He'd buy that more easily if they hadn't been scared of displeasing him. "I know countries lie about each other sometimes. I'm not going to do anything to the Lei without making sure I know what's true. I don't want to hurt people." He's sixteen, for kriff's sake, he doesn't want to get into the middle of a war, no matter how curious he is about the diplomatic details. "I just wanted to know if I should think about taking you with me. But if you'll be safe here, I don't think we have anything else to talk about."

He heads back over to Tomas - has he calmed down at all?

"So you're going to hear everything they say, but you heard hardly anything from us!" she calls after him.

Here's some lies for that liar, that's only fair. "I would like to come with you, sir. They'll kill me now that I'm not useful to them anymore. I speak five languages and I'm trained as a mediator."

...Annoyingly, that was mostly true. He would not actually 'like' to go with Rafiik, but it's better than the alternative. The Lei will probably keep him prisoner, not kill him. He speaks two languages well, one haltingly, can ask for and understand directions to the Sota embassy in one, and swear obscenely in one more. He did actually train to be a mediator, although he failed his certification.

Rafiik wouldn't give stellar odds of the Mind Trick still being in place at this point anyway, the advantage and the disadvantage of placing a want like that is that wants are often temporary. "If you try to hurt me again I might hurt you very badly, I don't know how to fight people who aren't Jedi or Sith. But if you'd rather come with me than go by yourself, sure. I'll heal you, anyway." He lowers himself to the ground and closes his eyes to meditate.

Apparently he heals people by being nearby and concentrating, like a 'doctor' in a violent RPG. Okay then. 

She moves a bit closer, still giving them both space.

He ignores her. After half a minute his hand starts to glow a watery blue. "I'll need to touch you," he tells Tomas as he opens his eyes.

Blue light? Not that she doubts he can make blue light if he wants, but why is that part of healing; it's like if werewolves glowed whenever they reached into stone...

Tomas reaches out, palm up.

Rafiik puts his hand on Tomas's. The healing makes him feel warm and cool all over, not unpleasantly; his pain eases, not immediately but at a decent pace, and his vision clears up.

Huh! "Thank you, sir."

Mirana steps forward. "I think you should bring me too, or at least someone from Lei. I suggested Asrek because he's someone you've met, who has no knowledge of anything that has happened in the last hour, or anything you've said, if that's useful to you. He's just a musician, not a butler, if you prefer that?

I also speak five languages" frown at Tomas "but if there is something in particular you want we can probably find you someone who can do it."

"The problem with that is that I don't trust you. But if" subtle handwave "you're done with lying to me, you can come with us a little way while I think about it." It's not the least sketchy thing he's ever done, but he has an intuition.

(Mirana does not recognize the hand gesture.)

"Well I don't trust you either! But I think it will be good for both of us, at least assuming you care to some slight degree about truth and justice!" Oops she didn't mean to say that part out loud. Her post-cry wobbliness must really be hitting her. "Uh so if you want to go to the FD, there's a small piece of it to the north*, 15 hours by equartier, and just beyond it is most of the Allheart Alliance, which is most of the countries that support neither Lei nor FD. Most of the FD is to the south*, 3 cycles from here by equartier, or more like 6 by sled, and some distance farther to wherever their capital is currently." She raises her voice - "But we will go by equartier because it would just be petty to refuse that to him now, yeah?"

* 'north' and 'south' are the directions perpendicular to the ecliptic.

The guard dispatcher is finally on the scene. "Answer so everyone can hear. Yes - "

And an Emperor, via tengu, takes over: "and we'll give you a letter, in less than a minute, granting you free travel throughout Lei, second degree of priority use of all transportation, room and board at any shrine, and the power to question anyone, one person at a time, for up to one hour, no matter what important work they're doing."

A disembodied voice repeats that.

Tomas wants to go north so his communication isn't limited to swearing, but he stays quiet about it.

North sounds like the better bet to Rafiik, too; it gets them out of the Lei sooner and if he turns out not to want to get involved in the war he'll be better positioned to do that. "Explain equartiers?"

"A species that runs very fast, especially in long straight lines. We'll need one to carry each of us, unless you can somehow make yourself small or easy to carry. They're also good at smashing buildings. We'll probably stop so the equartiers who have been running can rest and new ones start carrying us."

"I can stay on things a nonJedi couldn't be on safely, but I wouldn't want to do it for fifteen hours. I want my clothes back, too, and a bag to carry them and the papers in. Tomas, do you know of any reason not to go north?"

The capital is probably south, like the furball of evil just said, dummy. "No, sir."

A catfolk butler scrambles out of the nearest hole carrying a large piece of stiff leather with ornate writing in multiple glittery colors.

Another one will come in a few minutes with a bag and Rafiik's clothes.

Presumably (or, well, hopefully) if Tomas had any objections to going north he would have taken the opportunity to voice them, and that's what Rafiik was trying to get at in the absence of the word 'objection'.

He's not thrilled about being carried, the idea of his route being under Lei control doesn't appeal. On reflection he'd give pretty good odds of the whole trip being below ground, though, in which case it hardly matters, if something seems wrong he'll need to abandon his ride and get topside to walk either way. "Are there places for sleds to go up here?"

"There are sleds on the surface, but not here."

The disembodied voice speaks again. "Please wait one moment..."

(A kitsune relays the query to a lesser shrine focused on logistics and brings back the answer...)

"If you want to stay above the surface, there are two main routes: darkward by ship, then north along the Alhekte cargo sled, through the Pes orogeny, and then the Sient Road cargo sled, which will take 59 hours; or, brightward by ship and then north by the Great Sled, which will take 48 hours. If you want to be on the surface entirely, not below or above, the durations of the two routes will be 103 hours and 168 hours, respectively, or approximately 3½ cycles and 6 cycles, assuming a typical walking speed and rest time."