"What is it about?" asks Liatsi.

"I was speaking to someone out of uniform about supplementing pensions to make the workload easier on mages. He's a red mage. We shook hands - I apologize deeply for breaking whatever the customs are for this -"

"- ah, you'd want to talk with his scheduler about that, I don't involve myself in the Temple-Guild's allocations," says Liatsi.

"I don't have any of your world's currency, and assume it'd be terribly discourteous to counterfeit some."

"A bit, yes. I'm sure we can come to some arrangement for the sum and I do have a redmage's initial fee in liquid form."

"I am fairly confident we have a great deal of value to trade, but it hardly seems fair to his scheduler to be in a position of trying to assess that.  - I don't want the initial fee, I'd like him exclusively -"

...Liatsi raises an eyebrow. "I have a lifetime fee in liquid form, too. You will at least have to notify his scheduler."

"Of course. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He stands there uncertainly.

She thinks, he pipes up helpfully from a hundred miles up, that you're buying sex with a child and she's judging you. Not reading her mind, just yours.

- thank you -

" - there's a cultural disconnect here, can I somehow reassure you -"

"Hm?" says Liatsi mildly.

"I - he asked me for help, he was scared of his schedule. I have every desire to respect your customs and find ways to make them compatible with the wellbeing of the people participating in them, but if someone asks - if he wants to stay here and never see me again in his life that's fine, he asked me for help -"

"Why wouldn't he want to see you again? He loves you," says Liatsi politely, shooing the child she was talking to. "There's nothing uncustomary about it, although most people can't afford an exclusive redmage."

"I don't want you to think we came here to trade you food and medicine for - teenagers who won't say no -"

"I assure you that as long as the money reaches the Temple-Guild no one will think twice about it."

He flinches. 

"I very much appreciated the chance to meet and speak with the people here."

"If you're all through here I'm ready to return to the palace at any time."

Fairy can take them back.

And they can work out what he owes Liatsi for his thirty one million riaxi fee to bring home his very own redmage.

He asks Midnight to summon a demon on the ship to make seeds and textbooks-that'll-require-translation and medicine and models of various technologies and working steam engines - "and you should start drawing up plans for railroads, we can lay them for you very easily if you clear the relevant space."

Liatsi's relevant advisors have lots of train opinions. She delegates.

He has a lovely time. It gets late. 

The guest room is still available. Liatsi has drawn up a promissory note to the relevant Temple-Guild if he wants to convey it to them and pick up his redmage sooner than later.