Piltover Harbor.
A formidable Noxian warship was docked there.
Mel and her attendant stood waiting nearby.
The hatch bearing the Medarda crest slowly lowered, while warriors lined both sides of the path.
A towering figure descended from above, carrying herself with unmistakable authority.
Her hair had already gone gray, but there was still battlefield violence in her eyes.
"Mel. Elora." She greeted them from above, looking down at the two of them. "You didn't need to come out and greet me."
"What brings you here, Mother?" Mel asked, her expression tinged with faint helplessness.
"I've heard all about Piltover's hospitality." As Mel's mother descended the steps, Elora kept her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"You didn't come all this way—across half the continent—for the local snacks."
"It's been over ten years since I last saw you."
"Since the day you exiled me, you mean."
"I sent you here to temper you. And to manage the family's profits while you were at it."
"You were the one who said I was too sentimental. That maybe I'd be happier overseas with a city full of soft-spined idealists."
"You got that memory from your father." The older woman draped an arm around Mel's shoulders with easy familiarity.
"Don't waste your charm on me." Mel rolled her eyes.
The two of them chatted as they walked. Mel still carried a lot of resentment, and her whole attitude remained cool and distant.
After a few more steps, with no one following behind them, Mel's mother let out a quiet sigh.
"Your brother is dead." There was sorrow on her face, though only so much.
Mel froze in place. "What happened?"
"He crossed the wrong person. I was careless, and it turned into a disastrous mistake." Her mother looked out over the waves.
She was Ambessa Medarda, a Noxian warlord and politician.
And a mother who had lost her son.
"That Jayce Talis of yours..." she asked, turning her head. "Has he started making weapons with hextech?"
The grief on Mel's face immediately shifted to disgust. "So that's why you're really here."
"War is coming." Ambessa raised her voice slightly as Mel turned away from her. "You've let the Undercity fester for far too long."
"Piltover isn't Noxus. We don't need to feed ourselves on war profits just to survive!" Mel turned back and snapped at her mother.
The Medarda family's immense wealth was also the result of this woman sustaining herself through war after war.
"I funded hextech to protect the city, not level it to the ground!"
"I'm not guessing. It's obvious." Ambessa's expression was stern, her tone certain. "Once weapons are made, they will be used."
"I don't need your guidance." Mel stood there, facing her mother head-on.
In the end, Ambessa boarded an airship, apparently on her way to try the "local snacks."
Mel watched the true head of the Medarda family depart, her brow furrowed as she sank into thought.
...
At the Firelights' hideout, it was still daytime. Caitlyn was planning to take a bath, and Vi went with her.
That left only Caleb and Ekko standing together, looking out over the camp.
"To be honest, when people used to say you were Zaun's own son, I never really bought it," Caleb said with a grin.
The plan to return to Piltover was set for deep in the night, when they could avoid Silco's eyes and the bridge would be clear of rioting crowds.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Ekko didn't bother acting modest. He just kept looking toward the distant wall.
Painted there were the ones who had already left.
Mylo. Claggor. Vander. Vi.
And Powder too—that little girl with the bright, beaming smile.
Unlike Vi, who believed Powder and Jinx were almost two different people, Ekko thought she was serving Silco willingly.
"Kind of like how I figured you'd have a mohawk, and instead you went with a whole head of dreads," Caleb said with a laugh.
"Oh, shut up." Ekko shoved him without any restraint.
"But seriously—going from a little kid to building a crew that can actually give Silco trouble? That puts you in a class of your own."
Caleb patted him on the shoulder.
The air here was clean, and the people had something to lean on.
They didn't have to take Shimmer, mutate, and curl up in some alley corner.
It really was a good place.
"You going with us tonight?" Ekko asked, turning to him.
"Of course." Caleb flipped the coin in his hand and caught it again. "I've got some business to discuss with a certain Councilor friend."
"You know a Councilor too?" Ekko sounded genuinely disbelieving.
"I will by then." Caleb laughed it off, then continued thinking for a moment.
"Have you ever thought about expanding the Firelights? Helping more people?"
After considering it for a bit, Caleb finally asked the question.
"I have. But Silco has money and muscle. Staying alive at all isn't easy." Ekko turned the stopwatch in his hand, and there was a trace of helplessness in his voice too.
"Silco's about to cut back on Shimmer production, and the Chem-Barons aren't happy with how he's handling things with Piltover."
Caleb's words made Ekko's eyes go wide.
This man wasn't from Zaun—Ekko had grown up here, and he had no memory of him at all.
And the idea of him being from Piltover was even more ridiculous. Caitlyn clearly wasn't all that familiar with him either.
Vi had even said their first meeting was at Stillwater Hold.
To this day, no one had been able to pin down where he came from.
"There are a lot of places on this continent." Caleb shrugged with a smile. "I'm not from the twin cities."
"All right." Ekko nodded. "If what you're saying is true, then yeah—this really would be the perfect chance to bring in more people."
"There's one more thing." Caleb held out a finger, and a firelight landed on it.
"What?"
"Heimerdinger was voted out. He's already left the Council."
Caleb's words hit like thunder.
That was Heimerdinger.
The father of Piltover. One of the city's founders. A living relic. One of the greatest scientific minds in the city.
Voted out? Forced off the Council?
Over the years, Council seats had changed hands again and again, but the one constant had always been Heimerdinger.
Every great inventor honored on every monument had received his guidance.
Jayce Talis, the latest face of Progress Day, was no exception.
"Are you kidding me?" Ekko was breathing hard now. The news was too shocking. He couldn't believe it.
Just what kind of person was this man, to be able to get information like that?
Did he really have a friend on the Council?
But he also knew about the Chem-Barons' resentment and Silco's plans.
He wasn't simple.
Cold sweat slid down Ekko's face.
At that moment, Caleb no longer looked like an ordinary person to him.
An Ascended. A Darkin. A demigod. A Celestial.
Legends like those had passed through the twin cities before, but in the eyes of scientists—people so far removed from magic—such beings had nothing to do with them.
So what was he here for?
After forcing himself to calm down a little, Ekko stared at Caleb and asked, "What do you want me to do?"
The firelight flew from Caleb's fingertip.
Night had fallen now, and the firelights drifted through the air, scattering tiny points of light.
"With a scientist like him backing you, I imagine the Firelights could go a lot farther."
Caleb looked straight at Ekko.
"Silco can be replaced."