Vision returned slowly, his head pounding out a beat to the same rythym as his heart. Hoya reached up to gingerly touch the side of his face, grimacing when his fingers met a painful lump on his temple. An involuntary groan escaped him and he heard a quick shuffle on the other side of his curtain, and then his mother was at his side.

"I'm so sorry, Hoya," she said softly, reaching out to him to press a cool cloth into the wound on his head. He accepted it from her, taking it with his own hand to hold it there as his eyes roved over her face. She didn't look the same and after a long moment, he realized that the signs of wear, the wrinkles of age, they were gone, replaced by the smooth skin of a woman of about his own age. 

"What have you done?" he asked quietly, though his heart already knew the answer.

Her face twisted for a moment, then she shook her head and heaved a sigh. "You don't understand what it is like to be me, Hoya. You're a young man, you're strong and can do things to provide for yourself, and a family, if you ever settle for someone. But what can I do to help myself? Age isn't kind to women, especially those who must use... certain means... to live."

Pushing himself slowly up into a sitting position - his head wound making him feel nauseous with each movement he made - he met her eyes with his own. "Where is Hayoung?" The apologetic look on her face told him all he needed to know, but he wanted to hear her say it. Needed to hear it from her own mouth. "What have you done, where is she?"

"She's gone, Hoya. You can't help her. Ruler Zico came here this morning and... took care of them all." Even as she said the words, he realized that there wasn't any actual regret in her voice for the act. She didn't want to say it, didn't want to admit her part in it, but she would do it again if faced with the choice. His stomach heaved and he barely choked down the urge to vomit, the reality of his mother's callousness paired with the head wound trying to make him physically ill.

Fei reached out to touch his shoulder as if to comfort him, but he lifted a shaky hand and pushed her away. "You betrayed me, you promised me," he began, but she jumped in quickly.

"No, I saved you, Hoya. Had I not hit you this morning then the Ruler would have taken you, too, and I couldn't have lived with myself if that happened."

"Yes you could. You would have gotten more magic," he said bitterly, once again looking to her youthful face. "You followed me back out there last night, you had to have, and then you told them where to find her. How could you? She was just a young girl!"

Fei's face twisted in disgust and she spat out, "She was a Servant of the Light. She deserved what she got, they all do."

"Even my father?" Hoya asked before he could stop himself, and the look in her eyes as she stared back at him made a sudden realization bloom in his mind. "Light. You are the one who turned him in, aren't you?"

It was phrased as a question, but he already knew it was the truth. He had always wondered how his father had been discovered; he had always been careful to keep his worship a secret, though his actions toward the other villagers and his disdain of the Rulers may have been enough to make others accuse him. But now, with Fei's unapologetic face looking back at him, Hoya knew that he was right. 

Fei gave a small sigh before she stood, brushing the front of her dress to smooth out any wrinkles. "It had to be done. He was a threat to us all and if I didn't turn him in, you and I might have been caught up in the accuations, too. The Servants are a sickness that ne