"Is this kind of person going to be my blood alliance?" Ashe imagined the time spent with Lothar in the future, "It seems...it will be interesting."

"What are you thinking?" Lothar asked beside Ashe.

"I was thinking about you." Ashe was helping Sejuani push the cart at the back of the cart, and she blushed slightly when she heard Lothar's words.

"Oh what?"

Ash smiled and said nothing.

Lothar was anxious: "You said it."

"I won't say it." Ashe saw Lothar, who was scratching her ears and cheeks with itchiness, she kept a meaningful smile, and said in her heart, "Let you also taste the feeling of being betrayed."

Sejuani looked back at the two of them strangely and thought, "What is their relationship? It seems to be quite close..."

The three kept as quiet as possible as they crossed the bearman's hunting grounds.

"It's almost there." Sejuani whispered forward, "that's my ship."

Lothar and Ashe looked along the place Sejuani pointed, and on the coast, a small canoe was docked on the shore.

"Great..." Ashe breathed a sigh of relief. Although she didn't see the bear man, she was already frightened just by staying here.

Boom!

The dull thunder sounded in the distance behind everyone.

Ashe looked back, a huge thick black cloud appeared in the distance, faint electric light appeared in it, and it seemed that there were indescribable creatures charging in the black cloud.

"It's the Bears! They've spotted us!" roared Lothar. "Go!"

Ashe and Sejuani did not hesitate to use the strength of the Frost Bloodline to the extreme, and without looking back, they quickly pulled the carriage to the side of the boat.

"Quick! All the meat has to be loaded onto the boat!" Sejuani said loudly, but her tone was no longer strong, but a little trembling.

The black cloud rushed towards the three at an extremely fast speed, and they could even see the terrifying figure reflected by the lightning in the black cloud. The bears roared to death, and storms and thunderbolts destroyed everything wherever they went.

Even with only one arm left, Lothar was still reluctantly helping Ashe and Sejuani to load the meat onto the boat, and now they had to be quick, once they were approached by the bear, there was no chance of them surviving.

"Okay!" Ashe threw the last piece of snake meat onto the boat, and led Lothar to the canoe, "Come on!"

"Sit tight!" Sejuani pushed the boat into the sea with all her might, then jumped up, grabbed the paddle with both hands, and quickly drove away from the shore.

After they had drawn a distance, the black cloud had also reached the coast, but the monsters in the black cloud did not choose to go into the sea to pursue, but made a frantic cry at the boat.

"It's safe..." Lothar breathed a sigh of relief, "Bearmen generally don't leave their hunting grounds."

Sejuani gave Lothar a strange look: "You seem to know the bear man quite well."

"Well... I used to be chased and killed when I came to the bear man hunting ground." Lothar scratched his head.

Sejuani made a "cut", obviously in disbelief. She didn't even dare to meet the bear man with a cold bloodline. How could a furnace household survive at the bear man's hands.

Ashe snuggled gently beside Lothar, looking at the pile of snake meat on the boat: "Sejuani, did you come to the Bearman hunting ground to hunt?"

Sejuani said while rowing the boat, "Yeah, you see, I'm wearing bearskin disguise just to find prey."

Ashe frowned: "It's too dangerous to go to other hunting grounds?"

Sejuani's face was solemn: "There is no way, this year our tribe's food is particularly scarce, it is difficult to find large prey when winter arrives, a little hare is not enough, I can only come to the bear man hunting ground to take an adventure."

Ashe sighed. For the tribes of the Freljord, lack of food is common, even large tribes like Winter's Claw are not immune.

"It's all my mother's fault!" Sejuani suddenly said angrily, "As a mother-in-law, she didn't organize a raiding party to rob other tribes of food, causing the entire clan to starve!"

Ashe and Lothar looked at each other, and it seemed that Winter's Claw was not doing very well.

"Don't talk about me, what about you?" Sejuani asked Ashe, ignoring Lothar. "What are you doing here? Is Avarossa also short of food?"

Ashe smiled bitterly: "My tribe is gone."

Sejuani stopped the pulp in her hand, her eyes staring like a frightened night owl: "What did you say?"

Ashe bit his lip: "Our tribe's frost priest betrayed us, and the Avarossa tribe is now only me and Lothar."

Ashe felt Lothar's hand clenched slightly, and she suddenly realized that Lothar never seemed to think of himself as an Avarossa.

He is an outsider.

Thinking that she was the only reason Lothar would stay in the Horde, Ashe didn't know whether to be happy or sad for a while.

"Are the Frost Priests...they really aren't good people." Sejuani spoke of the Frost Priests with undisguised disgust, "They are always giving my mother some bad ideas, our tribe lacks food to a large extent They caused it... Is Glenna dead too?"

Ashe knew that Sejuani looked up to her mother, and that Sejuani loved being with Ashe by Glenna's side when the Avarossa tribe and the Winter's Claw tribe made pilgrimages together as a child.

Thinking of her mother, Ashe felt a sore nose, she shook her head vigorously, and replied, "Well..."

Sejuani was shocked: "Is that so..."

The two girls fell into silence.

Lothar didn't say anything, he just looked behind him, the black cloud was already far away from them, but the thunderous bear roar still faintly revolved around Lothar's ear.

"Lothar, what's wrong?" Ashe noticed Lothar's abnormality and asked with concern.

"It's nothing." Lothar turned his head, no longer looking at the black cloud, but kissed Ashe on the face, "Thank you for your concern."

Ashe blushed, and just wanted to hit Lothar, and found that Sejuani was still watching, but she was a little embarrassed and put her hands down.

Sejuani looked at the two of them in shock, her eyes wide and round, as if she was more stimulated than learning of Glenna's death.

——————————————————

Many tribes in the Freljord are adept at raiding, making up for lack of food through looting. Some of the most powerful raiding tribes, such as the Winter Claws, are not limited to looting supplies from the Freljord native tribes, but even attack the military powerhouses of Noxus in the southeast and southwest in the summer. The northern border of the two kingdoms of Demacia, the demon-forbidden country. Even the iron-blooded Noxian legions and the elite Demacian armies did not fare well in the war against these Freljord robbers.

—Excerpt from Ezreal's Travels of Valoran: The Freljord Chapter Six: A Chronicle of the Horde

Chapter 21 The Sea

The three escaped from the bear's shadow, and the boat began to sail towards the Winter's Claw tribe on the ice ocean.

Sejuani hooked up the sails to make sure the course was on the right track.

Lothar watched with interest.

"What are you looking at?" Sejuani said angrily.

"Just take a look, don't be angry." Lothar's eyes were always on Sejuani's hand tied to the rope, "I rarely had the opportunity to get on the boat before, just take a look."

"Ch... I don't know." Sejuani said contemptuously, looking at Lothar's reaction by the way, but he wasn't angry, which made her a little disappointed.

"Ashe, what are you going to do in the future?" Sejuani pushed Lothar away and sat beside Ashe naturally. The intimacy of her tone and her attitude towards Lothar were vastly different.

Ashe looked at Lothar, who shook his head slightly.

"I don't know yet..." Ashe sighed, "My tribe is gone, and it is impossible for other tribes to accept me as an outsider... Let's take one step at a time."

"But you are the bloodline of ice, the bloodline of ice that can use real ice weapons." Sejuani glanced at Lothar, "If it's just you, it's still possible to join other tribes."

"There is no such plan for the time being." Ashe's expression froze, she could hear Sejuani's implication.

Sejuani glanced at Lothar again, the suspicion growing in her eyes.

Sejuani took out some firewood from a box: "It's getting late, let's make something to eat."

"Dinner? Leave it to me." Lothar interrupted suddenly, picking up a piece of snake meat, "I haven't made Gruffin snake meat in a long time."

Sejuani just wanted to refuse, but heard Ashe say: "Lothar's cooking skills are very good, leave it to him."

Lothar smiled and walked to Sejuani, reaching out for firewood: "Do you prefer stewed or roasted?"

Sejuani hesitated, shoved the firewood into Lothar's arms, and pushed him back a few steps.

"Boiled." Sejuani smiled contemptuously, "very...very soft."

…

The smoke curled up from the boat, and Lothar simmered a pot of snake broth leisurely.

Sejuani held a harpoon and stabbed sharply beside the boat.

A little sea water splashed on Lothar's hair, Ashe hugged Lothar behind his back, reached out to dry them, and said as he wiped, "Have you caught it?"

Sejuani threw something directly at Lothar. Lothar quickly released the spoon and caught it with her left arm. A bluefin fish fluttered in his arms.

"For extra food, it's grilled." Sejuani didn't even look at Lothar, and continued to carefully search for the prey under the sea.

"No problem," Lothar replied.

Ashe looked at Sejuani suspiciously, and whispered in Lothar's ear, "Sejuani... Does she not like you?"

"You just saw it." Lothar rubbed Ashe's cheek with her face, "It's okay, she just doesn't like me, it shouldn't hurt me."

"But why?" Ashe sniffed Lothar's body, which reassured her.

"Well... who knows..." Lothar chuckled, stringing the bluefin with a wooden skewer with one hand.

"What are you whispering about?" Sejuani asked back, looking unhappy.

"It's nothing." Ashe replied quickly, she didn't want Sejuani to think too much, "Just some trivial things."

Sejuani gave a "tsk" and put her eyes back on the sea again.

Ashe was a little confused, and asked quietly, "Why does she seem more angry?"

Lothar touched Ashe's nose with a funny nose: "For an angry person, no matter what you say, she will only be more angry."

"Then what?"

"The best way is to not say anything." Lothar picked up the knife and asked Ashe to help him hold down the fish and start scraping the scales. "Unless you find out why she is so angry."

Ashe nodded understandingly.

…

Sejuani looked at Lothar suspiciously as she looked at the deliciously grilled fish in front of her.

"Don't worry, it's not poisoned." Lothar said and bit on the fish.

"Don't be kidding, Lothar." Ashe picked up a skewer of grilled fish and handed it to Sejuani, "Eat it, it's delicious."

Sejuani returned a smile, took the grilled fish, and opened her mouth to eat.

The skin of the fish is crispy, the flesh of the fish is tender and tender, and the heat is well mastered.

Sejuani ate with her head down, looking like she liked it.

"Eat slowly, there's more." Ashe scooped herself a bowl of hot soup.

"How many frost priests do you have in your tribe?" Lothar asked suddenly.

Sejuani looked up at Lothar. She didn't want to answer, but for the sake of grilling the fish, she said, "Three."

"Three..." Ashe said worriedly, "They probably know Marukolo...the Frost Priest from my tribe."

"So what?" Sejuani didn't understand.

Ashe and Lothar looked at each other, and finally told Sejuani most of their experiences over the past few days.

"I see..." Sejuani ate up one grilled fish, picked up the second, and said with anger, "Those frost priests are really not good things, they use medical methods and spells to tease the weak in my tribe. , they want incompetent people in power to be manipulated by them."

Ashe comforted: "It doesn't matter, your grandmother is a tough woman, and the frost priest can never control her."

Sejuani shook her head and said sadly: "Grandma, she is no longer the mother of the Winter's Claw, she was betrayed... Now sitting on the seat of the mother of war is my mother, she..."

Ashe put down the bowl in her hand: "Sorry...I know your grandmother is very important to you, especially after your mother abandoned you..."

Lothar pondered, it seems that the internal situation of Winter's Claw is not as simple as that of Avarosa.

Sejuani was silent for a while, put the grilled fish in her hand back on the fire, and looked directly at Ashe: "My mother hates me, Glenna defeated her in a duel, so she naturally hates you too, in Rin Winter's Claw, we must be careful."

Ashe nodded heavily.

"One day, I will take the place of the War Mother. Winter's Claw was so powerful that after my grandmother died, it became that any unknown tribe dared to provoke us..." Sejuani stared into the brazier The dancing flames, firmly said, "I will lead the Claws of Winter to flourish again. Every winter, I will be fed and clothed warmly, and no one will be starved to death and frozen to death again."

"That's not easy." Lothar said, "Or, in a hellish place like the Freljord, it's very difficult to achieve."

"Lothar!" Ashe glanced at the boy reproachfully, and hurriedly comforted Sejuani, "You will definitely become a warlike mother."

Sejuani stared coldly at Lothar, who said a word of blow: "How can you be short-sighted, how can you understand that my aspiring powerhouse should be in the top position, and should be able to do things that are not feasible."

Lothar pouted, noncommittal.

"What should be done or not, it's a good thing to say." Ashe hurriedly settled, "You can definitely achieve it."

"Thank you, Ashe." Sejuani scratched her nose and gave Ashe a bright smile, "Only you will have such confidence in me."

While drinking the soup, Lothar looked at the two girls who were chatting very happily. Sejuani's smile was extremely warm and her tone was so gentle.