“No!” shrieked Cwen. “Pleasssse, Rhia. I am sssso full of remorsssse. Won’t you forgive me?”
Rhia crossed her leaf-covered arms. “Never.”
I felt a strange pang. The word never rang in my ears like a heavy door slammed and barred. To my own surprise, a feeling of sympathy rose inside of me. Certainly Cwen had done something terrible. Something she regretted. But hadn’t I also done things I deeply regretted?
I stepped close to Rhia, lowering my voice. “It’s hard, I know. Yet maybe you should forgive her.” She stared at me coldly. “How can I?”
“The same way my mother forgave me after what I did to her.”
At that instant, Elen’s parting words came back to me. The butterfly can change from a mere worm to the most beautiful creature of all. And the soul, my son, can do the same. I bit my lower lip.
“Cwen did something awful, to be sure. But she deserves another chance, Rhia.”
“Why?”
“Because, well, she could change."
"All of us, all living things, have the potential to change."
***
