“Ambition?” Rinha’li fidgets awkwardly with a frayed patch on the sleeve of his coat. “Well, it rather sounds a b-bit sinister, doesn’t it? Stronger than a g-goal or an interest or…something of that nature.” He gestures vaguely. “I mean, of course I always like to feel like I’m moving towards something – I suppose some folk are c-content just standing still where they are, but that’s n-never felt right for me. I always need t-to be chasing something down. Going forward. *Advancing*.”

He is quiet for a moment, his ears flicking back and forth thoughtfully. “Would I describe it as ‘ambition’? I’m…n-not sure. The word does t-tend to put one in mind of the sort of driving obsession that stops at nothing t-to get what it wants, or the kind of p-person who doesn’t hesitate to at cutting a few throats. Or, at least it does to me. But on the other hand…we speak of ambitious projects and the like, when…when someone reaches for the nearly impossible. And where would we be without such lofty goals?”

“I d-do possess what I suppose most people would call, um…*ambitious* aims…so in that sense, yes, I am ambitious and furthermore I value that ambition like little else. Now, as for the other meaning – am I prepared t-to do anything, no matter how dreadful, if it brought me what I desire? Well…”

Rinha’li hesitates, just on the edge of lying, but then shakes his head. “…maybe. B-but now I’ve come t-to hope that I would not.”