Do you believe that you can walk on water?

”... A jumble of sensations and thoughts …” The wolf paused before the open doors of the temple and the night waiting beyond, wide golden eyes watching Alistair as he strode past her. A jumble of sensations and thoughts. Is that all it was, all he felt? The words wrapped around her throat and squeezed, but she made herself breathe through them, pull them in. He didn't mean it that way, she knew he didn't. He didn't. She told herself that three more times, but her throat was still painfully tight as padded after Alistair, leaving the shrine and whatever god they'd bothered behind. It didn't stop. As she trotted after him, the wolf'd head turned up again, her heart suddenly thundering through her. She had to swallow down the whine that wanted to work its way from her throat. In a flash she shifted again, and in her mind pulled herself further in.. down.. and down.. and down. Away from the flaring ache in her chest. It was a small woman that followed after Alistair now, her eyes following every movement. Then she visibly flinched back, pulling to a sharp halt outside the temple at the sound of that name. Her nose was filled with the scent of iron suddenly, and she near stumbled over the image of the lake of red spreading from behind an oak desk. ”I never..” her voice came out wavering and small. Jasper never had them, the rings.. only Alistair. ”You're the only one.” Ashe had made the deliberate decision not to share it with her ex fiance. Perhaps that was enough for Jasper.. Ashetta averted her eyes as he went on and bit the inside of her lip until it bled. What if she wasn't protecting them? She kept her startling blue eyes on the ground, her brows pulling together. What if it was herself she was protecting? A chill prickled up her spine at that, and gods he was so calm. She felt the surety, the conviction, the truth in every word. How could she speak up and deny any of it when he was right? She flicked her eyes up in time to see the way he looked her over, and she had to quickly look away again with the way her hands started to feel cold, head spinning. ”Going to run away again? Or is that best done when my back is turned or sound asleep…” She felt it too - the powerful impulse to run. Ashe's arms folded over her chest, holding herself tightly, holding herself together. She couldn't run. She couldn't, she couldn't, she told herself over and over. All he wanted was her to be there, to be around. After everything she’d done and put him through, was that so much to ask of her. She couldn't run.. and so she dove down and down and down, something dark and quiet calling her. He just wants you here. Ashe shuddered at the quiet that cloaked her head, but she looked back up at Alistair, pressing her lips together. Words would not do here. Her words, her thoughts, what was festering within, all of it.. it would not be enough here. ”I'm sorry,” she said quietly anyways. She glanced away again and to the unfamiliar smattering of stars above, unable to hold his gaze - out of character for the assassin that so stubbornly met every stare. Sorry wasn't enough. She knew it wasn't. She wouldn't run, couldn't run. Down, down, down… [ end thread ] ashetta it's live or die my way.