With the sun high in the sky- the sun, still such an amazing thing, I still can't believe we're on the surface - it was a perfect day to go out and observe, without raising suspicion by wearing sunglasses. Asa made sure to tell the rest of the group that they need to lie low and learn the mannerisms of the Mundanes, and that they need to always keep their sunglasses on when they go outside. He told them not to pick fights, and if someone tried to fight them, then they needed to walk away as fast as possible. For the moment, the civilian Mundanes were not the problem, and getting in a scuffle with them would only serve to further complicate any bit of the plan that they've made so far.
Asa glared at the screens- Televisions- with the President making some important speech about terrorists and what's needed to prevent their attacks. He sneered and walked away, keeping his head low. According to the scout a year ago, it was a unanimous decision of all the world leaders to kill the Diplomatic party. That meant the President was on the Uisilon's hit-list as well. Seeing the man stand there and speak, as though he wasn't a murderer, as though he hadn't killed both young adults and elders the same...it made him sick. He had hopes, at least enough to trust Hostia going to the surface, that the Mundanes had changed from the stories of hate he'd grown up hearing. But now that hope was gone. Dashed into the dirt like his sister and the other diplomats had been. Dreams of peace would never be a reality. At least not with the current world leaders. He knew that all but a few, maybe three of them if he could remember correctly, felt anger and the want for revenge after the loss of the Diplomats. Nearly everyone in the Surface group had lost a family member or friend. That's one of the reasons Asa chose them out of the bigger group to come to the surface, leaving the rest in Undaro.
Ruba, he chose to join them because he felt she would be a good anchor, and her good nature would help ease the tension. Plus, he would never leave another Golden Uisilon without her Ranked brothers and sister. In each generation the Golden ones were meant to be together, as the best way to enact change and balance.
Ariah had just as much right to be here as Asa himself did, having lost her lover to the Mundane world leaders. Asa could understand her rage and need for revenge; He didn't know what would have happened had he lost Carter as well.
Joon and Pons interested him, their different views despite living under the same roof-and with Ruba-, and he didn't want to separate the three Pavos. Allowing Saiwala to come along as well just seemed to make sense.
Having personally went to Dal, the only issue Asa has is that the Keeper of Hidden Words might get hurt. That would be on Asa's head upon reporting to the Elder council. Still, he couldn't bring himself to regret his decisions. That just left Carter.
Asa turned to his Mateship, who'd been walking silently beside him the whole time while he contemplated. He had no doubt that he may have been crushing Carter's hand a bit in his during his contemplations, but the other boy showed no outward sign of pain. Asa could always count on Carter as a constant presence. He always wanted to keep Carter safe and near him, because every time he let someone go, they never seemed to come back. Carter was his anchor who swallowed his own feelings long enough to bring Asa back from the dark, and he was an invaluable asset to the cause. The choice to have him come along was obvious, and Asa doubted he would have stayed behind even if told. It's extremely hard to stay away from your Mateship; it can even cause sickness if separated for too long.
"Hey." He bumped Carter's shoulder, turning down another street where someone was getting money playing the violin, while someone else had an electric piano to the side, coming in to create a wonderful duet. They stood at the edge of the crowd, the music becoming background noise for their oncoming conversation. "What's on your mind, Meus Sodalis?" He asked. Carter's not the most talkative, but he's usually not this quiet. It worried Asa a bit more than he'd admit.
Sai had woken up later than usual; Asa and Carter had already left a note and left and Saiwala was still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. With a large yawn she grabbed her sunglasses and tucked them into her pocket- they don't need them on while inside the apartment, of course- and headed out of her room to the kitchen. They had bought several bags and boxes of cereal, and jugs of milk with the money-some acquired legally and some not- of the Surface, They were set on breakfast food for a while.
She sat down with a bowl of something called Apple Jacks-by the powers this flavor is amazing!- and ate, waiting patiently to see if anyone else was still home. They all had their own spaces that they've found they liked to stay in over the past couple of days and Saiwala liked to leave people alone and let them come to her if they want to.
Dal had his sunglasses on- he always wore them, apparently that's what Mundanes do to signal they're blind- and was leaning on the rusty but stable rail of the balcony that was attached to the apartment. The first thing that had surprised Dal about the surface was the air. Sure, he had been told by many of the ones who had traveled there that it was polluted and impure, be he never thought it we be to the extent where they all gagged upon reaching the surface. He was adjusting to it now.
One thing that Dal had to admit the Mundanes had over the Uisilons-in a non literal sense- was the chemical mass of warmth known as the sun. It was nothing like the phosphorescent stalactites that light Undaro's small world. He may not be able to see the difference but he can definitely feel it; radiations of warmth came from the sun whereas none came from the stalactites. He was told by the others that the sun could be blinding, whereas the stalactites were just bright enough to allow everyone to see properly. Where the stalactites distorted the colors o Undaro, throwing several different colored lights onto one object, the sun seemed absolute and solid on the single color it gave off, allowing all the objects and people of the Surface to come off the color they were apparently meant to be. According to the young Illusionist, Saiwala, it was one of the oddest things to see; every object was clear and defined whereas in Undaro you often had to fight to make it out due to the ever shifting reflection of colors.
Dal sighed, enjoying the warmth on his skin.
He'd have to type this all out later.
