In Aurus's opinion, being called an outlier by Charles was actually quite the compliment, especially given that little smirk, which Aurus returned feeling almost like they were sharing an intimate secret. Not everyone had always understood Aurus's motivations, and many still would not even now, but Charles, he felt, was someone who did.
"At the time when I left, it felt as though no one around me as asking the right questions. It wasn't just that their answers seemed wrong, it was that every answer to what was being asked felt like it would always be. I think in that sense I wanted to be an outlier. And now that I am, perhaps it explains why I've not simply been satisfied to return home."
Of course Aurus didn't know about Hank's bluer side, so he would never have been able to make sense of any comparison between him and Keserhn, and perhaps he wouldn't have seen it even if he did know. But he would never deny that Keserhn was also an outlier in his own way. He just jutted out at a different odd angle than Aurus did. And Aurus's angle was what brought him closer to Charles.
Joining the man within the seedpod, Aurus brushed his fingers momentarily over an interior wall, musing. "Honestly," he had to admit, "I'm not sure. I've never stopped to think about it before. It's just always been here, ever since I can remember. I suppose Kahedins would know. If we see him we shall ask." The door swung closed behind them, and a moment later the pod began to move, rising smoothly into the air with the near silent thwip thwip thwip of a tiny, helicopter-like flapping and a soft breeze as they moved.
From out of the open window gaps in the sides of the pod, the ground could be seen dropping away as they ascended through a sort of open-air shaft made by the Grove's broad sloping paths and thoroughfares--a network of natural "roads" that spiraled from its lowest levels, where they'd first arrived, up towards the commons.
The sky was more clearly visible here, along with the lowest branches of the Pale Tree, which bent down in a graceful spiral of pinkish-white leaves from above. What was most striking though, was that unlike the quiet serenity of the lower levels, up here the Dream was positively bustling with activity.
Even before the seed pod landed and the door swung open to deposit them on the ground, the rush of sound and life began to reach them. And here, for the first time, were many of those translucent green ghost-like sylvari that Aurus had told Charles to expect--the as-yet-unawoken saplings for whom the Dream was their whole world. They walked among others who appeared as solid and real as Aurus and Charles did, and not just other sylvari either.
The whole scene was like a tableau of little skits being acted out by all the races of Tyria. A group of soldiers battled a line of undead here, an asura tinkered with a golem that malfunctioned again and again over there. Everywhere a person looked there was something new to see, and amidst it all were sylvari walking or sitting together, talking, watching the scenes play out, all seemingly perfectly at home in this great bazaar of sights.
no subject
"At the time when I left, it felt as though no one around me as asking the right questions. It wasn't just that their answers seemed wrong, it was that every answer to what was being asked felt like it would always be. I think in that sense I wanted to be an outlier. And now that I am, perhaps it explains why I've not simply been satisfied to return home."
Of course Aurus didn't know about Hank's bluer side, so he would never have been able to make sense of any comparison between him and Keserhn, and perhaps he wouldn't have seen it even if he did know. But he would never deny that Keserhn was also an outlier in his own way. He just jutted out at a different odd angle than Aurus did. And Aurus's angle was what brought him closer to Charles.
Joining the man within the seedpod, Aurus brushed his fingers momentarily over an interior wall, musing. "Honestly," he had to admit, "I'm not sure. I've never stopped to think about it before. It's just always been here, ever since I can remember. I suppose Kahedins would know. If we see him we shall ask." The door swung closed behind them, and a moment later the pod began to move, rising smoothly into the air with the near silent thwip thwip thwip of a tiny, helicopter-like flapping and a soft breeze as they moved.
From out of the open window gaps in the sides of the pod, the ground could be seen dropping away as they ascended through a sort of open-air shaft made by the Grove's broad sloping paths and thoroughfares--a network of natural "roads" that spiraled from its lowest levels, where they'd first arrived, up towards the commons.
The sky was more clearly visible here, along with the lowest branches of the Pale Tree, which bent down in a graceful spiral of pinkish-white leaves from above. What was most striking though, was that unlike the quiet serenity of the lower levels, up here the Dream was positively bustling with activity.
Even before the seed pod landed and the door swung open to deposit them on the ground, the rush of sound and life began to reach them. And here, for the first time, were many of those translucent green ghost-like sylvari that Aurus had told Charles to expect--the as-yet-unawoken saplings for whom the Dream was their whole world. They walked among others who appeared as solid and real as Aurus and Charles did, and not just other sylvari either.
The whole scene was like a tableau of little skits being acted out by all the races of Tyria. A group of soldiers battled a line of undead here, an asura tinkered with a golem that malfunctioned again and again over there. Everywhere a person looked there was something new to see, and amidst it all were sylvari walking or sitting together, talking, watching the scenes play out, all seemingly perfectly at home in this great bazaar of sights.