Chapter Text
Rowena kneeled in front of Zed obediently, following the lead of the other acolytes. She could still scarcely believe she’d been asked to come along for such a dangerous mission. Skilled acolytes of all kinds surrounded her with the higher-ups at the helm, Kayn included.
Kayn…
She glanced up at him, hoping for silent reassurance despite knowing that he couldn’t willingly respond. They managed to make eye contact for a brief moment, though his stoic expression remained unchanged.
Such is to be expected from the successor of the Order, I suppose.
She followed the other acolytes along as they lifted their heads to stare at Zed, waiting expectantly for him to address the room.
“We have found the location of a known enemy of the Order,” he began, clasping his hands behind his back as he spoke across the room. “Khada Jhin, the Golden Demon is somewhere in Ionia City. We’re going to find him and slaughter him.”
Rowena worried for Tavish in the back of her mind. She knew that he was plenty capable and hardly left the house, but even the mere idea of losing him nearly made her tremble. She shook it off to tune back in to Zed’s address.
“We will be assisted for this mission: an old ally of mine, Shen, and his own student, Akali—“ he gestured to a man in a full, blue ninja uniform and a younger girl with large, spiky hair that had been standing next to him. “—as well as the rest of the Kinkou Order. Do not kill them.”
Zed laughed at his own joke, earning questioning gazes from the two and confused murmurs throughout the acolytes.
“Silence. We travel in silent group formation and meet in the shadows to share information. We must all strike him at once in order to have the best chance at slaughtering him once and for all.”
I wonder what this Jhin guy actually looks like? Kayn said he uses a gun… but if he’s this big of a threat, he must be huge or something…
“Always remember that he can disguise himself as any one of you. Remember your code words.” With that, he waved across the room in a firm motion. “Dismissed.”
Most of the acolytes went into the shadows right away, but Rowena quickly returned to Kayn’s side, resisting the urge to show affection in front of the others.
“So, am I going with you?”
“Of course! You think I’d let you travel with some
incompetent
low-life?”
He seemed almost offended at the sheer implication, earning a small chuckle from her. Despite the fact that they had to pretend for the most part, the thought of spending time with him in some capacity made her heart swell.
You know, as long as neither of us die .
“I have some contacts in the city that I can ask for information,” she explained. “We can start there if you feel so inclined.”
As Kayn was about to respond, they noticed that Akali had walked up to them and was now standing on their side, staring up with intimidating, almost unblinking eyes.
“Can I help you, Akali?” he asked without turning her way.
“It looks like you finally found someone to put up with your crazy,” she replied, monotone.
“How dare you?! This is a fellow acolyte, nothing more.”
Despite knowing that it was an act, the words stung. Rowena understood what he meant about their relationship being complicated for her, yet when she was reminded, she couldn’t control the ache in her chest.
Maybe someday we can be ourselves, front and center, she thought to herself.
Akali didn’t seem to buy his lie anyway, responding with a monotone, “Uh-huh. Yeah. That’s great. Anyway…” she paused to shift her weight. “I’m here to challenge you.”
Rowena looked between the two of them as they talked, sensing an unknown history between the two of them; she made it a point to ask about it later. Kala’naah could feel the jealousy brewing and chuckled under her breath, light enough to be missed by the others.
“
Challenge
me, you say?” he scoffed.
“First one to find Jhin wins. Then we know who’s the better student, once and for all.”
“We don’t need a silly
challenge
for that. The answer is already clear.”
“Oh? That it’s me?”
“In your wildest dreams!”
This was beginning to get uncomfortable, and they showed no signs of stopping. Rowena nudged him, snapping him out of his competitive spat.
“Preparations?”
Kayn clapped his hands together. “Yes, preparations. I hardly have the time to spend squabbling.”
He crossed his arms and walked away, though Akali didn’t try to call after him. Rowena bounced alongside him, fiddling with her fingers under her overly long sleeves.
“Psst, Kayn,” she whispered as they walked.
“What is it?”
“Can you meet me in my room before we go?”
He smirked before responding, “I was already planning on it.”
The struggle with packing for her first expedition was that Rowena didn’t know what to bring . When she would travel with Tempestra on her healing missions, they would roll their large, Piltovan trunks full of chemicals and tomes along with them. She couldn’t do that anymore; they would be mostly traveling through shadows, after all.
She was forced to trim down her baggage. She stared longingly at her crocheted blanket, worrying about leaving it behind. Was theft commonplace here? If someone stole it…
Her thoughts were interrupted by Kayn phasing through the wall, unable to keep the smile off his face as she came within view.
“Rowena,” he greeted, the same as always.
“There you are,” she replied, turning her head upward to look at him.
He took a seat beside her, crossing his legs and observing her progress before chuckling condescendingly. “Surely you don’t need all of this?”
“I have to be prepared! These are my poison antidotes, these are–”
“Jhin does not work with poison.”
“B-But what if–”
He rolled his eyes and silenced her panicked babbling with a kiss, holding it to allow her to melt against him. When they finally broke apart, he leaned back and pushed her bangs up to observe her embarrassed expression for himself.
“Remove the antidotes.”
“...okay.”
Kayn assisted her with packing, and she allowed it; he had been Zed’s pupil for some time, after all. She felt like she would be a fool not to take his advice. When everything was ready to go, she stared longingly at her blanket once again, and he followed her gaze.
“What is it?”
“I just… I’m afraid of leaving my blanket behind. I don’t want anything to happen to it.”
“Oh, is that all?”
He stood up and strided forward to take it in his human arm, fearing that his darkin arm would accidentally shred it.
“I’ll lock it in the trunk in my room. How about that? Some sense of relief?”
A bright smile spread over her face. “Actually, yes, thank you…”
He found his face warming at her words and turned away quickly. “Yes. Well. I can’t have you crying the entire time we’re gone, can I?”
Rowena stood up and joined him, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek and making him grumble embarrassedly.
“You really are nice, you know.”
“If anyone else heard you say that, they’d think you’re
crazy.
”
“I am crazy. For you.”
“Already? What, do I have you addicted?”
“Something like that.”
She took his darkin hand in hers tenderly, running her thumb over the sharp points of his corruption.
“One more kiss before we have to pretend for an ungodly amount of time?”
“...I suppose,” he replied with a teasing grin.