Chapter Text
Caitlyn scampered and jumped between the spires until she finally scaled up a wall and could climb over the balcony, landing on all fours to distribute the impact as she vaulted over the fence.
"I'm in," Caitlyn said to herself, more because it sounded cool rather than because there was anybody she was in contact with that would have cared that her infiltration of the Lanes Castle was successful.
She preferred to work alone.
They didn't call Caitlyn the Rose of Zaun for nothing, after all.
Indeed, it was probably easier to list of reasons she wouldn't be called 'the Rose of Zaun'. Tattooing the image of rose vines complete with thorns and rosebuds onto her back and shoulders was the first start, but there were other reasons; her stunning beauty, at least according to people around her, was worth comparing to a rose, even if she herself never paid attention to her looks. Her adept skill at climbing up through the nooks and crannies of both Zaun and Piltover to infiltrate the Piltover castles and penthouses like the spread of vines in order to steal valuables to sell. And then her was prickly, thorny demeanor that demanded nothing less than the best for people who would want to try and run a job or two with her - which usually drove them away and left her on her own devices.
Which was the way she liked it. Less people she had to mind on a heist, less variables, less chances for things to go wrong. She couldn't always predict what someone else was capable of, or what surprises they might have waiting in store - both good and bad, like, say, being unexpectedly handy with fisticuffs but also suffering an irrational fear of cats.
No, better to stick to a party of one. Just herself. She knew what her weak points were. She knew what she could and could not do - and far too many eager, upstart, newbie would-be thieves held far too high an opinion of themselves, thinking they could handle the toughest jobs to start with, when Caitlyn knew - from the few times she had been coerced into working as part of a team, either press-ganged by a baron with the resources to create a forced labor team or desperate for extra cash that week - that they would cry running the minute they ran into any sort of strong resistance. Any guard with a weapon and a voice that was even slightly authoritative, and they would fold like tissue paper.
None of that was here nor there, though. Right now, Caitlyn had just succeeded in getting inside a castle that was said to be the home of a rather large and well-off noble family.
That family size could mean less to go around, even for one of the upper crust family names. More people in the family, more mouths to feed, more servants to hire to clean their too-large living rooms.
But that also meant more variety in the types of things that house would accumulate, as each individual member grew up and developed their own interests. And more variety meant more pickings for Caitlyn to go through to find something that would really rake in the money if she could find the right buyer. Maybe even a broker who would sell it right back to the family under the guise of 'replacing' the 'lost' item.
Caitlyn allowed herself a small chuckle. Selling rich folks their own purloined belongings was always one of her favorite ways of making money. It was a little slice of karmic justice for being born with more than they needed, or could use, in her own humble opinion.
Not like herself, or any of thousands born in Zaun, seemingly spawned forth from existence from the bowels of the earth for no other reason than because someone, somewhere needed to be born into poverty in order to be the have-nots to Piltovan's haves. Piltover fancied itself a city full of winners.
And for there to be winners, there must be losers.
But damn if Caitlyn wasn't going to claw and scrape and steal whatever she had to until she siphoned as much wealth as she could from those silver-spoon mouth-breathers until she was just as rich, or richer, than most of them - and they couldn't pretend they were better than her and her neighbors just because they wore pressed suits and nice dresses while the Zaunites made do with tough leathers and cloth scraps Piltover had cast off into Zaun's dumpster bins for not being pretty enough, not excellent enough, not expensive enough.
Maybe, if she was smart, and played her cards right, Caitlyn could steal all of their wealth before she was done.
Caitlyn sidled her way up to the balcony door. Some places didn't have doors, she could only assume from Piltovans' default assumptions that nothing could touch them, but this place did.
Now the question became, did it have a lock, and did the owners of the place remember to lock it?
Caitlyn tugged at the handle. The answer to both questions was, surprisingly, yes.
Not a worry, however. All Caitlyn needed to was reach into her satchel and pull out her lock-picking supplies. Within seconds, the door swung open for her as though she'd always been welcome.
She strode inside, resisting the impish impulse to call out 'who's there'? While a funny prank in theory, it was a good way to get discovered, and one might be surprised at the ease at which they could get away with walking unimpeded into places they were not supposed to be if they kept silent and walked with a soft tread.
A quick visual scan revealed no one around the immediate rooms. Caitlyn, being a professional, entered the closest room to her with an open door.
As she walked, she resented the gold plating of the tile. How much work had to be done to facilitate such gilded splendor? How many hours of digging up the gold by miners paid poorly for their work, followed by the melting and smiting by artisans paid only marginally better than the minors?
The room was a personal library or study of sorts. Some thieves would look at shelves full of books and immediately turn around, dismissing them as worthless volumes of pointless paper.
Not Caitlyn, though. Even in Zaun, there were book collectors who would pay a pretty dime to own a signed copy of a beloved work, or even an original edition printing. It wasn't that one couldn't make money from selling books, it was that one had to know the right books - how to pick out the valuables from the common chaff.
Plus, some folks kept things inside the books, like keys to a safe or password combinations, figuring they would be protected there. Who would think to look inside a book of all places?
Caitlyn begin picking out books, careful to replace them to exactly where they had been once she had flipped through them and determined their value, even though this was a common scourge of libraries who would really appreciate if the books were placed on the return trays, thank you.
But this wasn't an underfunded library, it was a rich family's personal collection where each book would be easy to replace for them but invaluable to Caitlyn.
Caitlyn had managed to go through a whole shelf without finding anything of value. No signed copies, no first editions, when she heard something behind her.
"I know it's in here, Vi! I'll find it."
Caitlyn grabbed her knife from her pocket and turned around to face the person.
Stepping into the room was a girl who couldn't be more than fourteen at best, maybe a particularly short fifteen year old. She was dressed in all the typical noble finery Caitlyn expected of topsiders - a pressed shirt, white paints, a coat with long tails and golden pads on the shoulders, with a bob of blue hair.
"Who are you?" the girl asked, furrowing her brow.
"Who are you?" Caitlyn replied.
"You're not supposed to be in here," the girl said.
"Oh, really? Shoot, I must have gotten lost," Caitlyn said. "You, uh, won't tell anyone, will you?"
Caitlyn raised her knife up, making sure her guest could see the glint of the blade.
"Will you?" Caitlyn asked sharply with a murderous intensity in her eyes.
"N-no," the girl answered, Caitlyn's ploy effective.
"Good," Caitlyn said. "Now if you could just stay there while I find something worth stealing, that would be swell."
Caitlyn returned to her hunt for valuables. She never had any intention of hurting the girl. Yes, she kept the knife for self-defense and to threaten and, as in this instance, bluff, but she wasn't going to cut a child, not even a Piltovan one.
"What's your name?" Caitlyn asked as she opened and closed another dud book.
"Powder."
"Powder. Like your hair. That's cute," Caitlyn chuckled.
"It's rude to ask for a name without giving yours in return," Powder said.
"Ah," Caitlyn said. "Well, you see, Powder, I can't give you my name. You see, a faerie stole it, and now I need a magic book from your collection to get it back."
"I'm not that young," Powder said, huffing and crossing her arms. "Or gullible."
"Really? Darn," Caitlyn said. "I'm still not telling you my name, however."
"Why not?" Powder asked.
Caitlyn chuckled again.
"My dear sweet Powder," Caitlyn answered, "you could do worlds more harm to me with my name than I could do to you with your name in a million years. If I tell you my name, you can tell the guards and the constables and the Council about my name. You could have me hunted down like a rat. While I have your name, I'm going to tell it to my friends, and we'll all grumble and forget about it - just one topsider princess among hundreds."
Powder pursed her lips and glared at Caitlyn.
"What are you looking for?" Powder asked. "Maybe if I knew, I could help you, and then you could leave."
"Do you think you're clever?" Caitlyn asked.
"I'm told I am," Powder replied dryly.
"Telling you what I'm looking for is almost as bad as telling you my name. Now, you just stand there, let me look for it, and I'll leave as soon as I can, hmm? Oh, and I'd appreciate if you wouldn't tell anybody that you saw me, Powder ... Powder?"
Caitlyn looked around, realizing she had taken her eyes off Powder for too long while going through the books.
Powder was clever. Clever enough to sneak behind Caitlyn and smack her overhead with a sizable book with a blow strong enough to send Caitlyn to her knees with her vision rapidly blacking out.
"VI!" Powder bellowed, and it was the last thing Caitlyn heard before she hit the floor.
Caitlyn was used to being knocked out and woken up in a different place than when she was last awake. It was practically how one got invited for a drinking session to discuss business proposals in Zaun.
She had never had it done to her quite so embarrassingly before, however. Knocked out with, of all things, a book, by a kid who she should have known to keep a better eye on.
She felt a dancing heat across her arms and knew she was in a room with an active fireplace.
"Vi, I don't think it's as big a deal as you're making it out to be," Powder said.
Caitlyn, despite being awake, kept her eyes closed and her head still. She could tell she was bound with rope - thin rope, at that, and not very well, with a loose knot she could break free of easily if she tried. But she decided it was better to try to play the knocked-out captive for as long as possible and hope that her captors might let something slip if they believed she was still sleeping.
"It is a big deal, Powder!" a new voice said, one mature and rough, yet with a curious warmth to it. Presumably Vi. "Zaunites almost never come up here! We can't just let her go without figuring out what she was doing here!"
"Or we could just turn her in," Powder argued.
"No," Vi said. "I want to talk to her first. Maybe she'll open up to me."
"HA!" Caitlyn laughed, too amused at the thought to keep up her charade.
"You're awake!?" Vi said.
"Yes," Caitlyn said, opening her eyes. "And you'd be better off buying a friend somewhere than trying to get anything out of me, you -"
Caitlyn trailed off, distracted by how unfairly, unreasonable gorgeous Vi was.
She was dressed the same as Powder, only with a violet coat instead of Powder's blue. Her hair was the most charming shade of pink Caitlyn had ever seen on a woman, her face was rough like she'd gotten into fights - almost like she was a Zaunite, not a Piltie - and her muscles brimmed underneath the surface of her clothes like they were just waiting for a wardrobe malfunction to break free and show off Vi's biceps to the world.
"You're awake," Vi said, smiling. "What's your name, stranger?"
"Starts with an F and ends with a U," Caitlyn answered.
"Starts with F, ends with U ...F, U F, U ..." Powder said. "I can't think of any name like that."
Caitlyn chuckled. "Doesn't know much, does she?"
"I know enough!" Powder said, and she brandished the heavy book which she first used to knock Caitlyn out. "Watch it or I'll use this again on you, thief!"
"Try it, twerp," Caitlyn growled, managing to lunge forward and startle Powder despite her bound state. "I've learned my lesson with you. I really was just going to find something to steal and leave, but now maybe I'll have to make sure to introduce you to my knife on my way out."
Caitlyn paused. "Where is my knife? And my bag?"
"Over there," Vi said, nodding to a corner in the room. "We'll give them back to you once we've decided what to do with you."
"We will?" Powder asked.
"You will?" Caitlyn asked, suspicious of a Piltovan offering this much generosity. Piltovans loved taking things from Zaunites - doubly so if they were things the Piltovans could easily acquire and replace, but the Zaunites could not. What was the catch? Would they give Caitlyn her belongings just to shoo her out door with the constables hot on her heels?
"Yes," Vi said. "I give you my word."
"Your word," Caitlyn said. "Let me show much a Piltovan's word means to me."
Caitlyn spat on the floor.
"That's it!" Powder raised her book up high, but Vi held out her arm.
"Powder," Vi said, "why don't you leave us alone?"
Powder alternated her gaze between Vi and Caitlyn, then reluctantly left the room, shooting Caitlyn a dirty glare before slamming the door.
"You're from Zaun, right?" Vi asked excitedly, her demeanor changing instantly the second she and Caitlyn were alone.
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes.
"I've always wanted to meet someone from Zaun!" Vi declared. "Tell me what it's like down there. Are the stories true? Does it really glow at night?"
"Hold on," Caitlyn said, barely able to follow as Vi began talking faster and faster in her excitement.
"What's the food like?" Vi said, getting up from her seat and starting to get in Caitlyn's face. "I hear they come up with wonderful food down there, which makes sense, because they have less to work with, but it also doesn't make sense, because how are you supposed to make better food with less stuff -"
"SHUT UP!" Caitlyn roared, and Vi staggered back, evidently not used to being talked to in that way.
"I am not your pet," Caitlyn growled. "I'm not your Zaun tour guide. I'm not a token 'good' Zaunite who behaves and falls in line and does all the foot-licking and dirt-worshipping that Piltover expects out of us."
Vi walked around to the back of her chair, placing her arms on the back of it and leaning on it for support.
"You're right," Vi said. "I'm sorry. You're right. You're your own person, not ... my personal encyclopedia. I just wanted to know what it was like back - back home."
That choice of words caused Caitlyn's brain to freeze up for a minute.
"I'm sorry, home?" Caitlyn asked, leaning with interest as much as she was able.
"Yeah," Vi said solemnly. "My sister and I ... we're from Zaun, originally. We lost our parents awhile back. When we were really, really young. Too young to remember much of anything, really. We were adopted by a nice Piltovan couple and we've lived here ever since. But ... I've always wanted ... to know what the place we born in is like."
"I ... see," Caitlyn said, feigning understanding, because she had never heard of anything like this. She knew of some Piltovans banished to the Undercity, exiled there for crimes, or even the rare - rare, but not unheard of - story of a Piltover choosing to move to the Undercity because they could no longer stand Piltover's lack of sincerity and authenticity. But for a Piltover couple to express enough compassion to adopt two orphaned children?
No, no, Caitlyn caught her thinking and promptly gave herself a mental kick. A move like that had nothing to do with compassion. The couple who took Vi and Powder in did it to make themselves feel better. To have something they could point to while they sat on their hoard of riches like dragons to say "see? We're Good People, despite all our wealth!" Vi and Power weren't taken in by a loving couple moved by the plight of two hopeless orphans - they were adopted as a shield against criticism, as pets, as displays that could be brought out to refute claims and insults against their new 'parents' lack of empathy or morality brought about by their excess wealth, their excess everything.
And they appreciated the things they did have too much to see it or question it.
"Well," Caitlyn said. "I think we're done here and I'll be going now."
"Really?" Vi said with a scoff.
Caitlyn jerked, easily breaking the loose knot holding her, and stood up.
"Yes, really," Caitlyn said. "Get out of my way and I won't hurt you."
"Come on," Vi said. "Look at me. You know this isn't going to be a fair fight. You don't even have your knife!"
"Clearly you're not familiar with an old Zaun saying - 'if you can afford it, always keep a spare.'"
Caitlyn drew her second, much better hidden knife and pointed it at Vi.
"Still think it's an unfair fight?" Caitlyn asked smugly.
There was a metallic ringing through the room as Vi drew a rapier from her hip that Caitlyn somehow hadn't noticed despite her usually keen observation skills.
"Yeah," Vi said as she took up a fighting stance, pointing the sword at Caitlyn. "I do."
Caitlyn gritted her teeth and braced herself for a fight.
She couldn't imagine how skilled Vi was with that sword. She had no frame of reference for Piltovan nobles, even adopted ones, doing their own fighting instead of hiring bodyguards to do it for them. And she couldn't anticipate how far Vi would go - would she have the killer instinct, or would she only go as far as absolutely necessary to disarm Caitlyn?
Taking a moment to consider her options, Caitlyn realized it didn't matter. Her choices were to either fight through Vi or back down, surrender, and let Vi tie her up again but tighter this time - and she refused to be at the mercy of the whims of any Piltovan.
Caitlyn could win this. Vi's sword might have granted her longer reach, but Caitlyn was a Zaunite.
Just because when a Piltie described a Zaunite as 'vicious' they usually meant it as an insult, didn't mean it wasn't true. Zaunites had to be vicious.
All Caitlyn had to do was close the distance and she could stab Vi somewhere where it would really hurt.
Caitlyn lunged forward, swinging her knife wildly.
Vi refused to be intimidated, and for a moment Caitlyn could almost believe she did have Zaun blood in her veins. Vi held steady, stepping back to keep distance between her and Caitlyn, and when Caitlyn seemed to have an opening, she took it - only for Vi to riposte, blocking Caitlyn's knife with the tip of her rapier.
Caitlyn snarled, withdrew her attacking arm, and looked for another angle of attack.
Vi was unflappably, almost irritatingly calm in the face of a woman with a knife trying to attack her. Just because she had a sword was no reason not to take this seriously. Like, hello! Fighting over life and death here!
Vi surprised Caitlyn by taking to the offense, stepping forward and doing a light slash that Caitlyn just barely backed away from her, Vi's sword cutting through Caitlyn's clothes and just nicking her shoulder - enough to draw blood, but Caitlyn had endured far worse.
Although Caitlyn's top did shift off to the side without the strap.
"Wow," Vi said, blushing. "You ... have really nice -"
"Don't," Caitlyn said, "don't make this any worse by finishing that sentence."
"Sorry," Vi said.
They resumed their fighting stances.
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, trying to figure something out. Her other knife and bag were still in the corner ... if she could just keep Vi distracted, occupied so that she didn't realize what Caitlyn was trying to do ...
Vi took a more direct approach. She moved forward like a jaguar, grabbed the chair she'd been sitting in, lifted it up with one hand like she was superhuman, and hurled it at Caitlyn.
It all happened so fast Caitlyn didn't even realize what happened until she felt the chair crash into her stomach. She grunted and put all of her remaining energy just into remaining standing, but it wasn't enough when Vi followed up her attack, bringing her shin into Caitlyn's stomach before kicking Caitlyn in the gut and sending her sprawling to the floor.
By the time Caitlyn's vision stopped spinning, she was on the ground with Vi's sword leveled at her neck.
"Are ya done?" Vi asked. "Will you yield?"
Caitlyn looked at her reflection in the metal of Vi's sword, took in Vi's face, and contemplated if she was all right with letting this be how all it ended for her.
She decided it was not.
"I yield," Caitlyn said, letting go of her knife.
Vi bent down to pick it up before removing her sword from Caitlyn's neck.
"I won't lie, though," Vi said as she placed the knife with the rest of Caitlyn's stuff. "You do have a nice body, Cupcake."
"I'm flattered," Caitlyn said. "Too bad for you I'm a thief, not a call girl."
Vi smirked.
"What?" Caitlyn asked.
"There's an idea," Vi said. "You are quite pretty, Cupcake. Quite, quite pretty. It ... would be a shame to lose track of you."
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going with this?"
"I'll make you an offer," Vi said. "You stay with us for, hmm, let's call it three days? And the end of it, we'll give you your stuff back and let you go on home without telling anybody what you were originally here for. Who knows? You might even discover you don't hate topsiders as much as you think you do."
Caitlyn scoffed. "That seems unlikely."
"Come on," Vi said. "At least try it! What have you got to lose?"
"Besides my dignity?" Caitlyn asked.
"Cupcake ..." Vi said with the voice of a father disappointed in the moral failure of their child.
"Three days?" Caitlyn asked. "No more, no less?"
"Three days."
"And you'll give me back everything? All of it? My bags, my lockpicking tools, my knives?"
"All of it."
"And you won't report me or turn me in?" Caitlyn said.
"Won't breathe a word to a soul," Vi said.
Caitlyn sighed.
She would never live this down, assuming she ever got back to Zaun. But it was either this or prison, so ...
"I accept your terms," Caitlyn said, and she clutched at her stomach as she resisted the bile building up in her gut and the urge to vomit out of sheer disgust with herself for submitting to a topsider like this.
Vi offered her hand, and helped Caitlyn to her feet.
"I'll let everyone know you'll be my guest," Vi said as she collected Caitlyn's other things. "After I find a good place to stash these."
Caitlyn rolled her eyes and watched as Vi left the room.
The idea of trying to tackle Vi while her back was turned occurred to Caitlyn, but she decided against it. Vi was the only who knew about their deal for the moment, and Vi had proven dangerous enough as a fighter even when not cornered. Caitlyn wasn't going to be the one to provoke her into going all-out.
It wasn't long before Vi returned and told Caitlyn she was free to move about the castle.
The first thing Caitlyn saw as she stepped out was to be greeted by a glaring Powder.
Powder huffed.
"You may have fooled my sister, but you're not fooling me! I'm on to you, you trickster!"
Powder turned and stomped away.
"Are we sure you two weren't born with the wrong hair colors?" Caitlyn quipped. "Red suits her better."
Vi laughed. "Trust me, you haven't seen me at my worst ... or her at her best. You'll have to excuse Powder. She gets a little jealous anytime I give someone else any attention."
"Charming," Caitlyn said.
"Don't worry, she'll get over it," Vi said. "It's just a period of adjustment. I'm hoping she grows out of it eventually."
"One can hope," Caitlyn said.
"Now come on," Vi said, tugging Caitlyn's shoulder.
"Come on? Where to?" Caitlyn asked.
"We gotta get you some new clothes," Vi said. "You can't walk around dressed like that, people will ask questions."
Caitlyn grit her teeth.
"Fine," Caitlyn raised an objecting finger. "But I am not wearing pink."
Vi brought Caitlyn her dress and led Caitlyn to another room where she could change.
Caitlyn sighed as she ran her hands over the dress. It was silk. Soft. Softer than most of the things she wore, and she couldn't help thinking it would rip the second it was exposed to any kind of distress.
It was a black dress with thin shoulder straps and a top that erred on the lower side, with a long train and a sparkling sequin that ran through the entirety of it.
Nonetheless, she changed into it. As Vi said, she couldn't walk around the place in her current mode of dress - it was practically a walking neon sign advertising that she was originally from Zaun.
She emerged from the changing room and was both greeted and startled by the arrival of two men.
One of them was a bear-shaped slab of a man, covered in beard and body hair, who still radiated this sense of warmth from him, like Caitlyn could trust him with anything.
The other was a thinner man with paler skin, and Caitlyn still got the sense she could trust him, but more in the sense that he was from the same kind of gutter that she was from - that the first man would sympathize, but this man would understand.
"Don't be alarmed," say the larger man. "Vi's explained everything. I'm Vander, and this is my husband, Silco. We're Vi and Powder's parents. You're going to be our guest?"
"Yes," Caitlyn said, looking between them. "You're married?"
"Yes," Vander said, clapping Silco on the shoulder. "Can you believe it? The love of my life, and he said yes."
Silco chuckled.
"I'm surprised," Caitlyn admitted. "I would have thought Piltover would have been ... opposed to this sort of thing."
"Ah," Vander frowned, and it just looked wrong, even to Caitlyn. A man who gave off so much warmth and affection just from his mere presence should not be allowed to frown. It was like someone had punched a hole in the sun.
"I understand why you would think that," Vander said, "but you would be surprised at how progressive Piltover is in a lot of ways once you get past the surface."
"Progressive, almost enlightened, really, in some ways ... still in the dark in others," Silco muttered.
"Not in the front of the guest, dear," Vander said from the side of his mouth.
"Vi must see something really special in you," Vander said. "That dress belonged to her mother. She must really trust you."
"That, or it was the only thing that would fit on short notice," Silco opined, and Caitlyn couldn't help but laugh.
"Will you be joining us for our ball later this evening?" Vander asked.
"Ball?" Caitlyn asked.
"Yes," Silco said. "We had plans to host a ball before your arrival, and now that your ... situation has been resolved, we see no reason to cancel it. As our guest, you are welcome to attend if you wish."
"But no pressure!" Vander said. "I understand it's a big deal, and you've had a rather long and busy day already. Nobody would blame you if you wanted to rest."
Vander and Silco bowed, then left.
Caitlyn took a few experimental steps forward, trying to get used to the feeling of the train of the dress dragging behind her.
It was dead weight, would catch on posts and loose door stops and anything else that protruded even slightly. How was anybody supposed to move in a clunky thing like this, let alone dance?
The idea of making a break for it crossed Caitlyn's mind. She had the dress. She looked like she belonged here now. Nobody would question her movement through the castle. She could walk right out the front door as long as she kept her poker face, keep the dress, and get all the way back to Zaun.
This was a nice dress. She could sell it for a pretty sum in Zaun.
Oh, but if she left now, she wouldn't get her bag or knives back, and she couldn't get guarantee that selling the dress would be enough to cover replacing her tools and still turn a profit from what was left over.
Plus, this had been Vi's mother's dress! Could Caitlyn really do that to Vi? Even if she was a no good Piltie ... Caitlyn loved her mother, too ... she couldn't imagine how upset she would be if someone took one of her mom's things, turned around, and sold it.
Even in Zaun, some things were just off-limits.
"You did WHAT!?" Powder's voice carried through the halls an impressive amount for a such a small little girl.
"It's no big deal, Powder," Vi said as she and Powder walked into the room. "It's just a dress. I can't wear it, you can't wear it, our dads can't wear it ..."
"It's a huge deal!" Powder said. "That was Mom's dress! And she's a -"
"What, Powder?" Vi asked, irritated. "A Zaunite? Like you and me?"
Powder glared at Vi. "I was going to say thief."
Powder turned and huffed and stomped away.
Vi buried her head into her hands, letting out a deep sigh.
"Trouble in paradiso?" Caitlyn remarked dryly, even though she felt horribly cruel for saying as much in such terms. She struggled to make friends or relate to the few she had. She didn't want to let that conversation pass unremarked. She wanted to engage with Vi and talk about what just happened, but she didn't have the vocabulary or the practice to do it in a way that wasn't couched in sarcasm.
"Yeah," Vi said. "I don't understand it. She's gotten upset, but never this badly before. She usually lets it go by now, but I don't get it. It's like there's something about you, specifically, that she really, really hates."
"Well, I am a thief," Caitlyn replied, "and she did find me trying to steal your books."
"Who steals a book!?" Vi asked.
"Someone who knows the value of things," Caitlyn replied with just a hint of ego.
Caitlyn tugged at the shoulder strap of her dress.
"If it makes you feel better, it is a nice dress," Caitlyn said.
Vi sighed, a little happier sounding than before.
"Yeah, it does, actually. Thanks." Vi ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out like she was trying to calm herself.
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. Would you be my date to the ball tonight?"
"Date?" Caitlyn asked. "We hardly know each other!"
Vi shrugged. "Lots of people go on blind dates."
"Are you sure you want me to be your date?" Caitlyn asked, doing a little sashay with her hips. "After all, I am just a common thief, and I'm sure a beautiful woman like yourself must have her choice of suitors."
Vi chuckled. "Actually, you'd be surprised. It's hard for me to get a date."
"Really?" Caitlyn asked, genuinely stunned. "But you're so handsome!"
Vi blushed. "I'm flattered you think so, but apparently a lot of people think I'm 'too intense'."
Caitlyn laughed. "Those people are cowards. They wouldn't last a day in the Undercity."
"I don't doubt that," Vi said. "But I think we're getting a little off-track. Will you come with me or not? I'd love to dance with you."
"I ..." Caitlyn crossed her hands over her chest, looking away.
"What?" Vi asked. "What is it?"
"I've ... never been to a ball before," Caitlyn admitted. "Or ... danced, really. How -" Caitlyn's confidence, in a rare occurrence, failed her, and her voice choked up and broke. "How does it work?"
Vi smiled softly, and warmly. So warmly that Caitlyn easily believed that she was Vander's daughter, even though she knew they weren't blood-related.
Vi held out her hand.
"Come on," Vi said. "There's a few hours before the ball starts. I'll teach you."
Caitlyn nervously stepped forward, taking Vi's hand, and she yelped as Vi stepped forward and pulled Caitlyn closer, placing her hands on Caitlyn's shoulder and hips as she adjusted Caitlyn into more of a dancing position.
"It's all about the rhythm," Vi said, pulling Caitlyn and spinning her around. "Working with your partner. Knowing what they're going to do."
"Okay," Caitlyn said, blushing and hating herself for it. Why did Vi have to be so hot? Why did her touch have to feel so good? Gentle, yet strong, full of affection and yet with an unspoken promise that she would protect whatever was in her hands?
"You're doing it," Vi assured her. "You're doing great, Cait. Just keep it up."
==
Night fell, and the ball begin.
As the guests began to arrive and fill in the two-tiered ballroom under the light of chandeliers and beneath railways, Caitlyn couldn't keep herself from taking this opportunity to take notice and make observations of the kinds of people Vander and Silco had invited.
Many of them looked like what Caitlyn expected of Piltovans. People with immaculate faces, even more immaculate makeup, dresses that ranged from enviable and slick to atrocious, badly-clashing outfits only tolerated because they had too much money and influence for any of their peers to be willing to tell them how ugly they were dressed.
But they were a few surprises as well. Caitlyn caught sight of at least one woman with an actual scar across her face. More than a few guests came wearing masks in the shapes of wolves or foxes or roosters, even though nobody had told Caitlyn was it meant to be a masquerade type of ball - and she only knew there was a difference because Vi had explained as much to her.
"There's so many people here," Caitlyn commented, watching from the corner.
"Not that many," Vi said. "I've seen more people than this just from the balls our Dads put on."
"This isn't that many?" Caitlyn asked. Why was her heart racing?
"Caitlyn?" Vi asked, picking up on Cailyn's distress. "Are you nervous?"
"I guess I must be," Caitlyn said. "In Zaun, you don't see this many people in one place unless it's a mugging or a shoot-out. Are we sure they're not carrying weapons?"
Vi nodded. "Pretty sure. There's a weapons check at the front door. Besides, they're probably not coming here armed for combat. Some of them might have small knives or daggers, but they're probably just to scare people off, not really meant for a fight. Not like those teeth you came here with. Seriously, I took a look at those babies while I was putting them, nearly cut my fingers just looking at them."
Caitlyn blushed again, pulling her hair in front of her face to try and hide it. Why was everything Vi saying making her cheeks heated?
"Seriously, what are you expecting to fight? Sharks?" Vi asked.
"You'd be surprised," Caitlyn said.
"You'll have to tell me about it sometime," Vi said. "For now, shall we dance?"
"Shall we?" Caitlyn asked. "Do we? Is that allowed right now?"
"Yes," Vi rolled her eyes, but in a charmed sort of way. "That's allowed. Plus, I'm basically the princess here. What I say goes."
Vi pulled Caitlyn along to the dance floor and there they did the same moves Vi had practiced with Caitlyn earlier.
As they danced, Caitlyn noticed Powder up on the balcony, staring down at them.
"What's your sister doing up there?" Caitlyn asked, growing concerned.
"Probably just people-watching," Vi said. "This kind of thing isn't really her cup of tea, you know?"
"She looks like she's up to something," Caitlyn said.
"Powder? Nah. Never."
"You learn to spot these sort of things in Zaun," Caitlyn said. "That is the face of a person who is up to something."
"You're being paranoid, Cupcake. This is Piltover, not Zaun. That's not how we do things up here."
"If you say so," Caitlyn said. "Wait, was that rope there before?"
Powder sat with her arms crossed, looking down at the lower floor as her sister danced with that thief. How irritating. How frustrating. What did Vi see in her that Powder didn't? Was it an adult thing? Would she 'understand when she was older'? - one of her least favorite phrases.
There were quiet footsteps, and Powder pursed her lips as Silco approached her. She knew how Silco moved. He could have kept quiet if he wanted to - he wanted her to know he was coming as a quiet of way asking permission to approach.
"May I join you?" Silco asked calmly.
"What do you want?" Powder asked.
Silco took that as close enough and sat down on the floor next to Powder.
"What are you doing up here?" Silco asked.
Powder looked at him, saw the sympathetic look in his eyes, then looked away as though she were being judged.
"You don't have to tell me," Silco said.
Powder sucked in a deep breath.
"I'm waiting for Caitlyn to get into the right spot," Powder said. "Then I'll pull this rope and dump a bunch of stuff on her."
"What sort of stuff?" Silco asked.
"Glue, goose feathers ..." Powder said.
"I see," Silco said, and he got up.
"You're not going to stop me?" Powder asked.
"No," Silco said. "This is your decision. If you are willing to live with the consequences, then by all means. However ... I would caution you that she is wearing your mother's dress. You'll ruin the dress if you do this. If you're content with that ... if your hatred of Caitlyn outweighs the memory of your mother, then continue."
Silco left.
Powder sat in her place, shaken by his words.
After a minute, she got up and left too.
"Oh, good, she's gone," Caitlyn muttered when she saw Powder leaving the room.
"Who is?" Vi asked.
"No one, no one," Caitlyn lied, not wanting to make Vi upset.
They kept dancing for awhile after that, until slowly, gradually, like a dam breaking or a drain plug being slowly unwound, Caitlyn's soft sobs began to pierce the air.
"Caitlyn?" Vi asked, stopping their dance and holding Caitlyn by the shoulders. "Caitlyn, what's wrong!?"
"I don't," Caitlyn blubbered, "I don't deserve this. I don't deserve to be at a fancy ball, wearing a nice dress, dancing with a beautiful woman. All my life, people have told me how pretty I am, but I never really felt it until I put on this dress."
"You do deserve it," Vi whispered gently.
"No!" Caitlyn stomped her foot, and now other ball-goers turned their attention to her tantrum, eager to have some drama to gossip over later with their rich friends.
"I don't!" Caitlyn said. "I'm a thief, Vi! I'm a rogue, a scoundrel, a cutthroat! I don't deserve to be here. There are people in Zaun, good people, who deserve to be here more than I do! And I'm here because, what, a beautiful woman found me and took pity on me? How can I be up here twirling my gown when I know there are people who - who ..."
"Hey," Vi said, now digging her fingers into Caitlyn's shoulders. "It's okay. I understand."
"No, you don't," Caitlyn said through tears. "How could you? When you've lived in this castle all your life?"
"You know what? You're right," Vi said. "I'm sorry. That was ignorant of me. I don't know what it's like. But I want to learn. I want to know." Vi took Caitlyn's hands. "I want you to teach me. And I want to help."
"Help?" Caitlyn asked. "How could you possibly help?"
"I don't know," Vi said. "But I hope you and I can figure it out together, okay? We'll try. We'll figure it out."
Caitlyn sniffled. "Okay."
"But for right now ..." Vi said, brushing away Caitlyn's tears with her fingertips. "Dance with me. Just dance with me. You don't have to forget it all completely. Just for tonight. Just for a few hours."
Caitlyn took a deep breath.
"Okay."
And they danced the night away.