Oreana has been watching me since we got here, her eyes are always following my every move. I know what she wants, she did ask me to come up with a plan, but in all honesty, it slipped my mind. And when I did have time to think and plot, I couldn't come up with anything. Nothing less brutal then what her plan is going to be.

No matter what Skye said, I can't let it go, for some reason. Why even use actors in place of officers? It is not like any of those imposters are weak, they don't look weak physically. Kay and every other officer I have seen were heavily muscled, almost like actual officers. But the malice bleaching out of them?

I shook my head at the thought, this has been pinching at my conscious all day and even after so much thinking I couldn't come up with any logical reasoning for my unexplained doubts.

"Okay Seri, try again," I urged the little girl to try to stop my knife mid-air. I raise my palm facing down parallel to the floor and create a knife.

"I am going to drop the knife. Just concentrate on stopping it mid-air okay. Imagine that you are holding it with your colour, like catching a ball." I looked her in the eye, speaking slowly and nodding at her so that she understands. Seri nodded back at me, bobbing her head in excitement.

"Morean common do it fast, it has been three tries already." A little boy of Seri's age groaned at her and I was instantly reminded of how this used to be a usual occurrence when I was their age, when I had just found my colour, colours.

"Pico, let her concentrate, everyone is going to get a chance" I reproached him, probably sounding like a mom. Pico folded his arms with a pout and looked away like a petulant child. I smiled at that, neither Skye nor Zane can take their attitude. That is why Zane is training the teens and Skye is coaching the older ones, leaving me to do the delicate work of teaching the kids.

"Try again." I stood up from the crouch and resumed the position, my palm facing down. A dagger integrated in the air, the size of my palm, its tip facing down.

I evoked my grip on my coloured knife and let it fall under gravity. The knife stopped a couple of inches from my hand and then slipped again twice, like invisible hands trying to catch it. It stopped a feet above the ground and I withdrew it, letting it dissolve back to me once I was sure it is stable. I smiled at Seri who had her hands out to project her colour.

Oreana stood behind the queue and jerked her head in the direction of the office, I nodded at her and took a gulp of breath to prepare myself.

"I will be back in a minute and then we will start with Pico. Pico practice with Morian, I want good results from you." I said and he beamed at me. I smiled back but it quickly melted away when I turned my back to them.

I walked into the small office, behind me Oreana, Skye, Jerrek and Zane followed suit. Zane closed the door and leaned on it, crossing his legs in a stance of ease. Jerrek took a chair and I mimicked him, sitting down on the wooden chair behind me. That seems to have sent a message because Oreana and Skye both sat down.

"No, I don't have a plan." I got straight to the point and gave her what she wanted to hear from me. Oreana gave me a simple nod, not a smirk or a taunt just a blank expression. She knew that I won't be able to come up with something else in a matter of a day, but she still gave me time to consider it.

"So," She knitted her hands together and placed them on the table, "are you both willing to hear our plan?" Oreana proposed, studying our reaction, but I am ready with my answer.

"Yes, what are your plans?" I nodded at her. Whatever her plan is, I won't let it be implemented without any changes that is for sure.

"Xile." she said the one word in a collected tone. But it caused a tremor of surprise in me. My lips parted at her statement, and I widened my eyes at her.

Xile is our holy river, it is the only thing that helps us to identify our colours. The only diety that we pray. What is she even going to suggest?

I clenched my fist under the table, but kept my lips pressed in a thin line, "What about Xile?" I asked in a firm voice, betraying the conflict inside.

"You know that Xile is the only source to identify our colours. It works by extracting the colours out of us." I nodded at Jerrek's basic information.

"What happens if someone were to drink it?" Oreana asked, but this question was directed at me, not a rhetorical question but she genuinely wanted my views on this.

Xile cuts right through the centre of our country, and Athesy lies at the heart of Azure but Urydale is far away from the direct supply of Xile. Most of the major festivals are celebrated at its shore, we pray the river, but no one dares to spend too long in the river. It extracts our colour right out of us. But drinking the water...

"I have no idea. No one can stay in that water for long, it may cause permanent damage to our colour. But if it is in a very diluted form then maybe weakness, nausea, or loss of colour even" I whispered the last part lowly, my voice emphasising the glass thin gravity of the situation.

I looked deep in Oreana's eyes to search the extent of her plan, they say the eyes are the window to the soul. Is she looking for a way to cause permanent colour loss? This doesn't mean just pigment loss, no it will cause the permanent departure of our powers.

The thought causes a sharp shiver to crawl up my spine, like cold vines spreading around my shoulder and growing to clutch my heart in an unsteady rhythm.

"Where are you going with this?" Skye didn't snap, the situation is too severe to reach to any immediate conclusions.

"Not where you think," Zane answered, pushing away from the door to stand near the table, facing us.

"What I mean here is that we can use the water of Xile to weaken them." Oreana proposed.

"And not cause any permanent damage?" I want a confirmation from her.

"No just enough water to weaken them, we have a handful of colourless. Around 300 and the rest of the town may help as well so around 500."

"But five hundred against trained officers."

"We need them weakened." I felt the grip loosen around my heart at her words. No one is going to lose their colour. I can't think of anything worst than losing a colour, it is a part of us. A part that we hold very close to our heart.

I nodded at her. Skye placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "Hmm, how are we to achieve that," he asked.

"Through the water supply." Oreana's lips turned into the tiniest smile, and I realized two things then. One that she must have been preparing this for years, the meticulously prepared details and the idea to use the water from Xile clearly shows how dedicated she is to her cause. But my mouth filled with bitter sadness at the next thought. To have this kind of determination to do something, the longing I see in her eyes says that she wants to get out of here desperately.

Whenever I had talked to Zane, he always spoke hinting his anger at being oppressed. He always insinuated at the bitter experiences he had to face here. In his eyes I see a longing to see the outside world, but in Oreana's eyes I see a heart-wrenching desperation to see someone.

"The water supply in Athesy-" Skye snapped his mouth shut as the door was suddenly pushed open. I sat up straighter in the chair as a guy entered the room. He had his hairs cropped close to his scalp and an angular jaw, with a small scar on the bridge of his nose. "Ah, did I interrupt something?" he asked, half-serious holding the door with one hand. He scanned the room and stopped his wandering eyes to meet mine.

"Yes, knock before you enter Ian," Zane snapped at him, standing before him.

"Pico and that girl started fighting so I thought better to inform you," he said and I frowned at that. I told them to train, not fight within themselves.

"I'll be out in a minute, please separate them till then," I spoke softly and he nodded at me, he did a final sweep around the room before stepping back and Zane slammed the door close after him.

"They don't know about this do they?" I asked Oreana with a tilt of my head.

"They know that you both being here means we are going to take an action soon, but no, they don't know about the plan," Oreana explained and I hummed at her in understanding.

"We can't stay here for much longer. A day is stretching our luck." I told everyone, but for some reason my eyes were trained on Zane alone. I am not talking about Ash here, I haven't talked to him since I got here but this is not about that.

"Why, you said you have 2-3 days?" Zane had an unreadable emotion on his face, but he was not the only one asking that question. Skye doesn't know anything, for all he knows we have two more days.

A strange silence filtered in the room as they awaited my answer.

"I think an officer is watching us, me. He knows we are extending our visit. He suspects something. To what extent I don't know." I whispered, looking at all of them with the gravity of the situation.

"Who?" Zane demanded, clenching his as his eyes remained focused on mine.

" Kay Azon" I hesitated, seeing the change in Zane's demeanour.

"Where did he see you Ariel?" Skye asked and I tore my eyes from him.

"At your school, I was there with Grandpa. But there is something else you need to know." I looked intently at Oreana and Jerek, I have already informed Zane and Skye but they need to know as well.

I stood up from the chair and placed my hand on the table, "The officers here are fake, they are imposters. But there is something else Nanu found. Colourlessness is not hereditary, it appears randomly in the population. So the government will have no solid proof if they try to sway the public to them." I said and for the first time I saw a flicker of surprise on Oreana's face. This is nothing small, this simple fact held a lot of weight, something that can tip the scale on our side.