"So for whatever it's worth I'm sorry you found my gate."

"Thank you."

"Maybe I should have just stayed here and checked it more often..."

"Perhaps. I don't know how long it sat open before I found it. And I might have been curious about the midair gate even if it had been closed, although it would not have been so glaringly obvious." Pause. "I can force open a closed gate."

"Yes."

"That's amazing."

"I did mention I was the Queenscourt's best sorcerer."

"I had been figuring that meant you were - fast, that you knew all the usual things and maybe some weird stuff, I didn't know anybody could open a gate that wasn't theirs."

"I like to do obscure research."

"I think it is very likely that I would."

"What do you need to know to make up your mind?"

"I would like to be more confident in my assessment of your motives, and I need to know how much freedom I would have if I cooperated."

"I'd want a while to draft a good order set. I'm sure I'm not as good at it as the Queen is and I'd want to consult with you. And it depends on the margin by which working for me beats being turned into a small animal and kept in a box. But it's possible you could tell me a compelling enough story about your motives that I'd require no other limits at all. I would want your name, though - not that your help is not appreciated, Tea."

Tea snorts.

"Hm," says Arcane.

"Hm?"

"It's a puzzle, this situation."

"Yes. I don't need an answer instantly, although soon would be more convenient."

"The truth of my statements is perfectly verifiable to you, but the reverse does not hold. I can't know that you are not spinning some unreasonably complex web of deception unless someone involved in this mess gives me their name, which you have no good reason to do. It follows that it is not in my interest to make any tangible non-hypothetical concessions, such as volunteering my name, while I am still under restrictive whitelist orders and do not have the option to flee if you turn out to be deceiving me in some importantly relevant way."

"Yes. I am experiencing some temptation to take the stance that if you cannot bring yourself to free me completely without asking for my name, you should turn me into a small animal and keep me in a box because that way at least when you fail to conquer the Queenscourt I will not have voluntarily betrayed it. But then I would likely still end up obliged to conquer some fraction of the mortal world to prevent further attempts like yours, and even if I in particular did not have to, someone would. That is not a desirable outcome."

"Not a bit. ...There are some mortals around who might vouch for me. They can demonstrate the ability to harm me. If necessary."

"...Potentially a way out of the puzzle," he acknowledges.