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Bristle’s running like an arrow through the pinching air, Sejuani’s destination is Ornnkaal Rocks where Ashe’s and her tribe have visited for many years. The coastal pilgrimage site is rich with fish and grazing animals -- heaven for those who live nearby. They have never had to stop, they’re driven by a certain letter. The letter says they should meet there to speak about the future of Freljord and it contains many other diplomatic themes that haven’t got her attention.
Sejuani thinks those are for who find the message and read it. They might think it’s nothing more than meeting with the Avarosan Warmother and this is what Ashe wants - a diplomacy meeting. But why she hasn’t burnt that letter like any other ones? Maybe it’s not containing any inappropriate content like the previous ones.
Oh, those previous letters of hers -- the penmanship, the scent of the letters (why does she do that, by the way?) and those little scribbles on the margin and the immodesty of hers sometimes. Gods or spirits, help me or I’m going to do something that I might regret.
Sejuani arrives at the site too soon, Ashe’s not around to be seen. Until her arrival, she secures Bristle to a pole and she checks the nearby houses. Meanwhile, recalling some memories -- some of it brings joy, the other's sorrow and a few both of joy and sorrow. When Sejuani checks the last one, she smirks. They’re all abandoned. And they all have beds - perfect! An idea pops into her mind.
When she’s done with it, she turns around, finding herself in front of Ashe who is a head smaller than her. Has she been this small?
“Why are you smiling?” Curiosity glows in her eyes.
“A memory popped up while checking for life,” Sejuani answers, giving half-truth.
“While checking the houses?” One of Ashe’s brow raises, her eyes tell she doesn’t believe her. Has she been here before her or…?
“You know how many memories we have here. One of them just popped up.”
“Which one?”
Sejuani’s thinking which one to tell; yet, “The ‘e’ incident…” She admits the most embarrassing one, looking away and blushing slightly. She hears a snort from Ashe, she reddens more, hiding it with both of her hands.
This memory really warms up her heart and to Sejuani’s luck, Ashe likes it as well. Oh, man, that laughter made me shiver.
“I’ve always wanted to ask this; why’s there an e in your name?” Sejuani asks, squirming in their shared bed until she could put her arm around Ashe’s waist.
Ashe shrugs, finding a comfortable position in her embracement, now they’re face to face. “I dunno. Tell me if you have an idea.” To be honest, this has made me think since childhood.
“Hm,” Sejuani’s been thinking for half a minute before she answers, “Maybe it’s because you could make differences between genders. Think about it, even if we don’t pronounce that e, we put it in written words, for example, blonde or fiancée. All I’m trying to say is Ashe without e is for males.”
Ashe stares at her like she’s not from this world. And then she loses it - she starts laughing. It’s so heartful even Sejuani hears her as an angel, she would melt into a puddle.
“I’m so sorry,” Ashe says between two laughter. When she’s done, she wipes away her tears and chuckles one more time before adding, “I’m really sorry, Sej, but I can’t believe you broke the fourth wall.”
“If I broke the fourth wall, I’d have said that our author’s kinda gay for us.”
“Wh-what? Explain that!”
“I can’t, this is all I know.” Sejuani lies. Innocent until proven guilty .
“For real, you were kinda cute.” Ashe’s still smiling for recalling this memory.
“I was kinda weird and embarrassing, to be honest.” She crosses her arms. “What do you want?”
“You want to go straight to the topic?”
“Yes, I don’t want to waste my time on you.”
Ashe takes down her hood, readjusting her hair and fixing her glowing ice blue eyes on Sejuani. In her eyes seriousness reflects which is a sudden change from nostalgia and not to mention her posture; from relaxed to guarded, she even reflects Sejuani’s crossed arms.
“It’s about us,” Ashe says after a short pause.
“I thought it’s about Freljord’s future.” She raises a brow.
“That too, but mostly about us.”
“Here we go again; talking about our feelings while wasting our precious time. We could fight instead or talk about our territory or other shit but no. It must be our feelings again, yeah.” Sejuani complains while entering the house behind her and ignites the fireplace. She dismisses her idea that popped up some minutes ago.
Ashe frowns when she follows her into the house and closing the creaky door. “What are you doing?”
“Doesn’t it obvious? I assume it’ll be long we have to sleep here.” She sits down on the edge of the only bed and takes off her helmet. Her fingers run through her short, light blonde hair.
Ashe can see she isn't comfortable with the fact that she has to talk about her feelings (in person) and she knows it by looking at her -- her narrowed eyes and her barely trembling hands. She knows this isn't her best feature. She has to come up with another way to approach the situation and maybe she has a way but it’s too tricky. Well, a try might not hurt.
Ashe stands in front of her and before she straddles her lap, she grabs Sejuani's wrists and brings them to her waist. Sejuani looks up to Ashe uncomprehendingly when Ashe is finally sitting on her. She helps her fixing her hair with some gentle scratches on her scalp that seems it makes Sejuani relax -- closing her eyes and inhaling the damp air.
Her tensed shoulders finally drop and she rests her head on Ashe’s chest. Ashe starts to braid her hair once it’s not disheveled. As she’s enjoying herself, Sejuani hugs her by the waist and brings themselves to a more comfortable and relaxing pose, she lays on her back while Ashe is on top of her.
“Am I not too heavy?” Ashe asked. It’s a pity I couldn’t finish that braid, she pouts mentally but she hasn’t stopped fiddling.
“You’re like a feather and to be honest I’m amused about it since you’re a great archer.”
Ashe blinks at her, “The mighty Winter’s Wrath compliments her opponent? That’s new.”
Sejuani doesn’t comment on that statement of hers, instead, she sighs through her nose. “What do you want to know?”
Ashe stops fiddling with her hair and lays her arms above Sejuani’s boobs, putting her head down one of her forearms. She studies her expression carefully, tilting her head from one side to the other before her mouth curves into a smile, a sad smile which is more bitter than sweet. “I want to know more about you.” Ashe feels Sejuani’s heart skipped a beat.
Sejuani’s fiddling with the back of her dress with one hand, the other’s giving support to her head, so she could look into those sapphires and searching for something that might reveal her true motive. “It’s kinda a broad concept, it can be anything.” Haven’t I written to you for almost over a year?
“Hmm, then let’s start with our little exchanges. What did you mean by ‘I’m in a battle that I might not win nor end it easily.’?”
“I was talking about an emotion that has deep meaning. It’s so intimate it could make us fiancées.” She hears Ashe’s snorts, her tone becomes more annoyed as she intends to. “What?”
“Letter e .”
“Oh, drop it, woman!” Sejuani rolls her eyes.
“I can’t. Still cute.”
“Still cringe.”
“You don’t know how cuteness works, do you?”
“Cuteness starts and ends with poros and drüvasks.”
“Lame,” Ashe receives narrowed eyes from Sejuani. “Just the drüvasks part, poros are cute.”
“...”
“Okay, drüvasks are cute too unless they’re as big as Bristle.” She admits, rolling her eyes as well. “Back to our topic -- which emotion was it?”
Sejuani takes a deep sigh before speak. “It is love.” Ashe stares at her awfully and nods as a sign to continue. “And love is like war, easy to begin but hard to end,” Sejuani says as she switches from fiddling to caressing Ashe’s back.
“Oh, suddenly you became so wise.” Ashe teases her, smiling. She rolls onto the cold and dusty mattress and inhales sharply. “Have you ignited the fireplace?”
“Yeah?” Sejuani raises up a brow, getting up to one of her elbows so she could face her. “Don’t tell me the Frost Archer is feeling chilly, I thought the cold never bothered you?”
Ashe grabs a pillow above her and tosses it to Sejuani’s face who has prepared the incoming pillow and stops it with her hand. “You’re awful!”
“Say something that I don’t know.” She puts the pillow underneath her head and lays down.
Ashe remembers how they love sleeping in each others’ arms, maybe she could give a shot to bring this up. “Can we just… uhh... “ Ashe gesturing between herself and Sejuani while she feels a blush creeping upon on her face and on her exposed chest. “You know…”
“I’m waiting,” Sejuani informs her, studying her from head to bust and her mouth twitches as she sees the faint flush.
“You know what? Don’t move.” Ashe undoes her cloak’s clasp and tosses it on the ground, her boots follow. After stripping down a bit, she steps in front of a chest that lays nearby the bed, picking its lock open she pulls out a huge blanket from it which is spread across the bed and Ashe is underneath it before it’s fallen onto them.
“You’re full of surprises,” Sejuani states as she puts her boots and armor down beside the bed and laying back. Ashe snuggles up to Sejuani, her breath tickling her collarbone. “Picking locks? Not lady-like.” She shakes her head, letting out a throaty chuckle. Snuggling, huh?
“I know but I learned it from a master.” Ashe smiles mischievously against her collarbone.
A nice silence settles between them but not too long, Sejuani breaks it, “What else do you want to know?”
“You admitted your feelings through letters and you’ve told me many things about yourself. So, I think there’s nothing more to discuss.”
“I ran into your trap, huh?”
“Kinda. … I missed this.” Creeping closer Ashe puts her arm on Sejuani’s waist who puts her own over hers, resting it on the lower back.
Sejuani tries to enjoy this moment but something, no, someone is in Ashe’s life whose feelings are purer than hers, whose motives are more serious than hers and it’s breaking her heart. She doesn’t want to break this beautiful moment’s spell still she wants to know it. “Is Tryndamere not going to be angry at you?”
“He knows, however, I love him and he loves me too and he tries to convince me to marry you as well so he can see my real happy side.”
“Isn’t it forbidden to marry your own sex and be married twice?”
“In Avarosa we don’t have such rules. Yes, we have one that says you have to give birth to a child but nothing extreme.”
“What if that child didn’t survive? Does that count?”
“Sadly no. The Elders wants children one way or another.”
“That sucks.”
Ashe lets out an angelic chuckle. “Yeah, that sucks.”
“Are you not happy?” Sejuani asks and she feels hot tears on her neck, hugging closer and tighter Ashe, it must work as a sign that she is with her.
“I am but not entirely,” She says hoarsely while Sejuani wiping away some tears on her cheeks. “I missed you as my friend then and now I can’t believe you’re here and in love with me.” She breaks down once again and she presses her whole body against Sejuani’s.
Ashe loves this side of Sejuani. When one of them cries -- and mostly it’s Ashe -- the other remains silent and they hug each other so tightly they think their world would fall apart at any moment. Strong hugs are the best medicine to her crying but for Sejuani’s? She’s seen her cry once but no more. She hasn’t got the time to figure it out! Ashe’s been thinking can she cry or she hides it because she considers it a weakness.
Once, Ashe calms down, sniffing back mucus which makes Sejuani mad, she gives her a handkerchief. The handkerchief’s color is baby blue with silver hem, decorated with hand sew embroidery in the lower right corner -- a small eagle outline with spread wings, the outline’s color matching with the hem’s.
Ashe accepts it, inspecting it for a minute and she sets it aside after she’s blown into it. “I’ll wash it before handing it back.”
“It’s okay, I have dozens of handkerchief.”
“How?”
“Raiding both Demacians and Noxians. I can say they’re into this piece of rag and it’s pretty useful.” She says. “Are you all right now?”
“Yeah, thanks for the pretty useful rag,” Ashe teases her again and this time she hears a groan from her.
“You’re terrible.” Sejuani relaxes once more. “If we’re done with chit-chatting, can we go to our other topic as well? You know, future of Freljord?”
“Right,” Ashe wets her lips, “Trynda and I figured it out we aren’t that happy as it seems. He loves another woman and I love you , Sej, and we want you to be our family. We know Winter’s Claw’s brutality and bloodthirst and we know that you won’t bow or kneel before us but hear us out! Trynda and Anivia have been discussing this since this whole polyamorous relationship between me and my husband revealed and they might have a solution to this.”
“What is it?” Sejuani frowns.
“They want to make you a general.”
“Wait, if I marry you, you’re going to announce me as a general and not a Warmother?” Fury about to burst out but Sejuani controls it not to hurt herself, not to hurt her .
“I haven’t said that part where you can rule as well.”
Sejuani lets out a mocking laugh, Ashe looks up at her with a confused look. “How generous of you to make your troops’ general and except me to rule alongside you and your husband. Aren’t you afraid I would betray you?”
Ashe hesitates for a whole minute before she gives her answer, “I trust you. You’ve been through hard times and you know the best trust is the strongest connection.”
“No, you are wrong.” Sejuani gets up on her feet swiftly and starts to get dressed, anger and faint presence of sadness paint her tone. She’s irritated by Ashe’s innocence like she understands how it works. “Trust is the most fragile connection. If you lie and I find out, it breaks into millions of pieces. You can’t just put it together on your own without my help.” She grabs her helmet as she’s done and storms out of the house.
Me? As a general? And lover of the Queen? Don’t ridicule me, Ashe. These facts really hurt her pride, she wants to be the only and true ruler of Freljord but to think about it, it might not be that terrible. Together we can destroy the Frost Guard’s authority. We can be free for once and all. Still…
Ashe follows her with the blanket around her, she doesn’t give a damn how snow touches her bare soles. “What happens if I do something that favors you? There should be something to gain some trust from you.” She’s desperate to convince her to agree.
Sejuani halts, not turning around and face her. No, she can’t do that. She’s too frightened that her eyes may betray her, tears have already filled her eyes. With a shaky voice, she says, “There’s nothing you could do.”
“Maybe I can’t,” Ashe admits, approaching her slowly and putting the blanket around her as well. She hugs her tightly as Sejuani has done before -- to her surprise she can feel her trembling. “Maybe I’m too desperate which blinds me and I don’t think about the consequences. But I really love you and I really want to trust you. No exception, no expectation.” She senses a light sigh escapes Sejuani before she turns around and seeing her eyes red and a little bit puffy. “You cried .”
Sejuani scoffs, “Please, I never cry.” She wipes away the tears and puts her weight from one leg to other. “So you would do anything to gain some trust?” Ashe nods. “Doesn’t it have to be the other way around? Like I should be the one who begs to trust me.”
“No, because I protected those innocent people you wanted to wipe away like they’re nothing. I went against your will.” Ashe grabs one of Sejuani’s hand. “I’m not sorry about that by the way but I knew I hurt you. I want to make amends.”
“How?”
Ashe gives her a mischievous grin, pulling Sejuani back to the house. Sejuani looks questioningly at her, letting her guiding back. When they’ve arrived at the bed and have laid down once again, Ashe straddles her hips.
“What are you doing?” Sejuani whispers.
“You’ll see.” Lust and thirst glow in her eyes as she prepares herself for the night.