A lone boat drifted across the water.
The sea was calm today, so the breeze was actually pleasant.
Caleb leaned against the side of the boat and glanced at Jinx, who looked a little under the weather.
"Still seasick?"
"No," Jinx muttered.
Seeing Silco again was still something that made her nervous.
For one thing, Silco's position was too complicated. For another, her feelings toward him were just as tangled.
These days, complaints about Silco had reached a boiling point in the Undercity, and Caleb had let people say what they wanted.
Everything had two sides. Silco had brought strength to Zaun, but he had also brought disaster to its people.
So if people cursed him out a little, that was only natural.
Caleb had no intention of stepping in.
The position he had gotten from Silco through that deal had, in the end, been part of the path Silco laid out for him.
Caleb did admire that villain, at least to an extent, but not enough to start defending his reputation.
Then again, Silco never even cared much about human life, so why would he care what people in prison thought of him?
Stillwater Hold.
The same troll-like prison guard was standing at the entrance, his heavy club hanging from one hand.
"Well, well, back for round two?"
He recognized the kid in front of him, even if he was dressed a lot cleaner now.
No kidding, if an empty prison cell suddenly had a new inmate in it, anybody would have been scared half to death.
Luckily, after the troll warden had gone through photos of Piltover's elites and failed to find anyone Caleb resembled, he had finally relaxed enough to toss him in a cell.
Then the eldest daughter of House Kiramman had shown up with orders from Councilor Talis and taken him away.
The warden had actually been a little disappointed back then, because he still had not gotten the chance to sit down and talk with Caleb about everything under the sun.
And now Caleb was back in front of him, with a girl who was... this skinny?
Well, skinny was skinny, but at least she was pale enough. Red would stand out real nice against her skin.
Caleb stood there with a faint smile, saying nothing.
The guy in front of him was practically drooling, so he was obviously thinking something disgusting.
Of course, Caleb was not about to ruin such a classic face-slapping moment.
"Come on, let me get a look at you," the troll grinned, baring a row of yellow teeth. "You wanna be Don Juan?"
"Hands off!" The Enforcer behind Caleb immediately raised a gun and aimed it at the warden.
"What?" The troll's dull-witted brain still could not figure out why this cleaner-looking prisoner was being treated with so much respect.
Weren't these Enforcers here to escort criminals into prison?
"Open the door for the Governor!"
The Enforcers had no intention of being polite. One of them shoved a gun barrel straight into the troll's mouth.
If they pulled the trigger, Caleb would probably end up splattered with blood.
"He's the Governor? Governor of where?"
The troll still could not wrap his head around it. He had only let this guy out a few days ago.
And now he was a governor.
"Zaun's, what about it?"
Caleb smiled and patted the troll on the cheek. The other man stood there trembling, not daring to move.
He had barely read a newspaper these past few days. Since when had Zaun gotten a governor?
No, this would not do. From now on, he needed to read more, study more, hit fewer prisoners, and sleep more.
Otherwise one day he might lose his life without even knowing why.
"Open the door," Caleb ordered without hesitation after enjoying himself enough.
He was here for a prison visit, not to spend the day smacking a troll's rough face around.
"Take me to Silco. I want a quiet room."
Naturally, nobody tried to search them. Caleb had a whole squad of real Enforcers behind him, who was reckless enough to stir up trouble?
The elevator ticked slowly through the floors. Unlike the negative levels Caleb had been taken to before, this time they were heading upward.
In a fairly simple room, Caleb and Jinx were seated on one side of the table.
The fluorescent light overhead flickered unsteadily, bright and dim by turns, and the two of them sank into an eerie silence.
The door creaked open.
The tall, gaunt man with one blood-red eye stepped into the room.
"Jinx... and Caleb."
He did not look especially surprised. There was not much left of his life out in the world anyway.
Not to mention that his reputation now was about the same as a rat in the street, everyone wanted to beat him down.
"What made you think of coming to see me?"
Compared to when he had still been in Zaun, he seemed much calmer now.
After all, he no longer had any ambition left. Even reading Zaun's news every day no longer made the fire of revenge burn inside him.
"It's just been too long since I saw you..."
Jinx's voice was so soft it was almost a hum.
"I'm doing fine. I get enough to eat every day, and I can read the papers. You, on the other hand, got a little thinner."
Silco gave Caleb a meaningful look, but Caleb only shrugged.
"Don't look at me. I haven't been eating anything good lately either."
"Besides, she was already fla, I mean, skinny. How is that my fault?"
Seeing that Jinx still was not talking, Silco started chatting with Caleb instead, one line at a time.
"I heard you've been busy lately, solving problems for both Zaun and Piltover?"
"Not bad. I didn't let down the people on either side. Casualties were kept as low as possible."
"Did you kill all the Chem-Barons?"
"Yeah. Jinx helped a lot. On the surface, all five of the ones under you are dead."
Caleb pulled a cigar from inside his coat and handed it to Silco.
Silco did not bother with any tools. He bit the end off directly, and Caleb lit it for him.
"Ekko and Heimerdinger are almost done with the pollution treatment device," Caleb said as he put away the lighter and continued casually. "There are still some Chem-Barons down in the mines, though. We'll have to deal with them slowly."
"You've done well." Silco let out a satisfied stream of smoke, his face full of enjoyment.
This was the one thing he had missed badly in prison.
The Zaun he loved was thriving, and that was something Silco was glad to see.
The news in the papers only ever showed part of the picture. Hearing things from Caleb's mouth carried a different weight.
Now, at last, he could finally set down the burden he had carried.
Caleb looked at the silent Jinx, then decided to ask the question that had been bothering him.
"Vander didn't die?"
The words made Jinx jerk her head up at once, staring at Silco in disbelief.
"Of course not..." Silco pressed a hand to his head. He already knew Caleb had gone to visit Singed.
"That was the brother who fought beside me."
It was as if a long breath had finally left him. In that instant, Silco seemed to age by years.
"How is he now?"
Jinx's voice trembled. All these years, Vander had been alive?
"Not very well. His body is healthy enough, but very little of his memory is left."
Caleb had no intention of hiding it. One of the reasons he had come today was to get answers about Vander.
"How could that be... how could that be..." Jinx curled in on herself and leaned against Caleb.
Vander was still alive? If he ever got his memories back, what would he think of the person she had become?
Jinx's mind was a complete mess, while Silco went on.
"If I'd wanted to kill him, I could've cut his head off back then."
"All for a few little kids? Letting them tie Silco up and drag him into the middle of it?"
"Singed is the pinnacle of Zaun's chemtech. If he couldn't save Vander, no one else could either."
"That's true." Caleb thought back to the werewolf he had seen that day. He had only gotten a little too close before he got slashed.
If the Hex Claw had not moved in fast enough to block it, Caleb probably would have ended up getting Shimmer surgery right there in Singed's lab.
"We're leaving." Caleb patted Jinx, whose face was wet with tears, and stood up first.
"Take... care..." Jinx spoke in broken sobs, sounding like a little girl crying her heart out.
"Once he finishes the cigar, take him back," Caleb told the prison guard at the side.
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