Standing in the city center, Kindal, a young Kypiq girl looked up to a statue of a Kypiq woman. The stone woman held a scroll to her heart with her left hand with her right hand outstretched as if she wanted to lift you up from the ground to look at the city from above. The words "Purity's grace, the light of redemption" engraved into the stone in both Neran and Pyqsi.
Kindal was accompanied by her classmates for a lesson on the city of Cape Dryasslope. Their mentor, Rikden a Neran mann, spoke in long winded breaths, about the history of Purity Anatar.
"Adopted during the time of the searing plague, Purity was the first of the Anatar family to be of the Kypiq tribe. After the death of her adopted father she inherited the family estate and united the great houses of Bally after the Anatarian civil war."
Kindal had heard stories of Purity Anatar before. How her parents died during the great plague, and how she was adopted by the very family responsible for their death. Kindal found this odd, and wondered how could Purity forgive the ones who killed her birth parents.
"It's not right!" She interrupted,
Rikden looked at her annoyed coming closer to her.
"Pray tell, whats not right?" he asked.
Kindal looked up, tears welling up in her eyes, as she spoke,
"They killed her family and then took her in? As if that is supposed to fix the damage they caused?! They never paid for their crimes!"
Rikdens face softened and he seemed almost sad. He knelt down to look Kindal in the eyes and said,
"Look around young one. Everyone in this city and in all of Bally lost loved ones during those dark days. But this monument reminds us that no matter how far you stray, redemption is always within your grasp and forgiveness doesn't always need a reason."
He stood high above her and commanded the attention of the whole class, "Listen up all of you!" moving on from the history lesson and continuing on to instruct them on how the city functioned.
They left to tour the rest of the city. From the high towers of the mysterious watchers guild, to the docks where merchant and fishing vessels came in and out taking goods up the river and out to sea.
Having seen all the city had to offer and tired of Rikdens lectures about crop yields and rants on taxes, the children were finally released to their homes.
Kindal who had calmed down now, walked home having not said a word since her outburst. She walked past the statue again, looking to the face depicting her personal hero. her eyes fell to the words again. She still couldn't understand how someone could be so forgiving, or even what "forgiveness doesn't always need a reason" meant.
As she stood staring at the words, dark memories of a past wrong sunk their vicious teeth into her mind again. She began to weep remembering the pain of broken trust and lost innocence. Her sadness turned to anger as her mind turned on her, she didn't realize she was digging her nails into her arms drawing blood. As the rage, sadness and pain overwhelmed her she fell to her knees at the foot of statue in despair.
A shadow loomed over the girl as she sat in the street, the light waning and most of the people gone home now. As she cried she heard a voice say,
"You know she blamed herself for a long time for her birth parents death."
Looking up, she couldn't see who it was speaking. She could tell he was dressed well but she had cried too much and couldn't make out his face.
"In her journals, she wrote that for many years she believed if she hadn't been born her birth parents wouldn't have used what they had to keep her alive. She blamed herself so much but she never wrote of any blame she had for her adopted father. She spoke only of his pain and she even grieved for him."
Kindal lost all control and fell into the mans arms crying uncontrollably.
He picked her up and carried her to her home just outside the city gates. Handing her off to her parents they bowed and thanked him for bringing her safely home.
He bowed back and said, "Just tell her when she wakes, that forgiveness starts with yourself." and he departed.
