When the monks of Azarath found me, a confused and terrified teenager, and brought me back to their home they showed me more kindness than I had ever known in my life. I was no longer Angela Roth, trash from Gotham City. I was given a new home and a new name.
Arella.
I was told the name meant 'messenger angel'. I found this ironic given the fact that I was carrying within me the vessel through which Trigon could unleash his terror on the world.
You were taken from me the moment you were born. You, Raven, my child.
The birth was long and difficult and at the end I was not even allowed to hold you, not once. I was told that I must never touch you, that I must never express any feelings of love or affection toward you. They told me that in order to control the darkness within you must never feel any emotion. Not your own. Not those of another. To ensure that you never gave into your darker emotions you were forbidden to feel any at all.
Even though I knew there was a great darkness present in you, I was your mother and I loved you. It broke my heart knowing that I would most likely never be a part of your life.
I watched from afar as Azar raised you and even though I knew you were in the best possible care I could not help but feel a certain amount of resentment toward her. I suppose that was the natural response of a mother being forced to watch as another woman raised her daughter.
I silently observed as you grew over the years, never once smiling or laughing or crying. The only emotion that you had faintest idea of was a hatred for your father.
Finally at the age of ten you were returned to me following the death of your mentor. The monks decided that perhaps you now had enough control to allow me near. I was glad to have you back, though I admit that I was at a loss as to exactly how I should act toward you. My somber little child.
You were of course aware of your dark destiny but I clung to the hope that somehow, someway you would be able to escape it.
Over the next few years you could feel your father growing closer; we all could. You decided to leave Azarath in an attempt to protect us, yet Trigon came to us despite your efforts.
You found friends. Wonderful friends, and even though you did not think of them as such at first, you grew to love them.
The day of your destiny came and with their help you were able to defy it. You were able to cleanse Trigon's evil from your soul and from the world.
It is a new beginning for you, my child.
As I stand here gazing out over the ruins of Azarath and watching as its people slowly begin to return and to rebuild, I cannot help thinking that perhaps it is a new beginning for us all.