Aysus watches the wild antics of its partner with a strange mixture of amusement, concern, and frustration. The amusement was easy for it to explain to itself. Even Tahaan would not deny that its antics were wild, rather uncontrolled, and made from a completely innocent kind of joy that made Aysus’ reserved, scientific explorations seem cold and distant. The concern, too, was easy for it to understand. Neither of them knew anything about this new world, and Tahaan’s wanton exploration had already led it into situations that made it uncomfortable more than once. Undoubtedly it would do so again, but as the universe in which they dwelt became more and more complicated, the disastrous effects could be much greater. Those two emotions were obvious and easy.

The frustration, though, was not directed to the outside world or its partner, but rather towards Aysus itself. It watched its partner in play and consciously understood what it was doing, the way it was experiencing the universe, and it could see the joy practically emanating from its partner. This exploration brought Tahaan such great joy that the being could hardly contain itself most of the time. But Aysus’ clinical explorations and studies had never brought it that kind of joy. It found peace and happiness in a complete understanding of the universe, but in that moment Aysus wondered whether it would ever know the staggering joy of its partner, or if that, too, was another thing beyond its reach.

There had never before been something that Aysus was not capable of doing. Now there was something; Aysus could not change itself, and that was the source of the frustration.

Aysus was so lost in thought that it did not notice the large pieces of matter flying its way until they were almost right on top of it. Surprised, it surged backwards and managed to dodge almost all of the pieces, but a couple of the pieces of matter collided with it, and were folded gently into its ribbons of energy. Unconsciously Aysus brought them together, and began to shape them. Unlike Tahaan’s unreserved stuffing of parts together Aysus sculpted carefully and delicately, shaving away pieces with a gentle touch before guiding them to a new part of the lump of matter. 

The thing that finally emerged was very different from the thing that had gone in. It was not anything except a lump of matter, but somehow it managed to recall Aysus’ own graceful, consistent nature. The weave was not different, but it had been pulled and pushed gently, and guided into a different form of alignment. The positive and negative energy naturally incorporated within it had been aligned cleanly. It was a large piece that was completely stable, the smaller pieces of matter that made it up not forced together, but willingly lining up. Unlike many of the other large pieces that might scatter apart at the faintest prompting, this matter appeared to want to stay together.

Aysus studied this thing, before pushing it away from itself and towards it partner. [i]~That can be yours, if you want it.~[/i]