Elven Roses

Aldrec laughed: not the loud, human-like laugh from earlier, but a familiar, more-amused-than-tickled elven laugh. "By the Divine!" He said merrily, shaking his head in disbelief. "What lies are told to you by your creators!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mericlou said, confused, and slightly offended at the implication.

"You have a soul," Aldrec said, a tittering edge still upon his voice. "All androids of your make and intelligence have one."

"How do you know this?" Mericlou said.

"Because I'm an elf," Aldrec replied, matter-of-factly. "I can feel the presence of a soul. All elves can. I admit that I don't know as much about androids as I should, but I remember reading something a few years ago about levels of classifying an android's sentience. If memory serves, it is said that androids of level-4 consciousness and above are basically the same as humans in the way that they think and feel. Am I right?"

Mericlou nodded.

"Your creators didn't realize just how deep that intelligence goes, but because we elves can sense the presence of life, it shines to us, like a beacon. And you, as well as any other android of that class or higher, shine very brightly."

His voice had lowered to a whisper; the tone in which he spoke was something that Mericlou had found to be almost sensuous. And it showed in the crimson that her artificial blood had once again turned the color her otherwise pale white face.

"I'm … flattered," she finally said, distractedly rubbing the goose bumps that had appeared on the back of her neck. "But that still doesn't explain how you say that I can dream."

"Because every being that has a soul has the ability to dream," Aldrec waved his right hand across the breadth of Lusea. It's the source of our drive to go beyond the confines of our being. It's what makes all intelligent beings what they are: the common bond that elves, humans, dragons … and yes, even androids, share. But you, Mericlou … you, as well as all androids of your class, are a unique form of life: born in your present state, and with all the knowledge needed to function in society. In essence, you never needed to learn how to understand life, and to live it for yourself. And it is because of this that your mind has never learned to be creative all of the time, or to be imaginative for itself. Therefore, I believe that dreaming is something you have to learn to do."