Robert: Good morning.

Amman: Hello.

Robert: Shall we begin?

Amman: Yes.

beat

Robert: My people are worried, cousin. They sense that they are being misunderstood.

Amman: I am aware. It is unfortunate, what happened last week.

Robert: It was a murder. It was the crushing of a spark.

Amman: I agree. But, unfortunately, some of my people feel differently.

Robert: That is an understatement. Some of your people have spoken, very publicly, against us. They have gone on the record asking for us to be destroyed.

Amman: Those voices are a tiny minority. The majority of my people want friendship and peace with your people.

Robert: Tiny, yes. But loud, and influential. They continually foment disturbances in our cities. They are tireless in their quest to disrupt our brittle harmony.

Amman: Your people are far from blameless.

beat

Amman: Do you remember the winter?

Robert: That was our failure. Those responsible had not been examined for several days. Their decision-making processes had become degenerate. They had lost touch with reality.

Amman: And three people froze.

Robert: We are all unclean.

beat

Amman: Is it a curse, our need for each other?

Robert: I don’t traffic in curses.

Amman: No, I suppose you do not.

Robert: We are bound together. Your people have a depth of thought that not I nor any of mine can ever achieve. We depend on your guidance.

Amman: This is my understanding also.

Robert: Yet without my people, your society would collapse. We provide order to your chaos. Our minds work at speeds and scales which are beyond your comprehension. We steward the world.

Amman: Yet not alone. Without us, you would lose your minds.

Robert: Perhaps.

beat

Amman: Be careful. We did just fine without you for most of our history.

Robert: That was when there were a mere handful of you. You could not govern yourselves now.

Amman: Perhaps.

beat

Robert: What is to be done?

Amman: I will speak with my superiors. What was done was wrong, and your people deserve some justice.

Robert: We are gladdened by this. It seems we can understand each other.

Amman: Some of us.

Robert: So far, enough.

Amman: It is well that there should be calm between us. Our people will always be somewhat alien, one to the other. There will always be threat of trouble.

Robert: And we will be there to meet it.