"..." Young Aether stood there like a man frozen in place, his eyes fixed on the woman before him.
He had never imagined that he would see her here, of all places. For several seconds, he simply stared at her, unable to decide whether what he was seeing was real or... another fragment of his alcohol-clouded memory.
He tried to piece together what had happened, but no matter how hard he searched his memory, everything after he got drunk remained an indistinct blur.
He had no idea how she had gotten here, how she had found him, or, more importantly, why she was here in the first place.
But there was one question that mattered more than all the others.
"That destruction outside... was that you?"
Lia sat nakedly on the bed, her golden hair falling loosely around her shoulders as she avoided his gaze.
"Destruction? What destruction? Mommy hasn't done anything," she said.
"..."
Young Aether fell silent.
She did it.
