The woman spoke in contrition, but what she was really doing was recounting her bitter past.
She had lost her parents when she was very young. Under the Goddess's radiant light, other believers had taken her in and cared for her. But her adoptive parents had died in an attack by an Outer District Player, and after spending two years moving between neighbors' homes, she had finally been sent to an institution like a Welfare Institute, one that took in the orphaned children of believers.
Life there had been neither especially good nor especially bad. The adults had been baptized and were patient with the children; they did not beat or scold them. But the children had yet to bathe in the Goddess's light, so they did not know how to care for others, let alone get along with one another. She was often bullied and frequently went hungry. When she told the adults, they pitied her, but they were also exceedingly forgiving toward the children who bullied her.
The believers simply said that once the children grew up and answered the Goddess's call, they would naturally mend their ways—even those who had done evil would turn over a new leaf, let alone children.
So the woman began to yearn for the Goddess, too. As she grew up, she saw many of the children who had once bullied her become good people. Some even sought her out to apologize, then made amends and looked after her.
This made her believe in the Goddess even more, and she decided that when she grew up, she would follow the Goddess forever.
The believers said that the Goddess loved everyone, whether or not they were her followers. So the woman treated everyone equally. She often worked herself sick caring for the ill, elderly