MAKOA//

Straud, I want to embrace my daughter.

STRAUD//

I don't give the gift to children.

MAKOA//

What about Seven?

STRAUD//

The Zhou family? We did not deliver the Change upon them. Just because we have brought them into our fold does not imply --

MAKOA//

I don't agree.

STRAUD//

Excuse me?

MAKOA//

I don't agree. I don't see why we should exclude children from our ranks.

STRAUD//

Their minds are not fully developed and are not prepared to deal with the Embrace.

MAKOA//

The discomforts of the Embrace are only temporary. They'll have the rest of Eternity to sort out the things they see and experience. No different than the rest of us.

STRAUD//

But it is different; they don't have the experience necessary to pull them through to the other side.

It's being condemned to death, then asking the accused to defend themselves in a court of law, but they haven't the full range of expression their elders have.

MAKOA//

That's why I'll speak for her.

STRAUD//

Where will you be when she meets our maker? You cannot be everyone, everything, to her.

She will be alone to face the worst challenges of her new life. At five years old? I'll not condone it.

MAKOA//

But her beauty, her innocence...

STRAUD//

Are figments of your imagination. Projections of your own value system you're unfairly placing upon her shoulders.

MAKOA//

But what about you? If you could be young for the rest of your days, wouldn't you do it? Who are we to deny her this?

STRAUD//

It is entirely your feeling that she is perfect at her current stage of development.

MAKOA//

Don't change the topic on me!

Wouldn't you do it? Be as your younger self for all time?

STRAUD//

I was an impulsive, headstrong young man.

MAKOA//

But what of your energy? Wouldn't you like to be as you were then?

STRAUD//

Everything has a tradeoff and in this case denying a child the right to grow up is not worth innocence, or naïveté by another name.

MAKOA//

But what if they will never be happy about it? Isn't it our duty to help her be her best self regardless of appearance?

You say everyone has the right to grow up but on the other hand, we're subjecting them to an aging process we now have the capacity to circumvent.

Maybe it's our method to save the world. Weren't you most intelligent as a child? Adaptable? Quickly acquired new skills? Weren't your morals clear and strong and not yet marred by the scars of world-weariness?

STRAUD//

And yet children possess strikingly small amounts of empathy. Do you want children to make decisions for their society? Shall we allow them to vote? Hold public office?

MAKOA//

They'll be young like anyone else is when they are new to the world but then they'll grow. And they'll lose their innocence and become weary of the world like us.

But what if it is something as simple as their appearance, the way they choose to present themselves to the world? What if that's the way they want to be?

STRAUD//

And the pride that their Sire takes in demonstrating that he discovered one so young.

MAKOA//

I feel no pride now because I'm powerless to save her.

STRAUD//

You seem to think this is the back door into an endless childhood but I see the opposite -- the Embrace robs from its victim any childhood at all.

To survive childhood is to be freed from the tyranny of a world composed of unknowns.

MAKOA//

Childhood is only tyranny for some of us.

STRAUD//

And for the rest of us we toil in eternal winter!

What do you want of me, boy?

MAKOA//

I truly believe my daughter would be an excellent candidate for the Embrace and if you aren't willing to teach me, I'll quickly find someone who will.

STRAUD//

I cannot give my blessing to your plan.

MAKOA//

But if you'd just meet her!

STRAUD//

I am unable to be swayed from my opinion.

MAKOA//

I really think you'd feel differently if you'd only give her a chance.

STRAUD//

A young girl, precocious as she may be, is still that.

MAKOA//

I believe some people are special.

STRAUD//

We all fall under some variant of that belief.

And your impartiality in applying this belief to the situation of you and your daughter is suspect.

MAKOA//

You think I can't be impartial?

STRAUD//

I know you can't be impartial.

MAKOA//

But you still give no reasonable solution to those that may wish to present in such a way. If you are ageist, I can accept that even if I do not like it. But I still have a problem you're unwilling to help me solve.

I'll go somewhere else.

STRAUD//

I cannot stop you.

MAKOA//

But would you? Why did you turn me?

STRAUD//

I saw a wizened ambition that I wanted to foster.

But the Change has sharpened within you something I do not like.

MAKOA//

Speak your mind, friend.

STRAUD//

Your desire to turn your daughter borders on the obsessive. Have you no comprehension for the brutality of our ways? Are you so eager to spoil the innocence you claim you seek to protect?

Are your feelings about her proper?

MAKOA//

How dare you insinuate such a thing.

STRAUD//

Do not be so quick to be offended -- such pairings have and will always happen. There is an entire history of a planet behind you.

So, I ask you again, are your feelings for Nani proper or improper?

MAKOA//

I would never hurt Nani. My feelings for her are that of a father for his daughter.

I don't like when you are trying to say and I won't acknowledge it.

STRAUD//

But you should.

MAKOA//

I don't want to have sex with my daughter!

STRAUD//

That's not precisely what I meant.

MAKOA//

Then romantic love!

You think I have romantic love for my daughter and quite frankly, I find that disgusting.

You don't understand the love between man and child.

STRAUD//

I understand the love between man and child. It is you who does not understand the frustration a sire has for his rebellious offspring.

MAKOA//

I'm not rebellious, it's a very fair request.

STRAUD//

It's an outlandish request that goes against the very fiber of my morality.

MAKOA//

You gave the Gift to me, now it is my choice of who I pass it to. That's how it's supposed to work.

STRAUD//

Your training was incomplete.

MAKOA//

Our time was limited.

STRAUD//

I'm willing to teach you the ritual, but not here, for this.

MAKOA//

Then you've condemned my daughter to death and I'll not sit quietly.

STRAUD//

Please think of what you'd be denying her: the chance at ever becoming a woman.

MAKOA//

What if that's not what she wants?

STRAUD//

She's so young that she hardly knows herself.

You, as her parent, must show her that there's no need to fear growing up.

MAKOA//

But I've undergone the Change. How can I ever hope to convey a message that's not true for me? Lies and subterfuge?

STRAUD//

A crafted reality can be more true than the state of want that spawned it.