"Stop wasting your time and do what exactly?"

"Send the reds somewhere else. People keep asking me what I want, what do you think would happen if I said I wanted some rainforest?"

"You'd get some rainforest. They might want more than vague goodwill in exchange for substantial amounts of rainforest."

"We're working on a plan to get the resources we'd need to terraform. There are lots of countries. I can do some before others. What do you think would happen if I pointed out that Penumbra can teleport and be invisible, and might be conducting secret inspections of random red neighborhoods to make sure they're okay?"

"Some people would try with varying degrees of ineptness to make their reds more okay, some would threaten the reds, some would explain to you at length how it's hard not to mistreat your reds, might be an improvement on net - do you want to talk to Anitam's reds person, she would know who in the red communities to ask about this directly -"

"Seems worthwhile."

"I will shoot her a message." He does that.

"Thanks."

"Of course." Sigh. "Do you mind advice on which rainforest to accept if you get it from several places."

"Sounds useful."

"Isel - my friend who does red things - says she'll get on the train."

"It has in fact been a longish day so I don't know how much I'll talk to her today but I appreciate that."

"Of course. Should I let you talk with Penumbra?"

"Yeah, thanks."

He leaves.

And she clarifies for Penumbra what happened, since Penumbra's Anitami is not very good and some of that conversation was in Anitami.

"But they don't know how to steal me?"

"No."

"Okay."

"Are you okay with running errands, teleporting around -"

"A little - not all the time -"

"Okay."

       "That implies there is a way, even though we're not mages."

"We're going to get what we want anyway, Maurabel wants the leverage."

       "Mmmhmm."

       "Of all the things to get upset about -"

"Biyan's torturing children, of course anyone who wasn't in the habit of thinking 'well, reds'  would be upset."

       "They're not torturing them."

"But if they were, who cares really, right?"

       "What's your point?"

"We'll get some rainforest, we'll ask for the reds anywhere too unstable to hang onto them to be put there, you can prove that you could take them there yourself..."

"That's not going to leave me anything for healing them if they're hurt."

"No. I can do some, but that's probably going to have to be mostly locally managed."

     "What'd you say to her, Aitim, the mic didn't reach -"

"I promised confidentiality."

     "If this goes wrong and costs us the planets - you've ignored the recommended handling over and over -"

"I am well aware."

     "At least he didn't storm out in a huff at the implication he might be accountable," says someone else. 

"Do you think Aitim's -' says Penumbra.

"Uh - helps he admitted that they'd totally have been all over you like I thought if we'd just kinda -"

"It does?"

"I mean, it's not better than if they wouldn't be, but given that they would have he's more likely to be in good faith, saying that."

Isel arrives and joins the blues, quietly.

"Do you know anything I don't about how the school makes sure people don't steal the elementals?"

"No, you probably know more than I do."

"Hrmm."

In the morning someone new accompanies breakfast.

"Hi."

"Hi. I don't have any of your language but Aitim said you were picking up Anitami. I'm Isel, I'm the person who does reds policy."