The Story of a Summoner: Chapter 21

Ashe walked up to the three stragglers, as Sejuani and the Frostguard rounded up the five voidlings. Helen and Jinx halted their dancing to greet her.
"Ashe!" Jinx said as she flung herself into Ashe's arms, "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life."
"Yeah, the feeling's mutual," Ashe replied, slightly disgusted as Jinx's arms were now also covered in slime.
Jinx let go of Ashe as Helen said, almost squealing with joy: "Thanks so much for coming back for us. I was sure my goose was cooked."
"Lissandra's idea," Ashe replied, "but how are you? Everyone all right?"
"What?" Jinx said back, "Cho screamed in my face, I'm not hearing you very well."
Helen said in her stead: "I think so. I'm covered in slime, but I'm not in pain or anything. As for Darius..." She noticed Darius on one knee. "Darius?"

"I'm fine," he replied, "but that tunneling scum twisted my knee." Darius winced as he got up and put his foot down, trying his best to ignore the pain that shot through his leg. Helen rushed over to help him walk, although she was as tired as the others. Once they had subdued the voidlings and rubbed the slime off Helen as best they could, they set out for the Citadel again, Helen letting Darius lean on her. He tried to speed up his faltering footsteps as he did, but he could feel Helen's legs shake sometimes, even almost dropping out from under her once.  No surprises there, he was a tall, powerful man, wearing heavy plate armor. He spoke up against it quietly: "Don't you think you should let Braum or Sejuani do this instead of you?"

Helen turned her eyes to him: "I thought of that," she chuckled, "but I couldn't let Sej get all of you for herself, now could I?"
"What did you say?" 
Helen's face turned a light shade of red, and she replied awkwardly: "I... I meant... Well, I was just returning the favor. You could have died because of me there. This is the least I can do."
Why do I feel that it's not true, he thought before saying: "I see." 
"Why did you come back for me with Jinx anyway?" 
Darius opened his mouth to speak but then he closed it. What would he say? That he, the Hand of Noxus, might have feelings for a teenage Summoner? She's not even an adult woman yet, he thought. He felt embarrassed at the thought, truth be told. Yet meanwhile Helen was waiting for his answer. Realizing this, he replied the only way he could think of: "I promised Reina that I would keep you safe. And that's what I did." 
"Oh, that..." Helen wasn't convinced herself. Found a way out of this jam at the last second, didn't you?, she thought to herself.

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The return trip was rather uneventful compared to the previous days. Darius's knee stopped hurting by the time they got the Citadel, and Helen was in a way happy that was the case. After a final goodbye to Lissandra, they crossed the Howling Abyss once more (Helen hoping that it was for the last time), and set off for the Freljord's capital city Rakelstake, where they would get some rest and take a ship south, rather than attempting the overland crossing. Rakelstake wasn't a conventional city, though. Although recently some normal Valoran houses and residences had been built on the archipelago surrounding the bay, the city center was comprised of a tent village surrounded by icy cliffs, pockmarked with caves that served as the primary residence for most of its inhabitants. Central to the city was the grand Ice Palace, made of True Ice, and the seat of power of the portion of Freljord under Ashe's control. 

Sejuani left the group long before they arrived there. Her homeland was the icy wilderness north of the Ironspikes, and that was where she intended to stay. Her final words to Ashe: "We may have been allies in this, but this does not change our questioning your rule."
Ashe replied: "I won't force you into compliance, Sejuani. If this is how you want this to end, so be it."
Sejuani nodded one last goodbye to Ashe and the group and then set off on Bristle, off into the freezing wastes. Helen felt sad at Sejuani's departure, feeling as if Sejuani was the only one who could really sympathize with her. But she shook off that feeling fast and returned to her happy-go-lucky self soon enough. 

Getting to Rakelstake was not the hardest part of the journey by a long shot. Several days of travelling across rolling tundra plains brought them within sight of the sea, and the coastal road beside it. And so they came to Rakelstake. The first view of the city was from atop the cliffs surrounding the glacier-carved bay, with the palace central in view. Helen was mesmerized by it. A towering mass of ice, with sharp peaks at its top, hundreds of feet tall, with a massive facade carved into the seaward side. The fires from the surrounding tents gave the base an eerie dark orange glow, while the top of the icy peaks glistened in the late afternoon sunlight. "Amazing," Jinx said beside her, equally amazed. Helen looked at her and saw in her eyes Jinx's longing to blow the place to icy bits.
"I don't think any bombs are going to destroy that place," she whispered to her.
Jinx gave her a scowl: "You say that like it's a good thing."
Helen laughed and said: "Give this one a pass, Jinx."

Ashe told them the palace had hot springs on the premises and that they were welcome to stay until a ship arrived that could take them back to the League by way of the river Kaladoun that ran besides the complex. The party was glad to take the offer, especially Helen, who, while clean from Kog'Maw's slime, still had to endure the lingering smell on a daily basis. And so while Ashe joined her husband Tryndamere in the daily business of ruling (at least one of them always stays in the Freljord), the southerners took their well deserved rest. Helen was quick to inquire about and head for the hot springs within the palace walls. Once there, she took off her clothes, walked into the pool and felt herself relax and forget the past weeks' worries in the warm, comforting water. 

"Ah, you're already here," Jinx said as she came in herself. Helen froze and turned, covering her breasts with her arms.  Jinx hesitated for a bit when her eyes fell on Helen's bosom, then glanced at her own flat chest, but the doubt vanished from her eyes after a few seconds.
"J-jinx," she said, quickly regaining her composure, "what are you doing here?"
"Same as you," she said, "I got plenty of slime over me too. I could use a bath." Helen kept silent as Jinx undressed and, reckless as ever, plunged in herself. Helen submerged her body up to her collarbone, blushing as she did. "We're just girls here, Helen, don't be shy," Jinx said when she resurfaced.
"No thanks. I just want to relax by myself for a few minutes."
"I'll be out in a few. Then you'll have all the time in the world," Jinx said, running her fingers across her braids. 

Jinx left the bath soon enough as promised, leaving Helen by herself. Helen let herself relax again, laying on her back, submerging her ears, shutting out everything from the surface world. The threat from the Void is gone, she thought. Lissandra would destroy the Void Gate entirely, as they had discussed. And with Darius exiled from Noxus, the war between the ancient rivals of Noxus and Demacia should take a turn in Demacian favor. Though Noxus wouldn't lose; they were too determined for that. So the war would continue, equally bloody as before. The Freljord wouldn't change much either, the points of view were too separate for any peace to last. But Valoran as a whole should come out a lot safer from this ordeal of theirs. Not at any point, though, did Helen think of her own future, as radically as it would be changed...