rattle the cage

ASHE I'm not a girl.    A young woman appeared, her voice following soon after. 'Ashe, right? Her eyes narrowed. "Right...."    Before she could demand just who was asking, she caught sight of glowing antlers, a small reindeer -- a luxere. She was fixated on the animal for a moment, memory of quiet guitar strings swept in. Cold air and warm hands.    "Amalia?" Ashe blinkd up at Kiadia, her eyes abruptly drawn away from Auni. "Has she healed alright?" She recalled the scent if singed fur and flesh, but she'd been too out of her wits to ask about the lightning strike at the time.    She glanced away to approach her cloak, vivid blue and crumpled on the ground, her ears straining to listen for movement. She came all this way to introduce herself to the person her friend got hurt finding? Had someone sent her? She dreaded the prickles of paranoia at the edge of her thoughts. She knew what it meant to live with eyes on her back, and she wasn't looking forward to that feeling again. If she was lucky, she would remain blissfully unnoticed by the self-appointed Queen. She could only pray that Zariah did not recall the messenger of Northaven that always ended up in the middle of every calamity.    "Are you from here?" Ashe turned back to Kiada as she fastened on her cloak, a blsck, cat-sized spider creeping very carefully over her shoulder. "A Natural?" She could certainly use a read on the Outlander versus Natural ordeal -- when she had left, tensions had been painfully high. I'm a storm with skin.