Author's Note: So, I'm EXTREMELY new to this whole Fan Fiction writing thing. I would absolutely, 100% love some critique from anyone out there reading this. I'm kind of working as I go, so it's never too late to fill out a comment form down there at the bottom of the page. I can take it, I promise. Tell me what you like, what you hate, and what you think I could work on to improve the piece. Thanks for reading!

Affairs of the Heart

Chapter 1: Sanctuary

The clearing looked pristine and untouched as the snow crunched beneath the soft-soled boots of the Frost Archer. Ashe didn't venture this far out into the wilds of Freljord very often, but she needed peace. A clear mind had been a luxury she couldn't afford in-town where everyone's problems were always her own. And she had even fewer moments to herself with her involvement in the League, and the laborious task of persuading the High Council of Equity of Freljord's validity as a city-state; a battle in which no headway had been made. As she approached the cairn she sighed. Avarosa alone is not populous enough to be deemed a city-state, she reminded herself. At least, that's what High Councilor Heywan Relivash thought, and it seemed that's the only thing that mattered.

Ashe stopped as her toes met the shadow of the tomb that loomed before her now. She raised her chin and pushed back her cowl to take in the iced-over stone burial site, the rune at the top sitting precariously in the exact place she'd left it five years ago; to the day, in fact. Dropping to her knees, she laid her beloved bow before her in the snow and closed her eyes. The wind howled overhead, but the trees surrounding the sanctuary shielded it from the icy onslaught of air.

How? How do I make them see us for what we are? How do I magically double our population just to earn the protection and endorsement that we need? Noxus will have us surrounded before then… I just need a sign.

A sharp screech from above jolted Ashe out of her meditation. She smiled as she recognized the hawk that landed silently on a branch at the edge of the clearing. Though she hadn't seen him in years, his was not a screech she could forget. She nodded to her feathered hero before reaching down and wrapping her fingers around the bow. He watched as the Frost Archer stood and strolled across the clearing towards him with an outstretched arm. She was only a few feet away when he hopped over and perched on his new seat, mindfully aiming for Ashe's gauntlet instead of her less armored forearm.

"You're quite intelligent, aren't you?" she asked him, giggling at the animal's apparent playfulness as he turned his head from side to side, examining the face of the woman he seemingly recognized. With one last curious blink in her direction, the raptor leapt from his perch on the Queen's arm and disappeared into the frozen forest.

Ashe watched after him for a few moments before turning back to the cairn. Her sigh was much heavier now as she approached the memorial. She'd come here to find answers, not ask more questions. As she sat down at the base of the mound, she recalled the image of her mother, the former Queen of her tribe. Strong. Decisive. Unwavering. She was surprised as a pang of grief tightened in her chest and elicited tears to cloud her vision.

She'd have given those Summoners an earful.

But Ashe's mother would've never been so diplomatic about the whole ordeal. She would've charged into the Council's meeting chambers and demanded city-state status for Freljord. It's just the kind of woman she was; just the kind of woman she died as.

With a quick swipe across her cheeks, Ashe dried the tears before they could freeze to her face, and cringed as she thought of all the insults her mother would've spewed at her stand on ruling Avarosa. She shook her head and looked down at the shining bow resting in her lap.

It's time the people of Freljord laid down their weapons. We have enough on our plates with the Noxians and their Barbarian Pacification Campaign. As if we really need to be fighting ourselves. A people of the same tundra – of the same blood. Hell, it was only five years ago that I myself could've passed as a fair-haired Barbarian child. Their coal colored locks are only a few shades darker than the light brown hue mine used to take, though the stark white shock of hair on my head would stand out painfully among them now. Even so, Avarosans and Barbarians alike are all children of the Freljord, as well as the Winter Claw, Ursine and Frostguard. Why is it so hard to unite under one banner?

At this thought, Ashe stood and turned to face the burial cairn. She replaced her hood and with it, locked the questions in her head. She needed a plan, but no one else should see how troubled she truly was. It would only cause unrest in Avarosa. The Frost Archer turned on her heel, swung the ice bow over her head to its resting place with her quiver, and followed her footprints out of the clearing.

"Nice weather we're having, don't you agree, my Queen?" the Cryopheonix called as Ashe stepped out of the tree line on the outskirts of Avarosa.

"Ah, sister! A break in the blizzard is always welcome in Freljord!" Ashe shouted back. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in months, save the few League battles we've fought together. Where have you been?"

The great ice bird swooped down and landed in the snow next to the Frost Archer and, standing nearly as tall as the petite Queen, shook out her feathers, throwing a mist of ice onto her hooded friend.

"I could ask Her Highness the same question. Frostfall Forest really isn't somewhere I'd recommend the Queen of Freljord to aimlessly wander without a guard." Anivia's tone was mostly mocking, but Ashe caught the slightest hint of genuine concern.

"Well it's a good thing I'm not the Queen of Freljord then," Ashe joked. "Freljord's not a city-state, therefore has no queen."

"Says who?" laughed the bird. "Who would dare claim this beautiful, frozen country unworthy of city-statehood within Valoran?"

"Just the only people who matter," scoffed the Queen, her bitterness flaring as she spotted the League of Legends flag whipping angrily below the Avarosan banner atop the flag pole at the entrance to the town.

Anivia threw a wing over the shoulders of the troubled Queen.

"No worries, old friend. They'll see. In time, they'll see. In the meantime, let's get you back to the Estate. No reason to stand out here freezing to death with a country to fix!"

"You say that as if there's been a single moment in time in the last five years where I have been cold," Ashe rebutted, shrugging the wing from her back and taking a few steps forward. "But, if you insist, I'll race you!"

And with that, the Frost Archer took off through the snow toward the front gates of Avarosa. Anivia waited a few seconds, chuckling to herself.

In all my years of many lives, no one human has ever kept me so young. Her spirit is strong, and her heart is pure. Ashe has to be the one to reunite the Freljord.

Anivia sprung out of the snow and pulled herself into the air.

If she can't mend the wounds of this country, I doubt that anyone can.

At the frost-laden, wrought iron gate to Ashe's Estate that rested at the very back of Avarosa, the two guards standing watch were slightly alarmed when they spotted the Queen sprinting up the iced-over cobblestone path towards them. It wasn't until Anivia flew into sight that they relaxed the iron grips they'd taken on the hilts of the swords at their waists. As Ashe neared the gate they could hear the infectious laugh of their Queen accompanied by the laughter of the children that chased her. She slowed then, to allow the kids a chance to catch up, and then turned suddenly and dropped to one knee to catch the two blonde-haired girls that had been gaining on her heels. Anivia descended from the sky and landed between the two guards at the gate, taking in the scene as they were.

It was certainly not uncommon for Ashe to entertain the children of the town with these silly chases. And no one would dare say that the Queen shouldn't act in such a manner. There was an understanding in Avarosa that Ashe had been somewhat robbed of the chance to mature gradually over her teen years by her mother's death and her immediate rise to power as a fifteen year old girl. There was also an understanding that depriving the Queen of any joys she could manage to cultivate in Avarosa was cruel and unnecessary. The elders of the tribe, though mostly in agreement with Ashe's new campaign for peace and unity, were still members of a much different tribe that had existed well before Ashe's time until the reign of her late mother. Though Ashe had a rightful, blood claim to the throne, it wouldn't be long before the elders tired of her childish pastimes and demanded she settle into the crown she inherited, so allowing the twenty-year-old to enjoy what remained of her youth was a heart-warming service her people provided. And it wasn't like she went running around in such a manner anywhere other than in the protected confines of her home.

In the harsher past of the tribe, battle-hardened leaders' philosophies had always been those of war and survival. But since Ashe took over, Avarosa had seen an unprecedented five years of peace and prosperity.

The town itself had grown immensely, in population and in physical structures. The vast, twenty-foot stone wall surrounding the town had been Ashe's first commission as the undisputed Queen. It allowed the people of the village a sigh of relief from the impending threat of invasion by other tribes, and claimed, for certain, a massive area for the town to inhabit and grow into; space they had not yet filled by any means. Aside from barring the citizens from attacks, the wall also served to shield the city from the frigid Northern winds that often cut across the icy plain the town was built upon. At the back of the town was a sheer, icy cliff face that served as the backdrop to Ashe's Estate. A smaller ice formation jutted out to the North of the ever-growing castle into a sturdy point that governed the space over the town's courtyard from which the Queen would address the populace who could gather below.

As for the castle itself, Ashe had nothing to do with its construction. She didn't spend too much time in the building, honestly. Between summons from the League, her diplomatic agenda, and other tasks that beckoned her away from the place, she rarely even slept there. But that didn't stop the architect in charge of the project from planning out a massive, ornate, regal looking castle with cavernous banquet halls, luxurious guest rooms, various areas for entertaining, and a well-equipped practice room and stocked armory for the Queen and her body guards, who also took up residence in the castle, as well as the servants and housekeepers, who Ashe rarely made demands of.

The castle's exterior of white stone and gold trim had a very Freljord inspired theme, an aspect that Ashe always appreciated when she came home, and even did so now as she stood and began walking to the gate, little Avarosans in tow.

"Alright, you beat me," Ashe breathed, panting. "But my army and I greatly outnumber your ranks, Cryophoenix. Any last words?" She winked at the castle guards.

"Strength does not come from numbers and size, my Queen," Anivia replied, standing taller, "but from the intentions of the heart and the strength of the soul."

With that a small boy with a wooden sword dashed to the front of the pack of children.

"Long live the Queen!" he shouted.

"Long endure the Freljord!" the others chimed in, finishing the cry of the people; the cry of Ashe's people. She couldn't help but smile at Anivia as the kids swarmed the two guards who quickly succumbed and found themselves tied to the iron gate as the children ran off giggling. At this, the Frost Archer openly chuckled.

"Looks like you're all tied up again, Weylan," she poked at the sandy haired guard who was wiggling to free a dagger from his belt. As childhood friends, Ashe and Weylan had grown very close. The night of Ashe's attempted assassination, her friend had gone to warn her, but had been captured and tied up before he made it to the young Queen's quarters, which were much less royal back then. He was the head of her personal guard.

"Always giving me slack for that, Your Highness," he sighed as he began sawing at the rope. "I'm prepared to free myself this time, though."

Anivia grasped the poorly tied knot at the second guard's back and freed him as Weylan's bindings frayed under the blade and finally fell limp around him.

"You received a letter today, my Queen," the second guard, Bristol, remembered aloud. "Ahnja came out and took it inside a while ago. I think she said she'd leave it in your quarters."

Ashe nodded thanks to him and reached a hand out to each of them, helping to pull them up at the same time. Though the woman had a small frame, she was not as frail as some would believe her to be. With a sudden interest in this message, the Queen returned to her more reserved, dignified self.

"I'm planning on staying home tonight, pending no summoners get the itch for a quick battle. So, I'll see you both at dinner," Ashe said as she passed between them to the gate which Anivia had already opened.

"Long live the Queen," the two saluted.

"Long endure the Freljord," Ashe smiled back.

Ashe scoffed as she read the letter she found lying on her bedside table. Ahnja, a housemaid, had recognized the Noxian seal that had been sloppily stamped in wax on the envelope, and had accordingly lit a calming lavender candle on Ashe's vanity, poured the Queen a cup of still steaming cocoa, and left a short note informing the monarch that if she needed anything, she could find Ahnja in the kitchen, Weylan at the gate (as Ashe already knew), or solitude in the practice room (where the maid would be happy to paint a few Noxian figureheads at the center of some of Ashe's targets). With a sigh, Ashe slipped her index finger under the flap of the envelope and separated the wax, which seemed to burn toxic under her touch, from the paper. She was surprised when she unfolded the inner parchment to find the handwriting pretty and carefully written, aside from its sinister origin. She skipped the body of the letter entirely and eyed the signature of the arrogant pen that had written the note, and was surprised again to see the signature of Katarina Du Couteau. What did the Sinister Blade of Noxus need to say that she couldn't mention in person at the Institute of War in her own poison-laden voice?

"Her Highness Queen Ashe of Avarosa," the letter began, "I am writing you today to officially inform you that the Barbarian Pacification Campaign headed by the Noxian High Command has been discontinued. That being said, Noxian forces will be moving out of the Freljord and will likely need to pass through Avarosa en route to safer passage through the Iron Spike Mountains into Piltover through Glacier Plain. We don't intend on being in the area more than a few days, but the town of Avarosa is the only place to re-supply and rest before the days-long trek through the mountains. Noxus would appreciate any assistance Her Highness may see fit to grant our tired soldiers, but would appreciate even more if Her Highness would refrain from attacking the war convoy upon its arrival in Avarosa.

"I will be among the first of three companies to arrive starting in the late afternoon tomorrow. If you'd like to discuss anything regarding the situation, I'd be happy to meet with you once the tents are pitched and campfires sparked. It is of my primary concern that no more of my men freeze to death in this inhospitable climate. We're just grateful the blizzard died down.

"Forever strong,

"Katarina Du Couteau – Sinister Blade of Noxus"

As Ashe finished the letter, she could feel her face burning with frustration. How presumptuous of Noxus to assume Avarosa would grant sanctuary to the very force that was engaged in slaughtering her Barbarian brothers out in the snow! But what else could the Queen do but allow the Noxians a place for the night? Though the Freljordian army was well equipped and highly mobile, there would be no chance for Avarosa to come out of a conflict without many casualties. In her head, Ashe figured the percentage of Avarosan citizens currently serving in the Armed Forces of Freljord. No, she concluded, there would be no chance of victory with odds like that. Plus, the volumes a confrontation would speak of Freljord's candidacy for acceptance as a city-state in the League would be far from supportive. The Noxians will camp at Avarosa.

Ashe turned to the flickering fireplace across the room and chucked the wadded up letter into the flames. Taking the cup of cocoa in her hands, she had to restrain herself from launching that across the room as well.

The rest of Freljord won't like this at all, she thought bitterly.