"When she is in good health, I would advise against anything excessively sweet, or anything that is liable to increase her blood pressure. She becomes.. Slightly insufferable." He seemed to choose his words carefully on that one, only because it was difficult to deal with Xeriahalt when she allowed herself to get hyperactive. Even as a machine with the thoughts of a once-living man, he could get irritated when the girl would not listen or calm down. He was often tempted to call her a child because of that very childlike attitude of hers.

While she was naive and prone to simplistic and sometimes spontaneous behavior, the only reason he obeyed her at all was that she had the right idea in coming to this place, or at least her heart was definitely in the right place in this matter. Their mission was a difficult one to explain,
"My translations have given me a term for which you may refer to Xeriahalt's species, she is of Deltan. The memory placed inside this vessel was also Deltanian, as explained." He added calmly, keeping careful attention on the woman, he could sense her through Xeriahalt's devices, but he didn't sense anything he could consider hostile.

"Our society runs on a balanced principle of strength and wisdom. What you would consider our military is democratic, however we still follow a single leader." Demaar began to explain, he supposed it would help her to gain some insight into their society, so that she could perhaps understand why it would have been difficult to gain a place of power, "When new leadership is decided on by the people, the leader and their twelve subordinates resign. They put forward favored candidates for new leadership, many more stand outs are then chosen. All candidates are then subjected to equivalent tests involving intelligence, wisdom and Ni'en power."

Demaar scanned the room quietly for a moment, there didn't seem to be anything too dangerous, but it didn't hurt to be careful,
"As the candidate numbers are reduced through failures, they are lowered to thirteen. These last thirteen at this point would then locate to an uninhabited planet and do combat. Killing is considered failure, the fallen is honored, the one who kills is exiled and two of the highest failing candidates are given an opportunity to prove themselves. They endure in non-fatal combat, watched by their people through fellow PSI such as myself, until the strongest of them takes their place as the new leader. The remaining twelve become their subordinates and the ruling body. The previous ruling body stands as their advisers or aid in matters of education or military training, or they simply retire, but that does not happen often." There was a brief pause, then he spoke once more,
"Xeriahalt was a failed candidate for the current ruling body, however when given the opportunity to partake in the final test, she chose to refuse, an action that struck quite a sour chord among the Deltanian's, it was an honor none had ever refused before. She told me that she failed of her own volition and explained why she refused to take the place of the fallen, but it is not my place to go into more details without her consent. However, I agreed with her decision and swore on my existence to protect her. I feel I have done an inadequate job in that regard.. Especially to have allowed her to get into this state."