Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route

Chapter 269: The Watchers of the Ice

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the end of the year 990.

Now, with 991 drawing near, one thing remained the same on the world of Runeterra: Runeterra was still Runeterra. But what had changed was that this year, the Twin Cities had chosen to step into Runeterra’s affairs. In the first half of the year, they had "invited" nations from every land to join the Federation, and as a result, the relationships between the continents and their countries had shifted in subtle ways.

The first place worth mentioning was the Freljord in the north. The union of Avarosa and Serylda had miraculously brought the Freljord into an era of peace the region had not seen in thousands of years.

The weather was still as brutal as ever, but now, in the Freljord, people were no longer freezing to death from hunger and exposure every winter.

Just like now, in the depths of winter, the Winter’s Claw had long since begun moving south. They were preparing to join up with Avarosa for the season and spend this winter’s winter festival together with the other large and small tribes.

A long procession crossed the Dragonbone Mountains. Reindeer, snow wolves, yaks, and war-boars stood out the most in the caravan, each burdened with supplies as they followed the Winter’s Claw tribespeople in blue down jackets at the front.

Donna, once a young girl and now already one of the tribe’s elite warriors and one of Sejuani’s personal guards, had changed so much that if Jinx saw her now, she probably would not even recognize her.

What had Donna looked like back then?

Wearing a tattered beast-hide coat, stepping around in dingy fur boots that looked gray and smelled a little strange. Her skin had been naturally fair, but her bare arms had been streaked with patches of grime and red from the cold. At a glance, she had looked like some little wild cave girl who had just run out of the mountains, as ragged as anyone could be.

But now, Donna was wearing a goose-down jacket made in the Twin Cities. Underneath it was a soft, warm wool sweater woven from Shuriman mountain goat wool. She had a big pair of goggles over her face, hiding most of it, and beneath them a scarf wrapped around her lower face and neck.

On Donna’s whole face, the only thing still visible was a slightly reddened little nose.

She looked unbelievably stylish.

"Just three more days! In three days, our people will be back from the Twin Cities. They’ll be bringing a huge batch of supplies with them! This winter, we’ll live more safely and more happily than ever before!"

Up ahead, the old priest’s voice rang through the line. His voice was thick with laughter. That old priest, whose smile always showed the gaps from several missing teeth, had grown noticeably more wrinkled this year than before.

But they were not wrinkles carved by worry.

They were wrinkles carved by smiling.

A little snow-white fox was sprawled atop a drüvask war-boar, and beside the fox sat Sejuani, tall and broad-shouldered, her face ruddy with health.

One hand on the reins, Sejuani had not changed as completely as Donna had. Her style still kept the look of the Winter’s Claw, but everything she wore was new, and she had finally discarded the filthy, oil-stained battle helmet she used to wear.

Now she showed a healthy, flushed face and a head of hair that, while still not particularly smooth, was at least no longer split and frizzy.

After spending time in the Twin Cities, Sejuani had to admit, once she came back north, she was oddly less used to the Freljord than before.

Back when she had been living in Zaun, she had used hot water every day to wash herself. That thing called a shower, the way it sprayed out hot water, had made bathing so absurdly convenient it was almost hard to believe.

So while living in Zaun, she had eaten well, rested well, and felt good. In less than half a year in the Twin Cities, Sejuani had put on close to twenty pounds.

Twenty pounds.

That was only because she was so tall, nearly one meter ninety, that the extra weight barely showed.

And besides, she had been far too thin before. Now that she had gained nearly twenty pounds, her face actually looked better. The once-prominent cheekbones and hollow temples had filled out and softened.

"Where are Jie and the others?" Sejuani asked White.

"They couldn’t make it," the little fox said sleepily after hearing Sejuani call to her, yawning as she spoke.

White pushed herself upright and stretched, then shook out her body. Her fluffy tail swayed once, and she sprang lightly onto Sejuani, settling on her shoulder as she muttered, "Looks like Jie and Rilfen got assigned some job. The witch told them to guard a passage, so they couldn’t come."

"Tch. Since when does she get to order Rilfen and Jie around?" Sejuani said, arching a brow, clearly irritated.

White had no intention of weighing in on that matter. She was not taking anybody’s side.

When it came to the Three Sisters, they could deal with their own mess.

What was she supposed to do, jump in and play mediator?

Mediator, my ass.

When sisters or family members fought, no matter how fierce it got, even if it turned deadly, that was still family business.

Like Jie, that idiot. Lissandra and Ashe were arguing, and that dumb snake actually butted in to tell them to stop fighting. Well, look where that got her, sent off to guard a tunnel.

At the thought of that, White suddenly started cackling to herself.

A plump little white fox narrowing her eyes and cackling like that was honestly ridiculous to watch.

It was not until Sejuani shot her a glare that she finally settled down, curled up with her tail covering her face, and started dozing again with a few grumbling little huffs.

It was close to evening by the time the procession moved from the outskirts of Avarosa into its inner territory. On Avarosa’s side, the Winter’s Claw were welcomed warmly. Of course, the reason they were being received at all was because Avarosa was a confederation made up of many tribes.

Avarosa was a great tribe formed from twenty or thirty smaller tribes. Naturally, not every one of them hated the Winter’s Claw, so the first winter festival spent jointly by the Winter’s Claw and Avarosa passed without incident.

After splitting up her people and settling them in among Avarosa’s groups, Sejuani entered Ashe’s tent with Donna and White.

The moment she stepped inside, she saw Ashe’s bloodsworn, a rugged, bearded man who was undeniably handsome, especially with that powerful build of his and those beastlike green eyes. Tch, Ashe’s taste really was pretty good.

"Welcome back, my sister."

The tent flap was pulled aside, and Ashe stepped in. She wore a blue dress, with her white hair gathered behind her head, and she smiled at Sejuani with unmistakable sincerity on her face.

"Don’t put on that look. Since when were we that close?" Sejuani said, curling her lip and folding her arms across her chest.

That openly wary look only made Ashe smile even brighter.

"Haven’t we always had a good relationship?" Ashe said. She blinked at Sejuani and went on with a smile, "Before we were rivals and enemies, we were close friends. We both know that. And besides, all our fighting is already in the past."

Stepping in front of Ashe, Sejuani lowered her head to look at her and said flatly, "I didn’t come here to reminisce about sisterhood."

"I know. That’s why she came too," Ashe replied.

Sejuani froze for a moment, and then she immediately understood who Ashe meant.

Fura appeared first, the Frostguard’s general, white-haired, powerfully built, with the air of a hunting cat. She pulled open the flap and stood off to one side holding it back, making room for the figure behind her.

Then Lissandra entered, wearing a white dress, her white hair loose over her shoulders, her eyes shut. Her face was bare of cosmetics, pale and striking.

"You didn’t tell me she’d be here too!" Sejuani snapped at Ashe at once.

"Calm down, Sejuani. The Frostguard are part of us now too, aren’t they?" Ashe said, blinking innocently. "We all saw that happen together. Logan was the one who made it happen."

"..."

"Well? What is this really about?" The moment Ashe brought up Logan, Sejuani’s temper eased. Logan had helped her too much. She could hit Ashe, she could curse Lissandra, but she truly could not bring herself to resent or complain about Logan.

The Winter’s Claw had received too much help from him, before and now.

So Sejuani got straight to the point. "Skip the useless chatter. If it’s Logan’s idea, I’ll take it seriously. So tell me, while I was returning from the Twin Cities to the Winter’s Claw and bringing my people here, what did the two of you discuss with Logan?"

"There are two matters, Sejuani," Lissandra said softly.

Sejuani looked at her with a raised brow, the meaning obvious.

Lissandra’s pale lips moved as she said, "The first is that we need to send a representative to reside permanently in the Twin Cities, as an ambassador within the Federation, to make sure the Freljord’s integration with the Federation proceeds without problems."

"Silco already told me about that. I know," Sejuani said.

Lissandra nodded and continued with her eyes still closed. "The real issue is the second matter."

"We must deal with the Frozen Watchers. That is the second thing Logan wants us to do."

"What is that?" Ashe and Sejuani exchanged a glance, then spoke in perfect unison.

"It is the secret buried away by the Frostguard Citadel, the thing both of you have always wanted to know," Lissandra said. She frowned slightly, clearly hesitating, but then it was as if she remembered something. The tension in her brow eased, and in her clear, beautiful voice, she explained,

"The Frozen Watchers are a mistake I once made, and a wrong that I must correct. If you want me to explain exactly what they are, I cannot, because they are not creatures of Runeterra at all.

You only need to know this: both Logan and I are desperate to destroy the Frozen Watchers. In the past, we did not have that ability."

That much was true. Anivia had been shattered to pieces and paid with her life just to seal away several Frozen Watchers. Even now, those colossal monsters she sealed were still buried beneath the Hall of the Nine.

"But now, we do."

Lissandra opened her eyes. Her hands rested calmly before her as her pale irises fixed on Ashe and Sejuani, and she said with complete seriousness,

"I am going to remove the True Ice and break the seals so we can prepare for battle against the Frozen Watchers. Right now, Rilfen and Jie are already guarding the Hall of the Nine, standing by at all times."

"As Logan said, this time, it is our turn to sound the horn."

Lissandra’s voice turned low and distant as she spoke.

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