Not everyone has been having an easy time of it. As soon as Solomon heard about the caste system and the fact that this landfall was on a series of islands, he'd lost much desire to even try to navigate anything. Eventually, grudgingly, he'd ventured out, if only due to a matter of restlessness.
No one warned him that it was perfectly legal for youths to bombard adults from walls. Or that it was rude for adults to, in any way, retaliate. Or that no one would stop youths from fixating on Certain People because Certain People couldn't see the projectiles coming.
Which is why Solomon can be found in the Deep, shadow-walking hops of ten feet down the straight, narrow stretches. On the Height a band of children follow him, laughing and cheering and every so often darting in to throw squid entrails at him. Most of them miss. It's hard to hit a moving target.
If only Solomon had figured out how to shadow-walk more than ten feet again. Not having sight had thrown him off more than he thought it had.
Shadows rise up and whisk him away, but he's moving so fast to try and keep abreast of his pursuers that he doesn't realise the turn is only a few feet ahead of him; instead of the shadows depositing him in the Deep they shape themselves out of the side of the city's wall. Solomon puts his foot down on air, curses and drops a few inches before shadows lance out from the wall like a temporary scaffold, and he stands there in the brisk wind on a thin surface of darkness.
... Oh, what the hell.
He keeps walking, the shadows stretching out further and further away from the wall, sliding up under his feet with every step. When the first of the fascinated children tries to step down to follow, the surface fluctuates under their feet and hurriedly they draw back, pouting.
Sooner or later, he's going to come up on the wall belonging to another of the city's 'towers' on the other side. They'll have to find him again, then.
18th JUNE
No one warned him that it was perfectly legal for youths to bombard adults from walls. Or that it was rude for adults to, in any way, retaliate. Or that no one would stop youths from fixating on Certain People because Certain People couldn't see the projectiles coming.
Which is why Solomon can be found in the Deep, shadow-walking hops of ten feet down the straight, narrow stretches. On the Height a band of children follow him, laughing and cheering and every so often darting in to throw squid entrails at him. Most of them miss. It's hard to hit a moving target.
If only Solomon had figured out how to shadow-walk more than ten feet again. Not having sight had thrown him off more than he thought it had.
Shadows rise up and whisk him away, but he's moving so fast to try and keep abreast of his pursuers that he doesn't realise the turn is only a few feet ahead of him; instead of the shadows depositing him in the Deep they shape themselves out of the side of the city's wall. Solomon puts his foot down on air, curses and drops a few inches before shadows lance out from the wall like a temporary scaffold, and he stands there in the brisk wind on a thin surface of darkness.
... Oh, what the hell.
He keeps walking, the shadows stretching out further and further away from the wall, sliding up under his feet with every step. When the first of the fascinated children tries to step down to follow, the surface fluctuates under their feet and hurriedly they draw back, pouting.
Sooner or later, he's going to come up on the wall belonging to another of the city's 'towers' on the other side. They'll have to find him again, then.