Chapter Three: "Growing Up"

"I don't think it really needs to be said but perhaps it does. In the north, there is no such thing as making a mistake. That especially applies to those of us whom do not call Freljord our homeland. When you make a mistake there, you just die. The many people whom make mistakes and die there every day, every night, prove that. Folk up there freeze. Folk up there get crushed. Folk up there get eaten. I mean, yes, the northern realm of Runeterra is a beautiful place. Nevertheless, so is a rose. And like the rose, Freljord has a way of making you lower your guard, no matter what." – Jayce, Defender of Tomorrow

"Look at the size of the ursines' camp, you guys." Aaron said to the other children in awe while sitting on the tallest rock of all of the rocks, facing southeast so he could look out over the camp of Vallan best, "Seriously, they alone could help our parents secure the throne from those cowardly southerners who have the nerve to call themselves Freljordians. Do you not think so, Samandra?"

"Number and size aren't all that matter, Aaron." Samandra proudly replied, enjoying the fact that everyone – like always – looked to her when she began to answer what they wanted to know, "Olaf's berserkers are just as mighty as Volibear's bear warriors. In fact, I was with Agatha last week and I saw Olaf take down one of Volibear's right hand bears with only his bare hands."

"What?!" Aaron exclaimed, his eyes growing to the size of dinner plates at the news, "Are you serious?! But look at the size of the berserker camp compared to everyone else. There can't be more than… a few hundred, right? Even if they are as strong as the ursine, I don't see how they're really going to help our folks during whatever battle."

"Listen, don't tell anyone I told you this but truth be told… the berserkers who follow Olaf are the most powerful warriors in all of Freljord." Samandra honestly explained, nodding her head happily as her friends assumed dinner plate sized eyes of surprise like Aaron, "Yeah, trust me, I usually get bored whenever I end up having to follow Agatha around as her pupil. But following her around is how I know that Olaf and his warriors are the mightiest troopers anywhere. They've mastered the art of battle, of combat, of using their rage to make themselves unassailable."

"But, Samandra…" Little Antony wondered abruptly, looking curious from his seat on a rock beside his older sister below Samandra, "Didn't Sejuani beat the berserker leader? Isn't that why they follow our parents now?"

"That's right, Antony. You said that well." Samandra said with pride, leaning back onto her rock to look cool to the others while she talked, "There may be many warriors out there who are as strong as our parents, who may be as strong as the Winter Claws. However, we have someone that no one in the north has ever had before. We have Sejuani."

"Yeah, we have Sejuani!" Astrid said with glee, smiling at everyone, "While those fools down south have a Frost Archer and Barbarian King, we have the Winter's Wrath! We have winter itself on our side!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Aaron yelled with energy, jumping up onto his rock and swinging around his pretend shield and axe from earlier, "And with winter on our side, there's no way our parents will lose to those cowards down south! The throne is as good as ours – Hey, whoa! Augh! Oof!"

As he got around to getting too carried away in swinging his invisible weapons around him at things only he could see, Aaron lost his footing on his rock of a seat, scrambled to stay balanced… then bodily fell headfirst into the piles of snow below him. There, for a few moments with his legs waving in the air and his head driven into the snow, he struggled to right himself. Finally, when he did come back up for air, he came back up to hear the hectic laughter of his friends nearby which he joined in without a moment of hesitation. Their laughing was all in good fun, anyway. It was not meant to be hostile.

"And speaking of the Winter's Wrath, is she not the reason why we're up here where we shouldn't be, Sam?" Astrid wondered modestly, giving Samandra an unsure look, "Is she really going to be happy to see us so far from the camp? I mean, I know we want to see our princess come back today but… I'd rather do it without getting my rear tanned by my folks."

"Look, I'm just going to keep saying it until you get it, Astrid." Samandra stated coolly, waving away the worried words of Astrid like they weren't worth noticing, "Sejuani isn't going to see us. Not unless you let her. See, I know that she took this road up the mountains two weeks ago to go meditate in Glacial Reach. Today, she's supposed to be coming back and… we'll be able to see her coming back down this trail before anyone else today. Won't that be cool?"

"Sure it will." Astrid admitted, looking sheepishly around at the surroundings, "Still, do we have to be so high up the mountain? Playing in that plain back there was one thing but being up here is a complete other. Up here… I just have a bad feeling. I feel like we're being watched."

"Just relax. We're all together here. There's nothing but rocks and snow up here with us." Samandra argued back, acting uncaring before everyone's eyes to keep them on her side, "Who's watching us, eh? The Ice Witch? If she is, she's most certainly watching our parents getting ready for battle. She's probably trembling at the sight of all of these warriors coming together."

Samandra's bold words did the necessary job of reassuring her friends around her. At the mention of the infamous Ice Witch herself being intimidated by their Winter Claw warrior parents getting ready for war below, the children seated upon rocks began to excitedly talk again of how the alliance of the ursine, berserkers and Winter Claws were going to crush the puny enemies to the south.

Beforehand, after about two hours of playing back in the snowy plain they'd found so enjoyable, the play fighting against imagined Avarosans as well as Frostguards had come to an end for Samandra's gang. Then, inspired by their crimson haired leader's words, Samandra's daring party of friends had followed her to this higher spot up the mountain where they'd been sitting on rocks for the last hour looking over the massive camp of Vallan that included ursine, berserkers as well as Winter Claws.

Initially, the idea of traveling up onto the mountain so high was only to briefly see Vallan in its entirety. Now, though, having used her honeyed words on her loyal friends, Samandra and her fellows were anxiously awaiting the return of their princess, Sejuani, who was supposedly coming back home today. Of course, as planned an hour ago, when she was within sight, the expectant if not excited kids wouldn't let the Winter's Wrath see them up here.

Then again, they were kids… Kids who had broken quite a lot of rules in the last few hours and were asking for serious trouble by waiting longer outside of the camp limits for their princess to come to them so they could merely get a glimpse of her before everyone else. Yes, as Samandra kept insisting, this seemed like a great plan. NOT.

Yet, being the trouble maker she was, having inherited the feisty spirit of her father, Samandra was determined to see Sejuani before anyone else today. For the last two weeks, she had been determined to do so. Now, on this day, whether or not anyone wanted to join her, she would witness the Winter's Wrath return. Samandra had come this far, right? What was the point of heading back home when she along with the rest of her friends had come this far? Simply put, there was no point. In her childish mind, anyway.

And that was why everyone at the moment now followed Samandra's leadership rather than wise Astrid's. Plus, seeing as Astrid was the one being the downer and Samandra had been telling everyone cool stories about the ursine as well as berserkers since they'd come up to the rocky seats that granted them fabulous views of Vallan below, no one was really thinking of going home. No, they were thinking of how cool it would be to wrap up the day by seeing the Princess of the Winter Claws without her spotting them.

"Astrid?" Antony quietly mumbled to his older sister, trying not to gain everyone's attention with what he had to say, "Um, I have… I have to go potty."

"You have to go potty?" Astrid bluntly asked aloud next, making Antony wince as the rest of the kids immaturely laughed at his need to go relieve himself somewhere, "Well, uh, we're kinda high up here. Could you not hold on and make it back to the encampment?"

"No. I have to go now."

"Alright, alright. What do you need to do exactly, little brother?"

"Yeah, Antony. What do you have to do?" Samandra chortled jokingly, attracting the rest of the gang's attention in turn, "Do you have to make a little bit of yellow snow… or do you need to make an ursine sized pile of brown? Ha ha!"

Following her juvenile teasing words as well as laughter, everyone burst into wild mirth with Samandra. Well, everyone except Antony who, with a scowl, took off running into the distance without warning. As a result of this, worried Astrid followed him while Samandra ceased being cruel. Indeed, at having seen little Antony take off like his feelings were hurt, the crimson haired girl sighed wearily, firmly got the rest of her friends to stop laughing and then purposefully jogged her way through the snow after Astrid.

Bah, Antony had a tendency to do this; to be dramatic. Even though he was a hardy Winter Claw youth, he always had a tendency to run off and act all hurt by the well-intended jokes, teases as well as messing around directed towards him from his best friends. Like at the moment, he inflated situations that didn't need to be inflated.

Yet, he was still a kid amongst kids after all. He still had some maturing to do before he would be able to truly take a joke or two against his dignity like Samandra or Astrid or Aaron did nowadays.

Finally, after several long moments since she'd left the others at their rock seats, Samandra caught up with breathless Astrid as well as quiet Antony. Like the inexperienced child he was, with his fur pants down and his pink buns out in the open, the little brother in question was grimly peeing freely into the snow while not saying a word back to his reassuring older sister. When seeing that Samandra had caught up to them, Antony actually stuck his tongue out at her before refocusing back onto his task of going potty.

"Well, you asked if he needed to make some yellow or brown snow…" Astrid joked, winking at Samandra, "There's your answer."

"I would have been more impressed with a ursine sized dump. Not a pathetic, Avarosan sized pee." Samandra joked back, purposefully teasing Antony which would indeed make him madder but would also eventually work things out between them, "Honestly, Antony, you didn't have to run off like that and seek privacy like people in the south. Here, in the north, we're Winter Claws. We pee wherever we want. We pee in front of our friends."

"No we don't." Antony replied hotly, getting finished and pulling up his pants, "I've never seen you pee in front of everyone. You're just trying to trick me into doing it so that you can laugh at me again and my parents will punish me."

"Antony, we weren't laughing at you earlier. We've never laughed at you." Astrid reassured, grinning widely at the conversation taking place, "We laugh with you. We've always laughed with you, silly little brother."

"Yeah right." Antony fumed, crossing his arms and looking away from the two girls honestly trying to comfort him, "You always make fun of me, you guys. You laugh at me all of the time. I'm not dumb. I know you're lying."

"Uh oh. Do you know? By Serylda, Astrid, your little brother… he's becoming too smart for us!" Samandra exclaimed in mock shock, putting her face in her hands while her eyes became huge, "Wait, do you think he also knows… about THAT?"

"No, I don't think he knows THAT just yet." Astrid replied just as playfully shocked, playing along with the moment as best as she could so that her little brother would stop being so stubborn, "But if he's smarter than us, I'm sure he'll find out soon enough."

"I don't really know about that." Samandra stated, shaking her head, "Really, I don't know."

"What?" Antony wondered finally, looking curious instead of pouty, "What is it that I know? If I'm smarter than you guys then what are you two talking about, hm?"

"False alarm." Samandra announced next, looking a bit relieved while Astrid did her best not to appear to be lost, "Phew, Antony, I'm so glad you weren't smarter than me or your sister. If you were then that would have meant you would be a man today."

"Really? Wait, I am a man!" Antony stated, putting on a serious face, "Yeah, I'm just as smart as you guys. You take that back, Sammy!"

"Well, are you sure you want to become a man here and now up on the face of this mountain? Are you sure you want to be smarter than me and your sister?" Samandra wondered, putting on a wicked grin, "Because, you know, Antony, when you become a man with smarts… the Ice Witch takes an interest in you."

"She… she does?" Antony croaked back, suddenly sounding a bit uncertain of wanting to be a man, "Why?"

"Because you would be a Winter Claw with genius! Duh. And it's known everywhere that the Ice Witch steals the intelligence of smart adults all of the time." Samandra cheerily explained, going along with her fib very well while Astrid did her best to contain her snickering, "Well, she steals the intelligence of smart adults whom show if off, anyway. It's the smartest adults who act dumb all of the time that avoid her gaze."

"Really? The smartest adults act dumb… so that they won't be visited by the Ice Witch?" Antony wondered to himself, thinking deeply with his little mind, "Then, Samandra, am I really a man like my daddy today? Be honest."

"You can be if you want. But if you agree to it… The Ice Witch will take notice."

"Not if I play dumb though, right?"

"Well, that could work. I don't know if it's a guarantee. Yet, if you do agree to be a man right now and let your friends keep joking around with you being dumb a little bit longer… Then you should be able to keep from becoming an interest of the Ice Witch's."

"So, Antony, don't you see? The reason why myself and your other friends have been making fun of you all of this time is because we never wanted the Ice Witch to get you." Astrid emotionally spoke up, catching onto Samandra's plan finally, "Little brother, I don't want you turning into a man today. I forbid it! I don't want you to be in danger of the Ice Witch. I don't want her trolls coming for your smarts in the middle of the night. I want you to always be smarter than me and your friends and the witch."

"You… you guys have been making fun of me to make me look silly so that I wouldn't get visited by the Ice Witch?" Antony rather wisely asked, looking from one falsely yet good acting girl to the other in shock, "But I'm not scared of any trolls! I'm not afraid of the witch! Sis, I can lookout for myself. I promise, I won't have my smarts stolen. I promise that I won't let any of our friends get hurt. Please, let me turn into a man today. Please, please, please."

"I don't know… What do you think Samandra?"

"We can make an acceptation. However, it can only be made if you, Antony, promise several things." Samandra declared, rearing a firm nod from Astrid's little brother in turn, "You must promise not to run away from us, your friends, anymore. Understood?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Next, you must promise to always understand that your friends are not laughing at you but with you. Am I clear?"

"Yes, yes. I won't forget that."

"Lastly, due to the fact that the Ice Witch could be anywhere, you must not tell anyone – not a parent, child or holy elder – that you have become a man today. For if you do go and brag about having grown up, the trolls will eventually come for you. Antony, you are now a man like your father. Yet, you must keep that secret amongst your friends. Okay?"

"Okay!" Antony laughed, jumping up as well as down now with excitement, "Then is that it? I'm really a man now? Sister, am I a man like daddy?"

"Indeed. You are, little brother." Astrid giggled, giving cunning Samandra a grateful if not impressed smile at how their fib of a story had actually worked at making her brother so happy, "Father will be proud."

"Ah, ah. No. Antony, you are a man today but that must remain a secret until I say you can tell it. You cannot even tell your parents about it. The Ice Witch has ears everywhere." Samandra interjected, crossing her arms and looking bold amid the snow all around, "You must keep it a secret with only us, your friends."

"Yes. I must keep this a secret." Antony laughed again, looking up at his sister happily, "Even from mommy and daddy. It will keep them safe from the Ice Witch. Right, sis?"

"Uh, yeah. That sounds right." Astrid agreed, nodding her head, "For now, let's head back and look at Vallan with the rest of our friends."

Ah, finally, Samandra and her two companions could rejoin their friends and look upon the large camp of Vallan once more. This time, though, it would be done while Antony thought himself a man and the jokes aimed at him would be meant to protect him, not shame him. In fact, the little brother of Astrid would not see jokes the same way anymore. For now on, he would experience them as protection from the Ice Witch, not harsh words meant to ground away his honor like beforehand supposedly.

Yet, as everyone turned around to begin their trek back to their friends on the rocks overlooking Vallan, the three children stopped dead in their tracks. For while they had been laughing, gossiping, bonding, Samandra, Astrid as well as Antony hadn't taken notice that a large predator of Freljord had sniffed them out… and it now stood in their way with its hackles raised, teeth bared, ears drawn back and eyes bright with deadly intent.