"A 'complaint?'" Mericlou said, not understanding.

"It's something that comes from thinking about the sameness of things." Aldrec said, explaining further. They came to one of the bridges overlooking the Selisna River, and had made a brief stop there. Aldrec leaned heavily against the marble railing.

"Mericlou, I want to tell you something," said, staring at the sun's reflection that glistened in the Selisna's shimmering water. "This world may look ever changing to young eyes such as yours, but when you get to be older, you'll find out that it really doesn't change. Oh, there is a factor of chaos; that's true. Celebrations, disasters, deaths, births … events of all kinds will occur, but the underlying current: the pulse of day to day life never changes, never ends."

His voice choked as he came to a close, his last words coming out with a sobriety that bordered on melancholy.

"And there are times when its droning may be enough to drive you mad."

Mericlou said nothing, only stared with wide eyes.

"Fortunately, it's never gone that far with me," Aldrec said, his demeanor brightening, as if to assuage the mood cast by his words. "Still, it does cause me to be depressed at times."

"Why are you telling me this?" Mericlou asked, appalled. "That's something too terrible to even think about!"

Aldrec smiled gently. "Two reasons," he said. "First is that even though you, being an android, can assimilate data in seconds from the Orb Network or ether files, you'll learn that there's no better teacher than experience. You'll live much longer than any human, or even elf, perhaps even forever, with good maintenance … so you may live to see a day when what I said will happen; I'm just giving you fair warning."

He turned back towards the river, passively watching the paddleboats float lazily underneath the bridge.

"You … said that there were two reasons," Mericlou said, still shaken by his story, but more curious than afraid. "What about the other one?"

"Because you asked me," he answered pleasantly, giving her a sideways glance. "You did want to know about my dreams, right?"

"Um, yes, I did, didn't I?" Mericlou said in a small voice, nervously twirling the pink rose in her hands. "I guess I had to be prepared for nightmares as well. I suppose then, that it's a blessing that I can't dream."

"Can't dream?" Aldrec repeated, cocking his eyebrow "Yes," Mericlou said. "I'm an android. We're incapable of dreaming; none of us can. We've often wondered what it's like, but there's no way that we can ever really know. Our brains aren't like yours."




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