>>3498243In her previous life, she had been overcome by a despair similar to the one she found herself in now, and thinking herself to be alone and unloved, hurled herself from a great height to an early death below. The crow in her dream and in Glie represented the people who had cared about her and who she ignored, leaving them devastated, but who cared about her enough for their love to be manifested as this crow bringing her a message of forgiveness. By knowing this and apologizing, her wings return to their gray color, and she is no longer sin bound, able to continue on to the next life when her Day of Flight comes.
Her job in Glie, or purgatory, is not quite finished however. Having touched the wall in the forest, a major transgression in Glie, she is finally given a job as "punishment": she is to clean the temple contained inside the walls, and collect the light motes that the halos are forged from. During this time, she learns from the people at the temple that Reki is also sin bound, in fact she was reborn into Glie as sin bound and had been covering her wings in dye to mask their blackened color. Rakka is horrified for her friend's fate, and commits herself to do anything she can to help her escape it. She convinces some Haibane from the other dormitory to forgive Reki for past transgressions, but Reki rejects their forgiveness and considers herself damned. Increasingly desperate to save her friend, Rakka brings a carving as a gift from the temple, one containing the true meaning of Reki's name. Upon opening and reading the meaning - "to be run over and torn asunder" - she finally remembers her own dream in which she steps in front of a train and is killed.
