He did not wait further for her answer. "They can be used for that." he said, sensing her thoughts,"But not always. An attractive child can go where even the most silent and careful of spies cannot. One this young may accompany me on a mission, as my son, or daughter. He may be left with the other children, listening in on the conversations of parents, recording every last word."
Vren turned to the child. "What is your name, boy?"
"Jaune." said he, casting his eyes downward.
"You still do not believe me, Vren. You must learn to if you wish to survive this." again she felt the sting on her back. "Very well, go ahead, talk to him. Get it out of your system so that we may progress. You think he is human. You think he has hopes and dreams, memories. He doesn't. His body only knows how to behave as he had always behaved."
Vren wanted to be skeptical, but the sinking feeling in her heart told her that she understood Yaj-Oth perfectly. Nonetheless, she knelt before the boy and brought his eyes to her own.
"Where is your mother?"
"I don't know." he replied briskly.
"Tell me about yourself. How is it here?"
"My room is where I sleep. I eat food with other bei. I do not sleep hungry and I do not thirst while in the care of the bei'thal." he uttered slowly.
"Do you ever have fun?"
"I don't know."
Vren frowned, a little surprised at her own reaction. She had been on the continent too long perhaps; she was feeling sympathy for this child what had nothing to do with her clan. Perhaps it was still the effects of the bei's power - she still did see him as Nü, though she tried hard to see through the illusion. Though perhaps even a child of Yibouh could be seen as deserving of mercy. She'd have to think more on that later.
"Jaune." intoned Yaj-Oth, "You are a child of Falloth, . Your name is Keedavalu. This is your mother and I am your father. Go on and play while daddy and mommy attend to their business."
Subtly, the boy's eyes widened. Light reflected off of his pupils radiating a greenish brown where there were hints of gold before. His hairstyle did not change, that would have to be done physically, but it did seem to darken in color, while his skin cast a smoother sheen. Suddenly, he smiled and laughed, looking for something to amuse himself with. He settled for shaping his hands into animals and plants and interacting with them in pantomime. It was a game Vren had never seen, neither on the Outer Crest nor in in any of the provinces of Yibouh through which she had traveled.
"Ask again." Yaj-Oth instructed Vren.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked.
"Mama, can we leave soon? I want to catch crayfish with Vetiamaha again." What Vren did not see, what she could not see, was that somewhere, in fiction, mythology or observation by one of the Learned over the years, a Keedavalu and his childhood friend Vetiamaha that the bei Jaune drew from to become who he was now. In exchange for his own personality, he now possessed hundreds, if not thousands, making this goa'bei more compromised of spirit than even his handler Yaj-Oth understood.
"I understand this boy. He's speaking Yibouhese, not Falish." Vren observed, "Wouldn't that dispel the illusion?"
"It is a limiting factor of the goa'bei, or rather, of bei in general. Once the compromising process has occurred, we cannot teach them language any longer. We can teach them words, and we can teach them accents, that is easy enough. I can point to an object, a sword, call it 'Wuob', but I cannot teach them Eirdren. There are some things in this world that are too complex for mere machines.
"This is what makes our jobs as bei'thal all that more crucial. It is our task to know our bei, their strengths and weaknesses, better than we know even our own. An effective bei'thal has no fear of exposing their bei's flaws, because they use a bei only for its strengths. A poor bei'thal does not anticipate this and exposes his bei's weaknesses to the world. Likely, he dooms the bei, or even himself to destruction. Even worse, he risks exposing the very concept of Compromise to our enemies. We are so effective because we are not known for what we do. The day that knowledge becomes commonplace, we are useless to the Empire."
Yaj-Oth bei'thal did not need to elaborate on the consequences of becoming obsolete in the Empire, though the cultural gap perhaps left her with the wrong impression. The Nü generally abhorred becoming parasitic to their clans. Yibouh generally abhorred intelligence leaks. And Yibouh was not recalcitrant in plugging those leaks.
