"I wish it were that simple, Ahna," Fendros said. "We're not the only Dunmer in Cheydinhal. Father regularly interacts with other families and...the priest can only do so much for the culture of it all." Fendros turned his eyes up to Ahnasha again. "It is hard to put explain to you, coming from Imperial openness and all, but...it is less validation keeping things as they are than it is shame. I shamed him and the family because I went against a culture that he has lived amongst for all of his long life. If anyone else found out about me in Cheydinhal, my family would be ostracised. Now, mother and my siblings can keep a secret, but the reason for ostracism lives on as a part of my father at this point. He isn't going to go against himself like that. Not even for me. The clan has to endure, the ancestors have to be appeased. All of that nonsense."

Fendros looked away again. "Now, the priest, he was probably just wise enough to know that keeping the family together would be more important than forcing the family to save face. Father? He is stuck in his ways. A century is no challenge for that kind of thing."