Chapter Text
Kaidan wondered if there would ever be a day when Aesa stopped surprising him at every turn. Quick on the heels of that thought was the private admonishment that perhaps that day would come sooner if he were to stop underestimating her. Despite being a laughably mismatched pair – at least to the eyes of the guards and various onlookers which included one or two members of the Companions of Jorrvaskr that Kaidan recognized by face if not by name – it wasn’t long before he had to admit that she was a more than passable warrior. Intending only to lightly test her defenses he found his longer heavier weapon turned away by her shield at every turn.
After several redirected strikes, Aesa changed tactics. Interrupting his next downward strike, Aesa rushed forward shield up, bashing Kaidan’s face with the boss of her shield. She arced the mace out wide bringing it down towards the outside of his left knee. Before he could respond to her tactic, the strike connected, hard.
Instinctively Kaidan blew out a breath at the unexpected pain as he paced backwards and allowed the long sword in his hands to pick up speed. Baiting her guard with multiple strikes to her left, he waited until the opening he needed appeared. Aesa had extended her guard to knock away his wide attack, and she was just a hair too slow in drawing her shield back in. In a flash, he transitioned his angled strike into rolling his pommel behind her shield opening her guard wide and flinging her shield to the ground as her grip failed, unable to withstand his disarming technique. He fluidly twisted the familiar blade in his hands for a final time, bringing it up to rest the tip lightly against the pale skin of her throat, just above her collar bone.
Kaidan looked into her face then, and met a wolfish grin that was a mirror of his own. One slow deliberate heartbeat passed between them as he kept his sword held to her throat. Then he relaxed, easing the blade away. A single drop of crimson decorating the ebony blade.
Aesa moved to collect her shield, swinging it easily into place on her back while she hung her mace at her waist. Coming to kneel before him she said, “Let me Heal your knee.”
Kaidan looked down at her, halfway through the motion of sheathing his own sword on his back, and casually replied, “What for? It’ll heal on its own… and I’ve certainly had worse.” Aesa rolled her eyes and set her jaw in the expression he was already learning meant trouble. Without waiting for an answer, she raised hands already pooling with the golden light she was named for, but she kept her eyes on his face and made no move to touch him while she spoke.
“Two things. I know exactly how hard I hit you, and it will bruise spectacularly.” The question was clear in her eyes as she gazed up at him waiting to Heal, wanting to help. But just as clear on her face was the promise that she would not force him. Would never force him. That should he refuse her, she would respect his wishes. The thought tightened Kaidan's throat in a way he couldn’t fully explain and finally he nodded his consent. She splayed her hands out on either side of his knee, long fingers only just brushing the steel poleyn that made up the joint of his armor as golden light radiated from her hands. “And, I would rather go after this coven with my shield arm tied behind my back than with you injured! I’ve never seen anyone wield a blade like that!”
Aesa finished the spell and rose beside him, lower lip pulled in between her teeth as her gaze lingered on the knee she had just Healed. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I just didn’t know how else to make you stop toying with me and take me seriously.”
It was too much. The furrow in her brows, and the way she worried her lip when she fussed over him. It bumped up in his chest against the heady relief at the conviction he was now certain that she could handle almost any bounty they were likely to come across. The laughter that had been growing in his chest ever since he met her burst from him.
Still chuckling, he laid a hand on her shoulder “Well, consider the lesson well learned little Minx! I won’t be doubting you again!” and with that he turned back to the Bannered Mare. They needed to pack, they had hagravens to kill.