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."The thirst for power takes many forms," Teldin paraphrased cautiously.As do the uses of power, Estriss observed, fixing a white-eyed stare upon Teldin.The mental voice held a quiet intensity.It was obvious that Estriss wanted to open a new line of discussion.Teldin made a note to come back to the topic later, but he still had questions of his own to cover."You did not want me to give the cloak to the arcane T'k'pek," he remembered."Why not?"Estriss snorted, an odd hissing sound that sent his tentacles billowing upward in the most eloquent gesture of scorn Teldin had ever seen.I doubt T'k'pek would have made good use of the cloak.The arcane are merchants.Any one of them would love to have the Spelljammer as a base of operations or, more to the point, as a source of new technology.The reigar, from whom most of the arcane technology supposedly originated, have become so scarce as to be unreliable sources."The reigar?" Teldin echoed, his interest piqued.He had often wondered about the beautiful creature who had given him the cloak.For once he was grateful for the philosophical illithid's tendency to be sidetracked."The arcane inventions came from the reigar?" he repeated.It depends on whom you ask, Estriss said, his silent voice dry with sarcasm.Reigar creativity and inventiveness are legendary.They've been credited with such diverse creations as helots and helmsplicers.Neither of the terms were familiar to Teldin, but he nodded sagely in an effort to keep Estriss from defining those terms.The reigar have no patience for repetition.The arcane, on the other hand, are eager to manufacture the more marketable reigar inventions.As we have discussed before, the arcane are highly secretive, and they habitually deny that they maintain any connection with the reigar.Those few travelers who have encountered an esthetic-a reigar spell-jamming ship-invariably report that the vessel is crewed by arcane.Of course, the arcane on these esthetics always insist that they are chance-met passengers.The illithid punctuated the anecdote with an oddly snide little wriggle of his tentacles.Teldin acknowledged the illithid's humor with an absent smile.As he sifted through the explanation, a new thought began to form in his mind, one appallingly simple and direct."Is it possible that the reigar woman-Hemar, was it?-was referring to her own people, the reigar, when she told me to take the cloak to the creators?"I suppose that is possible, Estriss said slowly.One tentacle quirked as he considered the matter.I have not heard that the reigar refer to themselves in that manner, but it would be like them.They are not known for their modesty.Teldin pounded his cot with a balled fist."Why didn't you tell me all this before?" he blurted out, more exasperated with himself than with Estriss.Too much time and too many lives had been spent in his searching for the mysterious "creators" to learn now that he'd missed the most obvious path.The possibility didn't occur to me, Estriss admitted.His mental voice echoed Teldin's consternation.Perhaps it should have, but, as Aelfred Silverhorn often told me, my conclusions were sifted through my personal bias.Perhaps my search for the Juna blinded me to other possibilities for your quest.In all honesty, however, I don't think that this information on the reigar would have done you much good."Why not?"The illithid threw up his hands, and the movement of his tentacles reflected his exasperation.Have you any idea how difficult it is to meet a reigar? You could search through three human lifetimes without encountering a single one, and even if you should find one, be would be unlikely to grant an audience to a human.Why? the illithid added pointedly, noting Teldin's open mouth and anticipating his question.The reigar are completely absorbed in their pursuit of art, and they define everything by its potential contribution to reigar art.These are beings who have little regard for the artistic ability of elves and who openly disdain the crafting skills of dwarfs.You can imagine what they think of humans.I mean no offense, Estriss hastily added."None taken," Teldin murmured distractedly."Please go on."This determination to push the horizons of art for art's sake ultimately explains the rare occurrence of reigar.Simply put, they went a bit too far."A bit too-"They blew up their homeworld, Estriss interrupted bluntly.And that is another issue [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]