It's not pressure as much as reassurance and Ashley takes the explanation for what it's worth. Her face remains as neutral as she can make it for the moment, her mind turning over everything Briar is saying. It makes sense to her... but somehow she doesn't think the situations are entirely the same and she sighs wearily.

"She sounds strong."

Normally, Ashley's the strong type. Normally, she's all power and energy and confidence. But when it comes to what the Cabal did to her, how she let her mother down and killed so many people... it's hard for her to be comfortable with something that makes her skin crawl. For a moment, she debates leaving the explanation there, not continuing, but she has a feeling he'll be able to read that something's bothering her and press her for an answer anyway.

"What if it's not a power you were born with? What if it's something someone gave you and made you use against the people who meant the most to you?" What if she did some terrible things with it? Did that still mean it was okay, she was okay? Times like this, Ashley desperately wished she could just go to her mother. But that option had been stripped from her. And she wasn't even sure how she would go about asking Helen anyway. How on earth would she ask about powers to her mother, the woman she'd nearly killed with them?