Paradise Found

ashe They may say, "You're too small, you're too young to do it all," But you're a giant on the inside. They may say, "It's not enough, leave your dreams collecting dust," But there's a fire that you can't hide. Ashe watched the water as it glimmered under the pale golden sunlight, and it finally occurred to her how out of place they were. Or maybe it was just her. Kalt seemed at ease here, like he belonged. Ashe... she was a storm with skin that did not belong anywhere destruction wasn't wanted. Her breath caught as broad hands slid over her waist, electrifying her nerves for a moment as he wrapped her arms around herself. Her breathing grew heavy as his voice sounded - it was soft in a way that ached. She stared hard at the water, what he said creeping it's way into her head. Alistair... he had more than met her half way, didn't he? He came and chased after her when she got into trouble, waited so patiently for an absent wife that didn't know how to remain in bed, stay home and wake him when she was afraid. Instead she would wake up from her night terrors in silence and run. She couldn't ask him to understand, gods, she had been so selfish to let him love her. Ashe leaned back against Kalt as her stomach did a backflip with his lips on her shoulder - just where the collar of her black shirt hung off of her just slightly. Her lowered intake of food was starting to show. Still, her head tilted, and she wasn't quite aware of it at first. As if her response to him was still the most natural thing in the world. Idiot girl. They survived. He chuckled and it skittered along her bones. They survived. It hadn't particularly hit her. She had told her mother, told everyone really, that it was over. It was all over. But survived... Ashe's thumbs brushed over the top of his, and she frowned out into the water. They survived Northwind's Guild of Assassins. They survived their Master and the personal hells he constructed for the children he owned... and he was dead. The Guild was gone, and she had killed their god. Kalt was right. Normal wasn't in the cards for people like them. Ashe tore her eyes away from the water and up to Kalt as he came to stand before her. He tilted her chin up, touched her cheek, and she was entirely caught by the way he looked at her. Experiencing what she did... Ashe leaned into the kiss to her forehead, her arms reached out rested over his hips as she let silence lapse again. To be loved... she knew her family loved her. They shouldn't, and she kept hurting them, even as she kept her distance. Then what he said hit her fully, and all at once. ”I’ll be here for when you realize the first part...because you’ve never been without the latter.” She pulled in a sharp and shaking breath at that, her heart plummeting into a free fall. Ashe's chest was caving in as the other assassin drew away from her, and she flashed her eyes up to look at his. Her eyes filled as her chest rose and fell quickly.. and she moved forward to rest her forehead over his chest. One hand stayed resting over his hip, the other rising to his back as she breathed in, tried to think. "Kalt.." she murmured, his name falling from her lips like a precious jewel. She stayed that way for a moment before she picked her head up to look at him, face lifted up from where she held herself to him. "You really don't hate me," she said in more statement than question, her voice soft under the sounds of the oasis.