Ashly’s story began after a fire stole her family home when she was just eleven. Among the ashes, she found her mother’s wedding ring and a half-smoked top hat, charred but resilient. Eli, who had recently moved to town as a bookbinder, discovered the hat in the town square, where Ashly placed it each year on a wreath of flowers. She claimed it was a "guardian," a symbol of her mother’s strength.