Claudius laughs, and fondly shakes his head. "Szarka is young. All creatures are born craving approval -- I said so to Sagramore, and will say it to thee. We rely on it. Humans, more than all others, since some creatures can walk minutes after they're born, or learn language in the egg like Temeraire has. But a young human is a clumsy, ignorant thing, unable to do anything for itself. We need others' approval and care to survive, others' approval and guidance to learn. Without it we wither, like plants starved of sunlight, and know only our own insufficiencies. But such insufficiencies are shared among anything born helpless."