Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Summer in Ionia was the worst. It dragged for what felt like an eternity- muggy and hot, with bugs buzzing in swarms and the sun baking everything it touched. Sett was more of a winter creature, and while he didn't mind getting sweaty, his fur was entirely too thick for comfort. Unfortunately, summer was the longest season by far in Ionia, and the Navori winter was downright balmy in comparison to anywhere else in the country. Sett felt disgusting after just a quick step outside, but the lure of a cold bubbly drink was inescapable, and he wasn't getting anything done in the stifling heat of his office anyway.

This kind of weather made the fighting pits far from enjoyable. He'd been stepping back a little, dabbling instead into setting up a neat and above-board actual , physical, taxable construction office, and summer offered the perfect excuse. He'd also started laying the groundwork for a spy network. Selling information wasn't as lucrative as punching people for entertainment, but he was learning all sorts of neat tidbits- movements in Noxus, dealings in Navori, what some of the factions of Ionia were doing, Vastaya sightings, Diana sightings, murmurs of fights, loot, war… stepping back from the pit had its perks.

There were so many ways to make money now, especially since he had the coin to cover building a foundation for a business, that he could feasibly start expanding his mostly criminal portfolio. It was tempting- Sett loved keeping busy, liked the heady rush of ordering people around, liked showing off his wealth and power. More than anything, he hated monotony. Sitting still, keeping his head down, waiting patiently for someone who would never come home, dreaming for things to get better day after day, hearing the same shit over and over again. He liked things that were new and exciting, different, things he could sink his teeth into, rip apart to see the innards. 

An empire of his own sounded nice, in theory, but in practice… Sett grew bored with things too fast. What happened when he grew bored with an empire of his own design? Not to mention, he was years into this business. The business of fighting, gambling, reading the intentions and desires of even the shadiest characters and seeing little more than desperation and rot and ill-intent. He'd met very few genuine souls in his life, and certainly none who were in the same or similar line of work. He was the Boss, but he didn't have many underlings he could trust, and certainly not with his carefully crafted work. As they said in Bilgewater, the bigger the ship, the more hands were needed on deck. But he only had so many hands. He was good at what he did, but if he spread himself thinner, he may lose it all.

This sort of introspection always had him feeling melancholy. As a half-beast he was doomed to a life of being 'other', as a Noxian bastard he was always going to be lesser. Every scrap of respect had to be picked out from between broken teeth, reluctantly parted. With enough he might be able to afford some loyalty. Sett wasn't a 'hope springs eternal' kind of guy though. 

His reputation was all over the place. Violent. Generous. Cruel. Fair. He was cunning, feral, stupid, powerful, smart, cowardly, strong. Sett got whiplash from the rumors. He couldn't decide if he should set the record straight or let them continue as is. Better add indecisive to the list, he supposed. No, the sort of authority required to earn the hearts of the people in his world would take more than his fists could bring him. An empire was a long way off.

Best keep things small then. He'd set up his little spy network. Manage the business decisions of his actual construction office. Keep an eye on his pit and the tables that went with it. Triple check his ledgers and pay-out as usual. He'd keep giving out bonuses and raises. He'd kill that idiot selling enhancers to his fighters. He'd pay the stupid fees to get legal permits and do his taxes. Slow and steady, he supposed. He'd love to trust his underlings someday, share the load a little. Just so it'd stop being so heavy.

Sitting under the awning of his office, Sett mulled his affairs as the bubbles of his tea slowly popped and fizzled into nothing. He'd nearly drained the damned cup just on the walk back, lost in his head and the swirling heat. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he cursed the sun. He almost wished the Solari still had him on their shitlist so he could kick their asses for stupidly worshipping a literal ball of fire .

The sound of something shattering in the building behind him had Sett's temper flaring, and then immediately smoldering out into nothing. It was too hot to work up actual anger and not just abstract frustration. Sighing, Sett downed the dregs of his bubble tea, set the cup on the sill to return to the vendor later, and headed inside with a scolding sitting on his tongue. He was greeted by his secretary Jina, Sherap and Turner, who'd started working in his construction office on top of their usual shifts at the pit, and their yordle engineer Meest, all standing outside the door to his personal office. A broken cup of tea was spilled between them, as Jina hung her head in poorly concealed shame.

"Boss," Meest practically squeaked. "We're real sorry, we tried gettin' him to leave."

Sett raised an eyebrow as Turner added, "we tried tossin' 'em the second time, but he poofed right outta our hands 'n locked the door. He's a real slippery one." 

What a statement. As sweat dripped down his back, catching in his already damp fur, Sett was pretty sure 'slippery' described most of Ionia at this point.

Sherap nodded and echoed, "real slippery," as Jina apologized over spilling the cold tea she'd gotten for him, and Meest started cataloging just what they'd do to the guy now that the Boss was here. He'd been gone for ten minutes. 

Holding up a hand, Sett sighed, again, "I'll deal with it. All of you just get back to whatever you were doin'."

There had better be a well-oiled elnuk running around in his office to warrant this level of frenzy. Unfortunately, as Sett opened his door- breaking the knob since it had been locked from the inside- he was not greeted by any gentle livestock. Instead there was a puny little blond human sitting in one of his armchairs flipping through his copy of ' Hand Signs for the Uncultured '. The guy- a kid, really, judging from the boyish face- at least startled at his entrance.

Sett slammed the door shut. The doorknob fell off completely.

"The fuck are you doin' in my office," he said, a low growl rumbling under his words like thunder. "You got a death wish?"

The kid practically jumped up, both hands placating, "what? No, I'm here with a business opportunity!" He shot Sett a wink, a finger gun, and ran a gloved hand through his blond hair, tactfully missing the goggles on top of his head. "I'm pretty famous for exploring and I need a partner for my next expedition. You're perfect for the job, so I'm here to hire you!"

He was Piltovan, judging from the accent, attitude, and general disregard for danger, younger than Sett, and rich, if the finely tailored clothes were anything to go off. He just screamed 'kid used to getting his way'. Sett wanted to break his face.

"You got a real punchable face," he said in lieu of actually punching it. It was too hot to truly get heated. Gods he hated summer. He sidestepped the kid in favor of slumping in his chair. The velvet immediately felt revolting against his damp skin. "Anyone ever tell you that?"

The kid rolled his eyes, "I came to you because I heard you were good at getting things done."

Sett wanted to shuck his coat so badly. "I am. But you can't afford me." The kid gave him a disbelieving look. "Give me your best offer though, I'll humor you a 'lil."

"A payout of five hundred golden hexes, in either a lump sum or split," he offered. "Plus, your name on the book, right after mine, and half of the royalties from the sales."

Sett mentally calculated what the conversion was for hexes to the standard golden coin of Ionia. It was a lot. "What, my name doesn't get to be first?" 

"Not if you want it to sell," posing, he boastfully added, "after all, I've been on the Piltover Best Sellers list for three years now. Anything with ' Ezreal, the Explorer ' flies off the shelves. You've probably heard of me-"

"Nah," Sett said. "I haven't."

"Oh," Sett watched as the kid- Ezreal, deflated a bit. The humbling didn't last very long before he was back up and swinging. "This expedition is a major event though, a long lost tomb with a mythic ring that can channel magic. I'll- we'd be the first to document it in thousands of years. You just have to help me get to the vault inside."

"This tomb. Where's it at?"

"It's in a temple."

" Which temple," Sett huffed. "There's fifteen temples in this section of Navori alone. Hell, there's one two buildings down from this office."

"Uh, it's to the North, about a five days journey away. I've got a map!"

Well at least he had a map. 

It was honestly an incredibly tempting offer. A break from the pit, another adventure, the promise of treasure, and oodles of foreign coin. Hell… the book deal would be cool too, not that he'd probably read the damn thing. His momma would love it though. But leaving his businesses for nearly two weeks… Sett's face twisted in displeasure.

"It's a long time to be gone," Sett admitted. 

"You've got like four people right outside running things well enough," Ezreal countered. "They seemed to have a handle on things. Well, except for me," he shrugged. "But most people can't handle me."

Sett ignored that in favor of mulling whether his employees really did have a handle on things. His bookkeepers at the pits hadn't shorted him once so far, and… as annoying as Sherap could get, he was a decent bouncer these days. The pit had survived the day he missed helping Aphelios a few weeks ago. Even now, he'd been sitting around in his office while his workers did stuff. If he focused hard enough, he could hear them sawing and tinkering away between all the bickering. 

"In Piltover it's pretty unusual to see bosses actually manage their staff anyway. Usually there's a whole chain of command. Assistant managers report to associate managers who report to managers who report to senior managers," he paused to breathe in deep, and Sett expected the list to end. It did not, "then senior managers report to associate supervisors who report to-"

"Okay I get it," he huffed. "How the fuck does anything get done?"

Ezreal shrugged, "I don't know how bureaucracy works, I just explore tombs."

That didn't help at all. He barely trusted the people under him as it was. To have a whole string of people all making decisions in his name? Sett had way too many trust issues to even imagine it.

Seeing that he was losing ground with convincing Sett, Ezreal quickly rambled, "but uh, what I was getting at is that your employees were really good! They made me sign forms and stuff and knew all the rules I was breaking- sorry for that by the way-" Leaning forward he added almost conspiratorially, "this would be a good way to test them, you know? See what they do when they sit in the boss's chair."

Now that was more along what Sett knew. People always showed their true colors when they were on top. Without meaning to, he thought back to when Aphelios rejected a bounty, instead helping Sett when he'd been so sure of betrayal. How surprised he was. How happy he'd been to be proven wrong for once. He wasn't nearly as attached to his underlings as he'd gotten to Aphelios, so the thought of them failing this test didn't sting nearly as much. 

Shit, Ezreal had convinced him.

"If my businesses get fucked up while I'm gone, I'm charging you double," Sett relented. " For each ."

"Of course," Ezreal agreed, nodding excitedly until he realized- "wait, each? You have more than one?"

"Show me your map, kid," Sett demanded, reaching a hand expectantly until he received a very crumpled map of Ionia, grunting as Ezreal spluttered about his age. 

With how weathered the map was, Sett half-expected it to be severely outdated, but it looked to be post invasion. The temple in question wasn't marked, but clearly lay in an empty spot circled several times with a pen. It was in a heavily forested area, near the foothills of the mountains ringing the Navori valley proper. Not many people went that way to Northern Ionia, so the known roads were distant. They'd have to hike, camp, and manage to survive the Ionian wildlife. Piece of cake, as far as he was concerned.

"Meet me here tomorrow. We can head out in the morning to go graverobbing." Sett tossed the map back, having memorized all he needed to know. "Bring a soundproof tent. The cicadas will drive you insane."

As Ezreal whooped his way out of his office, Sett felt himself wavering on his decision. Until a spy- Fay'li, stopped by, a bundle of paper under each arm.

"Boss," they began, bowing. "I have amassed every note of information to be found on Ezreal the Explorer. I apologize we could not find more."

Sett looked at the giant stack of notes and chuckled. All this between Ezreal signing a form and him leaving the office? Maybe he could give them a shot. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

"So that's when I rolled in and just started blasting," Ezreal chattered, hands waving emphatically as little sparks shot from his fingertips. "You shoulda seen the faces on those mummies."

Turns out the worst that could happen was Ezreal. The kid talked constantly after they left Navori city, about everything and nothing somehow at the same time. It was almost impressive. By day two Sett mostly just wanted him to shut up for five minutes. By day three he'd resigned himself to his fate. Every night he fell asleep to the barely muted cacophony of the Navori cicadas, every morning he woke up to Ezreal’s incessant chatter. Gods, was this how Aphelios felt listening to him? If so he owed him an apology.

It was gonna be a long week.

Day four was a little bit of a revelation- and when things took a… weird turn.

"What's so special about this temple anyway? Aside from the fancy artifact," Sett had asked. 

"Well uh, the tomb with the artifact can only be opened by a Vastaya-" 

Sett groaned, the sound morphing into a growl midway through. "You're really telling me this now?"

Ezreal shrugged, confused. "Yeah? What's the matter?"

"You don't know?" Sett squinted, sneered, "I'm only half . I'm a halfbreed." The way Ezreal stared at him uncomprehendingly had him bristling. "I can't open anything. We gotta go back and get a real one."

"Sett, you are a real Vastaya," Ezreal replied, confused, hands up placatingly, "and according to some Vastayan scholar's theories, 'halfbreeds' don't really exist?"

It was Sett's turn to stare in confusion, "what?"

Ezreal waved a hand, "yeah it's like- oh man, you are really gonna hate this metaphor, but it's like with dog pedigrees."

"Yeah, I am gonna hate this metaphor."

"Well, it's like when you take a Piltovan herder and breed it with a mutt. All you get are mutts. Because Vastaya are chimeras, everything they make is a Vastaya. There's no in-between, not really."

Sett… didn't know what to say to that. Or what to think. 

His whole life no Vastaya, aside from his ma, had ever considered him one of their kind, in fact most were vehemently opposed to his mere existence. The Vastaya had made their thoughts perfectly clear on the subject, and they'd know more- and their opinion actually mattered. The Vastaya declared him a non-Vastaya, and so he was. What did a bunch of stupid Piltover eggheads know anyway? It was just a theory. No way was a stupid Vastayan temple or Piltover thesis gonna change anything. 

This was a waste of time.

As if sensing Sett's soured mood, Ezreal doubled the chatter and went easy on the boasting. It was surprisingly thoughtful, in an 'obnoxious little brother making An Attempt' sort of way. Day four passed without any more fuss, and day five began like any other.

"You've fought some tough guys too, I bet. I heard you run a fighting club!"

"It's more of a pit," Sett corrected. "And yeah I've fought some real bastards."

Ezreal nodded, "yeah fighting is cool." The tiny crack in his voice hinted that maybe fighting was less cool to Ezreal than he claimed it was.

"You don't actually like fighting, do you," Sett smirked.

"What!," Ezreal spluttered, "I do! I can kick so much ass! Like," he held up his hand, the one covered in the fancy golden glove, "I can use this to shoot magic and teleport. Fighting is easy!"

"Uh huh."

"It's just uh, sometimes you are stuck in a tight spot and there's a lot of things you gotta fight before you can get out and not to mention the traps-" Sett frowned. "And sometimes it uh, it looks a little rocky and magic is hit or miss- not that I ever miss , just a shot might become more of a warning shot, you know?"

Sett side eyed the kid. He was a few years younger than Sett, maybe the same age as Aphelios, but kinda young to look so… haunted. Sett should've turned this party around hours into the first day, but instead he'd humored the kid. Now he was… he was getting attached . Gods help him.

"These tombs and shit you go to," Sett grit out. "You go there alone?"

"Oh yeah, they are kind of far and super dangerous. I've gotten trapped a few times. It's lucky I can just-" he poofed in a cloud of gold sparks, appearing suddenly on Sett's other side, continuing his feigned nonchalance. "Pretty cool huh?"

No wonder his poor workers couldn't get him out of the office.

"Yeah kid, but do you-" Sett's words cut off as a giant something shot out of the foliage and smacked him into the side of a tree. 

"Oh shit, Sett!" Ezreal shouted, only to shout again as whatever it was wrapped around his waist and started squeezing. 

A blip of something washed over Sett as he watched Ezreal get lifted up, trapped in a large mechanized hand. Something like- fear? Oh gods, was he worried about Ezreal's safety?  

Shit- he really had gotten attached.

Sett growled, faltering slightly as the thing attacking them stood up and towered over them. It was some kind of golem- three times as tall as Sett and made of metal and ceramic and stone. Some kind of green jelly held the components together, and a giant spot in the center of its chest glowed red as it fixated on the stunned half-Vastayan. 

"Oh shit," Ezreal repeated, face pale.

Quickly he raised his gloved hand and shot a beam of golden magic at the things eyespot. Like water off stone, the magic just flowed around it, leaving the golem untouched but burning the foliage behind it. Was it resistant to magic then? Sett bounded forward, concentrating his own magic into his knuckle duster and slammed his fist into the thing's leg. There was a scratch from where metal ground against metal, but no sign of a magical impact. 

"I think this thing is resistant to magic," Ezreal shouted down at him.

"Yeah, no shit," Sett growled, only to get kicked out of the way. 

If it couldn't be hurt with magic, Sett mused as he picked himself up from the dirt, he'd just have to do things the old fashioned way. "Teleport away, kid," Sett called, bounding forward again. "This thing's goin' for a ride." 

Ezreal wiggled free enough to teleport out of the golem's grasping hand, appearing midair and falling clumsily to the ground- leaving the golem open for some of Sett's other, more practical fighting styles. His magic was weird compared to other, old-blood Vastaya, to say the least, but it certainly had its uses. Every Vastaya had its own special form of magic and Sett had inherited some of his mother's specialties, but little else. Physical strength, endurance, and the ability to physically draw enemies towards her like a magnet and then hold them there. There was a reason you didn't grapple with Sett. He'd expanded on her techniques, the relatively few she'd shown him over the years, and now… well, he made them his own.

Sett tugged the leg of the golem towards him with a magic pull and then jumped high up into the air, dragging the surprisingly light golem with him. Spinning once, he slammed the golem down into the dirt, sending cracks through the shell of it. 

"Better roll, Sett!" Ezreal shouted, aiming his gauntlet at a tree and firing, sending the thing tipping dangerously Sett's way.

The tree crashed, smashing the chest and eyepiece of the golem, spraying the area with green sludge and shattered golem pieces. Despite how far he ducked out of the way, Sett was absolutely drenched in, "the fuck is this?"

"Looks like a high-viscosity ferro-fluid," Ezreal replied, inspecting a golem chunk. "I've seen something like it back in Demacia in an old prototype petricite golem. Weird that there's something similar all the way out here."

“Great.” Even though his fur was generally water resistant on the surface, whatever the hell ‘high-viscosity ferro-fluid’ was, apparently it was not water-based. He could already feel it clumping, sticking thickly and uncomfortably where it dripped behind his coat and under his bracers, itching his skin. Oh gods it was dangerously close to his ears- “we’re looking for water so I can wash this off.”

“It looks like you can brush it off. It’ll probably be easier when it dries,” Ezreal replied, wiping large globs of it off of his clothes and cheeks.

The thought of any of this drying in his fur was even worse than when it was viscous. “Yeah no, I don’t work like that. I don’t have hair.” Sett hated even mentioning any of this. Closing his eyes and sighing, he grit out, "I have… It’s fur. I have a fucking undercoat .”

Ezreal stared. It was the face people usually made before saying something stupid. Sett would hate to have to beat the shit out of him though. Especially after just deciding that the little guy was growing on him. Ezreal opened his mouth and-

“Oh that makes sense,” He hummed and looked around and then pulled out his map and a compass. “There was a lake near the temple. We're really close to it now." Without any more preamble he set off in a direction, Sett following behind, trying desperately not to like the little guy. 

There was a lake nearby, practically within sight of a humble looking stone and living wood structure. The temple had a giant wisteria growing from its center, and seemed high up, like it was on a cliff face. No doubt, knowing the Ionian landscape, water fell from near it and formed the pools and lake Sett currently stood in front of. It was crystal clear and barely knee deep, untouched by civilization, probably revered by half his kind, but Sett didn't mind sullying yet another Vastayan thing right now if it meant getting the gunk off him. 

"Should go without sayin'," Sett drawled, giving Ezreal a severe side glance. "You look and I tear out your eyes."

Ezreal, clearly cowed, still managed to huff, raising shaking hands, "yeah, yeah, of course you will, uh huh, but yeah you got it, boss." As he quickly wandered off Sett could hear him mumble reassurances to himself that "Sett was just joking, man- we're buddies! He'd never do that… would he?"

He was regrettably right. Sett wasn't likely to remove Ezreal’s eyeballs by force. But he would be pissed if he got spied on by the guy.

Shucking his coat and bracers to be washed later, Sett stripped down to his pants and waded into the water. He was incredibly fortunate the golem gunk hadn't really gone lower, just pooling at his waistline and in a bit of his bushy tail. It was proving to be a pain to clean though- matting the shorter fur on his forearms and the fuzz along his biceps and down his chest. His back was equally drenched, the longer fur of his shoulders almost solid with it. Delicately, he worked the clotting mass of it from around his ears, and gods- if this had gone into his ear canals he'd probably freak out. They were a pain to keep clean already, what with the way they were situated, and the inner skin was incredibly delicate. He'd gotten mud from the pit in them once and had nearly ripped them off because of how awful it had burned and itched. Stupid Vastayan anatomy-

"You missed a spot," a sing-song voice chimed from the river bank.

Sett twisted in a flash, claws and teeth bared in a snarl. Who the fuck would dare - 

A Vastayan fox-girl wiggled her fingers at him lazily. She was perched on a rock outcropping, the lower half of her calves dipped in the water. 

Sett's initial fury ebbed- a Vastayan seeing him was less awful than a human. Not to mention, if he played his cards right, he could get this fox-girl to open the temple for them. Grunting he reached for the spot he knew he'd missed in the middle of his back- able to feel it but too bulky to do anything about it.

"Here, let me," she purred, dropping into the water. 

Sett bristled as she neared. He'd never been fond of being exposed like this and something about this Vastaya had him even more on edge. A predator running into an apex . This Vastayan had a kill count higher than his. This was a hunter . The magical tinge to her had his senses going haywire. Sett was… honestly not entirely sure he'd win in a fight with her. It was a weird situation.

Her hand touched his bicep first before reaching the other back to run claws through the fur along his spine, combing gunk from the inch long strands. The last time he'd been groomed by someone was decades ago, and the instinctive euphoria of it was a lot to work through. He wanted it to both stop, please but also never end ever.

Like he said; it was a weird situation.

"You hang around and wash just anyone?" Sett asked instead of biting her hands off or melting into a puddle or something similarly embarrassing.

"Just the particularly helpless ones," she replied. "Were you the one that killed the golem?"

"Yeah. Me and the loud blond."

She giggled, "I could hear him from a mile away. Your plans on going into the Vastayan temple are certainly interesting. Do you mind if I accompany you?"

With the way her claws scratched at his back she could do whatever she wanted as far as he was concerned. "We're goin' in to take some artifacts, you know. He's a graverobber." He'd hate for it to be a surprise later.

She hummed, "I imagine there's very little left. Noxus pilfered most of it during their invasion. But who knows?" She tilted her head curiously, raising a dark eyebrow, "it is strange to see a Vastaya raid a tomb of their fellows. Aren't you worried about being exiled?"

"I'm already exiled. I'm a halfbreed," Sett said, for what felt like the fiftieth time. Patiently, he waited for the usual cutting words, the repulsion, maybe something more visceral. He'd had all three, sometimes all at once.

He got none of the above. "That certainly explains your magic, and why my charms didn't work on you," she replied. "You feel… new. Young. Different, and yet familiar."

Sett… didn't know what to say to that, mumbling awkwardly, "I'm twenty-seven."

That got her to giggle, "new and young indeed."

Sett sniffed, huffed, "you don't have a problem with it?"

"Not at all," she shrugged, shaking the goop from her claws. "Should I?"

He… didn't really know the answer to that. He hoped her opinion wouldn't change though.

"How? Also- what ?" Ezreal gaped like a fish as he glanced between the two stupidly. "You went for a bath!"

"Yeah, Ahri meet E-Z," Sett gestured, "E-Z meet Ahri. Don't be weird."

"Charmed I'm sure," Ahri smiled, sharp canines poking her lower lip.

Ezreal looked two seconds away from heart failure. He could already tell this was going to become a headache. 

Somehow the kid composed himself, stuck out a hand, ran the other through his hair, and leveled Ahri with a cocksure smile, "Ezreal, Explorer, you might have heard of me."

"I haven't, no," Ahri replied with a smile. "What exactly is it you are looking for in the Tomb of Currents?"

Ezreal, recovering quickly, exclaimed "the Ring of the Spellbinder!" Eagerly, he began describing a large disc, almost like a plate but with a hole in the center as they walked towards the temple of tombs. Magic flowed from out of the center of the ring, and supposedly there was a mechanism to control the flow built into the side of it. A blue stone of pure mana was inlaid on the top and a rune was on the bottom. It dated all the way back to the titan wars, and was a legend amongst historians.

Ahri and Sett listened to him chatter nearly nonstop until they arrived at the massive temple gate. Sett hung back a little as Ezreal and Ahri examined the entrance. It was certainly pretty up close, though much of the reliefs carved into the doors and walls were eroded or chipped away. At a touch from Ezreal, the heavy doors creaked inwards, inviting them in. 

When Ahri said the place had been pilfered by Noxus, she wasn't kidding. She had also been making a severe understatement. There was nothing left attached to the walls; the ghostly imprints of where tapestries hung were still stark against the dust and cobwebs, inset nooks were either missing pieces of statues or were completely empty, and even the sconces had been ripped down. Whatever beauty this place once had, it was gone now. 

Like two kids in a candy store, Ahri and Ezreal ran forwards to inspect every inch- albeit one with a much more reverential touch than the other. Sett followed after at a much more subdued pace. It wasn't that he was concerned about desecrating the place or insulting his ancestors or whatever. It was just… a lot of it had been his usual bravado. Just because he wasn't considered a Vastaya that didn't mean he was wholly comfortable being in Vastayan spaces, shitting on Vastayan things. He was keenly aware of where he did and didn't belong. And he didn't belong in here.

Warily he kept an eye on Ahri's and Ezreal as they flitted about, peeking into rooms and picking up pieces of whatever caught their eye. There were several branching hallways, each lined with a row of coffins on each side. Placards too worn to read graced the foot of each heavily ornate sarcophagus. Very few were still intact, and Sett didn't peek inside any of them. Ezreal clearly had some formal education behind a lot of his observations; hilarious given that Sett kind of just assumed he was a glorified grave robber. Ahri, on the other hand, had knowledge of the Vastaya and their older customs, as well as the history of Ionia. She could also cheat and use her magic to fill in the gaps. Sett watched her hands glow as she ran clawed fingers over a coffin and recited a name, time of death, even last words and feelings. 

It was certainly pretty cool, but definitely macabre.

Sett idly wondered if it was an Ahri thing, a Vesani thing (he thought that's what she said her tribe was called-), or just a magic thing. Pulling stuff towards himself and punching them was cool and all… but it would be cooler to be able to do a little more. He was so lost in his musing and half-hearted vigilance that when he leaned back against a wall, he didn't realize he'd gone right through it until he was already falling backwards onto a pedestal and crashing into a heap. He knew there'd be traps, every temple, tomb, and ancient place had traps- he'd gotten sloppy and now he was probably going to get arrowed or poisoned or have a giant boulder roll on top of him. This just screamed trap.

Except nothing happened.

Sett peeked an eye open, still sprawled atop the very broken pedestal in a rather small nook, and waited expectantly for his doom. 

"You alright in there, big guy?" Ezreal asked, poking at the now hazy wall separating them, but seemingly unable to enter or look in. 

Ahri breezed through, took one look at him, and froze with surprise. "It can't be- you found the ring?"

"I- what?" Sett twisted, noting nothing but rubble under and around him. If he had found the ring, it was likely broken beyond repair. Except he didn't see anything except debris and the shattered pedestal.

"Wait, Sett, you found the ring?" His face was pressed flat against the hazy false wall with eager excitement. Sett was about to ruin his day. "Oh my cog! We did it!"

Ahri pointed to Sett's right hand, "it's there. And quite thoroughly attached." Sett lifted his hand and yeah- there a ring was, blue stone in the center. How'd it slip on his finger? Also, this was nothing like what Ezreal described. "It's a semi-sentient artifact, so it can change its shape to better suit its wearer. It won't come off until certain conditions are met," she explained, as if reading his mind. Maybe she did. Ahri was scary enough to where mind-reading was a very real possibility.

"What the fuck," Sett murmured, testing the ring and balking as it didn't budge. 

"Wait, what!? It's stuck to Sett?" Ezreal let out a pitiful, wailing, 'nooo'.

"How do I get it off? What 'conditions'?"

Ahri hummed, tapping her lips with a claw. "I'm not sure, but I don't really know much else about it. Is it uncomfortable?"

Sett didn't feel any different, and it wasn't obtrusive or anything, just… he kind of wanted it gone despite only having it for five minutes. "No, just not my usual style I guess." Ahri chuckled at him as she helped hoist him up.

"My museum deal," Ezreal sobbed, hands thumping uselessly on the fake wall.

It seemed strange that only him and Ahri could come through the false wall- until he remembered ' the tomb with the artifact can only be opened by a Vastaya '. This couldn't be the same place though- surely it was just luck or… something else that let him go through. Sett couldn't think of anything that would stop just Ezreal from entering the alcove. But… there had to be a mistake, right? The magic of his mother's tribe declared him not-Vastaya. 

How did he slip through?

It didn't feel any different than walking through a normal doorway when he followed Ahri out of the little nook. The false wall looked so deceptively solid from this side- it was little wonder it had been missed. Still…

Ahri was smirking at him, a curious gleam in her eye. "You know," she began, leaning in conspiratorially, "supposedly that ring can only be held by a Vastayashai'rei or its descendants."

Sett grumbled, "thought you didn't know anything else about it?" 

She shrugged, "I said 'much' not 'nothing'." She looped an arm around his elbow, grinning. "This must mean something good, don't you think?"

"It probably just got stuck on me since I fell on it," Sett argued feebly. "Or it was just desperate or something."

Ahri's smirk was replaced with a sad smile, "you really think that?"

It was Sett's turn to shrug, "why wouldn't I?"

It was a quiet rest of the walk out, but Ahri squeezed his arm a little tighter. The sun was barely beginning to set when they finally emerged from the temple and he was let go. 

"You goin' back to your lake to wait for more people to wash off?" Sett asked, only half joking.

Ahri laughed brightly as she began wandering off towards the trees, "a friend of mine wandered wherever the wind took him. I think I'll keep doing the same. After all, I was able to join you two, for a time, because of it." 

"That's sappy as hell," Sett grinned. He'd miss her. "Find me in Navori if you're ever around."

"You can visit me too-" Ezreal sniffled but she was already gone. "Aw man."

Sett rolled his eyes and clapped a hand on Ezreal’s shoulder (gently), "let's go. I'm getting sick of camping."

The hike back was mercifully uneventful, Ezreal was back to his talkative self, and Sett had a shiny new ring. He wasn't sure what to do with it, since the plan had always been to just let Ezreal handle everything that went into 'archeology' and reap the monetary rewards after. Now that it was apparently a permanent fixture until mysterious circumstances were met… Ezreal had assured him that he was still getting paid (as if it were ever in doubt) but Sett had a weird, fuzzy feeling like he'd come out of this with more than just coin.

What a gross thought.

The fact that a Vastayan relic had chosen him after he stumbled through a warded Vastayan door… it could have chosen Ahri. But it stuck to him instead. Sett spent the long walk back looking at it in the night and wondering about it in the light.

Surprisingly, his businesses were still intact. The ledgers from his pits were impeccable, he'd had a modest seventeen percent increase in profits. Sherap and Turner had installed a few more gambling tables in the back for a card game popular in Bilgewater, and it had clients flocking. The construction company had five new contracts and was starting to churn out a tidy profit. He spent days going over all the news his spy network gathered, pleased to see that Aphelios and Diana were still in Ionia, one just behind the other, and the Solari presence had mostly fizzled out. It was a nice feeling, coming back to things being better than before.

Maybe a little empire of his own wasn't so out of reach. 

But maybe, he didn't really need one either.

His momma beamed when his copy of the book arrived. "You explored a Vastayan temple? How adventurous of you, Settrigh."

"Yeah, I was with that famous Piltover explorer," Sett replied around a mouthful of cookies. "He signed that copy for you."

"Ezreal the Explorer?" She read, hummed, "I've never heard of him before. He looks so young!"

Sett agreed, shoved another cookie in his mouth, and debated telling his ma about the ring he'd acquired. Or the Vastaya he met. Or his plans to 'expand the business'. Or if he was Vastayan enough for her. Before he could decide, he was handed a pen.

His momma held open the cover of the book, right on the dedication page. Ezreal’s dedication was three paragraphs, but Sett had simply put ' for my ma '. She tapped the page with a claw, "Ezreal's signature was awfully big, but I'd love yours the most. Will you sign it for me?"

Sett smiled and took the pen. All that other stuff could wait. 

He had all he needed right here.