Arcane: Painted Tapestries

[Entresol]

It was impossible.

Powder was dead.

The woman sitting in front of him couldn't be her.

And yet?

The woman before him couldn't have been anyone else.

The confusion ruling Blue's mature face slowly ebbed away under the scrutiny of his disbelief. All that was left was an expressionless visage, seemingly free of all emotion.

The woman retracted her hand from Ekko's shoulder, drawing her knees up and wrapping both of her arms around them.

"Powder? How could I be Powder?" The corner of Blue's mouth twitched upwards into a small, nervous smile. It was uncanny.

The boy knew that smile.

She tilted her head to the side questioningly. "She would around be a decade younger than me at this point. That's impossible Ekko."

The dark-skinned boy just stared at the woman sitting opposite him.

He shook his head in a shaky denial. "Don't lie to me. I know that smile."

Blue touched the corner of her mouth softly, tracing what remained of the nervous smile that was now frozen there.

It too, like her confusion earlier, slowly melted off of her pale face.

"Always too smart for your own good - Right little man?"

Ekko just sat there, his breathing beginning to hasten under the strain of the impossibility of his situation.

But… It was true, somehow.

There was no doubt about it.

She was Powder.

"I did wonder why you didn't ask me about Powder after Vander, Felica and Vi." The boy laughed, his vision slowly starting to blur. "Guess now I know why."

"Oh, Ekko." She murmured, leaning in and gently pulling him toward her. "Always the smartest one in the room."

He sank into her soft embrace hesitantly, downright unbelievingly.

"It must've been so hard - being left all alone."

The boy just sat there, unable to muster up the strength to return the comforting hug being given to him.

It felt alien. Unreal, even.

"How?" He asked, his trembling fingers slowly finding their way to Powder's thin back.

He could feel the beginning of the woman's deep sigh before it escaped her.

"It's a long story. A really long story."

Ekko's voice was hoarse. "So you- You're actually real? You're really Powder? I-I'm not-"

"You're not alone anymore." She finished quietly. "Hey, it's okay. It'll be okay."

Hot tears slid down his dark, unwashed cheeks; dripping down onto Powder's exposed shoulders.

He buried his face into her clean, cyan-coloured hair.

For the first time since that fateful day, when everything in his life had turned upside down, Ekko cried.

And he cried hard.

He clung tightly to the dead girl who was now alive, and all grown up, refusing to let her go.

Not again.

Never again.

—

[The open sea - Two days later]

A storm was brewing on the horizon, its dark clouds scattering a heavy rain down onto the mass of land that was far in the distance.

Ixtal.

Callian stood leaning on the ship's edge, staring at this abrupt change in weather.

His mind wandered back to the lack of a farewell from Camille, a professional courtesy he didn't yet seem to be worthy of.

The woman had already departed from Mudtown prior to their return to the ship, headed straight back to Piltover after completing her deal with the Lawrence family head.

The man sighed unhappily.

That particular friendship would take time to rebuild. Time he didn't have to spare. Far too much time.

Their ship had left the docks shortly after, with Davros wasting no time after the last of the crew had returned to the vessel.

The man turned around, tilting his head upward and gazing toward the crow's nest.

Zeri was up there again, keeping the lonely Arthur company.

Callian suspected she was feeling guilty on his behalf, especially after the lookout was blamed for his mistake; which had triggered her to begin interacting with the teen.

This misguided attitude had persisted for two days now, and the blue-haired man was beginning to suspect she had actually warmed up to the young lookout.

It was a shame. A real shame.

"Mr Bright."

Davros' gruff voice carried over to him, breaking the man from his brooding thoughts.

"Captain." He acknowledged, tilting his head downward a tad to face the taller man walking toward him.

"The vessel Arthur warned us about earlier is getting closer."

Callian raised an eyebrow questioningly.

The man's thick eyebrows furrowed unhappily.

"So I'd like to ask you to be on guard in case they try anything. They're hoisting the international flag meant to be for trade at sea, but judging by the make of their ship, it looks like it just sailed straight out of Bilgewater."

Callian smirked inwardly. This man truly didn't discriminate who he discriminated against.

"Pirates, I understand." He replied, nodding. "I will have my apprentice be on the lookout as well."

Davros grunted in acknowledgement, inclining his head to the shorter man stiffly before returning to his stationary post at the ship's helm.

The blue-haired man strode across the deck, coming to face the ship that was steadily approaching them from the north side.

Davros was well within his right to discriminate against the swamp rats of Bilgewater. 

Callian had only met a singular respectable rat before, in all of his visits to Bilgewater. And she was most definitely not aboard the bundle of poorly nailed driftwood that was sailing toward them.

The masked man's instincts shimmer-enhanced instincts suddenly spiked, his violet eyes flashing as they were drawn toward the belly of the approaching ship.

He tapped one of his armoured forefingers on the railing, impatiently trying to decipher what it was he had felt.

There was something on that ship. Something arcane, a power that was practically screaming for attention.

A mage? No, any mage would know to conceal their aspect from others.

What lay in hiding before him wasn't doing that. Its control was unrefined, unsuppressed - almost like a child's.

The blue-haired man pieced the information together.

The Bilgewater ship design, the flag, and a childlike arcane aura.

His violet gaze narrowed.

Were they slave traders?

Callian turned on his heel, flashing a hefty portion of his salgi up to the crow's nest to alert Zeri before blitzing toward the ship's helm.

Davros' eyes widened at the man's sudden appearance at his side, but that was all the reaction he gave. He was getting used to their agility now.

"Captian, order your men to have their muskets at the ready. There's something magical on that ship. I can feel its presence from here."

Davros' steely eyes briefly glanced toward the ship that was now within striking distance of their cannons.

Callian could see the man weighing his options.

He nodded in understanding, deciding against the far more violent course of action he could have taken.

"All hands on deck! Arm yourselves!" He bellowed, startling the crew into action.

Zeri was by Callian's side in an instant.

Despite his earlier criticism, the girl was indeed a genius.

Her senses were getting better.

"Master," She said, eyeing Davros carefully. "What's going on? Is it to do with the ship approaching?"

"Correct." The mask-wearing man replied. "Be ready to protect the men if something goes wrong."

"Ok." She agreed, her piercing yellow eyes drifting toward the oncoming ship.

Callian put a firm hand on the girl's shoulder, drawing her attention back to him.

"If you must kill, do not hesitate. Understood?"

A flicker of green lightning arced underneath the hem of Zeri's cloak.

"Understood."

—

Another chapter for you all. Shorter chapters are certainly easier to write, but they are - well… Shorter. Let me know if you prefer this chunked type of content where I split chapters up into multiple parts.

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(Total word count: 1290)