How many spin-offs can I throw in before I finish Bloodline? As it turns out, at least four. Somehow Bloodline has made it over the 300k word mark and I still find myself needing to write scenes that didn't make the cut… this godforsaken niche a full-time job.

Like most of my stuff, this is extremely dialogue-heavy. But you already know I'm a one trick pony.

Enjoy!

Sire Ver Leth had a long-standing reputation for being a bit insensitive. Chilly. Unsympathetic. Even straight-up ruthless, depending who you asked or the kind of day he was having.

Kaden Hale didn't see it, personally.

When Mika paused in the doorway of the Hall of Khledon Lurt to observe Arrow from a distance, Kaden could practically see Mika's heart sink as he realized, just as she did, that Arrow hadn't moved from the table he'd been sitting at during lunch. An hour ago. That in itself wouldn't necessarily be a red flag - unless you considered the bigger picture.

It was the night before the signing of the treaty that would unite the clans end the War of the Scars once and for all. They were quite literally on the verge of true peace with the vampaneze. There was still so much to do - all four Princes and every single senior General was run off their feet preparing for the momentous occasion. And Arrow was just sitting there in an empty room. Based on his facial expression, it was entirely possible he didn't even realize the room was empty or that an hour had passed since he was supposed to get up and be somewhere.

"Carry on up to the Hall of Princes. Tell the guards I sent you, and tell Vancha I'll be there as soon as I can." Mika addressed the small group of Generals bluntly, not taking his eyes off Arrow.

When the others carried on, Kaden vaguely registered that Mika's order applied to her too. But it didn't occur to her to follow them. And it didn't seem to occur to Mika to question why she stayed. Which was good because Kaden didn't exactly have an answer for that. She supposed she could chalk it up to the fact that she'd recently come off an almost six-year stint on the frontlines where she served as Arrow's second-in-command, and she knew him well enough to acknowledge there was reasonable cause for concern here. At least, that's the answer she would've given. But she got the impression Mika was intuitive enough to arrive at that conclusion on his own.

"Fuck, he's still in there. I'll go pull his head out of his ass." Mika muttered once the others were out of earshot. He sounded exasperated, but his eyes betrayed his genuine worry.

"I don't mean to overstep, but I've got this, Sire. You may as well go get your next meeting started." Kaden offered, catching herself by surprise. She fully expected Mika to tell her to piss off. But he didn't seem offended in the slightest. If anything he appeared intrigued by her offer. Impressed, even.

"You sure?" Mika asked, arching one neat, dark eyebrow.

"Of course. If you don't mind, that is."

"Honestly, that works out really well for me. I have at least a hundred other things I have to do before tomorrow." Mika admitted. "So I'm fine with taking Arrow Pep Talk off my to-do list."

He pulled a leather-bound notebook from his pocket and thumbed through it til he landed on a page marked with today's date.

"Don't tell me you had Arrow Pep Talk written on there." Kaden snorted, unable to help herself from leaning over to take a closer look. "Oh my gods, you really did." She laughed as she saw it right there in black ink and underlined. Arrow Pep Talk - time TBD.

"Well, yeah. It was inevitable. Anything that takes up valuable time goes on the schedule. Otherwise I'd never get anything done." Said Mika seriously, as though it was obvious. When he turned to go, Kaden figured she was dismissed. Then Mika paused to glance over his shoulder once more.

"Just out of curiosity, what are you going to say to him?" Mika added, surveying her with mild interest.

"That Sarah wouldn't resent him for embracing peace… that she'd be as proud of him as we are." She told him. And she felt a sliver of satisfaction when he smiled. Mika was tricky to read, but she could see the relief in his posture and his face as he nodded back at her in validation.

"You're good at this. That's exactly what I would've said."

"Thank you, Sire. That's high praise coming from you."

"You can call me Mika."

"Thank the gods someone is holding this bench down. I can only imagine the bedlam if it got up and walked off." Kaden greeted Arrow with an unassuming smile as she sat down across from him.

His body may have been firmly planted in this room, but his mind had clearly been in another universe. He jolted in surprise as though she'd literally materialized out of thin air. There was a momentary flash of disorientation in his eyes, but he quickly rearranged his face into something more approachable.

"Sorry, boss." Arrow grinned sheepishly. "Do I not look busy enough?"

Kaden crossed her arms and rested them comfortably on the table. She was well-accustomed to forcing smiles and carefully considering both her posture and facial expressions while conversing with the men of this clan, particularly the higher-ranking ones. She couldn't remember when exactly she'd started lowering her guard around Arrow. All she knew was it hadn't been a conscious decision on her part. It was automatic. Instinctual. She got him, and during their time in the field she realized he got her too.

"I'm not here to assess your productivity. Just came to see if you'd figured it out yet." She replied.

"Figured what out?" Arrow's brow furrowed in confusion as he regarded her from across the table. Now that she was barely two feet away, she had a clear view of how tired he was. His face was lined with worry and stress. None of the Princes or senior Generals had gotten enough sleep lately, but there was a shadow behind Arrow's eyes that his colleagues didn't share. And based on the hesitant undertone in his voice, he was genuinely under the impression that he'd forgotten something important.

"The secrets of the universe." Kaden replied seriously, resting her chin on her fist as she matched his studious gaze. "That's what you're doing in here, right? Pondering the secrets of the universe?"

Arrow chuckled at that - a halfhearted ghost of his usual booming laugh. "Not exactly. Just finishing up some paperwork."

"Huh. My mistake. You have your pondering face on. I just assumed you were using it." Kaden shrugged. She took a moment to pull a hair tie from her wrist and wrestle a handful of auburn into it, pulling it back from her face so as not to distract her from the task at hand. Then she rested her elbows on the table, letting her body language convey a clear message to Arrow: she wasn't here to make him feel worse than he already did, but she was settling in for the long haul.

Arrow's eyes brightened a little, but not enough to dispel the deep-set sadness there. He mirrored Kaden's posture, comfortably resting his elbow on the table and propping his chin on his fist as he gazed back at her.

"I have a pondering face?" He asked, slightly raising one eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. Your eyes glaze over, you grind your teeth and lock your jaw. And if you ponder long enough, your face kind of just freezes like that til you eventually get distracted." Kaden informed him frankly. All at once, his sombre face cracked into a warm smile. He ran his hand experimentally over his jaw, and grimaced.

"Feels like I might have been pondering after all. You'd think I'd have something to show for it by now." Arrow chuckled and leaned back and running his palm contemplatively over his scalp.

"I always thought pondering was more about the journey than the destination." Kaden replied evenly. She placed her hand on the table near where his was resting, letting knuckles brush his. He looked down at her hand for a moment, then back up at her.

"I really was planning on going to the logistics meeting. I just lost track of time. Hope I didn't screw Mika's schedule up." Both Arrow's voice and expression were apologetic, as if he wasn't the one with total authority in this situation.

"No harm done. You didn't miss much. I can fill you in, if you want."

"It's alright, Hale. I'm sure you have better things to do." Arrow sighed with that same rueful smile. "I'll just look over Mika's notes later."

"I don't mind. Honestly. Whatever I can do to help, just say the word. Just because we're back in the mountain doesn't mean I don't have your back." Said Kaden.

Arrow's hazel eyes narrowed critically while his brow furrowed again. His smile faltered and Kaden got the distinct impression he was trying to gauge her intentions.

"Mika sent you in here, didn't he?"

"Yes and no. He was about to head in, but I volunteered to take it off his plate so he wouldn't be late for the next meeting." She figured honesty was the best policy, and it paid off.

Arrow responded with a snort of laughter, and his eyes were momentarily lit with mischievous affection. "He delegated my intervention that quickly? The little bastard."

"To be fair, he did make me answer a skill-testing question before letting me take his place." Kaden countered, grinning back.

"And what was that?"

"Confidential. Sorry."

Arrow rolled his eyes and laughed again. And there it was, his true laugh. Booming and contagious. "Typical. It's alright, I'll get it out of him later." But when Arrow paused, the laughter faded from his eyes as quickly as it had set in. And when he sighed, it was laden with regret and frustration. "I can't believe I missed that meeting. As if Mika and Vancha don't have enough to do, now they're picking up my slack as well-"

"Hey." Kaden cut him off decisively, reaching across the table and squeezing his forearm. "Don't beat yourself up. Everyone in this mountain is stressed out and sleep deprived. We're all in the same boat."

Arrow's face darkened. "Then why am I the only one sitting in here?" He growled back. Kaden knew his bitterness wasn't directed at her, so she didn't let go of his arm. She held on tighter.

"You're not the only one." She countered. "I'm here, aren't I?"

Arrow exhaled, and seemed to shrink from within. He hunched forward and pinched the bridge of his nose as though he was under severe duress."You know I think the world of you, Hale. And I'm glad you're here, even if my face isn't showing it right now. But you and I are not in the same boat."

"Fair enough." Said Kaden evenly. "I know I've barely seen the tip of the iceberg of what you Princes are trying to manage right now, but -"

"You don't understand. Nobody else is in this boat with me. Not Mika, not Vancha, and definitely not Darren. Fuck, that kid has no idea what's out there." Arrow shook his head, staring pensively down at his hands. Kaden hadn't overlooked the way the skin around his fingernails was raw and red. When you spend every waking moment with someone for almost six years, you tend to pick up on the little things. Like the way they dig their cuticles bloody when there's too much on their mind.

"You should put some balm on those." Kaden remarked.

"Later." Said Arrow, with a noncommittal shrug. There was a subtle flush in his cheeks, as though surprised or possibly embarrassed she'd picked up on it. He repositioned his hand into a loose fist, hiding the damage from view.

"Alright. So you're alone in your boat. Understandable." Kaden continued, hand lingering on Arrow's arm. "But the thing is, there's a storm coming. Don't you think you should start rowing towards the shore?"

Arrow seemed to be struggling to meet Kaden's gaze, but she didn't force eye contact. This wasn't a trial or an interrogation. She cast her eyes downwards, studying his forearms as they lay folded atop the table. For someone with such well-defined muscling, there was still something so soft about Arrow. It wasn't immediately apparent, but it manifested itself in the little things. The way his powerful body could move with such quiet grace. The warm, almost golden shine in his eyes when he smiled. But he wasn't smiling now.

"You know I almost bailed on my own investiture?" Arrow spoke up at last.

Kaden had to make a concerted effort to keep her jaw from dropping. "You almost what on your what?"

He grimaced again, as though the admission was causing him immeasurable guilt. "I wish I was making that up. I was five minutes from walking out of the mountain and never looked back."

"How?!"

Arrow flipped over the report he'd been looking over, and snatched up the pencil he'd discarded. On the blank side of the sheet he deftly drew a pyramid shape. His movements were swift and jerky, and it wasn't totally symmetrical.

"This represents everything I did after I lost her. All the ways I tried to destroy myself." Said Arrow bluntly, gesturing broadly at the shape as a whole. Next, he drew a line through the pyramid, almost a quarter of the way down from the tip, and pointed at the larger section "This is how much of that I remember doing. And this…" he drew a second line, just almost halfway down. "…this is how much Mika and Vancha know." Then he added a third line, just below the halfway mark and finished bitterly - "and this chunk at the bottom is how much the rest of the clan knows. How much you know."

Kaden kept her eyes on the page for a moment. Taking in the visual representation of all those years of grief. The years of his life that made Arrow infamous long before he ascended to the throne. The years when his sole identity was the heartbroken loner set on sending as many vampaneze to the afterlife as he possibly could. That Arrow had passed into legend before he'd even returned to Vampire Mountain. But Kaden had never met that Arrow.

"You didn't think you deserved to be a Prince." She said at last. She didn't frame it as a question, because it wasn't one. But the haunted sadness in Arrow's eyes gave her an answer that broke her heart.

"Mika and Vancha practically locked me up the night before my investiture, as soon as they realized I had cold feet. I'm glad I didn't run, but I couldn't pretend it was the happiest night of my life. Half this clan supports me because I fought my way back from the edge. And the other half because of how many vampaneze I took with me to the edge." Arrow added with a bitter laugh. "And no matter how you look at it, Sarah's the reason I have a throne in the Hall of Princes."

"That wasn't a fair trade. I know." Said Kaden softly. Suddenly her hand was no longer on Arrow's arm, instead her fingers found their way into his much larger ones. And his eyes found hers again, hazel pools of grief.

"Hale, I made a name for myself trying to destroy an entire clan because of the one man who took her from me." Arrow whispered. "Who am I to lead us into a new era of peace when my legacy is bloodshed?"

There it was. The exact source of the internal conflict that had kept him frozen to this chair all evening while the mountain carried on without him.

"I'll tell you who you are, Arrow. Maybe to some vampires you're still the vampaneze slayer. If that's what they choose to see after all this time, it says more about them than it ever will about you." Kaden murmured. There was a tremor in her voice, but she didn't let herself waver. "For those on the right side of history, you're the one who rose from the ashes because you loved your clan more than you hated the vampaneze."

Arrow's haunted eyes remained locked into hers, as though her words were an invisible lifeline. She tightened her grip on his battle-scarred hand.

"To our team on the frontlines, you were the North Star we followed in our darkest hours. To your fellow Princes, you're just as much their rock as they are yours. I know you think Mika and Vancha could do this without you, but that's not true." She paused for a moment, took a breath, and continued. "And to me, you've been the most steadfast mentor, leader, and teammate I've ever known. And above all else, you're my friend."

She let those words hang in the silence, her thumb running slowly across the back of Arrow's hand as he took it all in with an uncertain nod.

"I don't deserve you, Hale." Arrow murmured eventually. "I didn't deserve your understanding when I crossed a line with you six years ago, or your dedication on the frontlines, but-"

"That's the thing, Arrow. You do. You deserve every bit of faith your clan has in you, and trust me when I say it's more than you could possibly know. Peace between clans doesn't mean you failed to protect us. It means you did your job, and you deserve to celebrate with us when the treaty is finalized. And I have to believe Sarah wouldn't resent you for that - if she loved you as much as I know you loved her, she'd be as proud of you as I am."

Arrow closed his eyes and ran his left palm wearily across his face. He left his right hand where it was, nestled softly into Kaden's. There was a distinct gleam to his eyes as he blinked furiously, suddenly looking up at the ceiling. "Gods, Hale… You shouldn't be wasting your time in here with me. You're better than this. A General of your caliber should be helping Vancha, or Mika, or -"

"I am helping Mika. That's why I came in here in the first place, remember?" Kaden cut him off in a tone she hoped was reassuring and not patronizing. "And just for the record, you didn't cross a line with me that night. It felt right in the moment, so we crossed it together. I hope you haven't spent all these years beating yourself up for it. Because if I can speak openly… I don't regret it."

When she finished speaking, her heart was pounding for reasons she couldn't entirely make sense of. But after a moment of pensive silence, Arrow's face relaxed. The storm clouds in his eyes faded, and he let out a soft but genuine laugh.

"If that was you speaking openly, then what was everything leading up to it?!" Arrow chuckled, corners of his mouth turning up into a wayward smile. And when Kaden laughed with him, she felt an unexpected swell of fondness in her heart. She had to assume her face was lighting up at the sound of his laughter just as much as his was at hers.

Finally she stood up and leaned across the table to put her arms around him. The position was awkward, but the hug was anything but. His powerful, well-built body melted into her soft embrace. He'd needed this, and that realization made her heart ache.

"That was a really roundabout way of telling you it's time to start rowing to shore. You don't have to be alone in that boat anymore. We're all here waiting for you." Kaden murmured into his shoulder as she held him. One final squeeze that contained volumes of words unspoken, and they drew apart.

"I'm back on the shore now, Hale. And I'm sorry it took so long. It was just… it gets foggy out there, you know?" Said Arrow quietly. He didn't look entirely like his usual self yet. All that mattered was that the shred of self-doubt that still lingered deep in his eyes was outshone by the spark of the gritty determination she'd always admired about him. That was enough for now.

Kaden poured herself a mug of ale from the pitcher on the table, then refilled Arrow's. When he picked it up to take a drink she gently bumped it with her own mug. A silent toast, or maybe a pact: I got you, you got me. Where you go, I go. Long live whatever this is.

"I can't stop you from getting in that boat. I won't pretend to understand the course destiny set for you." Said Kaden. She took a sip of the ale, paused and added - "But next time you need a lighthouse, I'm here."

Backstory on Kaden - she actually originated as my first OC, a blatant self-insert born in 2010, the height of cringe OC culture during which I endeavoured to write an Arrow/OC story. I won't be finishing that, but I have a special place in my heart for Kaden so I "rebranded" and incorporated her into the Bloodline universe. At this point in Bloodline she and Arrow have a mostly offscreen and mostly platonic (ahem) relationship. To recap, they hooked up in a moment of weakness in the early stages of the War of the Scars, which Arrow tells Mika about in a jumble of emotions back in chapter 4 (?). Eventually I want to circle back and write more about Arrow and Kaden, but I'm already procrastinating enough so that's on the back burner for now.

And yes I'm absolutely going to write the story of the night Arrow almost bailed on his own investiture but that's a whole other thing.