Chapter 3 – The City of Gardens
It was the first time since Harelport that Jinx found herself cradled by a proper bed.
Milio launched himself onto his the moment the door sighed shut behind them. He sank into the pearly-white sheets, giggling and rolling.
She groaned, sinking down more slowly.
“It feels like clouds,” he murmured, and Jinx could hear the smile in his voice.
“It’s better than clouds,” she replied.
The bed smelled like lavender, and the mattress was so soft Jinx worried she might wake up buried in it.
The room was spacious. The kind of space that felt almost indulgent. Two queen-sized beds stretched out beneath a white ceiling, a desk crouched in the corner, and through a polished door, a bathroom with an actual bathtub. She felt so out of place in a luxury that was almost mythic after the grit of the road.
Lux had spared no expense, it seemed.
“Can I shower first, Powder?” Milio’s voice tugged her back. He’d turned toward her, his face alight with that endless, unbroken trust of his.
Jinx glanced at the dinner she’d dropped on the wooden desk. The thought of it cooling wasn’t a worry, not when Milio carried fire in his very veins.
Dinner could wait. They did need a shower.
“Sure thing, kiddo. I’m gonna take a walk, if you don’t mind.”
“Just don’t be gone too long,” he said, his tone softer now. “I want us to eat together.”
She smiled.
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
The inn was nicer than Jinx expected from a city like this. Then again, its place on a prominent trade route probably meant wealthy merchants often chose its comforts over the camps outside.
As she walked down the corridor, Jinx began thinking about her plans. She knew she wanted to find Mount Targon, and that it would probably be the last place she went to before heading back to Zaun.
It had been three and a half years since she’d left after all. She missed it.
Sevika hadn’t sent anyone after her besides Graves, so she doubted anyone in Zaun actually knew where she was now. And Milio had been so adamant about his wishes of going to Piltover that it had only fuelled her desire to go back even more.
She had put it off for far too long. Mount Targon was definitely going to be the last of her adventures in the continent, and then she would go back.
She wondered what Vi was up to, these days. She tought about her sister all the time. Was she safe? Was she happy? Did she miss her too?
She secretly hoped she wasn’t with that dictator girlfriend of hers, still. But something was telling her that it was not the case.
She had seen the way Caitlyn looked at her sister. The way she cradled her wounded body after the fight at the commune.
The way she said her name, with such earnestness and care. The way she carried her to safety.
Caitlyn might not have been what she would have chosen for Vi, but Vi was big enough to make her own choices. She just hoped she was happy with them.
“Everything ok?” Lux’s voice interrupted her trail of thoughts.
She wasn’t wearing her cloak anymore. She had a black headband and wore a white nightdress that complimented her fair complexion.
Lux was almost the same size as her, but she looked taller. Maybe it was the way she held her shoulders, or how straight her back was.
Jinx was always hunched over something.
“Yeah. Milio loved the room.” She crossed her arms, “Thanks. I don’t know how to repay you.”
Lux’s cheeks got tinted with a pink coloration that wasn’t there before, and Jinx wondered if maybe she just had not noticed due to the lack of lighting.
“It’s nothing, really. You obviously don’t have to repay me anything. Although I would love company for breakfast tomorrow.”
“Of course. I mean, I’ve gotta talk to Milio first, but I think he already loves you, so…”
Lux smiled and nodded. “He is a very cool kid.”
“He is. But he can be very annoying, so don’t let his face trick you.”
She laughed, softly.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why does he call you ‘Powder’? I thought your name was Jinx.”
Jinx froze. She didn’t even remember Milio saying that. She’d told him before that people back in Zaun used to call her Jinx, but he never did. To him, she was Powder.
“Jinx is a nickname.” She smiled tightly. “I go by both.”
“Oh, got it. Well, Lux is a nickname too, actually. My full name is Luxanna, but I guess no one calls me that except for my mother.” She smiled. “I like Jinx. It’s different, although I think Powder is a pretty cool name as well.”
“Thanks.” Jinx was beginning to feel anxious, so she looked around the place until her eyes landed on a balcony. “Wanna take a walk? I think Milio is gonna take his time in the bathtub.”
Lux seemed to like the idea, because her face lit up.
“Yeah, sure.”
As they strolled down the hall, Jinx noticed that the balcony wasn’t exactly a balcony. It had two sets of stairs, descending from each side, indo a small plaza on the ground floor. It was empty, but well-lit enough for her to see an empty fountain and some stone benches around.
Silently, they made their way down.
Jinx looked up at the stars and breathed in the heft of the cold air of the desert, trying to ease her discomfort.
“There weren't any stars in Demacia.” She heard Lux say. “Too much light pollution.”
“I remember only a few in Zaun, as well.”
When she was younger, Vi used to take her to climb on the rooftops of abandoned buildings, where they would lay down on cold concrete and look at the stars above them.
She would tell her that they were all people who’d passed, but who were loved so deeply in this earth that somehow they held onto it by becoming those tiny beacons of light high up in the sky. She would tell her that if she ever missed their parents, all she had to do was look up and see them.
She hated the idea that the sky was filled with dead people.
“Do you plan on ever going back?”
“Yes.” She said, truthfully. “I’m going to Mount Targon first, maybe spend a season there. Then I’m going back.”
Lux nodded. “How long has it been since you left?”
“Three and a half years, give or take.” She looked at the girl and saw the surprised look on her face.
“Oh, wow. That’s a long time.”
Jinx bit her cheek. “It wasn’t the plan for me to stay away for so long. But I’ve found some great people along the way. Lived in a bunch of different places too. I guess adventure takes a while.”
Lux rocked on her feet and smiled. “That’s a weirdly positive way to think about it.”
Jinx chuckled. “You got me there. I’m a romantic at heart.”
They both sat down at the edge of the broken fountain. Lux kept looking up at the stars every now and then, and Jinx got careful not to get caught staring.
Lux was an interesting individual, and she couldn’t help but to be fascinated by her calm demeanor.
“I’ve never been further east than here.” The girl confessed. Her voice was so timid that it almost felt like a secret. “What is it like?”
Lux finally looked at her, and Jinx felt the weight of her stare. Her light blue eyes shimmered in the night sky.
She coughed and tried to be as nonchalant as she could.
“Ixtal is beautiful. I lived in Ixaocan, the capital, for a couple of years. That’s how I met Milio.” She smiled. “The coast, however… Eh. I stayed a week at Harelport harbor and then spent a couple months traveling around. Nothing too cool to stay for. Before that, I lived in Bilgewater for some time. And before that, Ionia.”
Lux raised her eyebrows, “Oh, you’ve practically been everywhere!”
“I guess.” She sighed, exhaustion finally catching up with her. “That’s why I’m ready to go home now. Or, almost.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Lux tilted her head. “Do you have anyone waiting for you, back at Zaun?”
If this was any other person Jinx would have cussed at them to stop with the interrogation, but Lux had been nothing but kind to her and Milio. And, to her own surprise, Jinx found that she didn’t really mind sharing those things with her.
“I’ve got an older sister.” She said, “ And honestly? Probably a sister-in-law too, by now.”
The sound of Lux’s laugh was comforting, and Jinx had to look away. She started picking on the skin of her thumbs.
“I bet you miss her.”
Always with you, sis.
“I do.” Jinx let the moment pass before she could look at Lux again. “What about you, what are your plans?”
“I don’t really know, to be honest. I’ve already stayed here more than I planned to, so now maybe… Head north?” She sounded so insecure Jinx felt bad for her.
“Are you searching for anything in particular?”
“I just want to figure some stuff out about myself, you know? People in my kingdom fear magic above all else. I want a place where I can learn how to control my abilities. How to become the best version of myself.”
Jinx observed that this girl she met hours ago made her feel more understood than anyone else had ever made.
Suddenly, she was a kid again crafting trinkets to help her siblings on their jobs. Useless, dangerous trinkets that killed most of her family.
She sat in silence, unsettled by how much Lux’s story resonated with her. Even if she was rich, and clearly soft. Even if her hands still had all of their fingers and no scars or tattoos covered her body.
Even when Lux’s voice carried no weight of guilt, when her grief was no deeper than the loss of a pet or two. There was an abyss between them, carved by privilege, by luck, by the sheer randomness of circumstance. And yet, Jinx couldn’t shake the connection.
She could see how pain still bothered Lux, because she was just so damn unfamiliar with it. Something she hadn’t grown into or out of yet. Like a discomfort she hadn’t learned to wear.
The desert around them made no noise. It was different from the forest, where insects and beasts roamed at all times of the day. There were no trees whose leaves rustled in the wind, no rivers where water clashed against the hard surfaces of rocks. The desert was mercifully silent.
And then, Jinx had an idea. A stupid idea she would most likely regret later.
But damn it, life was too short not to risk it all on her stupid, reckless impulses, right?
“Why don’t you come with us?”
—
They left Zirima the following day, shortly after lunch. Jinx went around searching for some information about the safest path to cross the mountains, and it took her some time before an old woman, dressed with traditional desert folk’s fabric, told her to keep going west until they arrived at the ruins of the fallen City of Gardens.
And so they did. Lux, now following them around like a happy puppy, insisted on them hiring a caravan to take them as close as possible. Jinx denied while she could, but even she couldn't ignore the unwavering heat of the desert. If they got lost, they would most likely die before even crossing the halfway point.
The ride was rough, the air heavy with dust, but it was faster than traveling on foot. They reached the ruins in less than two days.
What was left of the city sprawled across the sand like the bones of corpses. Stone arches rose unevenly, their edges crumbling against time’s erosion.
The air here was different. Thinner, like it had been drained by time and loss. Jinx shook off the feeling that something familiar wandered through these lands.
“Wow,” Lux exhaled, looking around the place in awe of the size of the sheer destruction. “I can’t believe we’re here.”
“Powder, what was this place?” Milio asked, holding onto the strap of his backpack.
Jinx was not as impressed. It would take more to surprise her than a bunch of broken rocks and fragments of pillars. She had lived through enough wars to know what it left behind.
“A city. It was destroyed during the Rune Wars.” She explained. He reached for her hand and held it tightly.
“I can feel magic here. It’s everywhere," he whispered, and Jinx looked at him. “This was a very powerful place.”
“I feel it too.” Lux agreed. She climbed onto the crumbled remains of a statue. Jinx could see her breathing in the place. Absorbing its energy, trying to connect herself to the infinite network of mages that walked through this place in ancient times, when magic was so raw and wild no one could truly tame.
Milio released Jinx’s hand and trailed after Lux. He climbed the statue with a bit more difficulty given his size, and looked up at Lux. She had her eyes closed and her arms slightly opened, facing the wind. So he did the same.
Jinx stared at them, and breathed an amused laugh. She shook her head and kept walking, looking around for anything that could help them find their way to Mount Targon. She brushed her fingers against broken marble, tracing random patterns on what once was the wall of a great castle.
The gentle breeze was greatly welcomed, and she found herself humming an old lullaby to fill in the silence. One her mother used to sing.
But no matter where she looked, the place was empty. Sand covered most of the sidewalks and roads, and there was only destruction. The leftovers of an entire civilization.
“Powder!” Milio’s voice rang loud. Jinx turned, to see him running to her with something in his hands. Lux was right behind him. “Look, look!”
He raised his hands to her, his smile reaching his eyes. Jinx looked, and laughed when she saw the red salamander in his palms. It was big enough for him to need both his hands to hold it.
“Wow, Mil. That’s super cool.” She played along. Milio grinned, turning to shove the animal right in Lux’s face. The girl stumbled back and raised her hands defensively, clearly scared.
Still, she managed to smile at him. “Oh, wow, Milio… That is, like, so cool.”
Jinxs cocked her hips and raised an eyebrow. She popped her tongue and stepped closer to Milio.
“Lux, please, don’t tell me you're afraid of this little cute guy.” She teased.
The girl’s eyes went wild and she took another step back. Milio had a mischievous grin on his face as he watched.
“No, of course not! I’m not scared of it, I’m just… It makes me uneasy.”
“You should have seen her face when I found it, Pow. She was like Oh, no! Milio, put that down, it could be venomous!” He mocked, with a high-pitched voice. Jinx laughed.
“I do not talk like that!” She cried, indignant at his impression.
“Yes, you do!” He laughed. “Please Milio, put that down before it bites you! Oh no, we’re all gonna die!” He dramatically sang, as he finally dropped the salamander, who buried itself back in the sand.
Lux shook her head, but she didn't look annoyed. She had her signature smile still plastered on her face. But she did cross her arms and roll her eyes.
“Ok, ok, I see.” She said, “Just you wait, my guy. I am going to have my revenge.”
Milio calmed down from his laughter attack and proudly puffed his chest. “Bring it on, blondie.”
Lux squinted her eyes and brought two fingers to her face, then pointed them at Milio, as a sign of ‘I’m watching you’.
“Alright, you two. We have to set up camp, so let’s find good coverage for the night. Lux, you and I will take turns to watch out for anything dangerous. We can continue the journey tomorrow morning.”
Instantly, both Lux and Milio saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!”
Jinx sighed.
“Assholes.”