Peace among the natives and the Messed up present

“It’s all true!” Raining day explains to the children, “I was an enemy to the Tris. I held on to the old ways. But my friends, our true allies of Lauresia, took me back in time when the Empire of the Tris once stood. And there I learnt a painful lesson – they had once saved our people, saved them all! And we were in debt to them, a debt which must not be forgotten!


The children cheer. He continues:

“However, they had forgotten. And they took us for granted. They treated us like slaves. This broke our people and theirs apart. This is what created the debt which cannot be forgiven.”

The children gasp. He continues:

“I went back, to destroy them. But I stopped once I learnt that what I thought could not be forgiven must not be forgotten!”

Silence. Oblivious to their confusion, he continues.

“But we made a mistake. Going back in time, we moved a noble cat. Time divided against itself, and a boy who was not hurt did not prevent his mother from speaking against a cruel law. Then, when the war that approaches overtook them, we fought by their side to our deaths! It was the death of our people. We returned to the present only to find there were no Beastmen, no Sultancy, no Light in Lauresia. Their city was dark, held prisoner by an almost irresistible force of evil, compelling all to join in the battle in the war that comes. We had to go back in time and make an enemy of an ally or all our people would perish!”

One child, overtaxed by the cognitive demands, bursts into tears. He continues:

“So we went back, back to the Tris I now love. And with all the respect and gratitude I could muster, laid the smack down on that helpful Tris senator. They voted down a kind law, and now I am confident that after the war that comes our people of the past will survive! And with the mightly Empire of the Tris as our allies in the war that comes, our people of the present will survive!!”

“But sir!” A child asks.

“Yes?” Raining day replies.

“What’s a Tris…?”