Find My Way Back

ASHE question: how do you make a monster stop feeling so monsterous? you give her something she can hold in her palms without crushing, you give her something sweet and tell her to keep it.    Months she endured the silence, but she went on. She recovered. She trained. She ate. She reconnected with her family, refamiliarized herself with the world and the people in it. Every day the roaring storm grew quieter in her head, day to day life becoming her normal as opposed to her desperate fight for survival in the storms. She wasn't alone now, and still.. still, she had never felt such crushing loneliness as that emptiness where their bond should have been.    Ashe lay flat on her back upon the roof of the Guildhall. She had been sleeping, but her own head chased that away. The stars were out tonight, so she took the opportunity to just... look. To try not to let that loss drown her. His and Theea's absence was like a missing limb.    Until all at once, it wasn't. All at once, the emptiness was filled like a crashing flood.    Ashe sat bolt upright, her breath stopping, her eyes wide, her heart thundering---    "Kalt?" A moment passed. A minute. Longer. Shaking, the small woman shifted. A blue hummingbird descended and then landed in the street with the legs of a woman, sniffing, searching, reaching. He was here, he was here, she could feel him. "Kalt!" Where was he, where was he, where---    'The Santuary. Meet me?' She choked out a half sob, and it was upon four paws that she raced for the tug at the other end of the tether between souls. She could hardly think, hardly believe it, but there was nothing that could replicate what bound them together. She careened around one corner, another, and another, until their scents hit her and nearly made her trip. And there they were. Her chest tightened, and Ashe let out a loud bark, and moments before she reached him, she shifted once more.    She threw her arms over him, just barely taking enough stock to understand his injuries, to avoid them. She drew in a shuddering gasp, but then she saw Theea, and a sob cracked open in her chest. She released Kalt only to reach for the girl, pulling her into her arms from the back of Kysma. "My baby," she whispered, hugging her close -- gods, she had grown in such a short time. Over the top of Theea's head, she looked up at Kalt, her cheeks wet. She gave a near greedy pull on their bond, drowning herself in it, in him, and she smiled. "Inside," she breathed. "The temple, I'll get things from the tavern, and the infirmary." Healing. Food. Drink. Everything she had needed when she returned, but she found herself hardly able to move, unable to look away from her lost love. you wipe the blood from her hands you say her name, over and over like an absolution. you forgive her. you forgive her. you forgive.