"I couldn't have tried. Stop wasting time."

"Ugh," says Cam, but he continues out of the building.

"Oh good. ...Portal to a daeva realm, that'll be fun." His companion has wings now so Cam just glides to the ground and makes a shuttle that's all done by the time he lands near it. "Hop in."

In he hops.

"Do you want to leave a portal here so you can get home?"

"I opened and closed one on the balcony. It awaits me in my Sphere."

"That way," says Inlaith. "There is a chasm beyond those hills which has room for this vehicle."

Zoom.

"I wonder if you are able to get your wings," says Inlaith. "Have you experienced strong feelings of accomplishment since you were first summoned here?"

"I haven't been dwelling on it. I was pretty pleased when I got a handful of aliens talking to me but I was more impressed with them getting around their psychological barriers for it, I haven't actually performed any tricky feats of diplomacy."

"This may be an opportunity to find out if past accomplishments qualify, if you have any of those."

"I mean, a hundred and fifty years ago I Jesus fucking Christ on a stick," Cam suddenly reverts to English as he glows.

"Congratulations," says Inlaith.

Cam recovers control of the vehicle. "That was weird!"

"Was it?"

"Yes!"

"I suppose you do lack the cultural context."

"Yes I do. My wings seem to still be attached to me..." Woggle.

"What happens if you try putting them away?"

"What a weird -" There they go. "Well, I need them to balance, so." Out they come. "Please double-check for me they're still indestructible." He holds one out in Inlaith's direction.

"That does it. Actually, I seem improved on the indestructibility front, lower threshold or something. Nice."

"Winged ones are hard to hurt."