Sua's lashes fluttered as she woke to the dawn of a new day. She turned her head and noticed that sunbeams were already crawling over her floor. The fluffy pillow she laid on cradled her aching temple, while the blanket covering her from the chest down hid most of the bruising on her skin.
She tried moving her arm, but her injured shoulder, swaddled in bandages, prevented her from waving it around too much.
Luckily, Binasa had only managed to dislocate her joint instead of shattering any bones. Batani had no problem setting it back in place before securing it so the swelling would go down faster. The memory of her friend finding out what had really happened to her made Sua sigh.
There had been no way of hiding anything from Batani after Sa Gin returned to Tamisna Inn with her barely conscious body in his arms. Her mother had quickly figured out what the cause of her injuries was, and she wasted no time fetching the ditched woman from the town square. Sarisa had banked on her daughter's friend to keep the truth hidden from anyone else.
Batani thankfully pulled through and fixed Sua up in the privacy of the inn. Then she'd made up some story about Sua contracting an illness from one of the traveling show's members. Thus, she had to remain in her room so as not to infect anyone else.
The only other people she'd confided in were Guyaba, who took Ubi in so the child wouldn't know what was really going on, and Pina, who volunteered to deliver groceries and other supplies whenever they needed anything. And of course, there was Gin, who offered to take over the menial tasks that needed to be done around Tamisna. Not that he had to do much since they couldn't open the bar or the guest rooms again until after she had healed.
Sarisa had given her an earful for that before letting her motherly instincts take over and pampering her to the fullest. Sua had apologized for worrying the older woman, of course. Now, she just had one person to say sorry to, if she could find the time to talk to him.
As luck would have it, the knob rattled when someone in the hall made to enter her room.
The door swung aside, and Sa Gin peeked into her quarters. He held a feather duster and a tin of floor polish in his hand. He stopped himself from entering when he noticed that she was awake.
"It's all right," Sua said. "You can come in."
Gin moved at her prompting. He strode to her bedside, and she noticed that he had donned another set of his more expensive clothes. But they didn't look very clean now that they were covered with dust and stained with streaks of polish.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as he settled into the chair beside her bed. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? Does anything hurt?"
"Not hungry, a little thirsty, and everything still hurts. Better than yesterday, at least," she replied. "Why aren't you wearing my father's clothes? You've gotten yours dirty."
"That's precisely why I didn't put them on today." Gin set the duster and metal tin on the floor so he wouldn't have to keep them on his lap. "I'm fine with ruining my own garments, and I don't want to disrespect your late father by destroying his. I know his memory's very important to you."
Sua's brow furrowed as she bit her lip.
"I hope you can forgive me, Gin." She picked at the creases on her blanket, wrinkling them even more. "Because of me, your stay in Alola has been ruined. Instead of relaxing, researching, and exploring the town, you're stuck here having to help. And I also... I also saw you... how you look like as a g-g—"
"God," he answered after noticing how uncomfortable she was even mentioning the truth. "I'm a god. A fallen one. And that creature you were fighting?"
Sua gulped. Clearly, the time had come for Sa Gin to question her about the problem he'd involved her in. She didn't have the heart to lie to him, not after he'd saved her from the brink of a painful death.
"Did Mama not tell you?"
"She offered," he said, leaning forward, "but I told her that I preferred hearing the truth from you."
His decision to respect her and let her explain everything in her own words touched Sua.
So for the next several minutes, Sua told him about how her father had bargained for her mother's freedom and ownership of Tamisna Inn through a duel. How her mother had given her soul to Binasa in exchange for her beau's victory. How that had resulted in a sickness that got worse over time, as well as her own decision to try to reclaim her mother's soul.
As she relayed her tale, Gin's face grew paler and paler.
"How could you do that?" he asked after she was through. By now, his hands were clutching the side of her bed. "All this time, you were getting beat up by that... that monster? All for his sick entertainment?"
"It was for my mother," she defended. "I didn't think Binasa would even offer the bargain at first, but that's what happened. And I accepted, much to Mama's dismay."
Gin hunched over and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"At least you didn't offer to take your mother's place," he said. "That would have been worse."
Sua ducked her head as the stipulation in her bargain with Binasa—which she hadn't even told her mother—came to mind.
"Actually," she took a deep breath, then released it, "I did throw my own soul into the deal."
"YOU WHAT?!"
"But only after he'd used up my mother's soul!" she added, even though that didn't make her foolish decision from back then any better. "If I couldn't beat him before my mother's soul vanished, he could take mine too."
"Which would give him the chance to entice your younger sister too, once she's old enough!" Gin raked his hands over his hair. His gaze, clouded with frustration, landed on her. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! You put yourself and the rest of your family in danger!"
"Oh, and were we not in danger before then?" she replied, even though talking to him for this long was starting to hurt. "He approached my sister at the fair before he even knew what you were. He was killing my mother from afar! He still is!"
"And he was going to kill you too! All because you jumped right into his trap!"
"Because I love my mother enough to try to save her life!" Sua clenched her fist and pounded it against her soft mattress. Only to regret the action when that caused her shoulder to burn.
Gin saw her wince.
"Enough already." He caught her wrist and gently pinned it down against the sheets. "You're not doing anyone any favors by hurting yourself, Sua."
"If you've ever loved someone before, you'd know why I did it!" she said, ignoring his warning. She could feel her tears coming on as she continued to speak. "But you haven't, have you? You're so used to having people fawn all over you that you've never even tried earning someone's love."
This seemed to take Gin aback. The man retreated, and his jaw tightened as he took a deep breath. He inhaled once, then twice, and let the air out through his nose.
"Hard as it might be for you to believe, Sua, I have loved someone before," he said. "Although I didn't know it back then. And it's something I've regretted ever since."
His confession threw Sua off. And in the following silence, she realized how judgmental she had been. She had lost her temper and hurt someone who was only trying to look out for her.
Someone whom she still admired despite knowing he wasn't a mortal like her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have accused you like that. It was a horrible thing to do."
Surprisingly, she felt the warmth of a wide palm press over her knuckles. A tear fell from her eye when she realized that Sa Gin had reached out to her despite her cruel response. When she looked up, she noticed his faraway gaze.
"I had a familiar once," Gin started. He licked his lips before completely settling into his story. "I can't remember their name or what they look like, but I do remember that I lost them because of my own selfish desires."
"How so?" Sua asked, curious to know who Gin really was under his gorgeous—and probably fake—features.
"During one of my visits to this realm, I met a maiden," he explained. "I can't recall her features either, but I believe she must have been beautiful. Or at least charming enough to convince me that she would make a better familiar than the one I already had."
Sua gasped. She'd heard of gods losing their familiars to death or because their familiars had decided to raise families of their own. But to hear of one dismissed by its own master...
"You replaced them?"
"My obsession with that maiden overshadowed my friendship with my familiar. It deafened me to their warnings and blinded me to my former lover's true intentions." Gin's grip tightened around her hand, giving away how troubled he was by his actions then. "Because of my stubbornness, my familiar had no choice but to hand over their role to a woman who would betray me. She was using me for my endless wealth and my powers."
Sua's chest ached for him. She couldn't even summon the strength to be jealous of his former lover. All she wanted to do was cradle his cheeks and assure him that not all human girls were like that.
"How did you find out, Gin?" she asked, albeit gently, to let him know that he could keep that information to himself.
"When I told her that I was thinking of relinquishing my immortality to be with her," he replied, "she told me that she was carrying the child of another man."
That news curled Sua's stomach. Her mother, her friend Pina, and even the fisherman's wife were loyal to their own partners. In fact, all the women she knew in Alola had never done something so abominable.
"I'm so sorry." Sua turned her hand over to entwine their fingers. "That must have been devastating for you."
"It probably was." Gin finally looked at her, one corner of his lips lifting. "So much of that day is a blur now."
"What do you mean?"
"In addition to reviving gods from the realm of the dead, Sua," he replied, "familiars allow gods to keep the memories they make in this realm. If you lose a familiar, you have to find a new one to keep staying in this world or to return to the heavens. And if you can't find a new one, you start losing your memories."
"Then..." Sua frowned. If Gin had already lost memories of his old familiar, of his traitorous lover, and of his own name, that meant only one thing. "Why didn't you find a new familiar already, after you had to break away from the one that betrayed you?"
He pressed his lips together before answering.
"I couldn't. Not after I realized my mistake." His golden eyes started to well, just like hers. "I wanted to right my wrongs by working with my old familiar again. I would ask for forgiveness and work with them if they'll still have me. I couldn't do that if I found a different person to take their place. It truly sank in how much they meant to me."
Sua couldn't stand seeing him, someone so kind and strong, struggle with his past in front of her. His sweet, noble decision to remain loyal to his old familiar impressed her. He was humbling himself and trying to make amends in the best way he knew how.
"All this time," she murmured, "you were traveling the continent to find them. Going from one town to another in the hopes of catching a glimpse or hearing news about them. And I guess that explains the visits to libraries and records offices."
"Yes." Gin finally sat up straight and rubbed his eyes free of tears before they could fall. "But it's been years. It's getting harder and harder because of my fading memories. And I can't tell anyone because people like the woman who betrayed me might try to take advantage."
Sua couldn't yet figure out how to address her situation, but she could at least try to solve his. If somebody knew everybody in town, it was her. Even if the person Gin was looking for wasn't in Alola, there was a chance that she might have met passing travelers who had heard of them.
"What can you remember about them?" Sua asked. "You can trust me, Gin. Maybe I can help you if you mention something familiar."
The man—or god—blinked. Sua prayed that she was correct and that he trusted her enough with what he knew. After one light squeeze of his hand, he relented.
"I have no name to give or face to describe." Despite that, determination shone on Gin's face. Sua felt happy that he was holding on to hope. "I do remember that they might be close to fifty by now. They were always complaining that they were born in the wrong era. They liked to study animals, and they had a peculiar fondness for antulas. They liked to teach me about the animals."
A niggling feeling started in the pit of Sua's stomach. She couldn't quite explain it, but something about the person Gin described felt oddly familiar.
"Go on."
"And they loved books," the god continued. "They used to bring back rare tomes with fancy lettering and beautiful pictures. I vaguely remember a collection of tales about gods and spirits. It was probably their favorite, because they carried it around everywhere."
"What else?" she urged, getting a little impatient. Her unease grew as the pieces started falling into place.
"A voice that was firm yet understanding," he added. "A preference for simple, functional clothes, even though I could have afforded us a full wardrobe. And lavender. They always had the scent of lavender about them."
Sua couldn't take it anymore. The clues were there, laid out before her very eyes. She had to tell Gin what she was thinking.
He would have been fifty-one by now if he'd lived. He'd brought her an antula egg to hatch and raise as her companion. He had owned a beloved storybook with the most lifelike illustrations she'd seen.
A firm voice. A simple man with a strong sense of justice. A preference for the scent of lavender, which he loved best on his dear wife and favorite little girls.
The fact that she knew nothing of his life before becoming a wandering scholar fortified her theory.
"Gin." Sua struggled to sit up. The god tried to come to her aid, but she bade him to stay seated in case he felt faint after hearing her speak. "This might be unbelievable and hard to accept, but... I think my dead father was your familiar."