Shattered Windows, Broken Locks

Ashe, you're her mother.    Her knees nearly buckled, and she ripped her eyes away from Kalt as she shook her head heavily. "No," she insisted, her voice thick and trembling. No, no, she wasn't Theea's mother! She couldn't be, Ashe... Ashe was no mother. She never had been, never could be. She had never once even dared think of herself as such a thing - she wasn't worthy of that, she was everything a mother shouldn't be, and fuck, Theea had deserved better. "A mother would not have nearly gotten her killed," she ground out. She was staring at the door again, listening to the sounds of that little girl. Alive. Alive and laughing and healthy and clever and charming -    Every muscle was tense with restraint, using every ounce of willpower not to move. Whether it was to bolt out the door or push back into that bedroom... she wasn't entirely sure. Her eyes flashed back up to Kalt as he spoke like he had read her mind. Time to grow up and face what you're afraid of. Her chest tightened painfully, but she didn't let herself look away from him, not until he leaned forward and brushed his lips softly on her forehead.    He was right. There was no escaping the simple fact: Ashe had been running since the day she left the Keep and walked into the king's throne room with the downfall of the Guild on her tongue. The moment she did not have to face all of those horrors directly anymore, she slammed them shut behind a bolted door in her mind and refused to open it again. Only... it kept trickling out, tricking her, snarling at her, chasing her from sleep.    Reminding her that she was nothing, and no one, and that running was her only viable option.    Ashe furrowed her brow when she felt the tears gathering again, and she looked down to the ground between her and Kalt. She could remember the gentle weight of a sleeping newborn on her chest, empty bottle on a table and her own eyes barely open. That little girl was here. Right here. Her Theea.    She blinked away the tears and tilted her head to look up at Kalt again. "Okay," she murmured, agreeing to see his daughter. A second chance. Is that was this was? A second chance to be around them, to... be apart of their lives, in even a small way. She could truly meet Theea, spend time with the other assassin again, and keep enough distance to avoid ruining them... couldn't she? "Don't tell her who I am," she whispered. "Not yet." Ashetta