Ashe was already outside when Vane woke.
She stood in the cleared ground beyond the missing wall, moving through the same six-count sequence Ryuken had drilled into her before she was old enough to understand what the motions were meant to preserve.
Step. Turn. Catch. Redirect. Cut. Recover.
Then again.
The light had strengthened without rising, and Ashe's shadow stretched away from her at an angle her body did not justify. Two days ago, she had flinched whenever it moved half a beat too late.
This morning, she did not seem to notice.
Vane stayed in the doorway.
He knew better than to interrupt.
Ashe needed to process defeat alone before she could share it honestly. Left to herself, she returned with the loss stripped down to whatever it could teach her. Interrupted too early, she came back armored against sympathy, mistaking it for pity.
So Vane watched.
