Chapter Text
Long ago, far away, or upon this very hour…
Tales speak of the divine empires of the heavenly realm, each ruled by a Lunar Empress or Emperor, divided by seas of ethereal water or by the swirling gates of clouds. In balance, these divine domains ensure prosperity and peace for the mortal worlds below…
But cast into disorder and strife, calamity threatens both earth and heaven.
It is said that even among the Lunar Empresses, the radiant maiden known as Luxanna was renowned for her warm wisdom and diligent adherence to her destiny to protect the realm.
Raised from her birth to this sacred role, and guarded by her childhood companions, Warwick and Nasus, the Hounds of the Southern and Northern Gates, she presided over a prosperous and calm realm, bathed in her all-nourishing Light.
Yet among all her fine qualities, Luxanna was known most for her stubborn will, her unshakeable optimism and her willingness to treat all before her with an open heart…
In the end, it was the last that proved her undoing.
A sound never before heard in the heavenly courts echoed throughout the great audience chamber of Luxanna, Lady of Light’s domain…
The clinking and rattling of chains.
Stumbling, the prisoner was roughly thrown to her knees at the foot of the Lunar Empress’s radiant throne.
“How the radiant heaven is dimmed,” called a voice from above, “How the glorious rulers of these Lunar realms are cast down by those over whom they lorded their precious mandate…how remarkable a twist of divine fate it is, that I’m up here, and you’re down there!”
Her hands and arms were bound to her body in chains of cold wraithmetal, formed of smoke and shadows, sapping away at the power within her.
“Isn’t it so…”
The girl, a willowy figure still in her resplendent garb of green and gold, hung her head, silver hair tangled around her face.
“…Little Light?”
Defiantly, the girl raised her head to stare up the polished steps, to the muscular, corpse-pale figure slouched upon the throne that was once hers, his smirking face resting on his fist.
“I believed in you, Sylas.” Luxanna glared at her former mentor, advisor and friend. “I gave you a home in my kingdom, when the others had turned you away…I gave you a chance to prove them wrong about you!”
He chuckled. “And I am grateful for that. They were, in fact, not entirely wrong about me, it seems. But they were in one regard—I’m not merely a spirit of the Underworld bent on bringing the Heavens to chaos for its own sake.”
“Then why did you do this?” Luxanna pleaded, “Release me, return my throne, and leave my realm in peace!”
Sylas’ smirk bled away and he stood, jangling the long chains of metal orbs—marked with staring, glaring eyes—that trailed from his armoured bracers.
“Because while you and your divinely-ordained kind rule these Celestial realms in your unending games of alliance and conflict, down there in the mud of the mortal realms between yours and ours, mortal rulers inflict boundless suffering on the weak in the name of emulating your foolish ideals of justice and order!”
“No,” whispered Luxanna, “As we rule the heavens in balance, the mortal realm too is kept in harmony—”
Sylas laughed at her, and two more voices echoed his chilling tone—two graceful, violet-skinned fiends slinking from the cold shadows creeping into the light of her throne room.
One had a long, thorny bolt-launcher weapon slung over her shoulder, and the other folded wings of gold and jade at her back…
…but each of the two Lunar Wraiths held the end of a ghostly chain.
“That delightful naivete, my Lady,” said Sylas, shaking his head, “Is precisely why you had to fall from your lofty throne at my hand.”
Luxanna gritted her teeth, knowing well the silhouettes of the two mighty, snapping, struggling beasts being hauled forward by a horde of spectral wolves, snapping at their fur as they struggled, bound within those chains.
Her sacred beasts, the hounds of north and south, her childhood companions…
“Warwick…Nasus…let them go, Sylas!”
“So they can maul me and my faithful companions, here?” he shook his head and gave a dismissive flick of his ghostly, translucent blue claws, “No, I think I shall see what new forms these mighty beasts might inhabit, for my amusement…”
The chains slithered tighter, and her companions howled in fury and pain.
“Stop hurting them!” Luxanna cried out in anguish, “Please, just stop! I was kind to you, Sylas—I welcomed you—”
“And it’s a kindness I intend to repay, Lunar Empress,” said Sylas, striding down the steps from the throne until he stood before her, “You alone of your arrogant kin let me in. You alone will see the truth of the worlds below you that your celestial peers remain oblivious to. You now know what it means to kneel in chains before your oppressor; soon you’ll know the muck and flies, sweat and cold of the world of mortals…that is my gift to you, Luxanna of the Lunar Realms!”
His cold blue face grew colder still.
“I once called you teacher,” she whispered, in tears, “How could you be so cruel?”
“Life, when you are not shielded by your divinity, is cruel, little goddess,” said he, “Consider this my final lesson. When you understand it, perhaps you’ll come crawling back to me and beg my forgiveness for your blindness.”
The light was growing around her, the celestial gates cracking, the lunar wraiths howling as they flooded into her realm, turning a celestial kingdom into an outpost of the netherworld…
“You’re right, I will understand why you’ve betrayed me,” Luxanna vowed, her eyes never leaving his, “And then I will return to you—and cast you from my throne with my own hand!”
“If you survive,” said he, “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Sylas lifted his head to the other Lunar Wraiths at the foot of his throne, flanking Luxanna and her companions.
“Cast them down.”
And so, three shooting stars fell from the Heavens…
“…snaking their path across the skies,” said Diana, in her full regalia as the Lady of the Moon, tracing her hand in a graceful path to emulate the descent of the Lunar Empress of legend, “…until they were bound to this realm, to walk among you and I, in mortal form!”
The children gathered around the square gasped, as Ashe, Kog’maw and Ziggs, dressed as the outcast Lunar Empress and her two guardian beasts, danced their final fall from grace and exited the makeshift stage to rounds of applause.
“Oh what a sad story!” exclaimed a little girl, “Is that really how it ends?”
Diana smiled and reached out, sleight-of-hand passing a miniature paper lantern to the child, pressing it into her palm.
“The great stories of our ancestors and deities never truly end,” she said, “They only find new ways to be told.”
“Thank you, thank you all!” said Xin Zhao, thumping his spear against the earth for attention, dressed as the Warrior from the previous tale, “Have a marvellous New Year’s Eve Festival! And we shall see you again, in the Capital, for the Lantern Festival in fifteen days time! Until then…let the heavens alight!”
Fireworks crackled in the heavens above them, lighting the cool end-of-year evening, reflecting in the joyful eyes of the villagers as they popped and whined and rained their colourful sparks across the sky.
Amid another round of applause, the performers left the stage, and fled unseen into the village night as the festivities went on in earnest at their backs.
The village was a cluster of thatched houses around a muddy marketplace, beneath the high pale eye of the moon; out of that consideration alone, they’d had to move their wagons, their tents, and the entire festival setup to some random field downwind of it, lest any sparks catch and light the whole place up.
Boring! What a snorefest!
As the fireworks died away, a disappointed sigh broke from the girl’s lips.
“Come on, Ziggs! You can spare a few more for good ol’ Jinx?”
The girl in the crimson qipao, her dark hair dyed jade green at the fringe and bound behind her in two red-wrapped braids of enormous, whipping length, bounced from foot to foot before the little furry fellow, now doffing his elaborate wolf beast costume and shaking out his fuzzy face.
“Now Jinx, y’know I would, I like a good rocket launcher much as the next boomsmith,” he sighed, “But Caitlyn’s directing the whole show in the Capital—”
“Ughhh,” Jinx groaned, rolling her eyes back into her skull, “Don’t remind me…”
“—and after that whole fiasco last year.” Ziggs winced. “She’s given us all express instructions not to let you choose your own munitions this year…”
“I only burned down like, one warehouse, Ziggs, c’mon!”
“It was a fireworks storehouse, Jinx,” he reminded her, “And it nearly set a whole district alight, if it hadn’t been for that whole water cannon thing you rigged up for Corki and Sejuani bein’ mighty quick on her boar with those buckets—”
“Just added to the festive atmosphere!” Jinx beamed.
“—and anyway, Cait’s scored her favourite singer for the main stage.” Ziggs chuckled. “So she’s extra uptight this time, all right? Give the girl a break, for me, Jinxie? Just this once?”
“Grrr! You’re killin’ me here, Ziggy! I got the bestest ideas for the biggest, fieriest, most spectacular booms ever this year and yer gonna force me to march to Caitlyn’s tune? I thought we were the buddiest of pals!”
“Jinx,” Ziggs planted his feet and crossed his arms. He glanced out across their camp—Xin Zhao, Diana, Kog’maw, Corki, Ashe, Sett, Sejuani, and the others—all laughing and talking as they shared their evening meal, “Bein’ part of a team means sometimes even you and me gotta…y’know, restrain ourselves a little. It’s not just our show anymore…this means a lot to everyone. We gotta not screw it up.”
Jinx deflated, looking at him with a furrow in her brows.
“You mean I’ve gotta not screw it up. Like I always do. Right?”
“Jinx, that’s not what I—”
Jinx snatched her meal and a bagged-up cloth box and turned so quick Ziggs had to dodge the whip of her braids.
“I’m sorry, hey, Jinx! Hey, where ya goin’?”
“Y’know me, Ziggs,” she shot over her shoulder, “Off to be someone else’s problem!”
The only thing that blunted the sting in her chest had been the sight of a gleam of pale hair on the edge of the crowd.
“Oh,” said Ziggs, scratching his head, “Her again? Well, be careful, all right, Jinx?”
Jinx only poked her tongue at him.
Hugging the bundle to her chest, Jinx hurried out of the performers’ encampment, away from the firelight, and into the silvery light of the moon.
Jinx had almost reached the little hill under the moonlight, the hill of the flowers, when she heard the rustling in the long grass.
She stopped, narrowing her eyes, and tensed up as she turned left and right.
Nothing, only the glow of the village over the other side of the hill, the silent eye of the moon and the darkness under the trees.
“…okay, Jinx,” she blew out a breath, “Mind’s playin’ tricks on me. I’m gonna just—”
Jinx squawked as a shape struck her in the chest, another in the side of the knee. She staggered, clinging onto her precious cargo, but when she felt hot and wet lash her face, she tottered and tumbled over onto her back with a—“Gack! Geddoff!”
The tiny grey puppy with the white floof on his head and tail yipped and licked Jinx’s cheek again. The one with the purple floof pounced and gnawed at Jinx’s braid.
“Wick, no,” she giggled, “Argh, Nazzy, get off me—you two get your treats when I say so! Where’s your big sis? Help! I’m struggling for my life here! Where are youuuu—”
“Right here,” said a bright voice, with a giggle, “Watching your ‘mortal struggle’ against my deadly guardians with great intrigue, don’t worry!”
A figure loomed over Jinx, silhouetted by the bright moon, with her hands on her hips. Moonlight caught in her silvery hair as she leaned over, warm eyes twinkling, and caught Jinx’s hand in her own.
The girl helped Jinx back to her feet and dusted off her qipao, gently waving away her two little dogs.
“Sorry, they were just really, really excited to see you.”
She had a beaming smile on her small peach lips, and Jinx couldn’t help but think of how the moonlight shone around her, that bright silvery hair, like a halo…
“I mean, and your treats, obviously,” she winked at Jinx, but Jinx heard the rumble of her tummy and her own yearning glance at the package in Jinx’s arms.
The girl who bumped Jinx’s arm and smiled was almost as thin as she was. Her clothes were patched and worn, her skin and that hair smudged with dirt. Her shoes had seen better days.
“You came to hear the story again,” teased Jinx, “Y’know I could probably talk Diana into changing the ending for ya, Moonbeam, if you didn’t wanna be bored…”
Lux laughed under her breath and looked at her feet. Her pups scampered around their legs as she and Jinx walked to the spot.
“No, Jinx, I’d never be bored, that way,” she said, “Not a good reason to change the ending of one of the ancestral tales! Rather, it should change when…”
Jinx tipped her head, “When?”
“When something changes,” said Lux, with one of those soft, mysterious Lux sighs that Jinx didn’t quite understand.
Her stomach rumbled again, and Jinx shook her head and poked her.
“None of that melancholy broodin’, Luxiebeans,” said Jinx, bounding ahead of her friend to the moon-viewing spot and plopping herself down to unwrap the box she’d brought to share with her.
“Tadaaa! No empty tummies, either!”
A whoosh of warm, aromatic vapour erupted from rows of steamed buns, dumplings, and other such treats from the festival.
Lux’s eyes widened.
“Oh Jinx…oh heavens, this is amazing—you’re amazing—th-thank you!”
“Any time, Moonbeam! Now c’mere and sit down, and let’s tuck in before it gets cold! Gotta feed the goodest of boys, too!”
Lux nodded, concealed a hungry groan and pushed herself with that ladylike grace that so amused and puzzled Jinx to take the blanket that had been the box’s wrapping cloth, lay it neatly on the ground for their feast, and gather her yipping, happy beasts to wait expectantly for the treats Jinx was going to toss them.
“I get it, though!” said Jinx, “I mean, you’re named after that story, right, Luxie? And your pups, too? Man, your family must have been real keen on the ol’ tales of the Lunar Empresses…”
“Hm,” Lux smiled softly at her. “One could say it’s been part of my own story since my birth.”
She tossed a bit of meat to Nasus, then to Warwick, the little grey pups growling and mauling their treats happily, tails wagging as they snapped them down.
Jinx resisted the urge to scruff their ears while they were feeding. They were both so gosh darn cute though…!
“Ooh, miss mystery again!” Jinx sighed, “No such mystery about my name, heh…”
Lux caught her unusually gloomy outlook immediately.
“Did something happen, Jinx?”
Jinx shook her head and hugged her knees, grumpily munching on a dumpling.
Only when its perfectly seasoned yumminess, and the pretty white glow of the moon on Lux’s soft features, had cheered her up, did she cough up what was on her mind.
“Everyone, even Ziggs, wants me to ‘tone it down’ this year…I just finished my dragon rocket, finally, my greatest creation! All because stupid Caitlyn is bla bla bla all jumpy about having finally gotten Seraphine to perform with us blah blah! Everyone knows how hard I work on my fireworks! Me an’ Ziggs, we’re the greatest pyrotechnicians in the crew, and—and yet they all treat me like…like I’m some naughty kid who’s about to screw up everything if they take their eyes off me!” she sniffed, “It’s not fair! I’m not cursed, I’m not!”
“Oh, Jinx,” Lux shuffled a little closer to her, pulling their legs up parallel, “Of course you aren’t. You really are brilliant. An artist. I wish they could see you like I do…”
Jinx swallowed and looked up at the silver-haired girl.
“…I wish the same back, Moonbeam,” she said softly.
Her only friend outside the Dragon’s Revels Festival Troupe, and she, Lux’s only friend outside her dogs. When they’d met, Lux was a vagrant wanderer, traveling from town to town with nothing but the trailworn clothes on her back, the two dogs at her heels, and a stick to defend herself from bandits and wild beasts.
Jinx had no idea how she’d managed to survive this far, save that the one time someone had threatened Lux in her presence, she’d been stunned to watch the fellows driven off by a flash of mysterious, searing light…
But it had seemed to exhaust Lux, so much that after Jinx had found her curled up sleeping in an empty fireworks crate, she’d taken to smuggling the strange girl a bit of food and some blankets to keep her warm at night.
And so their strange friendship had begun.
Lux had, at a distance, followed the firework troupe from town to town, festival to festival. She’d performed a few rudimentary chores for local mothers in the towns, a few clever magic tricks at the markets for a few coins to repay Jinx for the food she was brought. The marks of malnutrition were fading, thanks to Jinx ensuring she always had enough food, but she—a girl with no family, with no place in the world, had never found a home to call her own.
“But y’know, you really can just come and introduce yourself,” said Jinx, watching Lux wolf down the food like the starving girl she was, “You don’t have to keep skulkin’ after us like strays, y’know? Everyone would love you, if they got to know you…”
As it is, they know you’re there, but think you’re some weird homeless girl following me around for some shady reason… Jinx thought, but didn’t add, and keep warning me not to keep talking to you...
Lux paused, another deep sigh caught in her chest, never quite broken free.
She lifted her huge, haunting eyes to Jinx.
“I’m sorry, Jinx. You’ve been so kind to me…to us…and I know I should take you up on that offer. But I…I don’t know how to make myself…useful…”
She pursed her lips. She looked at her hands, flexing her fingers as if she was still feeling a phantom limb that wasn’t there anymore.
Something missing.
But that didn’t make sense at all to Jinx. Lux was, aside from needing a good feed, a few nights good sleep and a real good bath, *beautiful* sure one well-put together girl, in Jinx’s estimation. She was ‘all here’, wasn’t she?
Heh! That was more than most people said of Jinx!
But Lux still had that wistful, yearning look in her eyes, “Everything is still new to me, even after all this time. I just don’t…really know how to make friends…”
“You made a friend of me easy enough!” said Jinx, busy scruffing Warwick’s ears, “Aw, he’s so gruff and protective, it’s like he thinks he’s my dad…”
Lux laughed softly. “Actually, you befriended me, remember? You made it so easy to spend time with you, I didn’t even do anything!”
“Sure you did. You were your charmin’ self! Shiny like a moonbeam!”
Lux smiled at her. “Even when I’m…” she looked down at her dirty clothes, self-conscious, and curled into herself a little. “Like this?”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Jinx shook her head. “Don’t forget, I grew up poor, too.”
She glanced back at the glow of the camp.
“After my sister got drafted off to war…they were the only reason I didn’t end up in the gutter. I’ll always be grateful for that.” Jinx crinkled her nose, “Even if they make me hold back for stupid Caitlyn’s fussin’…so yeah, doesn’t matter to me, where you’re from, or what you’ve been through! You don’t even have to tell me. You’re just Luxie, to me.”
Lux’s eyes shone damp in the moonlight. Jinx heard a little whisper under her breath and a sudden hint of panic seized her chest.
Was she holding back…tears? Had Jinx said something to upset her? Oh no, no no no—
Lux seemed to sense Jinx’s distress, as she always did, and snapped her hand out to grab Jinx’s hand and reassure her.
Warm, warm fingers twined with Jinx’s own, still a little sticky from the dumplings.
“I wish I could tell you. Oh, Jinx, I wish I could tell you everything. But you’ll have to be patient with me, all right? One day…”
Nasus rubbed his cheek on Lux’s knee, and she picked up the little dog and tucked her face into his purple ruff for comfort.
“One day you’ll understand everything, I promise. Until then…I hope my friendship can be enough.”
“Already is, Moonbeam,” Jinx, her heart softened in her eyes, smiled, “You come equipped with a real cute smile, and that clever brain with all those fancy words, and two adorable doggos! Who’d need any more than that?”
Jinx passed her another dumpling.
“Just don’t forget, hey, there’s room for you in that family down there,” she nodded at the camp, “You just gotta make room for us near ya.”
“Don’t know how much anyone else would want to be near me now,” Lux mourned, sniffing at herself with a wince, “I honestly don’t know how you put up with me…”
“Pff, as if I mind, Luxie!” Jinx leaned over and sniffed at her too, wiggling her brows, until Lux flushed with embarassment, glared, and batted her away, “See? Jinx’s nose never lies, you’re fiiine! Just a lil’ ‘roadworn’! Besides, you’re one good bath away from the Imperial Court, I swear, look at ya.”
Lux dropped her glare into a weird, contemplative look and fell silent, as she often did when Jinx teased her about things like that.
Yeah, Jinx was sure she was some runaway daughter of a rich family, or something. She had to be. Hungry and dirty as she was when Jinx first found her, there was a grace about her, personal habits she had, the polite lofty way she said stuff sometimes, that told Jinx right away she hadn’t always been poor like Jinx had…
Yeah. Jinx was sure.
“…nevermind,” said Jinx, hopping closer and bumping Lux’s shoulder. “Less than fifteen days, Moonbeam, and it’ll be the Lantern Festival in the capital…fifteen days to our grand finale for this year’s Revels! It’s gonna be amazing! They say the Emperor himself’s gonna be watching Seraphine’s performance, and they’ll be dustin’ off some great relics from the imperial collections, and important people from all over are comin too…”
Lux’s eyes lingered on Jinx’s face as the firecracker girl lit up with joy and anticipation—and more than a little fear— “This year’s gonna be it, you’ll see. This is my year, Moonbeam. I’ll finally have my dream…I’ll put on the greatest show the Emperor’s ever seen!”
And she’ll be there…surely…she’ll see my fireworks, soaring across the sky, and she’ll know it’s me….after all this time…she’ll come find me…
Jinx put the thought aside and turned to her company.
“…so you’re comin’, aren’t you, Luxie?”
Jinx gave her big eyes.
“You wouldn’t miss our big show, right?”
Lux knew what Jinx wasn’t saying; that there’d be warm lodgings, somewhere amid all those crowds and all that fire, and plenty of food for her and for her pups.
But something about the way Lux lifted her gaze above the steaming food she was still eating, and stared in deep, intense contemplation at the great white moon above them…
…Jinx couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different for Lux, too, this time.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Jinx,” she said softly, and both her dogs hopped up into her lap, as if both were sensing something she was feeling, that she couldn’t put into words, “Not for all the wonders in earth or heaven.”
Above them, the new moon shone on.
As the wagons of the festival crew rolled away from the little town, toward their next destination, they never saw two shadows separate from the trees.
“The veil thins, Sylas,” said the elfin sharpshooter, “Our power over her wanes as the bright moon waxes…if she reacquires what she lost…”
“She is unaware, but senses it by instinct…” whispered the winged sorceress.
“Then take it first, before she does,” came the whisper from far away, “To the Capital…”
“And how are we to get close to her?” said the sharpshooter, twitching her pointed ear, “Even so reduced, her guardians are vigilant…”
“A mortal close to her by proximity shares your name, my hawk-eyed hunter. She shall be your key…” whispered the voice of Sylas to his Wraiths, “The others are merely obstacles.”
They could almost hear his smile, even from domains away.
“Morgana, Caitlyn…do as thou wilt…”
Their gleaming eyes lifted to the hunt.
Fifteen days later…
The orderly streets of the Imperial Capital crowded with throngs of celebrating revellers and blazed with lanterns in all shapes and sizes. The day had already been filled with festivity and activity, but the true marvels would begin at dusk—when the shroud of night would come alive with the light of a thousand beautiful displays.
The great stage in the main square before the gates of the Imperial quarter was the focal point this year — here, dancers, actors and storytellers would re-enact the tales of myth and legend that had inspired the Lunar Revel in the first place, long ago.
Here, the gates of the palace would be opened for the display of the Lunar relics from the Imperial vaults themselves.
And here, at the culmination, Seraphine would perform beneath the open sky for nobles and commoners alike, atop her flying lion stage, as the fireworks lit up the sky above her for a glorious finale…
“…and that’s exactly how it is all going to proceed,” said Caitlyn, strutting back and forth before her assembled troupe like a general before her army, “We need to act with professionalism, precision, and purpose. The surprises shall be reserved for the audience alone, am I understood?”
The Dragon’s Revel crew gave various salutes, whoops, whistles, and grunts of affirmation where they lounged about the main tent of the performers’ camp, listening to her spiel.
Caitlyn blew out a breath. “Right, let’s go over our duties—”
“Musicians and marching band,” said Sejuani, back resting against her giant pig’s pink flank, bumping knuckles with Poppy, perched by her gigantic drum, “Following your lead, o’ General.”
“Remember your timings! We’re acting in support of both Sona performing with the guqin and Seraphine singing this year, so I want to be absolutely certain we won’t be drowning them out with your percussion, or other excessive noises of—”
She glared at Jinx and the Fireworks crew, “–any kind.”
Jinx pretended to be picking her teeth with the stick of a candied haw skewer.
Caitlyn sighed. “Sett, you’ll be leading the lion dance crew. Xin Zhao and Diana will accompany you and pass out red envelopes during the procession before we convene at the main square and join Seraphine on stage—and please this year, try to keep Kog’Maw from attempting to eat anyone…”
“The Boss is on it,” Sett grinned and bumped shoulders with Xin, before whispering to Yuumi, “…you can keep an eye on Kog, right?”
The lucky cat meowed reproachfully.
“And lastly, firework crew—” said Caitlyn, “Ashe, as Goddess of the Hunt, your arrow volley is the starter mark. Teemo, Tristana, and Annie will follow with each of their displays—Vayne, as the Avenging Heroine, yours will be the final firework shot, just after Corki’s flyover, representing the triumph of good over evil in the new year…Ziggs, I trust you’ll be able to manage all of our team?”
“Hey,” said Jinx, frowning.
“Got it, General,” Ziggs glanced back at her and then, “Uh, I think ya forgot someone, Cait—”
“If you each know your tasks, then—”
“HEY!” Jinx growled. “What about me?!”
Caitlyn stopped and sighed.
“You’ll be in charge of stocking and supply, Jinx.”
“W–what?” Jinx’s eyes widened, “But—but I—my rockets—I made—half of everyone else’s booms are my designs!”
There was a wave of murmurs rising, of discontent and agreement amongst the crew, Teemo patted Jinx’s back, Tristana’s ears perked up as she grumbled in Jinx’s defence.
Caitlyn raised her hand for quiet.
“Look, I think we all are in agreement here that no-one here faults your artistry or creativity, Jinx, but…”
“But?!”
“But.” Caitlyn shook her head. “That incident last year—paying the damages put the whole troupe out of pocket—people nearly got hurt—and if it had been worse, if the fires had gotten out of control?”
“I didn’t mean it,” whispered Jinx, “It wasn’t my fault, I…guys…”
She glanced around at her friends and supporters.
Most of them had gone quiet, though, at Caitlyn’s reminder. The yordles’ ears were drooping, the humans avoiding her gaze.
“I’ll do better, everyone,” Jinx found a sniffle in her nose, ugh, what was that about, “I swear I can do better, I just need a chance…”
“Just sit this year out, Jinx,” said Caitlyn, “Let your hair down and enjoy the show, for once. You don’t always have to be the centre of attention.”
“Yes I do!” Jinx snapped, “You don’t understand!”
“No, I bloody don’t!” said Caitlyn, “Jinx, you’re a part of a team here. We have a full roster this year and—so many complexities to manage, I cannot take up Ziggs’ time minding you so you don’t do something reckless and off-script and set half the town on fire—if you don’t have someone to partner with, I’m sorry, but I cannot make you part of the performance—”
“Excuse me,” said a soft voice.
“If I’m not even in the show…” Jinx wrung her hands around her braids, she was starting to panic, her chest was tight, “H-How is she supposed to find me? How is she ever gonna find me if—if I’m not even there—”
“Who?” said Caitlyn, frowning.
“Excuse me!”
Jinx caught her breath, batting away the sting of tears on her cheeks, and turned in disbelief.
On timid, doe-like steps, Lux walked forward into the crew tent, with her pups at her heels.
“Miss,” said Caitlyn, “I’m sorry, but this is a performers’ area, you must be lost! Ziggs, could you show the young lady the way back to the festival, please?”
Lux smiled.
“No, I’m exactly where I’m meant to be,” she said, “And I’m sorry I was never able to pluck up the courage to introduce myself. My name is Lux…”
“She’s my friend,” said Jinx, a smile twitching at her lips, “Um, sorry she didn’t introduce herself but she’s a bit shy—Ziggs, Xin, Teemo, Tristy, this is the girl I was tellin’ you about—”
“I’m very sorry!” said Caitlyn, smiling thinly at the bedragged girl, “But you really can’t be back here if you aren’t a performer, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to lea…ve…”
Light bloomed in the dim tent.
Caitlyn trailed off. Everyone fell deathly quiet.
A ball of glowing light hovered above Lux’s outstretched palm. As the performers watched, stunned, Lux lifted one foot and her knee to her chest, then fell into a graceful dance, weaving her torso and arms in complex, sweeping patterns about the empty space in the floor of the tent—
And wherever she moved, the Light went with her, threading itself in her wake in ribbons of rainbow luminescence, flowing where she gestured, forming itself into glowing butterflies tickling under Poppy’s nose, darting dragonflies zipping back and forth before the chomping, excitable Kog’Maw, undulating rainbow dragons snaking in coils around Corki’s moustaches and diving about Xin Zhao’s ponytail…
And her two little dogs leapt and bounded and danced among the light, hopping adorably onto floating clouds of radiance or running along their weaving rivers.
With a final delicate twist, Lux flung her arms out and tipped her head back, her face filled with a floating, serene joy that filled Jinx’s heart with an overflowing, painful warmth that went well beyond her awe at the sight of what Lux was doing…
All of Lux’s creations flew in a spiral back toward her body, rose above her and burst in radiant pops like small sun-flares, with neither scent nor sound, only hazy coronas of light drifting away into motes like reflections on raindrops.
The tent was silent, rows of open mouths and wide eyes, finally bubbling into murmurs.
“How…” whispered Sett, “How’d she do that?”
“…no powder, no wicks, nothin’…” Ziggs was wide-eyed.
“Actual magic?” murmured Diana, “It’s been so long…”
Only Jinx saw how pale Lux looked, how she was panting, the beads of sweat on her brow as she gasped out, bowing to Caitlyn.
“My name is Lux,” she repeated, “And I am Jinx’s partner for this performance…”
She smiled a sweet, chipper smile.
“…or I am walking out of this tent and you’ll never see me again!”
Everyone turned with a slow twist of their heads to Caitlyn.
The director snapped her mouth shut and wrestled her composure back together. She looked Lux up and down, and Jinx could almost see the abacus going in her brain.
“Get her a bath, a costume, and a briefing on our rules and order of performance,” Caitlyn declared, pointing to her crew, “Jinx, she’s your responsibility. I trust whatever the two of you put together to compliment Vayne’s appearance in the finale will be appropriately spectacular. Remember, triumph of good over evil, blessings for the year to come!”
Jinx’s heart leapt. She locked wondering eyes with Lux and burst into wild, joyous laughter.
“Oh Caity-Caity-poos, you’re not gonna regret this at all! You got it!” Jinx snapped a salute, “I promise me and Lux are gonna put on the best, most professional, most perfect show ever! Thank you! Thankyou!!”
“Never call me that again, but you’re welcome. Lux, is it?” said Caitlyn, with a shrewd eye to the intruder. “Welcome to the Dragon’s Revels Festival Troupe. I look forward to a harmonious working relationship with you.”
Lux beamed ear to ear, her hand snatching up Jinx’s by her side, and her pups yipping happily at her heels.
“Thank you, Caitlyn, for this chance,” she said.
She turned her radiant smile to Jinx, and winked.
“Harmony is something almost as dear to my heart as Light.”