(Her chief update about Profectus is that it is a clown show, which she is carefully not saying because in Laukera, people learn tact.)

"I have no particular trouble believing that you are bad at good things on top of torching villages. I feel pretty negatively about the torching villages. I do mean to, after this conversation, go set up somewhere and have a go at the feeding and clothing the masses thing myself, and I'm not actually sure what this conversation needs to establish besides that."

"I grant that is a reasonable perspective. I think trying to do things will probably go badly for you if you don't have a robot army, and you will probably get arrested and/or disintegrated. I would attempt to convince you to work with us if I had any idea what you valued, since I think we are mostly doing good things, and will do more of them and do better with more resources, but I... don't, particularly, know what you value other than that you disapprove of villages being burned and claim to support feeding and clothing people, or how the trees/food tradeoff works where you come from, or..."

"I am not worried about being disintegrated. Or, particularly, about being arrested, though it would be possibly more inconvenient. I'm indestructible. What do you mean by the trees/food tradeoff exactly?"

"My sources suggest that 'indestructible' may be a relative term with the southern magics?"

"And I meant that there's limited amounts of dirt and you can't plant crops in ground already occupied by forests."

"Make a canal and you'll be doing something useful."

"Right, I was mostly going to create food out of nothing and maybe distribute higher-yield seeds. A canal would actually be nontrivial for me, I can only make things, not remove them."

Nau looks like he has a low opinion of Cam's inventiveness.

"I wish you the best of luck. We haven't really managed to get people to buy fertilizer, maybe you'll have better luck with seeds?"

"What are your sales tactics like?"

"Telling people that our fertilizer is very cheap and good for crops?" she hazarded. "I don't know, I think exports are..." she looks at Nau.

"I know exactly how little marketing skill I have; there are three fertilizer factories, each in the hands of a separate concern; some of their product I purchase, and the rest is sold off, chiefly to greenbelt farmers. These concerns then send wandering salesmen to try to persuade various of our neighbors to purchase the product on the grounds that it is cheap and that it works, and to the best of my knowledge have very little success. Farmers can't, and nobles don't, pay for it. What little is purchased is then shipped off by rail, chiefly to Laukera, which presumably sells it overseas where my name is less of a curse."

"Huh. Solid try, at least. How did your name originally acquire this patina of accursedness?"

"My considerable lack of tact."

"Is there another continent or anything where you could start over with your most diplomatic support?"

"None lacking monarchies."

"Inconvenient, though maybe monarchies you got along with would be a big step up from ones that you don't. How long have you been here, anyway?"

"Fifteen years, four months, and twenty-six days."

"Wow, I'm impressed with the industrial capacity given that you can't cheat like me."

"I had a ship."

"I'm impressed with the industrial capacity of your one-person ship! Unless it was a large colony-oriented vessel and just happened to kill most people aboard but leave your equipment intact in which case I'm not impressed at all."

"Asteroid miner."

"Still, looks like you've got textiles and stuff, nice going. What are you going to focus on if I take the reins of project feed and clothe?"

"... You seem to have come to the strange conclusion that I believe the words you say? Pray tell, how did you manage this?"

Ohhh no.