Chapter IV – A "Pleasant" Surprise

Over the coming weeks, Ashe and Tryndamere had been spending a significant amount of time together, both in and out of bed. One morning Ashe woke feeling ill with the flu, which was common as the cold snowy weather approached the Avarosan territory, covering the light green grassy lands. She stayed in bed for 3 days, being treated by her husband and servants. It wasn't until the third day that Ashe suggested she meet up with a healer outside the village.

With Tryndamere carrying Ashe bridal style out of the town, despite Ashe's semi-serious protests, they approached an old brown tent, partially withered away through years of storms and ware. Tryndamere set Ashe down inside the tent on a log bench, while an elderly pale woman mixed several herbs and potions together. She instructed Ashe to expose her midriff and poured the mixture over her belly. It glowed pink for a few seconds before evaporating into the cooler air.

"Ahh…just as Cyrus suspected," The healer exclaimed in a thick, northern accent, "M'lady, you are with child. Congratulations!"

Tryndamere and Ashe turned to each other with wide smiles. They embraced each other and kissed for the first time in 3 days, excited and grateful of Ashe's newfound pregnancy.

4 weeks later, Ashe started to show her pregnancy a bit with a rounder midsection, easily mistaken by the Queen putting on a bit more weight for the coming winter. Ashe was practicing her archery in the early morning, long before the sun even began to rise over the mountains, in her personal archery field behind their own two story tent-like home. She wanted to make sure her accuracy and aim wouldn't faultier after the pregnancy, and so far she was as natural with a bow as always, despite the added weight of a 6 week old preborn inside her making it somewhat more difficult to hold her breath for the shot. Luckily, a natural marksman like Ashe would easily be able to adapt.

As Ashe released another ice arrow at a moving target, a rock flew right in front of her face, barely missing. It bounced off the nearby wall and landed next to the queen, exposing the old parchment not attached to it. Ashe opened it up and read it to herself.

Hey Archer,

You gave me a gift I never asked for. You and your king will have to answer for this. Meet me in our special hidden place. Bring Tryn… And no weapons.

-Sej.

Ashe blinked and looked around to see if she could spot Sejuani, but no one was nearby that she could tell. She shrugged and headed over to wake Tryndamere up. After a somewhat lengthy explination and waiting even longer for Tryndamere to get dressed, they headed into the forest.

It took a bit less than an hour but Ashe found her way to the hidden spring up in the snowy mountains. There, she found Sejuani in the pool, half naked and staring directly at her.

"Well…I was wondering when you'd finally show,' Sejuani exclaimed, "Get lost with your barbaric king? Hehe."

Tryndamere didn't look in the least bit amused, "What do you want, pig?"

"To show you what you gave me…" Sejuani remarked before she stood up. It was difficult to tell, but Sejuani's midsection was a bit rounder, and her chest did look slightly bigger, "You two got me pregnant.

Tryndamere and Ashe both blinked several times, and exclaimed at the same time, "W-wait…what?!"

"You two just had to go a fuck without protection huh," Sejuani remarked, "I bet Ashe's baby is just as far as mine."

"What…what are you talking about?" Ashe asked, "How could…us doing that cause…you?"

Sejuani sighed, "…Don't you recall Ashe? Our link?"

"…No I don't." Ashe replied, "What link?"

"Our ancestral link," Sejuani replied, "I would have thought a history bluff like you would know all about it."

Ashe shook her head. Throughout all her texts, she never came across anything suggesting she or any of the three sisters were connected together by some magical link. She figured Sejuani was just lying about being pregnant too. Perhaps she took up after her boar Bristle and started eating anything that she could fit in her mouth.

"How do we even know if you're telling the truth about anything," Ashe argued, "For all we know, you're just fattening up for winter."

"Winter's Claw do not 'fatten up'" Sejuani exclaimed quite defensively, "We keep our bodies in prime condition to survive against the harsh Freljord. I can promise you cuz'…I'm as pregnant as you are."

"Alright," Ashe started, "So you might be…what do you want us to do about it?"

"…Help me with this kid," Sejuani replied, "You two owe me for messing around."

"You mean raise it?" Tryndamere interjected.

"Hell no," Sejuani replied, "This kid's not following your farm-not-fight life…it will be a proud warrior following my footsteps. But you two will help me along during the 9 months of hell it'll put me through."

"And what if we don't?" Ashe asked.

"Then you can forget about anything close to an alliance between us," Sejuani threatened.

Ashe turned to Tryndamere, both staring at each other silently asking what they should do. It seemed they were stuck doing what Sejuani wanted…if they wanted to unite the Freljord eventually.

"Fine," Tryndamere spoke before turning his head to Sejuani, "I'll take care of both of you..."

Immediately he knew he'd regret those words.