Imite had chosen a small collection of books to take with him, placing them within the bag his mother had brought. Books no one else would have much use for, collections of history and mythology and stories, a few simple science texts. His bag was starting to get heavy, but Imite refused to let Kitter carry it for him. Besides, if he strapped it around his domen and back, it was much easier to burden.

Imite's mother eventually came back, holding a tray with a large bowl of vegetable soup, some rice, and a few pieces of bread and fruit on it. He eagerly downed the meal, eating as quickly as he could without making himself ill or making a mess. His probus was seeking out the last drops of soup on the bottom of the bowl, when suddenly heavy footsteps rang through the hallway.

Everyone in the library quieted, and stared at the closed door. There were voices, too, followed by a rapping on the door.

"Master of Studies!" A shrill voice addressed from the other side of the door. It was the warlord's wife. "Are you in there?"

"Y-yes ma'am, I'm coming-" Kitter replied, looking over at the two moths with a slightly worried glance, before darting out through the door into the hallway. Imite and his mother listened silently.

"...want you to go get that wretched little slave student of yours," The noble's voice was muffled, but audible.

"Imite has disappointed me," a much deeper voice rumbled. The warlord. "Now... is nothing but a liability."

"But, Sir, I thought, after he went through kokuun, you would declare him as your..." Kitter's timid voice spoke up.

The warlord was dismissive. "Bad enough he was illegitimate.. now... no longer... even a son."

Imite's eyes widened. He turned to look at his mother, but she only stared at the floor, shaking her head sadly.

"But you have only daughters. There is no one else, sir -"

"I'm well aware of that, scholar!" the Reaver growled, "But I will not have Saturni House become a laughing stock! The Monarch seeks to discredit me at every turn because I'm a moth. Why do you think I married off my eldest daughter to his favorite House last spring?" More growling. "He will be... at dawn."

Imite was numb. He stared blankly at a wall, unable to comprehend the conversation he was eavesdropping upon. Or rather, unable to accept what he learned from it.

After a moment, Kitter slipped back through the door. He looked as shaky as Imite.

"Imite," he murmured, before running up to the shell-shocked moth and grasping his shoulders, "Imite! I'm about to commit high treason, but... You have to get out of here."

"Wh..." Imite turned to his teacher, still out of it.

"They're going to execute you at dawn if you don't get out of here right now! If you leave now, you'll get a head start." Kitter was nearly hyperventilating. Imite's mother stared up in shock, "They wouldn't..."

"They would. He would!" Kitter snapped in agitation.

"But.. I've.. I've never been outside the.. Kitter, if they find out what you've done-" Imite rambled softly, his shoulders shaking.

"Bah!" The cockroach shook his head and antennae, "I'm an old teacher. You, Imite... There's something about you. I just know you're going to accomplish something great someday, despite everything. I always thought it would be because you're the sole heir of Saturni House, but I still feel it now-" He shook his head, "You need to leave!"

"He's right," Imite's mother stood up, and corralled Imite out of his seat. The trio started to the door, and Kitter rushed ahead, and looked back at Imite's mother "Listen, I'll try and distract them. You see your son off."

Imite's mother nodded, and ushered the young moth down the hall quickly. Kitter headed in the opposite direction. Imite turned his head, looking back at his teacher for the last time, before his mother urged him up the stairs.

He still wasn't perfectly steady on his feet, and he stumbled up the stairs as quickly as possible. Imite's heart was pounding furiously. None of this seemed real. It just wasn't possible. A horrible transformation, discovering he was the Reaver's son, and the threat of impending death - this was all just some dream. He'd wake up soon, and he'd still be a caterpillar, and things would go on as they always had...

Soon enough, they reached the look out tower. "The window is the best bet for escape. I know your wings are still weak, and you have no training, but you're going to have to chance it-" His mother started, pacing furiously around the room. She grasped at something around her neck, then paused, quieting. "Imite," she said softly.

"Y... yes?"

"There's something I want you to have. I don't know if I'll ever see you again, and I want you to have something to remember me by." She walked over to her son, then reached behind her neck and unhooked a clasp Imite had never seen before.

She produced a long necklace, a pendant in the shape of an odd symbol. It was the outline of a star within a ring... A pentacle. She set it around Imite's neck.

"What is -"

"Ssh." She smiled, stroking his bangs out of his face. "I'm sure you'll learn what it means some day. In the mean time, think of it as a protector. A good luck charm."

Imite looked over at the remains of his kokuun, and gathered what remained of his possessions as though he were in a trance. His glasses, and...

The book.

Without thinking, he shoved the it into his pack. He heard faint, pounding footsteps coming up the stairs.

His mother shook her head, "Now you have to go. Quickly. Trust your instincts..." She trailed off, before she enveloped Imite in a warm hug. He returned it, hardly able to comprehend that he may never see his mother again.

Still holding him, she lead him to the window. Tentatively, he climbed up onto the ledge, and looked back at his mother a final time.

She smiled. The door was opening. He closed his wings, and let himself drop.

The wind whistled past him as he hurtled towards the earth. He concentrated, his muscles tensing -

Fwoosh!

His wings snapped open, stiffening against the night wind. They beat once, then twice. He wasn't really flying, but he could direct his fall, now. He aimed for the walls that surrounded the grounds of the House, walls he had never traveled past before.

With the wind no longer clawing at his vision, he turned his head to look back at the House.

I have found peace... The stranger's words echoed in his mind. Now he knew exactly what they had meant.

...but I am afraid it has come at the cost of your own.