With Flaws

She used to believe her parents were perfect.   And then, when she was older, when she realized why her sister hated her, she realized they were not.   Their family name means swift. When she received her power, she thought it meaningful.   When she grew older, she learned that her family was named that because of a prophecy, one that said a member of the family would have the power she now possessed.   Their family motto was Swift are the steeds who carry the fated one. She realized when she was older that it was rather arrogant to create an entire name, motto, and motivation around a single line in a prophecy.   Her ancestors heard the line and decided they would do everything they could to give the "fated one" a grand ancestry. Everything that her family has done was for this reason. From Jerin and Narya stopping polduf hunting, to her grandfather building houses and treaties, to her mother learning magic to teach her, everything was done for prestige.   Despite her realizations, she could not bring herself to hate her parents, or her grandparents, or her ancestors.   (Her friend told her he could have guessed so. He watched her confront her sister and still love her. He watched her forgive everyone who hurt her. He heard her tell another that forgiveness was not the same thing as friendship, that love was not the same as permission.)   She does not hate anyone. She cannot.   Her parents were misguided. So was her grandfather. So were her ancestors.   Perhaps they were not even misguided. Perhaps they were simply people with flaws. People with flaws that hurt others.   Everyone has flaws. Even the best of us. Even the greatest. And sometimes those flaws hurt others.   She thinks of her own flaws. Too trusting, too kind, too soft. How many times has she been captured or held hostage? How many times have her friends had to save her? How much did she continue to rely on them, forgetting her own strength in favor of letting them try?   She can blame her parents, and so she does. They should not have turned their daughters on each other. They should not have believed in prestige over unity. They should have been better.   But they were not. And she must live with it.   Because no one is perfect. Everyone is a person with flaws.   Some people just control their flaws better than others. And her parents were not some of those people.