Koda knew this. She was raised on this. The entire culture of her people was steeped within the knowledge that their deity - their Mother Moon - was an infallible bastion of righteousness. Whatever pleased Her should spark delight amongst the Kaldorei; whatever served as an affront against Her should be met with swift and divine retribution. There was no wiggle room on this, no grey area, no debate to be had.
When Elune spoke, Her word was to be obeyed. Her judgement was to be fulfilled. Her will was not to be questioned.
And yet, as Koda sat on the edge of her bed in the earliest hours of the morning, watching Cervontis sleep, she couldn't help but wonder, 'Why?'
There was the easy answer: Cervontis had gone against the tenants of their faith and committed crimes against their people that needed to be answered for. And in the eyes of many of their kin, penance was a far greater kindness than he deserved. But Elune had granted him with mercy, and so the Kaldorei obliged their Goddess' word.
But, there was no such thing as an easy answer, and certainly not in this case. With what Cervontis had told her, despite having likely done terrible things while under the influence of the Flame, the initial choice to travel the dark path had not been his own.
And so, the wondering.
Why?
Why would Elune punish a victim? She knew everything, and so She certainly knew the true circumstances of his conversion. So why would She elect to banish him back to the Firelands at the completion of his atonement? Wouldn't She rather see him free of those chains? Wouldn't She champion the wounded, not inflict them with further suffering?
And, Cervontis was doing so well. In the short time Koda had known him, she'd watched his personality transform. He was still rough around the edges, sure, but nowhere near how he'd been when they first met. He was listening, and learning, and trying to be a little better each day than he'd been the day before. He was not the sort of person that needed to be exiled, and certainly not to the hellscape that was the Firelands.
So...why?
It was a simple question, but it rocked the foundation of everything Koda had ever known to its core. Because, if she was questioning the Goddess' judgement on Cervontis, then she also had to question Her judgement on her an'da.
And, even further beyond that, Koda had to question her own feelings about her an'da and his exile. While recent events had begun to elicit hope that her father could be redeemed, it didn't change the fact that she had hated him so much for so long for what he'd done to their family. Even now, her anger burned hot, disgusted by his selfish choice to walk the path of a heretic, but...
But what if it hadn't been him who was wrong? What if the one who was wrong was...
She couldn't complete the thought. Couldn't bring herself to that conclusion, regardless of how wildly these thoughts were spinning around in her mind.
And so, instead, Koda focused on the man before her. Followed the steady rise and fall of his chest with her gaze. He seemed so...peaceful. So at ease, despite it all.
She wouldn't let them steal that from him. She wouldn't sit idly by while they tossed him back into containment, back into the fires of his torment, undoing all the work they had put into making him the man he wanted to be. Koda would find a way to quench him of the sin that burned within him; whether through the latent power of the seed the Keeper had planted in him, or through converting the flames of destruction into the healing flames of the Red Dragonflight, or a mixture of both. Regardless of the method, she would not see the Druid imprisoned again - not by the Wardens, not by the Sentinels...not even by Elune Herself.
Koda had promised Cervontis his freedom, and she was not a woman who broke her promises.
