"How much longer do I have to stay here?" Lua grumbled as he laid in bed, staring up at the uninteresting blue ceiling. The bull had gone and in his place his place he'd left the princess's beast of a dog that laid in the corner watching the girl silently.

"Harran is out right now to check if the route is clear." The princess had a piece of paper laid out before her crossed feet, which Lua thought was strange. "Come here will you."

He grunted but complied, taking a seat before her. Only then did he see the strange bumpy lines on the sheet of paper that drew a large square with a smaller square at its center. Lines connected the squares from corners to vertexes, creating quarters within the large square and outside the smaller one. Further in each quarter where lines that twisted and turned and sometimes interlocked before ending at the large square's perimeter.

The closer Lua looked the more it looked like some sort of map. "What is this?"

She laid her hands out before her. Lua didn't know what to make of it.

"Your hand." She chuckled.

Lua gave her his hand, albeit reluctantly. In her hands, his seemed massive, but she held his tenderly as if afraid she'd break him. She guided him to the bumpy lines.

"This is Dhulka." She traced his hands along the lines to the quarter closest to her. "And this is the Southern Quarter, where we currently are."

"What about the other quarters?"

She trailed his fingers to the section on his left. "This is the East Quarter. I like to call it the ERC Quarter. Education, Rehabilitation and Confinement." She moved to the section closest to Lua. "This is the Northern Quarter." She paused.

"Don't have an abbreviation for that?" Lua cocked a brow.

She shook her head, chuckling. "Dhulka's Brain. Where the greatest minds work to bring about advancement and change." She moved his fingers down to the quarter on his right. "The West Quarter. The industrial quarter, where everything is made." And finally they returned to the Southern Quarter. "The Southern Quarter. The agricultural quarter, where crops and livestocks are grown."

"I don't see how anything can be grown down here."

"The crops are grown on top of one another, receiving equal amounts of directed streams of sunlight. The animals alike but on a larger scale. At least that's how grandma describes it."

"What about the center square?"

She hesitated, her hands falling away. "Dhulka's Capital. Home to the royal family and other governing bodies."

Lua sensed a tension in her tone and opted to change topic. "Why are you looking, or er feeling this map?"

Her eyes widened. And though unfocused, Lua couldn't help being caught in those grey orbs.

"This is a very old map of Dhulka." She tapped the map. "Used when Dhulka was being constructed. Back then they had many tunnels to return to the surface when they needed to. It was through one of these tunnels that we found you."

Lua looked again at the map, there were many, dozens, along the perimeter of each quarter. His heart swelled with hope.

"But many of them have been sealed." He felt himself deflate at her words. "And now that the Southern Quarter is under close surveillance, I doubt those that are open will remain any longer."

"Then what about another quarter?"

"That would require transporting you, which is going to be very risky as the only transportation we have between the quarters are public trains."

"Do you even have a plan?" He snapped.

"Calm down." She giggled. She was a fool. Lua would've snapped her neck if he didn't need her. "There are older transit routes, further beneath. They're less monitored. But, they aren't exactly safe."

"You build a whole kingdom under the earth and you don't make sure every inch of it is secure for survival?"

"Not safety in that sense." Her voice quieted. "We call it Dhulka's underbelly. It's a large slum that stretches beneath all the quarters. A place of lawlessness and disorder."

"Not safe for the princess, I suppose?"

She bristled. He struck a nerve. "Even worse for you. You're injured." But there was no contempt on her tongue. "And you stand out the most, as I've been told."

"Who else knows I'm being protected by the princess?"

"Harran and I are the only ones. I won't tell anyone else unless I deem it absolutely necessary."

But Lua didn't trust her completely just as yet. "Why haven't you asked about who I am? Or where I came from?"

"Do you want me to?"

"It's only normal to be curious of a stranger from another world. It's suspicious otherwise."

She pursed her lips, fisted her hands against her knees. She tried very hard not to let it show, but Lua could practically see the excitement swelling up inside her. "Can I ask then?"

He nodded, then remembered. "Sure. But I can't promise to answer all your questions."

"Where do you live? Beside the sea? Or the forest or on the plains?"

Her excitement was infectious. Lua didn't understand her, yet he found her amusing.

"The plains," he said and she gasped. "Futher north is a dense forest that encircles my home. The deeper you go into the forest the steeper the ground gets. Not many people travel there. And to the south stands the ruins of a city divided by a river which leads out to sea."

She seemed to be listening intently. Then again she always was. "Have you ever eaten fish? What does it taste like?"

Lua couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up his throat. "I've eaten enough fish to know that it isn't that great."

"What about the wind? And the flowers? And the bees? And the frogs and the birds?"

"One at a time please." Lua smiled. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

She hummed in contemplation. "The birds, do they still fly?"

"If you're asking if they still drop crap from the sky, then yes, unfortunately they still do."

Her eyes went wide with wonder. "What about the rain? Does it rain often where you live?"

"It rains enough."

"What does it tastes like?"

Lua perked a brow. "The rain?"

She nodded urgently.

"Like water," he deadpanned. 

She frowned.

Lua stuck out his tongue, as if in anticipation of a rain drop. "Cool, sweet, fresh and new."

But rain was almost always a sign of danger, especially during the day, when the Cadits were strongest and Draits were at their most vulnerable.

That night when Lua slept he saw a face he'd all but forgotten in the chaos of so few days. An old memory of him and Huo resurfaced. They had been playing in the fields one day when it suddenly began to rain. Their father's words had been drilled so deep into Lua's mind, he had believed the rain to be the worst thing ever. A bad omen. A sign of danger and pain and death.

But as Lua retreated he fully expected Huo to be right behind him. And when Huo wasn't he sped right back. But his older brother was gone. All the stories he had been told of Cadits taking unsuspecting little children when it rained clouded his mind.

He searched the fields, calling for his brother as the rain beat down his back and blurred his vision. And just when he thought all hope was lost, he saw Huo. Lua never told anyone this, lest he was mocked for such absurdity. But that day, he'd never forget what he saw. Huo wielded water.

~~~

King Zev watched the video for the thousandth time. The boy's resemblance to Chief Shan was uncanny. It wasn't only his dark skin and amber eyes. It was as if he were Shan's younger self.

The King dialed a number into his telephone. Chief Shan picked up immediately. "Your Majesty, is something the matter?"

"I believe I have something that will interest you. Meet me in half an hour's time."

The King rose from his seat only to fall back when his doors flew open without so much as a knock. It was his son, Dowda.

Dowda strutted up to his father an awe blazing in his eyes. The King prepared himself for the headache that was sure to come.

"Have you seen it Father?" Dowda gushed.

King Zev massaged his temple. "Be specific Dowda, I'm busy."

"The footage of the man with ebony skin and flaming eyes." The King shifted uncomfortably, but delirious Dowda failed to notice. "He's everything I've speculated a surface dweller would look like. I knew it father. There are people on the surface."

"Dowda you're smarter than this." King Zev sighed. "The video is obviously fake. An animation."

"I thought as much which was why I had the footage screened at least a hundred times. But it's real Father, and it can't be any less true. If you don't believe me then allow me to investigate it, let me speak to the farmer."

"What would you do if you found this surface dweller, as you called him?" The King feared his son's response before he heard it.

"Well I'd study him of course. The physical differences between him and our people is astonishing. And those eyes, alight with fire—this is a revolutionary discovery. It changes everything we understand about the human body, that is to say they are still human—"

"Stop." The King rose.

Dowda watched the king wide-eyed. "You can't possibly deny me this Father."

The King regarded his son. Dowda had always been a curious boy growing up, questioning every possible thing he could till his father ran out of answers. Refusing his son's request would only ignite a hundred new questions. "Alright. Find him. But if you never do, you can say goodbye to your position at the Research and Development Institute."

"Deal."

~~~

Chief Shan watched the footage wide-eyed. "This, is this real?"

The King nodded. "This was taken in a district in Dhulka. Do you know this man?"

The chief raised his head, both relief and fear flashing in his eyes. "He's my son. But how is he—why is he, how is he in Dhulka?"

"The only way to the surface and into Dhulka are through tunnels such as this."

"But he was injured in battle and presumed dead. He couldn't have wandered into Dhulka with wounds of that size." The chief pondered this. "Where is he now?"

"I'm afraid I can't say. The cameras lost him to a blind spot. But I will find him and return him safely to you."

"Thank you, your majesty." The Chief smiled distantly. "His name is Lua. He doesn't trust easily. And he can be difficult to get through to. But he has a bigger heart than I could ever have."

A/n: any atla fans here?? Coz yours truly is!!