The white investigation room fell silent again, Aldric still seated with his restricted hands on the table, his face frozen in a contemptuous smug. Since having to fend for himself, Aldric had learned that the words that come out of a person's mouth more often than not decide if one receives or gets taken from, starves or eats... lives or dies.
For this reason, he was as careful with his words as he was conniving with them—he bluffed, he conceded, he lied, and, although very rarely, spoke the truth. Knowing what to say and when to say it was a vital skill for survival. However, Aldric now aimed for more than surviving alone, and words can only take you so far.
The numerous guilds that rejected him were proof of this. His attempts to cajole them into accepting him with his long and well-articulated speeches on teamwork over individual strength usually failed. There are simply situations where words alone cannot outweigh power and are empty without knowledge.
