Diana, Scorn of the Moon

She had read in her numerous books of an artifact, of something that could help her, that once belonged to her people but got sent north all those years ago, not long before the purge. She needed to find it, and any clue, any help, any proof was worth a little cold and a long hike. She had survived worse just to find her temple and was willing to endure still more than this to restore it’s grace.

Diana kept trudging along in the heavy snow, sometimes climbing a tree to look to the stars, to find her way in the thick darkness that overwhelmed all light but that which came from herself. When it was close to morning, the avatar lay her head against the trunk of a tree she had perched herself in and closed her eyes. A little rest was all she needed, then she could keep going.

It wasn’t a little sleep, she was exhausted and when given the chance, her body overtook her minds wishes. For hours she slept in the tree top, sword gripped tightly in her leather gloved fingers, knees pulled up tightly to her chest. She was a ball of leather and furs, shivering in the seemingly endless night as her body tried to gain back it’s strength.

Thwack, a noise began to stir her, head shaking as she tried to open her eyes, as the reality of the cold hit her sleepy mind. Thwack, that was closer. she could tell that much. Diana forced her eyes open then, her bones felt like they would crack like a glacier thawing if she moved too quickly.

Thwack. She shook her head, and heard a chuckle somewhere below her. 

'It lives! I was beginning to wonder if the frost had gotten to you, stranger,' came the irritatingly jovial voice. Her heart thudded impatiently, either trying to reanimate her or… no, it had to be a simple thing such as that. It wouldn't be anything else. 

Swallowing, Diana managed to move herself so she could look down. There was an archer, slim of build, bow still pointed in Diana’s direction. She huffed. Just her luck, some hunter or out-to-prove-themselves warrior. At least it wasn’t the pig woman.

At least she had heard the pig woman was fond of the mace, not the bow, unlike this one.

Her bow... 

'Do Queens often go around unattended in the Freljord?' even Leona had guards and she could bring the ever present fury of the sun down on anyone she deemed unfit to live. It was a guess, but that bow looked remarkably different to the average one, and tales traveled even from the vast, snow covered Freljord. 

It was how she had gotten an idea for where the relic she sought might be now, hundreds of years after it's displacement from the mountain.

The woman beneath her chuckled softly. 'Perhaps I am a Queen, or perhaps I am simply a thief. But you are stuck in a tree, half frozen to death. You ought to come down here before the job gets finished.' she said, not lowering her bow though she looked Diana in the eye. 

'With that outfit it's really a wonder you weren't dead already, that much metal,' she added when she saw dark metal glint from under Diana's cloak. 

The Lunari shivered, when she was reminded of just how cold she was. Glaring at the general direction of the woman she grudgingly agreed before dropping out of the tree, landing crouched in the snow. Standing back up to her full height, her heart thudded loudly in her ears as she looked closer to the woman who was now eyeing her sword as she picked it up out of a snow drift.

'If I wanted to stab you I could have done it by now, I have more important business' swinging the sword, almost threateningly for a moment to see if she got a reaction, she decided to hook it back on the strap at her back again when she received nothing more than the odd combination of an icy glare and a warm smile.

'I'm sure you could have, while you were impersonating an icicle,' Ashe said with a smirk as she took a moment to study her new find. The other woman was tall, white haired and had an unmistakable scar on her head. A moon. Hadn't she heard reports years ago about some moon obsessed freak causing all sorts of trouble in the south? Near that big mountain. Targon? If only she could remember the name, if this was the same woman she certainly looked capable of causing that much bloodshed and chaos. Well. Maybe when she thawed off, at least.

It felt oddly warm today, despite the foot of snow, and though she didn't trust her, Ashe didn't feel like leaving a curiosity out to die. Her temporary camp was near by, she could let the woman warm up.

'Come this way,' she said, not waiting to see if the woman would follow, or even try to stab her.

It took more than ten minutes to walk to the camp, behind her she could hear the soft clinking of plate metal, the rustle of fur and leather but Diana never spoke. Ashe could feel her eyes boring into her back, it made her pulse skip in her throat. Her thumb rubbed along the side of her bow, feeling very strange.

She probably just didn't eat enough this morning.

When they came to the camp, one of her guards jumped to their feet, eyeing the strange woman with concern for her mistress. Ashe shook her head. 'Do we still have some of that stew?'  Yes,. they had it, the guard nodded as she continued to stare at the stranger. Diana glared back and then rolled her eyes before she took a good look around the camp. Soldiers. Guards. Hunters. A strange bunch of varying ages and fitness. As she looked around, Ashe convinced the guard that they were fine and then, walked over to her tent, the largest one in the camp. It was made of warm felt, a floor covered in rugs and sitting pillows and in the centre a firepit warmed the entire place, smoke billowing out the roof opening.

She could barely managed to stop herself, Diana moved to the fire in a blur of silver light, huddling close to it's warmth. Ashe had been right, she was half frozen.

'It doesn't do to sleep in the cold with no protection.'

'The moon protects me.'

'She may, but you're still freezing.' Ashe said calmly, taking off her own cloak and leaning down to wrap it around Diana's shivering form. 

The woman completely froze again, just as Ashe was fastening it around her shoulders and pondering that she must have been right about the moon woman from the south. 'What's wrong,' she said instead of trying to interpret the actions of an odd stranger.

'Your.. chest...' half stripping in her sudden alarm, the guard who brought in her stew at that moment was greeted by a half-shirtless Diana who was now staring at the matching glow in her own chest, that she had seen in Ashe's. Both their eyes wider than a deer's.

'I'll... leave this here,' the guard mumbled, unheard as the Queen and the Heretic stared at each other in alarm, before they collectively said: