That chapter in which Riceh and Rili meet again seems to have been written specifically to make me cry. Rili being trapped in a horribly abusive environment, feeling complicit in the abuse his sister suffered. Riceh feeling she let her brother down by putting her own magic to the side. The fact that she saved them both (as well as all the other apprentices) by leaving and presumably speaking out about what happened after her first trial - something Rili knows he could have done sooner. The fact that none of this is their fault because they were children in an abusive home, surviving by doing what they could.
Add to that the fact that Riceh first invention - that sold out in only a few days - is meant to help people who love each other find their way back to one another.
And the fact that despite all of their guilt, neither Riceh nor Rili blames the other ? Because they can see their sibling as a hurt child who did their best, while they can't see themselves that way.
