#ashe and shez are just friends and their romantic relationship begins when they are both adults and have spent years together

[dazzlerazz]

My idea was that Ashe and Shez had met as 10 year olds when Shez's then mercenary band came trutting into Gaspard territory looking for work

Shez had been sort of alienated from the rest of his village after his adoptive mom passed (this is because Shez doesn't seem to ever mention that any other villagers of that mountain village seemed to adopt or help him in any way after her death) so he stowed away with some merchants or mercenaries who passed through town

Berling does say that she "plucked Shez from a mountain village" which could mean that Shez in canon was actually sorta jointly-raised by all the adults in the village but was mostly on his own and when he was about 16-17 ish he was picked up by Berling's mercenaries who managed to become one of the best bands in Leicester over the next few years

In the ashez childhood au Shez ran away from that village and traveled Fodlan through various groups for a few years before landing with the Ironbloods after they found him living just outside Remire village and they took him along with them, and then a few months later the Ironbloods went into Gaspard territory and that's where they met

Ashe and Shez would be almost inseparable for the time that it took the Ironbloods to finish the job they were given and move along, and while it was sad to see Shez go life had to go on. Eventually Ashe's memory of the mercenary boy would fade until the two met again by chance at the start of 3Hopes