My payment of information will be as you wish. What are those problems?

We have a biological reaction to the seasons as experienced on our planet, and the state we fall into without it is unpleasant to stay in for very long.

Interesting. Many species have reactions to the seasons. Draak often hibernate in the winter and the time of mating is in autumn when it comes, which is not every year.

Ours is every year, in spring, and if there aren't clear signals of other seasons, we get stuck in biological spring.

Amseli, student of greetings. Were the prime numbers your idea? They were the only thing I could make sense of at first. It was alarming to have been spotted so quickly.

They weren't my idea; they're an old, common guess for what would be helpful to establish to aliens that we're intelligent. Other people may have been trying other things on the assumption that someone would have prime numbers covered.

I came here because it seemed easiest to communicate with one who thought beautifully certain and concrete numbers were the first thing to send. A less wise and patient and curious kin might have fled four times by now.

Four times?

Once at the radio noise and having been seen quickly. Once when I saw that you have replaced much of nature with cities. Once when you physically resembled the Humans. Once when it became clear you seek more worlds.

I'm sorry if we've been presenting ourselves alarmingly. We didn't have a way to know what kinds of postures would be inviting.

I am still here and still talking to you. Most other Draak would probably handle this worse. We don't have diplomats. The closest I have seen to that is animals convinced to carry messages between kin using the song.

That's interesting, you can use animals as telepathic relays?

Not quite. We can communicate with animals and get simple ideas across. They will serve us in exchange for food or protection or other things, sometimes, and some can remember messages that they cannot understand. It is polite to either leave or send a Herald into another's territory instead of going in to find them, if they don't come meet you when you call.

We used to use animals to carry written messages, though without the ability to communicate telepathically with the animals this involved domesticating and training them.

He tilts his head. I would find it interesting to meet such an animal, but that is far from urgent. I would like you to try to explain countries again.

There are still some of them around, mostly as pets and history demos. Ah, the island you're near is called Shi Alassei. It's a country, but it's in a subordinate relationship to a larger country, Tapa, which protects it and can override it on some policy matters. So in some ways they differ - for example, Shi Alassei prints official announcements in both their own language and in Tapap, but Tapa only uses Tapap. But in others they're acting as a unit - someone who attacked Shi Alassei would have to deal with the entire Tapai military, not just Shi Alassei's own, and Shi Alassei's greys enter that same military.

Subordinating to another who is mightier and agreeing to defend each other makes sense, but Tapa is not a person. Tapa is not a hive of eusocial insects, or a mob who listens to the wisdom of en elder, or even a wolf pack... I think my confusion is on the level of - how do countries function, how do they decide what to do, what do they, in fact, do?

...All of the people in a country - well, most countries, including Tapa - can cast votes to decide who they want to make decisions for the whole country. Then those decisionmakers make and enforce laws over the whole population, negotiate with neighboring countries, and coordinate projects for public good like train systems and healthcare and plumbing.

That makes some amount of sense. Draak do not have countries. We do have Grand Moots where elders discuss, decide, and then sing the new law to all Draak. Going against the decision of a Grand Moot means violence against you is no longer against tradition, so those who defy the new laws usually die. They are rare, irregular, called in times of crisis or change.

What kinds of laws have the elders made? Who counts as an elder - everyone above some age? Is anyone particularly supposed to kill Draak who violate the laws, or do most simply have enough enemies who are eager to do it as soon as it's not forbidden?

You are an elder if you declare yourself one and pass the tests issued by the other elders. Any kin less than a century or two old would probably die in such tests unless they were extraordinarily powerful or lucky. Currently, there are four elders. I am one. The others' short titles are Darktooth the Wise, Guardian of the Great Green, and Architect of Vaults. Usually there are enough who desire your territory or treasure that defying a new law will lead to your death soon enough. Once, Darktooth, the Guardian, and I decided we must personally slay someone who was doing dangerous experiments and refused to stop. We succeeded.

What are the tests?

They vary. Personal combat, ordeals of endurance or skill, elaborate riddles, and intellectual challenges are all popular.

It is not so much a matter of greater age making a kin less likely to die - though that is true - but of a younger Draak with fewer achievements and treasure being seen as more impudent and having more to prove if they wish to be an elder. I would fight a young challenger who I had barely heard of with all my cunning weapons, but someone with plenty of experience I would give a complicated problem to solve and see how they handled it. To discourage those who have not proven themselves from wasting our time.

Treasure keeps coming up, I notice.

Treasure is the most important thing, second only to preserving your own life. Accumulating treasure is intrinsically pleasing and losing it is deeply unpleasant, especially loss through anything else than a fair challenge. If you do not feel like you have enough treasure, you feel unworthy to exist and everything else in life is less pleasant, even primal pleasures like eating or sleeping or flying or swimming.