The second time they meet, it's not Wonshik Taekwoon has come for.

He's gliding towards the final soul of the boy's massacred village when he catches sight of him standing at the edge, a glowing figure carved from stone. He's no longer a boy, but he's not quite a man yet either, fashioned from gangly limbs with features that are beginning to toughen beneath the slight layer of fat still softening his cheeks. But his eyes are the same: fathomless pools of innocence and suffering that drain of all hope the longer he gazes upon the twisting plumes of smoke and death rising before him. Two rabbits hang from a noose in one carved fist and his bow and quiver are visible over his shoulder – arrows that would have perhaps served him better hunting different prey.

It wasn't the first devastated village Taekwoon had visited in recent days, and nor was Wonshik's agony the first he'd witnessed, but even though a handful of years had passed, he hadn't yet managed to forget the emotions Wonshik had roused in him. He feels them now stronger than ever, albeit through a shadowy mirror, just a mere whisper of the grief that was swallowing Wonshik whole as his life continued to unravel before him.

The boy – the young man – breaks from his stupor with a shout and dashes towards him, his legs behaving as if they're trying to run through water. They give out a few paces from his destination – the same as Taekwoon's – and he scrabbles the rest of the way on his hands and knees until he reaches the person lying, unmoving, on the ground outside his home.

It's his mother. The wound at her stomach means her death has been slow but her time for peace has finally arrived.

He cradles her head in his lap, tears streaming down his cheeks and dripping from his chin, but he doesn't attempt to staunch the flow of blood because he already knows he's more than an hour too late.

Taekwoon alights beside him and Wonshik looks up, but his eyes don't focus and he's sure the young man is unable to see him, though he speaks in a manner that shows he knows he's there.

"Please no," he s