i've been trying to sleep

ASHƎ i did my best to control the growing unrest in my soul.     Her heart had begun to pick up its pace, looking up at Safrin with round eyes. He loves them all dearly.. The souls he kept? She tried to make herself take a deep breath and process what she implied: that there truly was a way. And she would help Ashe.     Breath slipped through her lips with a shallow huff, a feeling of weightlessness settling in her limbs. She had expected the goddess to refuse, say something about rules and balance... But she would help. Instinct honed in being raised with cruelty and hate snarled at her for even hoping she could trust this higher power, that she would ever put her faith in someone who could crush her without hardly a thought. Ashe clenched her jaw in spite of it, raising her chin to better look Safrin in the eye as she given a gift.     The pendant was exactly that: a gift. Safrin asked nothing in return, had refused Ashe's offering, didn't even expect her to wear it. She held it in her palm, blinking down at it with a wary sort of wonder, her gaze drawn to that eye. Everything came with a price, she learned that hard lesson over and over... but she asked for nothing.    Ashe closed her hand around the eye that stared up at her, looking up at Safrin once more. She was at a loss for words at first, unsure how to express her wary gratitude. She knew she was asking.. a lot from a goddess.. The wolf girl had expected push back, even anger or contempt. Not this gentle look in Safrin's eyes, or the promise to help. She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat, nodding.    "Thank you," she said. She pressed her lips together with a creased brow, unexpected emotion welling. "There were no gods where I'm from. Either there never were or they died a long time ago. I don't..." She paused and sighed, glancing at the pendant and running her thumb over its eye - just like Ronin's. With that, Ashe slipped the pendant on over her head, its weight new and warmer than she expected.    She looked up again, meeting Safrin's stunning gaze. "I don't trust easily. But Ronin had faith in you, and I trust him."