After a warm family breakfast I found myself alone with Nanu again. Skye and Nanna had wen off to fix something leaving us in the living room.

I sat on the sofa with Nanu, fiddling with my fingers as I recited the apology in my head.

" I am sorry Nanu" I muttered in a heavy voice, guilt weighing my head own. I stared at my toes to avoid meeting his eyes.

" For what sweets? " Nanu asked casually and I took in a deep breath. He is just like dad when it comes to this. Dad would just purse his lips in a thin line whenever we acted out and we would immediately feel so guilty.

" For talking to you like that and for how I-, how I told you about Ash" I whispered quietly.

" Ariel, I have lived alone for so long and even after I reunited with your grandma I still thought I will die without ever seeing my grandkids. You can speak to me like that a thousand times and I wouldn't even flinch," he spoke patting my head lovingly. I swallowed in embarrassment.

" About Ash, he is colourless too" I whispered softly and looked up at him. He closed his eyes in understanding and released a defeated sigh.

" Yes, I know," he said and I avoided his eyes again. Nanu thinks it is his fault.

" What about you Ariel?" I eyes snapped to him, baffled at his question, and surprised how fast he connected the dots.

I stammered, not knowing what to answer him. He nodded in understanding and leaned back on the sofa not probing me further.

I should tell him. He deserves to know.

I extended my palm to him and let my colours wash out in three distinct strips. Wine red. Electric blue. Pale purple.

I studied his reaction, Nanu's eyes widened and then a soft smile graced his face. He looked up at me, tearing his eyes away from my hand. Moisture outlined his crinkled eyes.

" It is a blessing Ariel" He whispered, I simply folded my hand back. I already know that. I am proud of my colours even when I had to train through sweat and tears to control them I never once cursed my blessing.

No words were spoken as a comforting silence stretched between us. We didn't need words to communicate just feelings and understanding. It was a wonderful feeling, although I have known my Nanu for less than 24 hours but I still felt connected to him.

" Why do you think Ash is colourless?" I voiced a question to him. Mom had told us that Nanu is a PhD in Color Theory.

" I think it is genetic. I am colourless and so is Ash, but I didn't get to research on it." Nanu said regrettably.

" How can it be genetic, colours are not hereditary?" I questioned.

" You are right, we have analyzed pedigree of many families but colours are not like trait inheritance. They are unpredictable and cannot be traced."

" Then"

" But maybe having a colour or lacking it is based on genetics. I am colourless so is Ash.-" Nanu hesitated and I leaned forward urging him to continue. " That is why we are isolated, so that colourlessness doesn't get transmitted into the rest of the population. We came to that accept that long ago"

What he said made sense, Zane is colourless and so is his mother, the siblings from last night were colourless too. But that is it, what about the new ones being brought in, if they have been isolating people here then there should not be any chance for more colourless to be identified.

"Granted that Ash is your grandson and colourless but what about the rest. The ones that are being brought now" I asked with a frown, it doesn't add up. It just seems like a front, a reason to discriminate against colourless. Something they can advertise if anything goes wrong.

That colourlessness is a disease and we have isolated some citizens to protect the rest from getting infected.

The realization felt like ice in my veins. Even if we expose this there is no chance that people will support us. No chance that they will risk their safety and go against the word of the government if they believe that colourlessness is dangerous. Especially with the kind of powers that they have.

Nanu frowned in deep thoughts, he hummed to acknowledge my point.

" And besides Nanu, they are not colourless. They, you just lack the pigment." I said.

" Ah- What? " Nanu stammered and his eyes widened a little. How is it that he didn't know about this, then again maybe he never gave it much thought.

" I met with Zane and a few other colourless today," I said slowly stretching it out, " And they told me, I saw their abilities first hand"

" What kind of abilities?" He breathed out.

" As far as Jerek told me it is basically like having an extra limb or maybe like a force but invisible. Have you ever..."

" I- ah- yes and if what you are saying is true Ariel then" he stopped mid-sentence and abruptly stood up from the sofa.

" Every country has a consistent pallet of colours. Do you know how many colours Azure has?" He asked while walking, I followed after him across the living room.

" Ah, no " I mumbled

" Of course you don't that kind of knowledge is not made public and for good reasons. I had worked for the Central Lab for around two years. In that time my team had found something, the research was always going on we just provided a fresh pair of eyes" He continued to lecture me and I followed after him as he entered a small room pushing the wooden door.

I stepped into the small study, a wooden bookcase occupied the wall and the rest of the space was dominated by an antique-looking study table and chair.

Nanu went straight for the bookcase and began skimming through the books lined on the shelve.

" We were able to calculate" he handed me a couple of books and continued browsing through them, speaking with me at the same time.

" The exact number of colours" He pulled out a hardcover book and walked to his table, sitting in the chair he opened the book.

I placed his books on the table and pushed them to him, leaning on the pile with my elbows as I tried to get a peek.

It was a white paged diary with notes scribbled in blue ink. Nanu flipped to a page and then he hurriedly pulled a draws and fetched his gold-rimmed glasses, placing them on his nose and he concentrated on the small text.

" You see here, there are only about 18 billion shades in our country." He looked up at me and I frowned.

" In the country of 24 billion population?" I asked in clear confusion.

" Substracting the number of children in the age group of below 10 and the old, 85 and above." He looked at me with a penetrating gaze, like a teacher evaluating the IQ of his student.

I shook my head again at him.

" Some people in their 90s lose their colour due to Sttoiuryu Syndrome and the children who have yet not discovered their colour," Nanu explained again. I knew all about that, there are seven other syndromes and diseases but that is not my point here.

" But the older ones, they are going to die and leave a type of-, a type of colour slot for the kids that turn ten. According to the population pyramid, let's assume that out of 13.2 billion children there are say about 4 billion kids in the eligible age pond, about to receive their colour in the same year. But-" I clench my teeth and stepped back in frustration, I can't word what I am trying to say here.

" What you are trying to say is that the death rate should be more or less equal to the rate of children in the eligibility pool, if not higher for there to be a balance" Nanu explained looking at me with a sudden glow of enlightenment.

" Yes," I said in eagerness, putting my hand on the table to confirm his point.

"But we don't have the data to calculate it" I wailed in disappointment.

" There is a computer in the school. The officers are too lazy to file in their work so I do it for them instead. They had a computer installed for it, it may have all the basic information we need" Nanu suggested with a confident smile and I took in a deep breath, nodding at him.

If my doubts are correct then the number of children will exceed the number of death