He didn't blame Ashetta for being a bit distracted; what he was asking was no easy thing, nor something that she should agree to without thought. Nor was his asking an impulsive thing. The thought had been tickling his mind since he spoke with Ludo, and though their personal ties were still tense, fragile things (not unlike his relationship with Remi had been for so long, albeit with more courtesy and far less violence) she was still the only person he had heard of who had any experience with Mort. He came to her from a mixture of choice and necessity, and only time would tell if he had made the right decision to include her, and whether he could ever truly move past her previous profession.
She was becoming a person to him now, though, not simply a faceless symbol of what had caused him so much grief in his homeworld. No longer 'the assassin' but 'Ashetta, daughter of Vai, sister of Remi, savior of Ronin.' It was an awkward and emotionally difficult transition that he still stumbled over, and likely would for some time yet to come, but it was progress. If he could welcome Melita and Kiada, fierce warriors both, under his wings, was Ashetta truly so different from those martial souls and tarnished hearts?
And then, of course, she had to ask after his health with that note of sincerity in her voice that took him completely by surprise. Assassins weren't supposed to care about people. Not, at least, those beyond their immediate family. Another section of the ramparts he had erected against herkind crumbled a little further as he blinked at her for a moment and then gave a hollow laugh and a shake of his head. "You might ask the same of Ronin," he said, humor - even black as it was - fading swiftly as he looked to the lantern in his shaking hand. "Though I am, at least, not as far along as he is."
She was becoming a person to him now, though, not simply a faceless symbol of what had caused him so much grief in his homeworld. No longer 'the assassin' but 'Ashetta, daughter of Vai, sister of Remi, savior of Ronin.' It was an awkward and emotionally difficult transition that he still stumbled over, and likely would for some time yet to come, but it was progress. If he could welcome Melita and Kiada, fierce warriors both, under his wings, was Ashetta truly so different from those martial souls and tarnished hearts?
And then, of course, she had to ask after his health with that note of sincerity in her voice that took him completely by surprise. Assassins weren't supposed to care about people. Not, at least, those beyond their immediate family. Another section of the ramparts he had erected against her
