A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"We are not helpless. We are the ones who shape our destinies. Now, let's go shoot these villains in the face." ~ Akshan the Rogue Sentinel

(P.S. Why do both Akali and Akshan have Rouge in their titles. Akali is not very rogue is she? Akshan has the whole Assassin's Creed thing going for him.)

I apologize lads. The chapters were switched up, my bad.

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Sleeping arrangements were quite simple.

Both parents slept with their children. And for the first couple of weeks, the arrangement went swimmingly. But things changed when the two girls decided they wanted to sleep together. Both Gregori and Leanna tried to convince the two but that just served to further flame their tantrum.

Eventually, they conceded defeat. The girls were put in one room and the adults in the other. To say that the nights that followed were awkward would be an understatement. The two had an understanding and an arrangement but being put in the same bed was straining.... for Leanna at least.

Gregori had no issues and often just slept the instant he laid on the bed. Leanna however had a growing interest in Gregori after their little heart to heart on the first day in the cabin. The close proximity she found her self in kept sleep away from her. The interest in Gregori wasn't at romantic levels yet but it seemed to be getting there. He was a far cry from what she had seen in men throughout her life. He had a plethora of scars across his body. Scars weren't anything special. Having lived in Noxus scars were a mark of pride, showing performance in war. His body was not large but it was obvious he had lost a majority of his size from a largely sedentary lifestyle. Hunters were lithe not hulking masses of muscles and his body had changed to account for that.

Changes like these showed her that he was an adaptable man. It added to her opinion of him.

A month. A single month was all it took for her daughter to completely accept him as her father. Something so out of character for her daughter who was incredibly shy in front of anyone. And Gregori had managed to get her to open up to both him and Annie in ways she hadn't ever seen. This man seemed to have all the charm in the world. 

That charm had apparently affected her as well. To any other man on Runeterra this opportunity to sleep beside a woman would have resulted in them taking their liberties with her. But he hadn't. The man's entire view was just his daughter... daughters, now with him being just as taken with her as she was with him. Despite the short time they had known each other, he made her feel safe. He made her child feel safe.

She had relegated herself to meagre work of cooking, cleaning and the occasional stitching of clothes if he had managed to procure animal hide and thread. But Gregori took the brunt of the work, going out hunting animals and gathering food as well as materials for hours on end. That showed the trust he placed on her, leaving his child behind with him relying on her to keep Annie and Daisy safe.

She took that trust and her duty seriously. Never did she let the two children out of her sight. Even when she cooked she had the two near her, both to keep an eye on them and to teach them the basics of cooking. They were children now but they needed to learn these skills for the future, otherwise married life would be difficult. She watched over them when they played outside and even joined them in playing. Though not as instantly, she had also found herself taken by Annie finding her constant energy infectious and had come to view her as one of her own. But contrary to her hopes, Annie seemed to have troubles accepting her as a mother. That was to be expected though, since Gregori had sat her down and explained to her of the chance of this happening.

"Every story I've ever told Annie has had her mother involved in it in any shape or form. My wife had her bad moments but I have never once told Annie about any of them." Gregori spoke.

Leanna looked at him confused as to why he was telling her this.

"Please understand... I am telling you this for a reason." Gregori continued having seen her expression. "Annie has put her mother on such a high pedestal that she might come to accept you as her mother easily. To her.... Amoline is probably her only mother. Only time can make her accept you. Please treat her as you would treat Daisy and as the years go by she will also come to see you as her own mother. That is all I ask."

She had understood his plight and reassured him that she would show both Annie and Daisy all the love and affection they would ever want and would treat them equally and not show any favoritism. 

Situations like these weren't that uncommon in her old life as a nomad. People died every other day and it was left to the rest to help raise any children left orphaned. The children were always taken in as their own and treated as such. Raising Annie as her own was something she welcomed. More children was a sign of prosperity. And having more children meant that more of them would survive in the future.1

The other reason was that she liked being a mother. 

But she did see Annie's unhealthy obsession with that doll of hers. It never left her hands and if it ever did, it never left her sights. 

Gregori had said that she would eventually grow out of it when she had voiced her opinions to him but she knew it wasn't that simple. Children were easily distracted. Despite her hardest efforts of distracting Annie never had she let got of her Tibbers. 

The other issue was the worry of accidental magic. Magically inclined children were often prone to losing control easily. Sometimes the magic might be something small like sparks but other times it could be extremely dangerous. There was a story she had heard of in her travels, about a child decimating everything in its vicinity after losing control of his innate magic. Annie hadn't displayed any magic yet, accidental or not, but it was still an arrow waiting to be launched from a fully strained bow.

She was not looking forward to seeing her first bout of magic not without Gregori being around. But after that he would be able to train her by focusing on the element she was most attuned to.

Even Daisy had also changed in ways she hadn't expected but was happy for nonetheless. She was more active, often getting dragged around to Annie's whims. She had even started initiating actions from playing to reading. Reading was something Gregori had started teaching both her and Daisy.

Nomads were rarely learned members of society and Freljordians were worse, only few in their tribes could read and they were usually at the highest positions. Not the leaders. The leaders were chosen based on might alone nothing else would ever matter. Velarian was spoken by almost everyone. Noxus had seen to that. Even Demacia and the Freljord had picked up the language for the ease of trade. But no one really needed to learn to write the language but Gregori had seen to it that they learned how to.

Leanna herself could speak Velarian and Frelian, having picked the second one up from her days in the Freljord.

Despite being very absorbed in her thoughts, her eyes were constantly on the two kids running around outside the house engaged in some kind of make believe game. Watching them brought a smile to her face.

That smile disappeared into a thin line as she spotted Annie trying hop across the creek.

"Don't cross the creek!" She called out.

Annie turned mid jump startled at the call and let out a yelp as she fell into the creek. 

She stood up partially soaked and looked to almost be in tears. She turned her head toward Daisy who covered her mouth with a hand to stop the giggles from coming out.

Annie's face took on a angry pout as she growled, "HMMM!" Her eyes narrowed at Daisy and she lifted her little fist in indignation, the other hand tightly gripping onto Tibbers.

Leanna quickly stepped in. Annie could be feisty at the best of times and it would be a mistake to provoke her further than what would be normal for her.

"Come come Annie. You have been told many times to not cross the creek alone. Gregori reminds you of this daily because it is dangerous okay?" She said softly while lifting Annie up from the creek. "Be careful. You don't want your daddy to be sad because you got hurt right?" 

Annie nodded in tears thinking about her dad. But that was forgotten quickly enough when she spotted Daisy still giggling out of the corner of her eye.

Noticing this Leanna sternly spoke again, "Daisy! Stop giggling. She is your sister and you do not make fun of her. What if she had gotten hurt? Then it would not be funny right? Come apologize to her now." Her voice softening as she spoke.

"Sorry Annie." Daisy spoke with her voice quivering and head down.

Watching Daisy Annie replied, "Its fine Daisy, I should have listened to daddy's ins.. instuc. I should have listed to what daddy said. Even Tibbers thinks so." 

Shaking Tibbers at Daisy had the intended effect as it made Daisy give a lopsided smile. 

Still holding Annie in her arms, Leanna brought her in the house. "Now lets get you cleaned up. Don't want to let your father see you like this do we?" 

Receiving a couple of frantic nods from Annie she helped clean the child up and led her back out so she could resume her play time her Daisy.

But just as she watched Annie take a couple steps toward Daisy, Annie turned around and rushed right into Leanna giving her a tight hug.

No words were spoken by either woman or child. But Leanna knew that she had wormed her way into Annie's heart. The child had started accepting her into her life. Sooner rather than later she would be seeing her as a mother figure and eventually she would consider her a mother.

It was a slow and thankless process but it would be worth it in the end and that was all that mattered.

After the brief hug she ran back to Daisy and held her hand. Quickly saying something and then continue playing with large smiles on their faces.

But not all was perfect with this family of three. As a mother she could spot the expression on Daisy's face whenever she looked at the doll. The want that popped up in her eyes was unmistakable. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the two had a squabble over the toy.

Leanna could only hope that it wouldn't lead to anything too serious. At least until the kids came to an understanding and grew closer to each other, if anything happened even a little earlier then they might just come to hate each other. It would not be her place to interfere in that fight and tell Annie to share her bear since it was the last thing she owned of her mother.

She supposed that Daisy would need to be given her own bear or something of the sort to prevent any emotional outbursts from either side. And she had to do it in such a way that Annie wouldn't get jealous. She would need to slowly add this into the conversations she would have with the children.

They would be raised as sisters and would be shown the same love and care from both her and Gregori. She was not the perfect mother. She knew this. But for both her children, she would try to be perfect. They deserved that at least. 

She would give anything for her children to live long prosperous lives and have children of their own and eventually go peacefully when the Lamb came for them. 

It was a couple hours later when Gregori returned from his hunting and gathering only to find the three asleep on the floor by the fire surrounded by pillows. Regardless of how many years later, Gregori would look back at this moment with bliss as the girls curled up in Leanna's lap.

It had been slow but even he had found himself gaining affection for Leanna. She wasn't a replacement for Amoline. No. But she could hold a similar position. His heart was big enough to hold much love for the four important girls in his life.

Because, as the saying goes, the heart is the strongest muscle.