"First, I know the two of you have your disagreements. The clash and conflict between your beliefs is what split you apart," Logan said first.
"Aren't you making that sound a little too simple, Logan?" Sejuani couldn't help but cut in. Folding her arms, she looked at Ashe and said seriously, "I can be friends with people who have different personalities from mine, but I can't be friends with people who don't share my beliefs."
"When the path is different, you can't work together…" Ashe said softly.
Lissandra, meanwhile, found the topic incredibly boring. She even thought Logan was dragging things out a bit. After all, now that she had come in person, did Sejuani's and Ashe's opinions really matter that much?
So what if they were the reincarnations of Avarosa and Serylda?
Even if Avarosa and Serylda themselves were resurrected right now, they still would not be Lissandra's equals. Ten thousand years had not passed idly for her.
Back then, true ice had been something the Three Sisters could never fully control. Now, Lissandra could even create and develop true ice herself.
Really, in the face of something as important as the Void, the decisions of Ashe and Sejuani didn't matter all that much.
But Lissandra was giving Logan face. Since she had handed this matter to him, then naturally he got to decide how it would be done. As long as the final outcome was good, that was enough.
"No, that's not right. Different beliefs aren't necessarily a bad thing. Let me give you an example."
"For instance, imagine the beliefs you each used to build your tribes as shapes. If Ashe's Avarosan ideals are a circle, then Sejuani's Winter's Claw ideals are a triangle." Logan glanced at Lissandra, but chose not to describe her ideals.
Then he continued to Ashe and Sejuani, "A circle has its strengths. A triangle has its strengths too. Put two shapes together, and they become something bigger. Sure, different shapes are harder to fit together, and that makes the challenge greater, but if you do fit them together successfully, they create even more interesting patterns."
"The Freljord is large, but Runeterra is even larger. The two of you have been trapped in the Freljord for too long. You don't know what the outside world looks like now. You think the Freljord is the center of the universe, but it isn't. Forget all of Runeterra—even on Valoran alone, the Freljord only takes up about a quarter of the land."
As he spoke, Logan shook his head.
"And even so, Sejuani, Ashe, haven't the two of you only seen parts of the Freljord yourselves?"
Both Ashe and Sejuani were already over twenty, and they had built the largest and second-largest tribes in the Freljord respectively. Yet even so, the reach of their tribes had never covered the entire Freljord, because transportation here was just too primitive.
People either went on foot or rode mounts, but in the Freljord's brutal environment, there were many places even mounts couldn't reach.
Ashe and Sejuani had high status, but if Logan were the one saying it, then their horizons were still very narrow.
They only saw the small patch of land in front of them and knew nothing about the outside world. In fact, if Sylas—that traitorous little troublemaker—hadn't entered the Freljord and met Sejuani, Sejuani wouldn't even have known there was such a wealthy nation in the south as Demacia.
But that actually had something to do with Lissandra too.
For ten thousand years, her Frostguard had periodically carried out purges across the Freljord. A great deal of knowledge and history had only survived in songs, and naturally the Freljord's civilization had been broken again and again.
Mm. Lissandra, you really have done every bad thing imaginable.
What a wicked woman.
At that thought, Logan couldn't help glancing at Lissandra. Lissandra lifted her silver-white lashes slightly. No emotion could be read from those pale, sightless eyes, but that raised brow alone was enough.
She was curious why Logan was looking at her like that.
But Logan had already continued.
"I'm about the same age as the two of you, but I've already been to many places. Ionia, Bilgewater, Noxus. In the future, I'll go to Demacia and Shurima too."
"But what about you? If things keep going the way they are, then you'll stay trapped in the Freljord until one day the outside world changes so much that you can no longer keep up. And then someone will push open your door, and you'll be left defenseless."
"You mean them?" Ashe's voice turned unhappy. She felt Logan was underestimating the people of the Freljord.
The people of the Freljord, hardened by their brutal environment, were all fierce warriors. The hardship they endured just to survive was something outsiders could never understand. Southerners had no idea what kind of suffering life in the Freljord demanded, or how many trials had to be overcome.
So even in the eyes of an idealist like Ashe, southerners were weak—people who could never withstand the challenge of wind and snow.
"Yes. Us." Logan answered seriously.
Sejuani stayed silent at his side, which confused Ashe.
Normally, Sejuani would have been the first one to snap at him, not Ashe.
After all, everyone knew Sejuani had a violent temper.
But now Sejuani was quiet.
Ashe couldn't help nudging Sejuani's arm and asking, "Sejuani, what do you think? Aren't you going to argue with anything Logan just said?"
"Argue?" A trace of helplessness appeared in Sejuani's eyes. In a low voice, she said, "You haven't seen the weapons southerners can make, Ashe. Logan's telling the truth."
Hadn't Vi come to the Winter's Claw recently?
Because hunting wasn't possible in winter, Vi had gotten bored, so she started fighting the Winter's Claw warriors with her hextech gauntlets.
She fought seventeen matches.
She won seventeen matches.
Of course, Sejuani hadn't stepped in. If she had fought with true ice weapons and magic, she naturally could have beaten Vi.
But as the Warmother of the Winter's Claw, what kind of glory was there in using every last bit of her strength just to beat a single soldier from Zaun?
And that wasn't even mentioning how that girl with hair like fireworks had shown the Winter's Claw all kinds of weapons. There were metal tubes that could kill winter deer from hundreds of meters away. Shoes that let the wearer fly for short bursts. Boards that could glide freely through the icy wilderness.
Sejuani had never seen anything like them.
If those things hadn't been brought by Logan's people, more than a few Winter's Claw warriors might have knelt in worship before Zeri.
Because she could fly.
"The Zaunites can already make magical weapons. Their so-called hextech rifles are stronger than our bows and spears. Their rocket boots let them fly for short bursts and leap more than ten meters into the air. The pocket watches they carry can project magical shields that block arrows and axes."
"And the things Jinx and Ekko have made can even keep Winter's Claw houses warm in winter without a fire. We really have fallen out of step with the outside world."
"Ashe, Logan is right," Sejuani said quietly.
Having come into contact with hextech magic, she knew Logan was telling the truth.
No matter how strong the bodies of Freljordians were, what could they do against weapons like that?
And that wasn't even mentioning how Jinx had rambled on about alchemical bombs and some kind of god-killing missile, saying that as long as she was given time, one shot from her would be enough to kill more than a dozen mammoths.
God.
To hunt a single mammoth, the Winter's Claw had to send out at least dozens of elite warriors, and even then there would be casualties.
But according to Jinx?
When the time came, all she would have to do was lightly move one finger.
How could Sejuani not be shocked by that?
At first, maybe it had been because of food that she agreed to Logan's conditions. In order to keep receiving food from Zaun, she had accepted his terms.
But now, after seeing all these things and experiencing all this firsthand, Sejuani believed the Winter's Claw should cooperate with Zaun even if food were taken out of the equation.
Because if the Winter's Claw could one day obtain those kinds of weapons too, then they really would have a chance against the Ursine.
Ashe fell silent.
"And the real reason I want the Freljord united is because of something else entirely."
When she didn't answer, Logan continued.
He turned to Lissandra and said, "Why don't you tell them? Sejuani and Ashe have the right to know. Once the Freljord is united, you won't be stepping forward yourself. In the end, Sejuani and Ashe will be the ones carrying this, won't they?"
At Logan's words, Lissandra's silver-white lashes trembled slightly. Her pale lips barely moved, yet that ethereal voice rang out.
"You tell them. They won't believe it if it comes from me."
Logan nodded, then looked toward Ashe and Sejuani.
"Haven't you always wanted to know the history of the Freljord? Haven't you always wanted to know the truth buried by Lissandra in the songs you pass down?"
"Then I'll tell you now."
Logan took a deep breath.
Then he told Ashe and Sejuani everything about the Three Sisters, Lissandra, and the Void.
Of course, Logan softened certain parts of Lissandra's past a little.
Because if one really got down to it, Lissandra truly was a deeply terrible person. The things she had done could never be undone, no matter how much she tried to make up for them.
It wasn't as though becoming the one standing on the front lines against the Void suddenly made her a saint.
Merit was merit. Wrong was wrong. The achievements Lissandra had made could not erase the sins of her past.
After all, she really had slaughtered countless people across the Freljord.
As Lissandra listened to Logan's voice, her expression remained unreadable, her beautiful face as cold as ice. But the slight narrowing of her pale white eyes and the way her hands tightened showed that she was not nearly as calm as she appeared.
She could tell that Logan was softening parts of her past for their sake.
That left Lissandra feeling rather conflicted.
An hour later.
The frown on Sejuani's face slowly eased. She looked at Logan and said, "No wonder Donna said you asked her about the location of the Frostguard Citadel, and why you asked so many questions about the Lost Bridge."
"But Logan, how do you know all of this?"
Sejuani couldn't understand it.
These were things even she, a Freljordian, didn't know. And yet Logan, a southerner, knew them all.
Worse, he told the story as though he had lived through it himself.
Ashe also turned to look at Logan, clearly hoping for an answer.
And in the way she looked at Lissandra now, the hostility from before was gone.
There was still caution, but not that earlier hatred.
"Does it really matter?" Logan muttered.
"Doesn't it?" Sejuani shot back seriously.
"Alright, alright. It's because I've had dealings with quite a few gods. That's where I learned these things. In Zaun, we have a storm goddess named Janna. She's lived for, uh… she's lived for a very long time."
Logan's voice grew quieter and quieter.
Janna's age, in front of Lissandra…
Heh. Forget it.
Lissandra had several eras on Janna.
Even Azir—no, even Azir's ancestor Setaka—would count as a junior in front of Lissandra.
"I understand." Sejuani nodded. "If things really are the way you say, and there are monsters like that beneath the Freljord, then of course I agree to unite."
"I agree too," Ashe quickly said.
Her ideals had always been about bringing the Freljord together, having the tribes help one another and share information. Naturally she supported unification. Even without everything Logan had said, Ashe would still have supported it.
Then Logan looked at Lissandra.
"And what about you, Lissandra? What do you think?"
"If I came here, then I won't be leaving empty-handed," Lissandra said calmly.
"Good. Then within two days, this news has to spread across the whole Freljord." Logan threw up his arm excitedly and shouted.
This was probably the biggest thing Logan had done since coming out into the world.
Helping Sarah in Bilgewater, talking with Irelia in Ionia—none of it compared to what was happening here in the Freljord.
Because this was…
the unification of the Freljord.
In the west of the Freljord, inside a tavern in a small town, quite a few locals were drinking.
Then a group of merchants came in, and the tavern grew even livelier.
The innkeeper went up to ask what they wanted, and once the food and drink had been brought to their table, the merchants began talking among themselves.
The more they drank, the warmer they became, and the louder they spoke.
"I heard the Avarosans and the Winter's Claw are going to form an alliance."
"That's impossible." A merchant who had only recently returned to the Freljord dismissed it immediately.
"Yeah, come on, you've got to be kidding. The Winter's Claw and the Avarosans joining forces? You've had too much to drink."
"I heard it too. But from what I know, it's not just the Avarosans and the Winter's Claw. Even the Frostguard are supposed to be part of it."
"What? The Frostguard? Don't be ridiculous. How would those monsters ever ally with anyone?"
"Babb, say something. Didn't you just get back from the Avarosans?"
"It's true. The Avarosans really are working with the Winter's Claw. Warmother Ashe went to the Winter's Claw and stayed there. They're preparing the alliance now. And as for the Frostguard… that part seems to be true too."
The merchant called Babb spoke quietly.
Then, in a low voice, he said:
"Everyone, we're about to witness history."
"Just like the Freljord of ten thousand years ago."
"The Freljord really is about to become one."
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