[That draws another laugh. A bad joke, it is, but Aster delights in all jokes, terrible or no.]

You only need to look at the world.

[Aster gestures at their surroundings.]

Blood spilt over the Singularity, omens, gods...when I mind the children, they're adamant on avoiding things they fear or don't understand. It takes time to coax them. If you ask me, the folk in Endsmuth are a bit the same, but they haven't got anyone they trust to show them otherwise. So they cocoon themselves forever.