[SWE] The Festival of Lights

Ashe met her mother’s gaze and nodded at her smile, then darted her gaze down to Remi. She glanced about, searching for Devrum in the crowd - he’d be strong enough to get him out - but didn’t see him. She looked back down to her mother, to the shapechanger that had become something of a brother. The assassin’s fingers began pulling at loose threads on the edge of her cloak as she carefully eyed the healer - stranger. The flare of paranoia was absurd, she knew, but she couldn’t help the way her lip feathered, questioning who he was, what his motives were. Master was dead - there was no one directly targeting her family anymore. She hoped. Ashe heard his soft steps in the grass only in the very same instant she felt his touch on her back. She sucked in a breath and flickered her eyes up to find Kalt urging her away. She furrowed her brow and glanced back at Remi, at her mother. Remi was alright, he only fainted, and she was not a needed presence. She looked out into the shadows beyond the expanse of soft lanterns and leaned that direction, her fingers ripping off one of those loose threads sharply. Time to go. Suddenly a small hand slipped into hers. Ashe’s eyes popped open wider and she glanced quickly down to the dark-haired little girl that was tugging at her. Kalt’s daughter. She looked up at the sound of Kalt correcting the little girl, and she looked back to meet the wide blue eyes of the little girl. The assassin blinked in surprise and managed a brief smile at the invitation, but she flashed her eyes up to Kalt uncertainly. ”I.. Should go,” she said to him. She glanced back at Vervain then, and her blood turned to ice when she realized her mother had never known about Kalt, never heard about him. Ashe had never truly talked about what her life was in the Guild to… anyone. Ashe reached up and wiped the back of her hand over the paint smeared on her face, and her hand came away covered in bright and vibrant color. A hint of a smile flickered at the corners of her lips. She cast fire-blue eyes down to the little girl that still held her hand, and then back to Kalt, back to her mother and Remi. Time to go. She looked back at the child that still held her hand, and she gave her a soft smile in spite of herself. ”I’m very bad at that sort of thing,” she said to her. ”I’m sure you’d make a better one without me.” ashetta it's live or die my way.