Sun­day Jus­tice marks a turn­ing point in Kya’s life, as Chap­ter 38 of the book set in 1970 reveals her first steps into the court­room of Barkley Cove for her mur­der tri­al. Kya, long iso­lat­ed from the com­mu­ni­ty and now thrust into its unfor­giv­ing gaze, steps into the crowd­ed court­room in stark con­trast to the seclu­sion she has known in the marsh­es. Dressed in black slacks and a white blouse, with her wrists bound by hand­cuffs, Kya’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty is on full dis­play as she faces the judg­ment of the pub­lic and the legal sys­tem. Her life, which has been large­ly defined by nature and soli­tude, now col­lides with the soci­etal expec­ta­tions of a town that sees her both as an out­sider and a sus­pect, set­ting the stage for a tri­al that will ques­tion not only her inno­cence but also the bias­es of the com­mu­ni­ty.

Tom Mil­ton, a retired attor­ney at sev­en­ty-one, steps into the role of Kya’s defend­er, hav­ing come out of retire­ment to take on her case with­out charge. His con­cern for Kya is not only pro­fes­sion­al but deeply per­son­al, as their rela­tion­ship, which began in silence, has evolved into one of trust and mutu­al under­stand­ing. As the tri­al begins, Tom’s decades of expe­ri­ence in the court­room are test­ed, as he faces the for­mi­da­ble task of defend­ing Kya in a town filled with prej­u­dices and pre­con­ceived notions. His attempts to calm Kya, using the famil­iar­i­ty of court­room sketch­es and soft reas­sur­ances, stand in stark con­trast to the elec­tric atmos­phere of the court­room. The town is ready for a spec­ta­cle, and Kya’s pres­ence only fuels the antic­i­pa­tion, as their defense is faced with the over­whelm­ing tide of soci­etal judg­ment and sus­pi­cion. The weight of his respon­si­bil­i­ty grows as he nav­i­gates the com­plex­i­ties of Kya’s sit­u­a­tion, try­ing to pro­tect her while prepar­ing for the legal bat­tle ahead.

The his­tor­i­cal con­text of Barkley Cove, rich with tra­di­tion and soci­etal under­cur­rents, pro­vides a back­drop that mir­rors Kya’s com­plex rela­tion­ship with the town. From the courthouse’s sto­ried past, includ­ing the rebuild­ing after a light­ning strike, to the sub­tle seg­re­ga­tion that still defines the social land­scape, the set­ting under­scores the deep-seat­ed bias­es that Kya faces. The cour­t­house, with its intri­cate archi­tec­ture and the qui­et pres­ence of the cat named Sun­day Jus­tice, embod­ies the sense of tra­di­tion and judg­ment that per­me­ates the entire tri­al. The cat, though seem­ing­ly insignif­i­cant, sym­bol­izes the inter­sec­tion of nature and human soci­ety, just as Kya’s life has always been root­ed in nature yet is now entan­gled with human expec­ta­tions and bias­es. The sym­bol­ism of Sun­day Jus­tice is not lost on Kya, who finds her­self in a place that is both famil­iar and alien, where the very sys­tem designed to offer jus­tice may be swayed by pre­con­ceived notions about her and her life.

Judge Sims’ deci­sion to keep the tri­al in Barkley Cove, despite Kya’s request for relo­ca­tion, high­lights the uphill bat­tle that both Kya and Tom Mil­ton face in seek­ing a fair tri­al. The town’s prej­u­dices run deep, and the legal process, rather than pro­vid­ing an unbi­ased plat­form, becomes anoth­er stage where Kya’s char­ac­ter will be judged before any evi­dence is even con­sid­ered. This chap­ter lays bare the ten­sion between the desire for a fair tri­al and the real­i­ty of a com­mu­ni­ty whose views are cloud­ed by its bias­es. Through the care­ful devel­op­ment of char­ac­ters, set­ting, and emo­tion­al depth, the nar­ra­tive builds a land­scape that Kya must navigate—one where her fight for jus­tice is not just about prov­ing her inno­cence but also about chal­leng­ing the nar­row views of those who see her as noth­ing more than the “Marsh Girl.” The chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly sets the stage for a legal bat­tle that will test not only Kya’s abil­i­ty to prove her inno­cence but also her strength in the face of a soci­ety eager to judge her based on noth­ing more than prej­u­dice and fear.