"Well, you'll have spaceships," he grins, "which I'll count as a success even if I have to try again to get them at home, plus whatever other resources we end up sharing; I don't usually look too closely at that but I don't doubt that you'll work something out with the traders that's favorable all around. And diplomatically - I'm used to taking an unallied stance, at home; I like travel to be safe, and that's truest when everyone's getting along and no-one's trying to conquer their neighbors. You don't have the experience with me for that to be so straightforward here, but I do think it'll help to offer everyone their own cleric to help with negotiations - you'll keep Raafi, if he's acceptable to you - and I'm open to other suggestions as well."

"This is big enough we might want to try a multi-national project from the start. Risks everyone getting better weapons to kill each other with, but they'll be less leery if they're in on the deal."

He nods. "I don't expect to be very involved in that part, but it sounds reasonable to me, and it's certainly something I can have my people help coordinate. Would you need anything in particular to get started with it?"

"People will want some kind of proof of concept."

"I can bring some technology from Deskyl and DZ's world - nothing too big, but the smallest sorts of spacecraft, certainly."

"That might work well, especially if it's something clearly intended to have primarily civilian uses. Nothing meant solely or primarily as a weapon."

"Of course. A floatcar and some appliances, maybe - what do you expect people will think of robots, by the way?"

Deskyl draws herself up with a sharp breath and watches him carefully.

"It depends on how they're introduced. The difficulty in sensing them might make some uneasy. I doubt anyone will consider them differently from biological people based on what they're made of. If there's robots that are non-sapient, there might be some confusion until people figure out how to tell the difference."

"Sounds good. I'm not sure if this is the right time to introduce them, but I'd like to eventually." He turns to Deskyl. "I don't approve of slavery, ma'am."

She squints a little, still suspicious, but nods.

"Might be best for any introductions to be early, before people get a concept of unintelligent machines."

    "It won't be that simple, sir. But there might be a good way to do it; Deskyl will have to think about the situation." To Fhalranghn: "Do you have a plan for getting them to stop manufacturing us, sir?"

"Not a firm one. We'll need to see how things go here, first."

"Yes sir."

"We'll at least try to keep ethical concerns in mind, here, though shinobi as a class tend to be - more ruthless than ethical."

    "Deskyl can speak to someone about it later, sir."

"Is there anything else you think you'll need?"

"Proof of your world - the different magic should be enough - and proof of hers, mediators... The rest of what we need we can provide ourselves, likely less alarmingly to our prospective allies. Time, too, for diplomatic outreach."

"All right. I am prepared to bring visitors through to my world; only a few at once, but it sounds like that will be sufficient. I'll start sending diplomats through tomorrow, and I can have the ship and things from Deskyl and DZ's world in a few hours - I've prepared a demiplane as a sort of mudroom between your world and mine, I think I'll put it there for now so it's clear that it's not the property of any one faction; you can figure out where it should go to be worked on once you're ready to start with that. Raafi can get in touch with me if you think of anything else you need, or you can just talk to me, I have enough attention here that it's likely I'll notice if you say my name."

"That should be good for us."

"Thank you."

He grins again. "You're welcome. Anything else, before I go?"

No one can think of anything at the moment.

"See you soon, then." He takes Ertan's hand and they disappear.

"Well, that was exciting."