Katze didn't seem particularly surprised as Xarakas admitted just how long they'd known about their demons' interest in each other, though this being their first intimate moment did have her giving him a second look.
"I'm not looking for information to punish you. You don't need to embellish the truth about this," she told him, though she sighed a moment later. "Though you don't owe me details either. I'm not attempting to pry."
Katze's eyes softened as he expressed his concern for Asha, however—her right to making her own choices and her wellbeing. It was more than she'd seen from any official suitor. "I suggest you talk to Asha when she wakes then." She paused.
"Let me tell you a story." Katze turned to fully face Xarakas. "I was an archangel once, a warrior, and when my superiors gave me a mission to kill the King of Hell before I'd even finished my training, I didn't question them. I failed spectacularly, of course, and then I was forced to stay there because everyone wanted to know why I looked just like his dead wife. Asha was just a child at the time, older than me technically but apparently hybrids age slower than normal. Shax warned her to stay away from me, no matter that I looked like her mother, and I was warned to stay away from her. Shax and I started to get closer, but there was still distance. He worried for Asha's sake. He didn't want her to feel that he was replacing her in his heart, much less her mother. But it was actually Ash who brought us together. That isn't common knowledge," she confided in him with a smile.
"Little Ash only had one question when Shax asked her what she thought about his remarrying. 'Does Kat make you happy?' That's it. And when he said that I did, that was all she needed to know. She was happy to accept me as part of her family. God, even later, when Shax wanted to propose to me officially, he consulted her about picking a headpiece out. He was going to buy one new, but Ash convinced him to propose to me with Krahe's. I wasn't there, but Shax told me that he'd thought I would think him cheap or that he didn't consider me special. Ash apparently argued that I'd see it as a sign that he loved me as much as his first wife."
"I probably have dozens of similar stories," Katze admitted. "Ash has always been sharp, clear-headed, insightful, and warm-hearted to those around her. But she doesn't often think of herself. Her father pushed studies on her as a child that most wouldn't have been able to handle, because he knew she could and he wanted to be sure she could handle whatever the world threw at her if he was ever unable to protect her. She's thrown herself into it since to make him proud."
Katze met Xarakas's eyes frankly. "I'm telling you all of this because I can tell you care. You've been good for her even as an instructor already. She sleeps and eats more now. And if you talk to her and she says that she wants to pursue a relationship with you, I'd like for you to trust her instincts. And continue to be good for her. You may worry about what will happen later, but don't punish yourself or her on account of those worries. As for Shax… I'll help keep this secret for as long as you both need and want. God knows I've helped Ash keep others before. Put thoughts of him discovering you from your mind."