8 - Ekko

I spent quite a bit of time ensuring that she was okay. An attempt was made at finding out what happened in Bilgewater, but she kept her lips tight on the subject. I figured it was emotive, judging by the way she spoke about it earlier and how quickly it had made her fragile.

If we were going to work on the arcane destruction together with a blank plan, she would have to stay here awhile. She needed a new home. Apparently, she stayed at The Last Drop last night, which I was appalled by. The only semi-habitable place in that building was the roof, and that wasn't even indoors. 

I brewed her some chamomile tea, and made us lunch. "You drink tea?" she asked in disbelief.

I looked at her, confused. "What's wrong with drinking tea?"

She shrugged, watching the steam rise from the hot liquid. "I don't know, just seems very... Piltover-esque." She took a sip. "It's good, though. Thanks."

"Our chamomile is Zaun grown. Nothing Piltovan about it." I reassured.

"You keep talking about all these farms you have around here. What's all that about?" She asked, with her mouth half full from the first bite of her meal.

"I wanted to show you them yesterday but... someone, ahem, left the premises early." She gave me an unimpressed look, her left cheek bulging out with food. I chuckled at the sight of her hilarious expression and went on. "When the growth of the sanctuary started to stabilize, we noticed people had nutrition problems, many were sick. Seafood taking up majority of our diet took a toll on some. So, one of our teammates suggested we start growing produce to fight the problem." I noticed Jinx playing with the tomato slice on her plate. 

"The topside council supported our decision by providing us with soil, seeds and fertilizers to start up. They trained us, we learned farming techniques and innovated water and air cleansing instruments. Now, we have ten farming sectors and grow all of the common crops: fruits, vegetables, herbs and teas. The elders that are experienced with herbal medicines opened up a small pharmacy here too."

"Is ten sectors enough for everyone?"

"Enough for everyone in the sanctuary. Our community is small; there's just under 10,000 living here. Whatever extra produce we have left, we sell to outside Zaunites and it brings us extra income." I breathed heavily, reacting to the negative apprehension that filled me. "There's been many protests about why people here get food for free, while everyone outside of the sanctuary has to pay."

Jinx chocked on her tomato, "People here get food for free? How did you make that work?"

"As long as they serve the community, they get everything they need to live."

"But how do you make sure of this? How do you know they're not bluffing?"

"We trust."

"Bullshit." She spit out. Then, noticing that I was serious, added, "come on, now. Really?"

I moved my empty plate out of the way, feeling the need to use the movement of my arms to prove my point. "We've segregated an entire crew that determines who is welcome here. When we receive an application, we search their history, investigate their connections, living conditions, family situation, everything. If our criteria is met, we give them a home."

"And the other Zaunites? The ones that don't tick off all the boxes in your checklist? You just abandon them?"

"The hope is that as the community grows, the rejected will be motivated to better themselves, clean out the obstructive files we have on them, reapply and get accepted."

"So your goal with this whole thing is to, eventually, have all of Zaun be part of it?"

"Precisely." Jinx laid her head on her fists, squishing her cheeks. Pondering. "Isn't it great here? Think about it. Imagine if all of Zaun would be like this?

"Your ass is playing politics now, huh?" I smiled at her remark. "Are you the president of this thing?"

"No, I'm just an inventor. There's no president here, no council. But if you're asking who's the highest on the hierarchy, it's probably Sevika."

"Hm." She said, still pondering. Then, got up to stack our empty plates. "Thanks for lunch, chef." She said, taking them to the sink.

"Listen, I need to go over to Scar's. I'll be back in a few hours." I took my jacket and just before I left, I added: "Make yourself comfortable. You'll be staying here tonight."

Flicking my pocket watch open, already outside, it was just past two. Scar is probably home by now. I thought, and headed in the direction of his apartment.

The door was opened a few seconds after I rang the doorbell. Mika was standing at the entrance.

"Hey," I smiled, apologetically, but he wasn't having it. The scowl on his face was so intense that even his nose scrunched up.

"Dad! Someone's here to see you!" He yelled, walking away. I closed the door as I stepped inside.

"Hey, fam." Scar greeted me, motioning towards the living room. The dinner table was covered in green, glowing jars, full of fireflies. Scar grew new colonies time to time, when the sanctuary seemed dimmer in the night. These flies were our biggest light source. They also fed on pests, so we released some in farming sectors. Recently, he's been trying to genetically modify them to target small, unwanted insects. I guess he was working on this when I came in. I sat on his couch, noticing a water purifier on the edge of the table. Weird.

"Why is this here?" I asked, pointing to it.

"I went over to Sector #3 today. Turns out their purifier broke and I took it for you to fix. Part of their crop died because of it 'cause they've been using the water, thinking it's clean. We either need to get new seeds or use part of their fresh crop, or else we won't have corn next month."

My hand reached to rub my temple. Too many problems these days. "Did you tell Talon to take care of it?" I asked.

"Mhm. He's the one who told me our options." Scar said, closing one of the jars and sitting next to me.

"Mika told me he saw some chick at your place today." He started. "Is that the foreigner." Turn your brain on. Think. Quickly. I thought to myself, feeling the beat of my heart accelerating.

"No, she's... I met her a few days ago. She was all alone, running away from... an unsafe situation. I think we'll take her in." 

Scar stared at me, eyes wide open. "Without an investigation?" I looked down to come up with a lie.

"You know how I left yesterday morning? I was actually doing the investigation myself. She's clear. Trust me." Scar sent a skeptical gaze towards me.

"What was the 'unsafe situation'?" He pushed.

"It's confidential. You know this." He seemed to finally let it go.

"Okay, Ek, but you need to take her file to the crew. What does she do, anyway?"

"She's an inventor. I could use a set of extra hands, you know? Speaking of which, do we have a free apartment in our building?" Scar picked up a stack of clipped papers from his shelf. He flipped through, pausing at one of the pages.

"That family from Shurima just left. 8th apartment on branch C. We can lend that to your new girlfriend." I rolled my eyes.

Our conversation diverged to other topics. Scar brought over some cookies to enjoy with a hot beverage. He called Mika to join us, but he didn't. The little man knew how to hold a grudge. Time flew by. I jumped when I realized how late it was. 

"I need to get going." I said, grabbing the purifier. "I'll take this, okay?" Scar nodded as I headed for the door.

"Hey, Ekko?" he stopped me, "what happened with the foreigner?" I bit my lip. I was really hoping he wouldn't ask.

"They, uh..." suddenly, an idea came to mind, "I never saw them. But when I went home, my lock was broken. I think maybe it was them looking for that old, banned device I built years ago. Nothing was stolen, though, so I'm not going to think much of it."

"As long as you're safe." He said. "Have a good night, G." I left, pausing to exhale the air I kept in my lungs in anguish. That was stressful.

My senses returned to me on my way home. Excitement rushed through my blood at the thought of seeing Jinx again. I felt like a little boy. Maybe her return will be a new start for me, I thought as I felt my heart grow hopeful.

It wasn't long before I made it home. The lock looked a bit different this time. Seemed like Jinx tried to fix it but either couldn't or didn't finish. Unbothered, I opened the door.

I scanned the room, looking for Jinx, but instead, saw Vi. She turned to me, eyes stretched with horror splattered on her face. My immediate thought was that she saw Jinx.

Well, shit.

A/N: Dun-dun-DUUUUN! Woo! My brain is tired. This was a dense chapter. Too much infoooo~ I think I'll hold off on that from now on cuz I think y'all are waiting for the fluff :D Anyways, I hope I didn't bore you too much, more drAma in the next one hopefully... unless I change my mind :P

Word Count: 1486