Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mel Medarda has a rat. 

Her new home is spacious, with wide open windows and sweeping views of extremely coveted gardens. It’s still empty, lacking anything other than the most basic of furniture. There was still artwork to find and hang, her studio and study to fill, and endless other little details she has to deal with. It’s one of the finest estates in Piltover, possibly only seconds to House Kiramman’s, with expert craftsmanship shining in every facet. 

It’s not her home. She doubts Piltover will be her home in truth. It’s a fine enough city, she supposes. She would like the ideals of this city, the focus on progress and knowledge, if it had been her choice to be here. 

It wasn’t. 

But she was still a Medarda. Despite everything else she would prevail and would bend this city to suit her needs in time. She would take what she was given and turn it into something worthy of herself. 

But first; the rat. 

Mel had no servants or workers at the estate yet. It was one of the first things on her list but something that required time as she needed to vet any and all that would come into her home on a regular basis. For now she had a few services; one that delivering a set amount of food on a regular basis as she settled in or handled things like the upkeep of the outside of the house. She rarely there to need any food as her days were spent wining and dining with Piltover’s upper class but she liked having the option.

Yet the food was being eaten. 

At first she thought the service had forgotten a few items like a loaf of fresh bread or some fruits. It was never enough to warrant speaking to the service over. Just a few items here and there. 

Then she noticed that a jar of honey went missing. It was noticeable because she’d already opened it and used it just the morning before. Then it simply vanished by next time she reached for it. 

She kept careful track after that and sure enough; food was being taken. Over the course of two weeks she found a stable pattern; the oldest of the fruits and bread she hadn’t touched vanished whenever the service delivered more and every few days jams or other spreads vanished. Raw Meat was left alone but meat that was cured or otherwise prepared would disappear from the larder as regularly as the bread. 

She had a rat. A rather big one that was likely living somewhere on the estate and smart enough to not leave tracks by trying to cook anything in her kitchen. 

The thief has stolen nothing else from her; not a single piece of jewelry or artwork was moved an inch. There was no hint of anything out of place besides the missing food and she feels no lingering eyes on her, nothing to indicate a spy. She spends an afternoon searching the estate for evidence but it reveals nothing of interest. 

It’s almost an amusing challenge. 

It comes to her, late afternoon two months after she’s moved to Piltover. Her rat had to be close enough to know when she was gone but there was nothing to indicate they were inside the estate. There was, however, a small building on the grounds used landscaping that was currently mostly unused due to her not yet hiring a dedicated Groundskeeper. It was small, but perhaps big enough for a rat. 

She waits for evening. Perhaps she’s a bit foolish for searching for a thief unarmed and alone but in a strange way Mel has been sharing her home with this thief and they’ve been almost a pleasant houseguest. 

Mel is almost disappointed when the shed reveals nothing. There’s nothing but equipment that came with the estate. There’s a layer of dust on everything and spiderwebs lurking in every corner. 

But then she hears quiet voices whispering and ….giggling ? There was the faintest of lights coming from a corner under a large dirty tarp. 

Her footsteps are light as she approaches and she lifts the tarp with a swift hand. 

Two girls look up at her. 

It’s clear they’ve been camping there for a long while. Their little nest was made up of mix matched fabrics, old raggedy blankets and even a set of window curtains. The remains of the loaf of bread that had gone missing yesterday morning were carefully packed against the wall alongside the jar of honey.  

The older girl, who couldn’t be more than ten, had dirt smudges all over her small face. Her clothes were covered in dirt, worn and ripped and there were bandages wrapped around her hands. 

The younger girl, perhaps five, had a clean face but her clothes were in similar condition. In her arms was a stuffed rabbit. There’s was such a strong resemblance between the two, other than hair and eye color differences, that they had to be sisters. 

Immediately the older girl stumbled to place herself between Mel and the other girl, who hid behind her with a frightened squeak. Two sets of frightened eyes stared up at her. 

Mel slowly kneeled down and the older girl pushed the pair of them back. Her gray eyes flickered between Mel and the doorway she was currently in front of. She adjusted herself slightly, leaning over and the smaller girl looped her thin arms around her neck. 

“I wasn’t aware I had guests,” Mel says with as much warmth as she could. 

Neither of them said a word. 

“My name is Mel Medarda,” she continues. “ And you are?” 

The older girl looped her arms around her sister’s knees and Mel knew that if given the smallest chance she was going to try and run for it. Perhaps Mel should let her, as she certainly has no idea what to do here, but she dislikes that thought. Two young girls wouldn’t be hiding in a shed if they had a better place to be. 

Finally the girl says, “Vi.” Her gray eyes are so intense in her stare. Much too old for her small face. 

“Lovely to meet you, Vi.” Her smile is a perfect politician's smile, warm and welcoming. It didn’t affect Vi at all. “And who is that behind you?” 

When she tries to look at the younger girl she’s quick to bury her face into the back of Vi’s neck. 

Vi’s intense stare turns flintly. “None of your business.” 

Mel can’t help but laugh at her attitude, at the pure cheek of it. “Is that so? Since you two are apparently my guests, I do believe that it is my business.” 

She glares as harshly as someone four times her age. “We’re not your guests.” 

“No? I’ve been feeding and housing you, even if unknowingly.” Mel looks at the little hideout in all its rough comforts. “Though I’d be a poor host to let you keep staying out here.” 

“You gonna call the Enforcers?” 

Mel tilts her head. “No. Nothing you stole was of much importance. You’ve been well behaved guests, all things considered. I barely noticed you were here at all.” 

Vi glares at her. “You’re just going to let us go?” 

“I rather like having house guests. Though perhaps you two can actually stay in the house instead?” 

“Yeah right,” Vi stands, her little sister clenching to her back. “You’re going to get the Enforcers the second you turn around.” 

Mel stands as well. “Will I? Over food that would have rotted anyway? Come, you can eat and bathe. I certainly won’t mind, I’ve already been feeding you for almost a month.” 

“You knew?”

“Yes, though I wondered where you were for some time. It was an amusing little puzzle for me.” Mel steps back slowly. “Come then, I can’t handle being a poor host.” 

Vi stares at her, adjusting her sister slightly on her back. Mel isn’t sure what she’s looking for but she must find something agreeable because finally she nods. 

“Wonderful.” 

Mel isn’t sure what to do with her little rats. 

She’s surprised that she actually managed to get them inside, as untrusting as Vi clearly is. The other still unnamed girl refused to look at her and hasn’t spoken a word, peeking at her from behind her sister’s back when she thinks Mel isn’t looking. 

Vi, however, has the opposite problem. She doesn’t let Mel out of her sight and always places herself between Mel and her sister. The girl barely seemed to want to place her sister back on the ground but did after her arms started to shake. 

Mel had been around orphans enough to know that’s what the girls are. She can see it in how aged Vi seems, how she guards her little sister so closely and the pure distrust dripping from Vi. 

Back home orphans were fairly common and they had systems in place to deal with them. Orphaned children were often sent to group homes and most were then funneled into military service as soon as they were old enough. Not a gloriously system but they didn’t have to live on the streets. 

She isn’t aware of what Piltover does with its orphans. She’d have to figure that out and quickly. 

Mel sits a plate of cookies down in front of the girls. Normally she doesn’t eat sweets but the food service she hired tended to give her a wide variety of meals, including desserts. 

It’s enough for the little one to peek out, and after a cautious glance at her sister she reached forward with a quick hand for a cookie. 

Vi didn’t move to take one and kept staring. 

If Mel’s life had been different she might have been unnerved. As it was she smiled. “Am I allowed to know my other guests' names now?” 

Her little jaw clenched, “Powder.” 

“Vi and Powder,” Mel repeated. Strange names but she wasn't yet overly familiar with Piltover’s naming conventions so perhaps they weren’t strange at all. 

Powder lended slightly to the side so that Mel could see her, but the moment they locked eyes she hid. Shy little thing. Very cute, with her big blue eyes and childish chubby cheeks. 

“Why aren’t you going to call the Enforcers?” Vi was confused and angry. 

“What good would it do?” Mel picked up a cookie, more to have a casual appearance than an actual desire to eat sweets. “I’ve found the law enforcement here to be … overzealous.” 

Vi’s nose scrunched up. 

“They overdo it,” she explained. “ Not as much as my homeland in most matters but close. I’d rather not have them haul off two children whose only crime was taking food that was barely noticed.” 

“Homeland?” She asked cautiously. “What’s that mean?” 

“Noxus, where I was raised. I’ve only just moved to Piltover.” 

Vi’s little glare lessened. “So you aren’t a Piltie?” 

Mel hadn’t ever heard that word before. Sounded like an insult of some kind but towards what? 

“Would you mind explaining what a ‘Piltie’ is?” 

Her nose scrunched up again, and she huffed a little, “ Rich people from Top Side? You know, like, everybody in this part of town?” 

Ah, an insult towards the upper class. Now it makes sense why she'd never heard it before. 

“I am wealthy,” she admitted. She took a bite of a cookie and managed to share a smile with Powder before she hid again. “But, no, I don’t suppose I’m a ‘Piltie’ as you would say.” 

Vi lost some of her tension and nodded to herself a little. “That’s probably why you're being nice to us,” she says like she finally understands why Mel hasn’t thrown two children to the wolves. 

“Perhaps,” Mel agreed, more to set the girls at ease than actual agreement. 

She doesn’t have clothes that fit them. 

Mel’s wardrobe is full of dresses that leave men, and women, shunned. Hand crafted masterpieces that cost more than the average house with jewels embedded in the collar. Even her more casual wear is beautiful and elegant, more for aesthetic than being comfortable. 

But she can’t have them bathe and immediately get back into soiled clothing as it would defeat the purpose completely. 

Finally she finds a set of her training clothes. They’d still been in a box, unpacked and untouched since her arrival. Thus far she’s avoided even wearing that ever present ruby red. It reminds her too much of home.

The pants are going to be too long on Vi but she can roll them up enough that it shouldn’t be too bad. Powder, however, will have to make due with wearing the shirt as a dress. It’ll be big enough on her that it might as well be. 

Vi is still watching her weary when she shows them a spare bedroom. It’s as basic as could be as she hasn’t yet filled the less important rooms with curated furniture to suit her needs but it has a large bed and that seems enough for now. 

“Are you really letting us sleep, here?” 

Vi looks so young with the dirt cleaned off her face. The dark circles under her eyes are more pronounced now as well. 

“You’re my guests,” Mel waves a graceful hand at the room before her, “This is a guest room. Where else would I put you?” 

Powder, for the first time she’s seen, breaks away from Vi to throw herself on top of the bed. She struggles to crawl with one little arm wrapped around her stuffed bunny but she manages to borrow under the covers to form a little lump. 

Adorable. 

Mel smiles down at Vi. “We’ll figure everything out tomorrow, hm? For now, get some rest.” 

Chapter Text

Mel wakes with the sun. 

She doesn’t have set plans today, originally she’d been planning on popping in on some gatherings she’d been invited to, looking into hiring her own assistant or looking into various businesses to invest in. 

Instead she sits in a kitchen she barely knows what to do with and wonders what to do with two orphans. She’ll ask Vi if there was someone they could live with but she doubted that was the case. Either their family was dead and gone or they were horrible enough to warrant living in a shed instead. 

What did Piltover do with its orphans? Perhaps a group home of some sort? Piltover seemed to at least enjoy the idea of philanthropy so perhaps it was even a robust system. That the girls seemed to think Mel was just going to hand them off to the Enforcers instead of whatever Piltover had in place wasn’t a comforting thought. 

The idea of tossing them into the night simply wasn’t an option. She’s seen too many children suffer in war to let them go without making sure they’d be taken care of. 

So she sits in a rarely used kitchen and thinks about how to feed two young children. Mel wasn’t raised cooking her own meals as her Mother was too highly regarded for her to need too. But she doesn’t yet have a staff in her home to handle meals. 

She settles by bringing out some pastries and fruits. Mel doubted the children would much care— people driven to stealing food rarely do. 

When they creep into the kitchen Vi is of course at the forefront, holding Powder’s hand while she hides behind her, bunny in hand. 

Vi is a weary little thing but Mel finds herself impressed how protective and caring she is of her sister. She’s a child herself but has clearly thrown herself into her role with full force. 

She sits at the chair across the table from Mel, reaching over to drag the closest chair closer so that Powder can sit almost on top of her. Powder looks at the pastries with huge eyes and looks at her sister. 

Vi ruffles her hair, “Go head Pow.” 

The little girl doesn’t hesitate and takes one of the jam-filled pastries, humming happily. 

Mel taps on the edge of her cup of tea, watching as Vi watches her as she takes her own pastry. 

“So,” she says casually and carefully, “What does Piltover normally do with children such as yourself?” 

Vi wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, “I don’t know. Toss us in Stillwater maybe? Or back to Zaun.” 

Stillwater is Piltover’s primary prison and one that only houses dangerous criminals. Piltover, as she comes to understand it, only has three ways of dealing with crime; do nothing, harsh imprisonment or banishment. 

“What is Zaun?” 

Mel doesn’t believe she’s ever had anyone look at her with the expression that graces Vi’s face. She can read it perfectly, because it’s message is written loudly on every inch of her tried childish face; 

Are you a moron? 

“Zaun,” she says, exaggerating the word. “You know, the Undercity? The Lanes? Across the river?” 

The ‘Duh’ is heavily implied but Vi is at least tasteful enough to not say it, just taking another bite of her breakfast. 

Mel, in her two months in Piltover, has never heard anyone use the word Zaun to refer to the area of Piltover that rests on the other side of the river. Undercity, yes. Various negative comments, yes. But never Zaun. 

She’s too new to insert herself into the currently brewing issues related to the Undercity. It’s the current hot topic, thanks to the riots and strikes that have been happening for about six months. From what she’s picked up it’s the classic story of a class divide growing too wide and the impoverished trying to lessen that gap with whatever means necessary. 

“Forgive me,” she’s with just the slightest bit humor. “I am new to Piltover after all. I’ve simply never heard anyone call the area Zaun before.” 

“Hm, probably because you’re around Pilties,” Vi says around a mouth full of food. “They don’t like to call us Zaun because they hate us.” 

She says it so casually. Like this was a clear and honest fact like the sky is blue and grass is green. Vi is a child, not more than ten, and she’s apparently aware that there’s a section of the city that hates the other. Once again she uses the word ‘Piltie’ to refer to the upper class— but perhaps that divide isn’t purely based on class as she first assumed. Is it locational instead? 

“I see,” she lies. She really needs to better immerse herself into the workings of the whole city if she wants to reach her goals. That’s all in good time. 

“Then what does Zaun do in such cases then?” 

Vi frowns harshly. She takes a long moment to chew on her food, rather aggressively. “If you’re lucky people take you in,” she glares at the table and Mel sees tears in the corner of her eyes that Vi is quick to rub away. “But sometimes that doesn’t work out.” 

Powder, hearing the emotion in her sister’s voice, lends on her sister with almost headbutt type motion. Vi doesn’t mind, patting Powder’s head softly. 

“Is that why you found yourself here then? Instead of staying in Zaun I mean.” 

The girl sniffled and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “It was getting really dangerous and I— I didn’t think it was safe for Pow. Piltover has a lot of food so we snuck over here. And I didn’t know where else to go.” 

She didn’t doubt Zaun was dangerous. If even half the things she’s heard muttered under breath were true it was something of a lawless area. Enforcers couldn’t simply walk the streets, they had to engage only as strike teams in large groups, if it was safe enough. Muggings and other crimes were extremely common to the point the Enforcers rarely investigated, due to the dangers involved in simply being there to begin with. 

So, returning these children to Zaun wasn’t an option. 

But neither would she be able to turn them over to Piltover according to Vi. It was still the most viable option, as Vi could be mistaken on how Piltover’s social programs worked, but it might not work out either. 

Then what? She’d invited these children into her home— they were now, to a certain point, her responsibility. Mel never had a desire to have children as her own mother had long ruined the idea of it but what if there was truly nowhere else for these girls to go? 

Mel was not an easily frightened woman but she can at least admit to herself that the idea scared her. 

But she was getting ahead of herself.

Mel almost feels bad about leaving two children unattended in her home but rationalizes that they’ve been unattended everyday for at least a month and had been perfectly fine. Vi had given her a disbelieving look when she informed them that she’d be leaving after their breakfast but, well, the girls hadn’t done anything worth worrying over when she hadn’t known they were there; surely that wouldn’t change now. 

She can’t bring them with her. She’s a Medarda; she won’t simply walk through Piltover with two children in such a state. Instead she decides to go visit the Sheriff, as she’s unfamiliar with who else’s responsibility orphaned children could be. 

Grayson was the newest Sheriff of Piltover and one Mel has found herself liking whenever the two of them crossed paths at events. She was a steadfast woman who cared little for politics which could be a useful tool, in some cases. Caring little for politics didn’t mean she didn’t keep up with them though and Mel was granted a meeting with Grayson within minutes of walking into the Enforcers offices. 

“Lady Medarda,” Grayson doesn’t rise from her chair but bows her head in greeting and gestures to the chair in front of her desk. “What can I do for you?” 

Someone less wise than Mel might think Grayson was being disrespectful in not getting to her feet to greet her but Mel knew otherwise. Grayson walked a tightrope with her position and office and was subject to various nobles' whims and so she wouldn’t show her more respect than she’d yet earned. Disrespect was more than lack of respect. There was no offense intended, simply the fact she had yet to forge a relationship. 

That was perfectly fine as the Enforcer’s office was one that she didn’t have much care for. She didn’t intend to need their services in covering up crimes or other such things. 

“Thank you for meeting with me so quickly, Sheriff. I’m sure you’re quite busy so I’ll not waste your time.” She sits in the offered chair and smooths out her nonexistent wrinkles in her dress. 

“As you’re aware, I’m still new to Piltover and I’m afraid I’ve found myself in a situation I’m unsure how to deal with as I do not know how Piltover deals with such things.” 

Mel sighs and puts the smallest amount of humor in her voice, “Simply put; it would appear that a pair of orphans have taken up residence at my estate.” 

Grayson’s eyebrows shoot up and she lends back in her chair. “I will admit that wasn’t what I expected.” 

A weary smile graced her lips, “Neither was I.” 

The Sheriff hums for a moment. “Piltover doesn’t exactly have a set rule book for these situations. Normally it’s assumed their House will pick up the slack and in cases that isn’t possible they’re given to an orphanage, there’s a couple of them, but…” 

She sighs grumbfully, “They’re more cog grabs than anything to be truthful with you. They’re rather easy to get kicked out of— you’re sure they have no one else that could take them in?” 

Mel shook her head. “No. They’re from Zaun so I suspect —“ 

“Zaun?” Grayson stopped her with a heavy frown. “Did they tell you that?” 

She cautiously nodded.

Grayson’s demeanor seemed to sag, her whole body sinking on herself. “Lady Medarda, there isn’t an orphanage or House in this city that is going to take those children in.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I’m sure that you’ve come to know that there is a divide between Piltover and the undercity but what most foreigners to this city do not understand is how strong that divide is.” 

Grayson nodded to her wall, where a large map of Piltover was hung. Mel has seen similar maps at various homes and estates, though Grayson’s continued farther across the river than most. 

“The undercity isn’t just a lawless neighborhood like you’d find in any city, Lady Medarda. It’s a completely different culture than Piltover, different values and laws. They have different leadership, even if it’s one the council will never recognize. No one in Piltover, proper Piltover, is going to take in a pair of zaunite orphans. You’d have an easier time getting a Demacian to have a dinner party with a couple of Noxians. No offense.” 

“Surely it’s not that extreme,” Mel says. 

The idea that the split is that harsh is almost unbelievable . They weren’t talking about two cities close together here; the area known as the Undercity was just across a bridge from the bulk of Piltover. 

There were always class tensions in cities as it was simply the nature of society. But if she understood Grayson correctly Piltover wasn’t dealing with just class tensions, it was also cultural. Which was also normal to an extent. 

But mixing these two things together: close proximity of two different cultures, one of which was oppressed by the other in a wide class divide….. 

Grayson shook her head. “It is exactly that extreme. Normally I would tell you to try and connect with someone in Zaun as it would be your best bet but that’s simply not possible right now.” 

“Because of the riots.” 

“Because of the riots.” The older woman leaned back in her chair. “It’ll be months before the Undercity calms down enough for you to head down there to find someone to take kids in. It’s a complete mess.” 

Mel breathed in deep. “Any suggestions, Sheriff?” 

“None that will actually help you, no. I do wish you luck, though, Lady Medarda.”

Mel has found a delightful little restaurant not far from her estate that she enjoys having lunch at. 

It’s not a grand and luxurious place but is high quality, which she appreciates far more. She’s now been here enough that they sit her almost immediately at a table off to the side that’s secluded and quiet. 

Once again she’s struck by the thought that the girls are home alone while she’s here, but reassures herself that they’ll be fine. 

She needs time to think. 

Mel knew it was a long shot that the Sheriff would have an easy solution but she hadn’t expected to learn just how tight of a situation she was in or that Piltover had a much more complicated social landscape than she’d expected. It’s good that she learned it now but this will affect her plans. Ignoring these kinds of things only led to larger revolutions and unsustainably. 

But the more immediate problem was the girls. 

She could not send them back to the Undercity if she even wanted to because of how unstable it was but no one on this side of the river would take them either ; there was nowhere for them to go. 

It’s the first time that she’s been in Piltover where she thinks, in some ways, it’s more brutal than Noxus. 

Noxus has inner feuds, between different Houses Clans, or individual generals, but she struggles with the idea that children wouldn’t be taken in simply because of which side of a city they were born in. Yes, those children would be expected to join the army of the House they’d ended up in but they’d at least be taken care of and could rise through the ranks if they proved themselves, even start their own Houses if they were exceptionally skilled. 

But these children were denied everything simply because of the place of their birth. At best it was a waste and at worst it was an undeserved  punishment of the highest tragedy. 

A tragedy that Mel was responsible for now. 

Perhaps when the Undercity calms down she’ll be able to entrust them to someone from their home. Until then it would appear that she’d have to care for them herself. 

Chapter Text

Vi is on edge. 

She’s trying to keep that to herself because Powder is right there but it’s really hard. Everytime she hears a sound in this massive house she’s afraid that it’s the Enforcers here to drag them back to Zaun or Stillwater or maybe just shoot them outright. 

Mel seemed nice if not weirdly generous for a person living with Pilties but Vi knows better. She’s not an idiot; people that seem nice, even people you’ve known for your whole lives, might not be so nice forever. Mel might have decided the second she left that she didn’t want two swamp rats in her shiny Piltie house. 

But she has to admit that it’s nice to see Powder so happy. She’s been humming a lot ever since they’d eaten breakfast and even went on one of her little rambling rants about one of her toys. She’d only recently started talking again so Vi tries to encourage her as much as possible. 

Powder’s messing around with one of her toys as happy as can be. Vi hadn’t been able to take a lot when they’d left but she made sure to bring as many of Powder’s toys as possible. Her sister got really attached to certain things and she hadn’t wanted to make it harder for her. 

Vi is too scared to leave her alone in the house by herself. Leaving her in the shed had been scary but at least then no one knew she was there. Powder knew not to leave, even if she always cried when Vi left her. 

But what if Mel called the Enforcers while Vi was gone? 

She needs to go and scrounge. Even though she’s been saving every cog she’d managed to find or earn, it’s not nearly enough for anything real. It’s been enough to keep them warm with thrown out blankets and keep Powder entertained with broken toys but nothing more. 

They’d need even more cogs now that they’d need to find food somewhere else.  

“Vi?” 

Powder looks up at her with wide eyes. She’s taken apart some broken toy Vi had found and was playing with its tiny gears but abandoned it to grab at her instead. 

She put on a smile, “What’s up Pow-Pow?”

Her sister looks at her, then the door to the room Mel had put them in last night, then back to Vi. Her lip wobbles a little bit before she sniffles. 

“I’m not leaving,” she says and ruffles Powder’s hair. “I’m hanging out with you today! Come on, tell me what crazy story you have going on.” 

Powder lights up and grabs one of the few toys she hasn't completely stripped down to its bare parts. “His name is Zapper!” 

Vi listens closely to Powder’s rambling explanation of her toy and hopes. 

Mel returns in the late afternoon with a soft knock to the door. 

Powder immediately sticks to her back, exactly how Vi taught her too. If they need to leave suddenly Powder can jump up on her back really quick, they’ve practiced a ton of times, and Vi’s gotten really good at running with her. 

But Mel hasn’t returned with anyone else. It’s a little bit of a relief that there’s no Enforcers at her back but the sight of her still puts Vi on edge. Surely she’ll now ask for cogs in repayment for all the food they stole and for being allowed to sleep in that massive soft bed. Or maybe make them work for her in the mines or a workshop or whatever business she owned. 

Her mom used to say she’d never work in the mines like she did. She always used to tease her that Vi was going to be so good at boxing one day that she’d buy her mom a huge house by the river and never ever have to step foot in a mine. 

But she’s gone and Vi is willing to work in the mines if it means Powder gets to eat. 

Mel sits on the edge of bed with that weird empty Piltie smile she does sometimes and Vi watches her every movement. 

“How was your day?” She asks. 

Vi doesn’t really know what to do with that. What a weird thing to ask. “Fine?” 

“I’m glad.” She looks behind Vi where her sister was, “And you, Powder?” 

Vi frowns and reaches behind her to wrap an arm around Powder, who’d hid her head into Vi’s back at the acknowledgment of her presence. “Powder doesn’t like talking to strangers.” 

“Ah, I understand.” Mel crossed her ankles, all fancy and topside like. She cleared her throat, “ I’ve spoken with an associate of mine about your situation and it appears,” she sighed softly, “that you were right about Piltover’s lack of solutions.” 

She doesn’t know half the words that the woman said but thinks she understands. “You mean them just throwing us back to the Lanes? ” 

“Yes. And from what I gather the situation there is…. Unstable.” 

Vi thinks of the past six months. How they’d started eating stew more often and how it slowly less and less thick until it almost broth. How her mom started saying she wasn’t hungry when she got home, even though Vi knew she was. 

She thinks of how they’d started to spend more time at Vander’s bar. Her and Powder would play with the other miners' kids while their parents talked and talked. Vi would always be the last kid up as the adults whispered arguments about Pilties, cogs and food. 

Then her mom and a lot of other mines died and it got so much worse. Enforcers walking the Lanes, gangs fighting over food, and everyone just being so so angry. Vi refused to think more about it. It was too scary and she needed to be brave for Powder.

“Yeah,” Vi grumbles. “I guess.” 

Mel’s weird fake smile turned into something realer, more sad. “Vi, I have to ask; do you have anyone in Zaun that would take you in?” 

Powder pressed her face harder into her back, her version of trying to give comfort. She is still too little to understand all of what happened but she knows they left Zaun for a reason and that it makes Vi sad. 

“No,” Vi said truthfully. 

(He promised and Vi had been stupid enough to believe him.) 

Mel sighs softly. “I expected as much. I can’t in good conscience send you back there alone yet it appears that Piltover doesn’t have a suitable solution either.” 

“You can just let us go,” Vi suggests. “I can handle it on my own.” 

The woman looks at her for a second. “You’ve done an admittedly good job of taking care of yourself and your sister, Vi. Truly. But perhaps we can come up with a better solution?”

“What do you got? Mines? Workshops?” Vi glances around the fancy room. “You gotta have something to afford this place.” 

Mel looks confused and Vi thinks that is probably a rare feeling for her. “What do you mean?” 

“What do you want me to work in?” 

The older woman softens and it honestly weirds Vi out and makes her palms sweat. It reminds her of his face on the bridge and she hates to be reminded of him. 

“I was more thinking that I could take you both on as wards,” Mel says. 

Vi frowns and makes sure her grip on Powder wasn’t too tight. “What’s that mean?” 

Mel patted the bed next to her, inviting Vi to sit. So far Vi hadn’t seen anything violent about the woman but she hadn’t wanted to be within arms reach of her just in case. But if Mel is offering her some kind of job she’d need to keep her happy. 

She pushes Powder’s head a little bit and when her sister backs off she nods at Powder’s discarded toys. It takes a couple seconds for Powder to step back and go back to her gears. 

Vi sits on the farthest edge of the bed from Mel, tense and on edge. 

“A ward,” Mel says, “Is someone taken in by a House. It means that I would be responsible for you and your sister.” 

Vi’s nose scratches up. She's learned better than to believe people just take in kids like them. If that’s true in Zaun then it’s gotta be true in Piltover. Hopefully whatever Mel wanted her to do was less dangerous than what she’d been doing back home before they’d ran away. If it wasn’t they’d have to do it all over again. 

“Look, I’ll do whatever,” Vi says. She’s trying to be respectful like her mom used to tell her to be but it’s always been hard. “But I need to be able to watch Pow, she’s too little to leave for a long time.” 

“How old are you?”

What a weird question. She answers honestly, because she might be able to get a job here, “I turn ten in a couple of weeks.” 

Mel looks at her again in that way she hates. “I’m not going to give a nine year old child a job, Vi. You’re much too young.” 

She throws her hands up, “I’m twelve then! I’ll be your ward or whatever, but Powder is too small—“ 

“Becoming my ward isn’t a job offer,” Mel interrupted. “If you agree I’d find you tutors and hopefully eventually place you in schooling. There will be no mines or workshops for you or for Powder.”  

School? Undercity kids didn’t go to school. That was a Piltie thing. The idea of going to some place all day to learn how to read was weird and stupid to her. Her mom used to sit Vi down and draw letters in the dirt so she could learn to read, and that was more than most kids of Miners got. 

“Why?” Vi hated when people didn’t just say what they meant or wanted, “Because you really expect me to believe that you’re just going to take us in and pay for school and food? What are you getting out of this?” 

Mel sighs but straightens her spine. “ I’ve seen my share of war orphans in my homeland, Vi, but it’s only now that I would be able to do anything if the opportunity arose. I won’t stand aside if I am able to help.” 

Guilt. Vi could see it in her eyes, recognizing it from the pitying eyes of some Pilties when they saw her dig into their trash cans. 

“But what are you getting?” Vi pressed. “There’s always some kind of payback. I just want to know what it is.” 

Mel looked at her and then Powder, who was playing with a couple of gears by Vi’s feet. 

“I won’t lie to you,” she said after a few moments. “There are some expectations for wards of my House but I think you’ll find them relatively minor compared to what you’re clearly expecting. Good behavior, appearances at various functions, the expectation of joining the House once you’re of age; that’s what I’m getting.” 

Mel looks at her, her gold eyes soft, “That’s all.” 

Vi didn’t believe her. Not for a moment, not for a second. That was just too little for what the woman was asking for. The cost of their food alone… 

But what choice did she have? She had no cogs, she had no job. They could run away again but it had taken a full week of sleeping on the street to find a good place like the shed. It was unlikely that she’d be able to find such a perfect place like they had here with a safe place to sleep right next to food. 

Vi refused to return to Zaun if she could ever help it. Even if the Enforcers tried to make her go back. It wasn’t safe for Powder and the thought of seeing Vander again… 

“Fine,” Vi agreed. She knew it would end up bad at some point but it was better than that. 

Anything was better than that.

Mel takes the evening to plan. 

There was going to have to be a pause in her long term plans while she dealt with this. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. 

The first thing she did was make a mental list of everything she needed to get done immediately. 

The girls would need to see a doctor, to make sure there were no unknown health issues that needed tending too. Wardrobes needed to be ordered for the pair of them. Tutors needed to be hired, Powder was young enough for it to not be a real issue but Vi would need to be caught up before she could enroll in any kind of academy. 

Toys for Powder, as she couldn’t simply allow her to play with mechanical bits and pieces. She’d have to ask Vi if there were any hobbies she enjoyed as well. Furniture needed to be fully sorted for their bedrooms but perhaps she should remodel the rooms beforehand? It would certainly make them more comfortable. 

The ever present need to fully staff her estate was now even more important. Mel would be here more now than ever and busy trying to settle the girls; it would be easier if she didn’t have to deal with basic needs of the estate while she did it. 

She needs an assistant.

Elora is Noxian, which Mel approves of. 

Before the girls she’d been thinking of hiring someone from Piltover, someone that would be able to provide her with some insight into the local culture. Mel could learn much on her own but lived experience like that was priceless. 

But if the divide of Undercity and Uppercity was so strong that no House or orphanage would even think of taking in a pair of orphans from across the river; the bias is baked into the culture. It would have been hard to judge such bias in an individual in a short time. It would have taken much too long and Mel simply wasn’t willing to take that large of a chance with her right hand. 

Elora is professional and clever, yet soft spoken. She has something of a sweetness in her aura that Mel likes. She’s been living in Piltover for a few years now and comes highly recommended by her past employers. By the end of her interview Mel knows exactly how she ended up in Piltover, simply by the way she speaks. She’s got too much of a soft heart for Noxus. 

Like recognized Like and all that. 

Maybe Mel shouldn’t have a right hand with a similar problem as herself but she had wards now. Elora was to be her right hand, her adviser, and that meant she would be interacting with them more than any other member of her staff. 

Whatever happened to land them on Mel’s estate warranted some softness.

Vi is still weary but it’s only been three days. 

Mel tries to eat meals with them whenever she can, but it’s been a storm of activity. Hiring Elora helped, as she’d been able to point Mel in the right directions for the various services she needed and make appointments for her. 

Powder still hasn’t spoken directly to Mel but she has made direct eye contact without the little girl hiding behind her sister so overall she feels like there is progress. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Vi, are there hobbies that you’re interested in?” 

Vi’s expression stays weary like she thinks Mel is going to snatch the food off her plate if she answers wrong. “Like, stuff I like to do?” 

“Yes,” Mel answers. “I thought you’d like to do something besides meeting with your tutors once you begin your lessons.” 

She knows immediately that Vi has something because she turns away and looks down at her plate. “It’s fine, I’ll need to watch Powder anyway.” 

“She’ll be in her own lessons as well and hopefully when she’s a bit older have her own hobbies to enjoy,” she says. 

Trying to argue that Vi didn’t need to watch Powder wouldn’t go over well. The girl gets angry and defensive at the mere idea of her not being solely responsible for her sister. She’s protective, with good reason, so Mel has found the quickest way to make Vi take care of herself was to frame it as being somehow good for Powder. 

Vi glares down at her plate, “I liked boxing but—“ she cuts herself off and takes an aggressive bite of the roasted chicken on her plate. 

Mel doesn’t push. Vi has an anger inside of her about things in her past that pops up every once in a while. It’s an anger born of pain but beyond that, it’s a mystery. 

“If it’s something that truly interests you I can find you a teacher,” Mel offers. 

She doesn’t love the idea of training her wards in such things but she’s aware that it's more because of her own bad memories than it being a bad idea. If Vi is to be a real ward of her House she’d have to have some training. 

Vi shakes her head harshly. “I don’t want to box anymore.” 

“There are other disciplines out there,” she says. “Perhaps we can try and find you a new one?” 

She’s quiet for a little bit and Powder takes the pause to start humming a little as she plays with some gears. The younger girl had eaten quickly, too quickly in truth, but stayed at the table with her sister. Despite the new toys Mel had got her, Powder seemed to enjoy gears and other mechanical pieces more than any toy other than her bunny. 

“Ok,” Vi said. She reached over to pat Powder’s head, “I’ll do that.” 

Chapter Text

In her late teens Mel had wondered; when does a woman become a mother? 

Is it the moment the child is conceived? The moment the expecting Mother becomes aware that she’s growing a child? Is it during those nine months at some random moment? Perhaps it’s the first time she holds her child in her arms, fresh from the battlefield of birth. Or perhaps it’s even later, when the babe recognizes her as its mother all on its own. 

Mel had pondered this for many reasons. Her own mother was a General of such high esteem that for large parts of her childhood she’d only heard from her from letters. Her brother Kino had more of a parental figure to her in her early childhood than her mother. It had been him that told her stories, that took her to festivals and congratulated her on her accomplishments. 

When did Ambessa Medarda become her mother? 

It had felt like a sudden revelation that General Medarda was her mother back during the first time she’d gone with her on a campaign. It had been a rush, a heart pounding moment of pride to suddenly have all her attention in the flesh. Mel had only been thirteen, young and still innocent of the realities of war. 

For Mel herself it was a mere coincidence that it took nine months for her to become a mother. 

Vi doesn’t want lessons but Mel will not budge. 

Vi and Powder are now wards of her House; they’re actions and deeds reflected onto her. What would it say to Piltover that Mel took in orphans and neglected their studies? More importantly, how would it make Mel feel about herself ? 

Mel had waited, of course, to even start looking for tutors. The days had passed, quickly and busy. Elora proved to be a massive help, helping her choose the various services that her estate would need, what she knew of the upper circles and most importantly of all; whom in those upper circles that would be the most likely to be of similar persuasion. 

It seemed like she blinked and suddenly Vi and Powder had been living with her for two weeks. Or rather, been living in her guest room for two weeks. She hadn’t wanted to delay any longer; Vi no doubt had much to catch up on. 

“I don’t want to do lessons,” Vi muttered bitterly. “What’s the point?” 

“Learning is how we grow,” Mel says. She’s not too sure why Vi is so against the idea. She’s fairly sure it has to do with Powder but only because most things are connected to her somehow with Vi. 

“I can read and do math, what else even is there?” 

“History, geography, science, more in-depth teachings of both reading and math, just to name a few,” she says with some humor. Vi tends to take things much better when she thinks she isn’t getting lectured. It was a delicate balance though. Too much humor and she thinks Mel is laughing at her. 

“Can’t I just get a job?” Vi asks for about the tenth time. 

“Learning is your job.” 

“It’s not a job if you’re not getting paid.” 

Hm. She has Mel there. 

“How about this,” she proposes, “ You attend the lessons and I’ll give you an allowance based on how well you do.” 

For the first time since Mel brought Vi into her study to speak with her, Vi looks interested. “How many cogs?” 

“For now, twenty a week. I’ll ask for biweekly updates and if they inform me that you’re working diligently, I’ll raise the amount.” 

Vi bites at her lip, “And it’s mine? You won’t try and tell me what to spend it on or anything?” 

“Completely yours from the moment I place it into your hands.” 

She’s wanting to say yes but is holding back. 

“What about Powder?” The expected question comes. “You said she was still too little to take lessons.” 

“She is. I was going to hire someone to watch her while—“ 

At once all the interest is gone. “No way. No stranger is watching Powder.” 

Mel holds back a sigh. “I understand that you’re protective of your sister Vi, but I promise it will be safe. She’ll even be here at the estate, just in a different area.” 

“I don’t care!” Vi has that hard look in her gray eyes— pure steel and unwilling to budge. “Pow doesn’t like strangers. She’s— she’s sensitive! She’ll freak out and people always get mad at her but she can’t help it. No strangers.” 

She has to admit ; Vi might have a point. She had first thought of Powder as the usual shy girl. According to Vi she’d just turned five a few weeks ago and while Mel doesn’t have too much experience with young children she did know that some were shyer than others. 

But it did seem to go beyond that. Powder still spoke only to Vi, even then rarely in Mel’s presence. Mel had heard her scream quite loudly during the night, Vi reassuring her that it was just a nightmare. The girl was strangely picky about seemingly random things including; throwing up if she ate rice, certain textures and the position of her things. 

Vi was a protector through and through. Too much at times. But that didn’t mean she didn’t know her sister better than Mel did. 

“No strangers,” Mel agreed. “But I will not allow you to fall behind because of your sister, Vi. Neither you or her deserve that.” 

She taps her finger on her desk, thinking it over. She could simply wait to start Vi’s lessons but she greatly disliked the idea. From what she’s seen Vi can read and do some math but neither came very easy to her. Reading especially seems hard for her. The girl doesn’t seem to have much schooling beyond that. 

“How about this; I will watch Powder in the mornings while you attend your lessons. She can accompany you in the afternoons, provided she behaves.” 

Vi’s jaw clenches. Mel can tell that she doesn’t like the idea at all. The girl might have agreed to become her ward but that doesn’t mean she trusts her- not yet. 

Poor thing. Not even a decade old and less trusting than a noxian. 

“Twenty-Five cogs a week and you stay within shouting distance,” Vi eventually says.

Mel smiles and holds out her hand to the disgruntled girl, “You have yourself a deal.” 

It made Vi feel better that the room set aside for her lessons is close to Mel’s study so it’s well within shouting distance, as demanded. It’s one of the larger studies of her new home but its window view of the gardens was why she’d chosen it as her main work area at home.

She has her furniture moved around. Her desk now sits parallel to the window instead of against it so there’s a larger area to work with. The large coffee table and its chairs are removed as Mel rarely has guests in her office and none that warrant a more intimate sitting area. She brings in a small chair and desk that match Powder’s height, a soft rug where she can play with her toys and cushioned loveseat, all of which is arranged in a small square area opposite of Mel’s desk. 

Mel remembers that Powder enjoys music so she brought in a record player, even if Mel herself doesn’t truly enjoy music while she’s trying to concentrate. 

When Vi starts her lessons it fills the house with tension. 

Powder doesn’t cry, the reassurance that Vi is still at the estate is enough to keep her from lashing out, but she’s clearly uneasy with being with Mel alone. Despite allowing her to bring in her toys to the office she hides herself in the loveseat the entire morning. 

It hurts to see her hide. Not because she expects the young girl to trust her, she expected it, but that such a little girl is so scared. The tiny amount of trust that Mel has managed to gain the past two weeks only extends if Vi is there. Without her sister, Powder seems to assume the worst. 

When Vi’s lessons break for lunch the girl rushes to Mel’s office. The second she’s in the doorway, Mel has kept it open for Vi’s peace of mind, Powder jumps up to hug her sister tight. 

“How were your lessons?” Mel keeps her voice casually interested and keeps her eyes on the papers in front of her, letting the sisters hug out their fears. Drawing attention to their fears would only make them seem warranted. 

“Dumb and boring,” Vi grumbled. 

Mel lifts her eyes at that, a smile on her lips, “Ah, the refrain of all students before you. We’ll make a scholar of you yet!” 

It takes three days but Powder begins to play with her toys in the mornings. 

She’s quite still. Everytime she drops one of her gears on the stone floor instead of the rug she freezes for a moment and always looks in Mel’s direction with big blue eyes. 

Mel keeps her own eyes on her paperwork. It’s easy to do as there’s a lot of it. Most of it is various business summaries brought together by Elora so Mel could expand her reach into different markets. She was starting to receive offers for investment opportunities from businesses but most were still the rather desperate ones that she’d be foolish to accept. 

It’s nice to have company, even if Powder was still rather fearful. Each day when Vi appears at lunch time she’s less frantic, spends less time looking Powder over, and relaxes quicker.

A week later Mel watches Powder play. 

She hadn’t meant to pause in her work but Powder had started humming, which Mel was pleased by, and she’d quickly gotten distracted. 

Powder doesn’t play with toys in any way familiar to Mel. She has foggy memories of Kino and her playing with toy swords and dolls. Puzzles were frequently sent to them by their mother, games too. 

Powder takes anything mechanical apart as quickly as she can. Stuffed animals were ignored, besides her bunny. She then organized the tiny mechanical pieces, often multiple times. Wires, gears, cogs, and a dozen other little pieces Mel has no name for are placed in piles. From there Powder likes to try and piece gears and other pieces together. 

She hasn’t made anything— the most she’s accomplished was a strange web of gears that managed to turn despite all the different sized gears. Mel can afford to buy more toys for her to destroy but perhaps she can find something better for her interests. 

“I’m looking for something…” Mel pauses, her fingers tapping. “For a child that loves to make things.” 

The shop employee has wide eyes. Mel is sure it’s because of her but not sure what part of her. It’s either her beauty or her name. Perhaps both. 

“Well,” the young woman clears her throat, “ How old is the child? Depending on their age we have Tinker Toys or Mega Logs..” 

Mel looks at the different toy sets before her. Most were variations of very similar components; A few rods that fit into holed ends. Some were flexible, some had different sizes or shapes. 

None had gears and gears were what Powder loved to play with the most. 

“Is there something similar to these with gears?” 

“Oh, well,” here the saleswoman hesitated. “We do have an in-house set that incorporates gears but I’m afraid it’s not quite as flushed out as these sets. It’s still in a trial phase as we seek investors for it.” 

The saleswoman brings her to where there’s a small model set up. Unlike the other sets that consisted only of sticks and joints, this one involves blocks that lock together. There’s gears of various sizes and mechanisms, including wheels and chains. The model on display is a mining cart with functional wheels. 

It’s perfect, the only problem she sees is that the pieces are quite small and she isn’t sure Powder has the fine motor skills to use such small pieces but perhaps she can grow into it. The girl certainly doesn’t seem to have a problem with the pieces she gets from her toys. 

“I believe you were looking for investors?” 

The blocks are a massive success as young Powder is immediately obsessed with them. 

The toy store had practically thrown their inventory at her when she expressed interest in investing with them. Apparently the blocks themselves were somewhat established but they’d been having a hard time finding anyone willing to invest in the newer more mechanical add ons, due to the idea that they were too advanced for children. 

And perhaps they were too advanced for some children. Certainly not for Powder. 

Vi appears in the doorway for lunch and for the first time Powder doesn’t immediately rush at her. Instead she looks at her sister with wide excited eyes, “Vi come look!” 

Vi hesitates for a second, looking at Mel who continues to read the investment portfolio the toy shop gave her. Usually the girls leave her office immediately to have lunch. They don’t linger. 

“What’s up Pow-Pow?” 

Powder holds up the block sculpture she’s been working on for the morning. Mel has watched her here and there as she built it and has found herself impressed. It’s nothing like the massive and intricate designs in the toy store but with only a few hours under her belt Powder has made something that somewhat resembles a person with gears that allow his arms to swing around in a circle. 

“His name is Rocky,” Powder says louder and more excited than Mel has ever heard. “Look, his arms can move and—“ 

Mel doesn’t bother to read the rest of the portfolio. The smiles on both the girls' faces are more than enough to justify the investment.

Mel doesn’t have a temper. 

Anger is a powerful emotion, but one that often causes more damage than good deeds. It makes a person rash, easily manipulated, and generally foolish. A good warrior knows to temper their anger, use it in ways that won’t burn them. 

But when Mel feels the anger in her gut now, she doesn’t purge it. She lets it simmer. 

“And what, exactly, do you mean by that sir?” 

Vi has three different tutors at the moment. One for reading, one for math and one for her general education. She’s already met with her math and general education tutors, who had mostly positive feedback about Vi’s progress. It was mostly what she expected; the girl had a bit of an attitude and got frustrated at times but worked hard. 

Her reading tutor felt differently. 

The man was older but came well recommended by different Houses. He’d been teaching the children of Piltover wealthiest families for two generations and with great success. Before his last sentence, she’d known his name. He lost that privilege and his job with her household but he hasn’t quite recognized that yet. 

“I’m sorry, my Lady, but I simply want you to have sensible goals,” the fool says. “The girl likely won’t ever be able to read properly because of the environment she was born into. It’s a known fact that those born in the Undercity simply can’t read as well as the children of Piltover.” 

Mel’s anger wants her to point out that being born only a dozen or so miles away from where they’re sitting couldn’t have affected Vi’s ability to read more than, say, Mel’s who was born hundreds of miles away. 

“What difficulties is she experiencing?” 

He gives a long exasperated sigh, “The average nonsense I’m afraid. She continuously misspells even the simplest of words, confuses her letters, and can’t seem to grasp how to sound out a word. She’s hopeless.” 

“Is she?” Mel’s voice is pleasant but not kind. “I was told that you were the best at what you do, so if you tell me a young girl is hopeless, well, who am I to argue?” 

Her smile is sharp, “The thing is, sir, it would appear that you’re the only one of her tutors that feels that way. The others expressed that she had difficulties but more than enough willingness to work hard to overcome them. So perhaps it’s not the fact she was born less than twenty miles from that is the problem.” 

“Perhaps,” her smile drops, and her voice is colder than the freljord, “It’s your complete lack of compassion and unwillingness to work with a young child who you believe is beneath you simply because she wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth.” 

“Now, please get off my estate before I have you removed.”

Vi isn’t looking forward to meeting with Mel.

Her lessons are hard. They always had been. Even back when it had been her mom doing her lessons and she’d known that she wouldn’t judge her or be mad that it took so long for her to get stuff.  

The letters look so similar to each other and Vi had such a hard time sounding out words no matter how many times it was explained to her. Even when she managed to read she couldn’t spell the words, as she threw in letters that weren’t there. 

The agreement hadn’t included lowering her wage if Vi did poorly but that didn’t mean anything. If there was one thing Vi learned when she listened to her mom’s meetings at the Last Drop it was agreements with the people that pay you meant nothing; if they wanted to pay you less, they would find a way. 

“As you know I spoke with your tutors today,” Mel says. 

Vi grumpily nods. 

She’d been hoping that she could pass her lessons for long enough to save up some cogs for when Mel gets tired of them. Fifty cogs, if Mel doesn’t short change her today, isn’t much at all. It would fed her and Powder for a bit though. 

“I’ll be helping you with your reading until I can find another tutor,” Mel continues. “Elora believes it shouldn’t take more than a few days.” 

Vi stares.

She’s getting a new reading tutor? Already? The guy she had was an asshole, her mom would have approved of the curse word towards him if she ever met him, and tried to make her feel stupid all the time. Last time she saw him he’d said he’d be telling Mel that it was a foolish idea to teach ‘Undercity delinquents’ how to read in the first place. 

“What happened to the last guy?” 

Mel looks up from her paperwork, “We had a difference of opinion, mainly that I didn’t agree with how he spoke of the undercity.” 

“Oh,” Vi says in surprise. 

She doesn’t really know what to say. Mel has been nice. Real nice. She’s given Powder really cool toys, they have new clothes and they could go down to the kitchen for food whenever they wanted. But Vi still can’t believe that Mel would fire some fancy tutor because he was a bit of an asshole. 

The older woman looks at her for a moment, then lays down her pen. “Listen, Vi. I understand why you didn’t come to me about this; you still don’t trust me or perhaps you even though it wasn’t something I would care about. But you are a ward of my House. An insult towards you is an insult towards House Medarda.” 

Oh. 

Oh. 

If Vi was being completely honest, she hadn’t really understood what a ward even was. She didn’t get it; Mel hadn’t taken her in all the way but she wasn’t a worker either. Even though Mel was paying her, Vi was learning, not working in a mine or workshop or whatever. And really, what even was being a part of a House? A house was a house? 

But now she got it! 

“I’m with your gang,” Vi says, pleased to finally understand. “Why didn’t you just say that?” 

Mel looks back at her, like she has no idea what Vi is talking about. Vi already knows that she’ll be asked to explain, “ I didn’t get what you meant about all that House stuff, but you meant me and Powder are with your gang right? So we can join later when we’re older?” 

Mel is still looking at her the exact same way but Vi doesn’t really know what more she needs to explain. 

“House Medarda isn’t a … gang,” she finally says like it hurts to even have to say. 

But it makes Vi throw her hands up, “ You have a bunch of people working under you and you take people in; sounds like a gang to me!” 

She crosses her arms, “I thought maybe you were a Middleman or something but you have way too many cogs for that.” 

Mel sighs, in a rarely shown expression of what Vi’s mom used to call ‘Sick Of This Shit’. “Vi, I believe Zaun has a different definition of what a gang is.”

Oh… yeah, probably. 

Mel continues, “My point still stands; please let me know if someone bothers you about this. I can at least insure that no one on my staff harbors such foolish prejudices.”

Vi shrugs, a little uncomfortable at Mel’s defense. She understands it a bit better now that she knows she’s with her gang (House, whatever the hell Topsiders want to call it) but it’s a weird feeling to have someone who looks so Piltie defending her about being from Zaun. 

“I don’t want you to believe in that absurd nonsense,” Mel’s voice turns softer, yet stern. “Perhaps it’s because I’m a foreigner to this city but the idea that being born on a certain side of a river being connected to intelligence is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.” 

Vi snorts a little laugh. 

“Let me ask you, Vi, what did your parents do?” 

The laughter drained from her throat. Mel has never asked about her parents before. Vi knows she knows they’re orphans but that was an easy guess. 

Vi doesn’t think about her dad; there was no point when he’d been gone longer than she’d ever known him. He’d vanished into the night when Powder was a tiny new baby. She doesn’t know why because her mom said she’d explain it when she was older but she’s dead so Vi will never know. 

“My mom was a miner.” 

She wasn’t just a miner; her mom was one of the best repairers in her whole mining gang. There was nothing she couldn’t fix with half the tools of the second best guy. Her mom made things outta nothing; water filters, toys, generators. She used to let Vi sit in her lap as she tinkered with the huge mining machinery, humming songs under her breath. 

Vi doesn’t say that because she doesn’t think about her mom either. It hurts too bad. 

“My mother is one of the most powerful generals in Noxus,” Mel says. “It’s different there; Piltover has an obsession with its own history for a city priding itself on progress. My mother founded House Medarda herself, built it on the back of her success.” 

She looks Vi in the eye and smiles a little, “Do you want to guess what my mother was, before she climbed to the highest position available to her?” 

Vi plays along, “What?” 

“A simple shepherd. Barely able to spell her own name and never held a weapon other than a shepherd’s cane until she was fifteen.” 

Mel walks around the disk and places a warm hand on Vi’s shoulder in an extremely rare physical contact from her. 

“Our beginnings shape us but they don’t hinder us, not unless we allow them to.” She squeezed Vi’s shoulder. “But I don’t believe you think of your mother or Zaun as a hindrance. Don’t allow anyone to change that for you. Understand?” 

Vi nods, voice stuck in her throat

Chapter Text

No empire was born in a day. 

Mel had not expected to come to Piltover and reach its highest echelons within a short period of time. There were people to meet, businesses to buy, fools to charm.  She would have to entrench herself into the inner circles of this city like she’d been here all along. 

Her goal was three years; within three years she’ll be one of the youngest council members Piltover has ever had.

She wouldn’t lie to herself and say that in Noxus your House didn’t matter. Opportunity was closely tied to Houses in Noxus, certainly she wouldn’t have been offered a throne if her mother was anyone else, but she’s coming to learn that it’s different here in Piltover. 

Back home your House could only carry you so far. It didn’t matter how powerful of a House, failure was failure. To have a weak leader simply because of their bloodline was foolish, to allow greatness to go unused even more so. 

Piltover, it would seem, thought differently. Bloodlines and Houses were more important than anything and they bent their world to make it all fit. Just as much wealth, time and resources were spent on suppressing those under them as trying to achieve greatness for a House. Only a select few could reach the highest levels of powder in Piltover and they intended for their own Houses to be there. 

In Noxas there were no Kings or Queens, not anymore. Like Piltover it too was ruled by a council; The Council of Three. Three rulers who each embodied the three aspects of Trifarix doctrine. 

In Piltover there was the Council of Seven. Unlike most kingdoms or other independent cities, Piltover has never had a single ruler. Instead there were a dozen or so noble Houses that fought over six council seats by trying to draw the lower Houses under their power. 

It’s inefficient, messy and often leaves a seat or two to someone completely incompetent because their predecessor chose them based on their shared bloodline and not something as unimportant as capability. 

Horrible: For Piltover. 

Fantastic: For her ambitions.

Mel has found that most of the Council members aren’t worth much of her time for a wide variety of reasons. She has no need for allies that are so easily manipulated. They would serve her well when the time came. Besides that, they were useless. 

Besides one; Cassandra Kiramman. 

House Kiramman was a new House by Piltover standards. Cassandra’s grandmother, a minor noble, had left her home of Ionia and built House Kiramman from the ground up. By the time Cassandra had become matriarch after the early death of her mother a decade ago the House was one of the richest and most influential in Piltover. This was due to smart investments, for the most part.

House Kiramman manufactured the best guns in the world, from what Mel has heard. Capable of faster firing than the more common pistols, less prone to blowing up in a blaze of gunpowder and most importantly; extremely accurate. This has led House Kiramman to have a close relationship with the Enforcers. They were the ones that armed the force, designed their weapons. 

Mel has no need to have the Enforcers under her control but if she becomes close enough to Kiramman it would be a nice little bonus. 

It helps that Cassandra is one of the few Council members that seems interested in actually doing things for her constituents. She’s mostly known for supporting underprivileged students at the academy, which the other Council members deem foolish. 

She has Elora arrange a meeting.

They have lunch. 

Mel hadn’t been completely sure about how to go about this. She’s met Cassandra before, of course. They were running in the same circles now. Operas, plays, dinner parties; they’ve met, had a few conversations. 

But what she’s seeking goes beyond that. Elora has been a godsend with her knowledge of Piltover but what she knows only goes so far. Mel can succeed in her goals without having a close ally on the council, she’d been planning on it. Having a close ally meant more possible points of failure. 

But she simply didn’t have the time. Her mornings were spent with Powder now, her afternoons usually with both girls. It was only in the evenings that she went out to charm and interact with the Houses. If she wanted to achieve her goals in the time she wanted; 

She’d need an ally. A true ally. 

Cassandra is older than her by a small number of years but hopefully not enough for the woman to treat her like a child. The other woman had become head of her House at a young age, hopefully she’d understand Mel’s own abilities and ambitions. 

They make conversation as they eat but it’s all light and meaningless. The weather, what new plays are currently running, what new art exhibits are coming. Cassandra is a good conversation partner, Mel admits. Clever and knowledgeable if colder than most that Mel has come to know in Piltover. 

It’s when the food is gone, plates removed and they each have a new glass of wine to sip on that the tone changes, somewhat. Cassandra might not know that Mel is seeking an ally but she’s smart enough to know that it has nothing to do with small talk. 

“I’ve heard you’ve taken on a few Wards?” Cassandra says, her tone casual to anyone that isn’t Mel. 

A rather harsh question to start this part of their meeting with. In the weeks since she’s taken in the girls many have commented on the choice and few of them were particularly supportive. Most, unfortunately, far closer to that foolish tutor even if they covered it with sympathy. 

But Mel doesn’t believe that to be the case with Cassandra. Not when she mentors students regularly and has had her architects do design work for the Undercity. 

“Yes,” Mel answers. “I’m sure you’ve heard about them from all the rumors.” 

She gives a small cold smile, “That I have. I must admit that I am surprised that you’ve decided to take two girls from the Undercity. Not many would dare.” 

“I hadn’t intended take them as my wards but I have been finding that Piltover is more… divided than I first thought and I couldn’t return them to the Undercity, not in the state that it is in,” Mel admitted. 

Before this she hasn’t dared to imply that her choice to take in Vi and Powder hasn’t been a hundred percent her first choice. To imply otherwise would allow outsiders to believe she wasn’t serious about them and she simply wouldn’t have that. 

She hopes this small hint of uncertainty would work in her favor. Cassandra had sympathy for the Undercity, perhaps… 

Cassandra doesn’t soften as much as she becomes less tense or at least a different kind of tense. Her mouth tightens as do her fingers just slightly around her wine glass. 

“I’m well aware of the… difficulties,” she says the word like it’s distasteful, “that the Undercity is currently going through.” 

She’s fairly sure she knows why Cassandra is tense, almost angry if she wasn’t keeping herself so emotionally flat. Council meetings are private, for the most part, but every city runs itself on rumors. If the ones she heard are right then Councilwoman Kiramman is most displeased by the orders given out by the Council. Orders she was heavily outvoted on. 

“So you can understand why I refused to allow them to go back. I’d even asked the sheriff on the appropriate course of action but was told no House in Piltover would take them,” Mel says, making sure her tone doesn’t imply judgment. 

To her surprise the councilwoman scoffs and takes a sip of her wine. It’s a small hint of anger, minuscule compared to what Mel is used to seeing back home, but it’s the most genuine piece of emotion that she’s seen from the other woman. 

“Grayson spoke true,” Cassandra says. Disappointment is hidden in the shadows of her still mostly neutral tone. “I’m afraid it’s quite rare these days to find a House willing to help pull a child from the muck.” 

“As I’ve said; I hadn’t realized that the divide was so deep.” 

Mel taps a finger on her wine glass, letting the statement linger for a moment. Which way does she take the conversation? Does she try and pry into Cassandra’s clear anger on the matter of the treatment of the Undercity or perhaps try and say that the girls are a benefit? 

An ally because of a shared anger would work well  and Cassandra is herself a mother. Mel hasn’t met the girl, as the sole heir of House Kiramman rarely makes many public appearances, but she’s around Vi’s age. If Mel can mix Cassandra’s anger with her motherly instincts perhaps she’ll gain a powerful ally indeed. 

“It’s a shame,” Mel continues. “Because I’ve found them to be quite charming myself. Vi has only begun her tutoring and I’ve already had to dismiss one of her tutors because of their foolish attitude towards her.” 

As she hoped Cassandra frowns. “How horrible. Hopefully she hasn’t been too badly discouraged?” 

She allows a small smile, perhaps one that’s a little too proud. “Vi? I don’t think it would matter if she was. She’s a very stubborn girl. Her first tutor told me that she’d never truly learn how to read and now, barely two weeks later, I keep catching her sneaking books from my study.” 

“Caitlyn is the same way,” Cassandra shares. Her frown has lightened into a smile that Mel hasn’t seen before. The matriarch rarely speaks about her daughter from what Mel has overheard. 

“She steals my novels constantly,” she’s annoyed but clearly fond, “I’ve told her that they’re much too mature for her yet she refuses to listen. I keep finding her leaving every light in the estate on because she’s chosen to read one horror novel or another.” 

Mel takes a sip of her wine and smiles. 

It’s always nice when a plan goes well.

Mel has been more careful since the incident with Vi’s reading tutor. She wants to interact into Piltover as much as possible but she fears another incident. 

The replacement was a young woman who Vi seems to like, as much as Vi likes any ‘Piltie’. None of the other staff appear to have a problem, thus far. Powder was well liked because of how cute and quiet she is while Vi’s protective nature made most of the staff coo from afar. 

But Vi’s new trainer had to be picked carefully. 

Vi has yet to voluntarily tell her of her own interests. Even though her Reading Tutor praised her quick process and Vi began reading Mel’s novels, she never actually brought it up with Mel herself. 

According to the Tutor, Vi's ‘difficulty’ was a fairly common affliction that had actually been partly treated. The problem wasn’t that Vi couldn’t read, just that she had a problem pronouncing and spelling words. With enough time even that could be mostly overcome. 

Mel had planned to wait a little longer to put more onto Vi’s plate but she was doing well. Very well. The girl deserved to have a reward, something she could enjoy by herself without any worry about how well she was doing. 

And Vi isn’t only her ward, she was a ward of House Medarda. Even if Mel’s mother had unofficially banished her, Vi deserved to have all the training that House Medarda could provide. 

Mel considered contracting someone back in Noxus but quickly abandoned that idea. That would raise the risk of alerting her mother that she’s taken in Wards. No doubt she’d find out soon, if she didn’t already, but Mel has no desire to quicken the process nor allow Noxian spy into her estate. 

In fact; perhaps she needed to insure that it wasn’t a possibility. Her mother hasn’t contacted her since her arrival but she can’t trust that to be true forever. Mel was the disappointment of House Medarda but surely the matriarch would keep tabs on her. 

She needed a warrior guaranteed to be against Noxus.

“I can’t decide if you are foolish or just an idiot,” Riven Konte says as she glares at her.  

Mel sips her tea. 

That The Exile was in Piltover was a mere coincidence. That Mel knew was less of one because Noxus kept tabs on her because of course they did. The empire oh so hated deserters, let alone one who once carried favor with Noxus’s Last Emperor. 

“I simply want to offer you a position,” Mel says for a second time. 

“So you believe me foolish. I’d have to be to agree to anything from House Medarda,” Riven crosses her scared arms. “Tell me, how much are you going to get when you sell me back to the arena?” 

“I have no desire to hand you back to Draven,” Mel can’t help the amount of disdain when she speaks his name. The man was an empty headed show horse. 

“My mother has all but banished me to Piltover,” Mel informs her as she doubts the other woman has kept up with Noxus politics. “Even if I wish to receive your bounty; I’m not to have any contact with any other member of my House nor attempt to return.” 

Riven is a veteran of both the war in Ionia and the Reckoner’s Arena. A warrior of enough might that she was noticed quite young by Darkwill himself before he’d been overthrown. Yet she had enough honor to abandon everything when she discovered just how desperate Noxas became in their war in Ionia. 

There were few people out in this world that Mel was certain her mother could not influence; The Exile was one of them.

“Perhaps you speak the truth, fox.” Riven lended back in her chair, arms still crossed. “Perhaps you truly seeked me out to train a ward or two; it still makes you a fool if you think I’d ever train a child in warfare. No child deserves that.” 

Mel shakes her head. Not because she doesn’t agree, no, far from it, but, “She already knows war. You’ve ventured into the Undercity haven’t you?” 

Riven looks at her, the frown on her face has been there ever since Mel had walked into the dark tavern that sat as close to the river as one could get before entering Zaun. 

Mel knows she’s been in Zaun; it was the best place in the world to hide besides perhaps Bilgewater. After her escape from arena, the Undercity’s current problems probably seemed like a vacation. 

“You’ve taken in a couple of Zaun’s war orphans?” Riven studies her, “Ambessa never was the type.” 

“I’m not my mother.” 

“No you aren’t. I’d always heard her children were more fox than wolf.” 

Mel doesn’t flinch, doesn’t react at all. 

“Tell me,” Riven lends forward, her golden eyes staring into her. “Why has Ambessa Medarda’s  daughter been banished? She once guarded her pups like the wolf she is; why did that change?” 

Mel clenched her teeth. She’d known this would be difficult. She hadn’t known it would be painful. 

“She didn’t appreciate my … reluctance for warfare.” 

They say nothing for a long moment, the warrior studying her so closely that Mel thought it possible she saw into Mel’s heart and soul. 

Finally Riven lended back. “I’ll teach them. Not the ways of Noxus, but what I learned in the fields in Ionia. Only because I know how easy it is to fall victim to darkness when alone in this world and I don’t wish that on them.” 

Mel released a breath and they discussed the terms.

Vi has met fighters before. 

Her dad had boxed, back in the day. Vi has foggy memories of them play boxing together back before Powder had been born. Much like her less foggy but more painful memories of Vander; she doesn’t really like to think about it. 

 But there’d been a lot of fighters at the Last Drop. It had been a common ground for a lot of middlemen and all the good mediators had to be good fighters. It was either that or be so smart that the gangs wouldn’t take you on and one was easier than the other. 

The woman in front of her was a fighter, Vi knew it immediately. Not from her scars, not the stern look in her eye or even the strange glowing bangle on her wrist. It was how she stood and how her golden eyes sized Vi up the second she stepped into the training room. 

When her Ma had been teaching her to read she’d tried to make Vi feel better about how hard it was by telling her that reading people was just as important as reading books. Her ma had always been really good at it, always knew who to talk to for what, what to trade, what people truly wanted. 

Vi might not be as good as her mom but she knows she’s about to get her ass handed to her by this trainer and she can’t fucking wait.

“Why am I just sitting here?” 

Vi has kept quiet forever now. She’d expected… well. Maybe to be shown some moves to copy a couple dozen times or something. 

But Riven had sat her down and told her to clear her mind, which Vi tried to do. Honest! Because when a good fighter tells you to do something you do it. But she doesn’t get it.  She’d also been hesitant to say that because Mel had gotten her this cool trainer and she didn’t want it to go bad. 

“Because a clear mind is the most important weapon a warrior can possess,” Riven says with her eyes closed, kneeling on a pillow a few feet in front of Vi. 

Vi frowns. “I don’t get it.” 

Riven cracks open one eye then the other. “You’ve had some training, I can tell. When you train, do you think? Which foot goes where, how to move your hands, what your opponent is going to do next?” 

“Yeah?” 

“That’s what we need to quieten. Having a clear mind allows you to follow your instincts more clearly and to feel your own body’s abilities.” 

“Oh,” Vi says. That makes some sense. Her mom used to say that she shouldn’t overthink things, just do them. 

But… she can’t do it sitting still like this. It makes her bones itch. Her thoughts didn’t go away, just wondered and if she sat here long enough she’d start worrying about Powder and then she’d have to go find her to make sure she was alright. 

“Do we have to sit here to get a clear mind or whatever?” Vi asks hesitantly. “Sitting still doesn’t really. Do that. For me.” 

Riven stares at her and it makes her fidget. 

She reminds Vi of some of the older middlemen, who were so tough that they didn’t even need to fight anyone because everyone knew how many people they’d already beaten up. She hadn’t even seen her do anything cool yet but just knew that if Riven had been from Zaun, she’d been named. She had that feel to her. 

Finally: “There are other ways, but,” here she raises an eyebrow, “They’re much harder on the body. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather sit still?” 

“Depends on if you actually want me to clear my mind or whatever, I guess?” Vi scratches the back of her head. “But I don’t really care about it being tough because I need to be tough for Powder so,” she shrugs. 

“Bring it on I guess.”

Mel doesn’t freeze when she sees Vi after her first training session, she’s too good to freeze. 

She’s gotten Vi and Powder new clothes. Simple clothes, compared to what she wears on a daily basis. Not because she thinks that’s what they deserve but for their own comfort. Vi hadn’t expressed much preference but Mel tried to find clothing as close to what little they had which meant pants for Vi, shorts for Powder. Neither has expressed wanting anything different. 

But when she realized Vi needed training gear she’d given the task to Elora as she’d too busy to do it herself.

Elora had apparently gotten Vi a traditional Noxian training outfit. Red wrapped shirt, black hand coverings, black pants that tighten at the ankles. 

Vi enters her study for Powder, as she always does, wearing those familiar Noxian clothes. She’s drenched in sweat with her hair plastered to her forehead and her face was beat red. Her breathing was still just a bit heavy. 

She doesn’t look like Mel when she was a girl, of course, for very obvious reasons, but perhaps the big difference is the huge smile on Vi’s face.  

“Come on Pow! You have to see this!” 

Mel hadn’t ever looked like that when she trained. She never truly enjoyed violence or simulated or otherwise. Her mother had been a… tough teacher. 

Powder hops up and puts away her latest creation, “What?” 

“My new teacher has some really cool moves,” Vi ruffles her sister’s hair. “ I asked her if you could see it because it’s awesome!” 

They give her a little wave as they dash down the hall. 

Vi’s smile might not have been much like Mel’s but had been so strikingly similar to Kino’s. Her brother had always loved their training when they were children. 

Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, Mel missed her brother.

Mel had started to look for Vi when she hadn’t come to get Powder at lunch time. 

It was the first time she simply hadn’t come. She didn’t run to Mel’s office anymore and sometimes she waited to finish something, but she always appeared. 

When Powder started looking uneasy Mel had stood up. The little girl had quietly, very quietly, gone back to playing. 

She found Vi fairly quickly as the girl tended to stay in a small area of the estate. There was a small studio in the corner of the estate with massive ceiling to floor windows, still empty of furniture. Vi was huddled against a wall, her knees pulled up to her chest, face in her knees. 

Mel kneels onto the floor in her very expensive dress and waits. 

It takes a couple of minutes but Vi rubs her face on her knees, wips her clearly wet eyes with her arm. “Sorry,” she says with a croaky voice. “I’ll go get Powder.” 

“She’ll be alright for a couple of minutes,” Mel says lightly. She carefully places a hand on Vi’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?” 

As she expected Vi only rubs at her eyes and mutters, “Nothing,” under her breath. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Mel says softly. “But I’d listen if you did.” 

“It’s dumb.” 

“I haven’t known you very long, Vi,” she rubbed the girl’s shoulder before she pulled back, “But I can’t imagine that you’d be upset about anything dumb.” 

Vi sniffles for a moment, “My birthday is in a couple of days.” 

Mel doesn’t congratulate her or pressure her into speaking more, just sits with her for a while. What about her birthday has Vi so upset? 

“My mom’s gang always threw these big parties on kids' birthdays,” Vi says quietly.

“Everyone came with food so there was always enough for people to take home. I got to play with the other miner kids and we’d play games to win candy or these little toys my mom made.” 

Vi rubs her wet eyes. “Powder is finally old enough to play with us this year but my mom—“ 

Mel isn’t used to trying to comfort anyone. Certainly she hadn’t been taught by her own parents. All she had was memories of Kino’s comforting hugs when she was small. 

She slowly wrapped her arm around Vi’s shoulders, giving the girl enough time to back away or somehow imply the touch wasn’t wanted. Instead Vi allowed it for a few moments before her lips shiver as her eyes begin to water and she turns to bury her head into Mel’s shoulder. 

It’s not comfortable. Mel is kneeling on a hard wooden floor, and Vi’s arms are so tight that she might get bruises, but she isn’t a stranger to uncomfortableness or pain.

“I’m sorry, darling,” she says in pink hair. “I know it must be painful.” 

“It’s dumb,” Vi mutters when she can control her voice. “I shouldn’t be sad about a party like- like a little kid.” 

She is a little kid. Not even a decade old; of course she is upset that her mother isn’t here for her birthday. Of course she’s upset that she can’t follow a tradition from her culture anymore. And of course Vi doesn’t see it that way. 

Mel doesn’t offer to throw Vi a party. She already knows that Vi wouldn’t want the one she’d be able to put together as Mel wouldn’t be able to invite the people Vi truly wanted to see. What good would a huge fancy party with the finest food if Vi wanted her mother? 

“What does Zaun do to honor the dead?” Mel asks instead. 

Vi loosens her tight grip but Mel keeps her arm  around her shoulders and they settle into a sideways embrace. 

“You make them a space,” she says after a moment. “With their things or gifts you’d have given them or whatever. Then you light candles and incense sometimes so Janna can tell them what you said and how you miss them.” 

Noxus doesn’t mourn the dead quite like that as most funerals were celebratory and those that weren’t tended to end in vows of vengeance. 

“Would you like to do that for your mother? Perhaps it would make you feel better to be able to have something to speak too?” 

Vi shakes her head, “I’d need a picture but the only one I have has… it has someone I don’t want to see on it.” 

Mel hasn’t painted since her move to Piltover and hasn’t painted a portrait for years longer but… 

“I can have a portrait made,” she offers. 

She hesitates. Vi always hesitates to agree to things she really wants. 

“It can be a gift for your birthday.” She rubs Vi’s back like Kino used to do for her when she was upset and pulls out the big guns: “I think Powder would like the idea.” 

Vi, being Vi, can’t muster an argument against that. 

The picture Vi hands her oh so carefully is of three adults in mining gear. All of them had big oversized coats, the two smaller adults had mechanical looking pickaxes on their shoulders while the large man in the middle had a matching pair of metal gauntlets.

Vi and Powder’s mother looks exactly like her daughters. Her hair was a dark shade of purple that she had braided back, her eyes the same shade of gray as Vi’s and her smile was all Powder. She looked young and vibrant, and Mel could tell from her wide smile that she’d been a charming woman when she was alive. 

She gives the two men a glance and commits their faces to memory. Which one of these men is the one Vi didn’t want to see so badly that she wouldn’t put up the only picture she had of her mother? Was it the sharp faced lanky long haired man or the huge man with an even larger smile? 

Mel won’t press Vi about it but she’ll be ready to listen whenever she is ready. 

Vi finds the idea of making a space for her mom … scary.

She’d thought that Vander would make her one. Hoped he would. Her mom’s gang had been overwhelmed with how many of them died on the bridge so they couldn’t make her one and if Vander didn’t then it fell to Vi. 

Back when she first lost her, it hadn’t felt real even when they’d gathered up their things to live with Vander. Then it felt like making a space meant her mom was really gone and she just couldn’t do it. She kept pushing it off until things got so bad that it wasn’t on her mind anymore. 

Now it was scary because if she made her mom a space here, in Mel’s house, they couldn’t just leave. You can’t move a space like that. It was supposed to be made and left there for as long as possible. To break it down after you made it… you can, but it simply wasn’t the same when you rebuilt it. 

But Mel is right. It’s not just Vi, Powder deserves to have a space for mom. She’s so little that if Vi doesn’t make one then Powder might forget their mom completely. She doesn’t want that at all. 

If they need to leave it would be a horrible wound but Powder forgetting their mom is much worse. 

Mel gives her free rein of the estate to pick from but Vi doesn’t need it. She knows exactly where she wants to put it the second she allows herself to choose a place. 

It’s the same room that Mel found her in when Vi had been a big baby about her birthday. It’s really bright in there because the windows were so big. It was a smaller room than most of the estate with darker wood. The walls had darker wallpaper too, a deep blue with fancy flowers and vines. If it wasn’t for the big windows the room would be dark but instead it was bright and sunny. 

Her mom always liked the outside.

Mel takes her time with the Portrait. 

She makes sure to give the woman the same charming smile from the picture, even if most professional portraits portrayed little to no emotion. It was important to portray her as she’d been in life and judging from her daughters this woman had been a well loved mother. 

Neither does she paint her in anything other than her basic mining clothes. She makes sure to add all the wear and tear seen in the photo down to the small oil stain she sees on her collar. 

She adds small flowers to the corners of the portrait, small groups of violets and blue bells. 

Vi cries when she unwraps the portrait. 

Powder wraps her arms around her sister and blinks down at the portrait with wide eyes then buries her head into Vi’s chest. 

Mel doesn’t throw a huge party for Vi. It would be cruel to try and force Vi to be happy when she’s so distraught over the absence of her mother. Instead she gives all the staff the day off with pay and allows Vi and Powder to spend the day making their mother’s ’space’. 

She only approaches in the evening to bring them to dinner.

Vi had found a low table in one of the spare rooms had dragged it against the wall facing the windows. There were several bits and bobs, including several of Powder’s mechanical toys and a decorated miner’s hat. Two sticks of  incense were burning in small stacks of gears on either side of the portrait.

She invites Elora and Riven to have dinner with them but the Exile expectedly declines. Elora brings a small plate of Noxian style cookies, much less sweet than those in Piltover. 

Vi and Powder are both quiet during dinner but it’s not completely gloomy. It’s simply somber. Vi still ruffles Powder’s hair when she tries to sneak cookies, she smiles when Elora asks about her training and when Mel gives her a set of new novels. 

 Hopefully it’s what Vi needed.

Cassandra, Mel finds over the course of a few weeks, is an extremely good politician. It’s simply a waste that she’s limited by her fellow council members. 

She has connections to the Enforcers, to the Academy, to almost every major manufacturing business and controls more than a few mining operations in the Undercity. Her House single handedly contributes almost all of the newest innovations in gun manufacturing. 

It’s from Cassandra that Mel learns the true reasons of why the Undercity is currently such a mess. 

Zaun wanted protection from exploitation. They wanted representation on the council, less interference by Enforcers, laws in place to protect the people of Zaun from being harassed or hauled off to Stillwater. They wanted to be able to form their own council and have that authority recognized by Piltover. 

The riots Mel has heard so much about weren’t mindless violence like Piltover seemed desperate to portray them as. Or at least most of them weren’t. Most had been calculated protests. The others had been caused by anger of Enforcer interference or actions. There’s been nearly a hundred deaths in the past few months. 

And Cassandra can do nothing. Her fellow members either keep their heads in the sand or refuse to admit that the Undercity has different needs than the rest of Piltover. She doesn’t even agree with some of the concessions proposed but can’t quite manage to get anything done on her own. 

If something doesn’t change, and soon, Piltover was going to run out of its stockpile of raw materials. Then, within a few weeks of that, they would begin to halt production of goods. The lack of work in Zaun would no doubt cause even more chaos and frustration. There was a real danger that given enough time they’d be facing with something close to a civil war. 

Mel remembers how easy it had been to contact Cassandra, how quickly she scheduled their lunch and how the older woman had been surprisingly open. 

Looks like she hadn’t been the only one looking for an ally. 

Vi feels uncomfortable. 

Most of the clothes Mel has given her have been fancy but plain. Most of her clothes are just dark pants and differently colored shirts. She has a few pairs of shoes, which seemed like overkill, but each of them serve a purpose. 

These clothes were different. The shoes were black leather and shining, the matching black pants had creases on her legs. The golden vest was made of something soft that had a dull shine to it with white designs stitched into it. Her white shirt was plain enough besides the golden buttons on her rolled cuffs. The black and gold tie was loose around her neck but she felt choked anyway. 

Her new haircut felt good before she’d got thrown into these clothes. It was even in a way her mom hadn’t ever managed to achieve because Vi moved around too much. Now she just feels… dumb and uncomfortable. 

But Mel said being with her gang meant showing up at parties. It’s been six months; Vi is long overdue. 

And Vi gets it. She might not be a full member but showing up at meetings for your gang was a common enough thing. Her mom used to go to meetings and parties all the time. 

“You look handsome,” Mel says as she adjusts the tie around Vi’s throat. 

“I look dumb,” she corrects. Powder is giggling at her discomfort from where she’s sitting with Elora which makes her stick her tongue out at her. 

“You don’t but I won’t be trapped in this circular conversation again.” Mel walks over to Elora and Powder and ruffles her hair the same way Vi does immediately afterwards.

“Have a good evening, you two!” Elora says as she waves them out the door.

It had taken Vi a while to understand the point of this fancy party. Mel had to explain it a couple of times and got that very familiar look when Vi explained how she saw it. 

In Zaun when gangs had business they met on mostly neutral ground with a middleman. The Last Drop was one of the really rare truly neutral places in the Undercity so Vi used to see all kinds of business deals go down. 

In Top Side they did the same thing, just without mediators. Gang Leaders brought their gangs/Houses to a big fancy location to show off and do lots of business at once. Pilties liked to be sneaky instead of just saying what they wanted, which was annoying, but really that’s just what this was; a gang meeting. 

Vi didn’t really get why she needed to be there though. She wasn’t a full member or anything and she didn’t exactly have a rep yet. Surely she couldn’t help with Mel’s image? If anything Top Siders would totally look down on her because Pilties hated her. 

But Mel was the boss so here Vi was. Wondering around, trying to find someone her age that didn’t immediately turn around on their heels at the sight of her. 

To be fair that had only happened once, as there wasn’t many people here her age, but it was annoying. 

Mel floats around the room with that weird smile that Vi hadn’t seen directed towards her in months. The woman had reassured her that she didn’t expect Vi to do anything at this party besides behave herself. This was more of a test run to get Vi used to the experience than anything. 

After about an hour Vi is annoyed, hungry and still uncomfortable. There was a table with food but that’s where everyone was and Vi just didn’t want to deal with another bad conversation that ended with poorly hidden disgust when they realized who she was. 

It’s been six months since she needed to find a place to hide but she hasn’t lost the skill.

 In a dark hidden corner she doesn’t pout. Only little kids like Powder pout. Hopefully Mel had been telling the truth about her not having to do much besides behave and hopefully hiding wasn’t considered misbehaving because she fully intended to stay here until they needed to leave. 

“Oh!” Said an unfamiliar voice. “Sorry I didn’t know anyone was here.” 

Vi had been so in her head that she hadn’t realized her hideout had been breached. She hadn’t even heard her. Maybe she was out of touch. 

The girl was around her age, dressed all fancy like everyone else here, in blue, white and gold. In one hand was a plate of food, the little snacks Vi spied from afar and the other was a plate with two cupcakes. 

“Sorry,” the girl says again. She gives Vi an awkward tight lipped simile. 

Vi is supposed to be on her best behavior so she smiles back, knowing it was probably even more awkward or her annoyance at being discovered is peaking through too much. 

“It’s fine,” she sighs. She’ll probably have to abandon her hiding spot now. 

The girl hesitates, “Do you think we can hide together, if that’s ok? I’ve had enough small talk to last a lifetime.” 

Vi bites her lip and looks at the food the other girl brought with her. “Alright, but you gotta share.” 

The girl smile widely , showing off a little gap between her teeth. “It’s a deal.” 

Caitlyn was… a little weird. 

She either rambles endlessly or stares at Vi so intensely while she talks that Vi feels like she’s being studied. She’s even more blunt than Vi and asks a ton of questions. 

Vi isn’t sure how long they spend in that darkened corner. They don’t really stop talking, the conversation continuing endlessly. Vi talks about her tutors and Caitlyn complains about her own. Caitlyn talks about her new rifle and Vi explains the new techniques she learned from Riven. They’re reading the same novel series and complain about the wait for the next book. Caitlyn likes the same blocks that Powder loves and is insanely jealous that Mel gets every new set that’s released. 

When Mel finally finds them Vi finds herself grinning harder than she has in forever. 

Mel doesn’t even tease her for the cupcake frosting on her cheek. 

Caitlyn makes the parties bearable.  

Apparently she’s in a similar position as Vi; her mother is finally making a push that Caitlyn needs to come to these knock off gang meetings. It makes more sense than Vi having to come, seeing as Cait is the gang leader’s only kid. 

(Caitlyn keeps trying to correct Vi on the whole gang thing but her whole face twists like Mel’s and Vi isn’t one to stop such a good bit.) 

She already knows all the best hiding places, the people that are bearable to talk to and the ones that do that annoying pinching of the cheek thing. 

Mel doesn’t make her go to every party but they’re not nearly as bad as she once feared. 

Caitlyn’s mom is terrifying. 

Like. Chem-Baron level of scary. 

Not that Vi has never met a Chem-Baron. People of that level of reputation didn’t need to come to the Last Drop for meetings. 

When Vi goes over to Caitlyn’s house Vi makes sure to be on her very best behavior. She can’t make Mel look bad. 

(Cassandra, she finds out much later, liked her quite a bit and has from the moment she heard Caitlyn made a friend all on her own.)

“Your sister made that?” 

Vi looks at the thing Powder made and nods. 

She thinks her sister named it Mr.Bonkers, Vi tries to remember their names but it’s hard sometimes. It’s a little different than most of her little creations. First of all it’s not person shaped, so why she called it Mr.Bonkers she didn’t know, but it’s some kind of triangle thing that you can squish down and twist to make it show different colors. 

“Wow,” Caitlyn says as she twists the toy, the colors turning from blue to red, “Vi, your sister is very talented.” 

Vi grins, “Yep. Come on, you gotta see what she’s been messing with now. She made this whole little mining cart track!”

Vi is quickly left in the dust the second Powder warms up to Caitlyn. 

She warms up quickly because Caitlyn knows her blocks way better than Vi does, even though she’s been playing with Powder like everyday. Very suddenly her sister and Cait are improving Pows track and Vi is regulated to building buildings for the amusement park that her sister was attempting to build. 

They’re playing in their shared studio, as Mel has begun to call it. They each have a designated room now down the hall from each other and Mel has started to bring up the possibility of them sleeping separately but Vi doesn’t like the idea. She’s spent almost her entire life sharing a bed with Powder or her mom. 

Sometimes she still has nightmares about waking up to find that Powder is already cold and stiff. Or that she’s sick and needs Vi but she’s just too far away. 

Mel had simply nodded and said Powder’s room was ready whenever they were. 

But Vi likes the studio more than her room. The dark walls and floor, the sun and garden outside. Maybe it’s childish to think spending time in her mom’s space is comforting but she likes it. It’s not the same but… it’s nice. 

“Vi,” Powder suddenly appeared in front of her, a heavy frown on her face. “That is a bad bakery.” 

Vi looks at the little cube she’s built that has a little service window in one of its walls. It’s little more than a cube. She then looks at her sister who has Mel’s fully powered judgment face on and Caitlyn who is looking at them with barely contained amusement. 

She carefully sets the cube down. Then jolts forward to grab at her little sister’s ribs. Powder shrieks with laughter and when Caitlyn starts to laugh Vi carefully drops her to repeat her attack on her instead. 

Cassandra breaks the news to her over a bottle of wine. 

“How many of their demands did they get?” Mel asks, deeply curious. 

“More than Piltover wanted and fewer than they wanted,” she says with a dry smile. “There’s to be a new seat on the council, a worthy break in tradition if it means no one has to give up a seat. Reviews of Stillwater and the Enforcers… Hopefully it’s enough to have some level of peace for some time.” 

It’s taken a lot of work to get here. Long meetings, moving businesses around, influencing endless lesser Houses. All to end this conflict before it spilled over to the entire city because their fellow politicians were too stubborn about their prejudices. 

When Cassandra holds up her wine glass, Mel taps it with her own with a genuine smile. 

Vi doesn’t bother to learn the fake purpose of the parties after a few weeks.

 In the three months she’s been coming, the true purpose is all the same; gang business crap. Sure Mel tells her stuff like ‘celebrating a new business opening’ or ‘someone’s birthday’ or whatever but Vi isn’t dumb. 

So Vi doesn’t really listen when Mel tells her why they’re going to this party. 

Her mind is busy with other stuff. Riven says she needs to consider weapons instead of just her fist. Powder had attempted to sleep in her own room a few days ago which made Vi freak out in the middle of the night. And then there was Caitlyn— Cait was complicated. 

Maybe if Vi had paid attention the night wouldn’t have ended the way that it did. If Vi had known that this party was celebrating a new Zaun council member she could have prepared herself a little. Mel hadn’t ever forced her to come to these parties, if Vi threw a fit she might have just gotten to go home. She wouldn’t have had to fake it . 

But she didn’t pay attention. 

He spots Vi before she sees him. 

She’s looking for Cait. She knows the other girl is here, everyone is here, but she can’t manage to find her. There’s just too many people here and they’d gotten here late. Caitlyn might have already got herself hidden away. 

A massive hand grabs her shoulder tight and she jolts, trying to slip out of that hold with an instinct built into her while living on the street. 

“Vi?” 

That voice freezes her. She’s facing away from him and doesn’t want to turn around but has little chance when his familiar hands turn her around. 

For the first time in ten months, Vi comes face to face with The Hound of the Underground. 

Chapter Text

Vi is out of practice in escaping grips but she twists her arm as hard as she can out of Vander’s grip and runs full speed in the opposite direction. 

Vander must have been surprised too because she knows that if he’d really wanted too, he could have held onto her. 

But he didn’t. 

He never did.

Vi doesn’t pay much attention to where she runs. 

Her heart is beating fast, her hands are shaking, tears keep building despite her rubbing her eyes. Her body moves on instinct, dodging faceless bodies and tables. There’s a couple of complaints when her shoulder hits someone but she ignores it.  

Why was Vander here? 

Vander hated Top Side. Especially since that night. She’s seen him punch walls over Enforcers and then come back to the Last Drop with blood cover gauntlets. He’d had long growling angry rants with gang leaders. More than once she’d heard him throw bottles and glasses at the wall. 

Hatred and anger. That’s all he’d had since the bridge. 

Vi finally finds a tiny dark room, the back of her mind she thinks it’s a closet, and tucks her knees to her chest and tries to breathe. 

Why was Vander here? It’s been months since Vi took Powder and ran. She’d spent the first week on her own wondering if he’d come and find them, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t in that first week, nor the first month when they slept in Mel’s shed and hadn’t in the next nine months after that. 

It’s been almost a year since Vi stepped foot in the Undercity— why was he here? It couldn’t be to find them, it had been too long. 

She won’t go back there. Powder was doing too well up here to even consider it. She didn’t have as many nightmares, she talked way more, she even ate more since Mel had figured out what foods she liked. Mel had even said that in a couple of weeks she might be ready to start her own lessons, just a couple, because she was so smart. 

And it was nice to know that when Vi was in her lessons Powder was safely playing with her blocks in Mel’s office. Even now, when Vi and Mel were at this dumb party, she knows Elora is probably making her little sister cookies. Vi knows Powder is safe without having to check every five minutes, so that if she goes too long in her training session with Riven, Mel will make sure Powder gets lunch. 

Maybe that makes her a bad sister. She should have been able to handle it but she couldn’t. 

She’d tried— she really did. 

Vi doesn’t want to go back to how it was during those five months. She’ll do it again if she has to because she promised her mom she would and she loves Powder more than anything but she doesn’t want to. 

But if Vander is here he might try and make her go back or tell Mel that he wanted to take them in. That had been why Mel took them in as Wards, hadn’t it? Because they had no one? 

If Mel finds out that Vi had lied about having someone to take her in… 

Vi hits her head against the wall and tries to calm down. 

“Vi?”

She’s flinching back before she recognizes the voice. She hadn’t realized the door had even opened. 

“Oh,” she says, trying to cover up her dumb tears and watery eyes, “Hey, Cait.” 

Caitlyn’s big blue eyes are filled with concern. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” she says instinctively. “Nothing. I’m being dumb.” 

The older girl does that fancy scoff that Vi won’t ever tell her reminds her of Cassandra and sits down next to her. “I doubt it. I’ve been looking for you, you know. I didn’t expect you to find us such a hidden hiding place. Is the party that awful?” 

Vi thinks about Vander and Powder, about having to maybe move her mom’s Space, about not getting to see Mel or Elora or Riven or Caitlyn again.

“I saw someone I don’t want to see,” Vi says. She feels a tear build up again and rubs her eyes aggressively. “And I— I just—“ 

Emotions are choking her. She’s a horrible Big Sister to be so afraid of going back to Zaun with Vander. He’d kept them safe from gangs and made sure they had food, most of the time, hadn’t he? 

So what if Vi had to take care of Powder alone for days or weeks at a time? So what if there had been times Vi couldn’t eat because she was scared Vander wouldn’t return with more food when he promised? That when Powder had gotten so sick that Vi thought she was going to die they’d been all alone? 

Vander was a mediator. He was the most powerful middleman in Zaun; he’d been busy with riots and the gangs and food shortages. He’d told Vi that dozens of times, hadn’t he? Maybe Vi was stupid for thinking he broke his promise just because she couldn’t handle her responsibilities. 

“Vi, you need to breathe,” Caitlyn says, her hands on either side of her face. 

When had she moved from Vi’s side? Or start touching her? When had Vi’s tears start to roll down her face and her chest become so tight? 

Caitlyn’s eyes are so blue and she’s so concerned and she was so nice. 

“I want to go home,” Vi managed to say before she started sobbing.

Mel is having a good time. 

This party was only the first that celebrated one of her achievements but it won’t be the last. 

Everyone is here. Representatives from lesser Houses had practically fought over the chance to come. This party is the first real mixing of Piltover and Zaun, there’s a wide range of new connotations to make, new alliances, new enemies. 

Some are more reluctant than others, of course. She can see the way there’s still a divide, sneers shared in small clusters of powerful Houses. Mel simply smirks over the rim of her glass. 

If they want to throw away power and wealth because they refuse to shake a coal covered hand? That’s their loss. 

But then Cassandra waves her over to speak with Piltover’s newest council member. 

And she recognizes him. 

He is older, with shorter hair and scared where he wasn’t before; but she recognizes him anyway. 

Is this the man Vi didn’t want to see? 

Caitlyn doesn’t have many friends or, really, friends at all. 

She’s either too focused or not focused enough. She asks too many questions. Her interests weren’t exactly common. She’s awkward and blunt. 

Vi doesn’t care about any of that. She laughs at Caitlyn’s bluntness but not at the fact Caitlyn takes things too literally because she knows it’s embarrassing for her. She listens to her rambling enough to ask questions. Caitlyn can talk to her about novels and Vi doesn’t think it’s weird how in-depth she gets about theories. 

Vi is also very kind, always willing to help with anything Caitlyn asks and she’s watched Vi play with her little sister for hours on end when she visits. She’ll loudly complain with a big smile and loud sighs but Caitlyn knows it’s because she likes to make people laugh. 

She doesn’t ask for anything in return. Ever. Even when she comes to visit Caitlyn’s home she never asks for water or snacks. Her mother has to practically force her to eat whenever she visits. 

So; if Vi wants to go home Caitlyn is going to make sure she does.

“And this is my dear friend, Lady Mel Medarda,” Cassandra says warmly. “Mel, this is our newest Council member; Silco.” 

He’s just as lanky as the picture. The warm smile has been wiped clean off his face though. This man is cold to his bones. His uneven eyes are unnerving but likely wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for his lack of warmth.  

“Charmed,” he says smoothly. 

Mel smiles, “Lovely to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” 

This? This might be a problem.

There are certain rules Caitlyn must follow when at an event. 

She must be on her best behavior; no getting into arguments with adults or children about how they were wrong about something. 

No hiding; her mother is more lenient with this one now. Before she couldn’t hide at all which meant she had to do a ‘normal amount’ of small talk. Now she’s allowed to hide with Vi so long as it was within the boundaries of the event. 

She can’t hang on to either of her parents; an older rule from when she was smaller. She used to cling to them a lot because she hated parties. 

But this is an emergency. 

She doesn’t know where Lady Medarda is. Usually she moves around at these parties a lot. Vi says it’s because she needs to make more connections with different gangs than Caitlyn’s mother since she’s already a Chem-Baron but that’s part of her favorite joke. 

But she knows where her mother is and that means she’ll be able to tell her and get back to Vi faster. She already didn’t like having to leave her, it took several long minutes to get her to stop sobbing enough for Caitlyn to explain she was going to get her home. 

Her mom is always at the center of these events because people go to her instead of the other way around. To her great luck Lady Medarda is with her mother though they are talking with someone else. 

Her mother is facing in her direction and for a second she seemed upset that Caitlyn was heading straight for her. Until, that is, she got close enough to completely read her expression. 

Cassandra steps away from Lady Medarda and the other party goer before Caitlyn can get to them and meets Caitlyn with a stern arm around her shoulder. 

“I need to speak with Lady Medarda,” Caitlyn says quietly. 

Her mother looks at her with a frown, “Whatever for?” 

“It’s Vi.” She bites at her lip even though she knows she isn’t supposed to. Vi clearly doesn’t want people to know she’s upset but it might get her home faster. “She’s… she wants to go home. Now.” 

For a second Caitlyn is afraid she’ll tell her no. When she was young she’d go to her father and beg to go home with big tears and thrown down feet but her mother wouldn’t allow it. 

But Cassandra looks at her for a moment, her eyes closely studying her, before she nods. “I’ll tell her. Where is Vi?” 

“Hiding,” Caitlyn says. She points to one of the hallways, “Down that way, in one of the closets.” 

Her mother’s eyes narrow in concern, “What happened?” 

But Caitlyn can only shake her head. “I don’t know,” she admits pitifully. It makes her remember exactly how upset Vi had been. She’s never seen Vi even tear up before and she’d always been so…so upbeat. 

“She’s really upset,” she finally admits. 

Cassandra’s hand tightens on her shoulder before she lends down to kiss the top of Caitlyn’s head. She hasn’t done that in a while and even longer has she done it in public but Caitlyn finds she doesn’t mind. 

“Go sit with her, then, while I speak with Mel.”

Silco is a politician on a level Mel hasn’t seen much of in Piltover.  Possibly on par with Cassandra and herself. 

She’s studying his every movement, his word choices, his expressions. Cassandra is as well but truly every politician in this room is. And he knows it. 

The three of them bounce off each other like a greased wheel. There’s no gaps in their conversation, no awkward moments, no anything. She and Cassandra are trying to gauge him and he meets it blow for blow. 

Vi and Powder’s mother knew this man. Closely enough that the only picture they had featured him with a friendly arm around her shoulders. The photograph was old, now that she has a frame of reference she believes it’s older than Vi, so what changed? 

Vi said there had been no one to take her in; had Silco not been a family friend anymore? Or perhaps he refused? 

Then the question that dominates her mind; is he the one that Vi can’t stand to look at ? 

She and Cassandra have spent a considerable amount of time and energy getting this man his seat. If he fails they’ll be put in an awkward and vulnerable position, not to mention how bad the blow back might be from the Undercity. 

But if he hurt Vi…. 

Cassandra suddenly leaves their conversation and Mel turns slightly to see it’s because Caitlyn was approaching them. The girl is normally quite calm and polite. At these events she mainly likes to hide with Vi to talk about novels and eat sweets. 

But, Mel sees with a tightened heart, she looks a little upset. 

“Do you have children as well, Lady Medarda?” 

Mel looks back at Silco calmly. She has no proof he’s done anything. There is still a possibility it hadn’t been him Vi was talking about. Mel wouldn’t go on to the offensive on a hunch. 

“I have two young Wards,” she answers. “ Miss Kiramman is close friends with them, in fact. And yourself?” 

Silco smiles and it’s surprisingly more genuine than she’d expected. “My partner and I recently took in two boys.” 

Then his eyes darken, “They’d been orphaned by the Enforcers, you see.” 

It’s bait. She’s sure many here tonight have fallen into it. Either by overreacting with terribly acted sympathy or more disastrously by trying to find reasonings to the overuse of violence by Enforcers. 

Mel, now being so close to Cassandra, knows exactly how Enforcers became so hated in the Undercity. Grayson had her hands tied with a lot of her ‘bad apples’ by red tape and angry nobles. No matter how many she shuffled around to keep them from Zaun or ordered to use non-lethal methods; there was always another. She could only try to limit the violence. 

Cassandra has said more than once that Grayson was perhaps the only reason they hadn’t seen violence in Piltover proper yet. Her predecessor, however, had left a lot of wounds. With the amount of reforms about to head her way she’ll be able to truly clean house. 

“I’m sorry, that must be hard for them,” Mel says with real sympathy. “My own wards are from Zaun and they’ve had a hard time adjusting.” 

Silco’s one unscarred eyebrow rises. “I’m surprised. Not many in Piltover would take two of our own.” 

Mel shrugs, lightly, casually. “I’m not from Piltover, counselor. It doesn’t matter to me that they were born across a river.” 

He’s impressed but before they can continue the conversation Cassandra appears at her elbow. “I apologize, but I must steal you away Mel,” she gives a tilt of her head to Silco, “I’m sure you don’t mind, Counselor?” 

“Of course not,” he says with a slight dip of his head, “Wonderful to speak with you, Lady Medarda.” 

Cassandra doesn’t waste time and the second they’re out of ear shot, she says, “Something has upset Vi.” 

Mel’s shoulders tighten and her jaw clenches. It can’t be a coincidence that she’s upset and Silco is here. Her mind already starts whirling; they’ll have to find a replacement before anything else, the instability might be too much otherwise. She’ll have to start leaving Vi at home, maybe convince Cassandra to allow Caitlyn to do the same so they could see each other regularly. 

But first; 

“Where is she?”

Vi sits in the dark and tries to calm down. 

Her head hurts from crying so hard, her eyes are stinging, her chest hurts. Her nice fancy shirt has snot on her sleeves and she’s hungry because she hadn’t eaten before they got here. 

Her mind keeps running. How mad is Vander going to be when he realizes Vi and Powder are all Top Side-ed up? Maybe…maybe he won’t want to take them back then? Or will he take them back and just be mad that Powder likes expensive block toys more than the gears she used to have and that Vi loves books now?

She just wants to go home and forget she ever saw him again. 

Caitlyn taps on the door before she opens it and because she’s so nice and amazing she’s carrying a plate with snacks.  

Vi laughs, wet and rough. “You got me cupcakes?” 

Cait’s cheeks go ruby red. “You’re upset! I thought you liked them?” 

Not all that much, honestly. Some of them are fine but sometimes the icing is like eating sugar and it makes her teeth hurt. Caitlyn probably Slow thinks that because Vi always grabs them when it’s her turn to venture into the battlefield. 

(Which is what they called the area around the snack tables.) 

“I do,” Vi rubs her eyes again and holds out a hand, “Thanks.” 

She’s hungry even though the idea of food sounds horrible to her stomach right now. Vi ignores that because food makes you feel better even when your body is being dumb about it. 

Caitlyn sits next to her. She’s got that studying look on her face and normally Vi doesn’t mind. Normally Vi thinks it’s kinda funny that Caitlyn has to know everything about everything but right now Vi doesn’t like it at all. 

So Vi just unwraps her cupcake but the first bite is like eating a block of sugar. With how her stomach feels she’s not sure she can take another bite without throwing up. It’s stupid because she’s eaten worse food before. Stale thrown out food or half rotten or left out outside too long. 

And now she can’t eat a cupcake? 

There’s a spike of hot anger at herself in her chest but she shoves it down. She’s gotten mad during her training a couple of times and Riven had made her do planks over and over again until she’d been exhausted. Uncontrolled anger was less than useless, she said every time. 

So Vi puts the cupcake down, pulls her knees back up to her face and clenches her fist together instead of throwing the damn thing. 

Caitlyn’s hand lands hesitantly on her shoulder. She wants to shrug it off but she also doesn’t so she just. Sits there. 

“Why don’t we go outside while we wait?” Caitlyn suggests softly after a couple of moments. 

If Vi leaves there is a chance she’ll have to see Vander again but this closet is barely big enough to stand in and it’s getting all hot and humid with the two of them in it.

Vi nods and Caitlyn helps her stand. When they step out of the closet it makes Vi close her eyes. She hadn’t been in there that long but it feels so much brighter out here. She keeps her head turned away from Caitlyn, knowing she’s a mess.

“Would you like to come over next week?” Caitlyn asks out of the blue. “Maybe stay the night? Powder can come too, of course.”

Vi blinks at her with wet red eyes then looks away. She wants to say yes. They’ve been to each other's house a couple of times but they haven’t stayed the night. Powder would probably like it because Caitlyn’s told her about the block sets she has but… 

But…

“I don’t know if I can,” she answers quietly. 

Vi doesn’t even know where she’ll be living next week. 

Caitlyn wilts a little. “I think Lady Medarda will allow it, if you ask her. 

Mel would have absolutely said yes. Vi has come to realize that Mel doesn’t mind giving her whatever she asked for; if Vi asks. It’s terrifying because she doesn’t know where the line is. At what point will Mel remember that Vi and Powder are just with her House and not a part of it? 

Now, probably. When Vi has to admit that there had been someone willing to take them in but Vi couldn’t handle the pressure.

“It’s complicated,” Vi says. Her voice is all rough from crying. “I want to, but — it’s just complicated.”

She’s seized again by the thought that she might not see Caitlyn again after tonight. If Mel kicks them out because of Vander then Vi will be really busy taking care of Powder again. Making the trip from Zaun to Piltover had taken hours the first time. Plus who knows if Caitlyn’s mom would even let Vi see her. 

She hates that a lot. She hates the idea of Powder losing her blocks, of having to move her mom’s Space, of not getting to train, of losing her books and a hundred other things. 

She hates the idea of losing Mel too. 

This was always going to be temporary. Vi knew that it would end sooner or later. It was why she hasn’t spent a single cog Mel gave her! Vi knew this would happen; why did it still hurt so bad? 

She liked Mel. She hadn’t lied, not once. She always kept Powder safe, always asked about Vi’s lessons. She’s given them clothes and food and all Vi had to do was learn and come to a couple of dumb parties.  

Caitlyn suddenly pulled at her shoulders and pulled Vi into a tight hug. All Vi could do was hug her back just as tight. She was such a good hugger even though she was a bit shorter than Vi. 

“Vi,” Caitlyn said as she pulled back. “What’s wrong? Truly?” 

She doesn’t even know where she would start to answer that question. 

“Vi? Oh, Janna it’s really you…” 

She flinched, she’d knew this was a possibility but she’d hoped she would be able to avoid it. 

Vi opens her eyes to see Vander. He’s just as big as she tried to forget. His clothes are the nicest ones she can ever recall him wearing and it makes this entire thing even weirder. There’s a new scar on his face, running across his jaw. His expression is all shock and hope and she doesn’t like it. Hope means he’ll tell Mel that he wants them back. 

Vander steps forward and Vi steps back. 

Caitlyn, who was blunter than a hammer and more stubborn than an old rusted gear, takes one look at Vi’s reaction and steps between them. 

“Can I help you sir?” She says with the type of confidence that only comes from having very powerful parents. 

Vander doesn’t even spare a look at her. He kneels, his height so much that he still towers over the pair of them. The shock was fading from his face and he’s tearing up. 

“Violet,” he says. He smiles and his eyes are all soft. 

It reminds her of shadow boxing with him while they waited for her mom to get home. It reminds her of the ever thinning soup that her mom used to bring to the Last Drop. It reminds her of sneaking to the stars late at night during her mom’s gang meetings so she could try to overhear the adult jokes they were laughing at. 

But then just as suddenly she remembers the last time she spoke to him and she hides just a little bit more behind Caitlyn. It’s dumb and childish but she can’t help it. 

It makes his face twist into an expression she recognizes from that night at the bridge. 

“Vi,” he says with so much hurt and pain. “I thought— I’m so sorry.” 

She doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t know what exactly he’s apologizing for. Was it for yelling at her the last time they talked? For not finding her until now? 

Vi just wants to go home and make sure Powder is ok. 

“I don’t think she wants to speak with you,” Caitlyn says sternly.  

Vander tries again, “Vi please, let’s just—“ 

“I believe Miss Kiramman is correct, Sir,” says Mel with a tone cooler than ice. Her face is stone and Vi swears her eyes are more gold than usual. 

Great, she’s already mad. She’s just going to be even madder when she finds out Vi lied. 

Vander stands back up. He’s a big guy and he knows how to fill space even more. He’s not doing his whole ‘I’m named mediator and that means I can and will mess you up’ thing but he’s still. You know. Huge.

Mel doesn’t seem to care. Her glare is all dangerous fire that Vi hasn’t ever seen from her before. She looks behind Vander to her and Vi can’t help but look down.

 “Vi,” she says as softly as when she found Vi in the studio. “Caitlyn said you wanted to go home?” 

She nods even though she knows Mel’s house isn’t going to be home much longer. 

“Home?” Vander repeats with confusion.  He turns to Mel, “You’ve taken Vi and Powder in?” 

“I have,” she doesn’t even look at him which is impressive considering he was in her district line of sight. “Let’s get going then, Vi.” 

“Hold on,” he says quickly, “I need to speak with her.” 

“No,” Mel says with casual confidence. “Caitlyn,” she says in a complete tone change, “I have it from here, why don’t you run along to your mother?” 

Caitlyn hesitates but leaves when Vi nodded in agreement with Mel. She really hopes this isn’t the last time she saw the other girl. 

“No?” He repeats like no one has ever said the word to him before. “What gives you the right to tell me I can’t speak with Vi?” 

“She’s my ward. I have every right to deny you a conversation with a young girl that clearly doesn’t want to speak with you,” she answers. Each word is carefully controlled but her eyes are glaring at Vander so harshly that Vi thought he’d catch on fire. 

Vander doesn’t like the implied implication and frowns, “I’m her godfather! I thought she was dead!“ 

Vi flinches not at his raised voice, because it reminds her too much of the last time they spoke, and because she’d been hoping to at least tell Mel herself. 

But Mel simply looks at him for a moment with a slight frown. “Vi,” she says carefully. “Is this true?” 

And all she could do was nod.

When Mel rounded the corner to see a man in front of Vi and Caitlyn she felt the very blood in her veins heat up. When he stood up and she recognized him as the other man in the photograph she almost growled. 

He was a large man but Mel doesn’t care in the least. She doesn’t want to cause a scene at such a big event but Vi’s eyes are red from crying and she can’t even look up from the ground. She’ll ruin this man’s life and do it gladly. 

“I’m her godfather!,” he shouts. “ I thought she was dead!“ 

“Vi,” she says carefully. “Is this true?”

The girl nods, still refusing to look up from the floor.  

Mel thinks about how Vi acts like such a strong guardian for Powder, how afraid she’d been to leave her alone with anyone. That she’d said there was no one in Zaun that would take her or her sister in and how she has mentioned no family besides her clearly deceased mother. There’d been a man in the photograph she hadn’t wanted to see and she flinched at this man’s raised voice. There could be multiple different reasons why these things are true but there are several very dark ones that could be the cause. 

For the first time in Mel’s life, she very seriously considered that she might have to smash a man’s skull into the wall. 

“Do you want to speak to him?” Mel asks. Even if she said yes it wouldn’t be ialone but Vi needed to have the option. 

“I, Um,” she looked up at the pair of them and it broke Mel’s heart to see how wilted she was. “I- I guess we can.” 

Mel nodded. If Vi agreed then she’ll allow it. But if this man put a toe out of line she’ll defend Vi wholeheartedly and violently if needed. 

What had this man done? 

Chapter Text

Vi isn’t supposed to be out this late. 

Her mom drilled it into her head over and over again; never go out on the streets of Zaun after nightfall unless she or Vander was with her. It’s dangerous. Even if Vi probably wouldn’t be messed with because people knew her ma was a popular member of a big mining gang; she could be caught in the crossfire. 

But there’s been a riot. A bad one. Vi only has foggy memories of the last one, mostly she remembers her ma hugging her and Powder really tight and humming a song over and over again. Riots meant staying inside even more than it being nighttime but her mom hadn’t returned during this riot. Vi had to comfort her sister all on her own. 

She needs to find her mom. So she holds Powder’s hand as they walk the lanes. 

Zaun is weirdly quiet. It’s scary to not see anyone on the streets. The food stalls were empty and there weren’t any gangs hanging out. No music was playing when usually there’s bands on every corner. 

Vi spots the first dead person. A miner from a different gang than her ma’s but still on friendly enough terms that she could recognize the marks from the gang coming into the Last Drop. 

His eyes are staring wide open, his mouth stuck moaning in pain. Blood covered his mining uniform from neck to knees. 

It makes Vi’s stomach hurt, and makes her want to cry. It’s the first time she’s ever seen a dead body and it's horrible.

But Powder doesn’t seem to understand what Vi is staring at in horror. She’s looking at the body then Vi with wide blue eyes but isn’t upset. She’s too little to understand what a dead person is. If Vi freaks out then she’ll freak out and they can’t have that. 

“Cover your eyes Pow-Pow,” Vi finally chokes out. “It’s like a game, ok? Come on.” 

By the time they make it to the bridge Vi is making Powder hum too because there’s a lot of… just horrible noises. 

She doesn’t know what the noises are and she refuses to think about it. 

The bridge is covered in smoke. Even though they’re on the river there’s so much of it that it scratches her throat and lungs. There’s a lot of dead people on the bridge but Vi tries not to look for anything other than a familiar shade of purple or Vander’s huge frame. 

She hears Vander before she sees him. It’s a horrible wet thunking noise that she immediately doesn’t want to know the cause of. It takes Vander a second to see them but in the lamp lit smoke covered bridge, for the first time in her life Vi is scared of him. 

He has his mining gauntlets on. She’s worn them a couple of times but she still can’t really lift them. She likes trying. The well oiled leather and iron gauntlets have been a staple in her house for her entire life. Vander has always kept them spotless but now they’re dripping thick blood. His body is splattered in it, from his face to his feet. 

He’s breathing heavily, his eyes wide and ferocious in a way she’s never seen before. 

Then he finally sees them and immediately closes his eyes, turning his head away from like it hurt to see them. 

She pulls Powder towards him, hoping he knows where their ma is but he looks off to the side before she gets to him. 

He looks so she does too and she sees—

She sees— 

Vander ties his gauntlets to his belt before he sweeps them both up in his massive arms. “I got you,” he mutters along with other useless nonsense. 

“Promise?” Vi sobs into his chest. 

“I promise.”

The massive ballroom that this event was being held in had halls upon halls of either side of it. 

This was, of course, on purpose. This kind of event spawn endless deals and there needed to be private rooms to discuss them. It’s easy enough to find a small empty meeting room. Inside was a large circular table and a couple of chairs. 

Vi sits down and doesn’t raise her eyes from the table. Her godfather doesn’t sit directly next to her or across, instead taking a seat diagonal from her. This leaves them all in a triangle when Mel sits down. 

Mel studies him with a critical eye. He’s older than her, perhaps Cassandra’s age but he’s lived a much rougher life. Gray and white have started to dot his roots, perhaps a sign of stress from whats been happening in the Underground. His clothes were the kind of old but well cared for that she’s come to expect from Zaun. His knuckles and wrists are covered in scars of all kinds and sizes. 

And he looks at Vi with heartbreaking guilt, sadness and relief. 

It’s clear that Vi won’t be starting this conversation after a few moments when she doesn’t speak up, doesn’t look at either of them. 

“Vi hasn’t mentioned you,” Mel says. Her tone is cold but she keeps herself calm. 

Vi starts picking at the table with her nail. “Vander’s my godfather,” she mutters. She sounds guilty or shamed. 

Does she think Mel is upset with her ? When her body language is screaming she doesn’t want to even look at him? 

“Mel took me and Powder in,” she continued. “We’ve been with her for … nine months? I guess.” 

“And I did so gladly,” she makes sure to reassure her. Then her eyes cut to him, “Although I am now curious on why you were on the street if you have a godfather.” 

Vander took a long shuddering breath. “I’m so sorry, Vi. Just so sorry. The Last Drop burned to the ground while I was away, I looked for you girls, I swear,” his voice cracks and tears build up in his eyes, “I looked everywhere. I even had someone standing guard at your old home in case you went there but there was no sign. None. Eventually I— I had to admit you’d died in the fire or maybe in a riot.” 

He wipes his eyes then a smile grows on his beard covered face. “I should have known that you’d be able to take care of yourself though. Pretty impressive that you made it all the way to top side after the fire.” 

Vi doesn’t smile or look at him at all. “I didn’t know there was a fire.” 

Vander’s smile shrinks, “What do you mean?” 

She glances up at Mel for the shortest moment and Mel tries to say with her eyes that she can say anything and she’d have Mel in her corner. 

“When did the Last Drop burn down?” She says with a shaking voice. “How long after— after the last time we talked?” 

He frowns, “A week. It was a week.” 

Vi snorts, a little angry frown on her face, but it’s the first time she looks like herself since Vander appeared. “We were already in Mel’s shed by then.” 

Vander’s face collapses. “Vi— You know how it was—“  

“I wondered how long it would take you to notice we were missing,” she says like he didn’t speak. “How much longer would it have been if the bar hadn’t burned down?” 

“Please,” he’s practically begging. “The Underground was in chaos, you know that. I’m sorry I wasn’t there enough —“ 

Vi slams her hands on the table and she’s finally looking at them. Her gray eyes are burning with a light Mel recognized from battle hardened warriors who’ve had enough. 

“Enough? Enough? You weren’t there at all! You kept disappearing and just left us alone and wherever you were there you were mad all the time!” 

Tears start building up and her voice cracks, “You promised and you left anyway. Over and over again.”

It’s a terrible thing, to see a man that clearly is a strong one break down in tears. “You,” he tries to control himself with a deep breath, “You ran away? Vi why didn’t you just—“

“Just what ? Talk to you about it?” Vi crosses her arms and looks up at the ceiling. “I tried. I tried. I told you I couldn’t handle taking care of Powder, that she needed somebody better, remember? And you—you…” 

“I yelled at you,” Vander whispered. He covered his eyes with one of his large hands. “I— Violet, Please I didn’t mean any of that. You must know that, right? The Enforcers were making a muck in my city, the gangs were infighting, there were food shortages everywhere. I didn’t mean…” 

Vi sniffles, “You said that Powder was my responsibility. You said that you had all of Zaun on your shoulders but all I had was taking care of her and that if I couldn’t I was a bad sister.” 

“Excuse me?” Mel finally interrupted. She wanted to allow Vi to speak her mind because she clearly needed it but, “You said that to a nine year old child?” 

Vander whipped his head up, “I didn’t mean— you can’t possibly understand what kind of pressure I was under! They were out there killing us everyday, I had enemies on every side, I just didn’t have time! I knew that Vi could handle it.” 

“She shouldn’t have had to,” Mel says with clenched teeth, “She’s still a child herself and as her guardian you not only left her alone, you forced her to parent her sister? That’s extremely dangerous for both of them!” 

“Vi handled it,” Vander repeated, “Powder was fine.” 

“No she wasn’t,” Vi snaps. “She— she got super sick and I didn’t know what to do. She stopped talking, she wouldn’t sleep because she was scared all the time since you kept scaring her! That’s why I left, because you told me I had to take care of her and I couldn’t do it!” 

Tears built up again and this time Vi couldn’t stop them. “I tried” she says. A sob broke from her throat and had Mel out of her seat immediately. “I tried really really hard but I couldn’t do it and you just did nothing—“ the rest was lost to sobbing. 

Mel wraps her in a hug and Vi sobs into her chest. “You’re an amazing sister, Vi. Powder is lucky to have you, understand?” 

As the girl sobs into her chest she looks over shoulder to Vander. He’s looking at them with devastation in his eyes, his hand covering his slack mouth. 

“I think it’s best if you leave,” Mel says quite calmly considering her anger. 

He stands, face pale and eyes wet. His mouth opens but after a moment he simply looks at how hard Vi is crying and he leaves. 

“It’s alright,” Mel rubs Vi’s back softly. “It’s alright.” 

No wonder Vi is so protective of Powder and no wonder she never asks for anything. She’d been turned into a mother before she was ten years old. So much responsibility well before she was ready had to have been crushing. 

“I’m sorry I lied,” Vi says into Mel’s neck after she calms down. “I— I didn’t want Powder to go back there.” 

Mel leans back and cups Vi’s red and wet face, making sure she looks Vi in the eye as she says, “You have nothing to apologize for.” 

Vi shook her head, “You took us in because we didn’t have anybody but Vander—“ 

Mel hushed her quietly, “Even if you had told me I would have never sent you back to that. Not then and certainly not now. He was wrong for all of that, do you understand? You shouldn’t have had to go through all that by yourself.” 

Vi looks at her then her lips quiver a little. “You’re not going to kick us out?” 

“Child,” she sighs as she cups Vi’s tear stained face, “Why in the world would I do that?” 

“Cause you don’t have to take care of us anymore since Vander could.” She whips her face with her sleeve. 

Mel thinks about seeing Vi and Powder for the first time under that tarp. How worried she was to leave them alone, how taking them in worried her even more. How Vi had protected Powder with a passion Mel hasn’t ever seen in a child before. She remembers how Vi had surprised her tutors with her quick process and the bright smile on Powder’s face when she played with her blocks. 

She thinks about the portrait she made for them, the sounds of playing that floated from the studio when Caitlyn came over and how Riven admitted that Vi had real potential. She thinks about Vi stealing her book and Powder stealing her papers to draw on. Vi’s horrible jokes about gangs which she does purely to be a nuisance. 

And Mel thinks; absolutely not.

When Mel was a teenager, she wondered when a woman became a mother. What made a woman into one? What is a mother, if not just a woman who’s given birth? 

Her own mother used to say she’d understand why she’s done the things she did when she had her own children. That all the violence and all the manipulation was to protect them. That Kino and Mel were the most important things in her life because they were her legacies in this world. 

Mel thought that was foolish. Surely there were more important things about motherhood than violence and pain. More than simple legacy. 

Wasn’t there protection? Wasn’t there support and love and care? The drive to shape a life into the best version of themselves or to watch as someone you cared for became brave and loved? The desire to provide or to see someone so small become so much greater than yourself? 

She thinks she knows the answers to these questions or at least enough to answer the most important one. 

Vi feels horrible and tired and sad. 

She hasn’t cried so much since her ma died. The fact that Vander hadn’t even noticed they were gone for a week hurt. That he had to be disappointed that she couldn’t handle it all hurt. That Mel had to see how she failed hurt. 

She says she’s not mad about Vi lying but that couldn’t be true. Mel doesn’t lie but she can’t truly be saying Vi and Powder can actually stay with her forever. 

Mel gently pushes Vi’s hair out of her eyes. “I promise you, Vi: you’ll have a place in my family for as long as you want it. I won’t give you or Powder up without a fight.” 

Vi looks into Mel’s gold eyes and doesn’t really believe her but for the first time she thinks maybe, possibly, she really means it.

Elora greets them with a confused smile that is quickly wiped clean off her face at the sight of Mel’s expression. 

Vi, still probably embarrassed because of how many emotions she’s displayed tonight, doesn’t greet Elora like she usually does. Instead she rushes right past her. No doubt to go be with Powder. Normally she would have reminded Vi of her manners but tonight was rough enough to warrant ignoring such things. 

The moment she’s out of hearing range she turns to Elora, “Do you mind working late tonight?” 

Elora quickly shakes her head, “Of course not. Did something happen at the party?”

“The girl’s godfather was there,” she practically growls out his title. “And I’ll be damned if they go back to him.”

She breathes deeply, “We’ll be canceling all my meetings tomorrow, perhaps the next as well. I want to know exactly what processes I need to do in Piltover to make it official. Tonight we’ll draft a letter to send to Noxus Prime, even if I’ll be waiting to send it. I want to speak with Vi and Powder both when emotions are calmer but everything needs to be in place when I do.” 

Elora blinks, raw shock on her face, “ Noxus Prime? I thought…” 

Mel nods in agreement as she starts walking towards her study, Elora following behind her. 

“That I was highly discouraged from communicating with anyone back home?” She says with a sarcastic smile. “I have, yes. But Noxus Prime holds the records of House Medarba and I haven’t been disinherited quite yet. I’ll be needing to change my records soon.”

Her assistant walks into her study and takes one of the spare clipboards that Powder uses to draw sometimes. “To include your wards?” 

“No,” Mel sits down, takes out a pen and begins making a list of things to be done. “To add my daughters.” 

Chapter Text

Mel quietly gives the staff another paid day off. 

Besides, that is, Elora, who would have to spend most of her morning sending messages across Piltover to explain why Mel wouldn’t be able to attend various meetings. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem as Mel tried to keep her work load light, what business she does do is more than impactful enough, but she’d anticipated a lot of changes after last night's event and planned accordingly.  

It would cost her to pause as such a delicate time. She wouldn’t deny it. This was a time of rapid change and growth from Zaun and there were plenty of other businesses waiting in the wings to use what should have been her momentum. 

But what are a few business opportunities compared to her girls? 

To no surprise to her, Vi is skittish at breakfast. 

Powder is less so. Mel has noticed she’s slowly becoming a less perfect mirror of Vi’s mood as time marches on. She’s nervous and looks towards her sister for reassurance but also seeks out Mel’s attention with long glances, which is a new development. 

Powder is still a rather quiet girl. She prefers to let Vi speak for her, unless they’re playing with her blocks. In those cases she becomes a rather talkative and bossy little girl. 

But Powder is still too young to have the conversation Mel needs to have. She’s only five years old and it’s been almost a year since they’ve lived in Zaun so it’s completely possible she doesn’t remember much from their time with Vander. 

“Powder,” Mel says when everyone is done eating, “Why don’t you go play in the studio for a while while Vi and I talk?” 

She keeps her voice gentle and soothing as possible for both the girl’s sake. Powder reacts strongly to any kind of anger, whether it is real or simply perceived, while Vi is no doubt in a fragile state. Now that she knows more about the girl’s past, Powder’s sensitivity makes sense. 

Powder looks at Mel for a moment, biting her lip with uncertainty, before she quickly turns to Vi. The older girl smiles, Mel notes she does a good job of hiding her anxieties, and ruffles Powder’s hair. 

“Go on Pow-Pow,” Vi says. 

With another glance towards Mel, which she’s surprised to see isn’t fearful so much as uncertain, Powder scampered off. 

Mel and Vi walk to her study in tense silence. Vi’s shoulders are tense and her hands are clenched into tight fists at her side. 

Vi had told her that she thought Mel would be angry with her that she ‘lied’ about not having someone to live with. And Mel is angry about it but not towards Vi. It’s extremely clear that Vi truly felt she had no options and from what little Mel knew; she’d made the right call. 

Days without supervision, let alone an entire  week without noticing that they were gone? Telling Vi that if she failed an unachievable task it means she’s failed as a sister? Lashing out enough to scare two little girls? 

No, she’s not angry at all. At least not towards Vi.

If Mel had known all of that at the start, when she’d been scared of caring for two children forever without some kind of way out; even then she wouldn’t have allowed it. Now that she’s housed, fed, and taken care of these two girls for months she’s not only not allowing it; now she might destroy Vander’s life. 

Vi sits before her, looking much like she did last night. Stiff, awkward, refusing to look anywhere near Mel. If she knows Vi, and Mel believes she does, she’s scared Mel is going to go back on what she said yesterday or perhaps that she’ll add on some kind of new task for her to do. 

Which, again, now that she knows more…. 

“I meant what I said last night,” Mel starts with that even though Vi doesn’t take reassurance well. 

She’s a practical girl, she needs to see results to believe anything. Mel can say whatever she wants but she’s well aware that in the long run it means little to Vi. Only time would let Vi believe her. 

“We agreed that I would take you both on as wards, and yes, it was because you had nowhere else to go,” Mel continues.  “I know you feel guilty about not telling me about your godfather but there’s no need, Vi.”  

Vi’s knee starts bouncing, a sign of her nerves. “I lied though.” 

Mel looks at her for a moment, “Then me the truth, now: did you honestly believe at the time that you would be safe with him?” 

Her knee keeps bouncing, “He didn’t… Vander never hit us. Never came close, it wasn’t like that—“ 

“That’s not what I asked,” Mel interrupted. “I asked if you felt safe. Cared for. Because from what little I’ve heard this far he failed you in that regard. That’s why I said there’s no need to feel guilty; you didn’t lie. Not truly.” 

Vi tears up a little, though Mel only knows because she brings her arm up to rub at her eyes. 

“I won’t push you to talk about it or anything else , as I always haven’t.” Mel straightens a few papers on her desk as she pauses for a second. 

She knows Vi fairly well but she doesn’t know how she’ll react to this. Mel has to admit, to herself if not to anyone else, that she was nervous. She doesn’t want to force Vi into agreeing. 

“But I understand why you were scared of telling me about him,” Mel continues. “And I like to believe it’s because you’ve both liked living here.” 

“We do!” Vi’s eyes snap up, wide and just the slightest fearful. “Powder— she’s way happier here than back in Zaun. She doesn’t freak out as much and has less nightmares. It’s, it’s better.” 

Of course Vi doesn’t bring herself into the equation. 

“Do you like living here, Vi?” Mel asks softly. “And before you answer; I’m not asking if you believe Powder is happy here or better off. I’m asking you to put that aside for the moment; do you enjoy living here?” 

“Yeah?” She’s confused, still slightly fearful. Mel can tell she’s looking for the answer Mel wants but doesn’t quite understand the question enough to know what the answer is. “I mean, I guess?” 

Mel lets the silence linger for a moment, knowing Vi would continue if it lasted. She needed to know for certain that Vi wasn’t just running from Vander or Zaun. She wants, perhaps selfishly, to know if the girl likes it here. That Mel hasn’t simply tricked herself into believing she knew how to raise two little girls 

“I mean—,” Vi’s eyebrows furrow a bit, “It’s nice to not worry about food or cogs, um, and I like getting to read books more often? The lessons are kind of cool too?” 

She won't press Vi more than that as Mel can tell she’s starting to get more fearful that her answers aren’t adequate. She can’t fault Vi for her answer, even if it’s not quite what she wanted to hear. The young girl hasn’t put any importance on her own wants or desires from the moment Mel has met her. She very much may not even know how to recognize them at all. 

“The reason that I’m asking is that when we first spoke about this arrangement I said that you and your sister were going to become my wards,” Mel says. 

How strange that she feels nervous now. She’s stood in front of the rich and powerful, here and back home, and it never felt quite like this. 

“I’d thought that, after some time, I would find someone who’d take you in. Someone qualified in raising you both, hopefully someone from the Undercity.”

Vi’s finger’s clinch around her crossed arms and Mel can see how tight her jaw is. She can’t quite see her eyes because of how much she’s turned her face down and away from her but she believes they’re shiny with tears. 

“But I’ve come to enjoy having you here,” Mel admits. “I also meant what I said last night about you always having a place in my family, Vi. I loathe the idea of not having Powder playing in my study in the mornings or not seeing how much you’ve learned from your studies.” 

“If you agree,” Mel says softly, “I’d like to make this more permanent.” 

Vi finally looks up again, a little confused frown on her face. “What do you mean?” 

“As my wards you two were my responsibility but, as you’ve said, you aren’t true members of my House. I’d like to change that.” 

Mel picks up the stack of paperwork on her desk that Elora had helped her draft them last night. Piltover had a similar system from keeping records as Noxus though it had more paperwork involved. It was still a rather simple process when dealing with orphans. All Mel needed to do was list the girls as her daughters and it would be so. 

“I want to adopt the both of you,” Mel says as she places the paperwork in front of Vi.

“I’d thought that, after some time, I would find someone who’d take you in. Someone qualified in raising you both, hopefully someone from the Undercity.”

Vi isn’t surprised to hear this. It hurts, makes her hug herself and she refuses to see the pity on Mel’s face. They aren’t actually a part of Mel’s House. She’s nice but sooner or later she would give them away, if she found someone that would even agree to take them. 

“But I’ve come to enjoy having you here,” Mel continues. “I also meant what I said last night about you always having a place in my family, Vi. I loathe the idea of not having Powder playing in my study in the mornings or not seeing how much you’ve learned from your studies.” 

She doesn’t scoff like she kinda wants too. She doesn’t snap that she isn’t stupid enough to truly believe Mel would just take care of them forever for no reason. Mel hasn’t lied yet in the nine months they’ve lived there; it’s just enough to keep Vi quiet. 

“If you agree,” Mel says in a weirdly soft tone, “I’d like to make this more permanent.” 

Vi finally looks up. Mel has the same gentle expression from last night. Like she cares what  Vi is feeling. She knows Mel cares about them to some extent because she wouldn’t feed them or get them toys if she truly didn’t but It’s…it’s still a strange expression for Vi to see towards herself. 

But Vi still frowns, “What do you mean?” 

“As my wards you two were my responsibility but, as you’ve said, you aren’t true members of my House. I’d like to change that. I want to adopt the both of you,” Mel says as she places a stack of papers in front of Vi. 

Vi eyes go wide and blood rushes in her ears. The papers in front of her are easy to read but it still takes her a few seconds to fully understand what’s in front of her. 

The title of the first page read: 

‘I, Mel Medarda, declare that, Violet and Powder of Zaun, to be my lawful children to the fullest extent of the law and to be full members of House Medarda with all the associated rights afforded to them.’ 

There’s more on the page but Vi can’t seem to make it that far. 

Vi has thought a lot since last night. She’d gotten back here and pretty much ran to Powder, worried until the moment she’d see her peacefully sleeping that she’d, well, Vi didn’t even know what she was worried about. Vander wouldn’t have run over here to steal her or anything but Vi had been scared nonetheless. 

She doesn’t know how much sleep she actually got. Her mind ran every moment from seeing Vander’s face for the first time in months until he left over and over again. How hurt she felt when she realized it had taken him so long to notice they were gone. There was anger when he said he wasn’t there enough like he’d been there at all. 

Worst was how stupid she felt over crying like a baby. She tried not to think about it because the reminder that she couldn’t take care of Powder back home in Zaun hurt more than just about anything. 

She’d wanted to believe Mel about always having a place here. She repeated that to herself last night and this morning when Mel said they needed to talk. Mel has been nice to her and Powder, she’s been more than nice really. It’s been nine months, maybe, just maybe, she really meant it. 

But Vi hadn’t ever thought she’d do this. The thought hadn’t ever entered her mind. 

“I’ll only put this forward if you agree,” Mel says. 

Vi doesn’t know how long she’s been staring at the paper in front of her. It feels like a long time. It feels like it should be a no brainer but…. 

“Are you sure?” Vi can’t help but ask. She can’t possibly mean it. Mel can’t possibly want to adopt them— it’s one thing to be responsible for them, it’s a whole other thing to call them her kids. 

“Of course I am,” she replies easily, like there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind. “I wouldn’t be asking you if I wasn’t.” 

Vi doesn’t quite know what to do. She should accept, right? She doesn’t really know why she doesn’t say yes immediately. The idea isn’t even off putting. Powder is safer here, happy and healthy in a way Vi might never find again in Zaun. They have food, books and doctors. Mel listens to Vi talk about her lessons and lets Powder be quiet. She doesn’t throw things like Vander used too sometimes and Vi knows for sure that she’d never go a week without checking up on them.

Yet Vi can’t seem to open her mouth and say yes. 

“I—I, um,” Vi stutters, trying to force some kind of actual word out of her mouth. 

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Mel comes to her rescue for a few brief moments. “You don’t have to agree at this very moment, Vi.” 

It’s meant to be comforting but it sends a jolt of fear up her spine. What if she was annoyed that Vi wasn't jumping at this? She was trying to take them in forever after Vi cried like a baby about having to go back to Zaun yet Vi isn’t jumping at the chance? Worse yet; what if Mel took back the offer if she didn’t agree soon? 

“No, I— I mean, yes.” Vi shakes her head and feels her fingers go a little numb because of how hard she’s clenching her hands together. Her stomach hurts. 

Mel sighs a little and Vi might scream at the sound. 

“Vi,” she says softly. “Calm down, it’s alright.” She comes around her desk and kneels besides her chair and it puts them at a similar height. Mel places a hand over Vi’s white knuckled pair, “Nothing has to change if you don’t want it too, understand? I still won’t allow you to go back.” 

Vi tries to breathe like Riven taught her too when she got too mad. She’s gotta try to explain but her thoughts are all jumbled. 

“I don’t know why I can’t say yes,” she eventually mumbles. She can’t look at Mel to see her disappointment or annoyance so she keeps her eyes pointed at her knees. “It’s— it’s not because I don’t want to.” 

“It’s alright—“ 

Vi loses her control a little bit and scoffs rather harshly. 

Mel fingers go under her chin to firmly, and gently, tilt Vi’s face up enough that they lock eyes. “I’m not upset. You and Powder have been through so much, I completely understand why you’d be weary about agreeing to this. As I said; you don’t need to answer me at this very moment.” 

Once again this doesn’t make her feel better. With Mel’s gentle hand under her chin she can’t look away and her soft expression makes Vi want to squirm away. It reminded her too much of her Ma. 

Maybe….maybe that’s ok. Mel wants to adopt her. She apparently did paperwork to make that possible, she filled out Vi and Powder’s names already. If Vi said yes, she’d be their second mom. 

It eases something in her stomach. It feels less crazy when she thinks of it like that. It’s less like Vi is agreeing to some big Thing about what she wants or whatever. It’s just her and Powder getting full membership of the House, at its core.   Because Mel’s proven that she can take care of them, hasn't she? She’s been doing it already. All the stuff Vi finds comfort in about being here is stuff a parent would do, isn’t it? 

She doesn’t need to be scared that Mel would be Vander because she’s been providing otherwise for months. Vi doesn’t need to be scared about wanting to live here because Mel says she wants them there and she’s been doing nothing but taking care of them the entire time she’s known her. 

Vi takes a deep breath, “I want to do it.” 

Chapter Text

Mel doesn’t intend to insult Vi by pressing her much over her decision. 

Vi is scared but Mel isn’t sure what exactly it is that has her afraid. Was it the idea of living here forever ? Having Mel as a mother? The thought of returning to Vander? It could be any of those things, or none of them. 

But Vi agreed. She’d agreed despite that fear and once she committed to something she committed whole heartedly. Even if deep down she was afraid. There would be no turning back, even if Mel wanted too. 

She didn’t want to turn back, because Vi and Powder have become so very important to her, obviously. The sound of Vi sobbing over her ‘failure’ had haunted her late into the night. The thought of Powder having no one other than her young sister had forced her pen to rip more than one page. 

Even still; she hadn’t quite wanted Vi to agree during this conversation, and had tried to reassure her that her answer could wait but Mel could tell that it hadn’t worked. Excepted, but slightly downhearting. On one hand it meant Mel had Vi’s permission to begin the process but that agreement was clearly based on fear. 

But she wouldn’t dare interrogate the girl. Doing so will only make Vi double down hard and worse; make her believe that Mel wasn’t completely invested in this. 

Instead Mel allows herself one question; 

“Are you absolutely certain?” Mel held up hand to stall Vi’s quick answer. “I won’t ask again but I need you to truly think about this, Vi.” 

Mel tightens her grip on Vi’s hand and after a moment of hesitation, raises a hand to Vi face to cup her cheek. It’s something Mel’s own mother used to do to her, back when Mel craved her affections. Vi often does the same motion when she’s acting particularly comforting towards Powder. 

She worries Vi would flinch. 

Mel remembers the long weeks after the girls moved into the guest rooms. The way Vi would watch her every movement to both keep her distance and keep Powder from view. How quick movements were meant with flinches or frozen tension. It had taken little Powder weeks to loosen but it had taken Vi even longer. 

Vi doesn’t flinch. She sniffles a little, her still downturned eyes shining with tears that Mel knows the girl is desperately willing to not fall. She doesn’t move away, only squeezes her hand back and ever so slightly leaning into Mel’s other hand. 

“If all you wish for is to not return to Vander,” Mel starts, her voice low and soft. She uses her light gasp of Vi’s face to tilt her face just enough to look her in the eye. 

“Then I will do everything in my power to make it so. But if you’d like to return to Zaun then I’ll find someone worthy of taking you in. Or if you want to remain as only my Wards, then nothing must change. I want you and Powder to stay and become my daughters but only if you desire the same.” 

Mel lets her hand drop away from Vi’s cheek and gives her hand one final squeeze before she stands again. 

Vi looks up at her with an expression Mel hasn’t seen in weeks. It was the tough outer shell that she’d often tried putting on to seem tough where seer determination mixed with distrust. But where before Mel saw spider-web cracks, likely due to Vi’s age more than lack of either emotion, she saw the raw pain behind it. 

“I said yes,” Vi says, her voice that familiar rough tone like when she demanded Mel give her a job. “I- but-It’ll be the same, right?” 

It was a desperate, almost wounded, plea. 

“Yes, Vi,” Mel answered softly. “Nothing at all has to change. The only differences would be when you’d become of age, I would want you to become more involved as someday you or Powder will take control of this branch of House Medarda. Do you understand?” 

The thought had caused her to break out a bottle of overly expensive wine last night, Elora had been nice enough to share it with her. If Vi and Powder were her daughters then everything she’s built would go to them. The legacy that she’s been trying to build outside her mother’s shadow would one day be theirs. Mel would now have the responsibility of not only securing her own future but that of the girls. 

Her mother has done terrible things in the pursuit of securing her legacy. Mel still wakes with the sight of blood splattered across floors and walls on the back of her eyelids. She doesn’t know how she’ll make sure that her legacy will continue on but she knows how she won’t. 

Vi and Powder will never fear violence from her. They’ll never be afraid that she’ll cast them out for failing to meet her standards. Vi might have a passion for training but Mel knew with a great certainty that inside her heart was a protector. She was no more a wolf than Mel. Powder was still too young to have such a grasp on but she doubted the little girl was either. 

But there was no doubt that whatever or whoever they became, that Mel wanted to see it. 

“Nothing at all has to change. The only differences would be when you’d become of age, I would want you to become more involved as someday you or Powder will take control of this branch of House Medarda. Do you understand?” 

And thankfully, yes, Vi does. 

Because some gangs run like that ; the boss dies and their kid takes over. It’s not super common but Vi has heard of it. Most of the time there was someone better, like their Lieutenant or something, but the gangs in Piltover have a weird obsession with being related. She and Caitlyn have talked about it a couple of times but she doesn’t really get it. According to Cait it’s rare for a ‘House’ to fully take kids in. Most of the time they’re just with them, never actually a full member. 

(Piltover had money, food and space but apparently none of the gangs up here did what gangs were supposed to do; grow their numbers. All the gangs up here were tiny, just a family unit and a bunch of agreements keeping them from fighting. Seemed like a dumb way of doing things to her.) 

Mel isn’t a Piltie, she’s too kind and generous to ever be a piltie, but it makes sense that her gang works the same way. Cait is expected to take over her mother’s gang, it’s why she has to go to parties, so it would be the same if Vi is Mel’s daughter. 

The idea is… crazy. Vi is a miner kid. Her mom had been well respected, sure, but at the end of the day Vi and Powder were just another pair of Zaun orphans. 

But Mel’s mom, the founder of this House, had been a shepherd. So maybe that didn’t matter. 

“I get it,” Vi says. “I mean, I don’t get why you think doing this is good for your House but I get it.”

Mel frowns, just a little. “Vi, I would offer this even if I believed you and your sister wouldn’t be an asset, that’s not what this is about.” She then shakes her head, “But I know you. I know that you will do everything within your power to protect this House because you value family over everything.” 

Vi shuffles a little, uncomfortable a little. Praise, and that’s what it clearly was, always made her feel that way. Just a little too seen. It was nice, but she can’t help the feeling like this praise was unwarranted. 

“Everyone protects their family,” Vi mutters. “I mean I will too,” she rushes to correct. “But that’s nothing.”

Mel looks at her for a moment, soft at the edges. “Child, I hope you never learn how wrong you are about that. You have such a clever mind and the heart of a protector, I know you’ll become someone truly amazing. I’m glad I’ll have a hand in shaping her.” 

And,yep, that’s about all the praise/mushy feelings towards herself that Vi can stand. 

“Alright, I said yes,” Vi says, her cheeks red with an embarrassed blush. “Can I go? I should probably tell Powder.”

Mel opens a drawer in her desk and carefully sets the papers inside. “I thought we’d talk to her together. I know she’s still too young but I’d like her to agree to the idea, even if she doesn’t quite understand.” 

Vi is amused a little by the idea. Powder is talking more by the day but she’s pretty certain that she’s not going to get what Mel is talking about. Like, at all. Her little sister barely even seems to remember their time with Vander, besides the odd mention of here and there. That might be Vi’s fault since she’d gone out of her way to not mention it but all things considered, it’s probably a good thing. 

Asking her if she wanted to live here seemed like a dumb question. Even dumber than asking Vi. 

“I was just going to tell her,” she admits. “She might freak out if she knew that it wasn’t always going to be a thing.” 

Mel pauses just a moment, “You may have a point. I simply don’t want to force her.” 

Here Vi can’t help her little snort of laughter, “She’s not even six and, anyway, of course she wants to live here. It’s great.” 

“You’ve said it yourself that she’s sensitive,” Mel points out, though Vi can see that she liked it when Vi said that. “I don’t want her, or you for that matter, to believe that I’m trying to replace your mother.”

Vi scrunches her nose. “Why would we think that? That’s not how it works; you’d be our second mom.” 

She’d known a couple of other miner kids with second parents. A few had even been orphaned by the same accident a few months after Powder had been born. It’s just what happens sometimes. 

(If things had been different with Vander…well. Things weren’t different.) 

Mel blinks at her in that familiar way. What she called ‘cultural confusion’, when Vi said something that she wasn’t expecting. Cait does the same thing sometimes. Usually she can guess what she said that causes them to make that face. 

It takes her a second to remember that Piltover’s gangs don’t take kids in the same way Zaun does. 

“Oh, do they not have second parents up here?” Vi asks, mostly rhetorical. “I knew gangs don’t take in kids but I didn’t know that meant no second parents.” 

She continues to explain because she knows Mel always wants her to explain these kinds of things. Mel just likes knowing things. 

“It’s just what you call the people that take you in,” Vi shrugs a little. “Like, you’d be my mom but if someone asked why we don’t look alike, I’d say that you’re my second mom. It’s not replacing it’s more like…adding ?” 

“I believe the Piltover term is adopted,” Mel says. She gives Vi a small smile, “But I like that much better.”

Mel, as she often does, follows Vi’s lead when it comes to Powder.

That will change in the future and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Vi is a child and sooner or later Mel is going to disagree with her over what Powder needed. She hopes that by then Mel will have convinced her that she only wants good things for her sister and that she isn’t alone in taking care of her. 

But that day isn’t today. 

It’s strange almost to watch Vi go from that tough and slightly awkward girl that sat in her office to someone so incredibly tender. Mel knows siblings could be cruel to each other, even her own brother had his moments and he is almost as kind hearted as herself, but Vi is never like that with her sister. When her guard is down she’s nothing but sweet and attractive. 

(Not for the first time Mel mourns a woman she’s never met. Vi has to be copying someone and it must be her first mother.) 

“We’re going to live here forever Pow,” Vi says. She smiles, sure in a way she wasn’t in Mel’s office. 

Powder looks at her sister then at Mel and smiles brightly. “Ok,” she says, like this entire process is simple and easy. Like her entire life isn’t going to change because of this. 

Then she hugs Mel for the very first time and Mel thinks maybe she’s right. Maybe Mel has been overthinking this entire affair. Heirs and legacies, paperwork and letters; none of that matters. 

Because Mel has two daughters and it wasn’t the paperwork that made it so.

Mel decides that they should celebrate. 

This is a good thing and she will celebrate it as such. Vi is still nervous but Mel knows that it will die down in time. She’s worried that things will change and her nerves won’t stop until Mel proves that she’ll remain the same. And of course with Powder nearby Vi refuses to allow those nerves to show anyway. 

They’ll have more conversations later. For now she wants them all to realize this is a good thing. 

She decides that a good celebration will be a lunch out. She rarely takes the girls out for their own comfort, as she rarely goes anywhere that is exactly child friendly. A relaxed lunch should do well. A novelty but nothing over the top. 

Yet only an hour before it’s time to leave a knock comes upon her door. 

Mel frowns. She shouldn’t have any visitors, she’d been very clear in the messages that Elora spread around this morning. So who’d arrive at her door uninvited and knowingly unwanted? 

The answer, it turns out, is Cassandra. 

The sight of the older woman immediately puts Mel on edge. She isn’t a fool; the counsel-woman wouldn’t appear here without cause. Worse, she wouldn’t appear in person, unannounced and with no warning after Mel made it clear she wasn’t to be disturbed. 

The tense frown on her face only seals that. 

“Come,” Mel says. “We’ll speak in my office.”

Mel doesn’t waste time. 

“How bad?” She asks, because it must be bad. 

“Very.” Cassandra doesn’t sit, instead wandering over to Mel’s window, her hands behind her back. “I’d venture to call it extremely, even. I’m assuming you’ve spoken to Vi?” 

Mel feels her stomach drop in a way she hasn’t felt since her mother told her out her banishment. She’d hadn’t considered that the woman was here about Vi. Business deals falling through, the other counsel members acting out or even  backlash to a new Zaun council member ; all possibilities. 

In all her anger and fear over losing the girls she’d never spared a thought on why Vander had been there to begin with. 

“Who does he know?” Mel braces herself on her desk, hands flat as she stares down at the wood. Under it sits the adoption paperwork, filled out but currently useless as it hasn’t been filed. “Though I suppose it doesn’t matter, my answer is the same; they will not return to him. Not while I breathe.”

Cassandra has such an unexpressive mask that Mel has found impressive and intimidating in equal measure. Right now she finds it infuriating. 

“Tell me honestly,” Cassandra says flatly, “Is that in the girl’s best interest or your own?” 

Mel’s mind knows the older woman has a reason to ask such a question. She’s clearly trying to seek out an easy solution, maybe have Mel reconsider her position and agree to send the girls back. 

Mel’s heart barely keeps her temper in check. 

“Vi flinched at the sight of him,” Mel informs her. Her voice is as cold as ice. “He practically abandoned them, he didn’t even realize they were gone for an entire week!” 

She forcibly uncurled her fingers from the fists she’d unconsciously clenched together. 

“Vi begged Vander for help and he said she was a bad sister for failing to take care of her sister,” Mel’s voice goes flat. Expressing any emotion right now was bound to go wrong. “He was lucky that I wasn’t going to ruin his life for that.” 

Was. Because clearly Vander knew someone and was making this into something. 

“I was hoping that Caitlyn had been mistaken,” Cassandra cut her eyes away, looking off into the distance beyond the window. “She’s not prone to over exaggeration but I thought maybe she was blinded by her fondness for her friend enough that her retelling of Vi’s reaction was wrong.” 

Cassandra sighs, weary and tired. “Silco is Vander’s partner.” 

Shit. 

Chapter Text

Cassandra sighs again, looking more tired than Mel can ever remember seeing in the months they’ve known each other. 

“Slico came to my home first thing this morning,” she explains. “He demanded an audience with you immediately,  I forced him to wait until this evening but I couldn’t push him back any further. He wants the girls returned, though he did say you’d be welcome to visit them.” 

Here Cassandra actually reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “I suspect he meant it as a kindness, but it could have just as easily been an insult.” 

Mel breathed deeply. She had too, to make sure she didn’t lose her temper. “I meant what I said. I won’t return them to a man that, at best, neglected them. I don’t care if Vander is Silco’s partner.” 

Her fingers clenched together again, “He believes his position is more stable than it is. We can remove him—“ 

Cassandra held up her hand, “I’m not so certain that will be as easy as you’d believe. Silco became the Undercity’s representative because of his connection to Vander. From what I gathered last night, Vander was the people’s first choice but he passed the seat to his partner instead. And I’m sure that you are aware that without a suitable replacement candidate we’ll be right back where we started, if not surely worse.” 

Shit. 

Shit. 

“I’d sooner leave Piltover,” Mel says to the wood of her desk. 

It’s true. She likes Piltover, she enjoys the social interactions that she’s found, the cut throat nature without the actual blood. There is so much potential in this city. Potential technology, potential for Mel’s own wealth and power. Her mother might think she was a failure back home but she’d been right that Piltover was the perfect place for Mel to grow and build. 

But she will not allow Vi and Powder to return to a place that is unsuitable for them. If that means she must carve out another place for them, then so be it. 

“I hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Cassandra says. “While I don’t believe we can force Silco out of his seat without major repercussions, you are not totally without teeth, here. They have been in your care for over six months without any kind of reprisal and that means by Piltover law you are by all rights their caretaker.” 

“Silco isn’t a fool,” she continued. “If it is as you say, he will not want to drag this into the public domain. He must be aware of how unstable his position is and having a public spectacle involving his partner failing to care for two young girls would undermine him too much, too soon.” 

Mel pauses for a moment, letting her mind take that information in. “I’d rather not drag the girls into a such a spectacle if I don’t have too. What exactly is the process in situations like this?” 

Cassandra’s face tightened. “There hasn’t been a situation like this. The biggest problem is that neither of you are Piltover natives then there is Silco’s position, as now it would immediately be a council matter instead of the lower courts.” 

Mel is reminded quite strongly that she doesn’t truly know how Piltover deals with many of its legal matters. She knows that there are courts made up of a wide ranging selection of important House members but the extent details are foggy to her. From what she does know; it’s a system that heavily favors the rich, the powerful and those that know them.  

Cassandra sighed again, “ As it stands now? I would be shocked if the council sided against you. Between your business dealings and the automatic dislike my fellow council members have for the Undercity, it’s a done decision.” 

“What concerns me,” she turns to face the window again, “Is being at odds with the little leadership the Undercity has. We need to keep this contained, Mel. But rest assured, I won’t toss the girls to the wolves to make peace.” 

Her shoulders loosen a little. Of course it would be a done decision, especially if she still had Cassandra’s backing. Mel has no desire to drag the girls into a public mess, poor Vi clearly hates even thinking about this situation, but Cassandra is right. If the matter was to be resolved by the council Mel would doubtless win. 

Silco was too new with little besides his seat to connect him to the council and much too attached to the place Piltover hated so deeply. 

Cassandra notices her relax and loses some of her own tension. “This is a mess,” she acknowledges. “But I doubt he’ll actually be able to force you to give up your Wards. We just need to minimize the fallout.” 

“Ah, actually…” Mel reaches into her desk, pulling out the adoption paperwork that she is ready to file at a moment’s notice. “I was planning on filing this tomorrow.” 

Cassandra walks over to read the paperwork, “Oh, how wonderful,” she says quietly. She was too well trained to mutter. “Do they know?” 

“I spoke with them this morning,” Mel says. She sits down in her chair and lets the anger fade from her. “We were about to head out to lunch to celebrate.” 

“As you still should,” Cassandra says. “It certainly deserves celebration. Listen, Caitlyn had asked if she could invite them to stay the night at the manor so I’ll see to them tonight while you speak with Silco.” 

Mel knew when she had no real choice, and simply nodded. 

Mel’s childhood involved many interpreted conversations. 

Her mother, for all her faults, did attempt to make herself available to her children the rare times she was home. Attempt being the key word, as there was always something that needed tending too, when one was as important as Ambessa Medarda. 

Meals were interpreted by reports. Holidays by news of a skirmish. Sudden exits when Mel had been speaking to her mother about her progress in her studies were often accompanied with long absences as Ambessa Medarda did what she did best. She used to sit in her rooms and wish to be able to follow after her. 

(But it had been much worse when Mel had grown old enough to come along. At first, she loved it. Being able to actually be with her mother, be able to listen and take part in all the conversations Mel had been left behind in before. 

Then there was an afternoon in the throne room which ended in blood covered floors and dimming eyes that still linger in her dreams. 

After that over the course of years her mother had stopped letting her take part, as she’d tried in vain to lessen the death and destruction her mother so often brought. Then she began having all those meetings elsewhere. Finally, in the final months before her exile, Mel had been left at home like she was a child once more. 

She doesn’t like lingering on those memories.) 

That is to say; she will not allow Vander and Silco to dampen this lunch. Perhaps it’s not quite the same, as it’s not work, but it’s suddenly very important to her that they all have a moment of celebration with no interference. 

Powder doesn’t often leave the estate, mostly due to the fact Vi only leaves to either visit Caitlyn or to accompany Mel to events. As she is too young for events and Mel believes it’s good for the girls to have at least some time apart, she leaves Powder at home often. Neither girl seems to mind much, though before this disaster Vi had seemed to have begun to start hinting that she wished to explore Piltover some more. 

Vi, who has been to many events by now, isn’t wowed by the artwork on display on their short walk to Mel’s favorite restaurant. Powder, unused to any kind of finery that wasn’t Mel’s, kept stopping to look at some of the different pieces. Mainly any  sculptures that had mechanical elements though she did drag their little group to a halt for a while to look at a massive miracle of bright neon colors and lights. 

Mel, refusing to believe for a moment that her girls would have to return to Zaun, makes a mental note to make sure Powder gets a tutor for art. The girl clearly has a liking for artwork that reminds Mel of her own, before she lost much of that passion. She’s long considered the same for Vi, who draws and doodles constantly but for the moment her schedule is simply too tightly packed for Mel to add to it. 

She’s pleased by the fact that Powder doesn’t completely revert back to her old shy self in public. She’d been worried about that, as had Vi though the girl didn’t bring it up but she could tell from the way Vi kept a tight hand on Powder’s own little one that she was at least a little nervous. 

(That may be nerves left over from Vi’s encounter with Vander, of course. She suppressed that thought because she refused to dampen the afternoon.) 

Mel orders her usual, a light salad with the restaurant daily soup, while Vi gets some kind of spicy seafood and Powder, predictably, wants plain noodles and chicken. 

She watches, amused and fond, as Powder immediately demands to try Vi’s meal despite everyone at the table fully knowing that she’ll hate every bite. She listens to Powder talk about the artwork she saw on the way here, how she liked the different cogs and all the bright colors. Vi, seemingly determined to have a celebratory like Mel is, talks about a book soon to be released that she and Caitlyn are both interested in. 

They get dessert, Mel indulges herself in a slice of chocolate cake, Vi gets a bowl of cinnamon apples topped with ice cream and Powder a vanilla milkshake with crushed cookies inside. 

Mel doesn’t know if she’s ever smiled so much in a single afternoon

Chapter Text

Kino was the one that taught Mel how to read people. 

Mel had a talent for reading emotions from a young age but it had been Kino that sat with her for long hours in crowded markets to appreciate the details of it. The slight change in posture, the tilt of a head, the waving of one’s hand. He’d walked her through the whys of those emotions as well, carefully explaining how certain people thought just as much as how to spot who those people were. 

Out of all her lessons, she believes full heartedly that those were the most valuable ones. 

They are also ones that she’s well aware that she won’t have to worry over Vi’s ability in the matter. 

Vi, despite being only ten, can read a person quicker and better than most seasoned politicians. Mel has seen it in action multiple times. When she first became Mel’s Ward she’d studied each movement, each word and expression. Now that time has passed Mel believes that her lack of trust in those early days was not due to distrusting Mel herself as much as Vi not trusting anyone at all anymore, despite what her instincts told her previously. 

Mel’s good intentions towards her seem to throw her through a loop though. Again, not due to a lack of being able to read her as much as Vi seeing but not believing. She now knows the cause of that distrust in the world and her own ability. 

(Mel has not killed a person in quite a long time. She hates violence deeply for a hundred reasons but even she, who stood in front of a Noxan general and pleaded peace multiple times, must admit that it sometimes appeals to her. 

Vander is lucky beyond words that even now she is willing to keep to her stance of trying to mediate first above all. ) 

This is to say that the moment Mel tells them that Cassandra is sending her husband and Caitlyn to walk them over to the Kiramman estate to spend the night; Vi knows something is up. 

Powder, being absolutely terrible at reading people due to being five, is immediately excited. Not only had she gotten to walk around Piltover, eat fancy food and gotten a milkshake; now she got to see Caitlyn’s house? Mel barely spoke the words before she ran off to grab the newest set of block sets that Mel had gotten a few days ago. 

Vi, however, lingers with tense shoulders. 

Mel won’t hide the reason for this little play date. Perhaps if Vi had a different childhood than the one she did Mel would have. This kind of thing shouldn’t be Vi’s problem, her biggest concern should be learning and dealing with childish fights with her friends. 

But Vi had spent almost six months being the primary caregiver to her sister. She’d been pushed to grow up quickly and while Mel has tried to give some of her childhood back; it doesn’t change that Vi not only has a maturity unmatched by most of her peers but has deeply rooted fears that must be addressed. 

It will be a delicate balance for Mel to walk. Wanting to treat Vi like the child she was vs keeping her informed so that her fears of abandonment don’t cause her undue pain. 

Mel waits for the sound of Powder’s feet to be out of hearing range, as she can at least keep one daughter in peaceful darkness, before she turns to Vi. 

“I meant what I said this morning about not letting you go back,” she says, seemingly out of the blue. 

Vi grasped her means immediately. Her already tense shoulders tighten and her fingers clench. There’s confusion in her eyes but Mel doesn’t think it’s towards her. 

“He-, He wants us to go back?” Vi asks, with wounded eyes. Confusion begins to mix with something like resignation. Perhaps she’d known that Vander would attempt something like this, or knowing Vi as well as she did, she’d at least feared it. 

“Councilor Silco approached Lady Cassandra on his behalf,” Mel says. Vi shows no sign of recognizing Silco’s name. “I’m to have a meeting with him this evening.” 

The confusion grew, Vi frowning with disbelief, “Vander is working with a Councilor? But he hates Pilties!” 

“Silco is from Zaun.” Mel tilts her head slightly, “You don’t know him? He’s the other man in the picture you have of your mother, and apparently Vander’s partner.” 

Some of the tension melts from Vi, as her eyes go distant with thought. 

“ Oh,” she says after a moment. “Yeah, a little? He used to be about a lot but stopped around the time Powder was born.” Her nose stretched up, “Vander has a partner?” 

Vi says it will all the disgust and surprise of a young girl. Like the thought of a partner was disgusting and she can’t believe that an adult she knew willingly got one. It lifts Mel’s heart a little. 

“Apparently so,” Mel bends, just a little, enough that she isn’t looming over Vi. “But I don’t want you to worry, even though I know that you will. They don’t have the power to force me to return you, and that is what they’d have to do as I will not willingly let you or Powder return.” 

Vi’s gray eyes dart away. “Vander is… really big in the lanes,” she says quietly. “If he really wants us back…” 

Mel tilts Vi’s chin up with a gentle finger, “You and Powder are children of House Medarda. I will not allow him nor anyone to take you anywhere you don’t wish to be. It matters not if he is powerful or respected.” 

She moves her hand from Vi’s chin to her hair, smoothing down the short messy strands. “His position is weak and I believe he must know that. At worst, we’d have to get the council involved but I hope to avoid that.” 

Mel makes sure that she locks eyes with Vi, trying to infuse her words with enough power and strength that even Vi, untrusting as she is, will believe her, “I keep my promises. You are a part of my House, my daughter, do you understand?” 

Vi holds her eyes for a long moment, saying nothing. Then, suddenly, she steps forward, wrapping her arms around Mel in a tight hug that Mel is slowly becoming more used to. 

It’s not an admission of trust but Mel doesn’t blame her for it. The small amount that she received was more than enough for now and precious beyond words.

There is a knock at her door half an hour before the meeting time. 

She’d been sitting in one of the rooms closest to the entrance for about an hour, since her daughters had left with the Kirammans. Normally in a manor this large she’d have much more staff than she does. She’d at least have some kind of Butler or doorman, someone to keep watch on who is knocking on her door, but she has found herself not wanting that many people in her home. The small amount of staff that she does employ are more than enough. 

Mel is pondering the power play as she approaches the door. Did Silco intend for this to be an insult? There is some level of respect in arriving early but a full half an hour seemed excessive. Perhaps he meant to catch her off guard? 

But it isn’t Silco at her door.

 In her doorway stands a very tall, very wide shouldered woman. She has at least half a head on Mel despite the tall golden heels she has on, which means she is one of the tallest women she’s ever seen. She might even be taller than Mel’s mother. From what Mel can see, as the woman wears a red half cape draped over one of her shoulders and front, she’s even almost as muscular. 

The woman is clearly from Zaun. Her entire presence screamed it, from the way her outfit incorporated seemingly random bits of armor like the dark leather pauldron opposite the red cape, to her boots which were thick soled, metal caped and well worn. The lit cigar hanging loosely from her mouth, sealed it. 

“Medarda?,” the woman asks, the word slurred from the cigar. 

Mel finds herself in the slightest of pauses. Half of her mind focuses in to quickly taking the facts and putting together questions. Who is this woman? She must be with Silco unless it some a massive coincidence that a woman from Zaun shows up at her door shortly before their meeting. An attempt at intimidation perhaps? If Mel didn’t have the mother that she did it may have even worked. 

(The other half of her mind focuses as well but nowhere near as helpfully. This part of her mind suddenly realizes it’s been over a year since she’s even attempted to do more than flirt. 

In her defense, she’s been so incredibly busy since her move to Piltover. Between expanding her influence and taking care of the girls she has had little time for… other desires. 

This woman’s bicep is as thick as Mel’s thigh. This isn’t helpful information, yet her mind linger on it anyway.) 

“Yes? Can I help you?” Mel answers calmly. 

The woman takes the cigar out of her mouth to tap its ashes onto Mel’s doorstep. “Silco sent me over. Guess his old man wants things done ‘properly’. Figured I’d show up early, see what the deal was.” 

Mel raises an eyebrow. “And you are?” 

”Sevika,” she says as she rubs the end of her cigar into the metal palm of her previously covered arm.

Mel has seen many prosthetics in her life. Noxus’s love of warfare means that lose limbs are common but in the almost year she’s lived in Piltover she seen few. The ones she did see were much more advanced than Noxus’s, much more life-like. Some were almost perfect replicas, only metal. 

Sevika’s, what little Mel saw of the hand and wrist, was advanced as those she’d seen but not at all life-like. The shape of a hand was there but it was clear from its shape, more gauntlet-like than a flesh hand would be, that her prosthetic was more like Noxus’s; a weapon as much as tool.  

“And what, exactly, does that mean?” 

She has a vague guess already— Vander and Silco are of Zaun. No doubt they’d default to the ways of the Undercity which means, if she understood that comments from Vi correctly, that they’d need a ‘middleman’ in order to make sure this meeting was kept orderly and any agreements were kept. 

“The Hound wants this done right,” the woman says, “And that means I get to sit in your fancy house to make sure you all don’t claw each other’s eyes out.” 

“And you’d be the one to deal out our punishment if we do break our agreements?” Mel’s nails began tapping on the edge of her door. “Somehow I don’t believe you’d be a completely indifferent party in this, not if Silco contacted you directly.” 

Sevika barked out a laugh. “Lady,” she says in the least polite tone Mel has heard in a while. “I’m the best damn option for a middleman you got. Yeah, I do work with Silco and Vander sometimes but I’m more than willing to smack the shit out of him if I got too.” 

Then she shrugged, “Not that I think I’ll need too. Pretty sure that the bastard has ‘honor’ tattooed on his ass. Vander doesn’t need a middleman but I’m not turning down a paycheck.” 

Mel’s fingers keep tapping, “I have a rather lower opinion of him, myself, due to the circumstances.” Then she sighed, and stepped back from the doorway. “But I suppose I’ll take it. Come in.” 

Sevika’s footsteps as she follows are loud. Mel takes her to the room where she's been waiting. It was no true meeting room, she never enjoyed having people in her room before she’d had two young girls living with her, one of whom is rather shy, so she still doesn’t have a room dedicated solely to meetings.

Instead this room was mostly unused besides for Vi’s tutors, who used it to prepare for her lessons while they waited for her to finish whatever she was doing. It was small and plain but had a table able to sit at least four so it would suit well enough. 

Sevika doesn’t sit at the table, instead she throws herself into an arm chair by the sole window. The chair wasn’t meant to lounge on but she still sits with wide spread legs and an arm around the back. 

“The boys weren’t super clear on what this is about,” Sevika says as she glanced around the room. “Something about you finding Felicia’s kids?” Her mouth turns into a sheer, “What, you want payback for taking them in or something?” 

Mel doesn’t throw anything nor does she hiss or snarl but the idea makes her furious. It’s not a completely insane idea and it follows Vi’s own mindset at the beginning but she hates it anyway. It’s a result of the Undercity’s tough nature and she knows that because it’s oh so similar to Noxus. 

“I was informed that Silco wanted a meeting to discuss taking custody of my daughters,” Mel says calmly as she sits down at the table. “Though considering your presence, he must know that I’d disagree.” 

The other woman tilts her head, the sheer fading at the word ‘daughters’. “He didn’t say you’d completely taken the brats in. Hell, I didn’t think there was a Piltie up here that would.” 

Mel’s eyes narrow. “Don’t insult my children in my home.” 

Another bark of laughter, “Unless you found a different set of sisters; they’re brats. Vi at least, maybe not the little one. The damn girl used to sit up in the rafters at the bar and throw balls of paper into my fucking glass.” 

Despite the swears her tone was the faintest bit fond, the image of an adult that has seen a child grow from infancy, if perhaps from afar. 

“So this is a damn custody meeting, huh?” She sat back, disgruntled. “No wonder Silco brought me in. These things always turn nasty.” 

“Considering I have absolutely no interest in giving them back; it’s a possibility.” Mel pauses for a moment. 

This woman is supposed to be a neutral party, though she was under no illusion that Sevika would favor the men if anything did need done. But from Vi’s comments, being a middleman meant she was honorbound to at least try as anything else would negatively impact Sevika’s own reputation. 

“Tell me; is Vander’s treatment of them well known in the lanes?” Mel askes, genuinely curious.  

Sevika raised an eyebrow, “What? Him and Silco had been friends with Felicia since they’d been breakers, they’re practically the kids' uncles. Everybody knows Vander dotted on them.” 

Mel lends forward and interlocked her fingers. “Perhaps he did before their mother died but Vi certainly paints a different picture of her time under his care. Long absences, severe lack of attention and a man that scared her with his anger; that’s the little information I’ve heard of thus far. Vi could barely stand to look at him last night.” 

Sevika frowns heavily and her eyes narrow. “Don’t try to bullshit me.” 

“Why did you think they were here in Piltover? Vi considered the situation untenable and ran away. Vander even confessed last night that it took over a week for him to notice their disappearance and still it was only because of a fire.” 

Mel watches closely and the other woman isn’t pleased by the information. Good. She isn’t trying to ruin him, not yet, but she will have the closest thing this meeting has to a moderator having all the information. She is at a disadvantage already due to Zaun/Piltover prejudices, despite not actually being from Piltover so she needs to at least try to even the playing field. 

The end result will be the same of course but she has always been thorough. 

“And I’m guessing that’s why you don’t want him to take them back?” Sevika reaches up to rub the bridge of her nose. She begins to mutter under her breath, “Fuck. Fuck. It took over a year for the lanes to calm down, we’re finally making headway and now this? Damn it.” 

She looks up, a scowl on her face. “How big of a mess are you going to make if this goes tits up?” 

Mel meets her eyes dead down. “Oh, an absolutely massive one. I’m hoping that Silco is smart enough to realize that it would be an incredibly dangerous move for him to upset me so soon after his appointment to the council because, while I worked quite hard for that appointment, I won’t budge on this.” 

Sevika swears under her breath a few more times but their conversation is interrupted by another knock at her door. 

And as she suspects the newest councilor stands there, his partner a massive shadow behind him.

Mel has had awkward meetings before but this one by far the most tense. That includes all her meetings with her mother towards the end where she could barely look at her. 

Silco and Vander sit across the table from her, the only sounds in the room coming from their breathing and the slow ticking of the clock that hangs on the wall. She takes the time to study the men closely, to pick them apart. 

Silco is dressed much like he’d been last night; slick black pants, a black vest with gold linings over  a ruby red vest. He paints the image of being put together, not quite sophistication but cleverness. Not quite Zaun like, from what little Undercity fashion she’s seen, but nowhere near Piltover fashion. His expression is hard to read, due to his scared face and strange eye. His mouth is pulled thin and he stares at Mel dead on. 

His partner is his opposite in every way. Where Silco sits with a straight back and unwavering expression, Vander slumps and his eyes barely leave the tabletop. Whereas Silco is all clean edges and slickness, he is the picture of disarray. 

Vander sits before her in the clothes he’d worn last night. His jacket was gone, the white button up shirt undone by a few buttons and untucked from his rumbled pants. The cuffs of the shirt were clearly pushed up multiple times and roughly. His eyes had heavy black circles under them and lines of exhaustion were clear as day on his haggard face. 

Mel does not enjoy the suffering of others but she certainly does not feel bad about the man’s guilt. 

“We’d like to thank you for opening your home to the children,” Silco begins. His voice is soft, smooth, but not especially thankful. 

She hears the word before he says it, “But it’s time for young Violet and Powder to return home. You are quite welcome to visit them in Zaun, of course, if that is what you wish but it was Felicia’s wish that we’d watch over her daughters if anything happened to her.” 

Mel resumes her previous position of lending forward, her hands locked together. Normally she tries to put the image of kindness when she negotiates but she is aware of what she is capable of and knows for a fact that she’d never last in that act. 

Instead she’s colder than ice. 

“I think you know that will not be happening, Councilor. I will not allow them to return to such a… unfit environment.” 

Vander flinches like he was struck. 

Silco’s good eye narrows. “It’s a dangerous precedent that you’re putting forward,” he says slowly. “I can’t say that it wouldn’t work of course but do you realize the amount of damage you’d be doing ?” 

When Mel only raises an eyebrow, he continues, “You’d argue to the council that Zaun isn’t fit to raise children in. That you were simply saving two poor children that would grow up in squalor otherwise. Soon it would be the height of fashion to take the children of the lanes as wards,  to take them from loving families to ‘protect’ them by stripping them of their culture and people.” 

Mel takes in those words, thinks of what he is saying. It isn’t a completely baseless worry. What he is describing is a common conquering tactic. It’s not one that Noxus uses much, as it lacks the violence her nation so loves and takes much longer to come to fruition but it does happen. 

She hasn’t really considered the wider effects of this. Truefully hadn’t cared too; her worry had been her daughters, over the idea of losing them and then if they’d want to be her daughters.  

“That is not my intention,” Mel says calmly. 

She isn’t sure if Silco believes that or not. She isn’t even sure that he ever believed that to be her intention. There was a large chance that it was simply an attempt to guilt trip her into agreeing to their demands. Surely he knew that she had a hand in getting him appointed and this as well as her taking in the girls meant she had some compassion towards Zaun.  

“I didn’t seek them out and there is no grand plan or political agenda here. I found them after weeks of them stealing food in order to survive. I took them in because Vi told me there was no one else to take care of them and I am going to adopt them because I find them clever, sweet children that deserve all that I have to offer.” 

Here Vander looks up. When he speaks his tone isn’t angry so much as tired. “You hadn’t taken them in before last night but now you want to be their mother?” 

“I realized that I wanted them to stay in my home,” Mel says flatly. “That I’ve come to care for them a great deal and they’ve both agreed.” 

Vander lends forward, “They’re children— Powder is barely about to turn six. Of course they’d want to stay here, you have cogs, power. They’re taken in by Piltover’s glamour and don’t realize what they’ll lose.” 

Mel breathes deep to control her temper. “And what is that? Because Vi seemed quite clear that you gave her very little in your stint of being her guardian.” 

Silco raises a hand to preemptively cut off his partner. “You don’t understand what you’re talking about here, Lady Medarda. You have no idea what life is like in the Lanes, no idea the amount of suffering Piltover has brought, the way we’ve been being crushed by their heel. The riots were a harsh time for us all. That doesn’t mean Piltover can simply rip our children from us.” 

Mel meets his gaze steadily. “Again you’ve generalized this and again I will say this; this isn’t about Piltover and Zaun. This is about the fact that I’ve known and loved these girls for nine months. I've seen how Vi doesn’t care about her own well being, how scared she is to ask for help, and how untrusting of the world. I’ve witnessed how Powder is terrified of raised voices and how sensitive she is. I wondered the causes and now that I know I won’t simply hand them back to him.” 

Vander’s eyes closed half way through her statement, his jaw clenched so tight that she thought he was close to popping a muscle. Over to the side Sevika makes an expression that reads clearly as ‘damn.’ 

Silco only lends forward again. “Do you know what it was like in the Undercity during those months after the first riots? Our people were on the edge of starvation, the enforcers pushing at the edge and killing without remorse, multiple gangs causing problems. Dozens of deaths everyday!”  

The coldness slips a little, heat raising in her voice. “And that excuses the abandonment? Almost six months and there was never another adult to watch them? When Powder was sick— that wasn’t a sign that perhaps Vi was slipping in her impossible task? Nor when Vi finally asked for help yet she was dismissed in anger of all things?” 

“Their mother wanted—“ 

“Oh Yes, their mother,” Mel interrupts, her blood hot. “You would sit there and tell me that Felicia would have appreciated the way they were treated?” 

Silco almost growls out his words, “Do not speak as if you knew her.” 

“I know enough from her daughters that she was a loving woman and a good mother, which is enough for me to be certain that she wouldn’t have wanted her daughters to be forgotten and abandoned by the man she entrusted with their care.” 

Vander bows his head, his hands coming up to grasp his gray streaked hair and his voice pleading, “I didn’t have another choice!” 

She feels no remorse for him. “There is always a choice. You made the choice to place the girl’s welfare behind everything else. You decided to take them in and then didn’t ensure their care.” 

Silco stands up, Sevika eyeing him from her chair but she doesn’t do anything, “You would rather us abandon our cause? The betterment of our home? To simply forget the murder of the woman we’d known and loved almost our entire lives? Things sometimes must be sacrificed for the good of the whole. It’s unfortunate, yes, but now we can rebuild.” 

“Children aren’t Things!” She raises as well, refusing to be intimidated. “Children are not objects to be ignored, to be sacrificed for the sake of others,  and they can’t simply be rebuilt now that you’ve decided that their welfare is of enough importance. Vi will be deeply affected by this for the rest of her life and I can only hope Powder less so.” 

“It will be different now,” Silco growls. “Now that I am on the council I —“ Vander reaches up to grab his partner's shoulder and he stops midway. 

Vander doesn’t look at him though, his tired and pained eyes locking onto Mel’s. “I want to speak with Vi.” 

Mel responds immediately, “No.” 

“This isn’t going anywhere,” he says. “ I want to speak with Vi, to see what she’s thinking and…I want to apologize. Really apologize. She deserves an apology and an explanation. If what you're telling us is the truth about them wanting to stay here we’ll revisit this,” Vander’s expression doesn’t change but she senses something like resignation. 

Silco rears back, his expression angrily, but he settles when he and Vander lock eyes for a moment. 

Vander stands and holds out his hand, “A conversation, with only me and her. Sevika will monitor.” 

Mel hates the idea. Hates it more than she can describe. But she remembers Cassandra’s desire of keeping this contained and knows that if she brought this to Vi she would agree to it even if she truly didn’t want to simply because she thought it was something she needed to do. 

“You’ll speak here,” Mel declared. “And if you dare insinuate anything even close to her ‘failing’ again I will rain ruin on your head.” 

Vander simply nods once and with a heavy heart, she shakes his hand. 

Chapter Text

Caitlyn notices everything. 

It’s a funny quirk to Vi. She’s much more used to Powder’s More brief intense studying when she gets a new set of blocks or a toy that she can take apart. Her sister gets so involved sometimes that Vi can call her name over and over again and still not get a response or, more worryingly, she’d forget that she’s hungry. 

Caitlyn’s intense studying isn’t so refined though. Vi has a general idea what triggers it by now but, by far, it’s a mystery. Not even good mysteries sometimes. From the plots of the novels she ‘borrowed’ from her mother to puzzles, to why certain people were missing from the parties they had to attend. 

Vi can tell from the moment they stepped through the door that Caitlyn wants to know. She wants to know why Vi and her sister are staying the night so suddenly, why Vi reacted the way that she did yesterday evening, why she’s still so quiet today. 

But Caitlyn is also sweet and caring which is what is barely keeping her from asking. 

Vi tries to hide her worry over whatever meeting is taking place. Mel promised and hasn’t broken a promise yet. Her new House was a powerful one, up and coming as it was. Mel and Caitlyn’s mother were close and judging from what Vi has seen at all those dumb gang gatherings, she’s one of the most powerful people in Piltover. 

That doesn’t stop her fear. Vander is the most influential and respected man in Zaun. She doesn’t know why he wants them back, considering how much Vi had to have disappointed him, but if he really wanted them… 

She buries it. Powder is still all bright and smiling from the afternoon of seeing Piltover and the new experience of seeing Caitlyn’s house. This is the first time that Vi has been invited to stay the night; she’s not going to ruin it just because she feels ill whenever she remembers why she’s here. 

Caitlyn lasts until everyone else goes to bed. 

The elder Kirammans had gone to bed a few hours ago and Powder had finally passed out at some point in the last hour.

The three of them were in Caitlyn’s overly large bedroom. Caitlyn’s bed was big enough for ten more kids, even if Powder was laid out with her arms and legs spread out as wide as possible right in the middle of it, but they were sitting on a couple of big pillows on the other side of the room. Powder has been nodding off for the last two hours, randomly coming into their conversations over books, trying in vain to stay awake. 

But Vi can tell that she’s fully out now. Her breath comes steady and she’s still in a way that’s always been rare for her. 

(Maybe it’s the sight of Vander that makes her anxious about how that breath sounds. Makes her question if it sounds right, makes her anxious at a looming weak cough that never actually occurs. 

Maybe that’s what is making her brain remember those long four days of Powder’s bright red face, of her sweaty skin and rattling breath, despite how hard she tries to forget them. 

She thanks all the spirits and gods she knows that Caitlyn hadn’t made Powder sleep in another room, despite how quick Powder fell asleep.) 

Caitlyn has been wanting to ask her questions all night but she can tell it’s gotten stronger since Powder had fallen asleep. Vi sees it in the way her fingers are all clenched, the blue eyes studying her whenever she thought Vi wasn’t looking, and how Caitlyn’s mouth sometimes opened with an uncertain expression before switching topics. 

Finally, after their conversation had a long pause, Caitlyn took a deep breath and askes, “Who was he?” 

Vi fiddles with a small piece from the game they’d all played earlier before Powder had started yawning so wide that her eyes watered. It’s a metal Piltover top hat, the one that Caitlyn had picked to move around the board. 

She considers not telling her, because she doesn’t want to talk about it. Not to Caitlyn. Not to Mel. Not to anyone. 

But it’s Caitlyn. Cait wouldn’t judge her about crying, even if it was still embarrassing. She was Vi’s friend— she’d be on Vi’s side even if Vander had been right about her being a bad sister. And she needs that right now. 

Plus Mel might be her second mom now, but Vi thinks she’s… not objective. She’s too nice. Cait is too nice too sometimes,  but she’s also brutally honest. She wouldn’t lie to make Vi feel better, even if she was on Vi’s side.

“He’s my godfather,” Vi says without looking at her. Her fingers run over the edges of the metal game piece. 

“Godfather?” Caitlyn asks, rightfully confused. 

Cassandra had congratulated them on the adoption when Vi and Powder had gotten to the house. Caitlyn had been very happy for them, smiling so wide that the little gap between her teeth had been visible. A rarity, as she usually tried to hide it. 

“Yeah, I— I hadn’t expected to see him there. Freaked me out a little,  I guess.” 

Vi was very good at understatements. 

Caitlyn frowned and her lips thinned a little. Honestly she looked so much like a mini version of her mother when she was angry that Vi normally found it kinda cute but right now it made her look away again. 

“It’s fine,” Vi lies. “Mel is meeting with him now but she says she won’t let us live with him again.” 

Cait’s expression intensifies, Vi can’t actually see it as she refuses to look away from the stupid game piece, but Vi knows that it does from the way her fingers clench around each other in her lap. 

Vi realizes, quite suddenly, that Caitlyn has probably come to some conclusions due to the way she reacted last night and what she just said. She can’t fight the impulse to defend Vander like she’d done with Mel. 

“ He didn’t hit us or anything,” Vi mutters. “Never made us work in the mines either. It was never that bad. I just….” 

How does she explain how scary it is to be responsible for someone else ? To have to watch Powder day after day and know that if anything happened to her it was Vi’s fault? To be all alone in the Last Drop because Vander had to shut it down when the riots had gotten too bad? The way she’d started to fear the sound of a liquor bottle being sat down on the bar top because it so often got thrown at a wall? 

(Powder; eyes glazed over, chest rattling, skin hot.

Vi; over her head and scared.

It had taken Vander another two days to come home after Powder’s fever had broken.) 

“He was busy with the gangs,” Vi explains. It’s something she’s told herself over and over. “So I had to step up, you know? Powder needed someone to watch over her, take care of her.” 

It had been fun, sometimes. In those early weeks it had been easy to forget why they were at the Last Drop to begin with. The bar had still been open and Vander wasn’t gone longer than a couple of hours. But then he was gone for a day, then a couple of days, then he’d closed up shop because he couldn’t run the bar and handle the gangs at once. And after that it was like Vi was all on her own. 

“ I couldn’t handle it,” Vi gives Caitlyn what she knows is a pathetic shrug. Her eyes water and like always she tries to fight it. “I tried but—“ 

Her voice gets stuck in her throat and she takes a deep breath. Her fingers are shaking as she rolls the little metal hat around. 

“Powder got sick,” she says slowly. 

Vi never told Mel why she’d gone to Vander in the first place. Mel hadn’t asked and Vi really didn’t want to offer. Not because she thinks Mel wouldn’t defend her decision , she’s fairly sure that at this point Mel would defend her against practically anyone, but remembering it scares her more than anything. 

“Really sick,” Vi continues. “She could barely eat, had a fever and a bad cough. Slept for hours and hours but I barely slept the whole time because I thought—… she got better though.” 

Four days. Four days of barely sleeping. Barely eating because what if Vander didn’t come back soon enough? Powder needed the food more than she did to keep up her strength after the sickness. Worry had made her hands shake constantly. She’d thrown up herself a couple times and the worry that she’d gotten sick too had almost made her black out from breathing so hard. 

A pale hand covers her own. “Vi?” 

Vi watches a drop fall on Caitlyn’s hand and realizes that she’d been crying. It feels like she’s been crying more the past two days than her entire life. 

“I told Vander that I couldn’t handle it but he’d said that I needed to take care of Powder, that if I couldn’t then I was a bad sister,” Vi says. It’s not what she really wanted to say but it’s something that’s been replaying in her head since he’d said it. 

Caitlyn’s hand tightened and she tried to interrupt,  with an angry, “ No, he didn’t dare—“ but Vi couldn’t stop. 

“But I did the right thing, right? Zaun wasn’t safe and I— I thought Topside would be better. And it was after Mel took us in. And It took him a week to realize we ran away. A week!” She pulls her hand away from Caitlyn’s own. 

She feels defensive for some reason, like she has to justify her decision to runway instead of sticking it out in Zaun. Selfish, too, for thinking of her own comfort instead of Powder despite Piltover being better for her little sister. 

“Maybe,” her voice is choked and she’s shaking all over, “ I should have stayed but I was too weak—“ 

Caitlyn’s skinny arms are shockingly strong when she practically throws them around Vi’s shoulders. 

“Don’t be foolish,” Caitlyn says, her arms not loosening at all. “You aren’t weak, Vi, in fact you’re the strongest person I know. I don’t care what your godfather said.” 

She ends the hug but stays close. “My sorry, it was so wrong for him to leave you two like that.” 

Vi sniffles. Caitlyn was brutally honest so she knows she means that. Mel and her both have now said that but— 

“There was a lot going on,” Vi says flatly. “Vander had the whole city on his shoulders. I just had Powder.” 

“That doesn’t excuse it,” Caitlyn has that tone, that ‘I can’t believe I even have to argue this’ tone that made Cassandra’s head snap to their direction at parties because it meant Caitlyn had gotten into an argument with some dumb Piltie kid. 

“Powder loves you,” she continues. “She practically worships you! And it’s because you’re kind and sweet even if you don’t want to admit it. If you thought leaving was what was best for the both of you; then I have no doubt that it was.” 

“It’s not that I don’t know that,” Vi mutters. She placed the little Top Hat down, it having been almost forgotten in her hand. 

“Powder is doing better here. Mel gives us everything we need, even stuff I think is dumb,” she continues. “It’s just….” 

Vi groans, quietly lest she wakes Powder up, and throws herself back onto the floor. The pillow she was sitting on was big but not big enough to hold her whole body on it while laying down so her shoulders and head rested on the cool shiny stone. 

She stares at Caitlyn’s dumb fancy bedroom ceiling. The Kiramman house was so Piltie that it was crazy. There was so much gold— and for what? Mel loved gold, at least Vi guessed since she had those tattoos and wore it often, but even she didn’t just throw it onto every wall and ceiling. 

“I don’t want to go back to Zaun,” Vi tells the gold designs. “All I heard growing up was how terrible Topside treated us, did you know that? But I like it here. I like all the food and books, I like knowing that Powder is safe. I even like the dumb parties.” 

She didn’t say why she liked the parties. That was too embarrassing. 

“I don’t really get why Mel wants to be our mom,” Vi says softly. “But I— I like that she does. I just… Vander did so much for us. Before the bridge massacre, I mean.” 

Caitlyn doesn’t lay down next to her but does twist a little, leaning over enough that she was in Vi’s line of sight once she lowered her eyes a bit. 

Vi continues quietly, “I looked up to him a lot. My dad left so long ago that I can’t even remember what he looks like but Vander was always there. He watched us and took care of us whenever mom was busy. Then after mom died… he changed.” 

Vander had never been scary. Not to her. As he stayed gone longer and longer, he’d gotten angrier and angrier. He started throwing things though never at her. He started raising his voice more and more, his temper shorting. 

She hadn’t really thought he was going to hunt her during that last conversation when he’d lost his temper but there’d been a moment where she’d been afraid and that had been more shocking than actually getting yelled at. 

“ It took him a week to realize we ran away,” Vi repeated. “And I still feel bad that I’d disappointed him.” 

Caitlyn shook her head immediately. “If he was disappointed in you then that just proves that he is an idiot.” 

She feels a small weak smile twitch on her lips. “You’re my best friend; you have to say that.” 

Caitlyn’s expression brightened then went stern, “I’m more than capable of being impartial; this Vander is an idiot. You’ve done more than what should have been expected; you kept Powder alive, happy and then took her out of a bad situation. What more could he have wanted from you?” 

Vi shrugged, as best she could since she was laying down, “Doing it alone I guess? Probably without having to leave the Lanes to do it.” 

There was a flicker in Caitlyn’s eyes but then she visibly steeled herself. “Vi,” she tentatively said, “You just said that Vander helped your mother?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Then he would have been expecting you to do something that even she couldn’t do,” Caitlyn points out softly. 

Vi blinks. 

She isn’t a little kid anymore. She knows that her ma wasn’t an all-powerful being, if she had been Vi and Powder wouldn’t have lost her, but she had been resourceful. Everyone had to be resourceful in Zaun to some extent. Her mom had been a respected member of a mining gang and had been known as being with Vander’s. She had more free time because of those things then most and still Vi and Powder had spent more than one afternoon with Vander. 

She hadn’t been able to take care of them by herself. Vander lended his time and other gang members used to give them old clothes and toys. There had been a wide range of adults that used to watch her for tiny moments at a time when her mom needed to do something for a second or Vander had been needed. 

“Oh,” she says dumbly. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.” 

“He set unreasonable expectations for you, Vi, and I’d argue that you’d still met them.” Caitlyn leaned over more to rub Vi’s shoulder. “So don’t let him try and convince you otherwise. Ok? 

Vi doesn’t really believe her. Her gut is telling her the exact opposite but if she could allow herself to believe Mel; she’d try and do the same for Caitlyn. 

“Yeah,” Vi tries to smile. “Thanks, Cait.” 

Chapter Text

In the week leading up to Vi’s meeting with Vander; nothing changes. 

Mel isn’t suddenly gone more than she usually is and she doesn’t act any differently than before. They all eat breakfast together, sometimes lunch and while Vi and Powder are usually alone during dinner, but that was how it was before. She doesn’t suddenly smother them in affection either. It’s just the normal stuff, questions about Vi’s lessons and listening to Powder’s explanations of her newest block buildings. 

Vi is thankful for it because she doesn’t know if she could handle anymore stress. 

When Mel had told her about the meeting, Vi’s heart had dropped to her feet. She still doesn’t know why Vander wants them nor what he hopes to gain by talking with her. It’s a gnawing worry in her gut, lurking whenever she isn’t moving. Vi can usually figure out what people wanted, Mel’s weird kindness an exception not the rule, and she just doesn’t know Vander’s motive. 

The thought of seeing him again is less terrifying than that lack of knowledge. Now that she knows to expect him, it’s not so bad. She hadn’t expected to see him at the party and all her dumb childish emotions had overwhelmed her in her shock. 

Mel doesn’t press her about how quiet she is. She’d renewed her promise that Vander would not be able to force Vi and Powder to go back to Zaun and said that if Vi needed to talk about anything; she’d be there. 

But Vi can’t.  

Not because she thinks Mel would judge her nor did she really believe that Mel would back out of taking them in. 

It’s just… She doesn’t know how to explain that she thought she knew Vander. That some of her earliest memories had him there and Powder never knew any dad other than him. He’d been a goal post, someone she wanted to be. 

And now that hurts. Everything about him hurts. At least with her ma, she knows her being gone hadn’t been her mom’s choice. She doesn’t know what she’d done so wrong that Vander of all people would just… abandon them both like that. 

Besides, she already knows what Mel will say; it’s not Vi’s fault. That Vander was wrong for what he did, that he had unreasonable expectations and that Vi is a good sister. 

Nice things. Comforting things. 

Unbelievable things. 

Vi hates Powder leaving her side. 

Her own nightmares have come back with a vengeance, leaving her tired and annoyed but also anxious. Powder isn’t sick, she isn’t hungry, but she’s Vi’s baby sister. She’s all that Vi really has left of their mom, of the Lanes, of everything before they’d come to live with Mel. She promised the day she was born to protect her and love her and by Janna she’ll do just that. 

But while Vi agreed to meet with Vander; she will not agree the same for Powder. 

Vander won’t hurt her. Not on purpose. But she doesn’t trust him to not lose his temper, to not lash out. What if the conversation ends badly? Would he shout at her? Tell Powder she’s— she’s wrong somehow? 

The one thing worse than Powder leaving her side would be if Powder got hurt. 

She doesn’t trust Elora as much as Mel but Vi knows Powder will be safe with her on their trip to the toy store and that’s really the most Vi can ask for at the moment.

Vi’s foot taps against the stone pavers. 

She likes the garden. When the weather's nice it’s where she has her lessons with Riven and sometimes her and Powder play games out here. It’s not as nice as the one at Caitlyn’s house, few things were, but it’s wide and open. 

Closest to the doors was paved with fancy stone pavers. Placed around was a variety of furniture, all matching wooden chairs, benches and a large table. It was for ‘entertaining’ according to Mel, though Mel doesn’t invite many people to the house. 

Mel sits beside her and she’s absolutely pissed. The woman isn’t always the easiest to read, it’s the politician in her, but Vi can pick up stuff like that. The longer they’ve lived here the better she got at it, even if Vi was weary of trusting her own gut on it. 

Mel wears anger very quietly, which is both comforting and terrifying in equal measure. Other people would probably not recognize how angry she is since she doesn’t show it but Vi sees it easily because she is so still. None of that weirdly fake casual stuff she usually does when waiting nor does she try bring Vi into a conversation. 

Vi has seen Vander box loads of times but she thinks if given the opportunity Mel would mount his head on the wall like a gross trophy. 

There is an echo from inside the house, the sound of a firm knock bouncing off the open spaces of the entrance. 

Mel’s lips tighten, “If you don’t want to—“ 

Vi shakes her head immediately. She’d agreed to talk to him already, she wasn’t going to back out. Besides, maybe… maybe Vander would back down. 

“It’s alright,” she muttered, trying to straighten her back. 

She softens a lot and pat Vi’s head, patting down some of the rouge strands, before going to answer the door. 

The time between her leaving and Vander’s arrival couldn’t have been longer than a minute or two but Vi thought it lasted forever. 

Her mind couldn’t stop running; what did Vander want? Like, really want? It couldn’t be them. It had taken him an entire week to notice they were gone and Vi thought he’d made it clear that he was disappointed in Vi. Maybe he thought Mel was interfering with stuff she had no business with? Maybe he was mad that some Piltie took them in? 

“Vi,” Vander’s voice cut through her rushing mind. 

Vander, as always, stood tall. He was in more normal clothes this time, the fancy stuff gone. He looked… tired. Black circles were under his eyes and his beard looked longer than usual, like he’d forgotten to shave for a long time. 

It wasn’t just Vander as the Middleman that Mel said would be here stood behind him. Vi recognized her from The Last Drop, though she’d had both arms back then. 

Vander sits in the chair opposite of Vi, his every movement slow, his eyes still looking at her like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

The middleman, Vi was pretty sure her name was Sevika, wandered off a little to sit on a couch. Not out of ear shot but far enough that she wasn’t on top of them. 

Vi’s knee started bouncing. The silence was loud and awkward but she had no idea what she was supposed to say. She’d devolved into a crying baby the last time they talked and the time before that ended in her tears too. 

Finally Vander sighed deeply. “I’m glad you’re alright, Vi. I’d thought… Well I’m just glad you and Powder have been safe.”  

Vi has a hard time believing that, all things considered, but she’s spent the last couple of months at parties where she lied all the time so she just nods silently. 

This doesn’t make Vander happy, his massive shoulders slumping. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you that night, kid. I told myself that you were handling it all because I needed that to be the case. But it was a lie.” 

He rubs his chin, sighing again. “And I damn well knew that. I knew you were buckling. You’re a strong kid, stronger than I was at your age , but I should have stepped in, or better yet never put all that on you in the first place.” 

Vi’s shoulders loosen a little. It’s similar to what Mel and Cait said but, “ You had the whole Undercity to look after. Bigger responsibilities.” 

How many times has Vi told herself that? Had to be a hundred. Because there had to have been a reason. Even if Vander shouldn’t have left them alone; there had to be a reason. Right? The idea that he hadn’t had a reason simply hurt too bad. 

Vander’s hand slams down on the table and the sound immediately jolts her. She jumps, flinching back. Sevika, who had lit a cigar and was staring out at the garden, snaps her head towards them at the noise. 

“You and Powder were my responsibility,” Vander says roughly. His eyes were shiny with tears but mostly he looked angry. 

But not at Vi. At himself? 

“I promised your mother that I’d take care of you,” he continues. He isn’t looking at Vi so much as through her. “I swore it and I meant that more than I’ve meant anything else in my life. I was there when you were born and I was the first person to hold Powder besides your mother. I loved you girls like you were my own from the second I knew Felicia was carrying you.” 

Vander chuckles or maybe it’s closer to choking. “And I failed you the moment you needed me. I should have stopped it all when I had the chance but I couldn’t let it go. And I lost you two instead.” 

He breathes deeply, “I’m so sorry,Vi. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you like I should have been, that I scared you both, and that I failed you so badly that you couldn’t stay.” 

Vi has tears in her eyes, she isn’t sure when in Vander’s little speech that she teared up, and doesn’t know what to say. Having Vander say that he shouldn’t have done what he did somehow made it more real. Mel and Caitlyn were going to be on Vi’s side but Vander admitted fault. He admitted he was wrong. 

“Why did you?” Vi asks. She sniffles a little, “You’d promised. Then you left us all alone.” 

Vander rubs a hand over his face and his breath is shaking. “Because I was angry. I loved your mom like a sister, you know that. Losing her, losing all those people… I couldn’t let it go.” 

He looks at her again, his eyes so incredibly sad. “You look so much like her when she was your age. That hurt. It tore me up inside to see the both of you because it meant she was gone. It made it so much harder with everything else going on.” 

“Rage is hard to control, Vi.” Vander’s voice is pleading. “We lost so much on the bridge and then kept losing more and more. I was angry, furious, I couldn’t stop what I’d started. But I couldn’t let myself get angry with you or Powder so I thought it would be better to keep my distance.” 

“But I needed you,” Vi wanted to scream the sentence. Wanted to shout it into Vander’s ear so that he might understand how painful saying it was. 

“I know,” Vander says softly. “I know. I’m so sorry, Vi. After I’d lost my temper with you, I’d tried to stay away even longer. I thought that would be best but then the fire…”

He takes another shaking breath. “That fire nearly destroyed me. I barely slept for days because I refused to stop looking for you.” 

“I didn’t think you’d care,” Vi mutters, feeling a little bit guilty now that she sees Vander’s wet eyes and sad face. 

“I can’t fault you that,” he says roughly. “I’d done a piss poor job of taking care of you. But I’m so proud of you for getting up here, for taking care of Powder despite everything.” 

“I’d thought you’d be disappointed,” Vi admits quietly. “Since I couldn’t take care of her in the Lanes.” 

Vander shakes his head immediately. “I could never be disappointed with you, Vi.” 

It’s all so completely opposite of what she thought he’d be saying. He was sorry about leaving them alone, and said it was wrong. He wasn’t disappointed in her. 

“Why do you want us back?” Vi finally asks. She simply needed to know. 

He blinks, surprised at the question. “You and Powder are my family. I just want another chance to be the man I should have been.” 

Vi looks at the wooden table. She doesn’t want to go back. Vander’s apologies hadn’t changed that because how could she trust them? How could she trust that he wouldn’t leave them again if he got mad? He’d hit the table; a sign he still lashed out? Or was she overthinking it? 

Vander continued in her silence, his voice pleading “It won’t be like before, Vi. Silco is on the council now, the lanes aren’t under attack anymore. I swear to you; I won’t abandon you again.” 

Vi doesn’t believe him. 

“I don’t want to go back,” Vi says quietly, but firmly. “Powder and I are staying here.” 

He sighs, “I know that Medarda has more cogs and power than we ever did but —“ 

Vi, for the first time in the conversation, feels a flash of anger. The thought that it was purely cogs that would make Vi stay with Mel made her blood boil. “Do you think I care about that?” She demands. 

“Yeah; she has cogs. You know what she uses them on? Me and Powder. She fed us, housed us,” Vi gestures to the plain white shirt she had on, plain compared to what she wore to parties but nicer than anything she’d ever owned before, “She clothed us. For no reason! Mel didn’t know us but she’s protected us anyway and she hasn’t lied, not once.” 

She glares at Vander. He had his reasons, he had his pain and anger but so did Vi. 

“I can trust Powder with Mel,” Vi says. That’s the end of the line argument for her. Cogs, power, lifelong family, Undercity or Topside; none of that mattered. She would take care of her sister. No matter what. 

“And you can’t with me,” He finishes sadly, quietly. 

“No.” Vi crossed her arms. The flash of anger drains out of her a little and she’s so tired. It’s only early afternoon and all she wants is for Powder to get back then to take a nap. She wants this over with. 

“I won’t go back,” Vi continues. “Mel won’t let it happen but even if it did; I’d run right back here. She’s my mom now and I’m a part of her House. That isn’t going to change.” 

Vander slumps. 

For a long couple of moments the garden is quiet. There were a couple of birds in the trees, whose leaves rustled in the light breeze. If she listened carefully she might be able to hear the splashing of water from one of their neighbors' fountains. Sevika, mostly forgotten about, continued to smoke. 

Finally Vander speaks, his voice quiet and resigned. “I won’t be the one that takes children away from their mother.” He looks up at Vi, his eyes sad and tender. “But I won’t abandon you or Powder again. I lost the chance to be the father you deserved, but maybe… maybe I can be your uncle again. Or perhaps someday.” 

Vi doesn’t know if she likes the idea. Vander was still an open wound. It still hurts to see him and hear his voice. 

But… 

She’d missed him. The him of before. The strong man that read them bedtime stories while mom worked late. The boxer that laughed at Vi’s jabs to his stomach. He used to let Powder sit on his shoulders so she could win their play fights. She had thousands of memories of him and only some of them were bad. 

“Someday,” Vi finally says. 

It’s the best and only answer she can give. 

Chapter Text

Sevika has known Vander for years.

When she’d first met him, he’d been little more than a boy. He possessed height, but the renowned muscle was yet to come. Back when the Last Drop was new and most of the Undercity hadn’t believed him after he declared it as a true neutral zone.

Back then, his reputation had been both growing and glowing. He had busted heads, but only the ones that most of the lanes thought deserved it; the kind that took in kids only to make them Breakers in rundown mines, or worse. A middleman that came down harsh on those that broke agreements, that poured what little cogs he’d got back into The Last Drop, and would treat even the smallest job as important and worthy of his presence if asked.

He was more decisive in Zaun now.

Sevika was the most respected of the middlemen that stood by him, but that wasn’t saying much. Over a year of grueling work, marked by blood, sweat, and gnawing hunger, had fueled some of Zaun’s anger and frustration towards the man leading the charge—which she considered fucking slow-witted. If things had gone their way, children would still be gasping for breath in a smog-filled city while they’d be slaving away in factories.

It would spell disaster if all the nasty details about this got back to Felicia’s old gang because even if the gang refused children, so her young kids weren’t members, their anger would still be a problem. They’d be well within their rights to start something over it, though she doubted it would be a full on gang war. But add in the fact Vander’s reputation would take a colossal hit…

Sevika kept quiet and would, unless given a reason. Not because she was on the job, because Vander had actually fucked up enough to warrant breaking that little rule, but because it was the best for Zaun.

There was no one else that she respected enough to turn on him because Silco was Vander’s right hand and partner. All the issues she had with Vander, and there were more than one now, Silco patched up. They were the best she was going to get, and she was going to work with what she had.

“Your old man will not like this,” Sevika notes as they walk back to Zaun.

It’s the first time she’s talked since they’d left the fancy ass house. She wasn’t being paid to talk or give advice, and so she’d kept her mouth shut. The whole thing had been almost a letdown, if she was being honest. Usually, these things ended with more yelling and crying. Or, hell, at least a murder attempt.

She isn’t sure she respects Vander more or less for backing down. The kid seemed to be better off, but she didn’t exactly respect how quick he’d given up. He hadn’t fought. Barely even disagreed. Then again, he had apparently been a pretty shit dad, which, considering the father she knew; he’d been pretty damn bad.

All traces of tears were gone from Vander’s eyes by now, as he’d known better than to show weakness this close to Zaun. “He’ll get over it.”

She snorted as they’d come to the elevator. “Silco doesn’t get over shit.”

Vander pushed the button forcefully. “He will if it means we don’t go to war with Topside again.”

She questioned the veracity of that. Silco might be a counselor now, but that man was a shark through and through and he did not forgive so easily when blood was in the water. She had, after all, been the one that he called on after he learned about The Last Drop burning down.

She’d been busy for weeks.

It’s enough to raise an eyebrow. “He seemed perfectly willing to wage war a couple of weeks ago.”

He shakes his head. “We got more than we ever expected too and while only time will tell if they keep that promise, we can’t afford to go back to how it was before. Yet alone if Medarda manages to turn it into a proper war. Zaun would be slaughtered.”

Months ago, Sevika might have argued. She, like many others down here, had wanted blood for blood. How many died from the Enforcers? How many locked away, unable to pay for a defense while Topsiders threw their cogs around for freedom? Let alone all the lives lost to mining accidents and to the gray?

Then she’d gotten her fucking arm blown off and half her damn crew dead from a casual toss of a grenade. They hadn’t even been at war, not to Piltover. These were just riots, just some angry poor criminals that needed to be punished and dealt with before they spilled over to the Good Side of the city.

If that was what Piltover did to them when it wasn’t war…. No. They had to be smart.

Which meant not getting into a damn custody battle with a Piltie who clearly was, for one, fucking loaded and two, apparently pretty powerful politics wise.

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t going to be pissed,” she pointed out.

A screech of protesting metal announced the elevator’s arrival, the rusted gates groaning under Vander’s rough handling as he yanked them open, even though he knew how old the damn thing was.

“I’ll deal with it.”

Sevika snorted and thanked Janna that Silco wasn’t forcing her to be a damn marriage counselor on top of this bullshit.

Mel isn’t pleased.

Vi thinks this might be the first time she’s actually had that look pointed at her. Mel rarely gets upset and never at them, or at least never enough that it shows.

It’s nice to realize, though, that Vi isn’t scared of that intense, piercing look. Defending Mel to Vander had made everything… solid somehow. That edge of fear that Vi had was gone because she knew Mel wouldn’t abandon them. She might not call her mom and it might still stay time for it to really become second nature to think of her as her mom, but they were family.

“And he didn’t pressure you into this?” Mel asks, clearly not believing.

Vi shook her head. “I said it was fine.”

Mel’s lips thinned, her fingers tapping on the wooden surface of her desk. She was so pissed.

She didn’t defend Vander, nor would she, because she was pretty sure she couldn’t make Mel less angry. Though, to be fair, from the way Mel acted, there might not be a way for her to be less mad at Vander.

Instead, she tried to explain why she’d agreed.

“He apologized,” Vi started with. “A lot. And yeah, I don’t want to live with him but I…” she hesitated, not really wanting to admit it, “I missed him. I thought he was mad at me or disappointed, but he was sorry.”

She shrugged, a little uncomfortable, “He used to be really nice, back before ma died, I mean. I thought, maybe…maybe we could have that again. Since he actually wanted us.”

Something shifts in Mel’s eyes and her fingers stop tapping.

“I won’t lie to you; I don’t like the idea. If I had it my way, he’d be banished from this city so quickly they’d be seeing him in Shurima,” she sighs, “But I won’t stand in your way.”

She looks sternly into Vi’s eyes. “If he says anything out of line, anything even hinting at rudeness, tell me. I won’t have you or your sister hearing another word of that kind of nonsense. Understand?”

Riven stops her after a training session.

So much sweat is pouring from Vi that her hair sticks to her face and dark sweat stains her training outfit. She’s been working hard, harder than usual, ever since her conversation with Vander. Her nerves haven’t settled yet. Would Vander honor his word? Or would he abandon them again or perhaps decide Mel wasn’t fit? Her nightmares over Powder were still keeping her awake too, though at least that seemed to lessen after each night that her sister was ok.

“You need to pick a weapon,” Riven reminds her.

She’d told Vi that weeks ago, but it had gotten lost in the drama of Vander and Mel fully taking them in.

Vi hasn’t seen many people fight with weapons. Down in the Lanes, people mostly fought hand to hand or, if you had the cogs, just used a gun. You had to buy or make weapons, and carrying them meant you had to fight at any moment. Plus, the Enforcers hated seeing anyone down in Zaun with a weapon.

Riven has shown Vi a couple of different weapons. Long staffs, skinny swords, hunks of metal on a chain.

Vi has loved none of them. Maybe it’s because she’s been fighting with just her fists for as long as she can remember, but everything feels clunky and slow. Riven found her performance unimpressive.

So she shrugs. “I don’t think weapons are for me.”

Her teacher shakes her head. “You need more. Don’t get me wrong, you’re good at hand to hand; give me another couple of years and I could make you the top fighter in this city. You certainly have the instincts, the drive, and the ability for it.”

Vi feels embarrassment creep up the back of her neck. Riven does not give compliments easily nor often.

“But that’s not enough,” she insists. “You’re now the heir to House Medarda— You can’t only rely on your fists. Not anymore. I hope Mel keeps you far, far, away from our homeland, but I intend to make sure you’re capable if Noxus comes to you.”

Riven gives her another nod to the door. “Think about it. I’ll try to find something that hopefully fits you.”

It takes a long, long time.

Vi doesn’t like swords and Riven finally agrees; Vi’s fighting instincts don’t agree with an offensive weapon. They’d tried other weapons before realizing that, but it all ends the same.

Riven, after nearly a month, gives Vi a pickaxe.

It’s not exactly like the ones she used to see at the Last Drop. Those were bigger and had machine parts with the spikes to make them smash against the rock harder. Her ma used to tinker with them sometimes for extra cogs or as a trade. This one was much smaller, a solid piece of metal from the handle to its hammer head. The hammer head was small and was opposite a long spike instead of the more common twin spikes.

Vi has seen pickaxes used as weapons before. It was rare, as Vander used to keep the Last Drop quiet and most people hated using them as actual weapons since they were needed in the mines.

“You need a defensive weapon,” Riven says. “You might fight offensively, too much sometimes, but you don’t have the heart to be offensive with a weapon.”

Vi frowns as she tests the weight and balance of the pick. “What do you mean?”

Riven raises an eyebrow at her, “Vi. When we train without weapons, you don’t hold back, you never have. I think it’s because you know exactly how much force is needed to seriously harm someone with just your fists. Weapons through…” she trails off.

Vi can only guess which Incident she was imagining. The last few weeks had been hard in a way she never thought fighting could be like. Or, no, training had always been tough and hard, but it had also been easy in a way that she never realized was easy until she’d started weapon training.

Weapons just felt… she didn’t want to say scary, but that was probably the closest word she had. Swords had been the worst because they were all sharp edges. If she landed a hit on Riven, even though that was basically impossible, it wouldn’t just cause a bruise. Most of the bladed weapons they tried had led Vi’s mind in similar endings and had made practice a slog.

“I believe that it’s not because you fear weapons, at least not fully.” Riven looks her in the eyes, gold meeting gray steady. “Tell me, Vi, what is the goal of learning how to fight?”

Vi wrinkles her nose. She thought the answer was obvious. “To keep Powder safe.” She adds, perhaps unnecessarily, “My whole family safe, I mean.”

Mel doesn’t need her protection. Vi hasn’t ever seen her fight, but she knows, instinctively, that the woman was not to be messed with. The way she’d stared down Vander without a hint of fear proved it. But Vi’s current weakness and Mel’s current strength are not set in stone. She’ll get stronger and while she doesn’t want to think Mel as weak; it might happen. Then there was Caitlyn, who was her best friend. She had a sharp tongue and a tougher than average skin for Piltie but she’d need to protect her too.

Riven does not soften, Vi doubts she ever would in front of anyone, but Vi can tell she likes that answer.

She doesn’t know why; it was the obvious answer. The only one Vi could ever think of.

“Exactly,” Riven says, like Vi’s answer should make everything make sense. “Vi, you fumble with the blade because you instinctively know that you could kill someone with it and you simply don’t have a killer’s drive.”

Riven continues, seeing how Vi’s face dropped a little, “That isn’t a bad thing. It isn’t even a rarity, especially at your age, but it’s not something I want to train out of you. You have the heart of a protector, and that’s more noble than you can even start to believe. It took me a long time to find it in myself. I will not take that from you.”

“But what if I need to?” Vi asks. She doesn’t want to kill anyone. The idea put the sights and sounds of the bridge back into her mind and all kinds of things that she’d rather forget. She remembered how Vander had looked that day with a blood covered gauntlet and before that the sound of metal hitting flesh. It wasn’t a good memory by any means.But despite all the bad stuff that Vander had done later, he’d kept them safe from other Gangs. Powder might have gotten sick, but Vi had at least known that no one could hurt them when Vander had been round.

“You can protect the people you love without resorting to killing being the end goal.” Riven took the pick from Vi’s hand. “I once told your mother that I wouldn’t teach you warfare and I meant it. No one should have to learn the lessons I learned on the battlefield. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to better protect others. It simply means that you need a weapon that fits you. A weapon that is a means of defeating your opponent, without killing them unless needed.”

Vi frowned again. “I think hitting someone with a mining pickaxe would kill them, actually.”

“Anything can kill if you know what you’re doing,” Riven says dryly. “And this isn’t a mining pickaxe. This is a Horseman’s pick, though it’s only temporary. I couldn’t find a Kusarigama in Piltover, but I think for now we can work with this until I can find you one.”

“Kusarigama?” Vi repeated slowly. Riven sometimes used weird words for moves or stances she can Vi do. Some of it was Ionian, as apparently Riven had fought in the war there years ago, then lived there before coming to Piltover. There was also bit was Noxian, though she seemed to not like teaching Vi that style even though Vi enjoyed the simple techniques involved.

“A rather complex weapon from Ionia. It’s smaller than this,” she gives the pick in her hands a light spin, “more like a sickle than true pick. There is a chain tied to it with a heavy weight on the other end. It’s not a weapon that you can simply brute force your way into knowing. It takes time, patience. I think that will be good for you. You have the habit of trying the same thing over and over again just because you think punching harder will get you a different result.”

To be fair, VI was fairly sure that it would get her different results if the person she was punching wasn’t a super kickass warrior.

“And it has the added benefit of making anyone going against you think you aren’t a closed range fighter. The Kusarigama keeps your opponents at a distance, so the natural reaction is to either take it from you or to close that distance.”

“...And that’s when I punch them?” Vi asks.

Riven gave Vi a tiny amused smile, the first that her teacher has ever given her.

“And then you punch them.”

Vi doesn’t do days off.

If you had a job; you worked it. She’d watched her mom work when she was sick all the time when she was younger. No matter how bad her cough, or how watery her eyes.

The only time she ever remembers her staying home had been when Vi was sick. She’d been about Powder’s age when she’d gotten really sick, just an ear sickness that lots of kids got. She can remember screaming and screaming because her head hurt, her eyes hurt, everything hurt. And her ma sang and hummed to her for hours. She’d had Vander bring ice all the way from the bar to rub on Vi’s forehead and told her stories.

Even back then, Vi had known they had little cogs. Her ma did good, but that meant little down in Zaun. She’d try, badly, to convince her mom that she was fine enough to stay with Vander or whoever else was supposed to watch them but her mom hadn’t bothered to even argue with her about it. Just hushed her until she’d fallen asleep.

But it’s been an entire year since the bridge.

Mel doesn’t ask why she asked for a break from her lessons, although she’s so close to being done with them, just accepts it with an easy nod. Nor does she ask why she wants to go shopping without her. She raises an eyebrow but allows her to borrow Elora for an afternoon.

Because Vi has cogs. Not a lot, but more than she ever had before. She’d be saving them just in case, but she’s pretty damn sure she doesn’t need to anymore.

So she spends them.

Finding the little drawing pad and pencils for Powder was easy, as was getting the supposedly impossible puzzle for Caitlyn. Finding Tea for Riven was harder, but she thinks getting her the same kind that Cait’s dad drinks was a good bet. She makes Elora stand outside when she picks out a pen set that was covered in poros for her.

The last two are hard.

Mel might not have been born in Piltover but she has Piltie taste and Vi might have cogs but nowhere near enough to buy her jewelry. Books? But Mel doesn’t read much, as she’s too busy, and Vi doesn’t have a good enough grasp on her taste to know what she’d like.

But then she sees sets of charms. They’re cheap, at least in relation to real jewelry, just meant to be added onto a bracelet. There’s a ton of them for all kinds of different occasions and events; paint brushes, all kinds of different sports balls, letters and shapes. Some of them are paired, clearly meant to be shared with someone.

She gets two sets; split hearts of red and blue.

When Vi gets home, she gives her sister her gift first: she loves it, which is no surprise.

She packs away Caitlyn’s puzzle in a little bag, figuring it would look better that way than trying to wrap it. Vi doesn’t bother doing the same to Riven’s tea nor to Elora pens, though she gives them to her before she leaves for the night. She loves them, even if she’s embarrassed that Vi knew she loved poros.

She splits hearts and switches one blue side with red and feels a little embarrassed about them. Vi knows what Mel wears, and these aren’t exactly her style with silver instead of gold. If it was genuine silver. Considering the price it wasn’t, but Vi had barely afforded these as it was.

Vi takes one mismatched set to their studio.

Mom’s space was the same as she’d last seen it. Powder sometimes put new pictures or one of her newest block creations to make a rotating display of some sort. Vi doesn’t have that same need, instead feeling like sometimes she needed to be near the Space. She’s still placed a couple of things here and there, but mostly she just enjoys being around it.

But this time it’s different. This time she gets out the new incense and lights it before she places a red/blue heart charm on her ma’s old mining hat. Then she talks, quietly, about her day and all the recent events that have happened lately.

Vi is too embarrassed to give Mel the heart.

Which is dumb. It’s completely stupid and childish.

But she can’t help it. She knows Mel cares about them and yeah, that probably means she loves them. Probably. The woman has literally called them her daughters multiple times! She’d almost started a war with Zaun over them!

But whatever. Mel says she’s allowed to ‘deal with things at her own pace’ and while Vi hates the fact she’s running from useless and stupid embarrassment, if it means Mel gets the stupid things, then it was good enough for her.

Mel does not cry when she spots the charms.

She hadn’t exactly known why Vi had wanted the day off, but she had a few strong guesses. The shopping had been a surprise, as the girl had expressed no desire to shop before. But she had to admit her heart stopped a little. Two little half heart charms, red and blue, sat on her desk. They were clearly part of a set as they’d clicked together.

She’ll have to buy a new bracelet for it. She has a few bracelets but they’re all the wrong color, and silver charms on a golden bracelet simply won’t do. Granted, she’ll always not match now because she can’t simply remove her tattoos, but the point stands.

Mel Medarda does not cry when she spots the charms, but she definitely comes close. She cries, just a little, when she sees where the other halves of the charms lay.

“You came!”

Mel has to admit, the way Powder’s eyes lit up when she saw her little friend is worth having those… men here.

It’s been hard to contain her disdain for them, but she does. It took Vi a month to agree to see Vander and another to let Powder do the same. All of his visits have been here instead of Zaun and under the eye of Sevika, who appeared to be over the entire affair from the start, because of Mel’s insistence.

It’s half because she knows, thanks to Cassandra’s connection to Grayson, that the situation in the Undercity might be stable, but not nearly as stable as Silco puts forth. She does not fault him for the lie, but she won’t send her daughters into an unsafe situation simply because they miss their homeland. Not when Vi’s trust in Vander is still so deeply shaken.

So far, however, she has to admit that Vander has been on his best behavior. He didn’t argue with Vi when she refused to allow him to see Powder; he didn’t lash out, and he didn’t try to guilt trip her over it or any other of Vi’s actions. Or at least not enough for Vi to show signs of it.

(She’s considered bribing Sevika for more details about their conversations, but figures the woman would probably laugh in her face. Plus, Vi’s trust is so hard won that she can’t risk losing it.

But she still considers it.)

It has finally led to this;

Powder’s sixth birthday party.

Unlike Vi, this wasn’t Powder’s first birthday without her mother, but she had been rather adamant that this one had to be a good one because Powder’s fifth had been… bad. Knowing Vi, she feels guilty over it, of course.

Mel’s expression during that conversation had made Vi immediately tell her that Vander hadn’t forgotten the date, but just that it had been a rather bleak affair. It had been during an intense period of riots and there simply had been no way to have a large gathering like normal. She can’t blame the man for that. According to Vi, he had at least tried. It’s better than what her own mother had given her at some points in her childhood.

It’s still smaller than Vi had told her about. Mel can’t invite all the children of Zaun into her home for her daughter’s birthday, but she doubted most of them would have come, anyway. Hate still ran thick between Piltover and Zaun. She doubted that would end within even Vi’s lifetime.

But she could invite Vander, even if she rather she didn’t. She and the girls would celebrate by themselves tomorrow, with another lunch. Ever since she’d taken them out when she officially adopted them, it’s something they’ve done regularly. It’s good for them to leave the home without the pressures of an event. It’s kept Vi from seeking more freedom, at least, even though she doubts that will last for much longer. Vi is, after all, heading towards teenagedom at almost break fast speeds.

For now, it’s them, Elora, Caitlyn, Vander, an uncomfortable Silco, their two boys, another little boy named Ekko, and, as she so often felt, a Sevika that clearly doesn’t want to be here.

This isn’t anything like the birthdays she had in her own childhood. When she was young, her mother had been on campaign for long periods of time or busy preparing for one. Her mother had given her children grand gifts, but Mel still remembers more than one birthday with only Kino to give them to her.

Powder, and Vi, will not have that problem. She has no desire to have Vi fill in for her duties and will do everything in her power to keep it so.

(She has not spoken to Kino since her exile.

This is not the first time she wishes that was not the case and it will not be the last. The reasons for that desire change like the seasons, but right now she wants to know how he felt filling in for their missing parents when they were young and then how he had to soothe Mel’s conversations with their mother. She’d known it was unfair to him even back then, but it is only now, with two children of her own, that she realized just how unfair it is.

Kino has always seemed wiser, more clever, and stronger than Mel ever believed herself to be. Now, seeing how Vi hides all weakness to keep Powder calm and happy….

Mel would very much like to speak with Kino.)

If that also means that she has to deal with Vander, then so be it.

“I truly was impressed with you,” Silco says, unprompted.

It’s towards the end of Powder’s party. Gifts were given, much food had been eaten, games played by the children and much stale small talk between the adults had been had. Well, by most of the adults. Sevika had stayed out of it besides the hilarious moment when Elora had tried to talk to her.

Mel takes a sip of the juice in her glass, no alcohol was to be served tonight. “Oh?”

Silco nodded. Somehow, it felt slimy. Most actions Silco did felt that way and Mel has wondered if he was born with that feeling about him or if he practiced it.

“Yes,” he says. “I’m rarely impressed with anything or anyone from Piltover but you and Kiramman at least aren’t as bad as the rest. I almost enjoyed our conversation.”

Having heard how Silo spoke of his fellow council members, even if some of the dumber ones haven’t realized it, from Cassandra: that was high praise indeed.

Silco does not grate on her as much as Vander does. Mostly because, while he fronted Vander’s claim on the girls, he was not the one that Vi had reacted so strongly to. It was not him that abandoned them. She still does not like him much, as they have differing views on how to get and keep political power, but she does respect him for his love of Zaun.

It’s because of that respect and knowing how much he values straight conversion over the round and round conversion favored in Piltover, that Mel tells the truth.

“I’d recognize you from a picture of Vi’s and spent our convention wondering if I’d have to help find another councilor,” Mel says as if they are discussing the weather. “I hadn’t known at the time that it had been Vander and not you that she’d reacted so negatively to.”

Silco does not laugh, he does not strike her as a man that laughs much at all, but he smirks. “I’d figured as much. I hadn’t wondered why, I’d have wagered it being the fact I was from the Undercity, but I was surprised how quickly you’d taken back your support. I thought I’d at least get through meeting you before losing it.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that my involvement didn’t escape your notice.”

“Kiramman didn’t scream it from the rooftops, but I’m sure you understand that I like to know what I’m walking into. And while your new businesses aren’t in the Lanes themselves, they do business with people that are.”

They stand in silence for a moment. The children are playing loudly still but Mel can tell that they are losing their energy. Vander and Silco’s boys are closer to Vi’s age compared to Powders, but they were all playing together. It was a simple game where, from Mel’s point of view, involved much yelling and running, and very little else.

It was lovely to see. Between the fact that Vi was acting like the child she was and how Powder actually spoke with the other children, it was lovely indeed.

“Tell me, Lady Medarda, when are you planning to become a counselor yourself? “

It was statements like that made Mel respect the man.

She knew he could be subtle, but he clearly basked in being blunt when he could. It was probably the Zaun in him, as Vi thought being needlessly blunt was the height of comedy as well.

She herself didn’t favor it. She rather liked the subtle approach. Watching long plans fall into place was much more satisfying to her. Mel had to admit that Vi had changed her view somewhat, as while she still favored it, she could see the enjoyment in simply smashing into the heart of a conversation.

Silco’s question in ‘polite company’ painted himself as rude and herself as rather arrogant but it’s no doubt a question that many others had been dancing around in the past few weeks in many long conversations that amounted to nothing. She’s been refusing to answer the unspoken question. Despite that non-answer for the non-question, the rumors have begun to spread that it’s highly likely that she’ll be getting her own seat rather soon.

But a straight question should get a straight answer.

“In a few years, I imagine.” Mel took another sip of her juice as if it was a much more expensive wine, “I have no desire to pull someone off the council by force but there are a few seats that should be coming available shortly.”

The man nodded in easy agreement like what she said wouldn’t have gotten her dirty looks from most attending a real event.

“I have already extended this to council-lady Kiramman because of her efforts in securing the seat Zaun has always deserved, but since we’re…” here Silco’s expression twisted slightly. He was a hard man to read, without even considering his heavily scarred eye, but there was anger and hurt. Guilt, perhaps. “Family,” is the word he finally settled on.

“Vander and myself promised Felicia that we’d take care of her girls and fulfill our dreams of making Zaun a place worth raising children in,” he says with a far off look to his eyes. Then his good eye sharpened. “I will admit that we failed half of that promise, but it’s clear that you’ve taken the duty wholeheartedly. So when you wish to expand your influence on the Undercity, speak with Sevika.”

Mel pulls Vi into her office the evening before the big day.

She’s had much of her schedule cleared for the week. It’s the least amount of work that she’s had since the week of the girl’s adoption, but she thinks it’s well needed. Not that she won’t be working, she’s doing an in-depth review of her current businesses and plans to get a good idea on how to use her newfound connection to the business side of Zaun.

Vi, being Vi, has already tried to argue that she shouldn’t have to go to school even though it’s the natural result of all the lessons and studying that she’s been doing ever since she became Mel’s ward. The young girl had listed many reasons she hadn’t needed or wanted the extra schooling. And because it’s Vi, Mel had already known the reason; Powder.

Not that Vi hadn’t been telling the truth for some of her reasons. The girl might enjoy parts of her lessons, but being so young meant that she hadn’t truly grasped the purpose of all of it. She truly believes that her time would be better served ‘learning on the job’ as it were.

Mal had gotten her to agree to actual school with little arguing. Vi’s trust in her has only gotten stronger as time marches on and Mel is gladden by it, but she knows Vi worries. She doesn’t believe that to change soon, though, even if she hopes to get those worries to a reasonable level of a normal older sister and not a child forced to be a caregiver.

So, hoping to keep Vi’s blood pressure down and hopefully make sure she doesn’t just leave school in a worried frenzy: another conversion.

“I’m going to take Powder to a children’s art studio tomorrow to keep her mind off you being out of the house,” Mel says as Vi settles into her chair.

Vi wasn’t as nervous as she feared she’d be. In the two weeks they’ve known of her acceptance to the academy, the thought of which made her almost beam in pride even if it was misplaced, she’s come to realize that Mel was right. Or, more likely, she’s buried her feelings on the matter because Mel had told her she was going and Vi still rarely actually argued with Mel unless Vi truly believed that she needed to.

That doesn’t mean she isn’t more…down than usual. She does not bounce in her seat like she does when excited but nor does her finger clench or her foot tap.

“This is a good thing, Vi,” Mel tries to remind her. She can’t help her smile, but maybe seeing Mel’s own happiness would be good for Vi to see. “I know that leaving your sister because of school will be a hard process for both of you, but it’s something that both of you need.”

“I know,” Vi grumbles. She lightly kicks the floor, just enough to show her displeasure but not enough to scuff the stone.

“I thought that in a few weeks, once Powder is more settled, I would start finding her tutors as well.”

Vi’s nose scrunches up. “She’s six. What could she even learn?”

“It’s the age most children of our rank begin schooling,” Mel says carefully. She finds she needs to remind Vi, gently of course, that she is now a part of a social rank that far, far exceeds what she once knew.

It’s not because Vi doesn’t know or forgets that Mel is a ‘Piltie’ but judging by some of her comments, she forgets that she’s now a ‘Piltie’. She remembers that she’s a Medarda, though that took some time to sink in, but forgets exactly what being the heir of House Medarda means.

It’s a lesson she’ll be teaching her for years. The weight of House Medarda is heavy, but Mel is sure Vi can handle it in time.

“This way,” Mel continues on, “She won’t have so many lessons like you did in order to go to school with others.”

Vi nods slowly. Her lack of energy has been present since she learned about her test results, and while it makes Mel sad to see, it’s something that simply needs to happen. A broken bone needs to be set and her daughters need to grow apart at some point. If left alone to it, they would be like two plants choking the life out of the other to see the sun. Perhaps Vi sees that on some level. She certainly wasn’t fighting this as hard as Mel believed she would.

“I can’t protect Pow forever,” Vi says. She’s frowning down at the floor, her little shoulders tense. “I just…”

“You worry,” Mel finished for her. “I understand. Truly Vi, I do. You know, I’m not just proud of your progress in your studies, you’ve come far in so many different ways. You’re less quick to anger, you trust more often, you smile more; This is just another step in that growth. You’re allowed to feel sadness about that step, of course, but the most important thing is that you take that step. Alright?”

Vi nods again, more firm this time. “Alright.”

Vi is not nervous.

She feels awkward in a way that she hasn’t felt since Mel first got her new clothes for Gang meetings. It’s an awkward uniform, just super Piltover-like in a way Mel makes sure her normal clothes aren’t. There’s a dark blue jacket with shiny golden buttons on the sleeves. She wore pants of the same blue, starched to within an inch of their life, making them unbearably itchy. The super shiny black shoes were uncomfortable, and she’d have a hard time running in them if she needed too.

She doesn’t complain, at least not out loud, because Mel is excited. Vander, who she saw last week, had almost teared up himself when she told him she was about to head off to actual school soon.

Mylo and Claggor were going to go to school too, Silco had made that very clear to both of them despite Mylo not being a fan of the idea but they weren’t going to the same place Vi was. The Academy was kinda a big deal according to both Mel and Caitlyn. The boys, instead, would go to a school that Silco had gotten approved a couple of weeks ago. Until then they were getting lessons in an old warehouse with a lot of other miner kids while it was being built.

But Vi had finished her lessons. She knew more math than she knew what to do with or ever wanted to know; she learned history, which wasn’t as bad; she learned how to read better and understand books, which she liked a lot and a lot of other stuff she was fairly sure she wouldn’t ever need.

When Mel had gotten her tested, a thing that all Piltover’s kids had to do to figure out what fancy school they could go to, Vi hadn’t expected much. She wasn’t dumb, but she never thought of herself as all that smart either. Sure, she liked to read but compared to Caitlyn or Mel, who were both smart in ways that couldn’t just be taught, Vi was just alright.

Piltover standards were either much lower than Vi thought or Mel being super rich factored into this despite what everyone else said.

Caitlyn’s smile is brighter than the sun.

Vi doesn’t think it’s the most perfect smile. That title belongs to one of Mel’s. Not the one she gives her or Powder, those smiles make her nose scrunch up, but the one that she flashes at Gang meetings when she wants people to do what she wants but they don’t. The smile, though lacking real joy, was objectively beautiful;a flawless mask. Creepy.

Caitlyn’s smile is slightly lopsided, sitting awkwardly on her mouth like she isn’t used to it, and there was that little gap in her teeth. Her nose gets all scrunched up too. It’s not ther most perfect smile out there. It’s not the closed lipped smile that Vi sees in the family paintings at Caitlyn’s house.

Still makes Vi’s heart squeeze. Still makes her foot miss a step. Still makes her laugh awkwardly because she hadn’t heard what Caitlyn said since she was looking at it so damn hard.

Vi catches up to the conversion at some point, something about how Caitlyn wants to start a book club now that Vi is going to this school with her, but that smile lingers on the edges of her vision like a ghost.

Caitlyn keeps her mind from wandering off to Powder. She knows she’ll be fine. She hadn’t even cried that much when VI had left the house this morning but the worry lingers a little. It keeps her from making fun of the school’s grandness. It’s all Piltover in a way Vi still finds stupid. Fancy without reason, gold for the sake of shine, grand marble everywhere just because people thought it should be there.

Maybe it’s because she’s finally got to visit Zaun recently, but she still thinks it looks better. At least in Zaun, the artwork was real. Anything that lasted, like gang tags or the few massive murals, lasted because people liked it. Nothing got to stay up just because someone thought it should be there.

Vi sits in the sun-drenched room, with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the bright gardens of the fancy school; sheer uselessness of it all weighing heavily on her mind. But this is what Mel wanted. Mel asked very little of her and if this is what she wanted, for Vi to waste her time in this place, then she would do her best.

Mel hears of her brother’s impending visit only hours before it happens.

It leaves her scrambling. She doesn’t know the cause of the visit and while she doesn’t want to believe the worst of her brother, she must prepare for the worst. Kino was their mother’s son above all else, the heir of their house second and her brother third. That had used to be a point of contention between them in those later years of her adolescence where Ambessa started to pull away from her, but that anger, jealousy and frustration had faded with the passaging of time.

It’s been so long since she’s seen her older brother. The last time had been in the last few weeks before their mother made her exile official, when even Kino couldn’t make her believe it wasn’t coming. In those last quite dark weeks, it loomed over the household like dark clouds before a storm. And while she wants, deeply, to think Kino is here out of his own desire to see her, she must acknowledge that even if that’s part of his reason, it will not be the only one. Not even the largest.

It’s been months since she sent that letter to Noxus Prime.

No doubt her mother has heard of Mel’s daughters and that Vi is now her heir. Surely Kino’s visit will be related to that, but she doesn’t know what the ultimate goal of it is. To judge Mel’s progress? To judge the girls she’s taken into their House?

The idea of Vi and Powder under the same judging eyes of her mother as she once was fills her with dread.

She has to quickly get the House in order. It’s unacceptable to have Riven anywhere near Kino, even if her brother wouldn’t dare to tell Noxus about the deserter, as he, like any other reasonable person, had a low opinion of Draven, but she doesn’t want to put either of them in a strenuous position. Then she sends a message to Cassandra as the council or at least the parts of it she likes, would benefit from a warning that the heir of a high level Noxus House was about to be in Piltover but also she needs to get the girls out of the House for the evening.

Mel doesn’t know what Kino plans and that’s information Mel needs before she dares put her daughter’s under his gaze.

Kino had always looked like his father more than their shared mother.

He’d always been lanky and lean, never quite getting the wide muscled shoulders of Ambessa. Despite the mean spirited rumors floating around the army camps, it wasn’t due to lack of training. Kino may not be as war mongering as some wish for him to be but he knew his place in this world. A fox, by their mother’s standards, but one with sharper teeth than Mel ever managed.

It’s been such a long time since she’s seen him but when he steps off the airship it’s suddenly like no time has passed at all, yet she can see that’s not the case. Kino wears the same kind of clothing and styles himself the same.

A brilliant white jacket sits on narrow shoulders, because white was the color of peace, but under it was a finely crafted black buttoned shirt with red accents because even if peace is his goal; war and blood aren’t ever off the table. A large golden necklace bearing the House Medarda symbol rests at his throat like a collar. His beard is slightly longer than the last time she’s seen him but still kept clipped close to his face, the same style that his father used to wear. His hair is just the slightest bit messy to help give him a bit of a rogue air to him.

He wears no armor pieces, rather like herself and unlike their mother who never leaves without it, but everything he wears won’t hinder him.

Was he so clearly a grown man the time she saw him? Everything about him, from the tips of his hair to the shiny black boots screams House Medarda.

The only things that don’t are his bright shiny eyes, those can’t possibly be tears, and the wide warm smile on his face.

“Little sister,” he finally says. He opens his arms wide. “It’s been too long.”

Mel is a mother now but before that she’d been a little sister that craved her brother’s love and attention. That girl still hides in her heart and despite the fear of everything that can come from this: she steps into Kino’s open arms.

Kino is as charming as he has always been.

She tries to see her home through his eyes. Powder’s toys have slowly spread across the house, an after effect of her being less occupied by Vi’s presence during school hours. Due to the children’s studio being such a big hit with Powder they’d been returning on a regular basis so pieces are placed everywhere; a painting by Powder sits framed on a side table while Vi’s pottery piece rests on her fireplace mantle. Children’s books and novels abound.

It’s nothing like their home in Noxus. Weapons are kept firmly away unless training and she doesn’t display a single one. Her furniture was picked for comfort and warmth, the windows open to the sun, the paintings on the wall are softer than the war scenes Kino is used to seeing.

Kino is polite and he doesn’t mention the elephant in the room until after they’ve eaten dinner and they’re sitting in one of the dens. It’s not quite a real meeting room but it’s more comfortable than the open living room and doesn’t have her work in an open view like her office.

“So,” he says after taking a sip of wine, “Am I going to be allowed to meet these nieces of mine?”

Mel sits with crossed ankles, calmly swirling her glass. She’s been dreading this topic but knew it was coming. There was only so much gossip from Noxus, nothing of any true importance of course, that Kino could share.

“I believe that depends on why you wish to meet them.”

Kino sets his wine glass down and hunches forward. “Sister, please. Are you so guarded now that you fear letting me near them?”

“Again, it depends on why.” Mel watches Kino’s every move, trying to read his expression. Hurt, maybe? Why would he be hurt? He must understand her fears.

She explains, “Do you wish to meet them as my brother or our mother’s son?”

Yes, it is hurt in his eyes. “I would meet your daughters as their uncle.”

He sighs, rubbing his bearded chin with a rough hand. “I know we haven’t spoke in far too long but do you really think I’m just here to do Ambessa’s bidding? Mel— you have daughters now. I’m an uncle! You sent no word besides the letter to Noxus Prime, I had to see your signature myself to believe it myself. Not even a year in Piltover and you’ve adopted two children, you’ve invited a traitor to train them, you’ve become closely involved with people tied to crime… Mel, Little Sister, I simply want to know what is happening.”

Mel supposes that it’s a reasonable confusion. She doesn’t believe she’s done anything to warrant his apparent hunt, but confusion, yes.

“It wasn’t exactly planned,” she admits. “I found them, had the resources to help and before I knew it, I realized I wanted them to stay. I sent the letter without much thought.”

True— to a point. She’s been worried about the aftermath of that letter on and off since she sent it. Mel didn’t think her mother would fully disown her, if she hadn’t already done so it was unlikely to happen, but beyond that she doesn’t know what her response would be.

“I wouldn’t have been allowed to tell you of them before then anyway,” Mel says. Her tone is colder than before, even though she truly doesn’t blame her brother. “Mother was quite clear on the extent of my exile.”

Kino takes her words like a blow, slumping back in his chair. The silence lingers, heavy in a way it never used to be with him.

“It’s more complicated than you think,” Kino finally says, his voice low and tired. “I know you believe that mother sent you away because of your weakness but that’s not the whole truth. It’s a dangerous time back home, you’re better off here.”

Mel scoffs into her wine, “Yes, I’m well aware that I’m the weak link of our House. I was simply following her instructions.”

Her brother shakes his head, “You, Mel, are no weak link. I know this and so does our mother. I know it must hurt to be so far away from home but we all know that Piltover is the best place for you.”

He gestures around the room with his long arms, “I worry about what you’ve been doing, yes, but even I must admit that whatever you’re doing is good. Your art hangs on the walls again, pieces of your daughters are in every room, your smile clearly isn’t a rarely anymore. You have a home here! A good home.”

Kino sighs, deep and ragged, “I am so proud of you. You deserve, more than anyone, to escape mother’s shadow. It just pains me that you can’t see what a gift that is.”

Mel reaches over, Kino’s knee warm under her hand. “It’s hard to see it as a gift when it means I’ve been away from my family. I’ve missed you, missed mother despite all the arguing we’ve done. Before I took Vi and Powder in, I was lonely,” she admits.

Piltover was a city seemingly made to her talents and values but she came here with no one. She was alone in a new city, with no family, no friends or lover. There hadn’t been a single person in this city that she could trust.

Now she has family here, she has two young daughters who are just streets away. She has a friend and mentor in Cassandra, who she trusts to act in the best interests of their families. There is Elora, who watches her children and bakes them cookies. Silco and Vander might never be her friends but she knows them and trusts them to an extent.

“Is that why you took those girls in?” Kino asks.

“No,” she pauses, “and yes. I think we simply needed each other.”

Kino nods slowly.

“You haven’t said if mother sent you,” Mel asks carefully. “Not that I think this was completely her bidding but…”

He laughs humorlessly, “Ah, but nothing I do is completely without her hand. I understand.”

Kino lens back, throwing his arm over the chair’s arm. “She’s playing it close to chest; to no one’s surprise. Probably because this isn’t causing too many waves, thankfully. If you were still at home it would be the conversation of the year but,” he shrugged. “An exile doing unexpected things is, well, expected.”

“But she still wanted you to check the situation out,” Mel finishes the line of thought.

“Of course she did, she just found out she’s a grandmother.” Kino reaches back for his wine, taking a sip. “I will say, though, that if you thought that this may end your exile…”

Mel shakes her head, “No, I know. Even if it had, I don’t think I’d want to take the girls out of the city. This is their home.”

“It’s not that she isn’t interested in meeting them,” he says quickly, despite him just saying their mother was ‘playing it close to the chest.’ “As I said, she had you come here because it’s safe. You taking in children only makes that more important.”

Piltover is safer than Noxus, this is true. But she knows that it’s only because this city hides its violence much better than her homeland, where they take so much pride in it. Piltover was built on the blood and bones of its victims just like any other city. Mel simply has the power and influence to keep herself and her daughter’s above that muck. Vi will certainly carry the stain of it for the rest of her life.

“I understand,” Mel says.

Kino has always tried to defend Ambessa’s actions and while Mel doesn’t actually believe their mother sent her away for her safety, she understands why she wouldn’t end Mel’s exile for them. If Mel had been weak before, she’ll be even weaker in her eyes now.

“You don’t,” he says. “There’s a lot I can’t tell you. And no, it’s not because of your exile, but because it’s all half thought out theories and rumors at the moment.”

This piqued her interest. Noxus, from what she’s heard, is stable for the moment. Or as stable as Noxus ever is. There were no major wars happening at the moment nor any currently on the horizon but that’s rarely the case for long.

“Noxus is to declare war soon then?”

Kino shakes his head, “No. At least not for a few years. The colossal failure in Ionia has made most of the generals weary of another ill thought out approach. Too many losses and little gained, but— I think that will change. You know how our homeland works. The armies will soon chafe for a campaign and while I believe Darius might try and deley it will short campaigns in the Frelord, Swain has ambitions and he will not be denied them forever.”

“Please,” Kino’s hand is warm on her shoulder , his touch gentle and reassuring, “I know this has been hard on you, Mel. I can only imagine how painful it’s been to be alone here and to be so far away from us but I need you to know that I truly believe mother did it for a reason and that it has nothing to do with you being weak.”

She reaches up to grasp his hand for a few moments as she thought. Perhaps Ambessa had more hidden reasons for Mel’s exile and it would be like her mother to hide them. Despite all her lessons about being a wolf, her mother can be just as much a fox as Mel and Kino.

And if Mel’s safety was the largest concern… sending Kino to check in on her was the most she’d do. Ambessa Medarda couldn’t simply end Mel’s exile so soon without a grand cause or else she’d look weak. To many, though, Mel taking in children would warrant it but, to some less kind hearted crowds, it might appear as Mel attempting to force her mother to do something. People have certainly done more to get attention while in exile.

But sending Kino was the perfect way for Ambessa to get information. Mel would always accept her brother into her home, spy for their mother as he was, and this way she’d get the scope of what Mel has been doing. Depending on Kino’s situations back home she might even be able to wash her hands of his actions. Kino obeyed their mother in all the ways that mattered but he was known for disobedience to the greater public. A careful balancing act that they’ve performed for years.

“Tell me,” Mel finally asks, “Do you believe she’ll disinherit me over this?”

Kino shakes his head immediately. “No. I don’t think she’s pleased about how she found out but considering the situation she only has herself to blame for that. She’s shocked more than anything and you know mother; she’s very rarely surprised.”

He pats her shoulder again, “Congratulates on that I suppose.”

Kino lends back in his chair, one of his casual warm smiles on his face. It’s well practiced and charming but Mel now understands what Vi means when she says she finds some of her smiles unsettling. That is not the smile she used to see pointed at her. That was the smile Kino used to charm their mother’s lieutenants or shopkeepers, a fake, a lie.

“So; when can I meet these daughters of yours?”

With a dull sense of loneliness in her chest, she says, “Tomorrow. We’ll have dinner.”

Mel has told them about her family from time to time.

It’s very little, all in all. Vi knows that Mel’s mother had been a goat farmer and then became an important general back in Noxus. There’s an estate and possibly an army? Vi doesn’t know exactly what that all means, Mel has made it seem like her family was even richer and more powerful than what she has going on here which is pretty insane.

Mel has never really explained why her family doesn’t send letters or visit her and Vi hasn’t asked.

“Wait, wait,” Vi says, confused. “That’s why you’re here? They kicked you out?”

Mel’s fingers are tapping on her desk, which Vi knows means she’s feeling bad. She doesn’t think it’s anger as that usually comes out real cold but it’s not good.

“Why’d they do that?” She asks without thinking. Vi has gotten in trouble in school for saying things without thought but she clearly hasn’t learned not too. She winces and rushes to clarify, “ I mean, you’re super nice and smart?”

Mel’s lips twitch a bit, barely a smile, “I’m afraid that being nice isn’t exactly a …positive trait back home.”

“That’s dumb,” Vi says. Because it is. Mel being nice is the reason Vi is here, it’s why Powder gets to paint and play with toys, it’s why Vi gets to go to school even though she doesn’t like it half the time.

But that’s only half the reason Vi is so incredibly annoyed. The idea of just—kicking a family member out like that? Makes the blood rush in her ears. Family was family, gang was gang and she thought House was House. If you kicked someone out there had to be a reason and a good one. Even then Vi doesn’t think there’s anything Powder or Mel could do that would make her cut ties. And over what? Mel being too nice?

“Noxus is a different place,” she says calmly. “And as much as I… dislike my exile, I will admit that it has been rewarding.”

Vi ignores the mushy look Mel gives her, yeah, yeah Mel’s exile is why she’s here and was able to take them in but—

“Why are we having dinner with this guy?” Vi demands. “I don’t like the sounds of him, he sounds like an as—“

“Vi!”

“—Jerk,” she corrects with a grumble. “I mean,” she keeps grumbling, despite knowing how annoying Mel found it, “I’ll go but I’m not going to be nice.”

Mel sighs, “I appreciate that you want to defend me, truly I do, but these things are more complicated than what you might imagine. Kino is my brother and I haven’t seen him for a long time. The only reason I told you is because I know you’ve perspective enough to pick up some tension and I didn’t want you to assume anything on your own.”

“Fine,” Vi says. She stops grumbling because Mel doesn’t deserve to get annoyed over her. It’s not her fault that her first family apparently sucks so much. “I’ll be polite. But I’m not calling him uncle or anything.”

If Kino can’t even be a good brother then he’d suck as an uncle anyway.

Chapter Text

Vi decides quickly that she does not like Kino.

He’s trying to be warm, smiling so nicely at them, asking Vi and Powder questions and listening to the answers. Jokes and funny comments drop from his lips, smooth and easy. He and Mel bounce off each other, no tension or anything. 

But it’s all fake. 

The sparkle in his eyes lacks the warmth of his smile, and his charm seems fake. It’s all too familiar as, even though he isn’t from Piltover, the stench of being a Piltie hovers over him like a cloud. Not the judgment or hatred, but the sheer lack of being real. 

Even if Mel hadn’t warned her, Vi would have disliked him. Now she could barely contain herself. 

She must be getting better at faking because Powder doesn’t seem to know that Vi hates this guy. Her sister is quieter than she normally is now, but she isn’t hiding. Kino is clearly attempting to charm her too, which only makes Vi angrier. 

Mel is giving her side-eyes the entire dinner but says nothing about how Vi’s answers are short and clipped. 

Finally, after they’ve finished the food, Mel stands and suggests, “Powder, how about we go pick up some sweets?”

Powder lights up. “Can we go to the bakery?” She turns to Kino, shyness gone at the idea of treats, “They have really good cookies!” 

Kino smiles that fake smile of his, “A little walk sounds lovely.” 

Mel, though, shakes her head. “No, no, stay here. I know you still must be tired from traveling all the way to Piltover. Vi, how about you show him the gardens while I and your sister pick up some dessert for us?” 

Vi doesn’t shake her head no. She glares down at the table, and she clenches her teeth so hard her jaw pops, but she doesn’t say no. 

Apparently her acting wasn’t good enough, and now Vi had to make nice even more. Great. Awesome. 

“Come on,” Vi mutters when Mel and Powder leave the room, Powder’s cheerful chatter slowly lowering through the halls.

Vi sits down on one of the random bench outside and doesn’t bother showing Kino around. If Mel thought she hadn’t done a good enough job being nice, then Kino knew too. No amount of pretending was going to fix it because Vi was bad at it and honestly hated it. 

The best she could give was not being an asshole. 

Kino stands with a hand on the back of Vi’s bench. “Not going to show me around then?” 

Vi waves a hand in front of her and says in a plain deadpan tone, “The garden. It has plants.” 

This makes Kino snort a little, though he raises his hand to his mouth to cover it. 

Kino’s fingers tap against the bench, and Vi wonders if he has the same tells as Mel. She doesn’t think he’ll get violent or even mean. Mel wouldn’t have let him in the house if that was possible, but that’s the most she can count on. 

“I have a feeling,” he says in that stupid fake charming voice, “that you aren’t fond of me.”

“I told Mel that I’d be polite,” Vi says.  “Which I was. Apparently I wasn’t nice enough for her, but I will not pretend to like you. She can be disappointed in me when she gets back if she wants.” 

Vi kicks out her foot on the stone paver under the bench and mutters underbreath, “And polite is more than you deserve, anyway.” 

Kino walks slowly around to sit on the other side of the bench. Vi glances at him, taking in how absolutely perfectly put together he was before she rolled her eyes and stared ahead. He reminded her of Mel, if Mel didn’t have any warmth to her. Vi can see echoes of her in him. The empty smile, the clever questions, the careful mix of confidence and humility. If Vi didn’t know better, she might actually believe it. 

“I must admit that I’m at a loss for what I’ve done to insult you so,” Kino says. 

She scoffs, and retorts, “You’re kidding, right? No idea?” 

“I’ve known about you for weeks and only met you hours ago. Surely I said nothing to offend you during dinner.” She refuses to look at him, but he sounds amused now, which pisses her off. 

Vi, in what she thinks is a great show of self-restraint, says nothing, though her fingers clench the bench until her knuckles turn white. She focuses on that like Riven taught her. 

“Come now, child,” Kino continues, voice still that horrible fake warm, “I’m only trying to get to know my sister’s children; you’re a part of our family now.”

 And that makes all that hard-earned calm go up in smoke. 

“Fuck off,” she hisses as she jumps off the bench. Vi jabs a finger at Kino’s surprised face. “That is absolute bullshit because I’m not part of your family, and we both know it!” 

Kino blinks, taken aback, then his eyes soften a little. It’s the most genuine expression she’s seen from him. “You are. Mel has officially —“ 

“Yeah, Mel took us in,” Vi says with not a little bit of pride. “Mel took us in when she had no reason too, she’s the one that made sure we’re fed and taken care of, she’s the one that made sure we didn’t have to go back to Zaun.” 

“Mel is my second mom,” she says, lips pulled back in a snarl, “and you abandoned her. So yeah, I don’t like you. Or any other member of her so-called family, so you don’t get to call yourself my family. I’ll be as polite to you as every other Piltie Mel wants me to play nice with, but that’s it.” 

Kino’s expression blanked out. All that put on warmth gone like a fire put out without even the embers remaining. 

For a moment, Vi wonders what he’ll say or do. 

But she realizes; nothing. He simply stares at her with brown eyes that look black in the dim light. 

Vi stumps away. 

Mel had low expectations. 

She hadn’t thought Vi would get along well with Kino. She’s too protective, too jaded and mistrustful but her brother is charming, more than Mel is even, so she thought it would go better than it had. 

And dinner hadn’t been a total disaster. Powder, at least, appeared charmed, but Vi had spent every moment on guard. Every moment watching Kino with suspicious eyes, every answer was short and clipped. She’d hoped that a moment alone would soothe her, but judging from Kino’s worn expression, it did the exact opposite. Vi isn’t sitting with him, and she hadn’t seen her when they’d gotten back either. 

“Powder,” she says brightly and happily, “why don’t you take Vi her sweet? You can eat it in the studio, if, of course, you promise not to make a mess.” 

“I promise!” Powder is all grins, and due to having her hands full, because she insisted on carrying her and Vi’s desserts, does one of her affectionate light headbutts to Mel’s hip. 

Mel sits next to Kino and offers him a cookie sandwich. It was the kind Vi liked  — sweet and mixed with cinnamon. Like Mel, Kino was never given many sweets as a child, and she doubted he really wanted it. 

But her brother took it with a tiny smile. 

Mel leans back against the bench, casual as can be, with her own dessert; a red velvet cookie with white chocolate chips. 

“Your daughter,” Kino says after a long few minutes, “is very protective of her family.” 

Her family. Not our family. 

“I suppose she lashed out?” Mel asks. 

She pushed too far. She should have just let it be; she knows how defensive and protective Vi is. Add in that Kino is just as Piltie as the people Vi has always dreaded dealing with, and Mel knew this was likely to happen. 

“Not unfairly,” Kino says. He is studying the cookie as if it holds the secret of life and death, sugar and cinnamon coating his fingers. 

“I know you still don’t believe that this exile is a good thing,” he begins. “But I need you to know that I wouldn’t have left you to this fate if I didn’t truly believe it wasn’t what was best for you. Perhaps that doesn’t make up for it.” 

Ah, so Vi had lashed out for the reasons Mel believed she would. 

“Vi had to become a guardian to her sister far too young,” Mel explains, “So she can be…. Overly protective. Don’t take her words to heart.” 

“How can I not, when she speaks the truth?” Kino finally looks up at her. “I abandoned you to this exile. I had many reasons, good well-intentioned ones, but at the end of the day; I did as I always do and followed Mother’s example. If I were in her position, I’d find it hard to be polite too.” 

Mel sighs and then softly admits, “I shouldn’t have pushed her like this. I should have been happy that she didn’t fight you at the table, but I wanted you two to get along. She reminds me so much of you.” 

“Oh?” 

Mel smiles, “A protective child that would do anything for their little sister?” Then her smile fades. “I never thought twice about how you watched over me as a child, but it’s been through knowing Vi that I realized how unfair it was to you.” 

Kino straightens and frowns. “It was my duty and, quite frankly, one of my best ones. I don’t regret taking you under my wing when we were younger, Mel. I, at least had my father to watch me. If anything, you deserved better than what I could give you.” 

“You were still a child yourself,” she says. “Please don’t think I’m upset with your care; goodness knows I’d rather yours than Mother’s, but it wasn’t fair to you.” 

“The world isn’t a fair place,” her brother says with dry humor. “Unfair it might be, but I’d take that burden over leaving you alone.” Then he snorts, “Leaving you alone with the wolves of our House, I should say, as your daughter rightfully pointed out that I abandoned you to this exile.”

“Do you argue with Mother about it?” Mel asks, quietly curious.  

“Of course not,” Kino says, eyes looking away. “You know how she is when she’s made a decision. I could tell it hurt her to cut you off, but ’pain is simply future strength’ and all that.” 

Kino then sighs, a deep, heavy sound. “And in truth…. If one of us got out, then I wanted it to be you. You have a soft heart, and while I believe mother has more reasons than that to exile you; I truly believe it’s better for you here in Piltover. I thought briefly of joining you, but mother would have never allowed it. I had to stay behind.” 

“You’re trying to protect me even now,” Mel realizes. She places her hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need to do that; I can take care of myself.” 

He smiles, a tiny broken thing that is made bright only by its realness. “Does Vi believe that when you try to tell her that?” 

“Of course not,” she says, then Mel scoffs, “All this talk about how I feel about you abandoning me: surely you realize I don’t believe that. Or at least that I understand why you followed Mother’s orders?” 

Mel finishes the last bite of her long-forgotten cookie and after a long moment softly begins again, “I grew up under her too, Kino. I went on campaigns with her and saw things that keep me awake at night even now. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to treat you as her son more than my brother and I am sorry for how defensive I’ve been with you, but… I will not allow her influence in my home.” 

Kino says nothing and again stares at the cookie sandwich, slowly turning it in his hands.

“She can tell you’re putting on airs, you know,” Mel offers. Kino stops the spin of the cookie but doesn’t look at her. 

“Vi, I mean. She has a rather incredible innate ability to read people. It’s caused some problems, true to told, because she values honesty so highly. Even if she was predisposed to disliking you because of her loyalty to me, she would have a hard time with the mask you’ve been showing.”

Mel lets the words linger, the unspoken truth that she can see through the mask as well weighing the evening air. 

“I didn’t think your daughters would appreciate meeting that man,” Kino finally says. “He is not the friendliest of men and much too like Mother for my tastes.” 

“Careful now, the man you’re speaking of is my brother.” 

He smiles, and it’s finally real . The small, uneven smile that Mel used to see when they’d visit the rare festival or when Mel bet him at a board game, stretched across a face unused to it. 

“Let us leave that behind in Noxus,” she says. “I can take care of myself now, and I truly don’t hold any anger against you. Mother’s reach can’t fully extend here; let that weight fall. Even if only for now.” 

“Some would say it’s foolish that you’d trust Ambessa’s creature so readily. You said yourself you won’t have her influence here, and we both know that’s what I bring.” 

“It need not be,” Mel stands, placing her hand on Kino’s shoulder for a brief moment. “I would love for you to prove me wrong, Kino, as my daughters deserve an uncle. Let me know if that man wishes to join us.” 

Mel looks at Vi and sees the boy her brother used to be. 

Angry little eyebrows that are hunched over steely eyes. With a jaw clenched tight and shoulders so tense she feared Vi was due to pull a muscle. Vi looks nothing like Kino, of course, but that expression looked exactly like the rare times her brother had been truly angry during her childhood. 

Powder, having crashed from her influx of sugar, was sleeping peacefully in her own bedroom, which had been the case for most of the nights recently. The girls still share a bed occasionally, but it’s no longer a necessity. 

Which left Vi alone in the studio, angrily doing some workouts that Riven taught her. 

“I won’t apologize,” is the first thing Vi says when she sees Mel in the doorway. 

“No, I didn’t think you would.” Mel sits on the floor against the wall, the same place she comforted Vi about her birthday, patting the floor beside her. 

It feels so long ago now, yet also like yesterday. 

Vi joins her, tight narrow shoulders and all. 

“I was polite,” Vi starts what is clearly a rant, but Mel cuts her off with a calm hand. 

“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have pushed it like I did.” 

Angry eyebrows loosen a little. “You aren’t mad?” 

“That you disagreed with my brother about his ‘abandonment’ of me after I told you not to?” Mel lets her words linger. “No. Again, I should have appreciated the effort you put forward at dinner and left it at that.” 

Vi looks stumped. “So he wasn’t mad? I told him to fuck off and everything.” 

Mel sighs, amused despite herself. “I’ve told you not to use that kind of language.” 

The girl shrugs, most of the tension fading. “Technically you said to only use it when it was appropriate, which I thought it was. He said we’re family; that’s bullshit, and I stand by it.” 

She takes a moment to think about how to explain. Kino might have abandoned her by Vi’s logic, and it had been painful, but it was a pain Mel understood at her core. There hadn’t been anything Kino could have done to stop the exile from happening because there was no stopping Ambessa Medarda once she made her decision. The only thing he could have done was to come with her but that only led to a worse fate for them both. 

Instead Kino left himself in the service of their mother and the extended family. He could trust no one, not in the House or outside of it. The only person that could be trusted with his back was Mother but she would expect him to protect himself. 

Mel had been exiled, cast out and forced into the shadows, but Kino was in the wolf’s den with only his wits to save him. 

Whatever pain Kino caused, or the mask he showed, or even the possibility that he was bent by mother’s will; he was Mel’s big brother. 

“Do you remember when I told you that should you never wish to speak to Vander, I would make it happen?” 

The tension rose in a pair of small shoulders again as Vi nodded. 

“Vander had hurt you deeply, yet you wanted to speak with him despite it,” Mel reminds her softly. “Because even though he failed you, he’s been a part of your family.” 

“That’s different— “

“Because it was you that he hurt?” 

Mel doesn’t let the question linger long, knowing that Vi always gets defensive if confronted about the difference she treats harm towards herself versus others. 

“I didn’t want to let those first conversations happen,” Mel tells her. “I was furious at the thought of him having hurt you and dead set against him daring to do so again while you were under my care.” 

Sometimes she still feels that way. There are times when the girls visit Zaun and Mel’s skin crawls. Vander has been on his best behavior, again and again, but it doesn’t seem to matter. She’ll probably always worry. 

“Fine, I get your point,” Vi grumbles. “But he still feels fake,” she continues, trying to justify herself now.  

Mel thinks again; how to explain? The mask Kino wears is the one Mel herself puts on every time she leaves her home. It’s self preservation, it’s a shield. Mel isn’t upset with him for having one, only disappointed that he thought he had to wear it for them. 

“Noxus is a harsh place, Vi. It’s like Piltover and Zaun both in that strength, cunning and ruthlessness is the law of the land. Kino and I both had to learn how to survive surrounded by enemies but while I’ve learned to set my own mask down, he dares not.” 

Mel wraps an arm around Vi’s shoulder. “He believes it to be a mercy. That if we saw the real him, that we’d be frightened because of the man he’s become in the time since I’ve been exiled.” 

“That’s stupid,” Vi says with all the arrogance of a child. “If we’re actually his family, then we wouldn’t care. That’s the whole point.” 

“We adults are not always as smart as children.” 

A tired and grumpy, “Clearly,” is spoken under breath. 

She places a kiss to the crown of Vi’s head and stands, “Give him another chance, a real one this time. For me, at least.” 

Vi nods as she tries in vain to hide her yawn. “Fine,” she agrees reluctantly. “But only because you brought me the cookies I like.” 

Mel meets with Sevika once a week. 

She’s been steadily growing her various businesses here in Piltover, but she would be foolish to limit herself to only one side of the river. Common sense, she believes, but there are plenty that still distrust and dislike the Undercity and she’ll gladly take advantage of that. 

The distrust does, however, go both ways to some extent. While she grew a small number of connections it remains harder to grow downward for several reasons. There was the built in mistrust and the stark difference in how business was done in general, just to start. 

Silco has been very valuable in this area, giving her introductions to various Gangs that he thought suited her tastes. 

 (Vi’s explanations of said Gangs called back to Noxus’s guilds but Mel finds using the local vocabulary made them more comfortable. 

Vi, being Vi, thought it was hilarious.)  

Mel hadn’t expected much of his recommendation of Sevika’s services since the Middleman rarely spoke and does little besides smoke cigars when she’s dragged into Mel’s home. 

But Sevika is not only competent— she’s good. Very good. 

“Ignore them,” Sevika recommends. “They just got a new leader couple weeks ago and he’s trying to prove himself. At this rate he’ll be pushed out and the whole damn nest will be up in a frenzy again within a month.” 

Because Sevika knows her home inside and out. She knows the gangs, she knows the little people that aren’t quite anywhere and most importantly, she knows what to do with her information. 

“That still leaves me without a stable connection to a mining Gang,” Mel says, her pen tapping on paper. 

It’s not a necessary investment. Cassandra has her own connections that she’s more than willing to lend and Mel knows she’ll be given excellent treatment, but if Mel wants to maximize her growth; having a hand in the entire supply train is the way to do it. 

“You got high ass standards, that’s why,” Sevika uselessly reminds her for the tenth time. 

‘High Ass Standards’ was a promise of no child labor, what she considered fairly decent safety standards and a pay grade system that was more than adequate for the lanes. 

“I simply don’t understand why I’m not getting more bids,” Mel says. “From my understanding, the conditions of my offer are better than the usual work. The profit margin from the raw material may be low but since the material isn’t going directly to market, it’s a guaranteed buy out !”

Sevika lounges in such a lazy sprawl in Mel’s office that it drives her insane, but she doesn’t say anything about it; she’s only just gotten the woman to stop smoking inside the house.

“It’s not enough work for the real Gangs to be interested. Sure it’s good enough pay, but with that amount of work you’re looking at the little leagues and all those assholes want is a quick cog.” 

She’d wanted to start small, get her feet wet before diving in headfirst into a market she doesn’t fully understand and is currently in flux but it would appear that strategy wouldn’t work. 

“Perhaps I’m going about this the wrong way,” Mel sighs, leaning against the back of her chair. “What gang do you recommend?” 

Sevika’s metal fingers scratch at her neck for a moment as she thinks. “You want the one that will make you the most cogs or the one that will probably lose you them for a while but will do it while saving kittens and puppies?” 

“What a way with words you have.” Mel doesn’t roll her eyes because that is for children, but it’s a close call. “How long would the second take to become profitable?” 

Strong, wide shoulders shrug, “Depends. If you’re just moving shit into Piltover to make more shit? Probably a year or two. Trying to sell at market? Double or triple that. And you’d need to push more product for them to take you on too. “

Longer than she wanted, but she wasn’t going to make a hypocrite of herself and do business with gangs who use child labor. There was a higher risk of lost cogs too, but hopefully her other businesses would be able to cover it. 

“And what’s the gang’s name? I’d like to send over an offer if you believe it will be a good arrangement.” 

“Hell Hares, and yeah they’re the best you’ll get all things considered.”  

Before Mel can ask what the likely conditions will be, there is a light knock on her door. She knows immediately who it is; Vi and Powder are spending the night at Caitlyn’s and Elora has left for the evening. She looks to the clock to confirm and she’s correct— her meeting with Sevika has run long again. 

“Come in Kino,” Mel says. 

The last two weeks in Piltover has done her brother good. To anyone else he no doubt looks the same: dressed in stylish suit and the slightest bit of boyish charm from his artfully messy hair. To Mel, he’s walking lighter, shoulders lowered from their defensive stance. 

He and Vi aren’t exactly close, but she no longer seems to want to punch him as soon as his mouth opens so she’ll consider it a victory. 

“Ah,I’m interpreting,” he says once he sees Sevika lounging on the chair, “My humblest apologies.” 

That was… much slicker sounding than she’d anticipated. Mel takes a moment to watch Kino’s eyes and, sure enough, his line of sight lingers on Sevika in a way Mel absolutely recognizes. 

(Working with Sevika can be rewarding but at least a quarter of that reward was just seeing her. 

The Middleman was rude, brutal and kept smoking in Mel’s house, but Mel had eyes.) 

“Sevika, Kino, Kino Sevika,” she says with not a little bit of amusement. 

She’s never thought about who Kino was romantically involved with before. Her brother kept so busy that he’d never publicly taken a lover, as far as she knew. 

Apparently, he had his father’s tastes. 

(Mel ignored that she may very well also follow her own father’s tastes, whoever that man was. 

She was ignoring that because it would be ill advised to seduce a business associate. Even if Mel’s eyes sometimes linger just as Kino’s currently were.) 

“I’ll be out shortly,” Mel says to Kino. Perhaps it comes out firmer than intended, but she has little desire to see Kino flirt in front of her. 

Kino, however, is all smiles as he bows to the pair of them. “We have some time before the concert starts, so take your time.” 

It’s faker than the small one he’s worn since the convention they had in the gardens but not quite a mask; trying to be charming for a very specific reason.  

Sevika looks vaguely amused when Mel looks over at her after Kino lets the door shut behind him, “That’s what you go for, huh? Not exactly what I was expecting.” 

Mel raises an eyebrow. “And do you spend a lot of time thinking of what I ‘go‘ for?” 

The older woman smirks and shifts only enough to empathize well, everything about her. Mel doesn’t fall for it because she has actual self-respect, and a small voice points out, she already knows that Sevika is built like a brick wall. 

“Nah,” she says casually, but then her eyes drop to the dress that Mel’s wearing. 

It isn’t anything special— for her. Just a brilliant white dress with a high neck, sleeveless to show off the golden marks of her upper arms and shoulders, and slits cut up almost to her hips. She owns dozens of subtle variations of this dress, as the design is one of her favorites. Enough to impress anyone that Mel happened to see at the concert, even though it wasn’t the point of the outing. 

“Well,” Sevika says after her eyes finish dragging down and up again, “Maybe a little.” She shrugs one shoulder. “Can’t blame a woman for wondering.” 

“You’ll have to keep wondering—else where,” Mel stacks her papers together to drop them into her desk. 

(Powder has started to draw on any paper she can find. While Mel has gotten her to understand not to draw on anything with writing on it, anything left out is in dangerous territory. She’d already had multiple meetings where the back of her paperwork was scribbled on by her youngest. Cassandra had even cooed over it during their meeting.). 

Sevika stands in a slow motion, lingering almost. “Right, wouldn’t want to make you late for your fancy concert.” 

Mel glances up at her. “I’d appreciate that, as my brother is only here for a short while longer.” 

The smirk grows, and the older woman comes to stand in front of Mel’s desk. It still takes her aback how tall the woman is. The only person Mel has met in her exile that comes close to her height is Vander but he rarely uses his height. Perhaps it’s because when she sees him he’s around the girls but Sevika loves nothing more than to loom over others. 

Like she’s looming over Mel now. 

Mel isn’t actually sure what reaction she’s looking for. Sure, their current exchange was… more charged than Mel usually let it become, but what does she expect Mel to react to her closer presence and looming presence over her space? Mel has found that most people expect submission, even if only a small amount of it. 

But while Mel might be an exile; she’s still a Medarda. She won’t bend for anyone, especially for such low-grade antics. 

“I’ll see you next week, usual time?” Mel says with finality. She doesn’t move back to give Sevika space, doesn’t do anything other than look her in the eyes dead on. 

There wasn’t a shred of disappointment anywhere on Sevika’s expression and in fact there was the opposite. The smirk only grew, and Mel thought she saw real excitement in those gray eyes. 

“Sure thing, “and her rough voice was lower, softer than Mel had ever heard it, “…Lady Medarda.”  

She turns to leave as Mel pauses, just for a moment. 

She can’t let her have the last word. It is of the utmost importance that she not get the last word. 

“Try not to get distracted by my preferences,” Mel says calmly. Sevika’s heavy footsteps stop, “I’d hate for your reports to suffer from lack of attention.” 

Sevika looks over her shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry about that, I don’t have to wonder anymore.” Then she winks as she leaves.

She winks!

Mel, in the privacy of her office, rolls her eyes so hard her etiquette teachers back in Noxus must feel a shock roll up their spine. 

She needs a new Middleman. 

…..or, well. 

Perhaps that is a bit too much.

Piltover is a shining beacon of progress in the daytime. 

Artworks line the streets, gold laces the buildings so they gleam in the sun, and each stone was carefully carved to show everything the City of Progress has to offer. All empires show their wealth of course, but none so much in pure beauty. 

The evening is also a lovely. The lack of sun means the golden shine is reduced which more suits her personal tastes. It’s not completely gone, as Piltover shines no matter the amount of light available, but the warm glow of street lamps makes it much more bearable. It’s nothing like the neon lights of the Lanes, at least according to Vi, but Mel finds the city in the evening more beautiful in the dim street lamp and the small corded lanterns hanging between. 

She wants to enjoy that. It was a good evening for it with the slightest hint of cold in the wind and fresher than Piltover normally is because of the recent rain. Even the concert they were walking to was one she was legitimately interested in due to far off plans of opening up a theater of her own. 

Kino, however, apparently was trying to make up for the fact he’d not been enough of a brother towards her during her exile. 

“Leave it,” Mel says with a light slap to his chest. 

“I shall not,” Kino replies. “Do you think this Sevika of yours would object if we both tried to chase after her or no?” 

“You can chase her all you want, though I doubt it will be fruitful.”

Kino Medarda, son of a high general, heir to one of the richest Houses in Noxus: pouted at her. 

“She’s the first person I’ve seen in Piltover with some muscle on their bones,” he complains. “I know Noxus had more warriors than most other kingdoms but this city truly is only filled with artists, academics and engineers.”  

“Trying to seek out a lover so soon before you leave? A Heartbreaker as ever.” 

He winks at her playfully, “I’ve had no complaints.” 

Mel laughs, “Lies! I can think of at least five different occasions where I received quite an earful from your poor conquests.” 

“That’s the past, dear sister,” Kino sighs lonesomely, “Unfortunately with the situation in Noxus, I’ve little time for such fun. Do you remember House Letto?” 

“I believe so. You were getting close to their youngest son, the boy with the unfortunate hair cut?”  

Kino snorts and nods, “Unfortunate indeed. I never did manage to figure out how he’d managed to get it like that. Gel, perhaps? Well, it doesn’t matter anymore; he tried to poison me a few months ago.” 

“Really? He seemed sweet— for House Letto, at least.” 

“Fell to his father’s influence. But I haven’t had the energy to verify everyone that comes within my circle at the moment, it’s so time consuming.” 

“Hm,well,” Mel draws out, deciding to be a helpful little sister, “If you’re looking for someone that reminds you of home, your best bet is the Undercity.” 

“Why go down there, when you already have that bull of a woman?” 

Mel rolls her eyes, truly she’s been doing too much of that lately, “Again, you may try but I don’t think it will work out well for you.” 

“Perhaps not for me, but I meant for you,” Kino says almost too casually. 

He must see the look of doubt on her face and continues, “You should have some fun, Mel. I’ve been here for weeks and you’ve planned no time for yourself. It’s either work or your daughters; have some fun!” 

The statement annoys her, just a little. Mel doesn’t have time for simple pleasures. She’s building her presence in this city from the ground up and while thus far things have gone mostly to plan, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s on much shaker ground than she wants to be. Vi and Powder have had too much turbulence in their lives for her to risk adding to it by not securing a strong future for them. 

“No,no, don’t tell me your excuses ” Kino cuts her off before she can even open her mouth and waves an arm out to the warm glowing lights. “Mel, you’re in the City of Progress! Sure, it’s cut throat but it’s no Noxus; have fun!”  

Mel frowns, “I’m a mother now —“ 

“And that’s ever stopped our mother?” Kino stops walking, sighing wearily as much of the joy drained out of him. “It’s just…” 

Mel blinks in surprise, not at his sudden mood change, as he has been more open with how heavy his duties are weighing on him, but the way he trailed off. Kino always knew what to say, always had skill and flair to complete any sentence even if he didn’t know where the conversation was going. 

“There are so many negatives about being an exile,” Kino begins. “You can’t be with us, you can’t be surrounded by places you know and so many things you love are out of reach. I don’t wish this on you, little sister. It’s a painful and lonely path you must walk.” 

“But,” he says slowly, carefully like he believes she’ll be hurt by what comes next, “You are FREE. I know you believe Mother is disappointed by you but there is nothing you could do that would make her disinherit you besides treason; even then she may allow it if you present your plan well.” 

He flashes her a small smile, his real one, “You’ve been presenting yourself as a representative of House Medarda the entire time you’ve been in this city but Mel, you are in a position to change what that means! Mother can’t control your actions here, not without admitting she’s watching an exile so closely.” 

Mel looks away, “Have I not been doing such already? I know she wouldn’t exactly approve of the girls and I’d done it anyway. She would think my current plans are petty and slow acting but I’m doing it anyway.” 

“Mel,” Kino places his hand on her shoulders, voice stern, “You are doing what Mother would want in your own way. You are building power but for what?” 

Mel steps back, “For my daughters,” she says like it should be clear. 

“For legacy?” 

She glares at him, “I have not done anything like she has for legacy. I ONLY want my daughters to be safe, do not accuse me of being like our mother for that.” 

“That is not what I meant,” Kino shakes his head, “Only that you need another goal, another purpose, because if you only have that as a focus, you will lose yourself. I know this to be true, Little Sister. You have too much  freedom to waste it on only proving that Mother was wrong about how to govern. Do what YOU want to do. Things that mother would never approve of. Fund the arts, waste gold on helping others, improve the world for nothing other than because you can!“ 

Mel looks at her older brother and wishes he was the one that had this freedom. She’d never wish she hadn’t come to Piltover, she’s gained too much for that, but she thinks the world would be much greater if Kino could do as he wished. 

He was right, about the freedom. She was so focused on building her power that she hadn’t thought of what to do with it besides making sure Vi and Powder were taken care of. 

“Such a long speech,” Mel says for lack of what to say. “I’ll…. Think about it.” 

Kino smiles again, “Do that.” Then the smile turns just a little devilish, “Sneak me a letter when you corner that woman, I’ll have questions.” 

The day before Kino leaves Piltover, he comes to find Vi in the garden. 

She’s laying on a bench, a new book in her hands. Caitlyn and hers tastes aren’t exactly the same, Caitlyn likes mysteries and horror while Vi likes action and adventure, but she picked this one up because Caitlyn had read it and ranted about it for a week straight. It is… not to her tastes. 

(But Cait liked it so; here she was.) 

“There you are,” Kino says, his shadow darkening her pages. “I wanted to speak with you, before I leave tomorrow.” 

Vi sits up and slips her bookmark in, a horribly glitter thing that Powder has seemingly dumped half her art supplies on, then gives Kino a doubtful look. 

He’s been fine enough since that night in the garden. More like Mel and less like he was a Piltie trying to look good at a gang gathering. And she’s thought more on it and Mel did have a point. If Vi can let Vander have a second chance then Mel deserves the right to let Kino have one. 

(Mel still says that it’s not that Kino needs to have a chance, as he didn’t really abandon her, but Vi won’t hear a word of that. 

He should have followed Mel and anything else is an abandonment of his duties as a brother.) 

Kino sits on the bench with her, a sender box in his hands. “I know that we didn’t get off to a great start but I wanted you to have this.” 

Vi takes the offered box with caution. When Kino nods expectantly, she opens it. 

Inside is a dagger in a fancy sheath. And she means fancy, the sheath is black leather with red inked designs with the sunburst symbol of House Medarda sitting in the middle in gold. The hilt of the blade is just as fancy looking though not overly so like something from Topside might be— pitch black metal with the same red designs. On the top of hilt  was the same symbol in the same shiny gold. 

“Fancy,” Vi mutters as she studies it. 

She doesn’t really know what to do with this. If Kino was trying to butter her up, it’s a little late. She doesn’t even like blades, hasn’t even really touched them since Riven started teaching her how to use kusarigama after she managed to get a set of them in Piltover.  

“When I was your age my mother gave me a blade like this one,” Kino says. He takes the blade out of the box, popping the blade from the leather sheath with a practiced movement of his thumb. 

The blade isn’t as decorated as Vi would have thought. There’s some etching that matches the sheath and hilt, but it’s nothing overblown. It’s a practical blade, if not one that is still on the edge of being too fancy. 

He holds the blade up, letting it shine in the afternoon sun. “She gave me a whole speech when she did. Why she was giving it to me, what it represented. ’A wolf needs its fangs,’ she said.” 

The dagger slides back into its sheath, “I’ll spare you the speech,” he says, carefully dropping the dagger back into the box. “I’m giving you this because you’re an heir to House Medarda, exile or not.” 

Vi sets the box down and lifts the dagger in careful hands. It’s wider and longer than the knives she used to see in Zaun. She doesn’t know much about knives or daggers, she’s only trained with them for a short while, but she knows this one is a good one. If only because Kino has Mel’s standards which means only the best of the best. 

“Mel’s called me her heir before but she’s never said anything about the whole House,” Vi says, tilting the blade and watching as the itchings glitter in the sun. “I didn’t think it counted for you since she got kicked out.” 

“No, she’s second in line and I do not see that changing. Which means as her daughter once you come of age you’ll be after her in succession,” Kino says. His voice is somber, not cold or sad but serious in a way that he’s tried not to be around her or Powder. 

“Thank you,” she says because Mel has tried very hard to get manners into her. It hasn’t been completely successful, “I’m not a big fan of blades, but it’s nice.”

“Neither am I,” Kino says. “Never have been but we all must bare our fangs, even if only in the defense of little sisters.” 

Vi slides the dagger into its sheath and thinks for a long moment. 

It would have been easy for Kino to ignore them. It would have been easy for him to have never appeared at all, to have allowed Mel to her loneliness but he’d come. He’d wanted to meet them and he’d been nice if not horribly fake nice at the start. The dagger wasn’t an especially good gift for Vi personally but it wasn’t supposed to be— it’s a gift for an heir. It’s for an up and comer, something that shows other people who Vi is In with and to remind her of the same. 

It doesn’t excuse everything but Kino clearly wanted her to know exactly where she stood in House Medarda in his eyes. 

“Thank you,” she repeats, more sincerely this time. “I appreciate it, Uncle Kino.” 

Mel watches as members of House Medarda, faceless men she doesn’t even know, carry Kino’s luggage onto the airship. Her brother has been in Piltover for little over a month. Shorter than she’s been here by far but enough that she knows she’ll miss him even more now. 

“I’m glad you came,” she tells him. 

Kino smiles, “I’m glad you allowed me into your home— I thought you wouldn’t and how awkward that would have been?” 

“You’ll always be welcome in my home,” she says as pulls him into a tight hug. He smells of home and childhood memories, of visiting markets and reading in the sunshine.

His arms tighten for a moment before he lets go, his eyes soft and just the slightest bit damp. “Take care of yourself, understand? I’m waiting anxiously to see what you’ll make of this branch of the family.” 

“You as well,” Mel takes the smallest step back, “So don’t follow Mother to your own unhappiness, please. I don’t want that for you.” 

Kino smiles again, “For you, little sister, I’ll try.” 

Mel watches as Kino steps aboard the airship. 

She watches as it slowly fades from sight. 

She watches just a little longer as the sun begins to set. 

And then she goes home. 

Powder begins school on a perfectly nice morning. 

Mel has made it clear; Vi and Powder will be schooled to the highest standards.Piltover is the most technically advanced city in Runeterra by far and has the most universities, all of them held in the highest of regards. To not take advantage of that was short sighted and foolish, Mel told her like a dozen times. 

And yeah, Vi doesn’t hate school. She still thinks it’s useless, she doesn’t like most of the other students and they don’t like her, and the teachers are smug assholes half the time but it’s alright. Boring, mostly, but alright. Plus Caitlyn convinced her mom to let her take more lessons at school so now Vi will see her there more. 

But Powder isn’t even seven yet! And yes, she isn’t as shy anymore but she’s still different and while Vi knows she’ll need to stand by herself eventually, this feels like too soon. 

“We both know this needs to happen,” Mel says for probably the tenth time that morning. “She’ll have a great time.”

Vi is used to the uniform she has to wear with its uncomfortable shirt and pants but it feels more choking than usual today Powder is dressed in a littler version of it, all blue and white with the same shiny shoes, same itchy pants. She looks almost like a Piltie with, dressed like that with her freshly cut hair. 

And yeah, Powder is smiling. Vi can tell she’s nervous, she’s twitching in that certain way, but she’s mostly excited. She’s been talking about this for two weeks. Mel had pulled some strings over the school so Ekko and a few other Zaun kids would be sharing a couple of classes which exited Powder to no end. 

But she only LOOKS like a Piltie. 

And when those actual Piltie kids realize that they have a sweet and kinda shy trencher kid in their mists…. 

Vi hasn’t had to throw an actual punch yet. Most Piltie kids aren’t used to people fighting back, let alone when Vi makes it clear she’ll completely kick their ass but Powder isn’t her. Powder is smart and artistic and probably going to invent shit that Vi could never even dream about but she isn’t going to be able to stare down rich smug assholes. 

That’s what Vi is for. 

“Cait had only tutors until she was, like, nine,” Vi says, knowing it’s absolutely useless because she’s already used that argument. Three times. 

“And while I love both Caitlyn and her mother— that is not what I believe is best for my own children,” Mel says, the same thing she said the last time they’d talked about this.

“If it goes bad, she won’t have to keep doing it, right?” 

Mel looks down at her, softening, “If it’s truly so horrible that it’s doing more harm than good, I take her out.” 

She places a hand on Vi’s shoulder, “But I think she’s strong enough to handle it. We just have to let her try.” 

Vi takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, nods, and picks up her and Powder’s bags to sling over her shoulder. 

“Come on, Pow-Pow,” she says, watching Powder nod, speed over to hug Mel, and then take hold of Vi’s hand. 

It will be fine. 

Vi has been to so many of these social gatherings at this point that they truly do blend together. 

Most of the time these things are way less exciting than the actual gang meetings they have down at the Last Drop. Mylo and Clagger don’t have to come to all the same parties as she does, Silco only drags them to the important ones, but they see stuff go down at the bar all the time. Vander keeps a tight ship so it’s not that bad but it’s still more than goes on here. 

She doesn’t have a real interest in half the shit that does go down. Someone bought a business, someone got caught breaking the same laws as everyone else, so and so are getting a divorce. There was the time a woman caught her husband cheating on her during the party so threw a drink in his face before slapping him and the time a kid lost his temper and tried to bite Caitlyn, but those are outliers. 

This one will be boring. 

Silco isn’t here which means none of the boys will be here. Caitlyn and her mom are here, thankfully, but that’s about it for the people their age who Vi talks or, more accurately, WANTS to talk too. 

There is a boy her age, she is stubbornly refusing to learn his name, that won’t let her the hell alone. She thinks this family must be new to this whole thing because he is so fucking stubborn about messing with her when the other little shits give up when they or their parents realize who Vi’s mom is or, when that doesn’t make them back off, who Caitlyn’s mother is. 

(And maybe Vi should feel bad about that more. She handles most of this shit on her own and shouldn’t need to invoke Cait’s mom. It’ll make her weak if she depends on that. 

But Cassandra Kiramman is terrifying which means it ends shit quickly and sometimes Vi and Caitlyn are in the middle of talking about the newest book in the Chainmaker series and would like to get back to it.) 

The boy is annoying and a moron who won’t leave her alone once he catches sight of her. She once just went into the bathroom for half an hour just to lose him, because, unfortunately, Vi has promised she wouldn’t punch anyone unless they’d tried to physically hunt someone.

“Well well,” the little dip shit says. “Looks like

someone left their trash out.” 

Vi, being the one that won the rock paper scissors match with Caitlyn about who had to get snacks, was immediately annoyed. First; by seeing stupid his dumb covered pimple face. Second; hearing his squeaky voice that he always tries desperately to cover and third; that she’d came over to this quiet corner to get away from the dumb kids at this party. 

She considered leaving now, but Caitlyn was due back any moment. 

“So I can’t believe they’re still letting you in at these things,” he continues. “The stick of the Undercity is all over you.” 

“Very original,” Vi says, bored of this interaction already.

These types of little bullies never have an interesting insult. It’s always; You smell bad (not true, Mel got her some really good new soap last week.) You’re poor (Mel was one of the richest people in Piltover and would probably be the actual richest, besides Caitlyn’s family, pretty soon.) You’re dumb (Vi was one of the top students in most of her classes.) 

Once, in the Last Drop, she’d heard someone call someone so stupid that they couldn’t figure out how to roll a wheel downhill; that’s an insult she can respect. 

He steps closer which makes Vi’s bored expression cool. If he gets too close she’s going to hit him and Mel won’t even be mad about it. 

But before he can say anything, Caityn appears with a plate of snacks and an expression that looks like an exact copy of her mother’s I Mean Business face. 

“Goodbye,” she says, voice firm. 

The boy blinks at her, opens his mouth but Caitlyn’s expression tightens, and she repeats herself, slowly, not loud or anything. “I said, goodbye.” 

And shuts his mouth with a soft click and walks away. 

Vi immediately starts laughing, “Nice. Usually it takes like twenty minutes for him to lose interest.” 

Caitlyn frowns as she holds out the plate of snacks for Vi to take. It’s all the usual stuff. Some little cheese and crackers, dried meats, and a few mini cupcakes. 

“He’s been bothering you?” 

Vi waves off her concern, carefully stacking some cheese, crackers and meat into a tower. “It’s nothing. Just a dick who is a little more persistent than usual.” 

“Hmm.” 

Mel has successfully broken Vi’s habit of talking with her mouth full (It only took, what, almost two years?) so it takes Vi a moment to respond to Cait’s angry little hum.

“It’s fine,” she says with amusement. “Honestly I wish he’d just actually do something, that way I could just lay him out.” 

Caitlyn’s blue eyes flicker over, “If he tried it, I’d have to shoot him.” 

Vi fights down a blush and clears her throat uselessly. She needs to move off that statement immediately or else she’ll be thinking about it all night. 

“Thanks. That’s very sweet of you, Cupcake,” Vi says, trying to make sure the joke comes off natural and not a desperate attempt to not sound like an idiot. 

But Caitlyn— 

Caitlyn blushes. An actual full face blush that dusts her cheeks and her mouth even drops open a little. 

“W-what?” 

And Vi, barely thirteen, realizes at that exact moment that she’s going to be trying to make Caitlyn have this expression for the rest of her life. 

“You know, cause you’re sweet,” Vi says, casually as she can, “Like a cupcake.” 

Vi picks up one of the mini cupcakes that Caitlyn brought. She still always gets them, pretty much no matter what. If there is cake with frosting on it, Cait always gets some. She’s not sure if it’s because Cait thinks Vi loves it or because Cait loves it but Vi ends up eating cake at least once if Caitlyn is at a party either way. Vi would rather not be eating cake so much, she’s a bigger fan of spicy food, but that’s neither here nor there. 

She hands over the plate so she can unwrap the cupcake and toss it into her mouth. 

“So,” Vi says, throat thick with sugar, “What’s your theory on the admiral’s mother? I know you have one.” 

Caitlyn’s blush fades as she begins her long, highly thought out and slightly unhinged theory about the upcoming Chainbreaker novel, but Vi thinks about it for days afterward. 

“Leaving?” 

Riven rarely meets with Mel. She comes exactly ten minutes early to Vi’s training sessions and leaves immediately afterwards. Mel sends a set amount of cogs to a third party location twice a month, and that’s the end of it. Quite frankly, out of all Mel’s various businesses, Riven falls behind only Elora as being the most convenient. 

“It’s time I’ve headed home,” Riven says. 

She looks out of place in Mel’s office. Mel has tried to leave Noxus behind, perhaps too much, but Riven, despite being an Exiled traitor, was oh so close to being Noxian. She may have left Noxus behind, but Mel can always see in her the woman that she’d been. Perhaps that was why she wished to leave, so she could renew her quest of atonement. 

Mel can’t argue with her going home and it has been surprising that Riven has stayed in the area as long as she has. Two years in the same city when one was a wanted traitor from Noxus was a long time indeed. 

“To Ionia, I presume?”  

Riven nods, “It’s been long enough. I have no doubt that I’ll be hunted by assassins my entire life, which is  a price I’m willing to pay, but Noxus has found a new target and I would take advantage of it.” 

Mel blinks in surprise as none of her own sources have said a word of such things as Kino’s theory of Noxus not going to war for a while yet has held up strongly in the months after his visit. 

“I do not know what target that is,” Riven clarifies when she sees Mel’s interest. “That is beyond me but from what I’ve learned of troop and ship movements— they’re preparing for it now. Not soon, Ionia hurt them too badly, but I expect a war within five years. Perhaps six, depending on how badly Darius’s campaigns go.” 

“My brother said the same when he visited,” Mel says. 

“I’d expect as much since your House was always at the top of the pile for campaigns.” Riven shakes her head, “As I said, I don’t know where Noxus will wage war next but I expect it will be Demacia. The waters between Piltover and Ionia are calmer now than they have been in decades, but there is an uptick in pirate activity in the islands south of Bandle.” 

And if Noxus was trying to build power, flashing gold to pirates was an easy way to do it. Retreating further from Ionia meant less war gold from attacking the few unprotected islands and merchant vessels Noxus still harassed even after the bulk of the war ended but it meant loosing less valuable ships and men during the horrible storms that often sprung up out of nowhere in that part of the ocean. Hiring pirates meant that Demacia would contribute the attacks to Bridgewater and be left unaware that Noxus was going to strike at their kingdom again. 

“Noxus’s war engine never truly stops,” Mel says with a heavy heart. 

There is nothing she can do. She once stood in front of her mother and asked to spare a young girl; it came to nothing. She’d tried to lessen deaths over and over again ; it came to nothing. Now as an exile she couldn’t even do that , as little and ultimately useless as it was. 

Riven stood, and Mel stood with her so that she could shake her hand. 

“Take care of yourself, Mel Medarda,” Riven says. 

“You want me to what?” 

Mel looks at Sevika’s shocked expression and thinks that she’s probably the first person in a long, long time to have seen her so surprised. It’s not an expression that fits her. 

Sevika recovers fast. 

“Fuck no,” she says firmly. “Hell no, Holy shit no!” 

“Only one no would have been sufficient,” Mel dryly replied. 

“Train your brats,” Sevika ignores her to mutter seemingly to herself, “What the fuck do I look like?“ 

(Mel will not entertain the answer to that question, not when their conversations keep edging towards suggestive lately. Nothing explicit but closer to flirting than she should be doing.

Though the answer, of course, to Sevika’s question was that she looked ... .well, too good to be ignored easily.) 

“You look like someone that knows how to fight and fight well,” Mel says. “Vi truly only needs refinement, Riven saw to the majority of the basics, and I think you’d be able to fill in the gaps. Powder wouldn’t be joining on a regular basis for now.”

“Don’t try to butter me up,” she leans back in the back, sprawling back in place after the shock of Mel’s request. “Yeah, I can fight but I don’t fucking teach. I’m no one’s damn babysitter.” 

Mel raises an eyebrow, “From what I recall, you were watching Vi and Powder for me quite often.” 

Sevika no longer tags along during the various visits across the bridge as Mel now works well with Silco and tolerates Vander to an extent. Vi and Powder even spend nights at the Last Drop every once in a while to visit their cousins. To give Vander credit, he has not had an outburst in the months after reconnecting with the girls. From what little she’s gathered, he’s quit drinking all together. 

“Fucking custody cases,” came Sevika’s ever tried complaint. 

“You have experience,” Mel tries again. “Experience in a style that Vi hasn’t seen since she trained with Vander years ago now. I need someone to train her but I need it to be someone I trust.” 

“Then get the dog to do it then!” 

She shook her head immediately. “Do you honestly think it would benefit either of them to put them in that position? Vi has come far, but I don’t want her to learn through fear and putting her into a training ring with Vander is a sure fire way to do that.” 

Sevika glares at her for a few long moments but eventually, she caves. 

“I’m not going to go easy on the little shit,” she growls. “ Don’t come bitching to me about her getting bruises or anything.” 

Mel waves her hand casually, “She’s tougher than you expect. I have plenty of faith in her, and you, that you’ll both be able to handle it.” 

But then Mel pauses, “But I do ask that you handle Powder with care, when she does take part. She’s still quite young and I don’t want to discourage her interest.” 

Sevika snorts, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Vi is a hard headed little shit so I’ll have to bust her head, probably won’t have to do that  with Powder. She’ll learn by watching Vi get knocked around.” 

…. Perhaps this was a bad idea. 

Vi comes inside the house after her next training session with a cut lip, a bruise creeping up on her neck and a deep heavy frown. 

Mel immediately regrets her choices. She’d thought Sevika would be a good choice; she’s experienced, Silco said she was loyal, she obviously wouldn’t be discriminating against the girls… But while Riven had been tough, Vi hadn’t ever been hurt afterwards. 

“Are you alright?” Mel tits Vi’s head, looking mostly at the bruise. It rests mostly on her collar bone, stretching up to her neck and lower below her shirt. It was faintly… boot shaped. 

“Sevika kicked me on the chest,” Vi says. She isn’t upset, really. There were no tears in her eyes or fear. “Then,” she continues, “She got me with her metal arm.” 

Mel hummed in disappointment and displeasure, “I’ll have a word with her, I expected less blatant violence.” 

Vi blinks up at her, “What ? No, she was awesome. She said that I needed to either block better or learn to dodge THEN kicked me. So I guess she had a point.” 

Vi’s thumb comes up to her lips, which is still bleeding sluggishly, “I just have to get better so I can punch her straight in her stupid face.” 

Mel sighs, long and suffering, “You want to keep her as a trainer then?” 

Her daughter nods, “How else am I going learn how to punch her in the face?” 

“Vi, why is it so important that you punch Sevika in the face?” She asks, amused by her insistence. 

“Have you seen her? She just needs someone to punch her. I can feel it!” 

Vi’s insistence on violence is much less humorous next week. 

Powder has been in school for a few months. On school days she walks with Vi in the morning, eats with Vi and Caitlyn at lunch and Mel meets them both to walk them home in the afternoons. It’s been an adjustment for them all. Powder isn’t used to not seeing either of them for hours at a time or for so many people surrounding her.

Ekko has quickly become a gods send. Mel made sure they share all their classes together because Powder needed at least one person she knew in an environment she wasn’t comfortable in. 

And she knew Powder would have problems. She’s a bright girl, shy but bright. Too bright, in truth, for some of the classes at the academy. Her education is uneven and like Vi, she excels in some subjects and struggles in others.

 Mel is also aware where her children came from. Her daughters were born to a miner who loved them and gave them the best she could; Mel will not allow anyone to shame them for it but she knows there are those that will try. 

She’d known this would be an issue. She’d HOPED that she would be able to handle it in the same vain she handed Vi’s tudors— calmly with little fuss. 

Instead it collided with an issue she’d been dreading to face; 

Vi and her quickness to anger when it came to her family. 

Mel sits behind her desk, her eldest sitting across from her. She sits still, lended back in her chair with her hands clasped together in her lap while Vi is hunched over, her knee bouncing, hands clenching and unclenching. The only sounds in her office are Vi’s shoes softly tapping on the rug and the click of the clock on the wall. 

The bruises Sevika gave Vi last week are faded, more yellow than blue and black, and her lip is mostly healed but there are new injuries; cut and swollen knuckles. 

Of course Vi isn’t injured anywhere else. Vi has been trained almost her entire life by the best fighters the Undercity and Mel could provide. No Piltover bullies stood a chance. 

“You are not in trouble for defending Powder,” Mel says. She keeps her voice low but not angry. This isn’t a conversation she wants to ignite which, with Powder being in the equation, is a possibility. 

“Let me say again; I’m not upset that you defended your sister. Truly I’m not upset that you tried to fix the situation yourself either. That’s simply your nature as an older sibling.” 

Vi’s shoulders tense, “But?” 

“But,” Mel repeats, “The way you tried to handle it was out of line.” 

Immediately Vi’s hands clench, “He made her cry—“ 

Mel raises a hand and Vi’s mouth clicks shut, though she glares at the ground with more venom than a viper.  

“Violence can NEVER be the first option you choose to handle a situation,” Mel continues like Vi hadn’t spoken. “Not unless you or someone else is in physical danger.” 

“He’d been picking on her for weeks,” Vi volleys back to her. “ He wasn’t going to stop just because I asked him too! Little prick thinks we’re nothing but rats.” 

“And what did breaking his nose accomplish? Nothing has changed besides the fact he and his House are even more angry, the Academy feels justified in siding against you, and Powder saw that her problems are met with violence by you.” 

Mel sighs, “I know you’re smarter than this, child. I know you’re aware of the consequences of your actions, so which was it? You truly believed attacking that fool would fix this or that you WANTED to hurt him?” 

Vi is all tension, rotating between frozen clenched fists and bouncing knees. “He’s been teasing her for weeks,” she repeats, voice tight. “He took Pow’s toys, he made fun of her and he took her food.” 

“So, it IS because you wanted to hurt him.” 

All that tension explodes outwards as Vi jumps from her seat, “Of course I wanted to hurt him!” Vi paces, anger radiating from her, “He hurt HER! He made her cry and made her believe I’d think she’s a baby for it so I made sure he’d know exactly what would fucking happen the next time he tried to mess with her!” 

Mel doesn’t demand Vi sit down. She can’t even begin to imagine what her mother would have done if she’d reacted with so much anger in her presence. She would have been punished for it but she wouldn’t have been for being violent with a bully— no, that would have been encouraged. 

But Mel is not her mother and she would not have her daughters choosing violence first— not now, not ever. 

“That’s only a short term solution,” Mel says calmly. “We both know that it’s possible he’ll simply come back again, more angry this time. Perhaps he’ll find a new way of bullying Powder and this time you’ll be at a disadvantage because he’ll have sympathy.” 

Vi prowls the area behind her chair like a caged cat, “So what ? I should have gone to the teachers?” She asks mockingly then snorts, “They were never going to do anything. What else was I supposed to do?” 

Oh Mel is intimately aware of that. She tried to find only the best for both Vi and Powder but she has limited power as a parent to do so, so while she could pressure the higher levels of the school individual teachers were beyond her reach. From what she’s learned from the girls, they mostly formed different levels of indifference. None had been foolish enough to cause any actual harm themselves, just allow the harm to happen. 

 Mel sighs again, worn down by the days events. “Vi, you’re upset that Powder didn’t come to you with this when it became clear she couldn’t handle it, aren’t you?” 

Vi’s steely eyes look at her with suspicion when she nods. “I’m supposed to protect her,” she mutters. 

“And she wants to be like YOU. You’re her big sister, she looks up to you,” she says, softening her voice. “She’s reaching the age where she’s becoming her own person, but she’s looking to you, to both of us, to follow after.” 

Mel stands, walking over to Vi, who freezes at the movement. She places a calm palm to Vi’s shoulder, making sure she’s looking her in the eye when she continues, “So if you want her to be the kind of person that seeks out help from her family, you must do the same.” 

Vi frowns, backing away.  Shame replaces some of the anger in her eyes. “I didn’t— I was just so mad,” she mutters, looking away. “ I just wanted to make her stop getting hurt.” 

“And make sure he was punished.” Mel lets Vi have her space, retreating to her desk though she stays on this side of it, leaning against it as Vi’s pace resumes slower than before. 

“Violence cannot be your first choice,” Mel repeats. “It’s always an option and so has its place but it can NEVER be the first thing you think of because once you choose it; all other options are forfeit. You can’t take back a thrown punch, or a life if one is lost.” 

“You were blinded by anger so only appeared it was the only path you had but now that you’re calm; what should you have done?” 

Vi won’t look at her. It’s painful to see her like this, when she’s always stood so confidently, always locked eyes with Mel despite fear or distrust. Her fear of Mel’s disappointment is what finally keeps her eyes away. 

“Got you,” Vi mutters. Her words aren’t muttered out of disrespect, but out of shame. “You could have probably handled it without getting into a fight.” 

Mel nods, though Vi way not see it, “I would have and I still plan to see to it that this doesn’t happen again. I’ll be speaking with the Academy again soon because I won’t have either of you mistreated.” 

Vi looks up at her, “If you want us to go to school here, it will just keep happening.” 

“To a point,” Mel admits, “I’m well aware that I don’t change an entire city’s culture by myself but I can ease the burden for you. I intend to keep my promise, so if things don’t improve for Powder I’ll find something else. Even if I have to fund a school myself.” 

Vi, who once only looked at her with distrust and suspicion, now looks at her with doubt and shame. 

But she nods, “If anyone can, it’s you.” 

Mel is busy. 

Mel is always busy, truly. She’s balancing dozens of businesses and all their different contacts. She’s finally opening up the concert halls she’s been planning for ages. There was her keeping an eye on Vi and Powder’s schooling, which has gone more smoothly after she raised hell. Vi has begun to want more freedoms than Mel is comfortable with, like visiting parts of the Lanes by herself or with only her cousins, which is allows anyway because Mel knows Vi can handle Zaun. Powder is reaching a new level of engineering that for some reason involves paint and a lot of it. 

But she is more busy now, because in two weeks she’ll be a counselor. 

Technically, the vote isn’t for a week. Technically, there’s four other candidates. Technically, no one could possibly say who the next counselor will be.

She and Cassandra had a nice little chuckle at that, right before Mel was given some advice on how to go about using her new position. 

So in an effort to catch up before she gets loaded with work, she allowed Vi and Powder to visit their uncles in the Undercity. Three full days, much longer than the overnight visits they’ve had before. In truth she’s still anxious over it but her girls deserve to spend time with their family. 

Tonight is dedicated to her own Undercity connections. Which is leading to a problem. 

Because Mel is busy. 

Much, much too busy to consider finally giving in to this little game she and Sevika have. 

It’s fun. Sevika is a refreshing change of pace from the upper classes of Piltover. She flirts bluntly as she looms over Mel’s personal space, nothing like the round and round conversations Mel has at Piltover parties. There is no hiding of motivation, no badly acted portrayal of interest in Mel’s life or non-interest in her wealth. 

Sevika wants two things from Mel. Her continued business as a middleman and, well….. something much less business related. 

“Where’s the brat been?” Sevika asks. 

They’ve wrapped up the biggest portion of their meeting— the actual business part of it. Mel’s various projects are mostly doing well, though there’s always some little hiccups. Most are on track to meet profit, or nearly, by the end of this year which is far faster than she was expecting. On this side of the river, business aren’t expected to make a profit for some time, years if the backers are wealthy enough, but Zaun doesn’t have that time frame. Profit must happen and happen fast. 

“I told you,” Mel says with a patience she doesn’t truly feel, “I’ve scaled back her training for the moment.” 

“You said that weeks ago. What, she complained about my training style?” Sevika asks with a sheer. 

“She actually said you were ‘awesome’ and that she wanted to keep you despite my own hesitation,” Mel informed her. 

“Really?” 

Mel keeps her face deadpan, “Yes. And that she wants to train hard enough to punch you in the face.” 

Sevika barks out a laugh, “Gods, what a little shit.” 

“However, I don’t want her to be dependent on violence for problem solving,” she says. She doubts the older woman cares but she hadn’t offered a reason before for the lack of lessons. 

But it does makes her eyebrows raise, “Taking her lessons away isn’t going to do shit for that.” 

Mel sighs, she’s currently coming to that conclusion herself. Vi hadn’t complained about Mel cutting her training after the incident and accepted her punishment easily but there was tension that was starting to show in her. Foot tapping and more irritability just to start. Vi had thrown herself into her pottery at first but that was clearly starting to not be as effective. 

“And what do you propose?” Mel asks, more out of curiosity than anything. Sevika has made it very clear that she doesn’t like children so she doubts she’ll have a ready answer. 

But she’s instead surprised. 

“Give her more, not less,” comes the easy answer. “She’s a guard dog though and though so she’ll always get pissed and punch little pricks so trying to put a stop is pointless. Take it from me— that girl needs to train or she’ll explode. Gotta have SOMEWHERE for all that energy to go.” 

That is why Mel started Vi’s training with Riven, all that time ago. Vi is the heir of an Noxian house, even if Mel hopes she never has to take over the main branch. Vi also LIKES training, the only times she’s more relaxed than after a lesson is when she’s with her family. 

“I’m worried that I’d be encouraging the wrong side of her,” Mel admits. 

She doesn’t have many she can speak about her daughters with. Cassandra is her closest friend here in Piltover and while she’s gotten more than a little wisdom from the older woman, they don’t see eye to eye on all things related to parenting. Cassandra guards Caitlyn fiercely, to the extent Mel thinks it may stifle her daughter’s growth. Elora always has some advice for her too but she’s just as Noxian as Mel and has little experience with children either. Silco and Vander are obviously out of the question. 

But it would appear wisdom can come from unexpected places. 

Sevika snorts, “ Look, I don’t know shit about being a parent but I know the kind of people kids like Vi can grow up to be; she needs to learn some fucking patience. That last teacher she had, the Noxian, had the right idea but your kid is stubborn as hell so all she learned was how to fight without going head first.”

The older woman leans back, “Give her back to me and I’ll make SURE she learns.” 

Mel raised an eyebrow, “How? By kicking her in the chest again?” 

Sevika lifts up her metal arm, twisting her wrist so Mel can hear the gears, “I know what happens when you’re too impatient because you’re pissed off. Believe me, I’ll get the message across.” 

It’s not, Mel notes, a dental of how Sevika intends to go about getting the idea across but she has little choice. Vi needs her training in a way Mel never needed her own, that much is clear. 

“We’ll start at once a week instead of two and see from there,” Mel glances at the calendar she keeps on her desk, “But it will be at least two weeks, my schedule is simply too busy and I’d like to watch her next lesson.” 

Sevika smirks, “ You going to take part? I can wait to see that.” 

“No, I’ve had enough training to last a lifetime,” Mel should end the sentence there and end the meeting but she doesn’t. 

Instead her eyes linger of Sevika, “though I suppose you might be able to teach me something’s.” 

As Sevika stands to loom over her, as she so often does when they’re meetings are coming to an end and they enter this back and forth; Mel considers. 

It’s a foolish decision. There’s so much she could lose and very little to be gained. The loss of a competent middleman, having to find Vi a new teacher, possibly having to deal with Silco if this blows up too badly.

But, Mel thinks, as Sevika stands before her, tall and wide, maybe she’s due a bad decision. 

Sevika says something— probably some comment about how she’ll be looking at Mel just as much during training or something similar— but Mel doesn’t ever find out what it is. 

She DOES discover many other things in the next few hours; how good a kisser Sevika is and how much weight her desk can hold chief among them. 

Mel is once again at one of the biggest events of the year and this time she’s at the very center of it. 

Mel Medarda, youngest council member in Piltover’s history. 

It doesn’t feel like much, in truth. It had been her drive, when she came here. Something to prove that her mother was wrong, that she was more than capable, that she wasn’t weak and didn’t deserve to be cast aside. 

Now…. She’s proud of herself, yes, but it doesn’t feel as important as she once thought. 

Mel watches as Vi,  in her shiny new outfit she got for the occasion with the dagger Kino got her sticking out of her boot, laughs with Caitlyn. She thinks of Powder, who has already gotten taken to bed by Elora. 

And Mel, champagne in hand, overblown smile in full force, thinks; 

She MUST do more. 

What good is a council seat, if she knows neither Vi or Powder will likely want to inherit it? What good is building all this power, this strength, if not to USE it? She’s now one of the most powerful people in this city, if not this coast. 

So, what will she do with it?