firing across the sky [OPEN]

a s h e Count Stefan Westbourne. Ashe’s brows knit together in thought as she filtered through her memory, searching for the name. She had known nearly everyone in Northaven. Her position as the settlement’s only messenger had her reading near every name and every face of the residents, her eidetic memory lending her an advantage. The position had proved to be moderately useful over that year and half, building her connections and keeping her informed… but apparently not informed enough. No. Not at all. She watched his hand rasp through the beard he had grown, and she managed a half-smirk before she looked away, back to the storm that flashed and rumbled outside. ”That’s probably the deepest you’ve ever gone undercover, hm? A Count for a year and a half. Beard, tattoo.” A daughter. Her tone that was perhaps over-cordial. The wolf’s lip feathered, and she swung her leg over the rafter so that both feet were hanging from the side. Casting her eyes down to the shrine that glowed. Those candles burned red the night she understood that she would never be saved. Ashe’s lips pressed into a thin line, and was suddenly a hell of a lot more irritated that Kalt had dropped her wine - she needed another fucking drink. He had been there the whole time. Right there in Northaven, he had been there the whole time. She swallowed past the sudden tightness in her throat and braced her hands on the edge of the rafter, leaning forward as though she were hanging off the edge of the world. With the way it all tilted around her, maybe she was. ”So you know everything then,” she said, and she was frustrated to find that her voice was rough. She cleared her throat and blinked rapidly at the prickling in her eyes and pushed herself up to sit straight again, the world tilting back up with her. She had to slide a hand back against the wood as she glanced up at the window. Another brilliant flash illuminated them, her own lightning upon her skin flaring brightly with it. He at least knew what the public knew - Ashe hadn’t exactly been a subtle figure in Northaven. And she had very, very little doubt that he knew about Master. About how he terrorized her, used her without her even knowing. Idiot girl. ”I didn’t plan on this,” Ashe said quietly. She didn’t know why she was saying it, why she didn’t just keep her mouth shut, but the world was hazy and her chest hurt, and there was so much silence in her head. ”I didn’t plan on living through taking him down, not after everything he did.” She had said as much, so many times, to so many people. That she didn’t think she would survive that bloody crusade of hers, that she was sure she would die in the end. That her life would finally be the price to pay. Ashe sighed a deep breath and swung her hand around to ruffle through her hair, tipping her head back as she blinked up at the ceiling. ”But here I fucking am,” she said, and she tilted her head back down to stare at the shrine tucked below, leaning over… perhaps a bit too far. She scoffed at herself with a bitter kind of smile and shook her head, turning it to lock her eyes on him. She wasn't sure when it would stop being a shock to her system to see him, talk to him. "Guess that means you heard about how I exploded the head off of that stone beast," she said, raising a brow and smirking haughtily at him. Very deliberately avoiding the other topic. As if she were proud of her work that day.