Role

Chapter 10

"Garnish, with Cherries on Top"

Lyristeon,

I've been thinking about what You said, as well as the three Tenants. You asked
me if I thought I had garnered what I seek, or if I was just now realizing that
I have a way to go. That is a tricky question to answer, but I shall try my
best.

Now, I have left some gaping maws, several, in fact, I would argue. Those I can
and am willing to give examples of. If that's all there is to the earning,
though, I would say that yes, I definitely have garnered what I seek, but I'm
not sure that's all there is to it. The real question is whether it has been
enough of my focus, which I'm not so certain about. Now, there are many times
when chaos is my goal, and I use deception and wisdom to achieve it. I like to
have fun, and to be quite honest, causing chaos, surprising people, and toying
with their emotions is very fun to me. A lot of times, though, I'm trying to
strive for something more, for a few reasons.

One reason is because it's useful to me. It's useful to me to have almost
everyone in the world trust me, even though I'm lying to all of them. It's
useful to me that the leaders of every cabal call upon me for help. I have a
lot of power, a lot more than anyone realizes, and it amuses me quite thoroughly.

Another reason is because I'm trying to accomplish something larger. I'm trying
to breed friendships and trust in order to use people to create some real chaos.
Now, I'll admit, due to a lot of untimely deaths, this isn't getting nearly as
far as I've wanted, but it doesn't mean I've accomplished nothing. Currently,
I'm breeding a lot of distrust in the Empire and causing a schism to form.
Given a few more years, I think I'll start to see some really positive changes
take place within. The fun part is, I'm doing it just because I can. I've been
thinking along these lines for a really long time, though I'm getting old and
don't know how to increase my life expectancy, so I may have to be content with
the Empire.

The final reason is a bit silly, I admit. I've been wanting to get into Your
religion, perhaps even become one of Your representatives, tattooed, as it were,
especially now that I'm old, but I believe I've misunderstood it. One of the
reasons I was trying to do some of these serious things, beyond my own
amusement, is because the smaller, though quite fun, chaotic accomplishments of
mine just haven't felt worthy of Your attentions. True, I've left people with
their maws agape, but I didn't think that'd amuse You, only me. As I said, that
was a foolish mistake, but one I will admit.

So, with that in mind, let me try to answer Your question. I have caused maws
to gape, and I have used deception to do so. I have used wisdom in that,
although I have spread chaos and confusion, toyed with emotions, lied, did
exactly what I said I wouldn't and been caught, and caught people off guard with
actions they would never expect, the people I've affected still don't know who I
am, what I do, or why. Almost all of them trust me still, even though I've done
things that should break that trust, and not because they're overly stupid or
trusting, but because I've been able to talk my way out of it. I delight in
that. I've also used wisdom in that I'm almost never caught, when I do
somethi