:Huh. I...never really thought about whether I'd like being a King, if - if fixing problems wasn't a worry - I did think before that probably being King isn't the best thing to do anyway, for that, Kings have to spend all this time in meetings and parades and giving speeches, it'd be better to be - I don't know, an advisor who has time to read all the treatises in the world on ways of running countries, and think about it a lot and give advice. And I dunno if that'd be fun - I guess it'd be interesting but that's not the point. Why do you think you'd like being Queen?: 

:Well, if I read all the treatises in the world on ways of running countries and gave advice and then the monarch was like 'actually nah I will do this other thing instead' I would be pretty annoyed. Also I think it would be delightful to go around wearing a crown and stuff but I think that might just be that this is part of how you pretend to be a queen when you're six years old and I did that a lot:

:Huh: Ma'ar seems very baffled by this, and unsure what else to say. 

:Anyway I think he's being silly and if there's anything to his advice at all it might just not apply to you:

:...Maybe. It does seem important, I guess, to - ask yourself if you're motivated to do a thing for real reasons, because it'll work, or - because it seems good to you personally in some other way...: He frowns for a while, thinking hard. :I - suppose being King seems kind of bad because people try to assassinate Kings more than advisors, so maybe I actually just don't want to be a King because it's scarier - but that's also a strategic reason, right, being assassinated - or having to put a lot of energy into preventing it - means you've got less time to think about fixing problems:

Shrug. :I - don't know how I'd even tell if I wanted to be an advisor more because I'd like it more. I haven't done either one, right: 

:Well, no, you haven't, but can't you - imagine what it'd be like -:

:Maybe?: Ma'ar closes his eyes. Tries to picture it, what little he knows - probably he could learn more from reading books about Kings, or treatises written by their advisors, probably that's good to do anyway for actual strategic reasons... Focus. He's a King - he runs meeting with his council of Lords, he gives speeches in front of crowds at big holidays maybe, he signs declarations, he - approves funding schools after someone else did the thinking for it... Imagine being an advisor - he reads lots of books, he...maybe travels around the Kingdom to talk to people and read their minds no just talk to them, and figure out what's making them unhappy...he meets the King, explains ideas to him, tries to be persuasive if the King is doing something he thinks is wrong and stupid... 

:...I guess being a King seems more - constrained: he says finally. :I think I'd feel less - able to have my own thoughts. I guess maybe that means I'd like being an advisor more? But I don't really know and it - still doesn't seem like the point: 

:Well, no, it's not the point, but it still - matters? Kings are people and it's better that they like what they're doing than not. You're a person and same deal:

:I guess?: Ma'ar still doesn't look like he really follows. :..I mean, it'd be bad if a King hated their job, but - I think I could decide not to hate almost anything, if it were the most important thing to be doing: 

:...okay but also it's good to like things and it's sort of concerning that you don't like things:

He gives her a blank look. :I don't not like things? Studying magic is - something I want to do lots of. I guess I'm not sure what you mean by liking things: 

:What does wanting to do lots of magic-studying feel like?:

He starts to answer, then stops and thinks about it longer. :It's interesting and it feels important, and it's satisfying when I get better at things?: 

:Do you like - flying on Skan, reading about non-magic things like history or whatever, going for walks, having interesting dreams, eating dessert...:

:...I don't know. I don't think I like going on walks for no reason, sometimes I like other things about it maybe, if we're talking or something. I - guess reading about history feels important and interesting so probably I like it? I...like having enough food to eat but I can't tell if I like dessert more than just food in general: 

:Most people... like things. I guess things being interesting is sort of close:

Shrug. Ma'ar still seems puzzled by the entire thread of conversation. 

:- Oh. Is this a Mindhealer thing about - thinking someone's gears should be a certain way, and liking things is part of that?: 

:...it's not about thinking your gears should be a certain way exactly. Like, sometimes gears don't work right, they jam or something, because somebody has a tic or a phobia or a stutter or an obsession or whatever, and not liking stuff isn't like that. It's just that liking things makes people happy and it's better if people are happy or what's even the point of all your important stuff, right, and you're a person:

:Oh. I guess: Ma'ar seems to have genuinely not thought about it from that angle before. :I'm - not unhappy, I don't think? And a lot of people are and they're starving or - being raped by guards because they can't protect themselves - and I...I don't know, just, it feels more important to fix that than whether I'm having a great time in life: 

:But if you don't even know what would make you happy you won't notice if it's cheap and easy sometimes, will you?:

:I guess?: 

:And it's probably better to figure out now when you have lots of spare time than when you are my royal advisor in twenty years:

Ma'ar blinks, seems surprised, then smiles. :Sure, I guess that's true: 

:I'm being silly, I don't have any plans for being a Queen, I think usually you have to marry someone to get that way if you aren't already a princess and I probably don't want to do that:

:Well, we've got lots of time to come up with a plan that isn't silly. ...Uh, how do I - tell, if something makes me happy? What's it like for you?: