[Regrettably, Anders has stumbled into the thing he was attempting to avoid here: a conversation about it. He simply cannot help but keep talking despite full knowledge that he won't be making any friends with his attitude, but then again: he doesn't really expect to come back to Highstorm once he finally does get out of here.

So pros, cons. He scoffs, taking a moment to frown out at the small crowd while he digests all of that. So this fancy-dressed man agrees that blind loyalty exists here, while not ascribing it to himself - although the 'blind' would preclude that, anyway - and that's...? Still not great, he thinks.]

Is it friendly? It's easy to ignore people who disagree with you, isn't it? I suspect once one of these sides makes some kind of real progress, we'll see how friendly the other really is.

[At least, he's been told Meridian has achieved very little besides waiting, and he assumes this Yima would be a tad more iron-fisted if she had the means. It feels like an unintentional stalemate to him, which is, hm! Bound to end badly!

He shakes his head.]

I just don't understand what makes a person wake up one day- admittedly, in dire straits- and think, "What I need is some stranger in charge of me because she gives nice gifts." What are you getting out of this?