The Exarch takes a long time to think about how to answer that, because he truly doesn't know what the nature of this realm is. Simply because it feels as though it has a mind of its own does not mean that it truly does, and whether it has drawn them here to seek ideas he also cannot say.

"I'll not deny the possibility," he says, "and it is a more compelling theory than some I have heard. Again, I don't wish to attribute a consciousness and personality to this realm without evidence, yet it does feel that way."