Children of Virtue and Vengeance

In the first novel, Inan regularly fidgets with a piece from a board game that he stole from his father. When Zélie reveals to him that it is majacite, he throws it away, thereby severing his tie to his father. In return, she gives him a bronze coin, which Ojore returns to him in this novel. He thinks back to how Zélie told him that it is “something [he] can hold on to without killing [him]self” (97). After Inan gets the coin back, he often plays with it during war council or when he must make an important decision. For Inan, it symbolizes his connection to Zélie and the love he still holds for her. Unable to get rid of it, he not only holds on to it but also uses it to ground himself when dealing with the war. The fact that it replaces the piece from his father’s board game shows Inan’s growth and development, as he has learned to abandon his father’s hatred of the maji and instead understand them through Zélie’s help.

At the conclusion of the novel, he gives the coin back to Zélie in a letter. Zélie is shocked to learn that he kept it but in turn takes it for herself and fashions it into a necklace.