(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

"I don't know of anything Valanda is planning that would hurt you. But I wouldn't know if he were."

That wasn't the question, which among 'Iri saying something = there is not something' vs 'Iri saying something = there is but Iri for whatever reason doesn't want to let Sheridan know that' puts weight toward the latter. The nonverbals also do so.

That's fine, she's not expecting Iri to know that.

If there's anything about Valanda xie's under commands to keep it from Sheridan, and it involves Valanda hurting anyone else who is not guilty of hurting someone or trying to hurt someone first, Iri included in the 'anyone else', please don't respond right now. If not, say something.

"I don't know of anyone who's never hurt anyone. I don't know what Valanda's plans are."

(Deflection, continues to be possibly suspicious.)

What kinds of things is xie thinking of with 'hurt'?

And that's fine, she's not expecting Iri to know that either.

"Hurting people is, um... biting them, stealing from them, locking them up someplace by themselves... getting to a shop first and buying the thing they wanted, getting them to hire you and then doing a bad job... I'm not sure what hurts other species. Am I forgetting anything you wanted to know about?"

So which of those things has Valanda been doing?

"He's probably bought things other people wanted. I don't know what else. I'm just guessing, I don't know him. Why do you want to know?"

Well, if Valanda is going around, say, locking random innocent people up, and he asks Sheridan to help him with some unspecified thing, she may not want to help him, since he might use that to lock more people up, and Sheridan's not a fan of that.

"Why not?"

Because people don't like that sort of thing happening to them and it's not good for their wellbeing and flourishing.

"Are you worried he'll do that to you?"

Well, not unworried, but at the moment she's certainly more worried he'll do it to someone else. If he wanted to do her harm he's had a lot of opportunities he doesn't seem to have made use of, so she has some reason to believe he's less interested. She has no such evidence at all for other people.

"We're the only ones he could do that to. Otherwise it's illegal."

People do and plan to do illegal things sometimes; he could potentially buy more slaves; and Iri is in fact of concern here.

"He can't afford more slaves, he's not stupid enough to break the law... and I'm... not worried."

Oh? (With respect to the not worried.)

"You're not worried either."

Given what she said earlier, is that meant to mean that Valanda hasn't hurt xer despite opportunities (xer being his slave being opportunity)?

"He hasn't hurt me yet."

She's glad to hear that. If he starts or it seems he's going to Sheridan would like to help if she can.

"I'll remember that. Do you, um... have any other questions?"

If there's any commands xie's under xie thinks Valanda won't tell Sheridan about if asked, please don't respond right now until Sheridan says something again. If not, say something.

"How would I know what Valanda would tell you? I've only known him a few days."

For some things it might be more obvious than for others, but that makes sense, she's not expecting Iri to know. Why doesn't xie think xie should tell Sheridan the commands?

"How much will you pay for the answer?"