i can't save the world if i'm not happy anymore.

He didn’t know the pain she felt upon finding her father. He couldn’t know. Kalt never knew his parents, had grown up on the streets until he was ten years old when Master became his father, Harkon his brother. The Guild was his family, but it was far from what anyone would consider a loving family. His father manipulated every aspect of his life. His father beat him, burned him, whipped him for over a year. Ashe’s father had tried and failed to provide for her, but he was always there for her - even if their time together was severely limited and always monitored. The pain of losing that was impossible for him to understand. He couldn’t help his mind drifting to Theea. She was so young that she probably wouldn’t even understand what it meant if he was to die. Regardless, he wouldn’t wish the death of a parent on any child. She wasn’t mad. There was a fury burning, raging inside of her, and if he didn’t have such practiced control over his expressions, he might have smiled at it. Was he happy? Of course not. He was so fucking relieved. Seeing that fire so alive in her... It was such a heart-tugging relief. Kalt frowned, his lips pressed tightly together, jaw feathering. He watched her lightning creation, an electric blade that captured his awe more than his fear. He wondered briefly if there was anything she could do that would actually scare him. He shoved it hurriedly from his thoughts as soon as a few ideas started coming to mind. ”I’m here to clear something up that I should have cleared back when I first had the chance,” he said. ”I did not kill your father.” He’d had countless opportunities in Northaven to clear the air between them, but he had been stubborn and foolhardy, wanting to take down their Master before confronting her and confessing the truth. But it was fool’s pride that kept him from just going to talk to her. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, not when she had already lost so much. There was no way he was justifying the question of how he found her. Ashe knew him better than any, and she would know that he could find anyone he wanted to find. However, it took someone important to chase through two new worlds. ”It’s not a game,” he said firmly. ”I have never played mind games with you, Ashe. I have never lied to you, not once. Whatever you’re feeling right now... Betrayal, anger, pain, confusion... Whatever it is, I promise you it was all Master’s doing. He manipulated us both then. I was on a job when your father was killed...I was following you.” He prayed, pleaded with whatever higher powers there were that she would listen to him, hear him. Master wasn’t the one who issued the kill, but who made the kill. Orynth was the archer in the Guild, but Kalt’s ability was incredible. The only one to perhaps surpass them both was Master. Ashe knew that, but the fact that it was his arrow... That black shafted arrow with his signature etched into it... His arrow made it hard to argue that he was being framed. She had gone for over two years believing that he had killed her father, taken the only family she had. He couldn’t blame her for the hurricane he imagined was whirling inside of her. Please, just believe. ”That job you were on when your father was killed...” He shook his head, taking another step forward and nearly closing the distance between them. ”Ashe, Master ordered me to follow you, make sure you didn’t fuck something up like the slaughter of guards.” The job she had come home from covered in blood... The aftermath of which earned Kalt the scars over his chest. He took a breath and looked at her, gritting his teeth and pulling on a memory. It was an incredible memory, before returning home to the Keep. It made him fall in love with her just a little bit more. ”You can’t cook for your life, so stole an entire duck and ate it on the roof.” A soft huff escaped him with the flicker of a smile. ”I almost joined you because it smelled amazing. You killed the wife with a dagger right here.” Kalt tapped his finger to his temple twice, his eyes never leaving her. ”The lord was with a pin to the throat, and you stayed to watch him slowly die. You stayed longer afterwards.” If she would allow it, he would reach for her arms, bare fingers brushing against her with a gentle yet firm hold. He was - perhaps stupidly - unafraid of her magic. ”You went to their study and spent way too much time captivated by a painting of the stars and the mountains at night when you could’ve just walked outside to see them.” His memory was perfect, just as he knew hers was. She would know that every word he said was true. Just hoped, gods, he fucking hoped it would be enough... Kalt took a slow breath. ”I’ve done a lot I wish I could take back... But I never, never betrayed you.” kalt give into the night.