rattle the cage

ASHE I'm not a girl.    She didn't expect Kiada to truly connect with with the observation, and her brows lifted. 'Am I that easy to read?' Ashe wore a crooked smile before lifting her wine to her lips. "No," she answered, setting the glass back down. "You're too much like me for that."    She gave a secretive sort of smile as she lifted her glass for yet another drink, her cheeks warming as it settled low and warm in her chest. She nodded at the mention of her unicorn, but perhaps he couldn't be considered quite a unicorn. He had two horns after all. Then her smile wavered, and she shifted in her seat as Kiada expressed her hopes that Ashe's family was okay. "He's alive," she said with absolute certainty. "I just have to find him. Find them."    Ashe listened as Kiada explained her own ordeals, sipping her wine as a comfortable haze gathered in her head. Meanwhile, Soot had his fill of his own wine. The spider gave a hiccup, peering closely at the snoring luxere. He began trying to push his brash dish toward Auni, spindly legs scrabbling against the floor with a frustrated chitter. He pushed harder, and of course, lost his footing. With a drunken stumble, he slipped forward and straight into his wine with a high squeak and a splash.    The she wolf was content to listen and watch Soot try to share his drink, and then came what the Fae had trapped Kiada in. The Pit.    Her blood ran cold. Her heard thudded in her chest. Her ears started to ring, and she gripped her glass tightly. She barely heard the vulture go on about Zariah, her mind stuck on what the Fae held their prisoners in. Her back prickled with phantom pain, and she swore the walls were pressing in from every side.    She looked up again and cleared her throat, forcing a bitter smile. "Who says I don't have something to focus on?" she said, her voice holding a sharp edge. Ashe polished off her glass and waved a server over, asking for a full bottle. She glanced down as Soot splashed out of his bowl to stumble to Auni, but returned her eyes to Kiada and lowered her voice to something dark. "Fuck the Launcelyns."    Ashe had been raised and conditioned to hate bluebloods. It made killing them easier. And the Launcelyns? They were the glorified attack dogs for the oh so wonderful royal family themselves. She knew how powerful they were. How ruthless and cunning and efficient they were. The Assassin in Blue had been evading the likes of them since she was a child.    "Lets get out of here, yeah?" she suggested, standing abruptly. She scooped up the wine by the neck, leaving one of her steel throwing knives on the table in its place. She had plenty, and it counted as payment right? Regardless, she needed to go. She needed to get outside, or she thought her heart might burst. The walls were a heavy weight on every side. "I'll bet we could find some gourds to fuck with if we look hard enough." I'm a storm with skin.