"I appreciate the sentiment. She can do only one planet?"

"She can probably do many planets that are varying degrees of convenient to access and settle but each one might be years to find a portal for."

"Each planet is obviously worth years to us, how can we make it worth it to her?"

"When I met her she was running around stealing heaters and warm clothing for plumbers dying of exposure in the blizzard. We make very sure nothing happens to our reds and things that do are prosecuted like they matter and we lean on Orvara to do something besides driving them out to die - I do realize there isn't really anything convenient -"

...sigh. "There really isn't. Do you suppose she wants to render some seasonless land inhabitable? Something near a pole, too cold to even have interesting insects for greens to look at -"

"I'll ask. There's - we were going to have to deal with it anyway and I was not pleasantly anticipating shooting all ours, help getting rid of them is probably worth it even before we start thinking about planets."

"There would be non-red casualties anyway, they riot at the least provocation."

"And no doubt they're watching Orvara and learning. Maybe once there's enough to go around they can just have their own planet. I expect everything else the alien wants'll be more palatable, it mostly amounts to 'give all your people safe happy lives'. I expect expansionist ambitions would be hard to sell her on but Anitam will happily stick to using the magic for internal improvement and I can't imagine Voa'd feel differently."

"I have no plans to expand. I seldom even grumble very much about the loss of Imde."

"I am very glad everyone managed to settle at that. Perhaps that idiot Savo of yours would hit it off with our alien."

"As far as I know he doesn't actually like reds, but I could see if he'll come out of hiding."

"I think pragmatic objections to hurting them count for nearly as much as fondness? I got lots of credit for saying 'people' in place of 'garbage' and expressing a mild preference the world not descend into riots and retaliatory slaughters."

"I'll see if he won't turn up for vague reasons so I can present him if it seems appropriate."

"Then I think you are as well-equipped to meet her as any insight on my part can make you."

"Thank you. Does anyone else know?"

"I took it to Fela Neli so I need not worry anyone might care to apply rules about secret high-stakes dealings with foreign powers to powers even more foreign than that. You make three people with any meaningful information - oh, I guess the reds witnessed some magic. I don't think they'll need encouragement to shut up about it."

"Are you planning to tell more people in the near future?"

"No."

"I appreciate your confidence."

"Of course. May good health find you always and in particular the day after tomorrow, afternoon sometime."

"And you as well."

"All right," he says to Crystal cheerfully. "Now we can go home, if that's all right with you."

"It is."

Home they go! "What's the planet where you, uh, started existing like?"

"It was... strange. The dominant sapient species there was very unlike yours or ours—they were very large arthropods, divided in colonies with queens who were the mothers of everyone else. But we believe there may have been another version of my Sadai's planet in that universe, as well—we got a translation in our native language to the name of the thing I am, which should not be possible unless someone in that world had already invented it."