Maela did her best to keep her explanation simple, but every question she answered sparked two more in turn until she found herself all the way back at the beginning, explaining Ashlynn's mark and their decision to hide her away from the Church.
"You all know how, how hard it's been for me," Maela said. "After so many struggles, when Ashlynn was finally born, we thought she was a miracle. And Rhys… I think he went half mad searching for a way to protect her from what she was going to become."
"There are… Strange things in the Blackwell Isles," Maela explained. "Things that are older than Gaal. Myths, superstitions… Things the Church would call heretical if they ever really knew. Rhys always says that it's just the way things are, but after Ashlynn was born, he was like a man possessed."
