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JOLA OSTARI DIED THE following morning. It was as sunny day as the one before. Jak felt betrayed by the weather. Why wasn’t it raining? They buried his mother, and he stood with his jaw tight and tears streaming down his face. Ebere was on his right side, and his ex-wife stood on his left. Duna was racked with sobs as neighbors helped put his mother into the ground.
She’d told him to forgive his father. On her deathbed she’d made him promise. He didn’t want to think about Xeku. This day was for his mother, and he wasn’t ready to think about anything else. She’d protected him and cared for him his entire life, and in the end only asked that he forgive his father. He wouldn’t begrudge a dying woman her last wish. Before she took her final breath, she added something. The words that echo
