When the three Vastaya stopped the next day, the temperate forests of Demacia were almost completely gone, the last of them at the group's back. They had passed Mount Gargantuan earlier in the morning, the giant mountain still visible from their current location and the peak above the clouds. The clearing they had decided to stop in was in front of the Mogron Pass, a smooth, natural path that split the Great Barrier Mountains and the Tempest Flats. The Shurima Desert was beyond the pass, Xayah able to see the sea of sand looming through the two mountain ranges in the distance. The assassin had only visited the desert once for a mission a few years ago and, after a fairly traumatic encounter with a Shuriman mercenary and her crossblade, vouched to never return. She was glad to be putting the desert behind her once again by the time they would make camp for the night. The Ironspike Mountains were also now visible since they broke out of the tree line, Piltover and Zaun not far beyond the natural barrier. The change of scenery and landmarks meant the three Vastaya were only at the halfway point by the middle of the fourth day of their journey. It appeared as if they were behind schedule but, based on how much distance they had covered in the last day, now that her and Rakan's wounds were almost completely healed, the assassin figured they would actually arrive in Noxus half a day earlier than planned.

They had to set their minimal amount of things down near a large rock to stop for lunch and training due to the clearing being filled with long grass that came up to Xayah's waist. Afterwards, Steya immediately sat down and closed her eyes to focus on finding the flow of her magic, completely hidden by the tall stalks around her small form. Rakan had given her advice the previous night to help the young girl after her unsuccessful first day, telling her to not try and force the discovery of her powers but to instead just feel the magic in the nature around her. Since the charmer had already figured out what he needed to perfect the offensive side of his healing abilities, he spent the time they stopped helping the two female Vastaya with their goals.

"So, you want to focus all of your magic into your hands and visualize the wall," Xayah did this quickly, having figured it out already the day prior. The translucent, magenta wall was around the size of a small window when it appeared in front of her outstretched arms. While doing it quickly, the assassin could feel the strain it was putting on her. This was the first time she had attempted to utilize her magic like this and her body was making sure she didn't forget the unfamiliarity of it all. "Now, to make it tangible, you have to maintain the wall while solidifying your magic. Think about it like you're using your magic to create a rock," Rakan was speaking from behind her, his calm, instructing voice helping her concentrate on the task. Xayah held the wall with her left hand and pulsed more magic into it with her right, trying to turn it into a solid object. "Open your eyes, Xayah," her companion spoke, his voice coming from in front of her now. She opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them in the first place, and saw Rakan standing in front of her palms, the sharp nails of his right hand on her small barrier. He pushed his hand into the attempted shield, the wall bending around his fingers to create a sort of glove. Despite the amount of force being put on the barrier, it held strong. "Nicely done," Rakan said, pulling his hand from the absorbent veil. He created a sharp feather dagger in his hand and pushed the point into the wall next. As with his nails, the barrier did not break under the pressure but simply warped around the dagger.

"It needs to be much stiffer," Xayah muttered tiredly, releasing her hold on the malleable shield. The assassin's magic faded into simple magenta sparkles in the wind. She looked away from her companion, disappointment spreading across her features.

"Why so glum?" the charmer's face appeared in her field of vision, turned sideways due to how he had to bend over to see her eyes. The strange position that halved his height and almost buried him in the tall grass didn't seem to bother him and there was no discomfort on his face, as if he moved like that regularly. Xayah figured his flexibility was due to how often he said he danced when he was in the western forest.

"A shield that can be bent is a useless shield," the assassin said, rolling her eyes and smiling slightly at his distorted figure.

"Not necessarily," Rakan said as he stood up straight, Xayah's gaze following him. "As long as a shield is strong, the… bendiness of it doesn't matter,"

"Bendiness?" Xayah questioned, giggling slightly at his made up word, mood improving significantly. "What do you mean by that?" she said as her eyes lit up with curiosity.

"If you make the shield big enough, you could use it to closely cover your entire body and protect yourself from pretty much everything. It's not quite as efficient as a firm wall since the force of any attack will still hit you but it's a hell of a lot better than having nothing," Xayah considered his words, imagining going out into a battle with a suit of impenetrable armor around her. "It would be hard to maintain for long right now, since you don't have much practice with the continuous use or shaping of magic, but even now it could save you from a fatal situation,"

"You're right. I hadn't even considered using it like that," the assassin contemplated how to best practice the unusual usage of her shield when Rakan stopped her.

"You should stop for today to keep yourself from getting burned out. Let's go help Steya," Xayah agreed and the charmer placed a hand between her shoulders to lead her to their young companion since he knew where she was sitting among the tall grass. The assassin would never admit how much she loved the feeling of the charmer's hand on her back during the brief walk to where Steya was in the field. When they reached her, the Vastayan girl was focusing intently on a small, yellow flower bud on the ground in front of her, not looking up with the other two Vastaya appeared.

"I think I'm moving it, Rakan," she said quietly, light eyes squinting in concentrating. Xayah looked at the point of the girl's focus, assuming at first that the small plant was simply swaying in the breeze. After looking at it for a few moments, though, Xayah watched as the plant seemed to move unnaturally.

"Great job Steya! You're really getting the hang of it. I told you that you could do it," Rakan squatted down in the grass and watched as Steya manipulated the flower's movement. "Now, use your hands to help move your magic out of your body and into the flower. See if you can make it grow a bit," the girl nodded and moved her right hand to hover above the plant. Her blonde eyebrows furrowed as she focused her energy, a pale green glow enveloping her hand. It wasn't very steady, the light dimming and brightening occasionally, but the flower began to stretch and the petals unfurled, revealing a beautiful sunny yellow. Steya's face lit up, eyes wide with wonder when she saw what she was doing. The shift from intense concentration caused her magic to fall away but the young Vastaya's eyes were still bright when she turned to her older companions.

"I did it! Rakan, Xayah, did you see? It grew!" Steya said, excited to start fully realizing the extent of her powers.

"You did it!" Rakan picked the young girl up and spun her around, both laughing happily.

"Did you see, Xayah?" Steya asked after Rakan set her down.

"I did. It was very impre-" a twig snapping behind them caused Xayah to whip her head towards the small tree line they had come from. This time, Rakan and Steya heard the noise as well, the former pushing the latter behind him. Xayah's eyes flitted along the trees, trying to see if something was hiding in their shadows.

"Xayah, duck!" Rakan shouted, the assassin not even hesitating before heeding her companion's warning and dropping to the ground. A whoosh sounded from above her as an unkempt man swung an axe at the space where she used to be. After he realized he had missed, he dove back into the long grass around them. Despite his larger size, Xayah wasn't able to quickly track his movements in the grass.

"Everyone, get down," she called to her companions from the ground, crawling over to their general area afterwards. When the assassin found them, she saw how Steya's green eyes were wide with fear after the shocking attack. Xayah scooted over to the young girl and wrapped a protective arm around her small body. "It'll be okay," Xayah whispered to her younger companion before looking at the charmer. "Did you get a good look at him?" she asked quietly. If she could get information about what the assailant looked like or where he was from, she could more easily predict his attack patterns.

"He was a Noxian bandit. If he's part of a gang, there are probably 14 or 15 others surrounding us right now," Rakan informed her. She would have to ask later how he knew that from a passing glance. For now, though, they needed a plan.

"We have to figure out a way to track them in the grass…," Xayah said, mostly to herself. If the bandits were truly Noxian, they should be going for the kill with almost every attack. A small gust of wind brushed the grass in the clearing at that moment, the increased strength from the soft breezes before and the clouds darkening above them signifying that a storm was on the way. A quiet whizzing noise carried through the air and the assassin immediately pulled Steya under her and pushed them both as close to the ground as she could. Half a second later, an arrow collided with a shield Rakan had quickly created after he heard the sound of the arrow flying. A few more arrows hit the shield before there was silence in the clearing once again. The charmer dropped the shield and jerked his chin in a direction for them to move. Once they had crawled a few feet away from their previous location, Xayah thought of an idea for how the bandits were tracking them. "They're using the wind. Anywhere there's a large part of grass not moving, there's probably someone there," the assassin explained, pointing out how the long grass around them wasn't moving much due to their bodies blocking it. "Rakan, I need you to distract them while Steya and I run for higher ground. I'm going to try and pick them off one by one. Steya, make sure you stay behind me," Rakan nodded in agreement and crawled off to find a good angle to get the bandits' attention from. Xayah and Steya waited in silence until the charmer began running through the tall grass with a bright, golden shield around him. Arrows began falling from every direction and, every so often, one of the bandits would leap from the grass to attempt to break the shield with their held weapon, only to have it harmlessly bounce off of the strong barrier. While the bandits were busy, Xayah and Steya ran off towards the tree line, climbing the first tree that had any sort of cover. "Keep watch for anyone on the ground. If you see someone near us, yell," Xayah instructed before turning her attention to the charmer. She watched as Rakan dove back into the grass, his job done, and began stealthily moving toward her and Steya. The assassin made sure to keep an idea of his location so that she wouldn't accidently hit him and waited for another gust of wind to sweep the clearing. As soon as it did, she spotted five areas of grass other than where Rakan was that did not sway normally. Accounting for the wind speed and direction, Xayah threw a dagger at the nearest area, the whistle of her signature weapon drowned out by the sounds of the gust in the trees. As the dagger entered the grass, though, a shout could be heard before it was cut off by its owner's quick death. The assassin rinsed and repeated the same process until all five bandits in the field were dead. Rakan made it to the tree they were in as Xayah threw the last dagger and climbed up quickly.

"That should be about a third of them taken care of. I didn't see the others while I was down there. Did you?" he asked, while Xayah kept her eyes on the clearing to see if any other bandits had entered the tall grass. After confirming no unusual movement among the stalks, she shook her head.

"Maybe they ran when you killed their friends…," Steya said quietly. Xayah turned to face her and placed her hands on the young girl's shoulders.

"I will do anything to protect those I care about, even if it means killing others," Xayah stared directly into Steya's eyes as she spoke, trying to get the young Vastaya to understand. Steya's cheeks burned bright red and her yellow feathers bristled slightly in shame. When she nodded to show her understanding, Xayah released her and scanned the area around them for the remaining bandits, silently hoping Steya had been right with her previous assumption. An arrow whizzing past her ear told the assassin otherwise. Xayah swore and dropped out of the tree before running back into the cover of the thin forest, knowing that the others would follow her. The assassin weaved between the branches that grew thicker the further she ran into the forests of Demacia only to be stopped by a strong arm being shoved out in front of her path. She tried to duck under it and, instead of getting around the new obstacle as she expected, got yanked backwards, the force of the pull dislocating her shoulder. A large man dressed in dark clothes and a bandana covering his face grabbed her arm with his other hand and threw them both to the ground, grinding his elbow into her stomach as he did so and knocking the wind out of the assassin. Xayah felt one of her ribs crack under the intense force and pain flared up from her chest, her lack of air being the only reason she didn't cry out. The bandit that had stopped her scoffed as he got off of her and she writhed in pain.

"You're a fast little birdy, huh?" Xayah's golden eyes were on fire as she glared at the man, the outlines of his smirk visible under the bandana he wore. Grabbing her arm, he dragged the assassin back towards the clearing, stopping right before the long grass began. There were about ten other men there, standing in a half circle, all wearing similar dark clothing and some sporting the same bandana on their face. Rakan was on the ground in front of the men, a large bruise about the size of a foot on his stomach and his arm twisted at a strange angle. Based on the pain she felt, Xayah was sure she had a very similar bruise and messed up arm, the only difference being that her bruise was probably smaller and looked more like an elbow. Steya was sitting next to him, eyes on the ground and fear obvious as she shook slightly, though not injured in any obvious way. Xayah was dropped on the ground next to her young companion and she shot the girl a small smile of apology. They were probably going to die here. One of the bandits stepped in front of them, the few gold pieces on his clothes indicating he was the leader of the gang.

"Well, well… what do we have here? A few birds with a bit too much gold on their hands, eh?" he said, bending down and showing them a pouch he was holding, the crest of Demacia stamped in the leather. Xayah gritted her teeth and started flying through escape plans knowing that there was no way these bandits were just after their gold, especially since the leader clearly already had a decent amount of money. "You know, there's someone in Noxus who likes to keep little birdies like you around for… entertainment purposes," the leader grinned, his teeth sharp like a shark's.

"You seem pretty animal-like for someone who sells Vastaya," Xayah grumbled, only to be kicked in the ribs. She quickly bit down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming out and giving the leader the satisfaction of hearing her in pain.

"I'm nothing like you filthy creatures. My teeth are like this for the intimidation factor. It also makes shit like you easier to kill. You're lucky I value money more than pride," the leader sneered and stood back up to address his men. "We're taking them to Noxus and selling them to Madame Val. Tie them up," Steya watched as Rakan and Xayah's arms were tied behind them, Rakan's face pale and reflecting sheer terror she had never seen before in his features, due to what, though, she did not know. Xayah was clearly in pain, each rough movement the bandits forced upon her causing her to flinch and groan. Both of the older Vastaya were then knocked out by the bandits, too incapacitated now to save them all from bandits. Steya cursed her weakness, the helplessness she felt reminding the young girl of how her village was taken over by a similarly disgusting group of people. Not again. the girl thought, images flashing through her mind of the death and destruction she had witnessed before. Don't take my family from me again. Her hands were pulled behind her and rough rope was tied around her wrists before she was also sent into forced unconsciousness.

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter :) I'm going to start giving myself 10 days between chapters to update due to being busy with work and some personal issues. Hope you all enjoy! Thank you for all of the nice reviews :3