the wheel has come full circle

ASHE question: how do you make a monster stop feeling so monsterous? you give her something she can hold in her palms without crushing, you give her something sweet and tell her to keep it.    A gaping hole in the Spire that opened it to the sky? If Ronin wanted to set her at ease, it worked. She offered him a crooked smile and nodded, and she nudged his shoulder back. "It helps," she replied. He had seen her once take a plunge underground, and while she had never explained to him why she couldn't breathe when the earth pressed in on all sides, but she was infinitely grateful that he understood. That he at least knew of her fear.    She frowned, and as she tried to piece it together... she realized that it wasn't so hard to pair Ronin with the visage of King. Strange, but not hard. Never in a million years would Ashe have thought she wouldn't detest any King she came across. She never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that she would love a King, and call him her family.    But it was Ronin, and that made it different. King, friend, and brother. He kissed her hair and she looked up with the familiar gesture. "I'll always help you, you know that," she replied. Others... Once, she had been able to say the same for the rest of the world too. That she would help. "I fucking suck at it though." She still smiled ruefully up at him. "Though I guess demanding you back from the gods went okay."    At she had that moment in her life that she could be proud of. She stared at him a moment longer, not for the first time memorizing every line of his face, the shade of his eyes, the tilt of his smile. He'd be fine. She wasn't going to lose him again. "Is there a plan then?" she asked, straightening up to stretched her arms over her head. "I mean... what's the deal with multiple leaders? How can that work?" you wipe the blood from her hands you say her name, over and over like an absolution. you forgive her. you forgive her. you forgive.