NOXIAN, but only in name – irelia can’t help but hold in a stiff laugh. if she’d learned anything about noxians through the war, it’s that there was no such thing as being one ‘only in name’. and to call ionia her home? it’s almost insulting, though she keeps her gaze steady upon riven. she’s shown no hostility, yet that doesn’t mean there isn’t a trap waiting to be sprung.
it would be foolish, though, to make the first move against a possible enemy - instead, she must play her cards carefully and deliberately.
❛ it is an art, one for pleasure and war alike; passed down by ionians through the ages. ❜ enough information to appease, but not enough to betray her people. ❛ i doubt you will ever see anything like it. ❜
she takes her time to speak again, using the lull in conversation to further study riven’s features. she’s not unfamiliar, that is certain - and it’s also what bothers her about the noxian (former - ?). irelia can’t quite place where she’s seen this face before; something uncharacteristic for her usually sharp mind.
regardless, she cannot afford to be distracted.
❛ i am afraid i cannot teach you, as many tend to request, though i hope that the only time you will see my dances are moments like these and not on the battlefield. ❜
a thinly-veiled glimpse into her thoughts regarding riven’s homeland. she cannot imagine a noxian daring to call ionia home.
Riven nodded in agreement. “I hope so too. There’s already been enough unnecessary bloodshed in Ionia. Unfortunately, knowing Noxus, there won’t be an end to invading other nations until they conquer it.” Or until the empire itself fell. “They’ll be back soon enough.”
She let out a quiet laugh, one that tasted bitter on her tongue. There was blood on her hands from the the war, yet here she was casually talking about the horrors it inflicted to the figurehead of the resistance that had fought against her. She was once the enemy, and nothing she did would ever change that fact. Even with the sentence she was given by the council to make reparations, could she ever truly make it up to those who were affected by her actions? Even if she rebuilt the villages she destroyed, she could never put the families she had torn apart back together. Despite the forgiveness she was shown by the victims, could she ever be able to forgive herself?
While Riven might have doubts about whether she could ever redeem herself, she would at least try to make up for what she had done. Even if she had to dedicate the rest of her life to fix the ones she had destroyed, she would do it. She had to find some way to repay the people who had given her a second chance at life, the people who believed in her more than she did herself. If she was still around when Noxus would inevitably return to try and seize control of the First Lands, she would fight for the other side of the war. She had found a new purpose here, and she wasn’t going to lose more people she could call her family if she could help it. Loyalty be damned. If Noxus left her to rot, then she didn’t owe her former home jack shit.
Riven sighed, silently reflecting on her past actions. It was almost unthinkable to imagine her former blind patriotism to the nation she had deserted. Now that her eyes were opened to the truth of the empire’s nature, she was disgusted with herself. How could others accept her when she didn’t deserve forgiveness?
“Do you think people can change?” she wondered aloud. “Is it possible to for someone to be too far gone for redemption, even if they learned their lesson?”
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