"Good," Ashlynn said in a voice that seemed to have grown strangely flat and distant as a blend of her own earthy power and Nyrielle's dark wind swirled around her. Her face had grown pale and her emerald eyes seemed to harbor ghosts beyond the ones that had haunted her ever since the night of her wedding to Owain Lothian.
"Rise, Commander Aspakos," Ashlynn said formally, almost mechanically as she reached out to take his taloned hands in hers, helping him to stand even as the power she held made him feel as though he was standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice. "We respect your reservations," she added in the hopes of reassuring him. "We won't ask you to do more for now than training and organizing the sorcerers under our banner. You won't need to lead them in battle against the Lothians unless the Church sends their mightiest of Miracle workers."
