In Ashe and Katarina's tent, things had heated up very quickly. A kiss led to a caress and then the girls' clothes no longer covered their bodies. The redhead was lying on Ashe while her hands marked a path of fire through the bare skin of the archer, who tried frantically to drown her moans. Katarina's kisses were desperate, needy. Ashe allowed her to take everything she wanted, the need for affection and human warmth of the assassin was reflected as a mirror in the actions of the queen of the Freljord.

The dawn lights began to appear on the horizon and the first rays of the sun dimly illuminated the clearing. Neither of them noticed the amber color of the rising sun. Katarina longed to seize every second she could, capture every breath of the woman beneath her, every moan drowned by her own lips.

Ashe's breathing stirred more and more as the girl tried to bring the redhead closer.

"Kat ... please" she pleaded in a desperate whisper.

Katarina smiled sideways and prepared to satisfy her queen. The noxian wasted no time in detaching herself from the archer's lips and leaving a warm wet trail while descending her neck. Sje stopped for a moment on her breasts leaving ethereal kisses that were not enough for Ashe who closed her hands on the nape of the redhead, bringing her even more closer. But Katarina was not one to submit to anyone's will and replaced her mouth with curious and playful fingers.

"Katarina..."

"Submit to my will, your highness, you will not regret it" Katarina replied to her lover's prayer.

While her hands continued to caress, etching her fingerprints on Ashe's skin, her mouth went on its own way. The kisses she left were damp and filled with promises of the destination they would eentuallt reach. She stopped for a moment over the belly of the archer, drawing flourishes with her breath an tongue. Ashe's hips accompanied the path of Katarina's tongue with erratic spasmodic movements. When the redhead finally arrived at her destination, Ashe was more than ready for her. Katarina tried to prolong the agony further by leaving small, tender kisses on the inside of her thighs until Ashe graned in protest.

Outside, a very sleepy Caitlyn came out of the tent and took a deep breath of the clean morning air. She stretched her arms to the sky trying to relax her back when a choked groan stopped her movements halfway.

She turned slowly in the direction of the sound to only find the tent of her companions.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Another moan.

Her face turned in a deep red shade as she realized what was happening inside. Without thinking too much, she walked away as fast as she could in search of Vi, trying to erase the images that had formed in her mind.

"I'm so close" babbled the blonde inside the tent, very close to her limit.

Katarina stopped, wanting to see her face the moment the woman exploded with pleasure in her hands.

She undid the path she had drawn moments before and melted into a deep kiss as Ashe was waiting for her with her arms wide open, determined to keep her close to her skin-

Katarina nestled herself between the other woman's legs and began to rock her hips against Ashe's at a frenzied pace, she couldn't stand this self-induced torture any longer. She wanted to possess her with all of her being and at the same time lose herself in her lover's embrace to never be found again. Their sexes met with an erratic and desperate cadence. Their breaths melted into the same air that united them. Ashe brought her hands to Katarina's backside to increase the friction between them. The redhead emitted a guttural, almost animal moan and buried her face in the neck of the archer to silence the other sounds that struggled to leave her throat. The assassin wanted to scream and moan with pleasure, she wanted to listen to Ashe moaning her name and begging her not to stop. But they couldn't and that drove her crazy. Clinging to her last thread of sanity, she brought her hand between their bodies and with her fingers found the hot and wet folds of the archer, plunging her fingers deep into her being. Ashe shuddered violently and Katarina covered her lips with hers, consuming that last moan plagued with lust that took them both to the abyss of pleasure they longed for.

"Well, it was about time!" said Vi with a funny expression as Caitlyn told her what she had heard.

The sheriff looked more red than she had before. She hadn't meant to tell her partner what had happened but she knew her too well not to notice that something was bothering her.

"Anyway, I don't think it's the right time to do those... things"

"You take the opportunities as they present" Vi answered, averting her gaze. "It's not like they had too many chances when we're in the Institute of War"

"The issue is when you don't take those opportunities, no matter if they are presented right in front of your nose"

"What do you mean?" asked Vi, puzzled.

"Nothing, Vi, forget it. Let's go back to the camp to see if they're... ehem... done"

They ate breakfast in silence. Each of them fighting with a different mountain of concerns. Ruminating their thoughts they cleared the camp and resumed their way in the direction of Rokrund.

The morning seemed still despite the fact that they were still moving. The air was thick around them and kept them in an expectant state. Any movement put them on immediate alert, the feeling that something would happen after the first hours of the day.

Near noon, with the sun perched high above their heads, the sounds of a nearby uproar came to where the four women were. They stopped completely, trying to distinguish the direction from which the screams came.

Ashe pointed to one point to her right and the other three followed.

The voices came from a clearing where a small caravan had set up camp. Ashe and Katarina climbed nearby trees to monitor the area from above while Vi and Caitlyn used the area's bushes as cover. From there they watched in horror as the scene unfolded.

A group of three men struggled to get a group of children into a large cage. Caitlyn recognized one of them as a member of the gang of thieves they were chasing, remembered seeing him on their excursion to Zaun, he was one of those who raised bets on Katarina's fight.

The huge man was holding two children who were trying to get away with all their might, his huge hands were closing on emaciated little arms.

As he dragged them back to the cage, he kicked the little body of a girl who had been lying on the ground after what seemed to have been a riot.

Ashe's hands closed tightly over her bow and Katarina prepared to jump over those men when they saw Caitlyn's signal to stop.

The intercom in his ears made a sound and they heard the sheriff's voice.

"If we intervene now we will blow our cover, I promise we will catch all these bastards and we will make them pay for each one of their crimes"

In the distance they heard one of the men, a chubby, short guy shouting at the children in the cage.

"You will do your job until we say it is enough! And if you try to escape again, you will follow the same fate of that brat!"

The children looked at the girl who was still lying on the floor, not moving.

The wheels of the cart that carried the cage shook and they started on their route again. Having silenced the children's riot, the thieves resolved to continue on their way.

"What will we do with that one, boss?"

"Leave it there, it's no use to us," said a third man with a thick hair and dark beard.

The cart, followed by two horses, left the clearing and was lost in the forest.

The four women, crouching in their hiding places, waited impatiently until the bandits were far enough away and jumped into the clearing in the direction of the small body that still lay motionless.

Katarina was the first one to arrive at her side and took the girl in her arms.

The little girl was not older than six years old. Her extremely thin body and her tangled and opaque black hair spoke of a long time of neglect and inattention.

"She's alive" said the redhead in a whisper "but very beaten"

Vi curse under her breath and began rummaging through her bag.

"Believe me, I'm as eager to kill those bastards as you," said Caitlyn, her eyes full of tears. "And we'll all have the chance to do it."

None responded. They knew that Caitlyn had done the right thing for the mission and that the children would be relatively safe since they were somehow useful to the thieves; but they couldn't help but feel a weight on their hearts.

Vi pulled from her bag a heavy blanket with which she covered the little girl who was still in Katarina's arms.

Ashe, who was kneeling next to the assassin, ran her hand over the little girl's face and then, determined, began to deliver orders.

"Vi, go back to the stream we passed a few moments ago and collect enough water to clean up her wounds. Caitlyn, we need something to feed her. Kat..."

"I'm taking care of her" said the noxian, with total seriousness.

"I will light a small fire" sais Ashe.

The three women moved immediately, without a uttering a singlr word.

Katarina approached one of the trees and under its leafy top sat down, accommodating the girl in her arms. The little girl made an almost inaudible sound and got close the body warmth of the woman who was holding her. The assassin studied the girl's face, her features seemed decidedly Noxian, but she didn't care. She would meet those men again, and they would regret having been born.

The three women soon reappeared in the clearing and Ashe set to work. She took the little girl in her arms and with a wet cloth began to clean her wounds. Katarina had sat down next to them, not wanting to get too far away from the girl. Caitlyn and Vi took care of the lunch and quickly had a nutritious stew ready.

When Ashe was finishing cleaning the scrapes on the knees of the little girl who was half-sitting on her lap, she felt a slight movement of the little hands that had clung unconsciously to her cloak.

Carefully she withdrew a little to see her face. The girl looked at her with eyes clouded with unshed tears.

"Don't worry, little one, you don't have to be afraid anymore"

The girl seemed unable to believe the woman's words but Ashe gently caressed her face as if to assure her that she was safe and she nodded.

"What's your name?" Katarina asked, in a voice that nobody had heard before, full of tenderness.

"Bria," she said timidly, with huge red-brown eyes that still showed a little of fear and revealed her Noxian origin.

"I am Katarina Du Couteau, have you heard of me?"

"Yes"

"Then you know I've killed a lot of people, right?" A nod, "I promise I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt you, ok?"

At this the girl showed a small smile that reassured the four women.

Ashe finished cleaning her wounds and tucked her back in Vi's blanket.

"You have to eat something" she said and the girl nodded, this time with more energy.

Ashe passed the little one to Katarina who received her without protest and put her arms around her. Bria clutched at her leather jacket and hid her face in it.

"Don't be ashamed," Ashe told her, approaching her with a bowl full of stew "I'll help you"

Bria ate with enthusiasm and then fell asleep in the arms of Katarina, who refused to leave her in the blankets that Ashe had laid beside her.

The archer smiled at the protective attitude of the woman.

Caitlyn watched the, from the other end of the clearing, her gaze full of guilt because of the decision she had made.

"You made the right decision, someone has to be the leader and that's never easy," Katarina told her, feeling the need to reassure the woman that she understood her way of acting.

Caitlyn nodded.

"Those three men are mine" she said finally with in a somber tone "I will not rest until I put a bullet between the eyes of each of them"

None of them challenged that order. They knew that the consequences of their actions weighed even more heavily on the sheriff and that she would not rest until they had achieved justice.

Between the four of them they decided that, since they were half a day away from Rokrund, they could stay in the clearing until nightfall. Thus, they would let Bria recover a little. And they would enter the Noxian town under the protection of the night, which was convenient for them not to be detected by the thieves.

It was clear that the thieves used the children to infiltrate the city-states and thus be able to steal the relics. But the artifacts had taken a back seat in their mission now. Without having even spoken about it, the four women had decided that their main objective was to save the children.

I had the idea of keeping this chapter between Ashe and Kat's sheets. But the story suddenly got serious and the plot took control of the writer... I hope you don't hate me (so much);P