[SEASONAL EVENT] belladonna

ASHE some people survive chaos, and that is how they grow,    Ashe pat down the dirt around another thin stalk, and she glanced up with a smile at her mother's praise with warmth. It was easy to tell who planted which ones, of course, and hers were far from perfect.. But they would do. Hopefully, they would grow.    She nodded and adjusted where she sat, moving to where there was more space for the rest of the planting. The assassin always knew her mother was there for her, ever since Vervain had found her again and hadn’t shied away from what her daughter had become in their separation.. It was never a willingness for support she had been worried about, had it? It was exposing what was underneath. What she allowed the world to see was raw and bad enough as it was, but to let anyone else really see…    Quietly, she smiled at Vai as she dusted her hands on her knees. She was willing to have Kalt… here? A white flag then? ”Yeah, okay,” she said, her smile flickering a little wider before she reached down into the earth again, making space for another seedling. She was quiet for a time, focusing on the task and listening to the birdsong. She was noticeably less tense than she usually was, almost always on edge at every hour of the day.    Ashe glanced up again as she gently pat down the soil around the freshly planted herb. ”He’s not what you think he is,” she said with a soft breath. She bit the inside of her lip and sat back at a crouch, resting her hands on her knees. She didn’t know how to explain it  ”I know he’s… hard to get along with.” It was amusement the one who shared her soul would feel if he happened to be snooping. ”But he was all I had in the Guild. Papa was there, but only allowed time with him twice a month at best.. Kalt is the only reason I knew any real trust and kindness at all.” She sighed, realizing that she’d never even explained to her mother the situation between her and her father.    Ashe glanced away from her mother and down to the newly budding garden under the dappled sun. There was so much Vervain didn’t understand, and not by any fault of her own. Her daughter had never told her, never really explained what she endured and survived and left her only with the vague retelling of when they’d first reunited. ”Mom, I don’t even know where to begin,” she said, looking back up to eyes so nearly identical to her own. and some people thrive in chaos because that is all they know.