We reached the mountain pass and could already look into the valley beyond it. There was a camp located in it and there was no snow! I heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of green grass and soil. When we exited the pass the temperature suddenly went up. We took off our extra clothes again and neared the camp. We did not go unnoticed for long; we were met by four barbarians as you would expect them to look; muscled, leather clothing and huge weapons. Thrall did the explanation this time. We were led by the barbarians to the biggest tent in the compound. One of the guards opened the tent and let us in. There was a long black haired muscled man sitting at a desk, writing some things on a piece of paper, and a bright yellow haired woman with skin as light as snow lying on a bed staring at the ceiling. She turned her head as we came in, the man continued writing. 'Leona, Pantheon! What are you doing here, and who have you brought to Freljord?' she asked. Pantheon introduced Uzug and me as Tryndamere finally took the effort to put aside whatever he was doing. 'Pantheon, buddy, it is good to see you again', he hugged Pantheon. Thrall interrupted them going straight to the problem. After a long explanation Tryndamere seemed to boil of anger, 'dam nit', he said, calmly but rough. 'They give their race a bad name, I'm glad we sought our own destination and split from them, I wouldn't want to still be with them. 'Anything I can do to bother the Humans of Stormwind will be done, Ashe let's join them'. Leona grabbed me by the shoulder and winked, 'you see?' she whispered. I didn't say a word. After having had something to eat and to drink I asked Ashe if she could train me in archery. At that Ashe blushed a bit and told me she could. She asked me if I wanted to get started right now, 'yes' I had answered, insisting. So she led me to the training grounds of the camp leaving the others behind. 'They would find something to do', I thought, soothing my mind. Some barbarians were training just as in the Rakkor village. Ashe and I went to a reclusive area where we would be the only ones practising. I asked her to show me some skills, 'right', she answered. She took on her blue crystal bow from her back and an arrow. Her long white hair waved as she fully concentrated on her target. She released and hit the target right in the centre from a distance of about fifty metres. 'Amazing', I said. I wanted to try my luck as well but with my simple wooden bow I couldn't even get near the target. 'Hmm, you will need some training I see', Ashe said with a grin, 'and certainly a better bow'. 'Could I try yours then?' I asked. 'No way', was her answer, 'this bow is part of my life, it's an heirloom. 'Just one shot then?' I tried. After some hesitation Ashe allowed me to fire a shot, 'be careful, please'. This bow was a well-shaped piece of craftsmanship, just holding it felt great. I asked for one of her arrows as well. 'Just don't lose it', she said as she gave me one. I concentrated and released, this time I actually hit the target, not even near the centre but it was a hit. Ashe smiled, 'good start, practice some more, I'll go to our blacksmith and ask him to make him a high quality bow and some arrows. After a lot of shots and retrieving my arrows again from the grass beyond the target I was losing my focus. Looking at my own achievements I was quite happy that I managed to get some arrows on the target, there was even one lucky shot next to the centre. I put my bow away and walked back to the main tent. Once I arrived there only Pantheon and Tryndamere were there drinking some kind of liquor. I asked where the others were. 'They should be somewhere in the compound', Pantheon said, taking another sip of his drink. It smelt like his home made brew. 'Where can I find the blacksmith', I suddenly asked, hoping that Ashe would still be there. 'Leave the tent and keep walking to the right until you see a tent with an anvil in front of it', Tryndamere answered. Before he had finished his sentence I had already left, the anvil part was quite unnecessary. It didn't take long for me to see a man crafting a crystal bow with Ashe sitting next to him with her own bow as an example. 'How's it going here', I asked. Ashe turned around and motioned me to sit down, 'have a look yourself'. I sat down and watched the bow taking shape. 'This is pretty hard', the blacksmith said, looking at Ashe's bow and back at the one in his hands, his forehead was covered in sweat, 'this material is far tougher than iron'. 'I won't be able to decorate this one with gems like Ashe's bow' he said, 'simply because I do not have them'. I looked at Ashe's bow, at the gems reflecting the sunlight. It was a shame that mine wouldn't be as beautiful but that is not the main purpose of a bow. 'It is done', he said as he removed the last impurities with a piece of sandpaper, 'the only thing I need now is a sinew'. 'I have those', Ashe responded, pulling a string out of her pocket, 'this will do, I always have some spare ones with me, just in case'. Ashe took the newly-formed bow and attached the string, adjusting it sometimes to make sure it would be at its best. 'Do you make arrows too?' I asked the smith while Ashe was occupied with the bow. 'Sure, no problem'. This question seemed pretty stupid in itself looking at the man's muscles and all the equipment he had made already which was all over the place and even stored in his tent behind him. Ashe was finally finished and asked me to come back to her tent where the others would be waiting for us. 'Hah', I said, 'if you mean drinking by saying waiting they are, or at least your husband and Pantheon are'. 'What?' she exclaimed. She took a quick pace and ran back to the main tent, I followed her only to find out that there was a party prepared for us outside the tent. Two benches were placed next to a fire on which the rest of the group was sitting.
'We were preparing to skewer chicken', Uzug said, we were just waiting for you, it'd be rude to start without my best friend'. I was flattered, and I was hungry so I sat down unhesitatingly. Tryndamere took three chickens from a crate, featherless and ready to be prepared. I saw Uzug with that look in his eyes as if he was already enchanting the meat with his cooking skills. Instead, Tryndamere impaled them and put them over the fire on the horizontal sticks. Uzug stumbled, 'aren't you going to do anything with that?' 'Why?' Tryndamere replied, 'it's perfect'. Tryndamere stood up, leaving me in laughter on the inside and went into the tent without saying a word. 'What is he going to do?' I asked. 'He will get us some bottles of Pantheon's fine liquor', Leona said, 'he brought some with him'. 'There won't be so much left of it I guess', I muttered. 'What do you mean?' Pantheon suddenly asked. 'Well, I guess you've already had your share this afternoon with Tryndamere. 'No way he said, that was Tryndamere's own creation, I'm trying to teach him but he still can't get close to me', he laughed. Tryndamere returned with two bottles of Pantheons brew which I could recognize from the labels. We talked about daily things and about what we ought to do. I let the fire that was slowly roasting the chicken warm my skin as well and watched the sparks rising to the colour-shifting sky, darkness was falling in, but it all added to the cosy feeling. I watched the wood turn to coal and found out that it was time to add some more. To kill the time I asked Ashe about her story. 'What do you mean', was her answer. 'Well, you know, how did you meet Trynda?' I asked. 'Oh, that story'. 'Well', she started, 'you can say it was either luck or accident. I was hunting with my hawk on the snow plains when it suddenly started to scream and fly away, I followed it and found Trynda lying in the snow, I took him to this oasis and took care of him', she paused for a bit 'and later I found out that he was the king of the nearby barbarian encampment'. 'Hmm, love at first sight? I teased her. 'No way', Ashe said. 'Oh yes Tryndamere answered, laughing in his heavy voiced manner, 'you just couldn't resist this bunch of muscles'. 'Anyways', Ashe continued, after he got his cautiousness back he started questioning me, who are you? Where is my tribe?' 'Don't you deny you felt something for me as soon as I woke up', Tryndamere interrupted again. 'Ok so maybe a little bit', Ashe replied, mostly to keep him quiet I guess. 'I had no fixed home and resided in this oasis mostly, I offered Tryndamere to stay here with me', she continued. 'But how did he end up there in the snow in the first place?' I asked. Ashe laughed, 'Ironically enough, he was looking for a new place for his people to establish a camp as they were running out of resources. 'Quite obvious that there won't be many out there in the snow', I said. 'Tryndamere insisted immediately' Ashe went on, 'so instead of getting one barbarian I got a thousand here now'. 'Little Trynda underestimated the cold', she teased Tryndamere after finishing her story. 'You are lucky that I am so tough after all, to survive in the snow for hours, otherwise you wouldn't have had a husband right now', Tryndamere counter-teased. 'Dinner's done!' Uzug suddenly yelled. It seemed that this storytelling had actually killed the time, it sure felt that way. Uzug entered his greedy mode after he yelled out and wanted to grab the pin with his bare hands, not such a good idea, the six of us saw it coming but despite of that he burnt his fingers. By the look in his eyes I could sense that he would be glad to be out there in the snow again. He ran off to a well to cool his fingers in the water. When he came back Uzug grabbed two oven gloves from his bag and gave a triumphant laugh to Uzug, 'here, use these'. I looked at Pantheon and stumbled, 'Do
you really take those with you wherever you go?' 'Yes', he had answered shortly in a serious manner. This was the laughing trigger for Leona. Uzug, well-raised as he was asked Tryndamere where the dishes and cutlery were. Tryndamere's face became open-eyed and he laughed, 'did you honestly think that we would use any of those unnecessary attributes for an occasion like this?' Uzug became more and more of a foreigner in these eating habits, he seemed so confused. However, no matter how confused he was he would never lose his appetite, this became clear when he had a chicken leg in his hand, eating it to the bone. After a while, three chickens later to be exact, we were satiated. Thrall the ever-quiet person had had the most. We grabbed the bottles which Tryndamere had brought earlier, poured in and cheered. 'Ahh!' Pantheon exclaimed after taking a sip, 'Like home on Targon, now that is how you make liquor', he teased Tryndamere, he didn't respond much. Pantheon struck me with his words, I didn't have much time to think about home, I was enjoying my time here, but now he made me, I quite missed it, but the painful paradox was that once I would be home I would miss this place for sure. With a full stomach and confused heart Ashe directed us to our sleeping place for the night. We, Leona and I, would take our stay in an unoccupied tent in the centre of the camp, close to Ashe's. Pantheon and Uzug would be in a tent next to us and Thrall would be in a tent next to that one. A stack of sheets and pillows was in the tent, waiting to be used. A small oil lamp or whatever it was using as fuel was placed carefully at the side of the tent. I threw off all unnecessary clothes and dived into the pillar of softness. I enveloped myself as I thought about how well Ashe was treating visitors up here. Leona wished me goodnight. 'Goodnight', I said, turning the oil lamp off.
