Anna was a woman from Earth's surface who was born in AD 1694 (DE 9350). At the moment, there are no pictures of her known to exist. Her nationality, original home, and last name are all unknown. At the time the novels were written, the DRC was concealing the location of the Cleft and D’ni by giving out information that pointed toward a location somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa. For that reason, many of the names given to places and people on the surface in the novels are very likely to be faked.

Her D'ni name, Ti'ana, was given to her by her husband Ātrus, whom I will call the elder to avoid confusion. She married him in AD 1721 (DE 9377). Tē'ana ( tE'ana ) means 'storyteller' in D'ni, and was an obvious pun on her human name. She was the mother Gehn and grandmother of Ātrus the younger, who married Katran of Riven and became the father of Achenar, Sirrus and Yeesha.

It had been a tradition in Ātrus' family to recycle male names every few generations, which is why Ātrus the younger was named after his grandfather.

Anna's early life:

When Anna was young, her family moved from their original homeland somewhere in Europe to southeast New Mexico. It's later shown that Ātrus wrote most of his notes in English, so that's a clue as to their probable homeland. Her father found work as a surveyor and prospector for a wealthy trader, who was called "Amanjira" in the Book of Ti'ana. That may not have been his real name, since the books were written to imply that the Cleft was located somewhere in the Middle East. Her father's primary job was to search for valuable metal deposits, although he also reported anything else that the trader might have found of interest. The family lived in a small dwelling they'd cut high into the wall of a narrow canyon. They called it the Lodge. The only access to it was a bridge from the other side of the canyon, making it easily defensible.

When Anna was twelve, she and her parents went on a climbing expedition. Her mother slipped while ascending and a faulty security line snapped from the resulting strain. Anna and her father could only watch as she fell to her death.

Anna spent her teenage years assisting her father in his surveys of the region around their home. In 1715, while passing near the volcano and Cleft, her father discovered an opening into the ground that appeared to lead into a cave system, and that seemed to be worth further investigation. Although they didn't know it at the time, the two of them had discovered an accidental way to access the Great Shaft. It was at this time that her father began showing signs of an illness that was affecting his ability to work.

Anna and her father spent several days clearing the tunnel of fallen rocks until they could finally access the cave system beyond. Because of her father's condition, it was Anna who entered first, discovering a large cavern and in it a strange unknown material she called simply "red stuff". As it turned out, the red stuff was a material used by the D'ni to seal off the access to the Great Shaft.

Unfortunately her father's health worsened in the time after their discovery. He was unable to put his plans to investigate the cave into action before he succumbed to the illness and died. His death left Anna at a loss. Up to that point she hadn't made any plans for her future, content in her role of assisting her father. She knew she didn't want to remain at the Lodge alone, and she decided to move to the nearest town, Tadjinar. From there she thought she might even travel back to Europe.

Before that, though, she decided that she would make one last exploration of the cave system. It was a impulsive choice made when she was already on her way to Tadjinar. She had no plans to return, and if she was ever to learn more about the cavern, this was her last chance. She knew it was risky, but if there was anything there, but it would be worth it if she found something valuable.

"It was madness even to think of exploring again, especially alone, yet the thought of walking away, of never having tried to find an answer, was impossible. She had to go and look." (The Book of Ti'ana)

She found a way to bypass the seal the D'ni had set in the tunnel and her expedition led her deep into the cave system. Eventually she discovered two heavy digging machines the D'ni had used to create the Great Shaft. They had been left there when the D'ni Council called an end to the plans of making contact with the surface. She was fascinated by the machines and continued further into the maze of tunnels until she was finally discovered by the D'ni and taken to their city.

D'ni:

Anna was the first and only surface visitor to see D'ni before its fall. She spent the first six months of her stay as a prisoner in Irrat cavern, using this time to study her captors and learning their language. The D'ni had sent scholars to learn to speak with her while they tried to decide what to do with her. To the astonishment of the scholars, she was more adept at learning D'ni than they were at learning her language, and they gave up trying as she solved the communications problem for them.

After Anna was able to speak D'ni well enough, the D'ni Council conducted a hearing to determine her fate. Acting upon the information Anna could provide about the humans of her time, the Five Lords of D'ni decided that any contact with those humans should be avoided. The Lords saw them as a "…backward, warlike, immoral race, whose every action was motivated by greed…" (The Book of Ti'ana)

They also decided that Anna could not be allowed to return to the surface, because the risk that she might lead other surface humans to D'ni was too great. They briefly considered sending her to a Prison Age, but in the end they settled on placing her with a D'ni family until a more informed judgment about her could be made.

Anna and Ātrus

As a result of the Five's decision, Anna became a temporary member of the household of Grand Master Kahlis and his wife Tasera. Here she became acquainted with their son, Ātrus.

She and Ātrus soon became friends. Both had an intense curiosity about their respective worlds and cultures. Their friendship was born of mutual respect and fondness for each other. Ātrus promised her that he would share as much information about D'ni as he could. This led to Ātrus initiating her into the D'ni Art of Writing. He showed her his family's Age, Ko'ah, and later asked her to assist him in writing a new Age.

Soon, though, they were faced with serious opposition. Veovis, a friend with whom Ātrus shared a long and turbulent history, had been strongly opposed against Anna learning about the D'ni way of life and their unique capabilities. He resented Anna's growing integration into D'ni society in general and the developing friendship between Anna and Ātrus in particular.

When Veovis learned that Ātrus had taught Anna the Art and taken her to an Age, he divulged this information to the D'ni Council, who in turn confiscated the Book of Ko'ah as well as the yet unnamed Age Ātrus and Anna had begun writing together, which they would later name Gemedet after a popular D'ni board game. Furthermore, the Council ruled that, "…no one who was not of D'ni blood would be allowed to see a Book or visit an Age." (The Book of Ti'ana)

In the wake of this ruling a series of events took place. Both Kahlis and Ātrus handed in their resignation from the Guild of Surveyors. Ātrus resignation was accepted, Kahlis' was not.

Anna offered to leave Kahlis and Tasera's household. Her offer was rejected by Tasera, who went one step further, declaring Anna a true member of her family instead of a temporary guest.

Anna then sought out the help of Master Kedri of the Guild of Legislators. Kedri became an integral part in Anna's struggle against the Council's ruling. He managed to provide evidence that there had been precedents in D'ni history of arotantē being allowed to link to Ages and even visit D'ni itself.

After much debate, the previous ruling of the Council was revoked and the confiscated Family Ages were returned. The incident caused Ātrus and Veovis friendship to deteriorate further than it already had since Anna had arrived in D'ni. Their relationship had been a little shaky to begin with; they hadn't gotten along very well when growing up, and it was a surprise to Ātrus when Veovis made friendly overtures while Ātrus was part of the expedition to create a path to the surface. The real breakthrough had been when Veovis was attending the completion ceremony for the Great Shaft, and Ātrus saved his life after an earthquake damaged the place. For that action, Veovis had promised that Ātrus could one day ask him for any one favor, and it would be granted.

In 1721 Anna and Ātrus married. Again Veovis tried using his influence in the Council and his right to veto any Council decision to prevent it. He was ultimately unsuccessful and the marriage effectively ended Ātrus' and Veovis' fragile friendship.

In 1736 Anna gave birth to her son, who was named Gehn after Ātrus' grandfather. Though the midwife pronounced him a healthy baby, he soon developed stomach problems, a not uncommon problem for newborns due to their immature digestive system.

Anna sought help for her son's problems, but was harshly rebuffed by Master Jura from the Guild of Healers, who even refused to issue a prescription. His explanation made it clear how deeply rooted resentments against arotantē were in the mind-set of certain D'ni.

"Is it not self-evident?" he said. "The child is unnatural. A hybrid. He is neither D'ni nor human, but some curious mixture of the two, and therein lie his problems. Why, it is astonishing that he is even viable! … One cannot mix human and D'ni blood. To be perfectly honest with you, the child would be better off dead." (The Book of Ti'ana)

Anna reacted with understandable fury, throwing the healer out of the house. Even though Gehn's first years of infancy weren't without troubles, he finally pulled through, and when further problems arose, Anna was able to acquire help of other healers.

Sometime between 1737 and 1739 Anna was finally granted full citizenship as a D'ni, another unprecedented event in D'ni history.

In 1740 two major events took place. Gehn reached the age of 4, the appropriate age for a D'ni child of high birth to join one of the guilds. Anna wasn't sure if Gehn would be able to handle the resentment his mixed ancestry would invariably cause. She also wanted to keep him longer at home and under her protection, and joining a guild would mean he had to live in his Guild House from then on. Against Anna's reservations, Ātrus decided that Gehn would join the Guild of Book Makers, arguing it was the D'ni way and no exceptions for their son should be made.

Shortly before Gehn left his parents' household, Anna, Ātrus and Gehn made a trip to the surface. Anna showed them the Lodge. After twenty-five years she was finally able to collect some of her most cherished belongings she'd hidden away before going on her last exploration of the cavern. The trip was significant as it was the first time that Ātrus saw the surface and Anna's old home. That would later play an important role.

The time leading up to the Fall of D'ni:

Anna was closely associated with the events that lead to the fall of D'ni. It was mainly her marriage to Ātrus and to a lesser extent her being an arotan, a so called 'surface-dweller' that lead to her involvement. The following events occurred through a timespan of four years.

The main instigator of the fall was a man named A'gaeris. He was an extremist and a sociopath, who had become known as a prophet. In his widely-circulated pamphlets, he presented a damning view of arotantē. He especially condemned the 'mixing of bloods' between D'ni and arotantee, which he saw as an abomination. In earlier years he had concentrated his propaganda campaign on the lower classes of the city. That changed.

He managed to recruit a small number of followers in the upper classes, among whom was a friend of Veovis. This turned out to be the most important contact he ever made. At first, Veovis was reluctant to listen to A'gaeris, but eventually he too became a follower. A'gaeris remained the mastermind, skillfully playing Veovis to secure his participation in A'gaeris' plans.

To that effect, he first presented Veovis with faked evidence of Ātrus' corruption of the D'ni Art. This helped to further distance Veovis from an opposing viewpoint. But he had a more sinister method for gaining real cooperation. He stole a dagger from Veovis that was easily identified, and used it to murder a Maintainer. He then arranged for Ātrus to be the one to find the "evidence". Ātrus presented the evidence to the D'ni council, and this resulted in Veovis being convicted of murder and sent to a prison Age.

A'gaeris moved to the next stage of his plan and he freed Veovis from his exile. Veovis was so embittered by his perceived betrayal by D'ni and the destruction of his privileged life that he was willing to do anything for revenge. Veovis finally revealed his ultimate goal of completely destroying D'ni to him. At this point, Veovis was more than willing to help.

The bombings:

Anna got directly involved in A'gaeris and Veovis' machinations when the two of them planted and detonated a series of bombs in a large number of D'ni guild halls, among them the Guild of Book Makers. Fearing for her son's safety, Anna tried to reach his guild house, but was deterred by a squad of Maintainers, who wouldn't allow her into the vicinity of the still burning building.

Trying to find another way to the guild house and to Gehn, she saw Veovis vanishing into a side street. Astonished to see him free, she spontaneously decided to trail him. He led her to an abandoned mansion and from there to Ederat, an Age Veovis had written for A'gaeris.

On Ederat, she found herself inside a tower set on an island. She overheard a conversation between Veovis and A'gaeris that connected them to the bombings. She also discovered the linking books the two had used to plant their bombs. Intent on sabotaging their plans for further acts of terrorism, Anna gathered all the books she could find, planning to burn them. Before she could, she discovered that Veovis had somehow managed to lure Ātrus to Ederat. From the tower she saw Ātrus trapped in a cage located on a buttress and half submerged in the water.

Giving up her plan to burn the books for the time being, she got to the cage and tried unsuccessfully to free Ātrus. Promising to come back and rescue him, she returned to the tower and, after a brief confrontation with A'gaeris, finally set fire to the linking books. She was again confronted by A'gaeris, this time accompanied by Veovis. After realizing what she had done, he shot her in the shoulder. Fortunately, Anna had kept one of the books as a way out, and using it she linked directly into the Council Hall of D'ni, interrupting a meeting of the Five and collapsing in front of their eyes.

Veovis' second trial:

While A'gaeris escaped capture, Veovis had been imprisoned in the aftermath of the events that took place on Ederat. At his trial the Council ruled in a once-again unprecedented move to have him executed for treason. To the surprise of many of the assembled guild masters, Anna asked the Council's permission to speak on Veovis' behalf.

"This great cavern is an island of reason, of rational, considered behavior. You D'ni have developed codes of behavior, ways of dealing with situations that are the result of thousands of years of experience. The most important of those codes, and the wisest of all, perhaps, is that which deals with those who transgress and step outside the codes. Until now, the D'ni have only rarely taken a life for a life. Until now, you have chosen the path of segregation, of cutting out the bad from your midst and isolating it, as a surgeon might isolate a virus. That, I would argue, is the path of sanity." (The Book of Ti'ana)

She went ahead and presented a notebook written by A'gaeris that revealed how he had manipulated Veovis since the two men first met. Among other things A'gaeris notes proved that Veovis had been innocent of the murder he had been convicted for earlier. As a consequence, the Council changed Veovis sentence to re-exile in a prison Age.

The Fall:

In 1744, Anna and Ātrus were guests at their son's first graduation ceremony. The proceedings were soon interrupted by the sounding of the great bell of D'ni. There were only two reasons for that bell to sound: the death of one of the Lords of D'ni, or a threat to D'ni itself.

The gathering broke up, and while Ātrus set out for his guild house, Anna and Gehn returned to their home. Hastening through the streets of D'ni, Anna watched the destruction of D'ni brought about by the spreading of a poisonous gas and violent earth tremors.

(Editor's note: I have not yet heard the reason why there were earthquakes at the same time as the attack by A'gaeris and Veovis. If you know, please tell me so I can include the information.)

"Slowly the dark cloud spread, like a mighty veil being drawn across the far side of the cavern. Inch by inch it crept across the lake, edging toward D'ni, and where it touched the surface of the lake, the light from the lake was extinguished. The light-giving algae were dying, by the look of it; poisoned by the noxious fumes of the cloud. And if that cloud were to reach out its fingers to D'ni city? Then they would also die.

The city below was in turmoil. The shrieks of terror and wailing of the desperate were dreadful to hear. There were great queues now at all of the Common Libraries, as people made their way to the safety of the common Ages.

Anna stared across the cavern for a moment longer, horrified, then hurried on, taking Gehn's hand and pulling him along behind her. There was not far to go now and she was beginning to think about what she would need to pack - journals and books and the like - when the third tremor struck. It was by far the largest of the three tremors and threw them both from their feet, showering them with dust and debris.

Walls were crumbling now. Buildings were crashing to the ground. Just up ahead of them, the front of one of their neighbors' mansions tumbled into the alleyway, throwing up a great cloud of dust." (The Book of Ti'ana)

Arriving home, Anna sent Tasera and Gehn immediately to Gemedet. She collected a few supplies and together with Ātrus, who had returned from his Guild House, she too linked to their Family Age.

The Aftermath:

Anna and her family waited for ten days before Ātrus returned to D'ni, while Anna stayed behind with Tasera and Gehn.

When Ātrus returned he told them that the city was completely deserted and covered in residue left behind by the gas. D'ni was dead. He had discovered that someone had obviously been around, using linking books to both common and family Ages to send infected corpses to those Ages. Apparently the gas had contained some form of virus.

All the Lords and Grand Masters of D'ni were dead and likely most or all of the refugees in the other Ages, too. What he did not know was that A'gaeris had managed to link to the prison Age Veovis had been sent to, and freed him yet again. He and Veovis were responsible for the gas attack that destroyed D'ni.

Ātrus didn't reveal the full extent of the massacre of the D'ni to Anna. He did insist that Gemedet was no longer safe, and that they had to leave as quickly as possible. It soon became obvious that he had returned infected by the virus. In a matter of days Tasera died, having become infected, too.

Ātrus health deteriorated fast. It was clear that he was dying, but he remained adamant that the three of them should return to D'ni and try to make their way to the surface. It was the only place where Anna and Gehn would be safe from the virus. The three of them packed and left.

Not long after their arrival at D'ni, Ātrus separated from Anna and Gehn. They had heard someone cry out in pain, and Ātrus decided to investigate on his own, sending Anna and Gehn ahead. To his astonishment, he found a dying Veovis who told him that A'gaeris had stabbed him after Veovis had refused to write a populated Age for A'gaeris to rule over as a god.

While he was with Veovis, Ātrus took a look through a window, intending to check on Anna and Gehn and the progress they should have made through the city. Instead he discovered that A'gaeris had captured them. He was dismayed, but Veovis told him of a way to finally defeat A'gaeris. Following Veovis' plan, Ātrus and confronted A'gaeris. He managed to convince A'gaeris that he was in possession of a linking book to an Age that was exactly what A'gaeris desired, an Age that according to Ātrus was called Be-el-ze-bub. By using the linking book himself, Ātrus lured A'gaeris into following him, leaving Anna and Gehn behind. Looking at the linking panel of the book, Anna saw the glowing of molten rock. That and the name Ātrus had used for that Age made it clear that her husband and A'gaeris would have both perished there.

The Cleft:

After reaching the surface, Anna and Gehn lived in the Cleft until Gehn left Anna in 1750. He returned to the Cleft with a pregnant wife named Keta. Problems with her pregnancy had developed, and remembering his mother's abilities as a healer, Gehn considered her his last hope. Keta was a member of an advanced civilization called the Amad, who had technology of a similar level as D'ni. No one knows where they lived, or how Gehn found them.

Anna tried everything she knew to save Keta's life as she gave birth. She failed, only managing to save Gehn's newborn son. Gehn, grief-stricken and enraged, rejected the newborn, telling Anna she could see to Keta's burial and bury the infant alongside her before storming off.

Following D'ni tradition, Anna named Gehn's son after his grandfather. She raised Ātrus for fourteen years, giving him a basic education that combined human and D'ni knowledge. They led a modest lifestyle, but Anna always managed to satisfy their basic needs, even finding ways to occasionally buy gifts for Ātrus.

It's not entirely clear why Anna chose to remain in the cleft instead of moving to one of the nearby cities like Tadjinar. Maybe she was afraid that Ātrus' mixed heritage might lead to complications, or perhaps she just didn't want to live among other humans again. Whatever her reasons, she and Ātrus only had contact with travelling traders that occasionally passed by the cleft. Since many of the details were changed by the DRC to imply they lived in the Middle East, it's likely that they actually traded goods and services with local Amerindian tribes as well. This was a practice that Yeesha would later adopt when she lived in the Cleft.

Gehn and Riven:

In 1769, when Ātrus turned fourteen, Gehn returned to the cleft and announced that he would take Ātrus with him on his next journey.

Anna was distraught at the prospect, because she didn't want to lose Ātrus. She thought him too young to leave, and she didn't trust Gehn's motives, especially after he told her of his plans to rediscover the secrets of D'ni science.

Gehn was adamant in his decision, and in the end Anna had to let Ātrus go. She only managed to get a promise from Gehn that he would allow Ātrus to visit her after three months, a promise Gehn was not to keep. When that time came and passed, it was only at Ātrus' insistence that Gehn agreed to send one of his Rivenese servants to inform Anna that Ātrus was well, but that there would be no further contact between the two. It's unclear if he actually did.

Over time Ātrus became more and more convinced that it was a mistake to stay with his father, though he remained reluctant to leave.

Anna, suspicious of Gehn, had secretly trailed him and Ātrus down to D'ni. During the years they stayed there, she kept a watchful eye on what was going on, intent on protecting her grandson from harm even if it might mean she had to actively oppose her son.  

In 1773, Anna followed Gehn and Ātrus to Riven, where she met Katran, whom Ātrus was to stubbornly call Catherine even though she didn't like it. The two of them devised a plan to free Ātrus and trap Gehn on Riven by destroying all of the linking books to other Ages that Gehn kept on Riven. Together, they wrote a new Age they named Myst, and created a linking book to the Age.

Anna then went ahead to Myst while back on Riven Katran set their plan into motion, destroying Gehn's linking books and finally taking Ātrus to the Star Fissure. Katran used the linking book to go to Riven, and after a final confrontation with Gehn, Ātrus jumped into the fissure, linking to Myst as he fell. This assured that the linking book was inaccessible to Gehn, since he was afraid that jumping into the fissure would lead to oblivion. Ātrus hoped that the book would be destroyed, although that did not turn out to be the case.

Myst:

Anna lived with Katran and Ātrus on Myst until her death from disease in 1785, at the age of ninety-one. She contracted the illness while visiting one of Katran's Ages, a fact that caused Katran to abandon the Art and which set up the circumstances the Stranger found when he linked to Myst. Anna was buried on Myst Island, and a simple grave marker was placed there with a scattering of her favorite wildflowers. When Yeesha brought rain to the Cleft, she mentioned Ti'ana. "This gift is what my father Ātrus would have longed to give his grandmother, Ti'ana. What Ti'ana longed for and danced for... the gift of life in that desert."

There is a rumor that the flowers Yeesha's rain causes to grow around the Cleft are the same type that can be found around her grave. Here's a picture of them, and it seems that the rumor was wrong. The Cleft flowers are white with a blue edging, and grow on individual stems. From the picture of her grave marker, we can see that the flowers there are much smaller, a uniform light blue, and grow in groups from a small leafy plant.

Anna's role in the fall of D'ni:

"[Anna's] words destroyed [D'ni]…her meddling. … She could not help herself. As if she knew best all the while! She would never listen. Never! … She was a hypocrite. She did not act on what she knew to be the truth. It was a weakness that destroyed a race of gods!" (Gehn in the Book of Ātrus)

Anna's arrival in D'ni was like a pebble hitting the surface of a deep pool. She was only one individual, but her presence created ripple of effects that had much larger implications than one might expect. However, it wasn't her that set the events in motion; she simply caused the latest round of arguments in a very old conflict in D'ni society and religion.

Until her arrival, D'ni was in the middle of a fairly strict policy of isolationism, and had not allowed outsiders into the city for centuries. While they had contact with the natives of a number of populated Ages, many D'ni considered the arotantē as lesser peoples. D'ni was an elitist and strongly patriarchal society, based on blood relationships and a somewhat inflexible class system, at least at the higher end. Into this society stumbled a young woman who was intelligent and headstrong. One might say that trouble was inevitable. During her time in D'ni, her actions as well as her mere presence created resentment among the reactionary circles of D'ni society.

Even before her arrival, different religious factions had fought for influence for thousands of years. There were those who believed that D'ni should sever contact with any outsiders at all. There were those who believed that the D'ni should rule over all of the outsiders. There were those who followed a conservative path, intent on keeping up what they saw as essential D'ni values. There were those who strove for a more open, inclusive policy toward outsiders. The Great Shaft was a literal monument to the struggle between the factions. It was built to allow access to the surface, but at the last moment its completion was canceled and access sealed off. Fear of the unknown had won out over curiosity and open-mindedness.

Had the Great Shaft been completed, the result would've been an influx of new concepts and ideas into D'ni society. The extent of the impact would've depended on who would've been granted access to the Great Shaft. The important thing is that it would've been an influence from the outside.

With Anna, an arotan in their midst, the influence worked from the inside. The support she had in Kahlis' and Tasera's household, her marriage to Ātrus and being granted full citizenship as a D'ni were important factors of that influence.

Kahlis and Ātrus clearly belonged to the more liberal faction of society. Ātrus made no secret out of his fascination with the idea of making contact with the surface, and had been a Surveyor Guildsman who worked on the project. Anna wholeheartedly supported both in their views, and there is at least one documented incident in which she openly advocated for a change in D'ni law. By winning Kahlis' and Ātrus' support as well as that of other faction members, she successfully orchestrated a change in D'ni politics concerning the rights of its lower-class citizens.

Was Anna responsible for the fall of D'ni? Was she to blame? The accusation has been made by more than one of her contemporaries as well as later generations; both Gehn and Yeesha believed that she had.

What those people tend to forget is that A'gaeris, a man who was obviously a sociopath, had already begun plotting the Fall of D'ni fifty years before Anna's arrival. A'gaeris hated Anna's presence and used it to gain support, but for him it must have seemed like a timely stroke of luck. It was essential for corrupting Veovis, without whom A'gaeris wouldn't have been able to orchestrate the Fall the way he did.

Would A'gaeris eventually given up otherwise? Considering his personality that seems highly unlikely. Most probably he would've found another way. It just might've taken longer.

Was Anna's presence the first cause that set everything into motion? Definitely not, but her presence might have quickened the events. Her presence helped to shift the power-balance between the political factions toward a more liberal stance. Maybe this would've happened regardless, but probably not so fast. Maybe it would've been wiser if the Five and the rest of the council hadn't forced her to stay in D'ni.

Should Anna have remained quiet instead of speaking in Veovis favor? Should she have allowed a society that had always before opposed the death penalty to execute someone who had earlier been convicted for a murder of which he was innocent? At its heart, this is a moral question. Anna made the right choice. The Council made the right choice in changing Veovis' sentence.

In the end, it wasn't Anna who was responsible for the prison Age Veovis was sent to. It wasn't her responsibility to ascertain that he would safely stay there; that was the purview of the Maintainers. It's difficult to understand how they could've failed, allowing A'gaeris to gain access to prison Ages not once, but twice in a short time.

Everything that happened afterward was completely out of her hands. In the end, it was A'gaeris and his patsy, Veovis, that were driven by hatred, bigotry, and in Veovis' case, a craving for revenge that brought about the end of an ancient and fascinating culture. While she was involved, Anna was an excuse, not a cause.

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