Time flows past oddly in the library, as Envoy stands before the large flat face of a crystal; she feels no sense of impatience or irritation at the time which lapses before the response – nor any real sense of how much time passes – it seems like seconds, yet could be hours. At length, the voice in her ansible responds. Barada is a fickle goddess: at times she values highest the most trivial secrets of a poor man's child – simply because they are new, and hers. The deepest secrets of gods and the universe she cherishes at different times, for different reasons. Do you wish the secret she values most at this moment, or would you like to clarify your query in a different fashion?

Envoy thinks on this for a moment, then asks, "What is her most valued secret at this moment?"

She knows the nature of this realm.

The Aeolun blinks a few times at that. "Earlier, you told me that while all of the Sisters are about equal in their abilities, Inala was now the most powerful. What has changed for her to cause this?"

You have progressed far in her challenge. The screen plays scenes while the voice speaks in her mind, showingEnvoy's game with the Mystic, only in this version the forms they invoke with words float around them, semi-embodied. Then the Hall of Mirrors, the game of riddles, the roller-coaster ride, and the flight of the Drokars, are all similarly invoked. Your success brings her power.

Envoy strokes her chin for a moment. "That is what the Mystic meant. What is the nature of this extra power?"

Silence, again, fills the room before the crystal responds. She has more followers than the others, and greater ability to manipulate them to do her bidding. She has more influence over people who are not her own, as well, and more ability to shape the world beyond her realm according to her will.

"She is becoming more real, you mean?" Envoy asks. "Is she less dependent now on the power of Morpheus to maintain her realm?"

A long pause, then, Yes.

Envoy decides to go for a bigger question next, asking, "For what purpose did the Babelite Dream Mages create the realm of the Seven Sisters?"

For power.

"Could you be more specific?" Envoy asks. "Do the Mages control the Sisters, and thus hope to control their followers?"

The mages seek to control the Sisters, and hope to control their powers and their followers through them, yes. A shadowy circle of mages – mostly cloaked Eeee – are reflected in the crystal, chanting and moving their hands and bodies in the patterns of a ritual spell of staggering complexity.

Envoy hmms. "If they knew about this, could the Sisters resist being controlled?"

Perhaps. The spell is not yet played out. The end result remains undetermined. The scene of the mages continues to play on the crystal. A central figure lifts his hand before an altar at the center of the circle, and slashes his wrist, letting fresh blood splatter onto the surface stained rusty-brown by dried ichor.

"Where must the ritual … sacrifice … be made in order to complete the spell?" Envoy asks, the sound of disdain creeping into her voice.

The ritual will be completed in this realm, comes the calm reply.

Envoy frowns, and asks, "Who is to be the sacrifice?" She fears that she may already know the answer.

That is not yet determined.

A bit more relieved now, Envoy asks, "Will Inala try to keep me here in her realm, or would she allow me to visit the other Sisters?"

On the crystal screen, the blood flowing from the mage's wrist has slowed to a few drops, and the Eeee rises carefully from his crouch before the altar, pressing a cloth to the wound to stop the drops. At Envoy's next query, the image fades away. Inala will allow you to visit Her Sisters, though She wishes you to remain in Her realm. The scene now plays over the delights of Paradise, an elaborate and almost indecipherable montage of different images, each beautiful and desirable in its own way.

Envoy watches the images without showing much interest, and after a few moments asks, "Will the Olympian deities see the rise of the Sisters as a threat to themselves?"

The reply comes quickly. Yes.

The Aeolun sits back to reflect on this, and takes a moment to see if her draconian escort is still nearby.

Seeker stands, almost statue-still, beside her, watching the screen and her face. When she looks at her, he offers a hesitant smile. "I didn't want to interrupt you," he whispers, as if still worried about disturbing her, or the other immersed guests.

Envoy smiles warmly, and asks him, "I'm surprised you aren't exploring more on your own … surely you must find my research less than stimulating?"

He offers a bashful smile. "I can't quite figure out what it is that you're learning – I must be missing parts of what you're being shown. It's tempting to go look on my own … but it was like a puzzle, watching you. I wanted to put the pieces together, not just walk away."

"I don't suppose you are a spy then, are you?" Envoy asks with an amused smile.

He looks momentarily confused. "A spy? I didn't think I was … I'm sorry, would you like me to leave?" His equine-like ears have flattened to the sides in embarrassment.

Envoy cocks her head, and apologizes, "Forgive me, I sometimes can be just as paranoid as I am curious. And I can't help but wonder why you have stayed with me all this time, when a world of selfish pleasures surrounds you?"

Seeker tilts his head to one side, as if considering the idea for the first time. "I don't know. It seems to me it'll all still be here when I look for it … and I'm not so sure that you will be." His smile holds hints of self-deprecation and sheepishness.

Envoy tries not to look too confused, and briefly considers asking the screen about Seeker's motives … but that would probably just embarrass the man. "True enough, I suppose," Envoy says, and turns back to the library screen, which she asks, "If I meet with Inala, will that eliminate her remaining ties to Morpheus, or must she relinquish those herself?"

Neither, the screen replies. But it is possible that your encounter with Inala could help Morpheus be free again.

Leaning forward now, Envoy asks, "What must I do to gain her audience?"

You must make her desire your company. You may do this by completing her challenge, the screen answers.

Envoy frowns slightly at the screen, and finally asks, "What is her challenge, exactly? I'm a bit new to all of this pleasure business."

The path you have walked through this realm is her challenge. The games you have won have moved you forward, closer to her light and power. It shows the scenes of her at the carnival and in the park again, but this time each is superimposed over a path up a mountainside. It finishes with a scene of her in the library, and the scene is placed near the summit, with an ethereally beautiful Eeee at the top of the mountain.

"The challenge is the Library then, and not … for instance … Seeker?" Envoy asks, just in case there is a trick to this particular game.

It can be the Library, yes.

Envoy blinks a few times, and then turns to ask Seeker, "How can a Library be a challenge?"

The man looks startled as well. "I … I'm not sure. Maybe a challenge to read every book?" he asks, a daunted note creeping into his voice as he looks at the rows upon rows of volumes all around them.

"That's not much of a challenge though," Envoy says, more to herself now than to Seeker. "Logically, there is a limit to the amount of information here, since it can only have come from the minds of the Mages, Inala's followers, and possibly Morpheus."

Envoy turns back to the screen and asks it, "Is the challenge to absorb all of the information the Library has to offer?"

"Is that really limited?" Seeker asks thoughtfully. "Even a fraction of infinity is still infinite." Meanwhile, the screen replies to Envoy, "Part of the challenge is that you must resolve it on your own. If I tell you what to do, then you will not have arrived at your own solution – and hence, it will no longer be a solution."

The Aeolun thinks more upon the problem. There must be something she wants to find, something purely selfish preferably. She just has to think of it. "Seeker?" she asks, "What do I seem to be most lacking in, from your perspective?"

The draconian figure blinks. "That's … um … I don't know." He rubs the side of his muzzle. "I haven't known you very long. I'd hardly think I was in a position to tell. But … if you really want my impression… "

Envoy nods, and smiles encouragingly.

"Joy," he says at the prompting. "Or maybe just … emotion. You said that you feared temptation because it could make you lose control. But being in control seems like something you should want as a means to an end – for a purpose. Not an end in itself. Well. To me, anyway." He shrugs diffidently, looking embarrassed again.

The Aeolun nods again. "Yes, that's fairly true. My Child aspect can feel it, and I also feel something like it when I sing or work with magic. But I didn't want to risk the Child in a place like this. None of these paths seem appropriate for her. I don't have the biology for proper emotions either, so there's nothing to prevent me from feeling all of them at the same time if I didn't force some sort of control onto them."

"This is Inala's Paradise," he says, his voice quiet. "You can be whatever you want to be here. You ought to be able to be in control and still feel – whatever you like. Here. Isn't that part of choosing what you want?"

Envoy thinks about this. "Isn't it cheating, though? Why would I want to do something that I can only experience here? I don't want to be dependent on this realm."

He chuckles. "Would it be cheating to fly outdoors just because you can't do it in a cave?" Seeker smiles. "Maybe that's a bad example, because perhaps you are dependent on the outdoors. But it seems to me that if you can only do it here, that's even more reason to do it. If it's something you could live without before you tried it, you ought to be able to live without it afterwards, too. And if you can't … then maybe that makes it even more important to try."

"But I don't know what to try in the first place," Envoy says, trying not to get frustrated. "Pleasure is just a sensation to me; it doesn't mean anything. It's no different than feeling wet. It doesn't serve as positive reinforcement, because there's nothing for it to reinforce in me. How can I seek out something that I don't really care about?"

"What do you really care about?" Seeker asks.

Envoy blinks, and says, "I care about my friends, and I care about living up to my potential. And I care about Morpheus, especially."

The dragon-like man smiles. "Okay, that's a good start," he says, his voice warm with encouragement. "Why do you care about your friends?"

Envoy just stares unfocused for a moment as she thinks about that. Finally she says, "I don't know. I never thought there had to be a reason. It was just something that grew out of the relationship, but wasn't really tied to how they felt about me."

His smile widens for a moment, then his expression sobers. "Do you like caring about them? Does it feel good to be with your friends, or to help them?"

Envoy nods. "Yes, of course it does."

Seeker's earlier smile returns. "Then that's one of your pleasures. It's not just a sensation to you, is it? It's something that matters."

"But that's not why I do it, though," Envoy says, looking a bit confused. "All the pleasures I've seen presented in Paradise seem to be self-indulgent ones, where the whole point was to feel good."

His head tilts to one side, considering again. "Maybe that's just because the self-indulgent ones are the easiest to present. The complex pleasures are hard to show at a glance … and you didn't look very closely, did you?"

"No, I didn't," Envoy admits. "I just saw them all as potential traps, really. My only goal here is to help Morpheus."

Her response prompts a nod from Seeker. He puts one hand to his mouth, resting the backs of his knuckles there for a moment while he thinks. "If that's something which brings you pleasure, it can't be out of place in Inala's realm," he muses. "What else did you say you cared about? Living up to your potential?"

Again, Envoy just nods. "Isn't that the goal of all thinking beings?"

"No," Seeker rests his chin against the palm of his hand for a moment, his tone reflective, "I don't think it is. But if it's something which brings you pleasure, then it's also important, here. Is winning part of living up to your full potential?"

"Not always," Envoy says. "Sometimes there is value in losing, since making mistakes is the key to learning."

He rubs the sides of his head, mussing his mane, then reaches back with both hands to fluff the long hair back and out, away from his face. "I'm not sure what you need to do next," he admits. "I'm not sure that it'd work even if I told you. Didn't the Library say that you have to come to your own solution?"

Envoy nods, and says, "Yes … but it also seemed to hint that I had to define or discover the challenge as well. It needs to be something that draws Inala's interest too, as well as being enjoyable to me. But to be enjoyable to me, it needs to benefit others also."

"Do you think people here would enjoy my singing, perhaps?" Envoy asks, adding, "But not here in the Library."

Seeker's easy smile returns to his face. "I don't know. I've never heard you sing."

"Do they like singing in general though?" she asks. "I've seen dances and other activities where everyone participates, but nothing like a concert, where the person just reacts."

He nods. "Oh, yes, certainly. Lots of people enjoy music and singing - there was a quartet of musicians in the courtyard, even. I'll bet some of the people in here are listening to music, too, even if it's being played only for them."

Envoy hmmms. "I can offer music they've never heard before, something very unique and exotic. Would that be enough to get peoples' attention?"

A shrug. "Only one way to find out," he says reasonably.

The Aeolun closes her eyes, and alters her robes into the gauzy blue costume she wore as a circus performer, figuring it might help draw more of an audience. Opening her eyes again, she smiles to Seeker and says, "Let's go back to the courtyard; that seems to be the best area for this sort of thing. Maybe can I get people to come out of the other archways if I'm loud enough."