"...or the sins they may have had to commit in order to survive."

"Shen-gongzi is most generous with his compassion and understanding," Jin Guangyao replies, but he doesn't pull up the protective mask of his inoffensive smile when he says the words. The words are sincerely meant, but they're spoken with a soft, self-directed bitterness that lingers, twisting the corners of his lips into a delicate frown. "But he doesn't know the nature of the sins. This one can't in fairness ask him to withhold his judgment."

He lets the rest slide off his shoulders without comment, but Shen Yuan's words have sunk their claws into his thoughts anyway. Yes, this place does seem uniquely designed to drag to the very surface all of the things that its inhabitants wish to keep locked away, and intellectually he knows it is only a matter of time before some of his demons are laid bare. His fingers curl in on themselves, a subtle indication of his anxiety, and then he forces himself to reach for one of the sandwiches, breathing out.

"What was it like," he asks quietly at last, "when you arrived here? Were you afraid?"