Briar shrugs. "You didn't have a choice then. You do now." He says it as if it's easy, obvious to anyone. He looks Ashley in the eye though, serious and sincere, when he continues, "You're not the one who should be feeling bad about whatever you did. The people who forced that on you are the ones who were misusing their power." He'd like to hear the whole story someday, but Briar knew better than to ask too much from anyone this skittish about her abilities, especially when she barely knew him.

An apologetic smile accompanies Briar's next statement. "I know that's a lot easier for me to say than it'll be for you to believe, but it's true."

And then, because he figures Ashley could use a smile, Briar puts a hand over the wooden temporary shelf that holds what supplies he needed to modify the ridgepole. He lets a tendril of his magic weave through the wood, calling to the green life still dormant in it. A miniature forest sprouts up around and between all the items currently residing there. Briar surveys his handiwork only long enough to see that it's worked before his gaze darts back to Ashley. He tries hard to contain a grin, awaiting her reaction with as serious an expression as he can manage. Something about the eyes probably gives it away, though.

Briar isn't precisely using his magic to impress a girl. If that happens, fine. What he really wants, though, is to distract Ashley from guilt and worry without mandating a subject change. He will talk about her powers for as long as she needs to, but Briar thinks Ashley could use something outside herself to focus on as well. He has rather limited resources up here to provide that, so he's improvising.