Greyashe chapter 293 is entitled 'Departure'.

Previous chapter 292: Don't have any fun, okay?

Next chapter 294: Encounter.

Summaries page.

-Short summary-

The envoy for the expedition leaves the safety of the skies and ventures into the unknown.

-Long summary-

Not long after Ambriel makes her way home from the debriefing does Sadariel catch up with her and with a grin comment on how long and boring the whole ordeal was. Ambriel nods and smiles out of habit as she does when she's nervous or unsure of something. She's still unsure how to read Sadariel, who seems to be making a lot of effort to get close to her. Since it's not like they've really ever talked before this moment, it's hard for her to understand why he'd be behaving this way. Sadariel asks Ambriel if she's going to go straight home, and she starts to say yes, but stops herself and instead asks why he'd like to know? Sadariel quickly picks up on her skepticism, and waves his hands in protest. He's not trying to start anything! He just figures that they should get to know each other since they're gonna be going down to the mysterious archipelago together.

Ambriel blinks, and Sadariel grins excitably, saying that the name 'Mysterious Archipelago' is one he came up with himself. The choir hadn't really come up with anything specific to call the lands below, so he had taken it upon himself to name them. He asks if she likes the name, and for a few uncomfortable moments things are silent. Ambriel finally says that she thinks it's 'mysterious' sounding out of a sense of pity and obligation, and Sadariel either doesn't notice or care, as he excitably bubbles that he knew she'd like it. He thinks it's awesome that she volunteered to go down to the Archipelago, since it prompted the choir to consider the he and the other angels to go. Ambriel asks if he's truly happy to go down to what could be a hostile place, and he with a laugh replies that this is his dream.  He wants to do something that he can brag to everyone about for years to come. Ambriel finds herself nodding in agreement, her earlier apprehensions melting away.  For the first time, someone had expressed having the same 'whim' she had, and wants more than the life that would be dolled out if they should instead stay in the skies.

The two begin to walk together, and Ambriel explains her need to 'matter' in the scheme of things. Sadariel agrees wholeheartedly, and proclaims that this will be their chance to make their dreams come true. Maybe it is the 'choir' that is giving them the 'chance', but once down there they'll be able to decide what to do for themselves. Venturing into the unknown is scary, but what is scarier than that is to be forgotten, right? Despite herself, Ambriel nods happy to have found a kindered spirit among the convoy. Sadariel suddenly dashes forward, only stopping to tell Ambriel that he has business to attend to, and he'll see her on the convoy. He then gives the young angel a thumbs up which is a gesture unheard of in the land of the angels. Ambriel quizzically stares back, and then responds in kind, although she's not sure of exactly why she's doing so, and what she's doing.

Upon returning home, the angel is greeted by one of the Choir members who has apparently stopped in to talk to her parents again. The group of adults glances up at her arrival, her parents keeping their eyes on their daughter for an uncomfortable amount of time. Ambriel bristles, figuring that the whole game might be up as they may have started thinking about what their daughter is going to do and have come to forbid it. To her surprise, they both smile and ask her to come and sit in on their discussion. Ambriel is taken aback for probably the sixth time today, and does as her parents ask. Ambriel's father had always been interested in the matters of Dio and his choir, so one of the members stopping by their house frequently is almost a dream come true for him. They had been talking about the likelihood of life down below, and the further possibility that they who reside below also know of them who reside above. If this is the case, it would be interesting to think that perhaps they are planning a convoy to see the angels? The possibilities are endless!

Ambriel's mother is following along with the two men and asks her daughter if she finds this interesting too? Ambriel nods with her trademark awkward smile. She doesn't really understand the details, but she is overjoyed that her parents don't seem to be changing their mind on letting her go. The choir member turns to the angel and hands a package to her revealing this was his true reason to visit and that the conversation had been so involving that he had almost forgotten. Ambriel thanks him and goes to her room to leave the adults to their hypothesizing and theorizing.

The little angel sits on the floor of her room, and looks down at the package before her. Although she's happy that she won't be told not to go, she's a little down that her parents don't seem to be making any sort of fuss about this. Yes, yes, it is a bit hypocritical, but feelings never seem to make sense at the time one feels them. In any case, Ambriel opens the package and pulls the contents out, which seems to be clothes and a small book. The clothes are different variations of angelic tunics, all with the signal of a hand apparently guiding something into (or out of) the heavens; aka the visage of the choir. Ambriel makes a face, as while she's not a fashionista by any means, as a young woman she does have some standards fashion wise. Considering her options are limited in this case however, she decides to make do. Turning to the book, she opens it up and thumbs through the pages for a moment realizing that they are all blank save for the first few pages. These in turn have specific rules and stipulations for the convoy itself, and dealing with any foreign 'life' that they find down below. More specifically, how the convoy should first 'address' the foreigners when they encounter them. The angel muses at this, the irony of it's simplicity and audaciousness. For one thing, aren't THEY the foreigners? For another, are they even sure the ones down below will even be able to understand them?

Ambriel realizes that the others may in fact not be aware of these issues. In fact she's probably not supposed to be aware of these things. Thinking back to the conversation she had with Dio, maybe that's why he seemed so incredulous about her ambitions...? Why when the other angels were more than happy to simply live as the generation before them did had she been born differently, to think differently? It had caused her no end of grief when she tried to convey this thought to her friends, and perhaps even the ones on this envoy think of it as simply following the calling of Deus and his choir. So why do such thoughts plague her, and only her? Suddenly an image of Sadariel flashes into her consciousness, and she has the urge to talk to him. Does he have these thoughts too? If only she had asked him when they left the briefing...

The day after passes with nothing remarkable happening. Ambriel busied herself with saying goodbye to friends, and spending time with her parents. It all feels reasonably unreal to her, though not enough for it to be 'normal'. Worst of all, she's not able to find Sadariel throughout the day, despite yearning to talk to him again. She resigns herself to at least finding a moment to have a few words with him the next day before they leave, but as soon as she arrives at the choir's meeting hall, the envoy is gathered together and the choir members reveal they want to have an impromptu sendoff ceremony in pure angelic fashion. Ambriel sighs and inwardly rolls her eyes, as she figured this would happen, it was just when. The choir had probably been so excited about the possible findings, and in such a rush to have the group go down that they had only thought of this at the last moment. Regardless of how she feels though, she has no choice but to go along with their ceremony.

It surprisingly doesn't take long for a few angels to become a group, and finally a rally. Dio reluctantly comes and says a few words (key word, few) about how proud he is to be the Deus in charge of this expedition, and how exceptional the group of youths who volunteered are. The aforementioned volunteers stand at Dio's side as he lectures, the two rivals in the middle, with Ambriel and Sadariel on the ends. The little angel curses her luck, and hopes she'll have a chance to talk to him once things have calmed down.  After Dio's very few words have been said, the group is ushered to the end of a cloud bank where they will decend down to the world below. A member of the choir explains that the outfits they wear also work as a rerouting of power to their wings, so they should concentrate on slowing their decent once they've reached the ground. The group acknowledges this, and in brilliant arrays of light activate their 'wings' which only appear when the angels deem them necessary. Ambriel takes this chance to get close to Sadariel and whisper to him that she wants to talk to him once they've arrived. He nods and then offers his hand to her, saying decent might be easier if they are together. Ambriel nods and takes his hand just as the two others walk forward and jump down. Tightening their hold on each other, Ambriel and Sadariel look at each other for a moment, and wordlessly take the plunge.