"Why were you imprisoned, Ravel?"
"I tried to help a Lady and a-kindly she did not take to it." Fall-From-Grace broke in with a question.
"The Lady of Pain? You tried to *help* her?"
"My offering of help was unwelcome. I *tried* to set her FREE; Sigil is the CAGE, a City of Doors and Locks, is a prison for her. It must be, mustn't it be? Why else call the city of Sigil 'the Cage?' And who is caged? The Lady! A prison so small for one so great. Unjustness, wrongness, intolerable to torment a woman thusly!" Morte added his own comment.
"I think I know who should be in a cage…"
"I tried to break the Cage, let the Lady go free." She made a shooing motion, her expression becoming pained as she scattered invisible birds. "Shoo, shoo, o pained woman, let Sigil's ring be broken so you might fly far from its filthy streets and the stupid dabus that dare not speak in words for fear their thoughts would be overheard!" Ravel's hands slowly stopped their 'shooing' motion, and she gave a slow sigh.
"Before I could finish, I a-found myself here, and my memories none the better for the trip... much has slipped away, much forgotten, yes it was... is? Was?" Ravel smiled with her yellowed teeth. "The dwindling of memory has become a comfort to these old bones. Much have I forgotten... I am fortunate in that I still remember you."
"Ravel, but... WHY did you try to free the *Lady of Pain* from Sigil?"
Ravel's voice dropped, almost reprimanding. "I resent anyone, even a Power, being imprisoned and think that all, everyone ...whether stones, shores or quiet bladed ladies... should be FREE. Some have said more fool, I. Why risk such a thing, they said?" I had heard many reasons why Ravel attempted to break the cage that was Sigil, but none had suggested this motive. I wondered if Ravel had always had a capacity for compassion within her blackened soul, or if somehow the improbable love I had awakened inside her had made room for other, kinder, emotions.