The Questioning
by Richard Pace
A senator sends out a call for a representative.
He whittles it down to three applications, a val'Abebi priest of Althares, a val'Assante priest of Illiir, and a val'Mehan priest of Sarish.
The val'Abebi is interviewed first. The senator asks him to determine the answer to a small but challenging problem. The val'Abebi quickly reviews the relevant literature, casts the requisite divinations, and whips out his abacus, goes through several sheets of vellum, and announces "Four!"
Next to be interviewed is the val'Assante, same problem, he quickly analyzes the situation for the political standpoint, thinks about the traditional methods to solve this problem, and also arrives at the answer of four.
Then in comes the val'Mehan, the senator gives him the same problem, to which the val'Mehan leans forward and quietly asks, "What do you want the answer to be?"
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