It is with a light heart and clean skin that Quinn walked back to the cottage.

The nap she had taken in the hot spring had relaxed her to a point where pure bliss didn't seem so unreachable after all. She imagined going back there with Talon, and blushed when her mind wandered in a forbidden place. But who could blame her when this place felt so good?

Her daydreaming was brutally interrupted by feminine screams when she came in sight of the cottage.

"Help! Please!"

Quinn recognized Vianna's voice. The mental images of intimacy were instantly replaced with horrifying ones: the guards had found their trail in a punitive expedition, Talon was killed, and Vianna was being tortured...

"Let me go! This is my own damn home!"

Vianna sounded more angry than anything, with a light tint of fear in her voice.

"Tell me what you did, witch!"

Quinn frowned. This was Talon's voice. Her imagination seemed to have taken her far from what was truly happening. She started running towards the house, and rushed to open the door. Her jaw almost dropped at the scene she discovered...

Vianna was tied up to a chair with a thick rope, her balled fists trembling in rage. Talon was standing over her, menacingly holding a firebrand in her face.

"What are you doing! What's happening?!" Quinn screamed.

"I can explain if you let me go..." Vianna calmly stated to Quinn.

"She did something to me. We can't trust her." Talon warned her.

Quinn squinted her eyes... Was her sight lying to her? Talon was...

"Talon... Your back..."

Talon furrowed his brow. He straightened his back and passed a hand on his shoulders. He almost instantly dropped the firebrand. He slightly turned around, and Quinn saw that his skin had healed at an impossible speed. The scars left by the lash were still there, but only left long white stripes over his skin. They looked strangely old.

"What the..." Talon mumbled.

"I want to help you." Vianna tried convincing Talon. "I'm not there to harm you."

Talon still didn't make a move to free her. Her crossed his arms imposingly and seemed to study the woman under every angle.

"Tell me what you did to me."

The cold tone and the underlying threat in his voice made Quinn think she wouldn't wish to be in Vianna's place. The woman kept a calm exterior, but her balled fists were slightly trembling. Talon was a wall, an unmovable force that wouldn't tolerate any compromise. And judging by Vianna's defeated exhale, she had just understood it too.

"Fine..." She squinted her eyes shut before speaking. "I guess there's no negociating with a Noxian anyway."

"Answer me!" growled Talon.

Quinn didn't comment, too astonished by the scene, but she ignored how Vianna had known Talon came from Noxus. She mentally noted it, now weary of what information the strange woman had unbeknownst to them.

"I have... A gift. I've always had it."

"Magic."

"Yes. My parents kept it a secret, but the Demacians found me... Used me... Broke me." Her voice was laced with a deep sorrow.

"Demacians... Aren't you one too?"

Her eyes dangerously flared.

"Not anymore." She took a long breath. "When they let me go, my gift was damaged. I never recovered all my capacities, and I had decided to keep it buried. I never used it anymore... Until I met Sylas."

Talon and Quinn listened to her curiously.

"He was only a boy when I met him. He was terrified of his gift, and I helped him understand it better. I had to awaken what was left of mine to do that... Now I use it for the people in need, for the enemies of the Demacian oppression... Like you."

"We aren't exactly enemies of Demacia..." Quinn started. But Vianna interrupted her with a resentful laugh.

"Then why are you here, honey? Of course you are. This is not for you to decide." She turned her head to Talon. "Besides, you're in love with a Noxian. That makes you an outcast by default."

Quinn felt like her mouth had been closed shut by Vianna's words. Talon's suddenly relaxed jaw marked his agreement with the woman. She was right. Quinn bit her lip... Her old ranger-scout reflexes hadn't died. But Talon wasn't done yet with Vianna.

"But you did something with my head when I was sleeping. You were in it."

"Yes, yes. I plead guilty." Vianna sighed. "I tried to read into your mind... But you can't blame me! You're strangers brought into my home... Of course I want to know if you're enemies for me too!"

"Oh, you don't want me to be your enemy..." reminded her Talon.

"You're the toughest mind I ever tried to read..." confessed Vianna. She suddenly looked into space, slightly freaking out Quinn. "So many walls... So many layers... So much pain..."

Talon was on her in a split second. His hand gripped her throat harshly while his eyes screamed murder.

"Don't. Ever. Get back in."

He dropped her, and Vianna struggled to find her breath again. She swallowed hardly, and nodded.

"I... Promise."

Quinn couldn't help but be curious. Talon had told her about his childhood memories, but that was it. She realized she didn't know much about his life, after all, and hadn't cared until now. She loved him fully as he was, but knew there was a side of him she couldn't even fathom.

"Now... Will you please untie me?"

Talon still had his arms crossed, and cautiously eyed Vianna. There was a small part of Quinn's mind who thought he could murder her in the blink of an eye, and that wouldn't feel right, but he simply started undoing the rope. Vianna rubbed her wrists and took some distance from Talon. This is the moment Quinn finally chose to untie her tongue.

"So... Where do we go from now?" She shyly asked. "Will you still accept us in your home?"

"Supposing we want to say." Talon mumbled.

"It was my mistake to read your mind. I'm sorry." Vianna apologized by bowing her head."I understand your reaction."

Talon huffed. Quinn could sense his uneasiness, and his lack of trust. She knew he didn't have the habit of resolving conflicts by just talking.

"I invite you to stay for the time of your recovery. You're far from being fully healed."

Talon looked at Quinn. He seemed to be searching for something in her eyes, and she had the strange feeling that he was leaving the choice up to her.

"We'll stay." Quinn blew out.

Talon had a small nod. He relaxed his muscles slightly, and Vianna released a long relieved breath.

"Quinn... Do you accept it if I use my magic on you?" Vianna asked.

The ranger's eyes went from Talon's backside to Vianna's hands. She started unbuttoning her shirt, and sat on the small bed in the middle of the room.

"Please do."

Vianna had worked on Quinn for about one hour. She had held her hands above Quinn's wounded chest: the warmth and faint light they had produced had penetrated into her skin and veins. Her body had also worked with this unknown force that had invited itself inside, and was now heavily exhausted.

Quinn noticed with joy that her scars had whitened, and that the previously inflamed skin around them had recovered a normal colour. She brushed the painful spot on her neck with her fingers, and felt the ugly bite scar had lessened too.

"Thank you so much."

Quinn had tears in her eyes. She had been scared to keep these marks for life... It was not impossible they would stay, but they would never be as visible as she had feared. Talon had silently supervised the whole process, Quinn knew he wanted to be there in case something went wrong. Vianna's work had clearly impressed him though, and Quinn could tell his demeanor slightly softened.

"Thank you." Talon lowly said.

Vianna seemed shocked to hear such words from him, and manifested her surprise with a sudden smile and a high-pitched voice.

"Well... Always happy to help!"

She washed her hands in a bowl, and put on a wool coat. She shivered, and looked out the window: the sky started amassing heavy clouds filled with rain.

"A storm is coming. Talon, are you in shape to get some wood at the shack?"

"Yes."

"I'm coming with you!" Quinn added a bit hastily.

Talon raised an eyebrow, while Vianna put her hands on her hips, like an overcaring mother.

"You need some rest young lady. Your body just went through a lot."

"It's not that far." Talon objected with a glint in the eye.

Vianna started mumbling and turned around, suddenly getting her hands busy in the kitchen side.

"As you wish. I'll be there cooking anyway."

Quinn's heart burst with joy when she went out through the door with Talon. They had not been together alone in what felt like ages, and she had dearly craved this. As they walked through the garden, Talon's hand found hers and tightly held her. This simple gesture was enough to drive her completely crazy.

The shack where the wood was stored was hidden from the cottage by a bosk of thick trees. Quinn admired Talon's muscles flex when he carried a pile of logs and dropped them on the ground. She felt a pang in her chest when she saw the insult carved in his forearm, now turned to white. But it was still there.

Talon brought his hand to his neck, and winced. But when he saw Quinn pick up some logs on her own, he stoppped her.

"Hey, drop that."

"Why? I can do that on my own."

Talon had a small laugh.

"Let me do it. I'm in better shape than you." He teased.

Quinn almost dropped the logs on her feet. Was Talon suddenly cocky?!

"I've seen you on better days..." She replied, her lips tugging into a smile.

Talon approached her with a dark look in the eye. A shiver of anticipation ran down her spine, she instinctively moved back and hit the wooden wall of the shack.

"I'm feeling good. Really good." He huskily said.

He came closer and closer. He supported himself over her with his elbows on the wall, and brought his mouth dangerously near Quinn's ear.

"Do you need proof?"

This was too much for Quinn. She squirmed and unknowingly rubbed her thighs together. Talon's breath was intoxicating, and revived in her mind all of the forbidden images she had dreamed of at the hot spring.

Quinn bit her lip and rose her eager eyes to a beloved face that almost made her burst with need. Talon's heated look penetrated her and consumed her from the inside.

Her voice had been ravished from her. All that she could do was weakly nod.

Her mouth was suddenly invaded by Talon's tongue. Her body's raw desire was awakened by the greatly missed taste of him, and his warm palm coming to accompany her jaw in its movements did nothing to help.

His other hand slid down her back and stopped at her hip, tightly holding her there. Quinn wanted him to hold her that way everywhere, especially lower. Her body instinctively arched itself against his, her breasts were particularly sensitive to his torso brushing against them through the fabric.

It started raining, and they were barely protected by the trees. Soon, droplets of water began falling on them, but neither seemed to care.

Talon judged it as the right moment to take off Quinn's clothes. In a second, he lifted them off her and threw them aside without a second thought. His own torso was already bare, and the rest of his body wouldn't remain for long. His muscles were already gleaming with sweat and with the water from the sky; Quinn thought she had not seen such a beautiful sight for so long.

He contemplated her body after baring her. A slight frown moved his brow as he looked at the scars on her torso and neck. A sudden warmth flowed Quinn's chest when Talon dove on the bite scar of her neck and covered it with a kiss. He graced the rest of them with the same loving attention, and kneeled in front of Quinn.

He kissed and licked her nipples, her stomach, her hipbones, and placed a torturous and long kiss on her most private part. Quinn almost thought her legs would give in at the sudden warmth and want it ignited there.

Talon stood back up, but not without a slow caress of his tongue on her sensitive bud. Quinn feverishly bit her lip and wrapped her hands around his neck. This gesture sent a clear message, and Talon understood it with ease. He carried her body with one hand as her legs enclosed themselves around his back.

Her hungry slit was so wet it almost swallowed his length instantly when he pressed it against her entrance. Talon gasped when he slid in the burning walls of flesh. Quinn cried out: she had needed it so bad, and now needed a thousand times more. The rain had intensified, and ran down their reunited bodies.

"My love..."

Talon's voice rumbled in his chest. Their foreheads touched each other and their dripping hair mingled in the rain.

Only a small movement from Quinn's hips was needed for Talon to completely lose control. His thrusts screamed how bad he had been starved from her as he slammed her body in the wooden wall.

Quinn's eyes rolled at the back of her head. He went so deep inside that he set her core on fire with each back and forth. Fortunately, his grip on her was steady enough to keep them from falling. They were drunk from their tireless kissing, their mouths and tongues dancing at the rhythm of their loving thrusts.

Quinn had to bite her lip hard in order to keep herself from moaning too loud. Talon saw this, and didn't have the same policy about it as he once had. He pushed his thumb against Quinn's lower lip, freeing it from her own bite. He was welcomed with a hungry swirl of her tongue around it, and a well-deserved cry of pleasure from her. She exposed her neck in the process, and Talon remained fixated on it.

All of a sudden, he went down on her neck and sucked hard on the skin there. Pain soon laced itself with the intense pleasure, and Quinn felt like it was only a matter of seconds before she found her release...

"You're mine. Only mine."

He dove on her again and intensely sucked her skin once more.

"Mine." He growled. "Say it."

He was asking Quinn a great deal, for her mind was so clouded by bliss it became hard to line up words.

"Y... Yours..." She weakly said.

"Again."

"Yours!" She screamed. "Yours and only yours! Aahh!"

Her words got lost in ecstasy while she uncontrollably came. Talon went over the edge with her in long and deep thrusts, imprinting himself in her body forever. He held her against him. They were soaking wet, but that didn't matter. The rain crashed around them indifferently.

They stayed like this a moment. They were finally together again.

[A/N: It felt great writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Lots of smut to come I'm afraid.]