round. I'm not done with you!"

Vianna winked, then turned to Talon.

"Now, back to our business."

Talon sighed.

"If you say so, woman."

Walking in the forest felt like the most effective healing Quinn had gotten since her arrival. The smells of moss and trees, the songs of the birds, and the feeling of being shielded from unwanted visitors contributed to make her heart lighter than it had been in the past few days.

She arrived in front of the hot spring. A stream of steamy water flowed into a large pond encased in large flat rocks. High trees overlooked the spring, and let only thin rays of sunlight filter through their thick foliage. Quinn took a long, deep breath.

The wavelets invitingly caressed Quinn's bare feet. She didn't wait more to take off the clothes she had borrowed from Vianna. She carefully folded them, and placed them on a large rock by the water. After contemplating the gentle lapping surface, Quinn made the first step in.

With each inch of her body diving deeper into the water's warmth, Quinn felt many little weights were being lifted off her shoulders. The liberating sensation increased when she immersed her torso and shoulders, and lastly her head. She quickly went out for air due to her recent poor breathing capacity, but dove back in fast again, and again.

She could swear she saw a trail of blood and filth dissipate in the water. Her skin felt light, and like it belonged to herself, at last.

Quinn had taken a block of soap with her, and she started scrubbing every inch of her body. She mentally pictured the vile men bruising and abusing her being washed away by the clear water. She treated her breasts and most private part even more gently. It still hurt her to think what had been done to her, and what precious thing could have been taken from her. It took time, the pain wasn't leaving right away, but Quinn was slowly taking possession of herself again.

She laid her head on a mossy bank of the pond, and closed her eyes, half-immersed in the water. Staying here forever didn't sound like a bad plan...

[A/N: Do you like the introduction of this new character? The story is far from over! After rereading the first chapters I wrote, I really wish I took more time and wrote them differently. The story was supposed to be about 5 chapters long at first, then I decided to pursue it. I'm glad I did.]