nine ✤ text

[lingeringhope]

You may have noticed some abnormal behavior regarding the Door. Normally it doesn't bring in anything so large, and we did not expect it to do so this time. Delight and I have been attempting to alter the Door to send you home, as you have so often requested, but as I have said again and again, we have very little knowledge in this area. We will try again.

My appreciation for those who slew the dragons. We did not intend on their arrival, and I would be willing to grant you a favor in return for your efforts - if it's within my power, and not too foolish.

Comments

[text]

[thirdreturned]

Yes, that sounds about right.

I think he has, insomuch as I can understand his goals. Fear is a complicated creature, but the desire for more power is not a difficult concept to understand.

[text]

[verinumeri]

Does it remain a futile line of questioning to inquire as to the specifics of what lead to that year of those two alone?

In that, your people and mine are very much alike.

[text]

[thirdreturned]

Yes. The rest of us and our previous hosts died. There is little else to be said about it at this time.

Why do your people desire power?

[text]

[verinumeri]

'At this time'. I worry that when it is timely, it will be because the threat, or whatever did it, has been renewed.

Different reasons of the sort I haven't cared to speculate. I could leave it at, 'the desire for more power is not a difficult concept to understand', but I'll oblige.

It tends in my time to get political, and I haven't the taste for that. Though I may not be so above it, if one believes 'knowledge is power' and other truisms. They seek influence (we are social creatures whose survival often depended on cooperation, given individual weakness), sometimes to stay alive, and security. It may begin as the belief that they can better lead, better help, have greater wisdom. It may simply be ego and enjoying control over others, as well as the material and other benefits that come of it. It may be the desire for autonomy, relative freedom (though one might expect resultant constraining pressures and obligations with power), rules set by only themselves. We have plenty of tales of corrupted rulers succumbing to that desire. Not so many of the 'good' sort, though 'good' is dependent on cultural contexts.

Why do your people desire power?

[text]

[thirdreturned]

I won't lie about that possibility. But at this point there is nothing you can do, and informing you of the details would likely generate emotions that would not be beneficial to us, and so we proceed in the manner of our choosing.

We desire power to assist, survive, and multiply. I'd like to say that our reasons are as complex as your species, but they are not. We are, as a race, fundamentally codependent and so our desires fall in line with those who we oversee. In my case, that would be you and my companions. We generally do not seek power over one another unless we have differing viewpoints on how our power should be utilized- and even then, there is typically a hierarchy. As the eldest, I would hesitate to accept the title of 'leader', but I serve as a guide and strategist to the others, and so I mediate these conflicts as well as I am able.