Her vision blurred with tears as she got carried out of the forest, she felt her heart ache as the person carrying her took her across the grass boundary between her home and the village. Her lips bled as her teeth bit into them when she heard the whispers of the villagers watching. The smell of the village repulsed her, it smelt of sweat, manure, and mold. No doubt the weather from a few months back had made some things rot, and that made the air sting her nose with it’s scent. The door to her house opened, she recognized the face of her mother, the woman looked ready to cry at seeing Hyunsu.

 ‘My baby,’ her words were light and shocked, she had clearly never thought the men would get her. Well, neither did Hyunsu. Hyunsu in a breath through her teeth as she was rested on the table. She didn’t miss the appalled look of her mother’s as she looked at the tight-fitting pants. She didn’t miss the pained expression on her father’s face as he walked into the room, a knowing gaze focused on her.

 ‘She didn’t recognize me,’ Hyunsu closed her eyes as the person who grabbed her spoke, he sounded hurt. ‘Mother, she didn’t recognize me, she fought me, she tried to attack.’ The language sounded foreign to her ears, but she knew that she knew it. ‘What did they do to her?’ The more she heard the more the scratching language started to sound familiar and start registering in her mind.
 

 ‘Zuko, stop complaining, get some poultice for her wound,’ her father’s voice was rough and demanding, it reminded her of Dongwoo when he was frustrated with her. What would he say if he knew? Would Dongwoo scold her? Scoff at her knowingly, insinuating that she planned everything?

 Hyunsu watched as her father gripped the shaft of the arrow before letting go of it, looking over at his son, ‘bite this,’ Zuko held a cloth to . With a stubborn shake of her head she refused the dirty cloth. Zuko’s eyebrows scrunched together as he regarded his sister nervously. She didn’t seem to be physically harmed, but he worried for her mind. She was acting so different, what torture could they have subjugated her to for all those months?

 He watched as his father tore the pants, shortening it to just above the cut, much to the horror of his younger sister. Zuko watched as his father pulled the arrow out of her leg with the ease of a healer who had done it many times previously. Yet, despite being so smooth, his calloused hands shook as he dropped the arrow onto the table, showing just how emotional the moment was for him.

 ‘Get the bucket,’ Joonho waved his hand at his son, hurrying him.

 ‘Yes, father,’ Zuko nodded, hefting the heavy bucket into the air with ease, placing it down on the table beside his sister he felt his chest constrict. He had never thought that he would have needed to use his knowledge of healing on his sister, at least, not in a situation like this.

 The scent of lavender, and thyme melded with the nauseating scent of blood as Joonho gently washed his daughter’s wound with the herb infused water. As he was used to the sickening smell, he worked steadily, mentally documenting his daughter’s lack of reaction as he pierced her skin with the needle he used to stitch skin together. Unlike her family, Buyong watched with a pale face, looking faint as she watched her husband work on her daughter.  

 Hyunsu in a deep breath as her father lathered a poultice on her wound, she knew it would keep the wound from bleeding and getting infected. She tilted her head, her fingers and toes curled in on themselves as he wrapped a clean bandage around her thigh. Tears pricked at her eyes as her mind caught up to her. She was with her family, she was home. Her mother was the first to notice her daughter tears, so with an emotional cry that was so very like Buyong, she grasped her daughter's shoulders, looking into her eyes. Buyong relished her presence before she gathered Hyunsu into a tight hug.

 'Oh, my daughter,' she cried out, ignoring the salty tears that were flooding down her cheeks, wetting her childs hair. 'My daughter,' she repeated, savouring the words she never imagined she would say again. Buyong rocked her daughter slowly, ignorant to the wooden edge of the table that dug into her stomach. She would never lose her baby again, never again, she would rip the Fae apart herself if she had to.

 'Mom,' Hyunsu's voice wavered as her fingers dug into her mother's back, she feared that if she didn't hold on as tight as she could, everything would dissolve like some cruel dream, a malicious illusion. 'I missed you,' the words felt awkward in , her tongue seemed to itch with discomfort, she hadn't spoke her mother tongue in so long, it felt weird to start again. With a quiet whimper she burrowed her head in her mother's shoulder, breathing in the strong scent of herbs she had so nearly forgotten. 'I missed you so much,' she cried, just as shrilly as her mother, Buyong, had previously. With her exclamation, every shield, and every emotion block she had disappeared, leaving her a blubbering mess, soaking her mother's coarse dress with her tears.

 Who cared what Dongwoo would think if he knew she was grateful that she was home, that she was once again with the humans. She was home, and with family. His opinion meant nothing to her.

 Hyunsu awoke the next day feeling groggy and weary. Her eyes ached and were no doubt swollen. Her fingers rubbed against the ratty blanket that was separating her from the hard wooden floor of her, and her brothers room. With a sigh she pushed herself up, the dress she was wearing, one of her mother's old ones, was hanging off her frame. She hugged her arms around herself, closing her eyes as she breathed in the smell of dust and sweetgrass that came from the dress. She was home, her eyes opened and she looked around the small room that was just as sparse as it was previously. There were a few books lying around, all her fathers, and a few chests. One for her, and one for Zuko, there was also a box. It had some blankets and pillows in it already, her brothers no doubt, and there was still some space for hers.

 With trembling fingers she folded up her blankets and put the in the box, then laid the pillow down on top. She scratched her shoulder, trying to ignore the annoying itch of the rough cloth scraping against her delicate skin. She had long since swapped her pants and her short tunics for the dress she was wearing. The dirty clothes were lying in the back of the room, her mother had refused to wash the Fae given clothing. Father had confiscated her belt, not wanting her to wear any Fae related clothes at all. All the things she thought were important were swapped for her mother's old dresses. She couldn’t even wear her own dresses from before she met the Fae, her mother had to adjust those dresses so she could wear them. Since she had been with the Fae she had filled out, she had a slim frame that was lined with muscles, as opposed to her previous underweight and malnourished body.

 She had slept well the night before, but she knew that was only because of how drained she was, there had been not much else for her to do but sleep. With a sigh she stumbled out of the room. A smile tugged at her lips with the gentleness of a spring breeze. It truly was a sight to see, she never imagined that she would ever see her mother again, yet she was watching her double check each container that was poultice on the medicine shelf. Her shawl fluttered behind her, stained from the oils of herbs that she spent so much time preparing.

 Hyunsu settled herself onto the couch, lightly tracing her finger around where the wound was, ignoring the coarse fabric that that laid between her fingers and her cut, 'good morning.'

 'Oh! You're awake! When did you get so quiet?' Buyong looked at her daughter, her eyes shining with amused suspicion. 'You were the loudest of us all.'

 Hyunsu could feel her tongue restless in , eager to comment that Woohyun could probably have heard her coming before she had even woken up. But, with a wry smile, she just smiled. 'Not anymore,' was her final retort. 'Do you need any help with breakfast?' She gripped the dress where her knees were.

 'Help?' Buyong looked at the clock, as if just realising that it was almost time to prepare for the first meal of the day. 'No! Rest, you should not move too much, you will agitate your wound. You know that.' She scurried to the kitchen, shooting an off guard look at her daughter. She had never known Hyunsu to raise with the sun. In fact, she had never known her to get up in the morning without the hassling of a family member. It was questionable whether the change was good, perhaps if she knew why her daughter had changed.

 'Okay,' Hyunsu instead watched her mother prepare the meal alone, unaware of her mother's thoughts. Instead, her own mind was full of her own questions, such as the worrying question of when they would let her help out again, and not treat her like a simple invalid. By the one that was haunting her the most was whether the Fae would come after her again, and whether she even wanted them to.

 Hyunsu found herself midway through the day, tapping on the floor before her to an indiscernible beat. She felt restless, she hadn't been still for that long in what seemed like years. If she sat still around Hoya or the others, they would get on her about being lazy, or one of the kids would drag her into a game. If neither of those happened then Sungjong would be the one dragging her into some crazy activity with the children.

 She felt quite lost, if she were to be perfectly honest. She knew that she had been gone for six months, but Aeko had not visited her once since she had been back. It didn't make sense, she had grown up with Aeko, it would have been impossible for her friend to have forgotten about her to have not heard about her being back. 'What's so different,' Hyunsu sighed and stilled her frantic fingers. She pushed herself up off of the bench that was situated in their garden, hobbling inside the house. She winced each time she put pressure on her right leg.

 'What are you doing up?' Joonho dropped the quill he was writing with and rushed to his daughter, helping her walk.

 'I thought it was time to change my bandage,' Hyunsu brushed her stray hair out of her face, looking out the window, at the blue sky.

 'I see,' Joonho helped her get to the table that he used for his patients, and helped her sit on it. 'What's on your mind?' He asked as he unwrapped the cloth, setting it aside to be washed.

 'I don't know,' Hyunsu dipped her hand into the warm bucket of disinfecting water, grasping the cloth inside, and pulling it out. She gently washed her wound, biting her tongue whenever she felt her nerves scream with pain. 'Where is Aeko?' The night before her mind had been hazy and full of worry, after a full nights rest her mind was more clear, and she could see why her mother had been so fearful. Her wound was visibly deep, it had to be, the whole head of the arrow was imbedded into her leg. The skin around it was red, with hints of purple, it was bruised from the impact of the arrow. She could see scabs along the top of the wound, and little crimson droplets of blood coming to the top as she washed the cut.

 'She's been busy,' Joonho took the cloth from her and gently dabbed the wound, cleaning it for her.

 'With what?' Hyunsu's eyes drifted to the other bruises lining her legs. She could feel her lips tug into the smallest of smiles as remembered how she got them. She recognised the one on her shin, it was small, and was because when she was playing tag with one of the kids, a girl had ran right into her. Another one was closer to her cut, it was from when Hoya was showing her how to take someone down. She had practiced it on Sungyeol, she had done it rather well, but he had flailed in panic and hit her thigh with his elbow.

 'Despite her mother breaking her betrothal to Kwan, she's been helping him.' Despite Hyunsu looking at her bruises fondly, Joonho was worried, he had no idea how they were formed and imagined only the worst. What if the Fae had figured out what they had done? Did their anger cause them to abuse his daughter? Sooki had sworn they wouldn’t hurt her, she had sworn that she would be safe.

 'I never imagined she would do that,' she watched with apathetic eyes as her father gently put more poultice on her wound.

 'No, it's not expected, is it?' He fiddled with the cloth he was using for a bandage, folding it to the proper size and shape. 'She comes to our house daily, so, I have no worry for you having not seen her yet,' Hyunsu bit her tongue as he wrapped the bandage tightly.

 'I'm glad,' Hyunsu's voice cracked, revealing the pain she was really in. 'I'm glad that she's found something to do.'

 'Yes,' Joonho took out a small pot that fit in his hand, instantly Hyunsu balked and shook her head.

 'I don't need it,' she knew that pot, she knew it far too well. It was full of a salve that was meant to help bruises heal, but it smelt awful. It was far too strong, and the scent burned her nose. 'Really, I'm okay,' she smiled at her dad and whilst wincing, stood up.

 'Be careful,' without a second thought he put down the small pot and supported her. Both of their heads snapped to the door at the sound of knocking, 'come in!' Within seconds of his call the door opened and Hyunsu felt the air in her chest come out with a loud whomp.

 'Kwan,' she went to greet him, instead she hissed, her wound hurt.

 'Hyunsu,' Kwan's lips quirked into a smile, and his eyebrows raised with his smile, making the scars on his forehead bunch. 'I heard you came back, are you okay?' He stumbled his way to the couch, Aeko was supporting his elbow, patting it when he was in front of one of the cushions.

 'I-yes,' Hyunsu stumbled her way to the couch, sitting down in the seat beside it. She looked at Aeko as she sat down, frowning when she saw the look on her friends face. She recognised that look, it was the same one she would get whenever Jinki took her wooden blocks as a kid. Aeko looked like someone had just taken her favourite toy from her. 'Are you better,' feeling weirdly shamed by the look her long time friend was giving her, she looked at Kwan. She felt even worse when she looked into his empty eye sockets. When she blinked, she almost saw his light brown eyes that always seemed to be shining with optimism.

 'Am I? I only have flesh wounds,' her stomach churned with nausea as she looked at the red flesh that was sunken in where his eyes should have been. Her eyes drifted up to his forehead, and her nauseousness turned to disgust. Her friends had done that, they had gouged his eyes right out of their resting place, then etched their writing into his forehead. Unlike before she could read it, she could even recognize whose writing it was. Dongwoo had been the one to scrawl the word, eyes, into Kwan's forehead. She could hardly say she was surprised. 'You're the one that was stuck with the monsters,' Kwon's voice shook with hatred. 'I can't imagine what you had to go through.'

 'I,' Hyunsu's voice shook as she tried to control her eyes that burned with empathy for her friend. 'I can't even begin to,' she covered and looked away from Kwan. Just looking at him made her gag reflex act up, she felt as if she were going to lose her lunch. She had learned from them, she talked with them, she had even laughed with them. In that time, did she really forget the people she was with? If they could even be called that. They weren’t people, they were never people, they were always Fae.

 'Hyunsu,' Aeko's voice rang through the room, sounding just as clear cut as before. 'It's okay, you don't have to tell us if it's too hard.'

 'Aeko,' Hyunsu looked back at her friend. She wanted to thank her, she really did, but she was confused. Aeko's tone was pure, wasn't it? That's how she had always described her voice to anyone who listened, so why did her friend sound so patronising? Had Aeko always spoken with such elitist tones, or had Hyunsu's interpretation changed?

 'It's okay to be in pain,' Aeko smiled, but Hyunsu only saw the apathy and hunger that was in the eyes of a predator.

 One day when L was showing her different plants, they had come across a bear that was aiming to kill a doe. It had been as stealthy as a bear could, and had killed the doe as only a bear would. It hadn't bothered her, what had bothered her was the pure animalism that was reflected in the bear's eyes, the eyes that were so black they seemed to be without any soul. They had looked just like Aeko's, hungry for success, and lacking understanding of the doe's future pain. All predators shared such a look, even the bear that had attacked her.

 'It's normal,' Kwan cleared his throat, his fingers that were covered in thin scars rubbed against each other. Hyunsu knew some of those were from when he was first learning to skin his kill, but she was well aware that most of it was because of the Fae. 'It's normal to be in pain,' his voice escaped him quietly, it was more like he had sighed than spoken.

 'I know,' Hyunsu rubbed her knees again, confused about the revelations she was having about her friend. Maybe she had just spent too long with the Fae and their anti-human ramblings. Maybe she was just confused because they had always said her kind was evil. Maybe, she was just seeing things that weren’t there.

 'I'm here to get his medicine, so, I'll leave you two,' Aeko smiled before standing up and walking away to find Joonho who had slipped off after the trio had started talking.

 'I heard you got shot,' Kwan's empty sockets stared at her as he spoke. She could hear the accusation in the background, he figured it was because of the Fae, he thought they were the ones to shoot her.

 'I did, it was an accident, I don't think Jinki really meant to.' Hyunsu couldn't help the protective feeling that erupted in her chest when she heard him accusing the Fae of hurting her. She may have been confused, possibly even diluted when it came to their nature, but one thing she was sure of was that they would never hurt her like that.

 'Jinki?' Kwan looked calm only moments ago, but suddenly his face has twisted into a repulsed expression. 'He would never do that to you, never. I don't know what they did to you, but they're the ones who hurt you.' Hyunsu kept quiet, she had no idea what to say. 'They're monsters, they're the reason that there is evil in the world.' Kwan's nostrils flared as he clenched his scarred fists. 'They're the reason we're stuck here, scared of going out at night. They hunt us for sport. Like we're less than them, like we're creatures to be played with.'

 'Kwan-'

 'They're hateful creatures, I bet you anything they torture each other for fun. Did you ever see them rip children to shreds? Do they really make coats out of the skins of s?' Kwan leaned towards her, his expression disgusted Hyunsu almost as much as the things he was saying. He looked demented, he looked inhuman.

 'They're not like that!' The words slipped out of Hyunsu's mouth before she could stop them. She sniffed, trying to keep the tears of hatred that had once been caused by empathy, from falling.

 'What?' Kwan looked thrown back, his scars were wrinkling, making the words on his forehead stand out. As she read the words, she remembered something Dongwoo had told her when she had expressed her feelings on the bear. He had told her that eyes were a curse, they told only the truth, and that it was the one things liars could not fake. He had told her that humans were unable to understand the curse as well as the Fae could. He told her that humans were unwilling to read each others truths, but when a Fae looked into a humans eyes, they knew what kind of person they were. They could tell their very nature, and, in that instant, Hyunsu agreed with him.

 Suddenly she saw something in Kwan she had never seen before. He had always been happy, he was the positive one, yet, in that moment, he was so full of ignorance and hatred that she could only see his mother that had stormed through her house insulting Sooki when Kwan was lying on the bed, injured. Even without his eyes, she could see that he was not kind hearted, maybe it had been his wounds that made him that way. Maybe the pain was too much. Or, maybe, he had always been that way, that meant she, like everyone else, was fooled by the exterior he had put up. Or maybe she was the only who was fooled.

 'I can’t believe this,’ his sockets seemed to narrow, as if they forgot they no longer contained eyes.

 ‘What’s wrong?’ Aeko walked into the room with a small pot in her hand.

 ‘I want to go,’ Kwan stood up, surprisingly balanced. Hyunsu didn’t know why, but she had always imagined that he would be off balance because of his loss of sight. Though, he had been blind for six months, no doubt he had gotten used to it. ‘Whatever they did to you, you need to remember what they are,’ were his final words before he let Aeko guide him to the door. Aeko had stared at Hyunsu with a look of utmost confusion as she opened the door. Then, with a frown, she walked out and closed the door behind her and Kwan.

 ‘That didn’t sound like it went over well,’ Zuko walked in through the back door with an uncomfortable look at the front door.

 ‘You’re home,’ Hyunsu folded her hands in her lap. ‘Has he always been like that?’

 ‘Been like what?’ He walked up to her and sat down where Kwan had been.

 ‘Negative, sad, burdened.’ Hyunsu slouched into her seat, ‘has he always been so angry?’

 ‘He has every reason to be, so do you.’ Zuko sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. ‘He didn’t forgive the Fae for what they did. Nobody blames him, if anything they agree. Nobody is expecting you to forgive them either.’ He rubbed his arm, not able to sit still.

 ‘Can I see Sooki?’

 ‘Sooki?’ He instantly stiffened and looked away. ‘I know you’re friends with her, but, we all agreed that it might be best if you didn’t see her.’

 ‘What? Why?’ Hyunsu bit her tongue lightly, trying to stop the tears that were burning at her eyes. Why couldn’t she see her? Why couldn’t she see the person she trusted the most, when her life was in such turmoil?

 ‘We don’t know what they did to you,’ Zuko gently took her hand, ‘we thought it’d be best if you didn’t see someone like her. In case she-’

 ‘In case she what? Summons them?’ Hyunsu spat, she felt her chest clench as her brother looked away. They were taking away her security because they were afraid she would send her away? Were they that ignorant? She knew Sooki had never communicated with them, she knew that Sooki would never do that. But they didn’t trust her because she was a Nymph. Not a Fae, a Nymph.

 ‘Hyunsu,’ Zuko breathed out her name, a pained grimace was twisting his lips.

 ‘She would never do that,’ her words came out choked and hard to say. ‘Sooki would never do that.’

 ‘We don’t know that, she’s one of them.’

 ‘No, she’s not. She’s one of us.’ Ignoring the pain, Hyunsu stood up and walked away from her brother. A part of her encouraged her sentiment, the other was cynical, questioning what she meant. Who did she really think us was?