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Terbisia was so quiet at night.
That could be said of most places in Demacia, truth be told, but it was especially so in Terbisia. Maybe it was some weird consequence the forest or the magic within it, maybe the wind was just exceptionally still, but tonight the city was truly, utterly, quiet.
Rio had never really experienced quietness like this before. At least not that she'd stopped to notice. She breathed lightly, so not to disturb the serene stillness. Not even a frog or a cricket broke the silence. The chronic ringing in her ears was the only thing that even resembled noise. Normally too quiet to hear, the ringing now formed a steady background that swallowed her.
The silence felt so alien. It was as though she had crossed some invisible barrier and was looking into another world. She felt like a ghost, beside it, but not part of it. She couldn't exist within it, but from atop the tallest ruin in the city, she could observe it, like staring into a dream.
The trance and the silence were disturbed by the sound of Lux opening the door of the little room they now shared. As though a spell was broken, the wind picked up, just a little, and the sound of a thousand rustling leaves, like the sound of blood rushing through her ears, overtook the tinnitus. Rio shivered as the breeze chilled her bare arms.
She could still hear every footstep Lux took as she picked through the city, careful not to disturb anyone. She could hear the swish of Lux's cloak as she turned her head from side to side, each time with a little more urgency. She could hear Lux's staff twist between her fingers as she gripped it anxiously, and she could hear as Lux half flew, half climbed up the old library. She heard as Lux's feet touch the same rooftop she sat on, gentle as a whisper. She heard Lux take two steps and she heard her breath catch.
"Oh, there you are," Lux said quietly. "I was worried..."
"Nah. I'm still here." Rio said. The sound of her own voice felt rude and foreign in her ears now.
Lux crossed the roof and sat beside her at its edge. "Why up here?"
"Old habit." Rio spoke softly now that Lux was close. "The Zaunite instinct to go up high, I guess."
The quiet hung thick between them. It stretched across the city and the wind carried it between the trees, through the wispy clouds and into the stars beyond.
"What's Zaun like?" Lux asked after some eternities of silence. "I never heard of it before I met you."
"It was never this still," Rio said after a moment. "Especially after dark. Night is when Zaun comes alive, after topside goes to bed."
"Topside?"
"Piltover. It used to all be one city, I think, before they abandoned the south side of the river. Now it's all run down and ruined buildings on the surface, but underneath..."
Rio sat up straighter and Lux listened patiently. "There are these massive fissures in the earth. They go hundreds of feet deep, and there are buildings all the way down the walls. Neon signs of every color, people and animals from every corner of the world, anything and everything you could ever want, you could find. That's the Lanes. Zaun."
Lux seemed utterly fascinated by the discovery of this new world. "Where did the fissures come from?"
"Mining."
"The miners lived by the mines..." Lux's voice trailed off as wheels turned in her head and she fit all the pieces of Piltover and Zaun together.
"My parents were miners, you know," Rio said. Lux looked up, brought out of her fascination. "Well, my first parents were. Second was a bartender. Third was a crime lord. Although, I guess they were both miners too, back in the day..."
Lux didn't know how to respond to that, and Rio didn't know what else to say, so they let the quiet swallow them again. The breeze swept through the trees and Rio shivered as it passed.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lux said and took off her cloak. "I didn't realize it was that cold." She draped the cloak, still warm, over Rio's shoulders.
"That's 'cuz you're always so warm," Rio said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you literally radiate heat, like, all the time." Rio held her hands up to Lux's stomach and rubbed them like in front of a fire. "See? Warmer already."
Lux pressed her hand against her stomach and pulled it away. "Huh." Her fingers brushed against Rio's and she gasped. "Woah!"
Rio grinned and quickly pressed her hands into Lux's neck. "Bwah! How are your hands that cold?"
"Probably the Shimmer."
Lux squirmed out of reach. "Shimmer?"
"Magic super drug," Rio said. She started to reach closer until she saw the confusion on Lux's face. "Either gives you super powers or turns you into a monster. Or gets you high. Depends how much you take."
"How much did you take?"
Rio paused. "Good question," she said and sat back down. "Got blown up a while ago and a mad scientist had to put me back together with Shimmer." She patted her stomach and chuckled. "I have no idea what he put in there. I was half dead and hallucinating the whole time."
"You were AWAKE?!"
Rio was taken aback by the horror in Lux's voice. "We didn't exactly have the best healthcare in Zaun," she said. "Especially not when you're wanted for murder and terrorism." She paused for a second. "And arson and theft. And vandalism. Smuggling. Oh! Hijacking too. And that was before I blew up the council!"
She turned toward Lux with a wry smile. "Having second thoughts?"
"I- no, of course not," Lux said with such certainty that it unbalanced Rio. "I just... I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how horrible that must have been."
Rio struggled to find words. "Definitely top three shitty days," she said with a shrug, but that only made Lux more concerned. She could feel Lux's big, sad eyes boring a hole through her.
"Stop looking at me like that," Rio mumbled. She pulled her knees up to her chin. "I don't want your pity."
"It's not pity," Lux said sadly. She was quiet for a long moment. "I'll go."
"No," Rio said into her knees. "Stay." She turned her head up but didn't look at Lux. "Just... stay. Please."
Lux scooted closer until her shoulder pressed against Rio. "Okay."
The quietness swallowed them once more as they sat together, still as the perfect night.