At the heart of the Nyvas insurrection lay their resistance’s recruitment of children for their cause: abducting them from their families and training them for warfare. One of these child soldiers was Zaya-a 14-year-old sharpshooter with a dark history.
It was during one such ambush that Commander Marek met Zaya and, on account of her incredible precision, was forced to question her motives and capture her instead of putting her down-since he knew no 14-year-old girl was shooting like that nor should take orders from that kind of rebellion. She would become more important to Marek than even his mission as she hid her innocence behind those eyes.
For weeks, Marek learned the truth about the rebel leaders from Zaya-her words blessedly simple and naïve: the children had been enlisted against their own will and had very little idea of the cause they were fighting for. Zaya had said that she really wished not to be at war and that she wanted peace.
In the end, with much danger to himself, he rescued her from that place. His actions encouraged other soldiers to ask questions rather than take orders and also pushed the global community to intervene. With this battle over, Zaya became a representative of all child soldiers worldwide in her journey toward disarmament. She had turned into a symbol in the minds of the world that, in war, the greatest victims many times end up being the smallest fighters.
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