Chapter 470 Sejuani and Ashe
Two months later, Lakstag.
This was once the capital of Avarosa, but now the flag of Winter's Claw has been hoisted.
Yes...after observing for a period of time, Sejuani finally accepted this land.
She gradually discovered that the Windlord was as kind and sincere as Udyr had said, and had no ill will towards the Winter Claw; and Ashe had really made up her mind to move all of Avarosa's people to Frost Harbor in the west.
In the past two months, under the organization and mobilization of Ashe and the Leaders, hundreds of tribes, large and small, that had originally been affiliated with Avarosa have formed groups of migrating teams, and have set out from Rakstak one after another and migrated to Frost Harbor in the west.
Ashe really generously gave up Rakstak, and Sejuani reluctantly settled down here.
But what she didn't expect was that this piece of land she had always dreamed of would actually become a hot potato...
"Mother Zhan! Mother Zhan! Have a piece of bread too~" The children's affectionate call once again interrupted her thoughts.
Sejuani's thoughts couldn't help but return to reality.
"No, you guys eat it." She smiled and returned the bread to the child, then turned her eyes to these cute little ones.
Compared to two months ago, the children looked much better. Their faces were rounder, their arms were fatter, and they seemed to be taller.
This is thanks to the leader.
It was the Wind Leader who persuaded Ashe to leave the herds and food that Avarosa was unable to take away to the Winter Claw, helping the Winter Claw to overcome the adaptation period from a hunting tribe to a farming and pastoral tribe and gain a firm foothold in this land.
Anyway, the food that the Demacia Leaders had sent to Avarosa had already been shipped to Frost Harbor. They only needed to bring one mouth to feed, and there was no need to carry all the food with them like ants moving house.
Although Sejuani was somewhat reluctant to accept Ashe's charity, she always felt that the phrase "humanitarian aid" from the leader's mouth was a bit contemptuous.
But in the end, she still...
"It smells so good~" The children hummed with satisfaction while chewing on the bread sponsored by the Leader.
"Hmm..." Sejuani was speechless.
She used to do robbery, and this was her first time begging.
Looking at the children's rounder faces, she really couldn't say anything bad about those leaders.
The leader was indeed a good person. After observing and understanding him for the past two months, she admitted this.
but……
"Warmother Sejuani, two small clans left the tribe without permission yesterday."
"One of them followed Avarosa's migration team to the west, and the other followed the legend of the Silver City to the south..."
What you fear will come to you. Just when Sejuani was struggling with the negative impact brought by the Wind Leader, her war priest Ogai rushed here and reported this terrible news to her.
"War Mother. Including them, a total of eight clans have left the tribe in the past two months." Ogai concluded.
"I understand." Sejuani felt a headache after hearing this.
Now she finally empathized with the difficulties Ashe was facing at the time, and finally understood why Ashe eventually surrendered to the Leader.
There is no way. It is difficult to lead a team when people are not motivated.
After two months of contact and observation, the warriors of Winter Claw have gradually realized the sincerity and friendliness of the Leader, and have also heard the beautiful legends about the Silver City.
Although the Winter's Claw is different from the Avarosa Alliance, it is not a loosely structured tribal alliance.
But the huge Winter Claw tribe today was formed by Sejuani through a series of wars, annexing and integrating dozens of large and small clans.
In other words, the direct descendants who are truly related to Sejuani only account for a small part of the Winter Claw today.
Most of the people in Winter Claw are outsiders who have joined the tribe for only a few years.
It cannot be said that their loyalty to Sejuani does not exist, but it can only be said that it is difficult to stand the test.
Faced with the sugar-coated bullets handed out by the Leader, and the legendary good life in Silver City and Frost Harbor...which Freljordian can resist such temptation?
"Warmother Sejuani." Ogay could not help but remind her: "If this continues, the Winter Claw will probably collapse without a fight..."
"What should we do then?" Sejuani asked helplessly.
"I think there are only three ways..." Ogay answered hesitantly: "First, like Ashe did before, go to war with the Wind Leader."
Of course this approach doesn't work. They can't win.
"What about the second one?" Sejuani frowned.
"Leave here." Ogay took a deep breath and said, "Take everyone and leave here as soon as possible."
"Lakstak is too close to Frost Harbor and Secret Silver City... If we stay here, our manpower will only be slowly drained away."
This is also a solution that doesn't work.
"People's hearts have been scattered. How many people will follow us?" Sejuani sighed pessimistically.
"What's more..." She glanced at the children in front of her again.
A few months ago, these children were still living in leaky tents on the ice field, eating meager food, and were as thin as snow rabbits.
And now, they lived in Lakstag's warm wooden house, with a fire and plenty of food.
“We can’t go back to the old days. Not anymore,” Sejuani sighed.
There was no way she would take her people back to the ice field to live a precarious and miserable life just for her own power.
A War Mother's primary duty is to ensure the survival of the tribe. If she does this, she is unworthy of being a War Mother.
Therefore, this second method is absolutely not feasible.
"What about the third method?" Sejuani asked again.
"The third way..." Ogay paused subtly, "The third way is... to take the initiative to cooperate with the Leader, just like the Avarosa Alliance did."
Everyone left the tribe to live a good life. If Winter's Claw also moved to Frost Harbor or Silver City, everyone could live the legendary good life under the leadership of Sejuani, and then they wouldn't have to run away.
"This..." Sejuani's face darkened.
When she heard such capitulationist remarks, she immediately came to her senses with vigilance.
Seeing Ogay, who had given her three suggestions in a serious manner but finally came to the conclusion of surrender, she couldn't help but wonder: "Ogay, did you come here to persuade me to surrender from the beginning?"
"War Mother." Ogai sighed helplessly , "We actually surrendered two months ago. Isn't that right?"
"..." Sejuani blushed.
Yes. She even ate the relief food from the leader, so what was there to talk about surrendering or not?
She had already bowed to the leader a long time ago. Now, she was just one step away.
"Besides, Udyr has been promoting the theory of the Wind Leaders to us these days." Ogay did not hide his ideological inclinations: "What kind of people are those Wind Leaders? War Mother, you should now understand."
The leader will not harm them. But they can neither fight nor run away, and if they stay here, their morale will collapse and they will die slowly.
Besides following Ashe's story...
"What other choice do we have?" O'Gay asked.
"..." Sejuani was speechless.
And at this moment, a voice suddenly appeared behind her.
"Sejuani." In the entire city of Rakstak, there is only one person who calls her by her name.
"Ashe." Speak of the devil, and Sejuani was just struggling over whether to follow Ashe's story, when Ashe arrived.
The capital of the Avarosan Alliance has now moved to Frost Harbor, but it is not a task that can be accomplished overnight for hundreds of thousands of people in the alliance to migrate there one after another.
So Ashe let Tryndamere follow the vanguard to Frosthaven Harbor, while she stayed in Rakstak to organize the migration of the remaining tribes.
"Sejuani, the last group of migrants are ready to set off. I'm leaving." Ashe said.
"Are you here to say goodbye to me?" Sejuani looked strange.
She didn't remember her relationship with Ash recovering so well.
“Sejuani.” Ashe only smiled and said, “Times have changed. Neither you nor I can ever be the queen of the Freljord again.”
"The Freljord doesn't need a king either. It just needs a modern and beautiful life."
"Is there any point in dwelling on past grudges now?"
Sejuani was speechless.
The reason why she and Ashe initially fell out was because she couldn't stand Ashe's kindness and protection of the weak - she believed that Ashe was betraying the heritage of her mother, Glenna.
But later, when Sejuani herself became the master of Rakstak, she immediately learned to be kind and protect the weak.
She even wanted to beg those weak people to stay here and help her with farming, grazing, mining and metallurgy.
Although her starting points may be different from Ashe's, in the end, changes in material conditions and production methods have turned Sejuani into the "benevolent lord" she once looked down upon.
In this way, she naturally could no longer have any ideological conflicts with Ashe.
Putting aside the ideological contradictions, the conflict of interests that caused Sejuani and Ashe to become complete enemies no longer exists.
"I won't argue with you anymore." Ashe looked over sincerely: "Sejuani."
"We were enemies before. But now, I hope you can be my friend again - the friend who grew up with me, trained with me, played in the snow with me in Weiskar, and fished with me on the coast of Ornkar."
"You... are you talking nonsense!" Sejuani snorted softly.
But in the end, she didn't refute anything.
"It seems that we are friends again." Ashe smiled.
"That's enough!" Sejuani turned her face away impatiently: "If you just want to reminisce about those childhood memories, you can leave now!"
Ashe smiled but said nothing. She observed Sejuani's slightly moved expression before she said, "I do have one more thing."
"What?" Sejuani heard the seriousness in her tone.
"I would like to invite you, the Winter Claw, to move to Frost Harbor as well," said Ashe.
"You want me to go to Frost Harbor and join you?" Sejuani raised her eyebrows.
"No, this is not about joining me, but joining the Wind Leader." Ashe said bluntly: "Frost Harbor will be a city managed by the Freljord Wind Leader Association and belong to all ice people, not just controlled by any one tribe."
"Also, I think Mr. Udyr should have told you:"
"The economic base determines the superstructure. Once the city is built and our people become workers, the tribe will naturally die out."
"Whether it's Avarosa or Winter's Claw, in the future, at most they can be preserved as a clan in the new era."
"Even if you and I still want to continue being the tribe's war mothers, we will not be able to do so sooner or later."
Sejuani did understand these principles. After all, Udyr had been whispering to her in these past two months.
"Okay." Sejuani gritted her teeth and said, "Warmother or mayor. Whatever you call it, this city must have a leader, right?"
"Who will this leader be?"
Most likely it was Ashe. For some inexplicable obsession, she was unwilling to work for Ashe .
"Don't worry about that." Ash said, "The candidate for the future mayor of Frost Harbor has been decided, and it's not me."
"Who is that?" Sejuani was stunned. Frost Harbor was Avarosa's territory, if Ashe wasn't allowed to be the mayor, who would be?
"Comrade Udyr." Ashe said shockingly.
"Huh?" Sejuani opened her mouth in surprise.
The future mayor of Frost Harbor and the new leader of the Avarosa Alliance is actually her "father"?
"Yes, it's Comrade Udyr." Ashe nodded calmly.
This choice is actually not difficult to understand.
Frost Harbor will be a modern industrial city and the starting point for the construction of Freljord.
The management and operation of this city will certainly not be in the hands of illiterate tribal war mothers. The city will be managed by the Freljord Windleader Association.
However, due to the primitive social form of the Freljord and the almost zero cultural level of the Icemen, even though the earliest group of Icemen had been in contact with the Wind Leaders for three or four months, very few Wind Leaders were born among them.
Among the extremely limited number of Freljord leaders today, Udyr is undoubtedly the one with the longest membership, the broadest knowledge, the most firm faith, the most solid theory, and the richest practical experience.
He had seen the outside world, participated in the anti-imperialist war against Noxus, experienced the practice of taxi modification in Ionia, and visited the factories and communities of Zaun through the Hextech flying gate...
There is no doubt that Udyr is the most suitable person to serve as the mayor of Frost Harbor and lead the Freljord people in modernization.
"But he is from the Winter Claw." Sejuani still couldn't understand: "Ashe, are you willing to let our people be the leaders of your Avarosa?"
"No, he is not 'one of yours', Sejuani." Ashe replied without changing her expression: "Comrade Udyr is the leader."
"His identity as a leader always comes before any other identity."
"So I believe in him - whether it's the Winter Claw, Avarosa, or other tribes, he will treat them all equally. He will fight for all Freljord people and for the welfare of all mankind, not just one tribe, one place, one family, or one surname."
"Because he is the leader."
Ashe's extremely firm voice left Sejuani speechless.
She finally realized firsthand that with the arrival of the wind of change, a great spirit that transcends any external identity barriers is blooming and spreading across the ice fields of Freljord.
Under the glory of the goddess Janna, we are all one family from now on. What is Avarosa and Winter's Claw?
What does the old grudge between her and Ashe matter?
And: "Udyr... comrade?"
Sejuani realized belatedly that Ashe had changed the way she addressed Udyr to "comrade". Could it be that...
"Yes." Ashe spread out her palms and summoned a breeze: "Now, I am also a wind leader."
Ashina's ideals of wanting the Freljord to unite and bring a better life to the people of the icefield are progressive enough.
Later, with the strong encouragement of Tryndamere and after two months of observation and learning, she naturally became a leader.
"So I trust Comrade Udyr. I believe he can make the Avarosans live a good life, even though he is not one of my people."
"What about you, Sejuani?" Ashe looked over: "Do you trust him?"
"I..." Sejuani was speechless now.
How could she not trust her "father"?
"Then are you willing to go to Frost Harbor?" Ashe asked again.
"..." Sejuani still had nothing to say.
Her "father" is the top leader of Ningshuang Port, so what else does she have to worry about?
Then, Sejuani fell into a long silence.
She turned to look at the children who were playing and fighting by the fire, and the satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Ashe." Finally, Sejuani took the hand that Ashe extended: "I'll go with you."
