The Silk Moth Dream (Season 1 Complete)

EPISODE 7: THE SECOND JOB

It's late but Fiona still works vigorously, looking like a frenzied fox with her frizzy and haphazardly tied red hair. She's back to combing through Adranuch Cao's financial records, taking note of her various cards and income streams. Fiona's monitor is angled slightly away from the couch where Abin sleeps. So that the light doesn't disturb him, of course.

"What are you doing?"

His voice is low and sleepy, but not even gruff in the slightest. Fiona unconsciously tilts the monitor even further from him and swivels to face him, having trouble reading his expression in the darkness.

"I thought you were sleeping," she tries to say casually. "It's late."

"You have class in the morning."

"That I do."

"Would you not prioritize your work over your strange gadgets?" He doesn't say it in a particularly mean voice, just genuine confusion.

"This is my... second job."

She had hoped that that would be enough to deter his questions but he only sits up straighter, hair messy from laying on the couch. "Are you also teaching children on your device?"

Fiona swivels in her chair and plants her feet down, hoping she doesn't look too nervous. "I- er, no. I... fundraise for the school that I run. Since the government no longer funds schooling, I have to find... benefactors who will help keep it running."

Abin watches her twiddle in her chair. He takes in the scene, her turned away monitor shrouded in darkness. "So you ask these donors for money on your computer?" He stumbles on the new term that Fiona had only taught him days ago. It's clear he's having trouble wrapping his head around IMing, let alone what Fiona's actually doing on her computer.

Fiona tries to act like it's a rhetorical question but his expectant gaze makes it clear that it's not. She waits a moment before answering. "No... I do not ask them, per se. But it's such a small amount that they would never notice that it's gone to a good cause." This isn't the version she usually tells people. She wonders why she chose the truth.

Abin considers that for a moment. Finally, he says: "You're stealing from people."

"Maybe some would call it that, I guess," Fiona says, just wanting to turn back to the monitor and finish the transfer so she can go to bed and forget admitting to anyone just how her school is able to stay open.

"Do you think it's acceptable to steal because it's for a good cause?" Abin wonders aloud, and something about the question itches at Fiona.

"I know you're a monk and all, but who made you the expert on morality in this century?" she asks, a little more biting than she intended.

Even in the dark, she can see Abin's eyes widen in surprise at her tone. "I did not intend any offense—"

For some reason, Fiona wants to cry. Like, really cry and sob and scream at the world and the life she's found herself in. It's true, Fiona's father would have never wanted her to use the skills he'd taught her like this. It's true, she's justifying the means to an end which is what she always criticizes Shailene for. It's true that Fiona knows what she's doing is wrong and yet here she still is.

Instead of saying all this, she says, "You can kill dozens of people in the matter of seconds. That's really the crazy thing."

Abin's lips flatten. For half a second, Fiona wonders if he'll pull out the white light on her but the thought's gone as soon as it comes. His gaze bores into her with that breathless torment and she almost wants to squirm under the intensity of his pain.

"I mean, why weren't you sleeping?" she asks, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. Fiona can taste the apology on her lips but none of the words to form it.