Ah yes, this book is when things start getting really good. I remember now.

Kiran, well... he really meant well. Just... Eden and Kiran are so young and naive. It's easy to see rereading this as an older reader now. Eden makes stupid decisions per usual, all wrapped up in this imaginary world where everything can be fixed with love. Kiran does something similar, but thinks that everything needs to be fixed, by whatever means necessary, so that he can have love. The ending in this book, while it was so intense and pretty sad, was needed for them to grow into the leaders they eventually will be.

This is their origin story.