[Silver]

Showe understood why they sent her on this exploratory mission, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that accompanied it. She had been through years of training, aced every exam, and finished every assignment, but she couldn’t help but to feel out of her depth here.

It certainly didn’t help that her partners for this mission were two classmates of hers that she never got the chance to know very well. She wasn’t so sure that anyone knew very much about these two. They were so insular and aloof that nobody got a chance to get to know them. At first she was hoping to build a better relationship with them, but the increasing worry surrounding this trip made that feel unlikely.

[Silver]

The world had been covered in a blanket of grey. It was like someone had sucked the color out of everything. It wasn’t just the color, either. Showe felt her optimism slipping away as well. She had no idea what Sarit and Candra were feeling. They only spoke to each other.

Everything felt muted and sad. The people they met along the way were cold and indifferent. No smiling faces to greet the new travelers. Only isolated whispers and cautious glances. Showe felt the weight of the world pressing down on her as she drew ever closer to her destination.

[Silver]

The ocean. Showe loved the ocean. As she came over the dunes and looked down into the water, however, all she could feel was sadness. The ocean was usually so… blue. Seeing it as only black with the white sky at the horizon was crushing. She had no idea it would feel this empty without its usual azure tones.

Showe looked down at the sand, lest she break out in tears. If it felt hard before, it felt impossible now. The ocean was so huge, so powerful, and somehow seeing that it too was affected by the curse of colorlessness was just too much of a sight to bear.

[Silver]

She jumped when she felt something brush against her arm. She looked down to see what it was and found herself surprised to see Sarit standing there, gently touching her forearm and looking up at her. They had been travelling together this whole time, but this was the first moment in which they directly interacted.

“He is saying that it will be okay, and that you are not alone. He knows how hard it must be for you to lead this mission, and wants to do whatever he can for you,” Candra explained. Then, as almost an afterthought, she added, “For what it is worth, I concur.”

[Silver]

“Thank you,” Showe said, somewhat quietly. She was happy to hear such encouragement from her team. It made her feel a little less alone while facing the vast, black ocean ahead.

“Now that we’re here, we will need to form a plan. I think we should scour the beach first, then we can look into traveling further out into the water.”

It would be hard to find anyone willing to help them navigate the seas at a time like this. Even if everyone wasn’t so strangely distant, it would be hard to convince anyone to venture out into the unknown. It was impossible to tell what might be out there, and navigating would be more difficult than ever with the lack of color alone.

[Silver]

Sarit and Candra shared a knowing look for an intensely long moment. Showe eventually looked back toward the ocean as she felt like she was interrupting something. For all of a few seconds there, she almost thought that it wasn’t going to be weird traveling with these two. She was wrong.
“We are willing to defer to your expertise.” Candra finally said with an affirmative nod.

“Expertise? Don’t be silly, I don’t know any more than you do…” There she was, downplaying her own talents again. She never liked to feel like she was superior to her fellow students, even if most others seemed to think she was.

[Silver]

“You are a much more accomplished traveler than either of us,” Candra explained. “It could also be expected that your knowledge on the subject of tides is superior to ours. We are happy to let you take the lead.”

“Ah… alright,” Showe said. It still made her feel uncomfortable, but she didn’t exactly think they were wrong either. She had to be a strong and confident leader, just like she always pretended to be while they were in class. That was who she was going to have to be every day in the future, so she might as well practice now.

[Silver]

“I think we should travel down the coast in this direction,” she waved her hand along the line where she thought they should go. “Once we get far enough, we’ll be near the harbor. If we don’t find anything by that point, we can see if anyone has a boat we can … borrow.”

Sarit shot Candra a quick glance as if to ask ‘did she just say that?’ but neither of them said anything in response. Showe wasn’t entirely keen on stealing a boat, but she would do it if they had no other choice. All she could do was hope that some cranky old sailor was willing to give them a ride into the far, unlit unknown.

[Silver]

Showe took a heavy first step into the sand, then another. Slowly, her footsteps began to feel normal again against the densely packed sand adjacent to the shore. The weight of the mission was dragging her down, but her pride and desire to solve this problem kept her going at a reasonable pace.

Sarit stared directly into the surf as they traveled alongside the tides. He looked at all the little moving things, wondering if any of them might be the clue they needed to find the color again. He didn’t need to look where he was going because he was certain that Candra had him covered, and indeed she did. She would hardly let him walk into anything dangerous, so long as she was also paying attention. They could do to be a little more aware in general, though.

[Silver]

"Do you think it could be a Shadow?" Showe asked aloud as she watched the light move around the rocks on the shoreline. They hadn't seen any Shadows on their way here, which struck her as odd. Shadows were attracted to strong outpourings of emotion, so she imagined that there would be quite a few at the onset of the color loss, but she had not seen any since. Is that why everyone had been so dull?

"It would have to be a very large shadow in order to take the color from even the sky, would it not?" Candra asked. She and Sarit had already gone over this idea, so she shared their conclusion.

[Wild Pet Found]