The lone wolf of Freyrdrand

Ashe

“Ash, pick it up.”

To Ashe, her mother’s words were neither warm nor cold, but more like a matter of course.

A dagger, a dagger made of ice, lay quietly on the wooden table in front of Ashe. The surface of the dagger exudes a deep gloomy light, it is difficult to describe its color, it is dark blue like a thousand years of ice, and pale like a barren snow field.

Even just standing next to it, Ashe felt the cold piercing her skin, which was even colder than the coldest winter three years ago.

An urge to flee rose in Ashe’s heart. She didn’t want to be close to the dagger, but she wanted to be close to the stove, preferably with a bowl of hot soup. If she went to her aunt’s now, she might get a bowl of hot broth, perhaps with diced white venison and firethorn.

“Stop thinking about soup, you idiot.” Ashe took a deep breath, staring closely at the dagger on the table, “You can do it, Ashe, you can pick it up.”

Ashe stretched out her hands resolutely. Before her ten slender fingers touched the dagger, she began to tremble faintly.

She held the handle of the dagger, feeling as if she was holding a hand full of sharp ice slags. The biting cold instantly took away the sensation in her palm, and the pain began to spread along the arm.

“Hold on! You can do it!” Ashe shouted from the bottom of her heart.

Ding bang!

Ashe couldn’t hold on.

The dagger fell from her hands and fell on the wooden table.

Ashe’s hands kept shaking, she lowered her head deeply, not daring to look into her mother’s eyes.

She was afraid of being disappointed.

Glenna rested her rough hands on the top of Ashe’s head, and gently combed her long pale golden hair: “It’s okay, Ashe.”

“But, mom…”

“You are my daughter.” Grena interrupted Ashe with a loving tone, “You are the future war mother, a proud ice blood, and it will be a matter of time before you can control the Ice weapon. You are still young, don’t worry .”

“Yeah, I’m still young…” Ashe remembers her mother saying this to her when she first had her period when she was ten years old, and four or five winters later, Glenna repeated the same words every year if.

“Will I have to wait a few more winters before I grow up?” Ashe thought in confusion.

Glenna picked up the Zhenbing dagger with one hand and put it back on the weapon rack. The weapon that Ashe couldn’t even hold seemed to have any effect on Glenna.

Grena’s generous and warm hands held Ashe’s hands that were red from the cold, allowing them to slowly recover: “Go to sleep, tomorrow you have to get up early and hurry.”

“Yes, Mom…” Ashe was silent for a while, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I have to draw a map for a while.”

“Map drawing again…” Ashe didn’t say what she wanted to say, she nodded silently, and walked back to her tent.

Before leaving, Ashe turned her head, and Glenna was already buried in the table, writing non-stop.

Ai Xi didn’t go to bed, she couldn’t fall asleep, and wanted to go for a walk to relax.

“Mother won’t notice.” Ashe put on her hood, “As soon as she draws a picture, there will be no movement.Didn’t notice either. ”

After stepping out of the big tent, it was pitch black outside, with the wind and snow falling. Ashe breathed out a breath of white air, and walked into the snowy night alone.

“It’s going to be winter again soon.” Ashe was wearing thin clothes, feeling the temperature of the air. Every winter in the Freljord is so cold that it can freeze the living to death. Someone couldn’t make it through.”

Ai Xi hugged her bare arms. If ordinary people wore so little clothes, they would have been frostbitten, but Ai Xi only had a little goosebumps.

“I don’t know if my aunt’s house is sleeping. I hope I can ask for a mouthful of hot soup.” Ashe walked in the thick snow, and the footprints left by her were soon filled with snow again.

The tent of my aunt’s house was not lit, only the flame on the torch at the door was still lingering in the wind and snow.

“They may have fallen asleep.” Ashe was a little disappointed, “I’d better not disturb them.”

Ashe turned her head and walked back. She began to regret why she had to come out. It would be much easier to curl up in bed and think about it.

Ashe walked past tents, none of them had a fire on, and only the howling of wind and snow could be heard.

“He’s still awake?” On the way back, Ashe saw a small tent with a faint yellow halo inside.

“Are you going to see him?” Ashe stood still and hesitated for a while.

Finally, Ashe walked slowly to the small tent and stopped.

“Forget it…” Ashe planned to leave.

“What are you doing standing in front of my house? Come in.” A boy’s voice came from the small tent.

“Damn it, he’s still so sharp.” Ashe sighed, opened the thick curtain of the tent, and ducked in.

The inside of the tent is smaller than it looks from the outside, but it is quite complete – a sleeping bag made of wild boar skin, which also acts as a carpet; a cooking pot for cooking soup, and a brazier underneath can also be used for heating; A one-handed hammer with a dimple at the back of the hammer head, which Ashe knew was used to crush the skulls of prey, but was now functioning as a spoon, stirring around in the cooking pot.

“It smells so good.” As soon as Ashe entered the tent, she smelled the rich aroma of hot soup. Just smelling the smell, the cold on her body was completely dispelled.

“Venison soup.” It was a boy who was sitting in a tent cooking soup. He had messy black hair, and his black eyes reflected dancing flames. “Pyracantha root was added.”

“My favorite.” Ashe sat down opposite the boy.

The boy looked up at Ashe: “This venison is my prey today, so there’s no reason to share it with you, right?”

Ashe glared at the boy angrily: “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll go back.”

The boy thought for a while: “I can give you a bowl, rub my chest.”

Ashe got up and left.

“Hey, hey, don’t go! I’m joking!” The boy grabbed Ashe’s wrist, “This soup is specially made for you.”

Ashe smiled with satisfaction, and sat down again.

The boy took out a bowl made of a bear skull, filled it to the brim with broth, and handed it to Ashe together with a wooden spoon.

Ai Xi took the broth with both hands, and small pieces of firethorn roots were floating in the milky white soup. Ai Xi scooped the bottom of the bowl with a spoon, and the heavy small pieces of venison were lifted out of the noodle soup.

Ashe’s appetite was whetted, and she ate a piece of white venison in one bite. The venison was so rotten that it melted in the mouth.

“How is it?” the boy asked while filling himself with soup.

Ai Xi hugged the bowl and drank the soup with a small mouthful of the bowl. All internal organs were being moistened by the hot soup, as if a cluster of warm fires had been ignited in her body.

“It’s delicious.” Ashe praised.

The boy grinned happily and began to feast on himself.

Feeling the warmth of the soup bowl, Ashe couldn’t help looking at the boy beside her.

“Do you really want to be my blood alliance?” Ashe asked.

The boy raised his head, with a look of course: “Of course, otherwise, why would I treat you so well? Do you think cooking soup and waiting for you in the middle of the night is a kind of entertainment?”

“But I may not be able to become a war mother?”

“You will definitely be able to become a war mother.” The boy seemed to be convinced of this, “Glenna has said so, then you will definitely be able to.”

Ashe turned her eyes back to the hot soup, the hot steam kept steaming up, but it was erratic.

Just like her destiny.

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Most of the Freljord clans adopt a matrilineal society, that is, the status of women is generally higher than that of men. Among them, the woman with the highest status who leads the entire clan is called the “War Mother”.

——Excerpt from “Valoran Travels: The Freljord