A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"My sight may be gone, but my vision holds true."~ Lee Sin as he ward hops to kick my adc into the enemy. team. ~The Blind Monk

No author note today. Enjoy and leave a comment!

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"Can I speak to Caalyx daddy?" Annie asked.

"How do you know about Caalyx?" Gregori was perplexed at the idea of the children already knowing about Caalyx. Did they unwrap him?

All the kids, Rell included, turned to face Briar.

She waved to him. "I told them!"

Gregori sighed. Yeah... Briar knew about him... He had forgotten.

Gregori looked around for the wrapped spear. It lay to the side as he walked toward it. He tripped for a moment but steadied himself.

"Are you in pain?" Briar asked from behind him.

Gregori turned on his feet and looked at the children, all sporting expressions of fear and worry. He waved them off, "Transforming takes a lot out of me. I am very tired." 

He bent down and picked up the spear. Caalyx. As he ran a finger across the wrapping, he realized something. He asked the kids, "You didn't unwrap the spear right?"

They all nodded.

If they hadn't unwrapped it.... then how did he arrive in his mind? 

He considered unwrapping the spear for a moment but ended up deciding to do that a little later.

"You can talk to Caalyx later okay? Both of us are tired." He indicated to the spear with his chin. "Anything else?"

"Is the Headmistress really my grandmother?" Annie asked.

Gregori sat down with the spear laid in front of him before speaking, "When I came to Noxus Prime searching for you, I suspected that you might be with a certain people. And you were." He waved his arms around as he spoke, "Your mother's name before marrying me was Amoline Kiosar. And I looked around for the Kiosar family. In my search I found a manor. Breaking into the manor I found a picture of your mother as a child with your grandmother, Telsi Kiosar. I also have a suspicion that your mother was also in the conservatory at one point of time."

The kids had a plethora of expressions on their face.

Rell especially. Since her story was extremely similar to Annie's. Forced into a place due to her mother. Unbeknownst to her, her guarded nature toward them dropped a little bit with the revelation.

Annie dropped her head down, "Why was she so mean?"

"Firefly... sometimes.... people are just mean." Gregori started, "They do things you and I would never do... and they don't see anything wrong with it. Telsi thought she could become a proper noble if the higher ups liked what she did... but they never did.."

Annie stood still... in her own thoughts...

"Hey Annie?" He asked.

She raised her head in askance.

"Did you ever tell anyone about who your mother was?" He asked.

Annie nodded.

"Who?"

"The old man that brought me there.... Mister Flynn Retrick." She answered.

Gregori furrowed his brows. Telsi didn't realize that Annie was her grandchild. That meant this Flynn fellow did not tell her.

He had his own plans for Annie.

But not anymore. What is that moron going to do? If he had told Telsi then things would be wildly different.

"What about you kids? Anything to ask?" He extended the invitation to everyone.

"Me! Me!" Briar jumped. 

"Yes Briar?" He asked with a resigned smile.

Briar asked, unable to keep the excitement out of her eyes. "Are we going to be exploring?"

Gregori hung his head at the question before answering, "Yes Briar. We will be exploring. And hunting. We need food and I can hunt. Then we will travel till the Freljord and stay there for a while."

With that he laid out the entire plan to the children.

They needed to know what they would be doing and that would be all they would ask about for some time. It was enough for their imagination and curiosity.

"Anyone else?"

"Why did you bring us with you?" Rell asked, her suspicion taking over.

Gregori shrugged. "I couldn't just leave you after taking just Annie could I?" He looked over the children. "They would have moved you to different locations for experiments.... that is not something I wish for you to go through. I suppose the markings on your arm are a result of what they have done to you?" He stated

Rell nodded.

"Briar was in a worse state when I had found her. Only with help from Caalyx were we able to help her become somewhat normal. And she is still not completely fine." 

All eyes turned to Briar again. And she gave each and every one of them a wide smile in return, completely oblivious as to why they ever turned toward her.

Annie walked up to her and patted her thigh and then walked back to where she stood.

Faye having watched Annie... did the same.

Despite being confused as to what was going on, continued speaking, "I couldn't just leave Briar after fixing her.... so I brough her with me. And then I decided to just bring all of you along. Annie wanted a big family after all."

That line of thinking broke Rell as she just watched on, her brain not quite comprehending what this man was talking about.

"Any other questions?" Gregori asked one last time.

"You promise to never abandon us?" Daani asked in a quiet voice.

Gregori nodded and answered, "Never."

That got smiles on all of their faces.

"What was the monster that attacked us?" Faye asked fearfully, her eyes darting to the bag.

Gregori looked at the bag and then at her, "Darkin. Ancient God Warriors who turned bad after thousands of years. They were sealed into weapons and anyone who touches them falls under their control becoming the monster. That is why. Never touch the spear or the other one in the bag."

Everyone listened to him wide eyed. Briar in particular did so in awe. The world seemed so much more fun. She had experienced more in one week than her entire life.

"So Caalyx is bad?" Annie asked.

Gregori shook his head. "Well you cannot touch him and if he wants to speak to you he would have to do it through me but otherwise? He is harmless. He likes talking." He bent forward. "A lot. That means we will have to go to Demacia, to find his other half. So he can talk to you guys whenever he wants to."

Annie and Briar had stars in their eyes. The rest still looked on in fear.

"Either way. Don't touch them and you will be completely fine." Gregori reassured.

No one else seemed to want to ask any questions, so Gregori pushed himself to his feet and then walked around picking up the wards.

The moment he picked the first one up, the security around them fell, revealing them to the surroundings. Which was.... fortunately... empty.

Gregori then closed his eyes and asked for forgiveness before making a silent prayer. One that did not go unheard as a star moved across the sky and placed itself there.

Soraka had answered. She was pointing him to Rakelstake. To his other daughter.

As Caalyx had warned him of his mistakes and future decisions, he had known the only way to get through a random place was with guidance. Guidance only one person could provide. And she provided it at the cost of her own mortal life.

But was there any other way?

He pointed to the sky. "You see that star?" 

That got every child's eyes looking for stars in the sky.

"But its morning." Sydell said, almost like he thought Gregori was stupid.

Faye's hand shot up, "That one?"

"What are you talking abo-.... ah..." Sydell stared open mouthed at the star.

Gregori chuckled, "We need to follow that star. Right under it is where our destination is." He then turned around and started gathering his things. Completely ignoring the looks sent his way.

"We have to follow a star?" Rell asked suspiciously.

Gregori raised his head and nodded innocently. "Yes."

"And its going to lead us to our destination?" Came the follow up question.

Another nod.

"Are you sure?"

"Well the last star I followed led me straight to Annie and by extension.... you."

Sydell hit his face with a palm and groaned. "Oh no...."

Gregori just smiled at the actions, declining to explain. It was fun seeing the reactions from the kids.

Annie and Briar shaking their heads like following stars was just a normal thing to do was extremely endearing. Faye chose not to make a fuss and just accepted his words. Daani seemed confused but alright with the next course of action either way.

Rell and Sydell were extremely skeptical.

It was to be expected.

They were probably the most logical ones of the bunch.

You did not just follow stars. That is just walking in a random direction. Stars above Valoran were never stationary. This was widely documented. Every star moved away or closer to the lands. It is why a lot of Star Watchers moved to Targon. Watching and documenting the stars from the closest place to them.

But the help of a Celestial really eased things for him.

He would teach them over time.

They would learn. They would eventually meet Soraka as well. She would enjoy that. 

He tried to place the hunter's knife in his clothes.

Only then he realized something worse.

His clothes were in tatters.

The transformation and the damage to his clothes made them nothing more than rags. Only his pants survived barely, while his shirt was nothing more than just a glorified wash rag.

Reaching into his bag he pulled out the last shirt he had and donned it. The pants would last for sometime. Until he could get something made from the fur in his bag and some hide he could collect from hunting animals in the forest.

And so.... just like that. They set off into the forest. One eye on the star and another in search of food and water.