Yes, I have, Underseen. But I've been working hard at . . . well, work. And, of course, at 8am tomorrow exactly . . . I turn 29.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
The Yeerk and Its Hosts
"Okay, okay," Az said, attempting mediate. "Let's all just relax and keep this storytelling ball rolling."
He pointedly at Rotiart, Cloak and Duff.
"Az is right," KitsuneMarie said, clearly trying to divert hostilities. "Anyone got one?"
"I believe I do." Myitt said. "Lemme see here."
***
There was once a Yeerk, who controlled a gardener. But she soon grew dissatisfied with the rigors and stresses of such an occupation. She petitioned her Visser for a change of host, hoping to get a celebrity or a rich tycoon.
She got a twenty-six-year-old potter, and became a he. Sne was dissatisfied with the thanklessness and anonymity of such a profession. She soon gathered up the nerve to petition for another host.
And so it went. This Yeerk lived in the heads of a Gedd, a janitor, a Taxxon, a greengrocer, a Hork-Bajir, a child psychologist, a theme park's costumed character, a child, a school mascot, and more. Eventually, she had more host transfers than costume changes in Vegas. But she remained dissatisfied with all of them.
She yearned to be in her first human host, the gardener again, but it was not possible. That host had passed away weeks ago.
Then the Yeerk sought another host transfer, but was denied. So she deliberately avoided the Yeerk Pool. Effectively commiting suicide.
***
"And the moral is," Myitt said, "change isn't always for the better."
"Nor is it easy," Cloak said, heavily. The others glanced at the Realm Walker, but he wasn't in the mood to elaborate.
He was vaguely remembering the part of him that wanted to go back to his mother's house after being kicked out, though he knew nothing would have changed. It was nothing more or less than wishing to stay with the familiar, with all that he knew, no matter how abusive the environment was. He associated it to the same reason why battered spouses return to their abusers. It's the same thing, really.