Freljord's Frostbitten Seeker

“You may call me Twilia. I am-….or, I suppose, I was an associate of our mutual companion, Knight. I imagine that you are feeling confused, fearful, hurt. It…may be best for you to sit down before I continue.” she began, motioning to the chair in front of the desk. 

She took a deep breath, her gold eyes fixed on Kathe as she studied the woman in front of her. It was clear that she was a very capable individual herself, leaving little room to question Knight’s judgement on his actions in her favor. 

“To answer your question…Knight is dead. He was murdered, and I will not rest until I find his killer.”

@frostbitten-seeker​

Kathe didn’t sit. Instead, her eyes remained transfixed upon the woman that sat in the chair opposite her. 

His chair. 

The quick flash of anger was quelled by the next words that left Twilia’s mouth. Murdered...? How could he have been murdered. Knight was vigilant...He was a skilled Crow and a member of Piltover’s Police Department...He was watched by so many people..

“No...No, you’re lying.” She shook her head, feeling her knees begin to grow weak. Nausea churned in her gut, and she backed up a bit to lean against the wall “No, no...He can’t be...”

‘ do you miss anyone? ’

‘ how are you doing? ’

‘ do you believe in ghosts? ’

‘ what makes you laugh? ’ 

‘ list your top three bands or singers. ’ 

‘ how many blankets do you sleep with? ’

‘ does your name hold any special meaning to you? ’

‘ gum, cake, pie or ice cream? ’

‘ favorite book? ’

‘ are you a good person? ’

‘ describe love. ’

‘ have you ever taken part in an uprising? ‘

‘ favorite song? ’

‘ name a guilty pleasure. ’

‘ the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you today? ’

‘ tell me one truth and one lie. ’

‘ do you like people? ’

‘ what motivates you? ’

‘ describe the perfect weekend. ’

‘ any pet peeves? ’

‘ do you need a hug? ’

‘ would you like to have kids? ’

‘ do you have any tattoos? ’

‘ classical, oldies, punk, hip hop or country? ’

‘ when was the last time you cried? ’

frostbitten-seeker‌:

A deep breath in, a slow fog out. Everything ached. This would be a bad plan. But she had to climb that tree – there was no way Val was flying when he looked so tired. Quinn looked to Kathe and gave a nod, then waited for the seeker to dart off before taking her own route around the wolves. 

Quinn wasn’t sure what Kathe’s plan entirely was, but it cleared the wolves from the hollow in short enough time she felt comfortable making noise as she closed the final gap. She stared up into the branches and gave a two-toned whistle. I’m here. 

The reply came, shy, nervous, weak, half-air: the same two notes, but backward. So am I.

She held that tree for a long moment, thankful tears leaking from her eyes. Before she knew for fact it was him, she had felt she couldn’t breathe. Now, emotion overwhelming her, it was even harder. Heart thrumming in her chest, lower in pitch, she issued the danger call. Valor answered with a single pip. I know.

Despite knowing him inside and out, Quinn wasn’t sure what to do. She paused, holding on tight to a low, thin branch for support. Valor called the more specific call of danger – a long two-toned cry, then one pip. I’m in danger. 

A choke in her throat almost prevented her from responding. “Oh, Valor, you clever bird,” she whispered, hoarse, before whistling her once: I know. 

Heaving, one hand over hand, she climbed. Her lungs felt on fire, burning from the inside out, but desperation guided her arms and legs as she scaled. Nearer to the top, the branches grew thinner, but from a thick enough branch, she could reach him, and he hopped to her fist just as he’d always been taught. Two branches down, they felt strong enough for her to sit. 

So she did.

Meticulously, she ran her fingers through his feathers in search of wounds. Though tattered with stress and the force of the storm, he was whole. Tired, but whole. The only noticeable injury was a scuff around the scaling of one of his feet, where a wolf had presumably ripped off his jess. It was okay. Quinn had made hundreds in her time – the jesses could be replaced. His precious life could not. He was damned lucky it hadn’t been worse. She buried her face in his feathers, crying still. 

“I’ve got you, buddy.” Kisses above his beak. Scratches around his shoulders. “Val, you terror, never run away from me again,” she whispered. “I love you too much for you to scare me so.”

Kathe’s heart thundered in her chest as she raced through the trees, the frigid air stinging her lungs as she sucked in quick breaths. Everything was a blur around her, and the only thing she could pick out were the enraged barks and snarls of the wolfs that pursued her. They drove her onward, but she knew the adrenaline pumping through her veins wouldn’t last forever...And she also knew she couldn’t outrun the wolves forever. They were already gaining on her. 

High ground...She needed a tree. The hunter didn’t know how much time she needed to give Quinn, and she hoped this was enough. 

“Come on...Come on.”

Kathe leapt for a nearby tree, her nails sliding along the bark as she scrambled upwards. The palm of her remaining hand broke against the rough surface, but she hardly felt it. What she did feel was the harsh crunch of her ankle as one of the wolves sunk its fangs into it. Kathe stifled a scream by gritting her teeth so hard she thought they would crack, and quickly kicked out with her other leg to get the beast to let go. 

When she was released, she scrambled up the rest of the way, sitting on a branch just out of the reach of the snapping jaws that threatened to tear her apart below. 

“Praise Avarosa...” She murmured, reaching down to her destroyed ankle and cradling it gently to prevent further damage. It hurt like hellfire, but she had other things on her mind.

Before her adrenaline subsided, Kathe lifted her fingers to her lips and gave a single long, shrill whistle to the winds. 

reblog if you plan on remaining active.

frostbitten-seeker‌:

The office was dead silent, but someone unfamiliar was seated at his desk. Everything was as Kathe remembered it: meticulously organized and cleaned, with the same fixtures she knew. The spear head that she had brought him two years ago from a dig site. The first hextech core she had had installed in her original prosthetic arm. Several small brass clockwork devices he had assembled himself. A number of pieces of artwork depicting scenes of the city.

Everything was the same…save for the woman seated at the desk, clothed in dark red and purple attire. It didn’t fit the city’s styles…Kathe, with her sharp eyes, could see that it was made by hand, with a pattern foreign to Piltover’s measured lines.

“Kathe Reveren…Avarosan, citizen or Piltover by immigration, papers signed personally by Knight Arkencipher. A hunter….something I can appreciate. Please…be seated.” she said evenly, though her accent clearly marked her as foreign.

What could a woman so foreign to Piltover be doing in the seat of a man whose life was dedicated to his city?

Kathe stood frozen in the doorway as she stared at this unfamiliar woman who was seated in the desk’s chair. His chair.

“Who are you?” She asked, her fingers twitching as she almost instinctively reached for the hunting knife that always rested at her side. Always be vigilant. Your enemy strikes when you let your guard down. “And why are you here? Where is Warden Arkencipher? Where is Knight?”

Cold fear was gripping at the huntress’ chest. She could feel it coiling around her heart like a snake, and small tremors shook her fingers as dread clung to her like a cloud. What was going on? 

“Did you send the letter?”

 she looked at Kathe and shook her head, then turned to where the woman would see her side, offering a few stamps. She did speak as she began to prance in place, “ No, Neeko deer did not speak, you are crazy. I am simple dear doing simple deer things. Bleet bleet.” Okay, so that was a sheep noise but it did send the mystical woman into a fit of laughter which the deer fell to its back, its hooves kicking in the air until she bursted into a poof of snow, leaving her blue form laughing and rolling around, clearing having far too much fun with all of this. She used her tail to flip up to her feet as she leaped towards Kathe and suddenly stood before her, sniffing around her,” Your skin, smells of funny berries and stale liquid…. what are you drinking? Not water? Is this fire water? Is it actually on fire? Are you hurt? Do you want to be hurt?” She threw a few questions at the girl but then realized she never introduced herself, shame on herself.  “Neeko the great, the grand, the best, and most beautiful! Do not worry, Neeko means no harm, she only wishes to meet lady ice bow pew pew! Neeko is looking to build a new tribe and she seems the least angry… boar gorilla woman attempted to eat Neeko and not in the fun way. “ She pouted, clearly not amused with something but that in truth was her playing yet another game. “Your limbs?” She appeared next to Kathe as she already held the prosthetic arm,” So cool… does it feel funny?” She swapped her own arm to one identical to Kathe’s metallic one. “ It does not feel for Neeko different for Neeko… did it hurt? Neeko can hug it better? Make pain less, yes?”

Kathe had to stifle another yelp as the dear turned into a person. In all her years as a hunter she could honestly say that she hadn’t encountered a shapeshifter before. Where the hell had she come from? Was she a spirit of some kind that was roaming these lands? 

“Neeko...” What a strange name, and it was about the only thing that Kathe had managed to pick out and remember from the bombardment of questions that the creature assailed her with. She wanted to meet Ashe, it seemed. But--

Kathe glanced to the side as Neeko held up her posthetic arm, quickly flinching away and pulling down her sleeve quickly. 

“It doesn’t hurt. It’s just an arm.” The huntress said, pulling back her hood and setting her spear to the side before doing her best to focus on the four or five things that had come tumbling out of this creature’s mouth over the past minute “You said you wanted to see the ice lady with a bow, right? That’s Ashe. I know her. I...Shit, where are my manners. You introduced yourself...Seems only right that I do it. Kathe Reveren, at your service.”

The seeker held out her other hand, hoping that Neeko at least knew what a handshake was.

Neeko let out a sigh as she lazed about on one of the few trees in the Freljord. It was one build for the cold but even now with how bitter frigid it was, the tree itself wasn’t doing so well so Neeko was sticking around to give it some extra energy to survive til the next season.” No tree deserves to die, you bring happiness to small squirrel families.” Once she finished up the tasked she hopped down into the snow, her feet not leaving a single footprint as she traveled through the snow. One thing about Neeko was she could survive anywhere, all she needed to do was to adjust her Sho’ma to the location she was in. Today she was looking for one of the many queen’s of these lands, the nicer one from what she heard. Ashe was it? Or was it Lissandra? Who knew, they ran that  Avarosan Tribe and that’s all she had to go on. As she got closer and closer to the location she noticed a wayward seeker? Was this a scout for the tribe?  She tapped her lip for a moment as she snapped her fingers, suddenly appearing as a deer like creature she saw before. With that she ran towards Kathe. The hunter might find it odd or soothing but the deer ran right up to her, sniffing the metallic limbs she had. She began to lick them as it pulled back and looked Katthe in the face, “Ava-rose-ian?” Yep the deer just spoke, after all even if she was seeking friends Neeko still at heart loved playing jokes on people.

@frostbitten-seeker

Kathe had been out on one of her mid-day hunts through Avarosan territory when the vastaya had stumbled upon her. At present, she was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, slowly drinking something out of a waterskin at her side. Several hares were strung up at her hip, the result of a few lucky snare traps only a few hours prior. She had been starting to relax until she heard the snap of a twig nearby. Her senses all snapped to attention, and her hands instinctively moved for her spear as she searched the surrounding forest for the source of the disturbance.

When the young doe came into view, a soft breath of wonder left the huntress. It approached her so quickly, and looked so calm that she couldn’t even think of hurting it. Carefully, she reached out her metallic hand, offering soothing clicks of her tongue so she wouldn’t scare the small beast. The licks against her fingers made her chuckle, and she had just started to scratch under its chin when the deer...spoke.

What...?

Kathe blinked a few times, staring at the animal before slowly moving her hand away. That couldn’t have been real, right? The Firewine she had just drank wouldn’t have had an effect that quickly, no way. 

“Did you just....speak to me?”