m.o.v.i.n.g. {along} -crystal-

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

Kol led the way through the streets in silence. It was still early morning, but the majority of the skaa in the city were shuffling through the streets on their way to the mills and factories. That meant the streets were crowded. They had to push through the despondent workers every now and then, but so many people meant they blended in.

[echolight4eva]

Ava watched the sad, despairing faces of the workers as they walked, her eyebrows scrunched up in pity for them. Not everybody was as lucky as she was, to have her talent.

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

Kol remembered the first time his father had taken him to one of the skaa factories. He'd watched as the man had gazed over the activities, not even seeing the workers. Not really. They weren't people to most nobles, something that had deeply disturbed even his ten-year-old self. How could they be anything less than human? They looked like them, talked like them, and despite their seemingly-constant despair he'd seen them smile and laugh like them, too.

Maybe that was why he'd run away. As far as his family and the noble community was concerned, Kol Tekiel was dead. In a way, he was. Now he was just Kol the thief, posing as a half-skaa and blending into the skaa underground. He liked to believe he was doing it to help them, but sometimes he wondered if in all honesty he was just hiding from his past and who he really was. Could you feel guilty just for being born?

[echolight4eva]

Ava hung her head a little, blinking slowly. She was very lucky to have been born in her situation, she knew that well. But she couldn't help but wish she could help the other skaa in Luthadel, as well as around the other Dominances. Her eyes met one workers, a younger girl with a dirty face, and the girl looked somewhat curious. But without a word, she disappeared into the stream of skaa workers.

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

Kol glanced back at her and gestured her around a corner. One more block and he entered an alley. Unlike the main streets of the city, the ash here wasn't swept up every day. Piles of it had gathered along the walls, and a thick, grimy layer had been stomped into the ground. He picked up his pace a bit now that they were aware from the others, leading them to the end of the alley and then rapping his fist against a door.

[echolight4eva]

Ava stopped behind him, her eyes narrowed as he knocked on the door. She crossed her arms somewhat nervously, looking around carefully.

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

It took a good thirty seconds, long enough that it seemed no one was coming. Eventually, though, the door opened a crack, a chain preventing it from opening any farther. "What do you want?" a male voice grunted.

"Slick, it's me," Kol said, leaning forward so the pale light caught his face. "Let us in."

The man's eye--only one was visible through the crack--shifted to Ava. "Who's she?"

"A friend," Kol replied calmly.

[echolight4eva]

Ava squared her jaw, lifting it so it was level with the ground. This made her look confident.

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

The eye narrowed and the crack vanished as the door shut. The clinking of the chair sounded as it was removed, and then the door swung open. A short man with brown hair and a scraggly beard stood just on the other side. "Come on in," he said.

[echolight4eva]

Ava looked at him suspiciously but followed Kol inside.

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

The man gave Ava a broad grin as she passed. His eyes flitted over her body, but his leering was the least of what she'd encounter in this place. The young woman caught the attention of several other men in the main room, who looked up when they entered. Kol had a lazy smile on his face, but it was clear he was on edge and ready to fight if need be. He knew the man who ran this place, but that didn't guarantee his safety, especially with a pretty young woman at his side.

[echolight4eva]

Ava glanced around the room suspiciously, a barely concealed glare on her face as she passed the man at the door. She noticed also that other men were looking at her, but she tried to dismiss it. She could fight, and so could Kol. What could anybody do to two mistborn fighting on one side?

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

Kol gestured for her to follow him and then disappeared through a door on the far side of the room. The man who'd left him in stayed behind. He moved confidently down the hallway to a door at the very end. The door was closed, but Kol threw it open without knocking. "Honey, I'm home!" he declared loudly.

[echolight4eva]

Ava followed, more hesitantly than he, but she trusted Kol at any rate. Her eyebrow tweaked upwards when he said this, but she stayed silent for a moment. Then, "So, this is your home?"

[Cʀʏsᴛᴀʟ]

Kol shot her a glance and laughed, but didn't respond. Mostly, this was because the man inside the room rose slowly from his desk and gave Kol a cold look. "You do love to make an entrance," he said. He was an imposing man, tall for a skaa and rather muscular. His dark hair was indefinitely neater than Kol's. Really, he could have passed as a nobleman if Kol didn't know better. That was kind of the point, though. Talented conmen learned quickly how to impersonate men of higher society.

"It's absolutely no fun at all to simply walk into a room," Kol replied.